British comedy actor Simon Pegg worried me last year with his first major starring role outside of his Edgar Wright/Nick Frost team with Run, Fatboy, Run - a movie so incredibly unfunny and stupid that it was 2 hours of pain watching Pegg take the material seriously.

For actors like Pegg, much like Ricky Gervais - it takes a special kind of role and clever writing material to really use them at their best because they are comedians first and not actors. I find it pretty interesting that both men are playing similar roles in American produced movies at around the same time and they both fall down to the same problem.

With straight characters… Pegg and Gervais are not the leading man, or shouldn’t be.

Here’s the trailer for Pegg’s second attempt at this, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People which similarly to Run, Fatboy, Run descends into a kind of gag so over-used, so wretchedly banal and so bottom of the barrel, it’s impossible to not cringe. It’s the spit the food on the lady gag!

SEE IT IN HD HERE

Simon Pegg should not try and be the British version of Adam Sandler. He is way better than that and to many movies like this, people will soon get sick of him.

From Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert B. Weide and adapted to the screen by Peter Straughn (Sixty Six), the movie is based on the real life memoirs of British journalist/critic Toby Young who struggled to fit in when he went Stateside to work for Vanity Fair. It’s basically a guy’s version of The Devil Wears Prada.

Kirsten Dunst plays Pegg’s love interest, Jeff Bridges his boss, Danny Huston his co-worker and Megan Fox plays a parody of herself as a dumb American actress. The movie opens in the U.S. and U.K. on October 3rd and looks awful.

source - coming soon

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Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Based on the classic Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Bill Smitrovich, Clark Gregg, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, Paul Bettany (voice)

Distributed by Paramount Pictures but the first fully financed movie from Marvel Studio’s

Film is released worldwide this week (April 30 - May 2nd 2008)… check your local cinema for exact date & time of first showings.

Review by Matt Holmes

There’s a moment in Iron Man when Tony Stark takes flight to the sky’s in full control of his faithfully adapted red and gold suit, looking way more convincing in the air than the ridiculous amount of money spent by rival studio Warner Brothers on their Superman character two years ago that I began to think - isn’t it great to see how far comic book movies have come in the last ten years.

Memories have soon began to fade of 20th Century Fox and their rather tepid first attempt at the X-Men franchise, not quite sure how it was going to perform despite some big name casts. They were adamant and Bryan Singer certainly complied - in grounding the film down in reality as much as humanely possible which of course meant a travesty when the suits turned up on screen and they all looked the same. Lame black all around and the characters lost much of the personality that their own individual attire had given them for years in the printed and animated form.

Fast forward to 2008, comic books have never been this popular for such a long time - adults are coming back to the medium and it’s no doubt in some part due to this terrific cinematic movement that has ruled this decade of film. By the screening I saw tonight folks - we have come an extremely long way. Iron Man will rival Spider-Man 2 as the most faithfully adapted superhero film of all time.

Everything is here that fans of the comic have come to enjoy.

The perfectly cast (not just because of his off screen persona… but also how this has played into and often heightened his on screen roles), cocky, womanising, playful, smart, witty and insanely watchable Robert Downey Jr is a revelation as billionaire playboy Tony Stark who believes he is promoting peace by creating weapons which stroke fear into the rest of the world because they only needed to be fired once to cause ultimate destruction and are not created to be left on the shelf. “Worked pretty well so far” for the U.S. Stark says - we have a comic book movie here with some political intentions on it’s mind and one that is well aware of it’s country’s reputation in the world.

Iron Man, maybe in part down to it’s older and more experienced cast like a certain Batman Begins - feels much more adult than any Marvel superhero that has so far made into on screen with the possible exception of The Punisher which went a little too dark. It’s attempt at socio-political issues (which is actually something extremely faithful to Stan Lee’s original vision) is commended and the plot that isn’t necessarily about saving the world but has more to do with the war on terror - actually makes a refreshing change. As does a romance between a superhero and the main female lead which actually has sparks.

Their chemistry is super red hot - matching Gwyneth Paltrow’s fine hairdo as loyal assistant Pepper Potts. I actually hated her casting the first time it was mentioned but to her credit, she gives her most energetic and enjoyable performance in years. You feel something for them here and you care about their relationship, though her part may be slightly under-written.

As was Terrence Howard’s role as good pal Jim Rhodes - who in this movie acts as the go between for Stark and U.S. military, allowing him to get away with things normal people just won’t be able to do. More of him next time would be great but it seems like his character is in it for the long haul.

As for the villain, I enjoyed much of what Jeff Bridges did when he was playing the warm-hearted friend and mentor to Tony and as we have seen in the past he makes a terrific bad guy but as soon as he puts on the suit he kinda bores ya. But he’s a good first villain - similar kind of arc to Liam Neeson’s part in Begins and although hardly memorable - it is difficult to stand above this film’s lead.

So it’s pretty kick ass over all. The action sequences for the most part are terrific - it manages to fulfil all the summer blockbuster criteria of big explosions, gadgets and the like with the special effects staying extremely high with very little moments of disappointment.

Iron Man is the movie Michael Bay tried or maybe should have tried a lot harder to make with the Transformers. It’s well written, doesn’t fully insult your intelligence, it’s lauded with great jokes and one-liners but not the “let’s creep around so the parents can’t see us” kind and is made by a director who understands this material - and knows exactly what he is doing.

Director Jon Favreau who is really making a big step up from his usual fare here (Elf, Zathura, Swingers) directs his first big-budget action vehicle and does it very well and he should be extremely proud of his work here. There’s more talented and experienced directors who have attempted this genre and haven’t been as successful as Favreau. His love for the character and his undeniable high production values and commitment in creating a unique and interesting feel for Tony Stark and his world is very much to the film’s huge benefit. He knows what the fans want and for the most part he has delivered it.

There are plenty of problems to be hard here for sure. As is beginning to become the norm with comic book movies, the third act is absolutely terrible. It feels majorly rushed, never seems to run at a coherent pace and when the big battle comes at the end you have dialogue and awkwardness which sometimes suggests why a literal adaptation of a comic book page is not the way to go.

I think this will come apparent from more frequent viewings but 2/3rd’s of the flick are great. 85% of the movie rules.

It was a brave move when Marvel decided to stop letting other studio’s play with their characters and to start fully financing the movies themselves but it has paid off big time here. This is a proper comic book film which is one of the best to watch as an adult. There’s so much potential for this series of films and the universe Marvel is creating if they continue making films as loud and brass as this.

This is very much a Robert Downey Jr vehicle and it’s great to see him fully blown into the spotlight here. This is an extremely bold and confident start from Marvel and I’m very much excited to see where this is taken. We get hints to lots of future things here… including mentions of a certain organisation and maybe next time we shall get a look at War Machine. “Next time baby, next time” says Jim Rhodes 2/3rd’s into the movie.

And I would be happy to see it. Bring on the sequel!

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Based on the classic Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Bill Smitrovich, Clark Gregg, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Film is released worldwide this week (April 30 - May 2nd 2008)… check your local cinema for exact date & time of first showings.

Review by Michael Edwards

I’ve long been thinking that Iron Man is an interesting comic book adaptation. Not quite up there with the fan bases of the illustrated megastars like those eclectic X-Men, kooky Fantastic Four or magnificent lone crusaders known as Superman, Spiderman and Batman but nonetheless an interestingly layered chap with conflicting personality traits and a few cool gadgets plus a wadge of cash to play with. In terms of the real names tied to the project we have Jon Favreau directing his first action film along with a host of big name celebs who are also, for the most part, action amateurs. Could it be a combination that leads to the kind of overly dialogue-driven origin film, but with a better selected cast to bear the burden? Well I say no! It’s somehow formed an amazingly satisfying Hollywood soup that left me hungering for more.

The backstory has been updated from the original by relocating the kidnap of weapons magnate and all-round business/technology genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) to Afghanistan rather than Vietnam, and there are a few obvious tweaks to fit the Hollywood format but otherwise the opening tale remains pretty faithful. After his kidnap, Stark manages to build a massive metal suit that not only provides him armour but has an impressive arsenal too, armed with this he escapes his captors and destroys their weapons cache which, much to Stark’s concern, comes from his much beloved all-American arms company. On his return he renounces his lifestyle of boozing and womanising decides he doesn’t want to be involved in the tawdry business anymore, and instead develops his suit and goes off to right his company’s wrongs. But little does he know his father-figure and long term mentor is about to become a crazed villain bent on stealing his ideas and wreaking destruction who he must fight in order to prevent his new technology causing even more pain and devastation. And within all that there’s even a few obligatory cameos and inserted retro memorabilia for the hardcore fans out there.

The main thing you should’ve all realised by now is what a masterstroke the casting was. Robert Downey Jr as a wise guy playboy who is prone to drinking and womanising but gives it all up to live a decent life, Jeff Bridges as a deceptively warm-hearted, cuddly father figure who turns out to be a power hungry psycho. How can no-one have noticed how perfect this is before! Thank god somebody finally had the guts to move away from the pitiful selection of typecast action heroes and resist the urge of wheeling out half dead relics from the 80’s to make their cash in the glitzy world of Hollywood. It really is refreshing.

In terms of the action sequences, and let’s face it that’s what’s make-or-break for a comic book franchise, (need I hold up the first yawn fest that was the first Fantastic Four movie as evidence?), those of you who think Transformers was the best movie ever may suggest that there could have been more but I personally think the balance was just right. The rapid pace and surplus of explosions and combat in the opening 15 minutes whets the appetite, and we are kept ticking over by the occasional skirmish or comedic explosion during the fine-tuning of Iron Man’s suit as the unfolding of the backstory of the eponymous hero unfolds, and there are a few large scale fights in which the special effects and CGI more than holds its own against the big boys. Iron Man fights terrorists, fighter jets and bigger mechanical suits with equal gusto, allowing us to sit back and enjoy the visual orgy of crunching metal, screaming missiles and blistering explosions with glee.

My biggest concern is that people have become too bogged down in looking at these first movies about a comic book character as ‘origin movies’ designed to set-up a franchise, but I think Iron Man holds up as a film in it’s own right and still managed to leave you hoping that there will be more. It beats the hell out of all the Spider-Man films, makes Superman look like a bland little goody goody, and has the Fantastic Four feeling all embarrassed about how boring and stupid they look. In the last 10 years or so I’d say only the X-Men have had more to offer as a comic book adaptation. Buy hey, second best isn’t bad!