Bat-Tube

On the eve of the debut of what sounds like his darkest adventure yet, let us indulge in a little good natured bat-humor aimed at the bat-dude:

- We'll start with some more "lost footage": the trailer for a pre-talkies version of The Dark Knight, appropriately titled The Silent Knight.
- And for more trailer deconstruction/reconstruction, here it is ... in Lego.
- The latest in "Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC", a.k.a. "When Batman Meets Iron Man" ...
- ... And then Hellboy enters the picture.
- Bonus clip: this one isn't all about the Caped Crusader, but it's still pretty darn cool: "The World of Tim Burton".

Stan Winston: 1946-2008

Stan Winston, the Academy Award winning special effects artist and makeup designer, died yesterday at the age of 62.

Winston won four Oscars for his work on the blockbuster hits Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. He also received Academy nominations for Heartbeeps, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

His first film was the classic TV movie Gargoyles. Other notable credits include The Wiz, The Thing, Starman, Interview with a Vampire, Galaxy Quest, Big Fish and the recent Iron Man. He also directed the creature feature Pumpkinhead and the Terminator 2 3-D movie for Universal Studios theme parks worldwide.

Awards Watch: MTV Movie Awards 2008

Transformers may have snatched the Best Movie prize at the 17th Annual MTV Movie Awards this past weekend, but it was Johnny Depp who was the biggest winner, nabbing two Golden Popcorn awards. Depp was voted Best Villain for his throat-slashing title character in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Best Comedic Performance for his Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The latter was his third MTV Movie Award as the rum-soaked swashbuckler of the blockbuster franchise.

I Am Legend's Will Smith and Juno's Ellen Page took the top performance prizes, while Hairspray's Zac Efron trumped the Superbad boys for Breakthrough Performance. Three 2008 movies, Step Up 2 the Streets, Never Back Down and Iron Man, round out the rest of the winners.

Reverend's Reviews: Iron Deficiency

I'm not as familiar with the Marvel Comics character Iron Man as I am with other superheroes, but I do in general like the big-screen, big-budget treatments of those courageous men and women in tights. Some (Superman, Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man) have fared better than others (Sheena, Brenda Starr, the Punisher, Captain America) to be sure. On paper, Iron Man has great credentials. The first release from Marvel's own production company, it boasts a budget in excess of $100 million, a cast full of Academy Award nominees and even a winner (Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges) and a good director in Jon Favreau (Elf, Zathura).

Unfortunately, a sloppy script and so-so special effects result in a decidedly underwhelming movie. It starts promisingly enough, with a "36 hours earlier" flashback sequence revealing much about morally questionable protagonist Tony Stark (a winning Downey Jr.). Stark is a US weapons manufacturer taken hostage by Afghani terrorists and forced to build a doomsday weapon for them. Despite constant surveillance by his captors, Stark is somehow able to create a weaponry-endowed iron suit that is virtually impenetrable and indestructible. After busting loose and returning to the US, he renounces his company's production of weapons of mass destruction, streamlines the suit, learns how to fly and takes to fighting crime as "Iron Man".

Oddly, it's the crime busting that is largely missing from the film. Too much time is devoted to Stark developing his suit and abilities than taking on the baddies. Only in the film's final twenty minutes, when Iron Man takes on a deranged Bridges (clearly having fun in a rare villainous role) in his own super-powered iron contraption, do the good versus evil dynamics get full play. There's way too much talk until then, and some of the allegedly romantic dialogue between Stark and his devoted assistant, Pepper Potts (a largely wasted Paltrow) is downright laughable.

And then there are the special effects. While there is a lot of build-up to Iron Man's first supersonic flight over the California coastline, the final result bears more similarity to the muses of Xanadu zipping around the world than to anything Christopher Reeve was able to do as Superman with "primitive" non-digital technology. At any rate, Iron Man looks to be a huge hit, and a sequel's release date was announced within days of its premiere. Hopefully, the ensuing franchise and other upcoming Marvel Studio adaptations will correct the deficiencies of this initial effort.

UPDATE: Iron Man is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Awards Watch: I Want My MTV

It was a good day for Michael Cera yesterday. The star of Superbad and Juno saw both of his movies from last year nominated for this year's MTV Movie Awards, with a combined total of nine nominations, including three nods for himself. Joining the two comedies in the Best Movie race are I Am Legend, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Transformers (that's right, Toto, we're not at the Oscars any more).

The Enchanted Amy Adams also picked up three nods, and Johnny Depp was nominated for both his Captain Jack and Sweeney Todd. Hairspray cuties Nikki Blonsky and Zac Efron are up for Breakthrough Performance (along with Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jonah Hill), but not Best Kiss (!). The biggest headscratcher though is Jessica Biel actually being nominated for her acting (and for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, no less).

For a quick look at the nominees, see the comments section below, then head over to MTV.com to vote on the awards yourself. The "Golden Popcorns" will be handed out June 1 on, naturally, MTV. Mike Myers will be on hand to shill his upcoming movie The Love Guru ... I mean host.

Toon Talk: Heavy Metal

Tired of seeing their classic superhero characters make tons of money for other people, Marvel Comics has set up their own film production shingle, with Iron Man, the first big blockbuster wannabe of the 2008 summer movie season, as their first offering. And if this one is any indication, it was a move they should have made long ago.

And although you may not know this Iron Man from the Iron Chef, this is an action-packed superhero flick with a brain … and just the right amount of a sense of humor about the whole enterprise … that makes any ignorance of the character’s history irrelevant.

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Iron Man at LaughingPlace.com.

And in related news: What does $200 million worldwide in one weekend get you? Iron Man 2 in 2010. Plus: Thor, Captain America and The Avengers.

UPDATE: Iron Man is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

The Latest in Theaters: I Spy

Iron Man isn't the only movie opening this weekend:

• Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment: Robert Gant stars as super-spy Jacob Keane, described as a "gay James Bond". Shannen Doherty, John Rhys-Davies and Ian Roberts co-star in the first of a hoped-for series. (In limited release, visit the movie's official website for a schedule of cities and upcoming dates.)
• Made of Honor: Hard not to state the obvious on this one: Patrick Dempsey as Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding.
• Son of Rambow: Garth Jennings’ semi-autobiographical look back at his childhood obsession with Sylvester Stallone’s First Blood.
• As for ol' metal head, tune in next week for what our own "Men on Film" thought about the first of this summer's would-be blockbusters.

UPDATE: Out in Hollywood's Greg Hernandez interviews Robert Gant about playing a gay spy and acting opposite Shannen Doherty; plus: the film's trailer.

Visit Fandango - Search movie showtimes and buy tickets!

Women We Love: Gwyneth Paltrow

Object of our affection: Gwyneth Paltrow, actress.

- She won an Oscar, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and even an MTV Movie Award for her role as the cross-dressing actress who put Shakespeare in Love.

- Prior to that triumph, she played the ill-fated wife in Seven and the Jane Austen matchmaker in Emma, winning a Satellite Award for the latter.

- She has starred in everything from thrillers (A Perfect Murder, The Talented Mr. Ripley) to comedies (The Royal Tenenbaums, Shallow Hal) to biopics (Sylvia, Infamous, Running With Scissors).

- Following the London production of Proof, she reprised her performance in the movie version, receiving a Golden Globe nomination.

- She takes on the "Lois Lane" role in this week's Iron Man, playing Virginia "Pepper" Pots.

Toon Talk: Summer Nights

Since Jaws and Star Wars and the dawn of the "Summer Movie" just over thirty years ago, film studios know that when the sun is high and the kids are out of school, all they want is something to do; if they are entertained in the process, all the better. And what better way to have fun then to sit in an air conditioned theater and watch the latest blockbuster with all your friends.

Which explains the steady stream of superheroes, sequels and superhero sequels that strike when the summer season surfaces, see? Si.

Click here to continue reading Kirby's Toon Talk preview of this summer's new movies at LaughingPlace.com.

Cinematic Crush: Robert Downey Jr.

Crush object: Robert Downey Jr., actor.

- A one season stint on Saturday Night Live and small parts in Weird Science and Back to School led to leading roles in The Pick-Up Artist and his breakthrough movie, Less Then Zero, wherein he played a drug addicted rich kid.

- More dramatic and comedic performances followed with True Believer, Chances Are, Air America and Soapdish, but he was able to combine both genres with his Academy Award nominated performance as Charlie Chaplin.

- Alternating between strong lead roles and memorable supporting turns, he has since starred in such films as Short Cuts; Natural Born Killers; Richard III; Home for the Holidays; Restoration; Wonder Boys; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Good Night, and Good Luck; A Scanner Darkly and Zodiac.

- He won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination for his career-revitalizing role on Ally McBeal.

- Already this year he co-starred in Charlie Bartlett, and will star in two of the most anticipated movies of the summer: the superhero adventure Iron Man and the action comedy Tropic Thunder.

Irony, Man

This from those wacky folks at The Onion: "Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film".

This hilariously spot-on clip successfully skewers both the media's overindulgent hype of entertainment news and the obsessive, hypersensitive nature of fandom in the age of the internet. Bravo.