Posts Tagged ‘Don Cheadle’

Short Take: Shows more promise in future Marvel films than in itself. Entertaining, but disjointed.

Director: Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf)

Screenwriter: Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes, Tropic Thunder), Don Cheadle (Brooklyn’s Finest, Hotel Rwanda, Ocean’s 11), Gwyneth Paltrow (Two Lovers, Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (He’s Just Not That Into You, The Spirit, Vicky Christina Barcelona), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Domino, Sin City), Sam Rockwell (Everybody’s Fine, Moon, Frost/Nixon)

Length: 2 hours 4 minutes

Synopsis: Picking up where the last film left off, the film follows Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) as he struggles to overcome a number of obstacles after revealing he is Iron Man.  Stark fights to keep the U.S. government from taking the Iron Man technology while also competing with fellow arms businessman Justin Hammer (Rockwell).  However, Stark has bigger problems like Ivan Vanko (Rourke), an angry nemesis out for revenge against the Stark family, as well as the threat that the piece of machinery keeping him alive may also be slowly killing him.  On top of all this, Stark tries to cultivate his budding romance with Pepper Potts (Paltrow) while also flirting with his mysterious new personal assistant Natalie (Johansson). Read the rest of this entry »

Jon Favreau (center) gives direction to Robert Downey Jr. (left) and Don Cheadle (right). *IGN images

For those of you itching to see Iron Man 2, which opens this Friday, we suggest you take a look at a video available at movies.IGN.com that shows multiple snippets from interviews taken with the film’s various stars. Director Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlet Johansson, and Don Cheadle each share interesting nuggets of information about the film and the direction its story decided to take. For those trying to avoid spoilers, have no fear. No major plot points are given. Instead you learn things like Favreau’s intentions, such as that he tried his hardest to avoid what he called “villainitus,” which he claims is the overabundance of bad guys. After Spider-Man 3 received heavy criticism for this, it’s nice to see that Favreau and Paramount can learn from the past.

In other news…

A release date for the next Batman movie has been announced, which will reportedly be July 20th, 2012. The working title is simply Batman 3, which is expected to change once production begins. Chris Nolan is reportedly not officially signed on to direct the project, but is currently working on writing the film’s script with the help of his brother Jonah and writer David Goyer. Stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman are expected to return.

Source: IGN.com

Antoine Fuqua, directing Richard Gere

ComingSoon.net has published an interview with Brooklyn’s Finest director, Antoine Fuqua (Training Day). The interview is a follow-up to one the site conducted with the director back at Sundance, so some references have been made that may not register without reading that previous interview.

“The way [the movie's] three stories are woven together is what makes it such a fine addition to the [street movie] canon, and it shows a lot of growth in Fuqua as a filmmaker in being able to tell these stories without judgment. It’s also his first movie made outside the studio system, which probably allowed him to focus as much on the characters rather than on the violence inherent to the genre.” – ComingSoon.net

The three stories they pertain to are that of the rookie cop (Ethan Hawke), the undercover cop (Don Cheadle) and his criminal friend (Wesley Snipes), and the 25 year officer about to retire (Richard Gere).

The interview is very informative and highly recommended reading for fans of Fuqua’s work.

Click on image to maximize

A new hi-res poster was released today of the upcoming summer flick Iron Man 2.

The film brings back stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gweneth Paltrow, and brings into the fold Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, and Garry Shandling, as well as an on-screen appearance by director Jon Favreau.

The film is currently in its post-production phase, and as you can tell by the poster it is set to release on May 7th.

Quick Opinion: The details about the film’s plot are still being kept under wraps, but it would be interesting to see if, like Batman’s The Dark Knight, the franchise chooses to take a darker turn with its second installment. Not only would moving in that direction be consistent with superhero sequels (Superman II, Batman Returns, Spider-Man 3, etc.), but it would be very telling of the times because the character of Iron Man, along with his world, is not known for having shadowy undertones.