FYC Iron Man, or How Robbie D. for the Gold!

FYC FRIDAYS

It's by blog and I'll FYC if I want to, FYC if I want to...

Iron Man vs Batman, or How it's funny cause it's true...

Check it out, it's all kinds of hilarious:



Thanks to incontention.com for the link.

Iron Thoughts, or How Robert D. is your (Iron) Man

Iron Man
Dir. Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges & Terrence Howard (and... why not? Leslie Bibb)

What to say about this singlet-wearing Robert Downey Jr. superhero-vehicle movie that hasn't been said in the reviews that are littering the web? Let's see:

- Gwyneth Paltrow back in action. I know her career post-Sliding Doors (excepting Shakespeare in Love, I guess) has been lagging, but I was glad to see her playing coy and proper Ms [insert ridiculous name here] (Pepper is it?)
- The fact that it reminded me that Leslie Bibb (post-Popular and ER) is still alive. And looking well. Best Gwyneth-Leslie dialogue:
Leslie: You still work for him after all of these years?
Gwyn: Yes, I do everything Mr Stark asks me, and sometimes I even take out the trash. [As she hands Ms Bibb her laundered clothes]
- Seeing a superhero movie tackling war-issues, even if from an ambiguous neo-Liberal (or would it be neo-conservative?) view: do we end up believing 'those people' are war-hungry? do we end up feeling the US is (in part) responsible for warmongering where they shouldn't be? where does Robert and his red-golden-hot "not-Iron" suit stand?
- Yay Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury! (What? You didn't stay til after the credits? Tsk... Tsk...)
- Any and all snarky lines coming from Mr Stark - everything from his womanizing ones, to his 'I'm a bitch and I know it' lines, to his 'I'm so self-absorbed cause I'm the shit' lines to... well pretty much anything with Robert D.'s delivery was kind of awesome.
- Paul Bettany doing voiceover. That's all.
- All the Tony Stark 'Iron Man' in training scenes (so cartoony, and yet so funny - especially the dialogue with his robot-arm)

Random final comment, which I can't take full credit for: Okay, so Gwyneth gave birth to Apple... so why are all the gadgets Dell? Discuss.

As a Superhero Movie, Iron Man delivers everything it needs to... and then some. I was glad to see it didn't go into Spiderman 3 territory where the love-story took center stage and the villains had no depth; and that it didn't go the Superman Returns turn where flashy scenes deliver horrible dialogue and a pale plot - instead Favreau's film seems closer to Nolan's Batman series where the superhero in question is grounded in a fallen world and given a three-dimensionality and contemporaneity it doesn't necessarily have in the 2D panels from which it has sprung. Tony Stark is a believable corporate warmongering American who seems genuinely confused by the way he fits into the world he has helped create (and destroy) and who finds in his technology a way refashion himself in the way we all wish we could: as a public(ized) hero. A

Robert Downey Jr, or How to play an Alcoholic

Is it me or is Robbie-D monopolizing all the high-profile "alcoholic" characters in Hollywood?
[No complaints of course... just saying]

Example Numero Uno:

Paul Avery in David Fincher's Zodiac
Example Numéro Deux:

Principal Gardner in Charlie Bartlett
and of course Example Number Three:

Tony Stark in Jon Favreau's Iron Man

2008 Watch Out For List or How Star Wars, NYC and WallE are coming our way

Good Premises

Sure, star-power and franchise-frenzy will make me indulge in the capitalistic world we live in by blindly purchasing a ticket for certain movies, but sometimes I think of good stories, and follow good writers wherever they'll lead me. Here are a couple that have sparked my curiousity:

Fanboys
Release Date: (TBA)
After watching several clips at Comic Con and hearing the cast and crew talk for an entire panel I cannot wait enough for this movie. Not only does it look hilarious but it takes up one of the most fascinating aspects of Pop Culture and turns it on its head: Star Wars. Any movie that gets the blessing of George Lucas to a) make fun of him, and b) allow them to film at the Skywalker Ranch MUST be worth watching. Premise: Four friends try and hunt down a copy of Episode One before it hits screens. Hilarity ensues. (And yes, they all agree it sucked!)

Iron Man

Release Date: May 2, 2008
I am a big supporter of Robert D. So it is only fitting that here I am waiting for his latest foray into Hollywoodland with the newest Marvel hero to join the pantheon of comic-book-to-movie character translations. After seeing the trailer all I can say is: can't wait!


Speed Racer
Release Date: May 9, 2008
Wachowski Bros + a 1960s cartoon that I loved as a little kid + Matthew Fox in spandex? What could be better?



WALL•E

Release Date: June 27, 2008
As an obsessive Pixar fan, I cannot wait to see what Andrew Stanton & co have come up with for next summer. What if man left Earth and forgot to turn off the last robot? What if that robot was a Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-class robot who is utterly adorable? Only Pixar knows and will let us in on the secret next summer.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Release Date: November 26, 2008
After this year's Zodiac, I am even more excited for this movie whose premise still tickles my fancy (an expression I never have nor ever again will use): The movie tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences. (Based on Fitzgerald's story)




Synecdoche, New York
Release Date: TBA 2008
What has Charlie Kauffman written that I haven't enjoyed? Exactly. Nothing. Every movie leaves me so tantalized I am forced to watch it over and over to get the full effect. Don't know what movies I'm talking about? Wondering who Kauffman is? Please refer to Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind but in particular to the brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The deceivingly simple premise: A theater director (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play. Kudos for using 'synecdoche' in the title, maybe now more people will know what it means and use it correctly.

Australia
Release Date: TBA 2008
What do you need to make a star-powered Australian film? Get Nicole on the line, sign up Hugh, have Baz write and direct, assemble a number of recognizable aussie faces (including 300's David Wenham, and 'acting legend' Bill Hunter - Nemo, Muriel and Priscilla on his record? awesome!) and shoot right in the heart of Hollywood's idea of Australia - Bowen, Sydney and Kununurra as far as I've read. I expect some yobbos, sheilas and some walkabouts to make an appearance.