Disney have released the first Iron Man 3 trailer. Check it out below and let me know what you think.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: film, iron man 3, Movie, robert downey jr, trailer | 10 Comments »
Non-Review Review: Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows
Posted on August 7, 2012 by Darren
The first Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes was a pulpy pleasure, an enjoyable steampunk occult mystery with a casual sense of fun and two solid central performances with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson respectively. Unfortunately, the sequel, A Game of Shadows, doesn’t seem to be quite as much fun. It seems to lack the pulpy edge of its predecessor, perhaps taking itself a bit too seriously at times. The are moments when Ritchie seems to get into the swing of things, and Downey Jr. and Law work as well together as ever, but A Game of Shadowsdoesn’t quite feel like the ideal spectator sport.
He bought, hook, line and sinker!
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Doctor Watson, film, jared harris, jude law, moriarty, non-review review, Noomi Rapace, professor moriarty, review, robert downey jr, sherlock holmes, sherlock holmes: a game of shadows, watson | 2 Comments »
Carrying the Banner: Why Ed Norton Remains the Best Bruce Banner…
Posted on April 24, 2012 by Darren
I had the pleasure of seeing The Avengers last week. It’s a solid film, and Whedon does a great job tying it all together. What Whedon does especially well is presenting us with a live-action version of the Hulk that really works. Whedon’s green goliath is treated like an actual character rather than a special effect or a plot point, and it looks absolutely incredible, appropriately enough. However, I can’t help but feel like the movie still struggles with the Bruce Banner aspect of the character, and that Mark Ruffalo isn’t a convincing replacement for Ed Norton, who was as perfect a fit for the rage-managing monster as Robert Downey Jr. was for the redeemable Tony Stark.
Distilled Banner?
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: ang lee, Avenger, Banner, bruce banner, captain america, edward norton, hulk, incredible hulk, joss whedon, louis leterrier, mark ruffalo, Marvel Studios, robert downey jr, Ruffalo, Whedon | 29 Comments »
Matt Fraction’s Run on The Invincible Iron Man – Vol. 2 (Hardcover) (Review/Retrospective)
Posted on April 24, 2012 by Darren
April (and a little bit of May) are “Avengers month” at the m0vie blog. In anticipation of Joss Whedon’s superhero epic, we’ll have a variety of articles and reviews published looking at various aspects of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.” Today, I’m focusing on one in particular, Iron Man.
Read our review of The Avengers here.
In many ways, Matt Fractions’ Invincible Iron Man run feels like a spiritual counterpart to Ed Brubaker’s celebrated Captain America tenure. Of course, there’s similar thematic ground covered by the character arcs, with both leads dealing with the fallout from Marvel’s crossover-driven continuity, but there’s something more fundamental in the style and goals of the works. Indeed, both read better in big chunks, with each of the “acts” in Brubaker’s Captain America saga conveniently broken down and released in their own omnibus collections (his opening Captain America run, The Death of Captain America and Captain America Lives!). I can’t help up feel like perhaps Matt Fraction drew the short straw when it comes to collected editions, with the release of his material dictated by Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 and Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, as the two hardcovers seem strangely structured, creating a second volume which seems to contain the end of one act and the start of another.
It's got a lot of heart...
Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Avenger, avengers, captain america, ed brubaker, history, iron man, joss whedon, kenneth branagh, Marvel Comic, marvel comics, matt fraction, robert downey jr, Stark, thor | Leave a comment »
Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Volume 1 (Review)
Posted on April 10, 2012 by Darren
April (and a little bit of May) are “Avengers month” at the m0vie blog. In anticipation of Joss Whedon’s superhero epic, we’ll have a variety of articles and reviews published looking at various aspects of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”
It’s fascinating how Marvel managed to effectively reinvent the Avengers franchise over the better part of the last decade, pushing the title to the centre of their publishing line and revitalising it – both through Mark Millar’s alternate-continuity Ultimates and Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers. Both were poles apart from the type of books fans associated with the property, favouring sweeping and blockbuster storytelling in the place of the more conventional soap opera antics. As such, Joe Casey’s miniseries, offering a reflection on the first few years of the team, feels like something of a polite acknowledgment of the legacy of the team, and an attempt to celebrate their history together.
Not quite a train wreck…
Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, captain america, captain america: the first avenger, Earth, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, hulk, Hulk (comics), iron man, Joe Casey, joss whedon, mark millar, marvel, Marvel Studios, robert downey jr, scott kolins, the avengers, thor, tony stark | Leave a comment »
Berry Your Head in Shame: Watching The White Dwarf Stars In Slow Motion…
Posted on February 17, 2012 by Darren
Speedman is a dying star. A white dwarf headed for a black hole. That’s physics. It’s inevitable.
– Les Grossman, Tropic Thunder
Fame is like anything else. It’s like money or luck. It comes and it goes. Still, as the poster for Halle Berry’s latest film, Dark Tide, arrive, it’s hard not to feel a little bit sorry for those performers who have watched their fame and popularity slip out from underneath them.
Halle Berry won an Oscar for Monster’s Ball. She played one of the few James Bond characters to be considered for a spin-off, appearing in Die Another Day. She got a considerable pay increase for showing her breasts in Swordfish. She headlined one of the very few female-centric superhero films, the dire Catwoman. Not all of those were good films. In fact, being harsh, I’d argue that one of them was a good film, and the rest were significantly flawed, if not outright terrible. Still, it’s quite sad to see the former Oscar-winner relegated to appearing in the latest film from the director of Blue Crush and Into the Blue.
She did make some Berry questionable choices...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, adam sandler, al pacino, Black hole, Cuba Gooding, Cuba Gooding Jr, Daddy Day Camp, Dark Tide, eddie murphy, education, france, Gabriel Aubry, Halle Berry, Hero Wanted, Jerry Maguire, Michael Caine, Nahla, Olivier Martinez, robert deniro, robert downey jr, Wilde Salome | 1 Comment »
I’m A Marvel… or Am I A DC? I Can Never Tell…
Posted on May 30, 2011 by Darren
I’m about half-a-year behind on this, I must confess. Back in January, the wonderful Katie over at Stories That Really Mattered asked a bunch of bloggers to come out in favour of one of the two major comic book companies, with an open invitation for other members of the community to participate. I’d like to pretend that I took so long to consider my own response because I’m cool (and cool people arrive late to the hottest parties), but the truth is I’ve just been a bit run off my feet these past few months. I was never cool, but I’ve learned to accept that.
However, in this season of blockbuster comic book movies, I thought it might be interesting to reflect on whether I am a bigger fan of Marvel, or DC. Given how close both are to my heart, expect a fair bit of waffle. Okay, a bit morewaffle than usual.
Let's not cloud the issue...
Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: comic, comic book movies, comic books, dc comics, fantastic four, Gail Simone, justice league, Marvel Comic, marvel comics, Movies, Paul Cornell, robert downey jr, spider man, superhero movies, wonder woman | 11 Comments »
Non-Review Review: US Marshals
Posted on May 26, 2011 by Darren
Robert Downey Jr. apparently once described the film as “possibly the worst action movie of all time.” That’s quite a statement. Too be honest, it’s just a little bit sensationalist from the actor, but it still doesn’t mean that U.S. Marshals is a good film, even on its own merits. When it stands in the shadow of the movie it was intended to follow, the superb Harrison Ford adaptation of The Fugitive, it seems even weaker.
They had some neck making this film...
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: films, Fugitive, harrison ford, jay & silent bob strike back, Movies, non-review review, review, Richard Kimble, robert downey, robert downey jr, spin-off, Stuart Baird, the fugitive, tommy lee jones, U.S. Marshals, Wesley Snipes | Leave a comment »
Iron Man 3: Tony Stark to Face Real World Baddies…
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)...
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 »
Non-Review Review: Due Date
Posted on November 11, 2010 by Darren
I have to admit that I quite enjoyed Due Date. It’s a straight-forward comedy road movie – nothing more, nothing less. It’s the standard template: two unlikely comrades find themselves embarking on a cross-country journey where they learn a lot about each other and themselves. As such, Due Date is the younger sibling of films like Trains, Planes and Automobiles or Midnight Run – it’s also a genre which hasn’t, to be honest, been played entirely straight in quite some time. Sure, there have been variations on theme – Little Miss Sunshine, for example, played the road movie with far more subversive comedy; Get Him to the Greek was this concept with rock stars. As such, perhaps the simplicity of Due Date is part of the appeal – it’s a tried and tested formula, so why tinker with it?
What does Robert Downey Jr. bring to the table?
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Big Lebowski, Due Date, film, Hangover, little miss sunshine, Movies, non-review review, planes trains and automobiles, review, robert downey jr, Todd Phillips, Zach Galifianakis | 4 Comments »
