Iron Man : The Movie

[darklighter1]

Great pics Jig!

[Sir Jig-A-Lot]

if only i coulda posted the actual film for you guys.. :disappoint:

[darklighter1]

YES! But not too much longer though! :dance:

[Sir Jig-A-Lot]

3 more new tv spots here : http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=7113

[Sir Jig-A-Lot]

[center]Terrence Howard on the Future of War Machine

(Spoiler Warning: If you want to know absolutely nothing about the upcoming Iron Man movie then stop reading now, and go back to watching baseball or golf or whatever you normally do on a Sunday. It's only five days away and surely you can bookmark this, wait a couple days and then come back and read this, right?)

Superhero Hype just got back from the New York junket for Marvel Studios and Paramount's Iron Man, and while we certainly don't want to spoil anyone's funny if they've been dying to see the movie and be surprised, there's a nice little tip of the hat to Terrence Howard's James "Rhodey" Rhodes own armored incarnation. When we spoke to Howard earlier, we had to ask him what his thoughts were for his character's development in potential sequels, and always being the intelligent and consummate actors' actor, Howard shared his abundant thoughts on where he thinks things should go.

The real question on everyone's mind after seeing the movie is when we'll see Rhodey don the armor. "When Rhodey continues in his emotional evolution," Howard said quizzically. "He has to be willing to take off his suit as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force first, and that is a hard thing to let go of. Tony has already let go of his billionaire suit that he wore, the money-hoarding individual, and you gotta get naked to get into that suit, and Rhodey has to get naked first." (I guess that answers a question that's always been on Jerry Seinfeld's mind.)

"Tony is still pulling Rhodey up," he continued. "‘You don't see it as clearly as I see it now, but here, take a look.' ‘Cause Rhodey's killed a thousand people with his planes, dropped bombs, and bears no responsibility for it, but when that comes to face him, which hopefully they will do once Rhodey puts on that helmet that Tony has that's been geared towards his patterns and picks up on some of those things that Tony's responsibility and what he's done. The computer in that helmet records the brain waves, and begins to jar Rhodey and the changes begin to happen in him. He'll be a little more human."

Howard doesn't want to rush his character's transformation though. "The question is whether we will take the time to put on the Iron Man suit first and then have to fight with Iron Man to take it off me and then ultimately build a new suit for Rhodey or whether they go right into the second one of them building the suit. I would prefer to wait for the third one. I'd prefer to let it grow a little bit and then after the third one, they could go into its own franchise of War Machine later on. I don't want to introduce War Machine too early for my own monetary benefits."

Howard didn't want to be around to watch Robert Downey Jr. go through everything that was involved with turning into Iron Man i.e. putting on the suit, etc. but he has some ideas how he could make his own transition easier. "Give me a couple drinks and I'll sit there and y'all can make the suit for me, but I think what I would have them do for me is just make a full body cast of me and have that as a mannequin and make it to fit this mannequin. I don't think Robert demanded that yet… but Robert isn't as smart as me sometimes." (The last bit was said with that glint in Howard's eyes when he's making a joke.)

Earlier, director Jon Favreau said that he was pretty sure a potential sequel would introduce War Machine and Iron Man's arch-nemesis The Mandarin (also hinted in the movie). "I think you gotta go with War Machine, you gotta give Terrence more to do," Favreau told us. "He really had to be patient in this one, and he really could have been Tony Stark if we wanted to go against the grain of what was in the books. He characterizes that, and once you break him out of the role that he was relegated to in this one, I think he could go toe-to-toe with Robert, and it could be a cool buddy set-up. Then you need some bad guys, and I think the bad guys are going to be tech-based for the most part, seeing what's worked about this film."

Make sure to go see Iron Man when it opens on Friday, May 2 to make sure that sequel happens. (Or if you can't wait that long and need to be the first person on your block to see the movie, it has previews in some areas on Thursday at 8pm.) Look for a lot more with Favreau and the cast of the summer's first big movie right here on Superhero Hype in the next couple days![/center]

[Sir Jig-A-Lot]

[center]ok this guy from AICN Australia who attended the same press screening i did pretty much sums up my thoughts on Iron Man, with the exception being that unlike him i did not avoid all the trailers & photos (Like Duh! or this thread might be pretty bare.) so if you are up for being spoiled, g'head read..

Spoiler:

Latauro From AICN-Downunder Reviews IRON MAN!!



I have a problem with giving films star ratings, or, really, any sort of numerical rank, but I do appreciate that some people may want a quick summation without reading too much, so here it is: yes, IRON MAN is everything you were hoping for.

To qualify that statement, I should point out that it will only be what you were hoping for if, in fact, you were hoping for one of the most enjoyable superhero movies ever made, with no weak spots and brilliant characterisation. Fanboys with impossibly high standards who are only happy when they're poking holes in things are going to have their work cut out for them.

I'm not going to delve into the plot at all -- one of the reasons I studiously avoided most of the marketing for this film is so I could have some surprises when I actually watched it, and I'm glad I did -- but I will say that this film should help put to bed the argument that origin stories are getting tired. I've always felt that complaining about seeing an origin story in a superhero movie is like complaining about every romantic comedy featuring a guy and a girl hooking up. Isn't the origin half the fun? Taking something patently ridiculous and trying to have it make sense for a cynical 21st century audience? IRON MAN's origin story actually has its cake and eats it too; somehow, the film blends a relatively grounded trial-and-error process with moments of glorious ridiculousness. Watching Tony Stark go from self-centred weapons manufacturer to noble superhero is the
best part of this film, and it quite rightly focuses most of its energies on this transformation.

Now, to the directorial stylings of Jon Favreau... Reading interviews with him early on in the process, I was convinced of his passion and understanding for the genre, but what impressed me in the film itself was his handling of the action scenes. Action scenes are typically considered the most exciting part of any film (which is why you hear so many stories about studios reshooting films to cram in more tedious car chases), but they're actually the thing that bores me most. They're usually so workmanlike and standard, that I find myself looking at my watch more than the screen. Of course, I've begun to notice that only happens with directors who are generally considered "action directors". I think recent trends against the typical action film bear this out. Genuine action scene excitement is, these days, typically generated by guys like Paul Greengrass and Peter Jackson; not the names people used to associate this sort of movie. And that's why it works. Following in that tradition, Favreau appears to understand why action is supposed to be exciting, and delivers scenes that are, upon close inspection, constructed in a very unconventional way.

On to the cast... Robert Downey Jnr is on screen for practically the entire film, which in itself is enough to recommend it. I honestly believe this is some of his best work... and I'd say more about him, but I'm actually trying to tone down the gushing. Needless to say, he's perfectly suited to the role; his casting is almost certainly the film's biggest masterstroke.

I'm afraid I can't fault the supporting cast, either. Jeff Bridges is predictably great, Terrence Howard continues to prove he's the one of the best character actors around, and Gwyneth Paltrow matches Downey Jnr in every scene they share. We hear this claim a lot in press notes for comic book films, but this time it's true: Pepper Potts is not a standard damsel-in-distress. She's an active foil to Stark, and an actual key participant in the climactic battle. I'm a huge fan of SPIDER-MAN 2 and BATMAN BEGINS, but neither of those films really knew what to do with their love interest. IRON MAN does. Paltrow tends to cop a lot of flack, but I've always been a fan. When she's in the right movie (SE7EN, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS), she's perfect. Oh, and very glad to see Clark Gregg getting a lot of screen time. I love Clark Gregg.

I haven't mentioned special effects yet, mostly because I didn't notice them. And that's actually a compliment. I couldn't tell the difference between the practical effects and the CGI because I wasn't sitting there thinking "Oh, isn't that clever how they rendered those flames"; I was instead watching Iron Man fly. It's not often that you can immerse yourself completely in a film so wall-to-wall with effects, which makes the achievement all the more impressive.

This is usually the part of the review where I'd talk about the moments where the film dropped the ball, in order to maintain (or manufacture) my reputation as an objective critic. Sadly for me, I can't find such a moment, so I'll have to risk your scorn and derision and claims of plantiness until you see the film this weekend and discover that I was telling the truth all along.

I still consider SPIDER-MAN 2 to be the greatest superhero movie to date, but IRON MAN firmly secures its place as an automatic name-check when we speak about the highlights of the genre. They can't make the sequel fast enough.

(PS: As a side note, don't hold your breath for the Samuel L Jackson cameo. The scene they notoriously filmed with Stark and Nick Fury is, it now seems, undoubtedly for INCREDIBLE HULK. But there are some great S.H.I.E.L.D. references that will no doubt pay off in future Marvel movies.)

Peace out,

Latauro

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[Sir Jig-A-Lot]

so have any of y'all run out to see this yet?

[cs_cdkey4]

ill be seeing it this weekend for sure

[zaphodz]

Yeah I'm gonna make the effort to see this one.

[darklighter1]

Gonna try and sneak in this weekend. Hate big crowds though.