A fistful of Quick Bites as we get back to work

Lots to chew on today

It’s Tuesday, March 8th, and here’s where we are…

My youngest son turned 14 on Friday. That’s wild. He’s a very different person from his older brother, and I love that they’re both coming into focus as individuals. Allen’s just recently discovered his love of reading, and I’m excited. I keep a house full of books and I have several Kindles that are just loaded for bear. The boys have access to so much reading material when they want it, and so far, they’ve dabbled. Toshi reads a lot, but it’s more for school than for pleasure at this point because he’s on an advanced track and college is just eighteen months away. Allen’s starting high school this fall, and he’s still got time to actually mainline books just because he feels like it, and he’s starting to explore.

We celebrated over the weekend, starting on Friday night with The Batman at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse. Both Toshi and Allen were far more vocally excited before the movie began than I was, and I was happy to see that the hype seemed real for them. I didn’t take them to Batman vs Superman or Justice League, and as far as I know, they haven’t bothered with either of them. I liked Affleck in those films, but not enough to recommend the boys watch them. They’ve seen the older movies, and they dug the Nolan films, but they don’t worship them. They liked the Burton films when they were much younger and they had a great time with the ’66 version many, many times as little kids. Honestly, though, they’ve never had a strong relationship with the character, and I was surprised by how much they seemed to be anticipating the film before it began. It’s cool that they get to go on whatever ride Matt Reeves has planned for them as his trilogy (or whatever) plays out. I think we’re going to see audiences get their own Batman over and over, the same way we’re going to see them get their own James Bond or their own Superman. There are some roles that can stand that kind of reinvention, and there are others that can’t survive a recast and probably shouldn’t bother. Indiana Jones belongs to Harrison Ford, and I truly don’t think the film series should continue after whatever it is that James Mangold is doing right now. I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason to the way it works, either. I don’t think any character is necessarily off-limits… it’s more about what they will or won’t accept emotionally. Modern audiences don’t have any connection to Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, so I don’t think there’s any danger that Steven Spielberg is going to upset people by making a movie about a new adventure with Daniel Craig as Bullitt. On the other hand, for the first time in a while, I genuinely don’t envy the next Bond. Craig had the part for so long and was so generally loved in the role that there’s a generation that has never seen a Bond handoff before.