Bloggers and online movie “journalists” around the world are screaming bloody murder and demanding that 1. any adaptation be halted and 2. any adaptation not be handled by these two (the world’s biggest box office draw and the world’s most famous director).

Why?

To watch the original movie is to know their reasoning (which I don’t necessarily agree with).

Oldboy is a 2003 thriller from South Korea about a man who’s kidnapped for 15 years and then suddenly let go, released by unknown forces so he can find out who destroyed his life.

Aside from the great premise, this Chan-wook Park opus is perhaps one of the most stylistic, gritty and thought-provoking movies I’ve seen in recent years. It’s a thinking man’s revenge thriller, with intelligence mixed in with the brutal violence. It has a 2-minute-long uncut fight scene that, while not technically proficient, is viserally real and unique. But then there’s plenty of emotion and drama, plus a strange romance, that defies the movie’s genre. And, it has a devastating surprise ending that wrenches your insides and makes The Sixth Sense twist seem like child’s play.

So do I think Smith and Spielberg can do Oldboy justice?

That’s kinda like asking if the L.A. Lakers of the 1980s could beat the Boston Celtics of the 1950s. Nobody knows, but I hope Smith and Spielberg can pull it off, for all of our sakes. I like them both and though I think their movies are flawed, they are pretty skilled and talented when they aren’t making Wild Wild West or AI. The reason why people are protesting is because Oldboy is not a glossy popcorn entertainment, which is what Smith and Spielberg are known for.

I’m reserving my judgment until I see something concrete.

Until then, check out a clip of the original and decide for yourself if you think Will and Steven could do a similarly ground-breaking job.

Sadly, that doesn’t necessarily mean double the fun. Mostly because of the script — surprising, considering it’s the same three writers who wrote the last Bond flick (the Neal Purvis-Robert Wade tandem and Paul Haggis).

Craig’s debut as 007 in 2006’s Casino Royale was bloody good fun. It wasn’t perfect and felt clunky in some parts, but overall, it was a great reboot of the franchise. Craig as Bond was flawed, not terribly efficient, and a bit of an emotional whirlwind. A nice change-up from the suave if cold-hearted sex robot that Bond had become over the decades. Perhaps the biggest plus of Casino Royale was that there was an tragic love story hidden underneath the conquer-the-world plotline that helped to explain why Bond transformed into the agent we’ve come to know and love.

But Quantum of Solace lacked those subtleties.

It’s replaces the subtle romance and origin story with a revenge subplot intertwined with the main tale about Bond trying to stop an “environmentalist” from taking over Bolivia’s water supply. Gasp! What grand dastardly plans! Seriously. This is a Bond movie and that’s the best that they could come up with? C’mon!

Aside from its rather bland premise, the screenplay is relatively predictable. There aren’t too many surprises, and most of the excitement by way of the gun blasting, foot chasing and fist pounding — all of which come at a very generous clip.

On a related note, Marc Forster’s direction is a bit pedestrian, especially when the fighting kicks up. Known for independent dramas, it’s clear he’s out of his element with Quantum of Solace. He imitates the (unfortunate) trend of using shaky close-ups, rapid-fire editing to create a sense of visual confusion. You can’t see who’s punching, where the bullets are flying, or where the cars are speeding off to.

Still, Quantum of Solace is an entertaining movie … but not any more than any other mindless big blockbuster action flick.

Many things. It could be anything from a tragic newspaper article or video game, to a mundane incident or a random scent. But every once in a while a movie comes along that gives me chills, that taps into something so primal, so innate in me that I say to myself, “I must watch that!” just so I can gain a little motivation for my own screenwriting and filmmaking.

It happened to me when I saw the trailer for Terminator 2. It happened with The Phantom Menace. This year it was The Dark Knight. And now it’s happened again. With the second trailer for The Watchmen.

If you’ve never heard of this movie adaptation of the Alan Moore comic mini series (yes, it’s a comic book — don’t believe the crap you hear about it being based on the hit “graphic novel,” that’s just PR-speak for a comic book), just know that it’s one of the most critically and commercially acclaimed comic book series of all time. And probably the most storied, sophisticated and influential story in modern comics history.

In Watchmen, Moore writes about a 1980s of a different time line, one in which costumed heroes have been outlawed and the USA is one step away from a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. While the world is threatened with a nuclear holocaust, two retired heroes (Rorschach and Nite Owl) discover that one of their former allies (The Comedian) has been murdered.

Is there a conspiracy to pick off former heroes one by one? Is it the work of the Soviets? The US government? A former archenemy?

From what I can see, director Zach Snyder (300) has done a pretty amazing job of capturing the essence of Moore’s comic. Now, “watch” the trailer below yourself and see if you get a sudden jolt of inspiration.

But Barrack Obama was just elected as the next president of the United States of America. This is truly a historic moment, so I couldn’t resist writing about it. He’ll be the first U.S. president to be of African-American descent. (I find it funny that people and the media conveniently label him as “The First Black President” but fail to mention he’s half white … but that’s a topic for another post.)

His election will no doubt be fodder for a great movie some day (or several bad ones, depending on who helms it). How could you not think Obama’s path to the White House wouldn’t be the basis for a great screenplay and eventual film?

Born the son of a Kenyan father and white mother, Obama grew up without his father and not particularly wealthy. He was raised mostly by his maternal grandmother, who taught him to stay focused on education. After becoming a lawyer, Obama quickly worked his way up the political chain using smarts, wit and outstanding speaking skills.

And soon the biracial Obama will be president of the United States — a nation created upon the genocide of Indians, built up by the slavery of Africans, and flourished on the backs of countless neglected immigrants. Amazing how far this nation has come.

Regardless if he’s a good president, Obama has changed the course of American history, and maybe even the world’s, because he’s a symbol of positive change in racial attitudes. As my mother remarked, “America is a great nation: anyone can make themselves to be anything they want, so long as they have the talent.”

And if nothing else, Obama’s got a pretty cool name. ;P