I would suggest those of you who plan on seeing Iron Man this weekend, and I’m sure there is a lot of you, stay all the way through the ending credits. Apparently, after the credits there is suppose to be an additional scene containing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Furry, who is a member of the secret organization S.H.I.E.L.D. This rumored appearance suggests Mr. Jackson will have a bigger part in the very likely Iron Man sequel.

Source CINEMABLEND

The soon to be deceased New Line made one of it’s last good deals, buying Chad Kultgen’s Dan Mintner: Badass for Hire for $500,000 (it was going for $1MIL). The story focuses on a dude who’s got every military award and soon discovers that his rich father figure mentor has been kidnapped, and must kick some ass to get him back.

Beau Flynn , the film’s producer said, “It’s a homage to ‘Cobra,’ ‘Predator,’ ‘Missing in Action… The baddest dude in the world in supertight jeans, chewing on a matchstick, stuck in the ’80s but kicking ass in the present day.”

You might remember Mr. Kultgen from his best selling book The Average American Male (which I wrote a short review on HERE). Chad recent work, Burt Dickenson, The Most Powerful Magician on the Planet Earth also went to New Line.

Source Hollywood Reporter, Variety

PS You might not know this, but Chad Kultgen is a Dallas, TX native!! Lewisville, if you want to get technical. Oh, and that’s him in the photo, not the badass for hire. But he is, in fact, a badass.

The horror genre usually doesn’t get a lot of love at film festivals, which is probably a combination of a lot of people viewing it as a “lesser genre” and the fact that many horror films in recent years just haven’t been very good. However, the Swedish film Lat den ratte komma in (Let the Right One In) has won the award for best feature at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

The film is about a young boy who falls in love with his new neighbor, who turns out to be a vampire. Hopefully, this accomplishment will give Lat den ratte komma in theatrical distrubition in the U.S. in the very near feature.

If you live in the New York area the film will be screening with the rest of festival’s winner and the AMC Village VII on Sunday.

Source VARIETY

Iron Man

Based upon Marvel’s iconic Super Hero, IRON MAN tells the story of Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. Upon his return to America, Tony must come to terms with his past. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man.

Made of Honor

For Tom (Patrick Dempsey), life is good: he’s sexy, successful, has great luck with the ladies, and knows he can always rely on Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his delightful best friend and the one constant in his life. It’s the perfect setup until Hannah goes overseas to Scotland on a six-week business trip… and Tom is stunned to realize how empty his life is without her. He resolves that when she gets back, he’ll ask Hannah to marry him – but is floored when he learns that she has become engaged to a handsome and wealthy Scotsman and plans to move overseas. When Hannah asks Tom to be her “maid” of honor, he reluctantly agrees to fill the role… but only so he can attempt to woo Hannah and stop the wedding before it’s too late.

Son of Rambow (NY and LA)

SON OF RAMBOW is the name of the home movie made by two little boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions. Set on a long English summer in the early 80′s, SON OF RAMBOW is a comedy about friendship, faith and the tough business of growing up. We see the story through the eyes of Will, the eldest son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. The Brethren regard themselves as God’s ‘chosen ones’ and their strict moral code means that Will has never been allowed to mix with the other ‘worldlies,’ listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment Will’s mind is blown wide open and he’s easily convinced to be the stuntman in Lee Carters’ diabolical home movie.
Will’s imaginative little brain is not only given chance to flourish in the world of film making, but is also very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the Brethren community. Will and Carter’s complete disregard for consequences and innocent ambition means that the process of making their film is a glorious rollercoaster that eventually leads to true friendship. They start to make a name for themselves at school as movie makers but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French exchange student, Didier Revol, their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.

MISTER LONELY (New York)

Only Harmony Korine (writer of KIDS, auteur of GUMMO, JULIEN DONKEY-BOY) could weave Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. The film follows a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) who is invited by a beautiful Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) to a commune full of other impersonators including the Queen of England, Madonna, Sammy Davis Junior and James Dean, in the Scottish Highlands. In a parallel story line, the incomparable Werner Herzog plays a Latin American priest who learns his missionary of nuns can literally fly.

Red Belt (NY and LA)

Set in the west-side of Los Angeles fight world, a world inhabited by bouncers, cage-fighters, cops and special forces types, Redbelt, is the story of Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Jiu-Jitsu teacher who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing instead to pursue an honorable life by operating a self-defense studio with a samurai’s code. Terry and his wife Sondra (Alice Braga), struggle to keep the business running to make ends meet. An accident on a dark, rainy night at the Academy between an off duty officer (Max Martini) and a distraught lawyer (Emily Moritimer) puts in motion a series of events that will change Terry’s life dramatically introducing him to a world of promoters (Ricky Jay, Joe Mantegna) and movie star Chet Frank (Tim Allen). Faced with this, in order to pay off his debts and regain his honor, Terry must step into the ring for the first time in his life.

The Spider-Man films in recent years have been the epitome of summer blockbusters. The films always seemed to set and break box office records as they ruled the summers of 2002, 2004, and 2007. However, given the uncertainty of whether or not there will be any more Spider-Man films in the future, room has opened up for a new comic book film adaptation to rule the box office for multiple summers. Director Jon Favearau’’s Iron Man seems to have its eyes on Spider-Man’’s throne, and certainly makes a strong case for itself with thrilling action scenes and a refreshing sense of humor.

Usually superheroes are introverts; shy and nice guys who have a hard time getting the girl. However, when we first meet Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr.), who later becomes Iron Man, he is traveling through the desert with a drink in hand making his military guards laugh. When Tony answers a question about how many Maxim girls he slept with last year we know that this soon to be hero doesn’’t have any problems getting the girl, since he gets as many he wants. Tony is currently cruising through the desert because his company makes expensive and deadly weapons, many which are designed by Mr. Stark himself, and he has just finished demonstrating his latest masterpiece of war. However, Tony’’s great life is put in serious danger when he is captured by what is assumed to be terrorists. Tony’’s kidnappers demand he build them a particular type of weapon. Instead, Tony’’s innovative mind has different ideas as he builds deadly robotic armor that allows for his escape. This capture opens Tony’’s eyes to the death and pain his company has caused over the world, and he decides to become Iron Man to end the suffering he helped create.

The casting of Robert Downey Jr. as a superhero might seem odd to some, but this eyebrow-raising decision turns out to be vindicated, as Downey brings a great sense of humor and subsequent likeability, to the role Tony Stark. Downey’’s swagger and wit might not be the right fit for some of the nerdy or more brooding heroes, like Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne, but it definitely works well with Tony Stark. Downey is even able to make Stark’’s one of a kind goatee look cool. In fact, all of the casting decisions no matter how surprising turn out to be winners. Jeff “”the Dude”” Bridges as the film’’s scheming and evil villain, Obadiah Stane? Yes, Jeff Bridges is playing a comic book villain, and it turns out he is very effective. Who knew all it took to make Jeff Bridges evil was a beard and a shaved head? Actually, it is not his appearance, although I’m sure that helps, it really is his acting, as Mr. Bridges can deliver his lines in just the right way to make your skin crawl. Downey and Bridge’s performances work so well because it is apparent the actors enjoy playing these exciting characters, which is something that was missing from the last Spider-Man film.

It wasn’’t only the casting of Iron Man that made fanboys everywhere nervous. The appointing of Jon Favreau as director was perhaps the most wearisome thing about this Iron Man film for many people. This nervousness is understandable given the fact that Mr. Favreau has not attempted anything near the grandness of Iron Man before: his previous directing credits include the adult comedy Made, and the children’’s comedy Elf. However, Favreau proves those doubters wrong as he shows to have a knack for action. Tony’’s first and somewhat lengthy battle in his revamped suit, including his escape from the Air Force, proves that Favreau can certainly stage and sustain impressive sequences. Favreau even creates some solid tension with a scene between Obidah Stane and Stark’’s loyal assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyenth Paltrow). Also, I’m sure Favreau’’s comedic background is a large part of the reason why Iron Man is such a surprisingly funny film, as this comic book adaptation is much funnier than the “comedy”, Superhero Movie, which spoofs some of the best comic book films.

Since this is the first, but I’’m sure not the last film in the Iron Man series, this installment does have a lot of story to cover in the film’s running time. However, Iron Man’’s humor and performances, most notably Robert Downey Jr’.s, keeps the audience from losing interest between the film’’s more action orientated scenes.

Ladies and Gentleman, I’’m pleased to inform you that the 2008 summer movie season is offically underway with the May 2nd release of the greatly entertaining Iron Man, and Spider-Man, you better watch your back.

Looks like Paramount is expecting (which they should) a big pay day for IRON MAN. IESB’s Robert Sanchez got to speak with Downey’s trainer Brad Bose about the possibility of IRON MAN 2, which we all know is in fact going to happen. Brad said he’s going to start training again with RD Jr. after the last L.A. premiere, and he hopes to bulk him up ten pounds within five months, and shooting may/may not begin early 2009.

Ok, I was way off when I first wrote about BAGHEAD. I first thought it was a comedy about a group of four friends who try for their big break in Hollywood by making a low budget film and the story ends there. Not quite. It’s all of that plus a guy showing up at their cabin with a bag over his head, and then the horror mode kicks in. It premiered at Sundance and the word is is that it’s pretty good. Check out the trailer below. Thanks MySpace!

Baghead – Official Trailer

Academy Award winner Javier Bardem just dropped out to play the lead role in Rob Marshall’s (CHICAGO) new musical, NINE. Bardem was supposed to play Guido Contini, “film director who experiences personal and creative crisis trying to balance all the women in his life,” but dropped out due to exhaustion from the awards season and other works. No word yet on who will be replacing Mr. Bardem, but Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Sophia Loren are still attached to the project. You can next see Bardem in Woody Allen’s Vicky CHRISTINA BARCELONA at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Source Variety

STUCK premiered at the Dallas AFI Film Festival last month, and for the ones that didn’t get to catch it (including myself), the trailer is now online to give us a hint for what we’re in store for. Based on real events (in Fort Worth, TX), STUCK is about a female nurse (Mena Suvari) who hits a guy (Stephen Rea) walking down the street. Climax kicks in when he’s gets “stuck” in the windshield. STUCK opens June 6th.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeqPvj8ozqM&feature=related[/youtube]

Wesley Snipes is not afraid to battle evil as he proved with the Blade trilogy. However, instead of using swords to battle vampires, this time Wesley we be using guns to put down zombies in the western-horror film, GallowWalker. Unfortunately, Wesley Snipes won’t be battling against evil in front of audiences for a while after GallowWalker is released because he didn’t pay his taxes. Womp. Womp. Click on the poster to view the trailer.

Source OFFICIAL SITE

Universal has just signed a deal to co-finance director Pedro Aldmovar’s newest film, Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces). Focus Features International will be in charge of all foreign sales of the film, except in Spain and a few other areas, where the film will be handled by Almodovar’s own company, El Deseo.

Little is known about this project other than it will star Aldmovar regular Penelope Cruz, and will begin filming on May 26th.

Pedro Almodovar is one of the most famous and renowned international filmmakers; he has earned many awards over the years, including a best screenplay Oscar for Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her) in 2002.

Source VARIETY

Jonah Hill the chubby and hilarious wise cracking Apatow regular is apparantly in talks for Transformers 2, which will be begin filming this summer. It is rumored that Hill will play Shia Lebeouf’s roommate in the film, but that has not been confirmed yet. I can only imagine all the great smart ass comments Hill will say about giant robots.

Source ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

With a summer full of big comic book movies (I’ve already seen Iron Man, and it’s going to kick a lot of ass) and an already failed attempt at success, The Incredible Hulk has a lot to hard work on it’s big green hands. The new trailer is now online, and I must say, it’s pretty good. Casting Edward Norton as the Hulk was a good move. I’m sure it’s not going to hit the success rate that The Dark Knight and Iron Man will, but I do think it will rack up a fair amount of money. Click on the photo to see the new trailer! Also, you can check it out in HD at Apple.

Adapted from the novel (of the same name) by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, Blindness stars Mark Ruffalo as a doctor who wakes to find out he’s gone blind. Soon to follow the rest of the population. Julianne Moore stars as “doctor’s wife (IMDb),” the only one on the planet who can still see. Danny Glover, and Gael Garcia Bernal co-star. Click on the photo to view the trailer!