Iron Man: It's unbelievably rare that a comic-book movie has absolutely no bad buzz leading up to its release. Seemingly no one has said 'boo' about this film, save for some people inexplicably pontificating that somehow Robert Downey Jr. as charismatic hero Tony Stark was somehow a risky casting choice. But director Jon Favreau obviously knew the score and learned lessons from Batman Begins - be a movie first, and a comic book second - and to be a movie, you need great actors and a great script... or at least great actors who can help punch up the script into a good one.
Favreau has outdone himself, creating quite possibly the best superhero movie ever made, and easily the most fun. Downey brings his trademark easy charm and fast-flowing improvisational sensibility to the role as a weapons manufacturer who learns a harsh lesson about the reality of global warfare in the modern era at the cost of the proper functioning of his body. This brings about a radical shift in his personal philosophy, which his business partner Obadiah Stane (a bald Jeff Bridges) certainly isn't prepared for, and his faithful assistant Pepper Potts (a quietly charming Gwyneth Paltrow) believes will take him down a dangerous path - which, of course, it does. That's how it goes with superheroes.
But this is no accident of birth or accident of science that brings Iron Man to bear, nor is it a billionaire spending his time punching street thugs in a dimly-lit city. Iron Man's world is international terrorism and corporate corruption, an entirely different setting that serves to revitalize the genre and really show off the new directions that can be taken and need to be taken to keep things fresh and interesting. The burdens of an origin story are deftly handled, since even when things threaten to slow down to much, you've still got Downey shouldering the load, and he could make ten minutes of complete silence compelling.
The effects are beautifully rendered, and the technology is deeply detailed and nuanced, and there's scarcely a moment where we don't believe a guy could really build an awesome exo-suit like this and just go around kicking all sorts of global jerk asses. It's just a damn good time for nerds and non-nerds - although nerds would be advised to stay until the end of the credits. You are hereby promised a nerdgasm.
Just look at all this Iron Man stuff we have on Fancast:
Watch the trailer for Iron Man.
Check out The Onion's take on how awesome that trailer looks.
The Fabulous Life of Tony Stark
Watch a clip of Tony Stark being interviewed by a reporter.
Watch Stark and his assistant Pepper Potts' debate when exactly her birthday is.
Watch Stark debate Obadiah Stane about the future of Stark Enterprises.
Watch a clip of Tony Stark taking the Iron Man armor on its maiden flight.
Pepper finds Tony testing out flight stabilizers.
Watch Iron Man deal with a pair of fighter jets.
Downey and Paltrow "Pump Iron"
Watch an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow
Interview with Robert Downey Jr.
Interview with Jon Favreau
Made of Honor: In a counter-programming effort, Downey's lovely and talented co-star from he brilliant Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Michelle Monaghan, stars as a bride-to-be who, in a fit of progressive thinking, asks Patrick Dempsey to be her maid of honor, not knowing that he's secretly in love with her. So he agrees on the advice of Dwayne Wayne, so he can try to stop the wedding from the inside.
Watch the Made of Honor trailer.
McDreamy talks about his role.
Then he talks a bit more.
Watch Michelle Monaghan in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
In Limited Release:
Redbelt: Chiwetel Ejiofor is David Mamet's samurai Rocky, struggling to maintain honor in a world that conspires to take it from him. The full review is here.
Watch the trailer for Redbelt, a Mamet martial arts movie.
Son of Rambow: A great little story about Will, a sheltered kid from an overly religious family in early 1980s England, who gets mixed up with the school's bratty malcontent Lee and manages to see his pirated copy of First Blood. He then proceeds to become obsessed with the idea of being the Rambo's son, enough that it inspires the two unlikely friends to make their own entry into the burgeoning Rambo franchise. This leads to your standard True Hollywood Story about a young idealistic star who leaves his friends behind for shallow jerks once he makes the big time - at least as big-time as English schoolyards can get.
It's really a surprisngly touching and earnest celebration of how much kids loved those kind of crazy action movies and how much it inspired the imagination. Sylvester Stallone himself approves: "I assumed it was going to be a very broad and stylized joke-a-minute comedy at Rambo's expense. The fact that it was so heartwarming is the result of brilliant filmmaking by its creators,"
Watch the Son of Rambow trailer.
Watch the trailer for First Blood, the original John Rambo film.
Mister Lonely: A strange little story from Harmony Korine about a commune full of unlikely celebrity impersonators - Diego Luna as Michael Jackson and Samantha Morton as Marilyn Monroe, along with Charlie Chaplin, Queen Elizabeth, the Pope, the Three Stooges and a foul-mouthed Abe Lincoln. They live an idyllic life free of judgment and condescension, until they decide to put on their own show in pursuit of recognition. Celebrity = doom.
Watch the Mister Lonely trailer.
Watch Michael Jackson entertain at a retirement home.
Watch Marilyn Monroe chat up Michael Jackson.
Watch Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe take a walk together.
Romantic tension with Marilyn and Michael.
