A not-so-secret secret

I love superhero films.  Always have.  I don't have too much knowledge about the actual comics but I love the movies.  And have become a self proclaimed superhero film snob. 

Reasons why they are awesome:
The dichotomy of someone who has a superpower yet has to realize when and how to use it for good and what defines "good" according to him/her versus how the people of the city define it.

The tumultuous love between the hero and the one that they know they cannot ever fully be with.  The selflessness that not only affects the person(s) that he/she loves, but affects the entire city as well.

The shocking reality of death.  Whenever someone dies, I am always surprised that their time is up (even though it is expected) and still secretly think that they will come back to life or that they can be saved.  But they can't.  And that is what makes the superhero such a tortured soul: seeing the people that they love die and knowing that is has to be that way (I'm still mourning the loss of Uncle Ben and the good cops/detectives that never make it to the end).

The duplicit darkness.  Not the kind of darkness that was in Watchmen (the whole almost/kinda rape thing was just too much).  But the duplicity of the hero.  The Dark Knight is my favorite and that movie exemplified a hero that the city turned on and caused him to hide and wait for the right time to come back and save it.  He almost has to hide from himself.  I imagine it becomes hard and confusing to be smoking hot Bruce Wayne one minute then masked Batman the next. 

I tear up, my hands get clammy, I gasp, I laugh, I bite my nails...all emotions are covered for approximately two hours with no interruptions.  It forces you to feel.

For a minute, you feel as if you are actually a part of the problem and your input will help solve it.  You yell at the people to "Run faster!", "Dismantle the bomb already!"  And when they don't, "Idiots!!"

This ridiculous sort-of-secret did not come out of the blue.  I saw The Amazing Spider-man tonight.

I was wary about seeing it at all but I ended up with nothing to do tonight.  The first Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire was good.  But then he kind of turned in to a goobhead and never had the looks to pull it off anyway.  Enter Andrew Garfield.  I was hesitant about him too, mostly because he seemed so young.  But he turned out to be a total cutie (with fantastic arms) and a great Spider-man.  He cries without becoming a sap like Maguire did, therefore making it seem more realistic.  I think little boys will especially be drawn to him.  This one also features Emma Stone and who doesn't love her?

I'm stoked about The Dark Knight Rises and I'm sure I'll be posting about it immediately after seeing it.  When I bought The Dark Knight, I watched it once every few days for a couple of months.  I still drop everything if I see it's on television.  The cast is phenomenal.  I'm hoping that Anne Hathaway will do Catwoman justice in the new one.  Michelle Pfeiffer was terrific in the role in Batman Returns.  Although Julie Newmar has been the hottest to play her, she had the Bond girl look about her that brought a little class to the role.

When will come the day that a woman plays the superhero in a film of her own, not just as a supporting character?  The supporting female characters always seem to just be sneaky and/or sexy. (Scarlett Johansson, put your boobs up already.  Bleh.)  Really?  That's it?  Come on.  Women can be badass too!  I may have a date with myself to go see Brave next week.  It's a Disney/Pixie film about a young, Irish heroine, complete with flowing ginger locks.  I'll give them credit for this movie but I'm still waiting to see a real person play a heroine.

If ever I should hear about a role opening for a leading lady superhero, I'm auditioning...with plenty of suggestions. 

Side note:  When the moment rarely occurs that I do think about having children, I think about having boys.  That way my weird obsession with superheroes will be justified.  Or perhaps I'll end up having coolest little girl in the world.