Fandom Five: 'Green Lantern,' 'Drive' and the Week in Geek Film/TV News

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

1. Will Green Lantern glow?

After months and months of bad buzz then good buzz, bad trailers then good trailers, the Warner Bros. movie is finally here. The critics don't like the movie -- it has a 24% rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- but moviegoers aren't as harsh, giving it a Cinemascore of B. The movie is on track to gross a solid $57 to $60 million range.

STORY: 'Green Lantern' Is No. 1 on Friday with $21.6 Mil

2. Superman's father is the 'Gladiator'

Russell Crowe has been eyeing the role of Superman's father Jor-el in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel movie. The move recalls the casting of Marlon Brando as Jor-el in Richard Donner's 1989 Superman: The Movie. Brando was a very high-profile get and legitimized the project at a time when comic book movies weren't taken very seriously. Crowe, in turn, becomes Man of Steel's heavyweight and lends it gravitas.

Another similarity: Brando was paid a lot of money for a small amount of screen time; Crowe is getting paid a lot of money for what will be a small amount of screen time.

STORY: Russell Crowe Eyes 'Superman' Movie

3. And now for my next trick...

Geeks everywhere were thrilled when Darren Aronofsky signed on to direct the Wolverine sequel at Fox. But after his gothic indie Black Swan grossed over $323 million he had second thoughts and dropped out. This week, intellectual and literary-minded geeks were thrilled when Aronofsky signed on to direct Hobgoblin, an HBO pilot being written by Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman. Hobgoblin is set during World War II and centers on magicians and con men fighting Nazis.

It's a win for all involved. HBO continues to expand its high-minded genre offerings. Aronofsky finds a worthy project. Chabon, who also closed a deal to write Magic Kingdom for Disney this week, gets his first TV show one step closer to the finish line.

STORY: 'Hobgoblin': Darren Aronofsky Set to Direct HBO Pilot

4. 'Thrones' at Comic-Con

Another step in TV's potential domination of this year's Comic-Con is the announcement that HBO's Game of Thrones will make its first appearance at the San Diego-based convention. Not only will cast members and showrunners be there, but George R.R. Martin, the author of the popular novels, will moderate the panel.

The panels for Thrones and AMC's Walking Dead now jump to the top of the must-do list. Yes, Amazing Spider-Man is still likely to dominate the weekend (judging from this early perch) but this could be the one-two punch that KO's movies at the Con.

STORY: Comic-Con: HBO Sets Panels for 'Game of Thrones,' 'True Blood'

5. 'Drive,' I Said

Friday night, the Los Angeles Film Festival had the North American premiere of Drive, a thriller starring Ryan Gosling as a laconic driver (he's a mechanic, he's a movie stunt driver, he's a getaway driver) who falls for a Carey Mulligan, a mother whose husband is released from prison.

Heat Vision was there and what can we say? This is probably the coolest movie of the year so far.

FILM REVIEW: Drive

Los Angeles-set movies are in a genre unto themselves and this is the best one since Collateral. It's stylish without being stylized. It combines slow camera movements and 1970s-style pacing with a knowing use of lighting to reveal character and tell the story. There are outbursts of violence that harken to early Tarantino films, and flash-forwards and backwards that make you think of Soderbergh. But make no mistake, you're watching the arrival of a real unique talent in director Nicolas Winding Refn.