What's happened to me? Everytime I go to watch a movie these days I wonder if it could be research for my next post. Even if it's a 'chick flick'!

There I was the other day settling down on the couch with my girlfriend to 'enjoy' recently released romantic comedy Because I Said So.

Of course, these things have to be done. I mean, all the crappy sci-fi action-adventure movies my girlfriend has to put up with...



Anyway, this film stars Diane Keaton as a doting old single mum who is desperate to find her youngest of three daughters, played by Mandy Moore, a nice fella.

What she does though is inadvertantly sets two young stags on the girl creating the stock-standard love triangle situation that is full of laughs, tears and rooting ... for one guy or the other, that is.

Now, the 'likable' love interest, as opposed to the guy who turns out to be an arsehole and gets kicked to the curb, is played by Gabriel Macht which really sparked my interest.

Sure, he's a good looking guy, I can admit it, and does have an undeniable presence, which augurs well for the big screen adaptation of Will Eisner's classic comic series The Spirit.

Co-starring Samuel L Jackson as the arch nemesis, Octopus, the film will be released next month and tread the path laid by the likes of 300 and Sin City in that it has been shot in front of a green background.

I had never heard of Macht before he was cast in the key part of Denny Colt, a cop who is murdered but brought back from the grave as elusive crime-fighter The Spirit.

The 36-year-old has been doing the rounds as a bit-part player in TV and film, most notably in The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon, but finally gets his leading role.

"We think Gabriel has a devilishly charming quality, and the dry wit that embodies the Spirit, and we wanted to do this with someone who can embody this character for the next few years, because we anticipate we'll be making more than one Spirit movie," said Lionsgate prexy of film production Mike Paseornek at the time of casting.



At the helm of the picture is of course Frank Miller, himself a legend of the graphic novel world as the man behind 300 and The Dark Knight Returns, but who is also directing his first feature film alone after collaborating with Robert Rodriguez for the cinema release of one of his own pieces, the aforementioned Sin City (2005).

While the film's trailers have been met with mixed reaction, I've been quite impressed and have hope The Spirit will be a highly entertaining ride and do justice to Eisner's work which originated in the 1940s.



And the performance of Macht will no doubt play a huge role in how this film, kind of a cross between The Crow and Sin City, turns out.

He's got his work cut out for him too, taking on a bevvy of seductive temptresses, including Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss, Eva Mendes as Sand Seref, Jaime King as Lorelei Rox and more, who all cross The Spirit's path in one way or another.

Talk about a chick flick. Yeah, not that kind.

And for the record, I didn't mind Because I Said So, but don't tell anyone.

For more background on The Spirit go here GO HERE
To check out some of the cool images and posters from The Spirit film GO HERE