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The latest Dark Knight movie trailer is available on the official movie site.  Everything I have seen about this film leaves me utterly cold.  I know they won't be as well made, but I am more excited about the Incredible Hulk or even the X-Files films this summer.

I'm quite surprised by my own reaction.  Few movies have this type of pedigree.  Christopher Nolan made Memento (not Momento--thanks Bill Reid), one of my favorite movies.  The actors (Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart) could not be any better.  Two-Face, one of my favorite Batman villains, looks to be getting the right treatment.  There's a picture of Two-Face's sickening visage on ComicBookMovie, catch it before Warners does the cease-and-desist thing.

So why am I so indifferent to the Dark Knight?  Five reasons come to mind:

1. The costume designers fucked up the Batsuit design.  AGAIN.
2. Batman misses every opportunity to wipe out the Joker.  In one of the trailers he cruises by the Joker on his Bat-cycle before doing a U-Turn to confront him.  Couldn't he just put out his fist, and WHACK, game over?  In the comic series, we forgive this type of thing easily, but in a movie this behavior is ridiculous.
3. Rachel Dawes.  Doesn't matter if it's Katie Holmes or Maggie Gyllenhaal.  This superhero movie franchise has zero sex appeal.  I think only a psychotic woman would want to fuck Batman.  Frank Miller's answer was Black Canary.
4. Which mega-millionaire would you rather be--Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne?
5. Batman Begins is one of the few superhero movies where I did not buy the DVD. 

Nuff said.

Looks like the whole nation was infected with Iron Mania.  Shellhead's silver screen debut raked in $100 million for the 3-day weekend, above the projected $70-80 million.  This is good for everyone: Marvel, comic book fans, and Hollywood.

Marvel already projects higher earnings as a result.  They are also planning on an Iron Man sequel in 2010 along with a possible Thor movie.  Will it be the Ultimate Thor or the classic Dr. Don Blake Thor?

Over at Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker actually proposes that Downey deserves an Oscar for Iron Man.  Wow...Downey's career has been fully resuscitated.  Don't go mad and fall off the wagon, Robert!  Good things are in store for Mr. Favreau's directing career as well.

Not everything in the Iron Man universe is so rosy.  The Iron Man videogame looks to be getting terrible reviews.  I played the XBox 360 demo a week ago and found it to be a justifiable rental, if you are an Iron Man fan.  The game demo consisted of a level based on the movie where you fly around Afghanistan, blowing up terrorist camps using Stark technology.  Mostly you fly around and use repulsor rays to blow up shit.  The full game is supposed to deviate from the plot and puts you in combat against infamous IM villains.  You can also unlock classic versions of IM armor.

Here's an interesting behind the scenes look at the game.  Looks like good fodder for XBox achievement points, but a clear rental.  Nuff said.

I've seen Iron Man and I was far from disappointed.  This has now become my favorite superhero movie of all time!  I love it so much I'm tempted to see it again, but I'll probably wait until the DVD comes out later this year.  It did not just match the hype, it exceeded it, largely on the strength of the acting and direction.

There were so many ways this movie could have gone wrong.  Fortunately, Jon Favreau populated his movie with top notch actors: Robert Downey, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, etc.  Downey is Tony Stark, capturing his Richie Rich style of decadent behavior with a dash of humor and self deprecation.  The minute that Downey appears on the screen, riding in the Humvee through the Middle East, the audience instantly clicks with Tony Stark.  Robert Downey nailed this character so perfectly.  It seems like good karma has finally come his way.  Hopefully this will result in Downey appearing in many more films for years to come.

Jeff Bridges was another inspired choice for Obadiah Stane.  We've seen Bridges as a buffoon (Big Lebowski), as a hero (Blown Away), or as a millionaire (Seabiscuit), but never as a villain.  I always think Bridges, along with actors like Kurt Russell, are constantly overlooked for their acting ability.  Everything they do looks so natural, as if they showed up on the set and started reading their lines.  The way that Bridges portrays Stane is chillingly familiar.  I've seen many of these types in Silicon Valley: prematurely rich, overfed, greedy, and egotistical CEOs who will run over anyone to make money.

The movie is faithful to the comics, yet it is not faithful to any particular run.  The screenwriters picked the best bits from several different Iron Man series.  The origin is based on Warren Ellis' revision.  By updating the origin from Vietnam to present day Afghanistan, Ellis provided modern day audiences with a hook into Tony Stark's first adventure.  I am sure he won't receive additional compensation for it.  Tony Stark's mansion is almost a perfect recreation of the Malibu pad that Bob Layton designed during his second run.  Likewise, Stark's pattern of picking up beautiful babes for one night stands comes from the Michelinie/Layton run.  Iron Monger looks much like he does in Iron Man #200.  Stark cannot put on the Iron Man armor by himself, he needs a team of assistants, like he has in The Ultimates, but they are robotic instead of human.

Certain things are different: Rhodey is still Stark's best friend, but he's not working for him yet.  Perhaps the biggest change is Jarvis being an artificial intelligence system rather than an actual butler.

I've got two favorite scenes in the movie.  The first is when Tony is building his "MK II" prototype armor and testing it out in his laboratory.  It's extremely funny in a way that DC superhero movies never seem to emulate. 

The second favorite scene is at the very very end of the film.  YOU MUST STAY PAST ALL OF THE CREDITS TO SEE IT.  Fans of Millar and Hitch will be extremely pleased.  It promises an even bigger Marvel movie in the future.  Nuff said.

There is no doubt that I am going to see the Iron Man and Hulk movies--heck, I'm sure I'll even buy the DVDs. Although I think if I skipped the movie theater and waited for the DVD in a few months, I'll have saved $10.

The problem is, there's no suspense or surprise with the Marvel movies. Iron Man's trailer gives the whole plot away. The only question in my mind is whether they will kill off Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) by the end of the movie. Likewise, the Hulk movie pretty much lays everything out--I think old Greenskin will batter the Abomination and be somewhat redeemed as an anti-hero. But will the CGI Hulk look better than the previous one? In the trailer he looks pretty fake, a giant green smurf as Kenneth Johnson (CBS Hulk producer) said in a recent Fanboy Radio interview. They would have been better off getting another body builder and painting him green--that might have more heart and emotion. Iron Man can work slightly better because it some scenes it is a Stan Winston suit that Robert Downey or a stuntman is wearing.

I'm more excited about the new Will Smith movie, Hancock. This looks to be loads of fun and even somewhat more realistic. Superheroes flying drunk, smashing into freeway signs and tossing little girls up in the air? Entertainment Weekly suggests that Hancock will outperform both Marvel movies at the box office. Nuff said.