The 168 Turnaround: Hungover and in Tights…with a Dragon Tattoo

THIS WEEK: Mar 27 – Apr 2, 2011

MAN OF STEEL: I’ll just come out and say it—I don’t much care for Superman.  Sure, I saw 2006’s Superman Returns, and, yeah, I did watch Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the mid 90s.  But I haven’t seen any of the Christopher Reeve films, and certainly haven’t watched the George Reeves television show.  And yet, the idea of a Christopher Nolan (Inception) produced, and Zack Snyder (Sucker Punch) directed Superman reboot is, I admit, an interesting one.  And now with news that Oscar Nominated actress Amy Adams (The Fighter) will be playing the role of Lois Lane, I’m becoming more and more interested.  For more info on Adams’ role in the forthcoming Superman: Man Of Steel, click here.

STIEG LARSSON: I generally don’t like Absolutely-Must-Read novels—you know, novels that are on the bestseller lists for months and months, and have everyone in a reading frenzy (i.e. The Da Vinci Code and its like).  Those novels are usually (though not always) a current hot topic wrapped in mediocre prose and lazy plotting.  But what I like even less than AMR novels (if you’ll allow me to coin that phrase), is the bizarre desire to publish a deceased writer’s unfinished works.  And so when plot and setting details about a possible fourth instalment in Stieg Larsson’s massively popular Millennium series (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and its sequels) hit the internet, I couldn’t help but cringe.  As far as I can see, there is no reason this novel should be published.  After all, Larsson is dead and the novel is unfinished.  Nevertheless, fans of the series have gone bananas with excitement, Canadian ones especially.  Click here to find out why.

THE HANGOVER: PART II: The first movie was a lot of fun.  Being a non-drinker, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but director Todd Phillips surprised me.  And now comes The Hangover: Part II, a movie that, to my mind, is mostly unnecessary.  As you can guess, another one of the guys is getting married, and so there’s the obligatory bachelor party, alcohol, exotic locale, and…the infamous morning after.  Below is the trailer for the film, which was just released this week.  On the one hand, the jokes seem somewhat repetitive and stale; on the other hand, the movie dresses itself in such outrageousness that it’s near impossible not to chuckle from time to time.  You be the judge.

WONDER WOMAN: In TV news, it seems the makers of NBC’s forthcoming Wonder Woman reboot have been listening to their critics, or at least trying to.  A few weeks ago, we got our first look at Adrianne Palicki in her new Wonder Woman costume, and the fans were not impressed.  The costume looked cheap, poorly conceptualized, and—to put not too fine a point on it—like something you’d buy at the Stag Shop.  But now comes several set photos, and—low and behold—the costume has changed…a little.  It’s a little less gaudy, anyway (goodbye latex pants and high heels).  Does this qualify as an improvement?  Not to my mind.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: One Man Disney Movie
There’s singing talent…and then there’s Nick Pitera, a man whose vocal range is downright frightening.  Here you can watch him singing a medley of Disney songs…I won’t lie—it blew my mind.

The 168 Turnaround is a week-in-review column, a place for me to reflect on the week’s most interesting pop culture news items.  If it mattered to me or I think it might matter to you, then it will be here.  If I’ve overlooked an important news item, or if you have a comment or question, please leave a response below.  Thank you for reading.