Mickey Mouse has done what ultimate bad guys and world conquerors like Dr. Doom, the Red Skull, Magneto, or the planet consuming Galactus couldn’t do take over the Marvel Universe.

The Internet is all a twitter (no pun intended), about Disney’s takeover of Marvel Comics/Entertainment. Many believe that the family orientated Disney will dilute Marvel’s hard edge. One blogger wrote that he expects that Marvel’s bad-ass vigilante, The Punisher will have to go to sensitivity classes. Others feel that Disney will be an asset.

Disney CEO, Robert Iger has stressed repeatedly that Disney is not going to interfere with Marvel Comics, or sugar coat their movie properties. Iger pointed out that Disney has produced many movies that were hard-edged, like Reservoir Dogs. In fact, Disney plans on sticking to Marvel’s current movie deals with rival moviemakers such as Paramount and Fox.

Marvel Movies such as Spider-Man 4, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and the Avengers are all still in the works. Even Marvel properties such as the Fantastic Four 3, and the (on again, off again, ?) Silver Surfer movie, which have been delayed, are back in the mix. The reason for the delays with the FF and Silver Surfer were on the studio’s part, not with any Disney deal, said a Hollywood insider.

It seems that although the Fantastic Four movies did respectable box office, the studios are looking to re-boot their Marvel franchises to mirror the re-booted Batman franchise and to capture the critical accolades associated with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. There could be a market for Disney making cartoon series of popular characters. Marvel already has a children’s TV show for Iron Man Armored Adventures.

Variety has recently reported that Akiva Goldsman (the man responsible for killing the Batman franchise of the 1990’s with the abysmal Batman & Robin) has been hired by Fox to oversee the FF re-boot. According to the trades Michael Green, who recently co-penned the Green Lantern movie, starring Ryan Reynolds (Blade Trinity), has been brought on to write the new Fantastic Four movie. The re-boot is likely to recast the fabulous foursome so don’t expect to see Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffud, Chris Evans or Michael Chiklis (the stars of FF 1 and 2) in the new movie.

As for Disney, they plan to take advantage of Marvel’s second-string characters, creating cartoons, movies, and live-action TV series for characters that are free of any licensing conflicts.

Reality television shows first burst onto the scene back in early 1990s when the television show Real World first premiered. Even though that show started in the early 1990s, more reality shows did not really pop up until the late 1990s. Once survivor came out and was a huge ratings hit, everyone started to jump on the bandwagon and produce shows about anything and everything. Their have been shows such as The Bachelor and For Love or Money that are dating shows. Their have been shows such as Big Brother in which people live together and compete for prizes.

A lot of reality shows have been broadcast but many of them bomb. By now this is a trend that most would think would have died down but it has only picked up lately with Skating with Celebrities and Dancing With the Stars being popular. With the way things are going there is only a certain amount of time for shows to broadcast and reality show will not get dropped in favor of them even though many of them fail, so who will be the loser. If more and more reality shows get picked up less sitcoms will get picked up. Dramas are just as popular as reality shows right now so networks won’t bet against them.

In sum, if you are not a big fan of reality shows you can sell your television because it looks like networks will keep coming up with anything and everything until they run out of ideas.

A somewhat hilarious and charming romantic comedy, Just Friends explores the innermost depths of the infamous “friend zone” of male/female relationships. Directed by Roger Kumble, the brains behind the widely lauded film Cruel Intentions (1999), the film has a novel premise, and although not the funniest comedy to hit the big screen in the past few years, it does have some really funny moments. Adam ‘Tex’ Davis makes his debut as a screenwriter after extensive work in cinematography and TV writing, and his efforts are above average, but Just Friends is not in the same league as similar themed contemporaries such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) and Meet The Parents (2000). Nevertheless, it’s a film well worth seeing…

Just Friends follows the life of Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds), a formerly obese New Jersey high school student in love with classmate Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart). However, Chris long ago fell into the “friend zone,” and although, he spent much of his adolescence bonding and building memories with Jamie, she never saw him as anything more than a friend. At their 1995 graduation party, Chris vows to reveal his true feelings, but his well-intentioned attempt blows up in his face when a jerk classmate humiliates him in front of his peers. Enraged, Chris vows to leave town and “become somebody”.

Fast forward ten years to 2005, where Chris is a thin, romantically smooth and wealthy record executive living in Los Angeles. He lives in a multi-million dollar house, drives a flashy sports car, and dates a string of beautiful models. Against his wishes, Chris is forced to watch over one of the company’s hottest pop artists, the ditsy and annoying Samantha James (Anna Faris). En route to Paris, their jet becomes grounded in New Jersey, and Chris is left with no alternative but to return home. While there, he’s reminded of his lifelong crush on Jamie. With newfound confidence, Chris sets out to win over Jamie, but in so doing, he doesn’t act like the real Chris, and his actions have the opposite effect. Meanwhile, a rival suitor from high school, a guitar-playing nice guy named Dusty (Chris Klein), enters the picture. His courtship threatens to ruin Chris’s latest pursuit of Jamie, but in the end, the only impediment to Chris’s lifelong dream is himself…

Cut from a formulaic genre, the resolution of Just Friends is rather predictable. But moviegoers don’t watch these types of films for suspense; they only want to laugh. And anyone who enjoyed Ryan Reynolds in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder is going to enjoy his performance in this film as well. Although not as well-written as the aforementioned film, Reynolds helps prop up the script with a well-cast comic persona akin to Owen Wilson and a straight-face delivery that would make Leslie Nielsen jealous. In fact, Just Friends is a good pick for those hoping to just laugh out loud. Two particularly hilarious scenes come to mind, one in which Chris makes an unexpected return to the ice rink after busting his lip, and one in which he receives an unexpected hand-hold while watching The Notebook. The latter is especially hilarious, and Adam Davis deserves extra credit for creating this classic and original scene. In the end, Just Friends will never garner the status of all-time comedy cult classic, but for the present day, it more than fulfills its promise to create laughter…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Just Friends (DVD).