With Iron Man occupied in the Savage Land, the Skrulls may think they’ve eliminated their armored opposition, but War Machine is out to prove them wrong in this must-read Secret Invasion tie-in! Iron Man: Director S.H.I.E.L.D #33, from acclaimed Thunderbolts writer Christos Gage and fan favorite artist Sean Chen (Nova), kicks off “War Machine: Weapon on S.H.I.E.L.D,” which redefines War Machine’s place in the Marvel Universe as a result of Secret Invasion…and setting the stage of his upcoming ongoing series! A major new chapter in Tony and Rhodey’s history begins right here!  With Secret Invasion and related tie-ins selling out quickly at Diamond, and a lead in to the hotly anticipated War Machine series, Marvel urges retailers to check their orders on Iron Man: Director S.H.I.E.L.D #33. It’s time for the Skrulls to say hello to Tony’s not-so-little friend!

MTV is running a pretty cool contest where you can live like Tony Stark or a weekend.  Personally, I wouldn’t want to win, it’d be a cruel joke to give you a taste of something I would never be able to get again. But I love the concept and like to see good marketing. From MTV of all people. Here’s a link to the official contest. www.ironman.mtv.com

VH1’s "Fabulous Life" of Tony Stark - Funny bloopers are a click away

After a year of speculation, spoilers, and marketing hype. The summer film season kicks off, not with a bang and not a whimper. One of my most anticipated films of 2008 - Iron Man is finally here in all it’s technicolor glory!  I liked this movie a lot, technically it’s brilliant, acting is spot on, but it was missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on what.  From the moment this movie was announced every decision by Director Jon Favreau has been spot on. Casting  Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was truly inspired. This film rests squarely on Downey’s shoulders and he takes the ball and scores a touchdown.  He was born to play this part. He’s perfectly sarcastic, vapid, yet brilliant and roguish. Could not have been happier with his performance.  In the Pantheon of Marvel Characters, Iron Man was always a major player in the Marvel Universe, but he’s never been a fan favorite and recently Marvel has turned Tony into a completely unlikable, know it all dick.  The movie version of Tony is more circa 80s Stark - pre-alcoholism.

When I first watched the trailer on my computer, it was the first time where I had concerns about this film. I thought it looked way too fake. But within the context of the film, everything works perfectly. Never once do you not believe that this suit is real. Favreau spends so much time showing the construction of this armor and the entire testing process that when we finally see him take off you buy into it. Stan Winston did an incredible job designing the Mark III Armor. It’s straight out of the comic book and is exactly how I always imagined Iron Man’s Armor in a live action film to look like. It’s a brilliant mix of CGI and practical SFX. But here’s my problem with the film, I kept trying to force a connection to it and wondering why I’m not LOVING this movie. I liked it a hell of a lot but didn’t LOVE it.  I think it comes down to the lack of real tension. Everything felt slightly plastic and a little too technical. With no real peril or villains.

When Stark does his first bit of Super-Hero work it’s against some nameless terrorist group. That is not clearly defined or established enough to make us care. All of the violence is done off camera as well. This leads to several weird edit moments where Iron Man is blowing up bad guys left and right, we see the repulser blasts, stuff getting blown up, but we never really see the bad guys get what’s coming to them, it’s all done off camera. I’m not one who needs to see blood and guts, but in a film like this it lacks an edge that it sorely needs.  It’s interesting the Favreau and his writers decided to go this route instead of using Iron-Man’s signature nemesis The Mandarin. He clearly wanted to focus all the attention on telling us who Tony Stark was before worrying about the villains. Which is where most Super Hero films falter.  Now that we have a clear idea who Stark is, Favreau can use the next film to give us Mandarin.  It’s funny, as an avid Iron-Man fan from back in the day, I can’t name any of Iron’s enemies, he doesn’t have a very good Rogues Gallery. Who would be good in this movie? Stiltman? Stingray?

The cast was perfect, Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes was done really well and Tony’s long suffering secretary Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) was nicely done. Jeff Bridges was barely recognizable as (Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger).  The movie’s only down moment came in final fight between Iron Man and Iron Monger was disappointing at best. Turned into a really lame Transformers rip-off.  Iron-Man is a great kick off to a front loaded Summer Blockbuster season and this is a fabulous start to the Iron-Man franchise. Bring on The Mandarin.

Final Grade A-

EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 5.2.08

Tony Stark [Robert Downey Jr.] is a hedonistic billionaire weapons manufacturer until a trip to Afghanistan for a weapons demonstration ends with him in the hands of terrorists. He builds himself a suit of iron armor to escape and goes on to put together a more refined version to enable him to save the people who have been put in harm’s way by his company’s weapons.

Iron Man is about a lot of things: a modern knight in shining armor; crazed ambition; superheroics; even innovative CGI [check out Stark manipulating CG plans as if they were the real thing]. Oddly enough, despite its political ramifications and good old-fashioned superheroic fun, in the end, Iron Man is about a guy who goes through a kind of reverse mid-life crisis. The hedonistic, irresponsible Stark metamorphoses into a more – dare I say – mature adult by deciding to kill his company’s weapons making business in favor of some thing more planet friendly.

Downey isn’t working in a vacuum, either. It’s been a while since Gwyneth Paltrow has glowed so brightly on the big screen – here playing Stark’s right-hand person with considerable aplomb [watching her keep Stark on his toes is a delight]. Jeff Bridges makes for an affably deceptive villain and Terrence Howard makes his small role as Stark’s best friend shine.

While the action scenes aren’t as accomplished as something by Michael Bay, they come off better because director Jon Favreau understands that it’s the characters that make everything else in the film work. He keeps the pace high enough to prevent lessening of interest and knows how to make the film’s effects serve the story. This is a film with surprising wit and genuine intelligence.

Final Grade: A-

The fine folks at Sega sent over a behind the scenes look at the making of the new Iron Man video game. I’m using the video from the fine folks at Gametrailers.com because, you know. Bandwidth cost money. I don’t know, I’m getting a little excited about this game. I know I’m in for a disappointment as generally, all movie games suck. But this may break the mode.

Normally, I’m not into watching clips from films because generally it’s out of context. But I have to say, this Iron Man clip finally has me excited about the film. Check it out.

If you want to see what’s going to be in the Iron Man movie, today’s announcement and showcase of the new unlockable suits in the game may provide a sneak peak.  This is the very first Iron Man suit ever built. In a life changing moment, Tony Stark is attacked and captured by terrorists. While being held captive, Tony is forced to build a weapon of mass destruction. With the help of Yinsen, Tony builds the Mark I suit instead and uses it to escape. Thus, a new Super Hero is born: IRON MAN! 

MARK II

The Mark II was constructed as a prototype with an emphasis on exploring flight potential. As the first suit of Iron Man armor built at Stark Industries, the Mark II armor was soon replaced by the Mark III after initial flight testing.

MARK III

This is the main suit Iron Man uses in the game and film. After initial flight tests were completed on the Mark II, Tony built the Mark III. Designed for customization, the Mark III armor can be equipped with a variety of enhancements and upgrades.

Unlocakable Suits:

Classic

First debuting in “Tales of Suspense #48″, the suit that would become known as the iconic Iron Man armor underwent several subtle cosmetic changes before the look was finalized in “Tales of Suspense #66″. Some of the major features of the suit were the first implementation of the palm mounted “Repulsor Rays”, ultra fine microscopic integrated circuitry that made the suit easier to control, and boot thrusters that enabled the wearer to fly for greatly sustained speeds and distances. Appearing in well over 200 issues of Iron Man’s comic adventures, this suit is easily the most recognizable suit in Iron Man’s arsenal.

Extremis

First appearing during the “Extremis” story arc that ran from Iron Man Vol. 4 Issues 1-6, this armor has become the most prevalent look for the modern day Iron Man. This is the defining suit that Tony Stark has worn during major events such as “Civil War” and “World War Hulk”. In this armor, Iron Man has hit new levels of power.

Hulkbuster

The name says it all. In order to be ready for possible combat with the rampaging monster known as “The Incredible Hulk”, Tony Stark developed this suit of armor as the ultimate add on to the Iron Man suit. The first version of Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor appeared in Iron Man #304 and enabled Iron Man to lift up to 175 tons as well as provide enough durability to withstand repeated blows from the Hulk.

Platform Specific-Suits:

Silver Centurion- X360 Only

Originally used as a means by which Tony Stark could test out new ideas for the Iron Man suit, it eventually became his new fully operational set of armor when used in the first comic book battle between Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane in Iron Man issue 200. Boldly sporting new colors, this version of the suit was worn during Stark’s days as a West Coast Avenger and during the first “Armor Wars” storyline.

Ultimate- PS3 Only

In the Ultimate Universe, an alternate version of the Marvel Universe, Tony Stark requires the help of an entire specialized crew to help maintain this bulkier Iron Man armor. As seen in The Ultimates, this ensemble functions more like a compact vehicle than a man-sized suit of armor.

Iron Man is one of the top 15 movies I’m looking forward to this year. I will say that I’m mixed on the first trailer. All of the Tony Stark bits were right on target. Exactly what I want and expect from an Iron Man film. But the in armor stuff with the planes at the end of the trailer looked terrible. I’m holding out hope that the movie will rock.  Of course a big film like this has a video game attached. I watched the demo at Comic-Con and it looks gorgeous.  Here are some brand new sceenshots from the game.

]]> http://eclipsemagazine.com/Movies/5007/feed/ http://eclipsemagazine.com/Movies/4782/ http://eclipsemagazine.com/Movies/4782/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:17:56 +0000 Michelle Alexandria http://eclipsemagazine.com/?p=4782

Last week I had a chance to have a sit down with the ever Popular Leslie Bibb. The interview was fabulous she was in a real talkative mood and who am I not to cater to it. So we talked a lot about Iron Man, what the atmosphere on the set was like, the character she plays, one of my old Favorite TV shows Popular (for some reason I got all giddy when she mentioned that one of her closest friends is fellow Popular co-star Carly Pope, what it’s like to be on the cusp of becoming an “A-List Actress,” her latest film Wristcutters: A Love Story and a whole lot more. It’s a fun informative 15 minute interview click the link below to listen.

LESLIE BIBB INTERVIEW - RUNTIME 18 MINUTES