We saw Savini sometimes. He has instructors that taught us. It was cool to see him around. I think what blew my mind was meeting Dick Smith. This was back in 2005 when he came to our school. Such a great man! He had so many stories and, of course, tons of FX tips. It was truly a blessing to be in the same room with him and listen to what he had to say.

Jason Bene: You started off as key makeup/ hair stylist on a number of films before landing your big break as a special effects makeup supervisor on Darin Scott’s Dark House. Were you nervous about being the boss on that project, or did you take it as a challenge to show off your skills?

Megan Areford: I was actually very excited and honored to have been picked to work on his film. The fact he let me design the creatures with some of his creative guide lines was perfect! I looked at it as a chance to show off my skills. The real challenge was working with a small budget. I think I did all of the FX for $10,000. We had about 12 creatures to work on so $10,000 was cutting it close but we made it work. I think the highlight of the show was working with my good friend and one of my favorite makeup artist, Kevin Kirkpatrick. I had a great time having him on my team. Great attitude and fantastic skills. You can check out his creature from Sucker Punch, featured in the newest issue of “Makeup Artist Magazine”. I’m so proud of him!

Jason Bene: How much advice do you receive from veteran visual effects artist Al Magliochetti, who is one of the best in the business?

Megan Areford: YES! I receive tons of advice from him. He is my business guru. I don’t know what I would have done without him on set. He totally had my back and I always went to him for any advice. Plus, it was great having practical FX makeup and digital FX department working together! I think that’s how it should always be. If both worlds are going to be working on the same movie, communication is the key. We always were on set together discussing what will be happening in a certain scene and how we were going to make it work. I had a great time working with him and hope to work with him in the near future.

Jason Bene: I really love Dark House – I thought it had an 80′s feel with a mixture of traditional make-up and current CG effects.

Megan Areford: Thank you! I think it just happened that way. Darin knew what he wanted to do but you don’t always know what you’re going to fully get from your actors and crew. He pulled it off and it’s a very fun movie.

Jason Bene: How were you chosen as one of the contestants for Syfy Channel’s Face Off?

Megan Areford: We had to do a makeup in 15 minutes. I chose to do a infected person makeup. I used pros-aide transfers, which is fast and easy to apply. They asked me if I wanted to come back for another audition. I said yes! Then it was a long process of different auditions and makeups. Pretty stressful, but worth it.

Jason Bene: As you are fully aware, reality television can edit you in either a positive or negative way. Did you ever think about not doing the show? Do you feel like they overdid it on constantly showing you laughing?

Megan Areford: I’m now very aware of editing now. I was fine with them showing me laugh. I laughed a lot! That’s who I am. I had a great time. I’m just disappointed they rarely showed me working. They focused more on the silly things than the real drama. We had a lot of issues with our projects. Example, Conor almost didn’t get his alien head done. When he got in that morning for application, the head didn’t fully fill. He ran silicon in it and the head was not fully filled that morning. Not only did he fully fill it that morning and wait for it to set up, but still managed to have a perfect piece and did a fantastic paint job, and won that challenge! That’s something I wanted SyFy to show. I think a lot of people would have learned from this example. I wish they would have shown that its not too late to fix your makeups.

Regardless of editing, my work and resume speaks for itself. You cant edit that!

Jason Bene: Let’s talk about the three judges (Ve Neill, Glenn Hetrick, Patrick Tatopoulos). Nice people that can be tough when they have to be. What did you take from their advice and critiques?

Megan Areford: For the most part, I agreed with the judging. They are the professionals. They had one of the hardest jobs. I learned from Patrick, to be part of your art. Put yourself into it. Express yourself. Go out on a limb and do something exciting. DO NOT BE AFRAID. I feel like he has giving me permission to be who I am through my work. I will carry that with me for the rest of my life. Even though I did not have the best zombie, it was my attempt to do something original, and he saw that. That was my first attempt in a long time to express myself. Even though the work itself was kinda rough, I placed me in it. It was my take on women in LA. I was making a statement that came across….in a very bloody way.

Glenn was awesome! I love his critiques. Its very direct, no B.S., and benefiting. He would say tell us where we went wrong and what we needed to fix. He told me I’m very hard on myself and sometimes I take the words out of his mouth. I stress to people, “I’m not blind“. I desire strong opinions from professionals. Anything to learn and grow as an artist is my goal in life. I want to find myself through my work, then express it. Glenn knows this. He knows I try to tell a story, but sometimes these stories do not clearly come across, just like me! I need to be more direct with people and my work. This experience has reborn me and my art. I’m a new, stronger person and artist.

Jason Bene: Hands down you were the most attractive woman on Face Off. Do you think the other girls held that against you instead of concentrating on the weekly tasks?

Megan Areford: I don’t know about that. Thank you, though! To me, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I would have liked them to show the beauty in all of us. Every lady on that show was beautiful in there own way. I don’t think anyone was distracted by me. I think I was distracted by some of them. The work that was turned out in that little amount of time was just amazing. I think I grew into a fan girl after awhile. For God sakes, I was rooting for Conor when I was competing against him! Once again, I stress, I’m not blind. I know when I have met my match. Instead of envying, I embraced such wonderful talent. It was truly an honor working next to him.

Jason Bene: Then there is Conor McCullagh, the elder studsman that you had/have a big crush on. Do you feel like he had an unfair edge over everyone else because he has been doing his craft professionally a lot longer than the other contestants? Are you two an item?

I am not entirely surprised by the films which have made the shortlist, and I know which of those I will be pulling for to make the final five which will be in contention for the Oscar.

Here is the press release:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 83rd Academy Awards®.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“Iron Man 2”
“Scott Pilgrim vs the World”
“Tron: Legacy”

All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films on Thursday, January 20. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Source: Collider

On his Twitter (via Cinema Blend), Dustin Rowles of Pajiba reveals that James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine (Terrence Howard in Iron Man, and Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2) could be getting his own feature film. “It may be denied if reported, but don’t be surprised if you hear about a War Machine spin-off soon,” he said. It’s not the first time this has been rumored, so there’s a possibility it could happen. Marvel is currently looking for writers, so they at least have an idea of a film.

It was last rumored before the release of Iron Man 2 back in May, which actor Don Cheadle denied, that was six months ago, and the studio probably wanted to see how the film performed before making plans. Although, fans have already been upset with Marvel over replacing Terrance Howard, and a War Machine spin-off may feel too much like another Iron Man film. Besides, Marvel still has a number of bigger projects to work on including Iron Man 3 (here) and if the rumors (here) about the budget issues on The Avengers is true, then the studio will want to work that out first.

Thoughts?

“The great thing about the Marvel universe for the films,” says Shane Mahan who was Oscar-nominated for his work on the first film, “is that all of the answers are in the comic books.”Coming to Blu-ray and DVD on September 28th from Paramount, Shane Mahan talks with Killer Film about the film, the suits, and Stan Winston.

Jon Peters: Was there any trepidation coming back for the sequel after receiving an Oscar nomination for the first film?

Shane Mahan: No, and while that’s a wonderful thing, you have to just acknowledge the bottom line of that this is what we love to do. Having another opportunity to improve upon what you’ve already done is the thrill. It’s like anything in life where you build something the first time, you know what you can do to improve it for the second time. Make it better for the film, make it better for the actors, or visually or for the weight, so in the film business and especially in physical effects like we do, the time and resources given are basically building a one-time prototype. So it has to work. I look at it and our team looks at it in terms if there was any shortcomings the first time, to make it better for the director and the actors, making life on-set better. That was really our approach. Having done it the first time, we had a short-hand, avoiding the long experimentation period.

Jon: With making the suits lighter, was there anything done to War Machine, since that suit looked outrageously heavy for Don Cheadle?

Mahan: His suit was chrome-plated and there was an autopsy piece as well, so that wasn’t wearable at all. We lined the inner part with red, so you can fill the weight, making it able to balance the imagination of the weight of the suit. It was fun since we had an opportunity to build inside the suit, a loving study of what it might’ve been in real life. It felt plausible, so I was really happy with how it turned out.

Jon: Like you said, all of the keys are in the comics to make these movies. Can you explain the suit design for Whiplash, that was considerably different in the movie than in the comics?

Mahan: Whiplash’s design was from the director and the producers saying “look, this is who this guy is. He’s a low-tech guy. He’s doesn’t have the resources Tony Stark had.” It comes from a character place. You have Mickey Rourke playing a guy who’s down-and-out and kind of mad, and I think the suit should reflect that. Also, the artists worked with Favreau and John Eaves is one of the best concept artists I’ve worked with. We had phone calls and chit-chatted about ideas and how things should work. It was a really good union of minds. I thought Whiplash’s costume was great.

Jon: Was it easier this time for pre-production on the suits and the drones?

Mahan: The Mark III was a new design, so it was starting over. While you’ve done it before, it only makes it easier to streamline things, but it was all redone. All of the worrying of doing it, was gone, since we’ve knew what to do from the first film. We [on the first film] had to configure the proportions of the comic’s design into a 3D model, and turn it into a suit to put an actor in. The bottom line is you want to serve the film artistically, but you have to break down the film into three stages of production: pre-, shooting, and post. For me, it was all a blur. The on-set process was enjoyable, but you had to think of the general audience, to make it all work.

Jon: With the knowledge of what you’ve done on the first film, was there anything new to make it all comfortable for Robert [Downey, Jr.] and Don [ Cheadle]?

Mahan: Chris Swift and I knew to add things like buckles and pins to make it come on and off easier. By the end of the film, Robert just wanted to hop in and get his scenes done. Get in and get out, not being distracted. We had to make this able for him to get in fast so he can do his thing. Those were things we had to think about prior, for sure.

Jon: Did you have a lot of correspondence with the VFX team at ILM?

Mahan: Absolutely. We worked hand-in-hand with those guys. Those are your allies and it’s a team effort. It has to look cohesive and I don’t ever want the audience to detect one over the other.

Jon: Sadly, Stan Winston passed in 2008. Can you talk about him and the Legacy Effects (here) company that formed after his death?

Mahan: Stan, of course, was just one of the greatest influence we had and had great opportunity to work on the films that we did. It was a terrible blow to have him gone. We had to think about how this is what we do, it’s all we know how to do, and it was a matter of continuing the type of work we had been allowed to do on films. Creating Legacy Effects was a way to keep physical effects alive. We’re really thankful, but it all boils down to opportunities that came from Stan’s history and people know of that place, making a certain comfort level there. I think Iron Man 2 was a great project, in my opinion, and I hope the DVD soars.

Fans can revisit the adventure on Blu-ray and DVD September 28th.

The Film:

If you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in Him. There will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come.

Good sequels are hard to pull off, because they must fight a slew of enemies that are relatively unseen. Sequels must fight the Big Three; finding the best story to tell, finding what worked the first time and give us more, and fighting against audience’s expectations. Roll those together, and let it loose. With that being said, Iron Man 2 is an odd sequel, yet with all of the battles it faces, it ultimately wins. Justin Theroux’s script is fairly routine, playing the sequel cards in a standard fashion. While the structure of the film is by-the-numbers, Iron Man 2 represents what truly is a comic book movie, and despite all of the familiarity, the film rocks.

Iron Man was a blast of fresh air, mixing the origin story into an interestingly new spin, focusing on character and some political subtext. Essentially continuing the film’s first high note of an ending, we begin to see the fallout of Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) public announcement that he is Iron Man. Like anything in a competitive market, the Iron Man suit is quickly copied, causing a possible New Age Arms Race. Even though Stark has given us World Peace, the fallout of his invention could lead to a blow back. Enter: Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). He has successfully copied Stark’s invention and is hellbent on putting some damage into Stark’s God Complex.

Iron Man 2 delivers on the calling card of a sequel to a hit movie. We get more characters, more action, and more adrenaline. It’s more of the same, and while it’s not a bad thing, it feels a little over-cooked. But don’t take that the wrong way. The film is high on entertainment; popcorn-munching entertainment. The cast is great; Rourke’s character, an amalgamation of Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo, is however, short-sighted with typical villainy, and with little narrative weight. Still, the performances are strong throughout, from Don Cheadle as War Machine, or even surprisingly Scarlett Johansson, to a slimy, creep-of-a-man Sam Rockwell, as a rival entrepreneur. Downey furthers his Stark character’s persona, and is so pitch-perfect, the role will forever be his.

This is all fine and dandy, but Iron Man 2, despite being a standard issue sequel that’s incredible fun, also represents something far greater.

Remember when I said it’s a true comic book movie in the opening paragraph? It is, meaning most of my gripes are forgiven because for the first time in movie history, we’re getting serialized stories on huge budgets. If in the comics, we come back monthly for the continuation of a story arc, finally in film, Iron Man 2 represents this notion. While Stark fights his own enemies and demons, the subplot of what this is all leading too, future Marvel films, is tantalizing. I believe Iron Man 2 can stand on its own as a fun summer film, but as a continued story towards The Avengers, it’s delicious. This might add to some people’s confusion, but trust me, this film serialization will have it’s just reward. Avengers Assemble!

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Paramount unleashes one gorgeous HD presentation of the film. The video is a prime example why Blu-ray as a format is the superior home video format we’ve ever had or will need. While film-like, the colors, textures, blacks, and overall image is clean, bold, sharp, and superb. The DTS audio is like WWIII in your home. Deep – and I mean deep – bass offers similar low end devastion like the first film’s Blu-ray did, and add the constant surround usage, and it’s a full-on blitz of audio. All in all, Iron Man 2‘s Blu-ray is a high mark for the format.

Paramount is offering two seperate Blu-ray option for buyers. One is a 1-disc with a few select extras, and the other, which is being reviewed here, is a 3-disc offering with a second disc of extras and the DVD copy of the film, along with the Digital Copy.

(Disc 1):

Commentary: Jon Favreau flies solo here, yet it’s a wonderful listen, with great information about the characters, Marvel, the film, and other neat tidbits. Fans will love it.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault: This is an interactive HUB for everything in the world of Iron Man, from character bios, to secrets, to general info, it’s pretty thorough. There’s an option to view some video feeds as well during all of this.

Previsualization and Animatics: Is pretty much what you’d expect, with storyboards and pre-FX sequences, with a video option for further details.

(Disc 2):

Ultimate Iron Man: The Making of Iron Man 2: In 1080p. Much like the first film’s detailed documentary, this is one that’s even better and deeper, covering everything you ever wanted to know about the film, either in four parts or one long hour-plus look at the film’s production from beginning to release. On-set footage, interviews, all of the great stuff, wrapped in a wonderful feature. Glad to see a non-EPK documentary for a change. It’s worth the time.

Up next is six more featurettes covering things a bit more deeper in categories that are self-explanatory: Creating Stark Expo, Practical Meets Digital, Illustrated Origin: Nick Fury, Illustrated Origin: Black Widow, Illustrated Origin: War Machine, and Working with DJ AM. Each run about 6-8 minutes in HD.

From there, we now get eleven Concept Art Galleries from each character and set pieces preliminary designs. Eight Deleted Scenes with optional commentary are offered, to various points of interest, including the scene from the trailer. Finishing up the extras are a slew of the movie’s and the video game’s Trailers, an AC/DC music video, and then the DVD copy and the Digital Copy of the film on the others disc (Disc 3).

Conclusion: It might feel like Iron Man 1.5 or an Avengers prequel, but it’s still a lot of fun, all on a superb Paramount Blu-ray.

The Film: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The alternative intro to Iron Man 2 is  now online. When the trailers were first shown it featured a segment with Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow in a plane.Gwyneth Paltrow kisses the helmet and throws it out the back of the plane with Robert Downey Jr jumping out after it.
For the threatrical release that scene is missing and the intro was different. The alternate intro was funnier but the theatrical intro was simpler and to the point.
Watch the alternate opening here

Source: CinemaBlend

The Final will be to read Killer Film‘s pending review.

I’m Professor Jon Peters, who has a MFA in Action, and students, welcome to Know Your Expendables 101.

Sylvester Stallone (plays Barney “Schizo” Ross)

Action Debut: Death Race 2000 (1975)

Best Film: Rocky (1976)

Famous for: The Italian Stallion is mostly known for his role of Rocky Balboa, in the six film series, mostly since the first was an Oscar winning Best Picture. His naive, but tough guy demeanor resonated with the working class people of the late ’70s, but the underdog story of the film captured everyone’s heart. From there, Stallone’s next best character was John Rambo in the four film series that begin with First Blood. Outside of the first film, which was more of an action/political agenda movie, the sequels have been the stuff of action genre standards.

Fans will also love his action films Cliffhanger, Daylight, Cobra, Over the Top, Copland, and Judge Dredd.

Best One-liner: From Rocky II: “Yo, Adrian! I did it!

Last Best film: Demolition Man (1993)

Why he’s an Expendable: Sly is a pivotal action hero from the 1980′s. Besides acting, he’s a notable writer and director, but none of that matters too much when Rocky and John Rambo are pop culture icons.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (plays Trench)

Action Debut: Hercules in New York (1969)

Best Film: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1992)

Famous for: He might be the Governator now, but Arnold – one of the few action stars to go by a first name basis – defined action in the 1980s and early 1990s. Awarded Mr. Universe at the age of 22, Arnie captured all of our imaginations with a string of successful and classic action films early in his career with James Cameron’s The Terminator, followed by Conan the Barbarian, and Predator. From those three films, he launched one of the action genre best career’s with numerous #1 openings and box office dominance. What’s not to love here? Running Man, Red Heat, Total Recall, True Lies, Kindergarten Cop, Eraser, are all of his most notable, but fans will most likely have a soft spot for 6th Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Last Action Hero.

Best One-liner: From Predator: “Get to the Chopper!”

Last Best Film: True Lies (1994)

Why he’s an Expendable: How else could they have a film like this without Arnold? His acting chops veered into comedy specific films for a time, and while he has had duds at the box office, simply put, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the action genre.

Jet Li (plays Yin Yang)

Action Debut: Shaolin Temple (1982, Chinese); Lethal Weapon 4 (1998, American)

Best Film: Tai Chi Master (1993)

Famous for: Jet Li is one of China’s best on-screen martial artist since the fall of the Shaw Brothers studio. His Once Upon a Time in China films made him a star and First of Legend,Tai Chi Master, and The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk only made him stay there. His skills were nimble and fast, yet deadly, as showcased in many wushu films from the 1980s and early 1990s, and it was only a matter of time when Hollywood came calling. Now most of his American films have been met with mixed success, his debut in Lethal Weapon 4 not only turned heads in the film, but in our eyes as well. Romeo Must Die and Unleashed are two of his better Hollywood films.

When he returned to China, Fearless and Hero were hailed as classics. He had the career Bruce Lee would have had.

Best One-liner: From Romeo Must Die: “Here’s the deal, Meatball. You let me go, I let you live.”

Last Best Film: Fearless (2006)

Why he’s an Expendable: Some of Jet Li’s martial art films in the late ’80s and early ’90s are some of the better since Bruce Lee died, the fall of the Shaw Brothers, and before Donnie Yen came MMA’ing his way into the field. He has been one of the few not to be totally neutered when he made the transition to Hollywood, something Jackie Chan can’t say. Plus, unlike most of his comrades in the film, he’s still making great action films.

Mickey Rourke (plays Tool)

Action Debut: Double Team (1997)

Best Film: The Wrestler

Famous for: While Rourke in the 1980s made a splash with critically acclaimed dramatic roles, fans will cherish him as Marv from Sin City. His return from a brief boxing career has earned him tough guy cred, and if Marv wasn’t dangerous enough for you, his role in Tony Scott’s Domino as a bad-ass bounty hunter, or a wash-up pro wrestler in his Oscar-nominated performance in The Wrestler should. Also, it took Iron Man and War Machine working together to defeat him in Iron Man 2.

Best One-liner: From Sin City: “Killing? No. No satisfaction. Everything up until the killing, will be a gas.”

Last Best Film: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Why he’s an Expendable: Simple: one cold look from his ravaged body will scare you into an early grave.

Eric Roberts (plays James Monore)

Action Debut: Best of the Best (1989)

Best Film: The Dark Knight (2008)

Famous for: He’s an unheralded tough guy, appearing in plenty of action films and dramatic roles, often playing a villain. Teaming with Akon or The Killers, Roberts is seemingly everywhere. He might not have the body mass as other actors in The Expendables, but he equally as devious.

Best One-liner: From The Dark Knight: “What makes you think I want to hear you talk?”

Last Best Film: The Prophecy II (1998)

Why he’s an Expendable: Tough and gritty as they come.

Dolph Lundgren (plays Gunnar Jensen)

Action Debut: Rocky IV (1985)

Best Film: Masters of the Universe (1987)

Famous for: Perhaps the last of the generation of action stars, Lundgren is all bad-ass all-the-time. From playing Drago who tried to defeat the American Icon of Rocky Balboa in an action debut, to going toe-to-toe with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lundgren might not have the action filmography as some of his brethren, but his films entertain nonetheless: Showdown in Little Tokyo, Universal Soldier, Red Scorpion, Johnny Mnemonic, or as the first Punisher, his small action films made him an minor action icon in the early 1990s.

Best One-liner: From Universal Soldier: “I’m all ears!”

Last Best Film: From Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2010)

Why he’s an Expendable: Who else could go up against Bruce Lee’s son and live to tell about it?

Bruce Willis (plays Mr. Church)

Action Debut: Die Hard (1988)

Best Film: Pulp Fiction (1994)

Famous for: Die Hard is the prototype for all summer action films from that release on, and while he makes actions films still, his career is defined by that franchise. Not only that, but as a collective career, his action films have all been incredibly successful, mostly since he portrays that guy we all know, an atypical action hero when compared to other Expendables.

Best One-liner: From Die Hard: “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*cker!”

Last Best Film: Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

Why he’s an Expendable: He saved the world in Armageddon and is our go-to guy to stop terrorists. 

Jason Stratham (plays Lee Christmas)

Action Debut: Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Best Film: Bank Job (2005)

Famous for: Statham is like an old school action star in a modern world of action film making, and while it often clashes, he handles the roles with a stiff grace. Crank, War, Transporter, and Death Race all best represent this attitude. If you crave action that you seen from the 1990s, then here’s your action man to follow.

Best One-liner: From Crank: “Don’t pop a blood vessel, you little penis!”

Last Best Film: Crank: High Voltage (2009)

Why he’s an Expendable: He’s an action tough guy cut from a dying breed. Plus, he’s a Westerner that gave Jet Li a run for his money in War.

Steve Austin (plays Dan Paine)

Action Debut: The Condemned (2007)

Best Film: The Condemned (2007)

Famous for: He might have only been in a few films, but it’s his career in the WWE in the 1990s that made Stone Cold a lovable tough guy, who drank a beer and whupped ass. Not only was he more popular than Hulk Hogan, he’s beating another non-Expendable tough guy’s ass numerous time, in Dwayne Johnson. I have VHS evidence of this.

Best One-liner: “You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn’t get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16… Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!

Last Best Film: The Stranger (2010)

Why he’s an Expendable: True, he doesn’t have the action film cred yet, but I’ll take this wrecking ball in any fight, anywhere, against anyone. Ask The Rock or Vinnie Jones.

Terry Crews (plays Hale Ceasar)

Action Debut: The 6th Day (2000)

Best Film: Street Kings (2007)

Famous for: Crews might not register to some fans of action, but he got his start on Sundays in the NFL, before going gladiator in American Gladiators for a time. Used in comedies as the tough, bald, black guy, until recently he took this persona to the action genre with Terminator Salvation, Gamer, Get Smart, and Street Kings.

Best One-liner: From Idiocracy: “Number 1: We’ve got this guy Not Sure. Number 2: He’s got a higher IQ than ANY MAN ALIVE. and Number 3: He’s going to fix EVERYTHING.”

Last Best Film: Middle Men (2009)

Why he’s an Expendable: The only man alive who could force any other Expendable to use Old Spice.

Randy Couture (plays Toll Road)

Action Debut: Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)

Best Film: Redbelt (2008)

Famous for: Like Austin, he’s mostly known for his action skills outside of film. An UFC Hall of Famer, Couture isn’t someone you want to take lightly. His left ear could beat most men up. As an action star, he went blow-by-blow with Chiwetel Ejiofor and was the main villain in Scorpion King 2.

Best One-liner: From Redbelt: “Yeah, how’s that sound?”

Last Best Film: Redbelt (2008)

Why he’s an Expendable:

Got it? Good. Enjoy The Expendables on August 13th from Lionsgate Films.

Iron Man 2 will street on Blu-ray and DVD September 28th. It’s safe to assume that these trailers are those that were shown at this past Comic-Con, or at least a recut version of them.The site claims the Thor footage should have full CG effects done, but the Captain America trailer “might” not have Chris Evans in costume.

Source: Blu-ray

Paramount Home Entertainment announced the summer hit, Iron Man 2 will be available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD on September 28.  Coming Soon has the news.

“To date, with over $300 million at the domestic box office, IRON MAN 2 has delighted audiences with its combination of high-intensity action, intelligence and humor. The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack comes fully loaded with immersive and interactive bonus materials including an in-depth, feature-length documentary of the making of the film, revealing featurettes about Nick Fury, Black Widow and War Machine, a look inside the creation of Stark Expo, deleted scenes and an exclusive peek inside the Marvel Super Hero Universe through the S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault.”

Iron Man 2 continues to do strong, making $26.6 Million to add to a grand domestic total of $251.2 Million. Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood still struggles to get an audience here in the States but when you add it up with international sales it’s made $191.1  Million. Check out the rest of the totals below from Box Office Mojo.:

Weekend Box Office (May 21-23)

1. Shrek The Final Chapter  ($71.5 M)
2. Iron Man 2  ($26.6 M)
3. Robin Hood  ($18.7 M)
4. Letters to Juliet  ($9.1 M)
5. Just Wright  ($4.2 M)
6. MacGruber  ($4.1 M)
7. Date Night  ($2.8 M)
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street  ($2.2 M)
9. How to Train Your Dragon  ($1.8 M)
10. Kites  ($952,000)

This Thursday Sex and the City 2 comes out in theaters and this upcoming Friday we have the wide release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in order to hold the guys over who don’t want to see Carrie and the girls travel to Lord knows where. On the limited circuit you can see Agora or Survival of the Dead.

The Show:

The world is once more crazy for Iron Man thanks to the newest film in the franchise Iron Man 2, but I’ll be darned if many remember this lesser known animated property from 1994-1996 on a revived Marvel Action Hour, along with the Fantastic Four. After the success of Fox’s X-Men and Spider-Man animated series, Iron Man came about, but to a more disjointed affair. Still, Iron Man was solid as steel if you’re a Marvel comic fan.

Buena Vista nicely offers us the entire two season run here on three discs, making for an interesting stab at nostalgia. Surely, I assume, most fans of animation and superhero animation came across this show once or twice. The show, as seen now, is a product of its time, and also is a dodgy effort, mixing plenty of good, bad, and camp. It’s a tale of two seasons. Season One writer, Ron Friedman styled many of his episodes after his work in G.I. Joe and Transformers from the 1980s, as each of these are “single-episode open-and-shut-cases”. As a child born in the 1980s, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was the animated show too watch, and oddly, this show’s first season feels like that. Story are self-contained, villains are introduced and defeated. Animation is large and somewhat generic looking. After the successes of X-Men and Spider-Man, it seems odd not to model Iron Man after those.

It’s not all bad, as stories breeze on by, other Marvel characters appear like plenty of the West Coast Avengers, like War Machine, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Nick Fury, Hulk, and most of Iron Man’s villains appear like Mandarin, Justin Hammer, Whiplash (named here Backlash), Fing Fang  Foom, and others. Still, the episodes suffer from the old-fashion cut-and-paste routines (see “Wedding Of Iron Man!” or “Rejoice! I Am Ultimo Thy Deliverer”). Plot points are coincidentally connected and villains are easily defeated. Good versus evil, people, has never been so lop-sided.

Luckily, a huge tonal shift in the quality of the show happened in Season Two. New writer in Tom Tataranowicz, new theme music, and a new animation studio, that gratefully changed the outdated look and feel of the show. The stories got vastly better. More development in Tony Stark from an idealist to a weary, compromised hero, which is a huge change from his goodie-goodie-two shoe persona from Season One. Now this is more like the X-Men animated show.  The episodes now are adapting stories from the comics, like “The Armor Wars” which is a great two-parter. A Hulk crossover kick tail too, in “Hulkbuster” with the Leader making a villainous appearance. If anything of a negative, this season features some CG, much like Spider-Man‘s animated series did at the time, and now is pretty dated.

While not a gem lost in time, the Iron Man animated series is pretty decent. The first season might be rough for non-children of the 1980s with its simple stories, “good guys always win” attitudes, and animation style. It’s a little relic, with some nostalgia for charm. But season two really shines, even if it’s a short season. Lots to like in a lot of areas, too bad it didn’t continue on.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Buena Vista gives us a decent looking and sounding set. Each epsiode is in full frame like originally broadcasting in, but little issues. The sound is better on season two due to the fact that this was a rare animated show to be issued in THX sound. All in all, it’s a good job by BVHE.

No Extras sadly.

Conclusion: An interesting tail of two seasons, but in all, a cool retro animated show that’s at least worth a look until The Avengers or Iron Man 3 comes. Far better than his new show, Iron Man: Armored Adventures.

The Show: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

We now divert our attention to the chick flicks of the weekend, but of course it’s no real surprise that Letters to Juliet landed gracefully in third place with Just Wright close behind. The Summit Entertainment distributed film pulled off a heavy but sweet marketing campaign, that made a few aware of Letters to Juliet for a longer time compared to Just Wright. Despite all of that marketing hoo-ha, Letters to Juliet made $13.7 Million while Just Wright wrangled in $8.5 Million. Continue reading on to check out the rest of the totals below from Box Office Mojo.:

Weekend Box Office (May 14-16)

1. Iron Man 2  ($53 M)
2. Robin Hood  ($37.1 M)
3. Letters to Juliet  ($13.7 M)
4. Just Wright  ($8.5 M)
5. How to Train Your Dragon  ($5.1 M)
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street  ($4.7 M)
7. Date Night  ($4 M)
8. The Back-Up Plan  ($2.4 M)
9. Furry Vengeance  ($2.3 M)
10. Clash of the Titans  ($1.2 M)

It’s time to bring in more action for the next weekend as the SNL skit-turned-feature film MacGruber comes out this Friday. DreamWorks Animation pulls out the big guns with the IMAX 3D and regular theater release of Shrek The Final Chapter. Following those two, are the limited releases of 180 South: Conquerors of the Useless and Racing Dreams.

“The Avengers should start shooting some time next year, and then some time after that there’ll be a big S.H.I.E.L.D. movie.”

Jackson sounds pretty sure about this, but until Kevin Fiege says otherwise, it’s just hopeful speculation. We already have characters like Black Widow and Agent Coulson who could return for the film. If this film moves forward, then it could be the starting point for some of Marvel’s secondary characters.

The Avengers is scheduled to hit theaters on May 4, 2012.