New "Iron Man 2" Plans

Director John Favreau recently spoke about his plans concerning the decidedly rushed "Iron Man 2."

Favreau said he wants to see the "Iron Man" franchise to it's end, putting a third movie on the table as well. His plans include the following:

The villain known as the Mandarin is in talks to be the baddy for the next movie-- Although the director is still unsure as to how he will fit the character's mystical origins with the realistic, techno-savvy world displayed in the first film. It might be that the character will be saved for a third movie.

The directed also stated he was going to, "follow the first film's themes of integrating social and political themes into the adventure and fantasy, and he hinted at a current global situation providing some inspiration."

He also plans to integrate communication and /or acknowledgment with other heroes in the Marvel universe. Films such as "Captain America,""Thor," and "The Avengers" will arrive soon and Favreau intends to acknowledge them in some way. While he's not currently sure how he will do it for the next movie, he does plan to hint that there are other heroes in the Marvel universe much like the end of both "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" did.

Finally, the director also wants to follow in the steps of "The Dark Knight" and film "Iron Man 2" with IMAX technology and even 3D technology.

As far as a third film goes, Favreau is having designs for War Machine sketched. The famous storyline known as "Demon in a Bottle," where Stark deals with alcohol abuse and Rhodey dawns the War Machine suit, is being considered for a third movie rather than the upcoming sequel.

Shwoo. Well... Has everyone digested all of that? I'm liking what I'm hearing so far. It's cool that Favreau has a long term plan for the third movie as well and doesn't want to pack in the whole "Demon in a Bottle" storyline with the second movie already. He seems to be very invested in the franchise and wants to do the best he can for it.

My only problem is the mention of 3D. The IMAX technology is incredible, as proved by "The Dark Knight," but I've found the entire 3D craze to be very lame. Hopefully Favreau will be too enthralled with IMAX to care for this 3D crap.

"Iron Man 2" arrives in theaters April 30, 2010.

"The Dark Knight" Returns to Theaters January 2009!

Perhaps "The Dark Knight" will beat "Titanic's" record? "The Dark Knight" will return to theaters and IMAX as a reminder to Oscar voters this coming January.

This makes all too much sense to IMAX theaters anyway because it's currently the only major motion picture that uses the IMAX camera technology to utilize the entire screen. I see more re-releases of "The Dark Knight" coming along in the future.

In the meantime I'm pulling for "The Dark Knight" to receive more than just a nomination for Ledger. Should I say the category everyone is thinking? No. Maybe not yet. But I sure would like to see a movie like that get some higher nominations-- If you know what I mean.

"The Dark Knight" returns January 2009.

TRAILER - The Soloist

Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx? An Oscar bait movie? Classical music? Yes to all. The trailer may seem like a misfire at wanting to be an Academy Award nominated film, but it's convincing enough to get me interested.

Robert Downey Jr. plays a journalist who finds a homeless soloist who's, of course, incredible, but his perception of reality is distorted. It has possibilities, but I feel like the trailer could be tricking us. On the other hand Downey Jr. has been picking some great roles as of late: "Zodiac," "Iron Man," "Tropic Thunder." I'm more than willing to give this movie a shot.

In the meantime I'll try to forget that this is directed by Joe Wright, a man who seems to only enjoy kissing the asses of Oscar voters with over-wrought, period chick-flicks like "Pride and Prejudice," and "Atonement." I'm waiting for the report where he signs a pact with the devil for his Oscar.



"The Soloist" arrives in theaters November 21st.

Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" This December!

Fox Searchlight has picked up the right's to Darren Aronofsky's highly anticipated, "The Wrestler." The director's follow-up to his masterpiece, "The Fountain," has been getting rave reviews from critics and viewers alike. Just in time for Oscar season, "The Wrestler" will be released December 19th.

Look soon for a trailer and poster. See you December 19th!

"Piranha 3-D" Delayed

I know. I know. You guys were so excited for the "Piranha" 3D remake next year. It's a tragedy, I know, but look on the bright side! This is an opportunity to make the script better, adjust pre-production for better story boarding... Oh wait. Wait. I'm on "Piranha" now, not Harry Potter.

While the film was due July, 2009, it has been reported that pre-production has not gone smoothly. The technology for the 3D visuals have held up the project and principle photography won't begin until Spring of 2009:

"There just wasn't enough time for pre-production to get it done in time," says one insider. "It's all about pre-production and trying to make it the best it can be."


I guess it's not going to be the "summer blockbuster" Alex Aja wanted it to be after all. Go figure?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood...Blunder?

I wasn't sure if I should post on this or not, but it seems the more information I research on it the more it appears to be true. Apparently, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was pushed back for a greater purpose than just to be a summer movie cash-in.

Early screenings of the film have been very negative, claiming very little time is spent on the actual Half-Blood Prince concept. Too much romance is involved in the film and some other poor script choices were made as well.

Nothing has been confirmed, but because the same post-production unit and production crew are scheduled for two more "Harry Potter" movies, they don't have anything else to move on to outside Harry Potter-- At least not immediately. The ten extra months Warner Brothers have allotted for the film will give the crew time to re-edit some scenes and re-shoot other scenes.

While this seems like a bummer, and re-shoots/re-edits don't normally work to save a film, I applaud Warner Brothers for its integrity to create a quality film rather than slop any crappy flick in to multiplexes as fast as they can. (Ala, 20th Century Fox.) Therefore I'm at greater ease with the decision to push back the sixth film and hope the writers, the director and the post-production unit can establish a stronger entry in to the series.

What is the Governator Doing on the Set of T4?

WARNING: This MIGHT contain spoilers for the upcoming "Terminator Salvation."

I found this very interesting. If you look at the picture above I promise you your eyes will not deceive you. That is, in fact, Terminator 1, 2 and 3 star Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking with Terminator 4 star Christian Bale. "But why?" You ask.

According to inside sources, Arnold was there to lend his face and his voice. "Huh?" Exactly. Apparently Schwarzenegger's face was digitally scanned and will be digitally placed over the face of Roland Kickinger who will play the T-800. (Schwarzenegger's character from Terminator 1 and 2.) Similar technology to do this is being utilized for James Cameron's "Avatar" due next year.

Furthermore, Au-nold was at the studio for some ADR (additional dialogue recording) work. He will be lending his voice for the T-800 in the movie.

Again, none of this can be confirmed and I can't imagine it being announced any time soon. (Especially if it's a surprise.) It seems that director McG is doing all he can to make sure Arnold is involved in some way. Which is good. In my opinion a Terminator movie without Arnold is a sin, but if this is true/works well, I can see it being pretty cool.

I've recently had a change of heart concerning the "Terminator Salvation" project. Jonathan Nolan's (co-writer of "Memento," "The Prestige," "The Dark Knight") involvement in writing the film perked my excitement and looking at the project on a deeper level gives me a broader prospective on the potential it has. (Plus, Christian Bale is a bamf.) It could be really good. Really good. We'll see.

"Terminator Salvation" hits theaters May 22nd.

Devastator Will Devistate "Transformers 2"

Rumors have flooded and become true. Devastator, the giant, multi-robot forming...robot will appear in "Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen." (I'm going to assume the title, "Rise of the Fallen," means Michael Bay intends to escalate the crappy prequel to a more respected sequel?)

News includes that the robot will be formed out of seven different transformers. If memory serves me correctly, the original Devastator was formed out of five or six different transformers. Ah! That Michael Bay. Always has to one up something! Not all the vehicles will be green (some yellow or red) and the giant transformer will have a lot of "upper body strength."

According to TFW2005, the following picture of one of the robots that form into Devastator is real. This character's name is Long Haul:



From the original series, Devastator is a giant Decepticon transformer made up of other transformers known as the Contructicons. The Constructicons are basic construction worker vehicles (dumps trucks, cranes...etc...) and form in to the massive transformer Devastator, which is much bigger than any of the others.

For the Transformers fans who somehow liked the first movie... Have fun.

TRAILER - Quantum of Solace (Trailer 2)

Few trailers come along these days and really "wow" me, but leave it to this new Bond series to blow my mind even in its previews. In this next 007 flick Bond is after the people that killed Vesper-- Looking at this trailer it seems like he's ready to destroy everything and everyone in his path to do it.

Some really amazing camera work is displayed in this preview. It wastes very little time to show action sequences we've all seen before, but never thought could look any cooler. Strap in:



"Quantum of Solace," November 14.

TRAILER - Gatchaman (10 Second Teaser)

It's not exactly an official teaser I suppose, more of a peak at the animation for the film. Even if it was though, it utilizes it's ten seconds better than the first "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" teaser.

That said, it's still not a very good teaser. Decent use of Steve Jablonsky's "Transformers" score though.



"Gatchaman" is said to be released early 2009.