Word came this month that Edward Norton will not reprise his role as Bruce Banner in any Hulk sequels or the upcoming Avengers movie, because of some dispute with Marvel. According to the comic book company, it’s because Norton doesn’t know how to be a team player. But his reps say Marvel pulled the rug out from under Norton during contract negotiations; rather than talk it through, the studio’s allegedly just cut him off and tried to slam Norton in the press for having a big ego and wanting too much money.

Who to believe? The truth lies somewhere in the middle. There’s a really good story from Yahoo Movies that chronicles the recent events.

But looking back, one has to question if Marvel has a master plan for its cinematic comic universe or if it’s just being a reactionary force.

• Exhibit A: Marvel replaced Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2. Personally, I loved that swap, being a Cheadle fan, but I gotta admit it was a bit jarring to see such a different actor as Lt. Col. Rhodes.
• Exhibit B: Marvel casts Chris Evans, the actor who played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four franchise, as Captain America. Sure, the FF movie series is owned by Fox while the Captain America film rights are owned by Marvel, but do audiences know this? No. They only know that the Human Torch is now Captain America. This is the equivalent of Christian Bale being hired suddenly to play Superman.

Now Norton has been given the boot. What should we make of all this? What should I believe?

Norton’s classy response to Marvel should give us some clues.

He has been known to be super involved with his projects, which can sometimes cause friction behind the scenes (see American History X and The Incredible Hulk). But as a fan of his work, I’d like to think that it’s because he’s hyper intelligent (he’s a Yale graduate) and passionate about his craft. He’s also not just an actor; he writes and directs. So, when he comes onto a project, you’re getting more than just an acting puppet. You’re going to get a creative force who is going to try to make the best movie he knows how.

Does that rub people the wrong way? Apparently.

Regardless of who’s in the right, I think it’s lame that Norton won’t be in any Hulk sequels or the big-budget ensemble epic, The Avengers. I mean, think about what could have been: Oscar-nominated Norton as the Big Green Machine, Oscar-nominated Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Oscar-nominated Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Oscar-nominated Cheadle as Rhodes, with Evans as Cap and up-and-comer Chris Hemsworth as Thor –- all directed by comic-geek genius Joss Whedon?

That would have been effing fanboy heaven! … Now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

The prequel to The Lord of the Rings was set to be split into two films, be produced by LOTR director Peter Jackson, and be directed by Del Toro (Hellboy and Blade II). Del Toro even moved his family from Los Angeles to New Zealand to work on preproduction and screenwriting on The Hobbit.

Sadly, the innovative filmmaker officially announced last week that he had to pull out due to vague “family responsibilities” and other “contractual obligations.” But it’s clear the decision had more to do with the studio being in financial limbo.

“…it seems Del Toro got tired of waiting around in New Zealand while The Hobbit rights-owner Miramax tries to resolve its financial crisis. That and the fact that his family, who relocated with him to the foreign country, were ready to leave.

‘I believe these films will happen,’ he reassures Hobbit fans, saying ‘preproduction continues as we speak’.”

Let’s hope so! Who will Jackson call on next to direct? My money’s on Neill Blomkamp, director of District 9 and Jackson’s protege of sorts.

Click here to read Del Toro’s complete farewell letter.

In it he talks about star John Travolta, the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, and how it all went down because of his pecker.

Below is a little snippet, but for the full story, click here.

Let me start by apologizing to anyone who went to see “Battlefield Earth.” It wasn’t as I intended — promise. No one sets out to make a train wreck. Actually, comparing it to a train wreck isn’t really fair to train wrecks, because people actually want to watch those. It started, as so many of my choices do, with my Willy Wonker.

1. Up
Written by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter
The first three on my list are all running neck and neck and neck for the top spot, but ultimately, I had to give it to Up, this funny, emotional, unpredictable, and technically brilliant animated film from (where else?) Pixar Studios. It has everything a near-perfect screenplay should have: real (and really flawed) characters, realistic (yet witty) dialogue, strong (and strongly motivated) villains, and a believable character arc (there’s two actually, one for each of the main characters). Who knew a cartoon about a senior citizen and a chubby kid in a balloon-powered floating house would be so riveting?

2. District 9
Written by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
“Wow.” That was my first impression after seeing this movie. Smart on so many levels and wholly different from anything Hollywood could ever hope to produce, District 9 is a ticking time-bomb of a story: it starts off like a real-life documentary about alien refugees, sprints off like an action movie on fire, and ends with one cataclysmic sci-fi bang that leaves you blown away.

3. Avatar
Written by James Cameron
James Cameron’s screenplay for this year’s most anticipated film and history’s most expensive movie ever is by no means subtle. But it does exactly what a good script should do: act as the solid blueprint for an amazingly sound yet beautiful cinematic monolith to be built upon. From paying off small first-act setups to putting a 22nd-Century twist on cliched elements, the Avatar story is breathtaking, intense, and otherworldly — it reminds us of the very reasons we go to the cinema in the first place.

4. Star Trek
Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Director J.J. Abrams is a pop-culture God. Just look at his recent credits. And his re-imagining of the original Star Trek series was a pretty damn good balance between appeasing the Trekkers and Trekkies (depending on your level of geekdom) and telling a suspenseful, witty, and action-packed sci-fi opera for the newbies. But it’s really the screenwriting duo of Orci & Kurtzman who should share in the glory. Though their screenplay has a few flaws ([spoiler until the end of the parenthesis] why the Hell does Kirk go from ensign to captain of the Enterprise in less than a day???), its solid structure is what allowed Abrams to pull off the sacrilegious move of remaking a classic.

5. Inglourious Basterds
Written by Quentin Tarantino
This historical fantasy made a big splash because it was Quentin Tarantino’s return to form, his entree back into pop-culture consciousness after the dismal performance of his half of Grindhouse, Death Proof. Unique anti-heroes (a band of covert U.S. Army Jews infiltrating Nazi-occupied France), long-winded monologues, and the most delicious villain we’ve seen in a long time. Sure some of his scenes needed to be trimmed (the pub scene was way too long!) and the alternate-history ending didn’t sit well with me, but overall, Inglourious Basterds was one of the most unique screenplays of the year and one of the most enjoyable movies.

6. Taken
Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
A stellar example of how a script with a simple premise -– Liam Neeson plays an ex-CIA agent who must find his daughter’s kidnappers in France -— can result in a tight, suspenseful thriller so long as the execution is done right.

7. The Hangover
Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
There was no single funnier movie in 2009 than The Hangover. Lucas and Moore take the tired “bachelor party in Vegas” subgenre, put a subtle Memento-like slant on it, and deliver one of the most jaw-droppingly, surprisingly hilarious films of the year.

8. The Hurt Locker
Written by Mark Boal
This is an intense war thriller about a gung-ho bomb specialist who takes over a U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal squad and clashes with his by-the-book subordinates in the midst of roadside bombs, insurgent snipers, and internal demons. Not perfect and lacks a strong character arc, but otherwise pretty invigorating. Makes me glad I never joined the military — and grateful to those who have.

8. 9. The Blind Side
Written by John Lee Hancock
I usually don’t fall for the based-on-a-true-story, tear-jerking, feel-good dramas, but this Sandra Bullock-starring football movie took me by surprise. Why? Because the screenplay had well-rounded characters and a simple but effective plotline — all causing you to empathize with the main character. An effective family-friendly drama if ever there were one this year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Paranormal Activity
• I Love You, Man
• Watchmen
• The International

ttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/

It’s kinda hard to judge a screenplay by watching the resultant film without reading the actual screenplay. But I’ll do my best here to strip away the director’s gorgeous choices, the actors’ brilliant human touches, and the rest of the crew’s awesome work, so I can focus on the movie’s spine: the script. (Keep in mind I have not yet seen the usual late-in-the-year Oscar bait, such as Precious, Up in the Air, or Nine, or highly praised smaller movies, like The Hurt Locker.)

Below is my list of 2009′s Best Produced Screenplays:

1. Up
Written by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter
The first three on my list are all running neck and neck and neck for the top spot, but ultimately, I had to give it to Up, this funny, emotional, unpredictable, and technically brilliant animated film from (where else?) Pixar Studios. It has everything a near-perfect screenplay should have: real (and really flawed) characters, realistic (yet witty) dialogue, strong (and strongly motivated) villains, and a believable character arc (there’s two actually, one for each of the main characters). Who knew a cartoon about a senior citizen and a chubby kid in a balloon-powered floating house would be so riveting?

2. District 9
Written by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
“Wow.” That was my first impression after seeing this movie. Smart on so many levels and wholly different from anything Hollywood could ever hope to produce, District 9 is a ticking time-bomb of a story: it starts off like a real-life documentary about alien refugees, sprints off like an action movie on fire, and ends with one cataclysmic sci-fi bang that leaves you blown away.

3. Avatar
Written by James Cameron
James Cameron’s screenplay for this year’s most anticipated film and history’s most expensive movie ever is by no means subtle. But it does exactly what a good script should do: act as the solid blueprint for an amazingly sound yet beautiful cinematic monolith to be built upon. From paying off small first-act setups to putting a 22nd-Century twist on cliched elements, the Avatar story is breathtaking, intense, and otherworldly — it reminds us of the very reasons we go to the cinema in the first place.

4. Star Trek
Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Director J.J. Abrams is a pop-culture God. Just look at his recent credits. And his re-imagining of the original Star Trek series was a pretty damn good balance between appeasing the Trekkers and Trekkies (depending on your level of geekdom) and telling a suspenseful, witty, and action-packed sci-fi opera for the newbies. But it’s really the screenwriting duo of Orci & Kurtzman who should share in the glory. Though their screenplay has a few flaws ([spoiler until the end of the parenthesis] why the Hell does Kirk go from ensign to captain of the Enterprise in less than a day???), its solid structure is what allowed Abrams to pull off the sacrilegious move of remaking a classic.

5. Inglourious Basterds
Written by Quentin Tarantino
This historical fantasy made a big splash because it was Quentin Tarantino’s return to form, his entree back into pop-culture consciousness after the dismal performance of his half of Grindhouse, Death Proof. Unique anti-heroes (a band of covert U.S. Army Jews infiltrating Nazi-occupied France), long-winded monologues, and the most delicious villain we’ve seen in a long time. Sure some of his scenes needed to be trimmed (the pub scene was way too long!) and the alternate-history ending didn’t sit well with me, but overall, Inglourious Basterds was one of the most unique screenplays of the year and one of the most enjoyable movies.

6. Taken
Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
A stellar example of how a script with a simple premise -– Liam Neeson plays an ex-CIA agent who must find his daughter’s kidnappers in France -— can result in a tight, suspenseful thriller so long as the execution is done right.

7. The Hangover
Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
There was no single funnier movie in 2009 than The Hangover. Lucas and Moore take the tired “bachelor party in Vegas” subgenre, put a subtle Memento-like slant on it, and deliver one of the most jaw-droppingly, surprisingly hilarious films of the year.

8. The Blind Side
Written by John Lee Hancock
I usually don’t fall for the based-on-a-true-story, tear-jerking, feel-good dramas, but this Sandra Bullock-starring football movie took me by surprise. Why? Because the screenplay had well-rounded characters and a simple but effective plotline — all causing you to empathize with the main character. An effective family-friendly drama if ever there were one this year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Paranormal Activity
• I Love You, Man
• Watchmen
• The International

“I deduce that this movie is elementary entertainment, my dear boy.”

Bad joke aside, Sherlock Holmes could have been an excellent action thriller…but it’s hampered by a slow second act and unoriginal third act, resulting in only an above average popcorn flick, despite Robert Downey Jr. starring in the title role and Jude Law as his sidekick Dr. John Watson.

A lot of gripes have been made that director Guy Ritchie‘s take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s literary detective is a bastardization, or Hollywoodization, an attempt to make Holmes into some sort of action superhero. And it’s partly true: the script by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg immediately establishes that this ain’t your great grandfather’s Sherlock Holmes. His intellect is matched only by his physical prowess.

But this might be a more faithful take on the character (I’ve never read any of the stories or novels myself, but apparently Holmes has always been a swordsman, boxer and martial artist) and is certainly more interesting than previous iterations of Holmes.

Sadly, Ritchie’s handling of the action scenes are something to be desired: While the gunplay and explosions are shown in clear (sometimes even slow-motion) angles, the hand-to-hand combat is shot in the very annoying, very trendy fashion of vomit-inducing handheld camera work and seizure-sparking rapid-fire editing. Shame, considering that Downey can actually fight (he practices Wing Chun). The villains are fairly stock and Holmes’ archnemesis, Moriarty, makes nothing more than a cameo.

Fortunately, Downey and Law are excellent as Holmes and Watson, so they save the movie from becoming a Hollywood-rapes-literary classic scenario. Their rapport is palpable and witty. Plus, their takes on their respective characters are smart and realistic.

A franchise this most certainly will be.

He uses a true story to help explain why professional screenwriters should not be asked to do anyone the favor of reading their screenplay and why most people can’t write.

You should definitely check out the full story here, but below is a brilliant excerpt from it:

And the truth is, saying something positive about this thing would be the nastiest, meanest and most dishonest thing I could do. Because here’s the thing: not only is it cruel to encourage the hopeless, but you cannot discourage a writer. If someone can talk you out of being a writer, you’re not a writer. If I can talk you out of being a writer, I’ve done you a favor, because now you’ll be free to pursue your real talent, whatever that may be. And, for the record, everybody has one. The lucky ones figure out what that is. The unlucky ones keep on writing shitty screenplays and asking me to read them.

Just plain true and superbly written at the same time.

Disney has purchased Marvel Entertainment (AKA Marvel Comics and all its movies and merchandising) for about $1 billion. That’s billion. Not million, but billion. As in more money than the GNP of most nations.

What does that mean for screenwriters, filmmakers, and fans? Know one knows for sure. But Marc Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly has a pretty interesting post about the deal.

I would like to think that my favorite comics publisher teaming up with the world’s largest entertainment corporation should mean more greenbacks to fuel movies about my favorite comic characters. But critics fear franchise dilution, legal wrangling, and other corporate horrors.

For now, all I can say is, “We’ll see.”

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is one of the most disappointing movies of the year, let alone of the summer. As an OTF (Original Transformers Fan), I felt the film had none of the first movie‘s charm, unpredictability, or humanity. Not that the original film was the greatest sci-fi movie ever made; it was flawed, to be sure, but it was a fun popcorn flick with at least a semblance of some brains.

But the second time out, director Michael Bay loads up on the illogical and overlong combat scenes and forgets to bring some heart, smarts, and uniqueness. Perhaps even more sad is the fact that the screenwriters — Ehren Kruger and the writing team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman — decided to take a nosedive in the quality category.

In terms of basic movie writing, their script is far inferior to the original movie’s story. The opening 20 minutes or so have nothing to do with the main thrust of the story and is nothing more than an excuse for Bay to blow up more stuff, show star Shia LaBeouf in a cheesy “comedic” introduction, and exploit hot female lead Megan Fox in various suggestive poses. The rest of the screenplay is filled with predictable “twists,” forced humor, and a buttload of useless violence.

In terms of adapting a beloved pop-culture franchise, the trio fails miserably. The introduction of the Fallen (a Decepticon ancestor stuck on Earth) and his revenge plot is a bad attempt at rewriting Transformers lore that leads to little innovation and a whole lot of sound and fury that signifies nothing. And the main protagonist, Shia’s Sam, has little or no character development. And various new Autobots and Decepticons are poorly adapted from the original toyline and cartoon. For example, new Autobots Skids and Mudflap have little to do with the previous incarnations that share their names and, worse off, are racist caricatures with their jive talking and minstrel-like stupidity.

This is all especially bad when considering that Orci and Kurtman wrote the steller Star Trek redux and Kruger has penned such great fare as The Ring and Arlington Road.

What happened? Where did Revenge of the Fallen go oh so wrong?

Well, Bay is much to blame. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Rock. But let’s be honest. Bay’s not known for highly intelligent movies.

But the true missing link? John Rogers. He wrote the script for the first Transformers movie, which was later rewritten by Orci and Kurtzman. His absence is sorely missed here. Aside from being a talented writer, he — like me — is an OTF. He knew how to take the coolest parts of the toy line and a kids cartoon from the ’80s and translate that into 21st-Century coolness.

Surprisingly, I find myself totally agreeing with Roger Ebert on all his points regarding this sequel, though he did give the movie a 1-out-of-4-stars rating (or 25% approval), whereas I would give it a slightly higher 2-out-of-5-stars rating (40%).

Revenge of the Fallen is not a boring movie, it’s just not the movie it should have been.

Here are some additional fanboy gripes. ALERT: Keep in mind they contain spoilers.

• Why the Hell Does Prime Have a Mouth???
  Optimus Prime has never had a mouth in any of his many incarnations (well, at least the good ones anyway). How did he suddenly grow one now? Do you think a robot needs to eat? More likely than not, Bay and his crack staff probably thought to have a mouth to give the robot a little bit of humanity … but he’s a freakin’ CGI robot in a mindless action movie! Shoulda gave that “humanity” to the actual human actors in the film.
• The Matrix Reloaded … Again?
  The writers finally introduced The Matrix of Leadership, the Autobot talisman that is passed from leader to leader and gives its user immense power. One problem: they already messed up this piece of Transformer lore by calling it the All Spark Cube in the first movie. So, now, in the sequel, they rehash this plot device, having Sam once again inject the Matrix/Cube into Optimus to save the day. Um, if you’re not going to do it right the first time, try not to repeat yourself the second time around.

So I figure it’d be an appropriate time to post half of my Best Produced Screenplays of 2009 list. Of course, it’ll change and grow through the coming months, but I think the following movies are the few true film gems found in a mountain of cinematic sludge.

1. Up
Rating: 4.9 out of 5

A CGI cartoon about an old man who tries to float his house to South America using balloons? Seriously? Who woulda thunk such an obscure, impossible premise could have spawned the most amazing movie of 2009 to date. Its key (aside from the amazing visuals) is the screenplay.

Filled with genius comedy, heartbreaking plotpoints, surprisingly thrilling action scenes, and flawed but likable characters, the script by Bob Peterson and director Pete Docter is a classic example of how to tell a sophisticated, emotional story for adults based on a decidedly simple structure –- and mask it all as a kid’s movie. But then again, why should I have been so surprised? Up is yet another classic crafted by Pixar, the studio that brought us Wall-E, Toy Story and The Incredibles.

2. Star Trek
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Yet again, here’s a movie I resisted at first but fell totally in love with.

I am a mild Star Trek fan, having regularly watched The Next Generation and infrequently watched re-runs of the original series. But then producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga flushed Gene Roddenberry’s vision down the black hole of horrible sequels and TV spin-offs. If that weren’t enough, I heard the pair wanted to draw from the well they’d already sucked dry by doing a TV series on Kirk and Spock during their Star Fleet Academy days.

So when this new Star Trek movie went into production with their “Early Adventures of Kirk and Spock” premise, I just shuddered. I hate when Hollywood issues horrible remakes (see 1998’s Godzilla … or rather don’t!) or tries to rewrite its own history (Star Wars prequels) because it only devalues the original property. It just shows how unimaginative the studio executives are and how hackneyed their hired screenwriters can be.

But then a few silver linings started to shine through the gloomy moribund mass of mediocre ideas. Firstly, Berman and Braga were out and J.J. Abrams was in. Abrams is the king of “geek coolness.” He created TV’s Alias, mindf*cked audiences with Lost and directed Mission: Impossible III.

Then word of the casting leaked out. An unknown Chris Pine as Kirk (smart move). Heroes’ Zachary Quinto as Kirk (brilliant). John Cho (of Harold & Kumar fame) as Sulu (spot on). And others like character actors Bruce Greenwood and Clifton Collins Jr. rounded out the solid cast. With Eric Bana as the main villain Nero, Star Trek started looking more like a a space stud than a Terran dud.

Having watched it, I gotta say, it’s pretty damn good.

The screenplay — by “it” writing duo of and Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci — contain a constant clip of levity, witty dialogue, suspense, sexiness, emotion, and (most importantly in my book) action. It honors the traditions of the Star Trek canon but isn’t bound by it.

Star Trek’s only flaw that prevents a perfect score is … well, I don’t wait to be a spoiler, but let’s just say Kirk moves up the chain of command pretty damn fast. A minor complaint about a lack of realism, but then again, I should realize that this is a movie about an intergalactic spaceship, after all.

3. Taken
Rating: 4 out of 5

Another stellar example of how a script with a simple premise –  Liam Neeson plays an ex-CIA agent who must find the bastards who kidnapped his daughter in France — can result in a tight, suspenseful thriller so long as the execution is right.

This is the good that can come out of Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen‘s partnership, instead of the usual popcorn crap of late (The Transporter franchise). This is much closer to their cinematic classics, such as The Karate Kid and The Professional.

4. The Hangover
Rating: 4 out of 5

I thought this was going to be a disappointment. It wasn’t. Thankfully, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore twist the tired “bachelor party in Vegas” subgenre into a very funny comedy with a Memento-like thriller aspect.

Three friends wake up after a debauchery-filled bachelor party only to find a tiger in their hotel bathroom, a baby in their closet and their groom missing — and no memory of what happened. Bitingly funny broad comedy + realistic dialogue + flawed yet strong characters + unique script structure = a damn good movie.

5. I Love You Man
Rating: 4 out of 5

I have to admit, I thought this was going to be an instant classic. It’s not. Too high an expectation? Yeah, probably. So I didn’t bust my gut laughing every two minutes. It’s still a good movie –- one of the better ones so far of 2009 — and you know why? Director John Hamburg and co-writer Larry Levin pen a heart-warming script that’s based on real emotions and characters. From human frailty and flaws come great opportunities for hilarity! It’s a “bromantic” comedy at its finest.

We’ll have to see if the next six months will give us five more enjoyably enjoyable movies based on strong screenplays.

Oh, and a side note, here are my list of honorable mentions. They’re movies I liked but know will never make this list.

Honorable Mentions:

Watchmen
Entertaining, never boring, but ultimately, an unfulfilled vision of Alan Moore’s epic comic miniseries.

The International
A little slow in places, but features one of the best set pieces ever filmed (a gunfight in the Guggenheim).

Terminator Salvation
Plenty of fun explosions and CGI spectacle. The script sets up the pins beautifully but fails to knock down all the targets. With numerous writers brought on to rework the movie (and even The Dark Knight scribe Jonathan Nolan writing on set during filming!), I have a strong suspicious everything good about the screenplay and movie had little to do with what credited writers John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris originally brought to the table. I mean, they did write such “awesome” fare as Catwoman and T3. Oh, and with director McG on board, all I gotta say is, “See, I told you he was a hack.”