Stan Winston, a giant in old school special effects, has passed away. He is survived by Karen, his wife of 37 years, and his two children. Without his perseverance, imagination and the comradeship he had with those at Stan Winston Studios we wouldn’t have Terminators, “Stay Away From Her, You Bitch” Aliens, Pumpkinheads, Scissorhands, Small Soldiers, and Jurassic Park dinosaurs as we see them today. He won four Academy Awards.

Revel in his brilliance here.

At a time when practically all visual wizardry can be accomplished with a computer, Winston’s work makes a compelling argument for the you-see-what-you-see handcrafted effects that are taken for granted. For granted because those seemingly breathing creatures on the screen made us focus on the real gem: the story.

German filmmaker Werner Herzog actually hauled a 360-ton boat up a muddy 40-degree slope in the Amazon jungle when filming Fitzcarraldo (1982) because visual effects wouldn’t be able to express such a feat as completely. I think Stan Winston would’ve appreciated that.

Before his death he supervising the special effects for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins to be released next year. The last completed film Winston conjured with his magic touch was the brilliant Iron Man (2008). With his passing, the world just got less awesome.

After kicking serious ass at the box office with the 2nd-highest box office earnings ever for a 3-day opening, and getting near-perfect reviews all round (if you haven’t seen it yet, why the hell not?), Iron Man has blown Marvel Executives expectations out of the ice-layering stratosphere.

Marvel has confirmed release dates for a string of upcoming movies, beginning with an Iron Man sequel. Iron Man 2 is set to debut on April 30, 2010, with Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard intact, followed by the feature film debut of Thor about 5 weeks later. For Thor, Marvel are looking at professional wrestler Triple H or Scottish actor Kevin McKidd, who made an impression in the HBO series Rome, to carry the hammer.

In 2011, Marvel are planning to release The First Avenger: Captain America. No speculation yet about who might play the square-jawed lead. The final release announced today is The Avengers, which will bring together Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and, conceivably, the characters of Ant Man and Wasp for a July 4, 2010, spectacular. I assume this will be far better than the flop a while back with Sean Connery.

The only trouble on the water for Marvel is the upcoming The Incredible Hulk which opens next month, since Ang Lee’s version had only received a luke-warm reception on opening. Let’s hope the star power of Edward Norton and Liv Tyler will change that.

Cut To The Chase: Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic.

In theaters now, Iron Man is the long-awaited film based on the Marvel comic book superhero. Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, a rich, boyish genius whose company builds sophisticated weapons for the military. But after he’s kidnapped by terrorists using his own company’s weapons, he decides he can no longer be a part of building tools of destruction. While held captive he builds his first version of the Iron Man suit which he uses to escape. Once home he declares that his company will no longer be making weapons, which doesn’t sit well with his partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Tony starts to perfect his Iron Man suit in order to go out and stop the terrorists who have been using his company’s weapons. And of course eventually he and Stane have to come to a final showdown.

Robert Downey Jr. may have seemed like an odd choice for Tony Stark at first, but we could even tell in the movie trailers for this film that he was going to give it all he had and make this character work. And he sure does deliver. This is a great actor that had gone through some troubled times, not unlike the character of Tony Stark. One of the challenges of this role was to show the transformation of Tony Stark from bored playboy to a hero and from a jerk to someone likable. Downey did it brilliantly and really showed what he could do here as he effortlessly rattled off witty one-liners, channeled Errol Flynn and Howard Hughes, and created a character so completely that you cannot imagine anyone else in that role once you’ve seen the film. He made the movie fun. Unlike the tortured Batman and Superman, this movie’s Iron Man is having a really good time. Continue reading →

I don’t know if this is a marketing tactic by the Iron man guys, or a leak somehow, but here they are…23 new pics for the up-coming Iron Man movie. I’m not complaining.

Enjoy…

They’re trying to make us go crazy, I’m sure of it…enjoy.

Keifer

Not long now…

Enjoy!

Keifer