Ryan Reynolds Is the Green Lantern

from Variety: Ryan Reynolds has landed the role of Hal Jordan in the upcoming Green Lantern film. It's not an inspiring choice for the role. I'd actually prefer Bradley Cooper who was also in the running or Nathan Fillion. I also don't understand why Reynolds needs to carry two superhero franchises simultaneously - Deadpool being the other. There seems to be this need by every upcoming actor to appear in as many franchises as possible - Christian Bale, Shia Labeouf, and now Reynolds. Spread the wealth! I'm now more interested in who the producers cast for the rest of the Green Lantern Corps, and there better be a Green Lantern Corp, since it's the best part of the series.

Bradley's crying because he didn't get the part.

"End" of the Week - Ryan Reynolds

I thought I'd start a new weekly posting, entitled "End" of the Week, essentially showing the "end" of a male celebrity worthy of objectification. The post is on Friday, which is the end of the work week, sooooo... there's the joke. We'll start things off this week with Ryan Reynolds, currently staring the hit rom-com The Proposal. The pics come from a previous film of his entitled Buying the Cow. I have not seen the film, since it sounds like crap, but the images make me think twice.

The Proposal's Box Office Success

Over the weekend, the Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds rom-com The Proposal opened at number one, with a surprising haul of over 34 million. Now, while I thought the trailer had a few laughs and Betty White is usually hilarious, I have no huge desire to see the picture. I'll probably just catch the film when it comes on DVD or premium cable. That being said, I'm still very happy for its success, mainly because the film was a female-centric studio picture with a lead actress in her forties. Whether or not the film was of great quality, I still feel it needs support, as a sort of message to Hollywood that films with leading women over the age of forty can still ignite the box office. The studios are rather clueless, believing any time it does occur it's a fluke. Sex and the City: The Movie - fluke, Mamma Mia! - accident, The Devil Wears Prada - surprise, Something's Gotta Give - how'd that happen. Yes, there will be pictures like Duplicity or The Brave One, which don't exactly explode at the box office, but their "failures" cannot be blamed on Julia Robert's or Jodie Foster's age. Imagine That bombed at the box office last week, but no one in the industry attributed its failure to Eddie Murphy's age, so I don't get the double standard for actresses. There are a number of issues that result in a film's weak showing - poor marketing, lack of interest in subject matter, no positive word of mouth - so it's unfair to focus entirely on the age of the leading lady. So, I feel its important for movie goers to support these films, because it will result in further production of female-centric studio pictures, and while they may not all be of the highest quality (Mamma Mia! was just bad), for every four or five poor-to-mediocre films, there will at least one good-to-great picture. That's my two cents.

OOH, also I like the fact that in The Proposal, Sandra Bullock is a number of years older than co-lead Ryan Reynolds. How's that for a reversal of Hollywood trends!

Sunday Blessings - Ryan Reynolds

The focus of today's Sunday Blessings is actor Ryan Reynolds, star of the just released rom-com The Proposal, which had a surprisingly successfull opening weekend. Tomorrow, I'll talk more about its success and why I'm happy for it, but today is all about Ryan Reynolds. The actor got his start on the really bad sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, which became simply Two Guys and a Girl for its second or third season. Apparently the pizza place wasn't necessary. I hate to admit it, but I actually watched the series for three of its four seasons, and I'm guessing primarily because of its attractive cast, since it sure as hell wasn't for the writing. The show did have some good eye-candy. Besides Reynolds, there was Richard Ruccolo, Nathan "Captain Tightpants" Fillion, Traylor Howard, Jennifer Westfeldt and Tiffani Thiessen. Anyway, I'm kind of surprised by Reynolds' lasting power in the industry. He was entertaining enough with the material he had on Two Guys..., but I didn't see any great potential in him. So... either I was entirely wrong at the time, or he got better over the last few years. The man did put in his dues, appearing in a number films that became cult favorites - Dick (yay!) Harold and Kumar, Waiting (ehh) and Van Wilder (eww!) - before getting roles in higher profile pictures with varying degrees of success. While I may not have been a fan of these sorts of films (Blade 3? Pass!) or his performances, I do appreciate Reynolds' means of marketing himself. By that I mean, appearing on every magazine shirtless with a rocking body. Oh dear god the abs on that man! I have to give props to any actor who tries to court sex symbol status for career advancement by appearing in photospreads in various stages of undress. Reynolds, Chris Evans, Seann William Scott - it's all good, except not you Matthew McConaughey - seriously, put a shirt on! Most actresses wind up being objectified, so I don't understand why actors shouldn't have to endure the same. Women and gay men everywhere appreciate the partial nudity, so Reynolds, keep up the good work. Amen.