Posted on March 8, 2011 by Darren
You know what? I was sad to hear that Jon Favreau wasn’t coming back to direct Iron Man 3, especially after Marvel so thoroughly mucked with his vision of Iron Man 2 – turning the second act into an extended infomercial for The Avengers. However, I was kinda glad to see Shane Black come on board, if only because his last collaboration with Robert Downey Jr. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) was pure gold. Anyway, Black – as a screenwriter – will be writing the new Iron Man film, and he’s promising a Tom Clancy plot and “real world villains.” So what exactly does that mean?
The other "Man of Steel" (well, gold-titanium alloy)...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: avengers, Christopher Nolan, iron man, iron man 2, iron man 3, james bond, jon favreau, kiss kiss bang bang, marvel, marvel comics, matt fraction, Movie, robert downey jr, Shane Black, superheroes, supervillains, tom clancy, tony stark | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 1, 2011 by Darren
What with listing my top ten films of the past year and all that, I thought that I’d take the opportunity to look forward rather than backwards. So here are my eleven most anticipated movies coming out in the next year or so. I picked eleven, because I’m not 100% certain about the release date of one. As ever, these are for Irish and British cinemas, so four of these will be arriving in our theatres within the next three weeks. Which, I suppose is something to look forward to. Anyway, without any further adieu, here are my eleven most anticipated films of the year ahead.
Coming soon...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 127 hours, 2011, al pacino, black swan, colin firth, danny boyle, duncan jones, films, green lantern, iron man, iron man 2, jeff bridges, kenneth branagh, martin scorsese, Movies, source code, super 8, the black swan, the coen brothers, the king's speech, thor, tintin, true grit | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 30, 2010 by Darren
Tomorrow, I’ll be revealing my top ten movies of the past year. It should be a fairly straightforward list, and – to be honest – there won’t be too many surprises on it. Anyway, I thought I’d put together my list of the top ten “moments” from the past year. As ever, I’m Irish – so I’ve yet to see the major crop of Oscar nominees – but it’s worth keeping in mind that there isn’t really a major overlap between this and the list of the best pictures. Some of the best movies didn’t have iconic moments, while some of the best moments were in otherwise lackluster films. Some good movies had great moments, and some great movies had simply okay moments. So, with the rules out of the way, let’s get this countdown under way!
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2010, arts, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, batman, Due Date, films, ghost rider, hallway, Inception, iron man 2, Jason Todd, kick-ass, light cycle, lightcycles, Movie, movie moments, Movies, nicolas cage, robin, the road, top ten, toy story 3, tron: legacy, under the red hood, Vampire kiss | 6 Comments »
Posted on May 17, 2010 by Darren
Jon Favreau has effectively confirmed that “the Mandarin” will be the villain for Iron Man 3. Of course, the fact that this particular opponent has been the character’s arch nemesis means that we would have expected him on celluloid long before this – most superhero movies take great joy in using the archnemesis for the original film, after all (Batman Begins managed to just about do without the Joker, but arguably only because he’d already done Batman). Part of the reason it may have taken so long to transition this particular character to the big screen may have something to do with his origins: essentially the character is a yellow peril villain (as the name implies), who was arguably long out of date when he was introduced, let alone now. Favreau has, diplomatically, acknowledged that the character is going to take great care to get ready for a film role, and it got us thinking: how do we deal with long term and iconic characters who may reflect concepts that we aren’t particularly comfortable with right now?
Yep, this doesn't conjure up any unfortunate implications at all...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: fu manchu, iron man, iron man 2, iron man 3, john favreau, jon favreau, mandarin, Movies, racial stereotypes, racist, stereotypes, the mandarin, yellow peril | 10 Comments »
Posted on May 13, 2010 by Darren
Occasionally something small and quirky comes to my attention which I can’t help but post here. In this case, it’s a unique (and clever) way of advertising Iron Man 2. Sure, it would be better if they spelt Terrence correctly, but who am I to judge?
I found this over on Rope of Silicon.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, iron man 2, meme, Movies, terrance howard, terrence howard | 25 Comments »
Posted on May 11, 2010 by Darren
A little while ago, I mumbled something about how ‘failure’ didn’t really mean much, despite how often the term was thrown around in discussions about films like Watchmen and Kick-Ass. They generally made their money back, received cult attention and didn’t enter the history books as massive wastes of time or energy – which I figured was kinda fair given that neither example was a box office bomb in the style of, say, Motherhood, Uma Thurman’s last film (opening weekend of £88 at the UK box office – I’m not kidding and I didn’t omit an ‘m’). Still, it looks like success isn’t a particularly better deal, given what is circulating on the web regarding Iron Man 2 and its opening weekend – just shy of $130m, I believe. When is success not success?
There may be blood in the water... but Ivan isn't the only shark circling...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2D, 3d, box office, box office records, cinema, failure, films, iron man, iron man 2, Movies, records, success, thor | 4 Comments »
Posted on May 4, 2010 by Darren
This post comes about from a bit of a debate that has emerged following the revelation of certain spoilers about Iron Man 2. Given that the movie is just out state side, I’m not going to spoil it for anyone stumbling across this page. I just find it an interesting abstract discussion: Are movie spoilers news? Or should web news outlets simply refuse on principle to publish these sorts of rumours?
Nick Fury has his eye on you...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: CHUD, films, iron man, iron man 2, Movies, secret endings, spoiler tags, spoiler warnings, spoilers | 6 Comments »
Posted on April 30, 2010 by Darren
Legacy. It’s all about legacy. What we leave for our children and what we inherit from our parents. Sometimes it’s bitterness and hatred, sometimes it’s more than we think. Iron Man as a concept is inherently linked to the Cold War and American foreign policy, so it’s a fitting theme for the sequel to tackle. Fathers and sons dominate the film, as does the simple and haunting fact that the now is shaped by the then. Some of us get to change the world, some of us simply leave big smoking craters behind us. Even the bad guy, a Russian, consciously evokes conflicts fading from memory that shaped our modern world.
Sometimes you just need to slow down and take a break...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: black widow, blockbuster, don cheadle, film, iron man, iron man 2, ivan vanko, jon favreau, justin hammer, marvel, Mickey Rourke, Movie, natasha romanov, nick fury, non-review review, review, robert downey, robert downey jnr., robert downey jr, sam rockwell, samuel l. jackson, scarlett johansson, tony stark, war machine, whiplash | 10 Comments »
Posted on March 26, 2010 by Darren
Iron Man 2 has had a fairly spectacular pre-release buzz going on. It’s the sequel to a beloved film, it’s got an all-star cast and two spectacular trailers. So the movie poster should be made of awesome, right? Em, not really. The first question which occurred to me was “where is Sam Rockwell?” The second question that occurred to me was “where is everyone else’s body?” Yes, the poster had succumbed to the dreaded ‘floating head syndrome‘.
Should Tony Stark be more worried that Mickey Rourke is trying to kill him or that the lower half of his body has phased out of existence?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: design, films, floating head syndrome, floating heads, graphic design, hype, iron man 2, posters, publicity | 11 Comments »
Posted on March 26, 2010 by Darren
A geek bombshell has landed. Apparently Iron Man 3 may be arriving in 2012. Not that it’s coming at us out of nowhere. Iron Man and Iron Man 2 were two years apart. There’s no reason to believe the same wouldn’t be true of Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3. Also, The Avengers was the only major Marvel film planned for 2012… well, before the Spider-Man reboot got moved back to 2012, but that’s a co-production with Sony. Marvel have strived to get a bit of momentum going – Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were released in 2008 as a double-act and Thor and Captain America will have the same partnership next year. The Avengers is big enough to open by itself, but it seemed likely that Marvel would have some other support feature designed to lead into it a month or two before release (in case audiences forgot about Captain America: The First Avenger in the year since its release). I like the idea of Iron Man3 in 2012.
Looks like Tony might not be taking any well-deserved time off...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, gossip, iron man, iron man 2, iron man 3, jon favreau, marvel, marvel films, Movies, robert downey jr, rumour, superheroes, tentpoles, the avengers, trilogy | 2 Comments »
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