Where Is Gwyneth Headed?

Question: Is Marvel done with Gwyneth Paltrow?

Follow-up: Is G.P. done with Marvel, nay...with acting altogether?

I mean, her last vehicle, Mortdecai, was painfully bad, but it wasn’t that terrible that she needs to quit the biz. If anyone should do penance that Johnny Depp should be it.

Paltrow’s IMDb looks remarkably barren when it comes to future projects these days (guess Blood, Bones & Butter fell through?), with only 33 Días, starring Antonio Banderas, coming down the pike. In the Spanish-language film, the Oscar-winning actress and GOOPer extraordinaire will play Pablo Picasso’s muse and lover, French photographer Dora Maar. (The project, btw, spans the period it took the Spanish master to create his famous “Guernica” painting.)

So what gives? Paltrow the businesswoman has completely overtaken Paltrow the thespian? Are we gonna have to think of Pepper Potts always on some business trip somewhere moving forward? Will Rescue ever come?

I need answers.

Photo: MichaelBlanchard.com.

RDJ Will Avenge Again

It was announced today that Robert Downey Jr. will be back as Tony Stark/Iron Man...in two more Avengers adventures.

Just like director Joss Whedon wanted.
But what about, you know, on his own, in future Iron Mans?

No details about about that were shared with today’s news, but hang on, hang on. It all will be OK.

And mark your calendars for May 1, 2015, for that is the earliest we will see the character again, in The Avengers 2.

Fine, go freak now. I am now that I’m wondering what this could mean for the future of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle’s Rhodey.

Photo: Collider.com.

G.P. the Action Star?

OMGwyneth, OMGwyneth, OMGwyneth, I am geeking out.

Are the powers that be at Marvel seriously considering spinning off Gwyneth Paltrow’s Iron Man character, Pepper Potts, and giving her her own movie?

Because if they are I am so in.

Evidently, Paltrow, as P2, will wear and Iron Man suit in the upcoming Iron Man 3, which makes sense given that the character like, totally becomes a hero herself in the comics, a hero that goes by the name of Rescue (she goes around the world helping, rather than battling people).

Kevin Feige, Marvel’s president of production, has said that giving Pepper Potts, and thus Paltrow, more to do – maybe a spin-off – is something he’s “certainly interested in.” (I was definitely impressed that The Avengers used my girl G.P. as much as it did.)

OMGwyneth!

I mean, girlfriend certainly looks like she stands up to fear and destruction in the pic at right, which depicts an intense moment from the threequel.

Right?

So excited. This definitely beats my idea of having Pixar-style shorts play before the male-dominated tentpoles that Marvel has dreamt up and found success with, featuring their lady friends and other sidekicks, kinda like, coming together to talk about their superhero-buds or just to their characters be more fleshed out and stuff.

I think I may have tweeted the idea to Feige once. LUTS @moviemartin, if you care.

Photo: E! Online.

Iron Man Gets Real

Looks like a change of director in the ’verse of Iron Man – Jon Favreau is out, Shane Black is in – has translated into a change of tone for the franchise.

’Cause things look like they’re getting real for Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark in next April’s Iron Man 3.

His demons are more tangible (courtesy of the events of The Avengers), the stakes are higher (seems like Ben Kingsley’s bad guy is literally hitting home), and his one true love Pepper Potts (my girl Gwyneth Paltrow) is totally in a dicey situation unlike any she’s found herself in before.

Check. Out. The trailer, people. And let’s hope the guy “can protect the one thing I can’t live without.”

Photo: USAToday.com.

The Man in the Iron Everything Returns

A couple of years ago, Jon Favreau delivered the pseudo sleeper Iron Man, starring former-Bad Boy-of-Hollywood Robert Downey Jr.

The movie was such a critical and commercial hit, it (so obviously) spawned a long-awaited sequel before opening weekend was up, which brings us to today, the day Iron Man 2 arrives in theaters to kick off the 2010 blockbuster season.

Summer is officially here.

Unfortunately, this Justin Theroux-penned sequel doesn’t really measure up to the original. It’s good, but it’s not as good or better. I think that’s because the stakes were just so high for this one. The expectation was that it would pull a Spider-Man 2 and surpass its predecessor, but it doesn’t, and that’s why some will pan it. It’s still a tremendous piece of entertainment, but it’s a bit unpolished. The element of bewildering surprise is gone, and you can see the kinks in the script’s armor.

The main problem with Iron Man 2 is it takes too long to take off. With the original Favreau put us in the thick of the action right away, but with this one, he fuzzes with clumsy, too-long exposition.

We meet Mickey Rourke’s villainous character, the vengeful Ivan Vanko, the man who will become Whiplash. (The guy’s the disgruntled son of a Russian inventor, a former associate of our hero’s father. Yep – this one has daddy issues….)

We see Downey’s grand and grandiose, cocky, smart-alecky billionaire Tony Stark attend the annual Stark Expo to sing his suited alter ego’s praises and bask in some fan loving.

We see him testify – Stark-style – before a congressional panel on security and let everyone there know he controls Iron Man and the government can’t have it.

Oh, and we are told/shown that Tony’s not doing so great, health-wise – the suit is taking a toll on him…and he remains just a man, albeit super-charged one but a man nonetheless. (This plot point, which explores how Stark’s dealing with his newfound rock star status, was dear to the powers that be and is very meta.)

All this happens in the space of, what, 15-20 minutes. It’s all very talky-spastic. It’s like, blow som’in’ up, already. Which they do – the Monaco racetrack scene teased in the trailer is cued in just in time.

But then there’s more talking…and doing of things, yet not enough action, and certainly not enough of that cool irreverent humor that made Iron Man enjoyable. Most of the laughs Iron Man 2 elicited were forced – I found myself trying to reference them to something, anything that would make them work.

Lest you think it, though, I did like Iron Man 2 – I just wish I hadn’t had to wait for about two thirds of the movie to see everything that I loved about the first one really happen on screen. That is, see our hero kick a--!

Downey’s still the man as Tony Stark – he wears the role with such gusto, and his portrayal of man on a downward spiral comes from a place of genuine angst.

Plus, the movie cleverly expands Gwyneth Paltrow’s role as “Pepper” Potts, Tony’s trusty right-hand woman, which means we get to see more of the pair’s delicious sexual tension. More Paltrow – looking hottah than evah thanks to her GOOP-approved regimen for the movie – is more Paltrow to love, IMHO.

Newcomers to the cast include Don Cheadle, matter-of-factly taking over for Terrence Howard in the role of Tony’s BFF, Lt. Col. James Rhodes, soon to be known as War Machine; and Scarlett Johansson as Tony’s slinky new assistant, a young lady who’s not who or what she seems (and who I hope we’ll see again as Marvel fleshes out its plan for a superhero bonanza franchise).

Iron Man 2 really is the perfect movie to kick off the summer season, but it is not nearly as near-perfect as the original.

Louder does not better make, and longer only invites abruptness in, especially in the end. (Nice tag after the credits, though.)

My Rating ***

Photo: Paramount Pictures.

The Man in the Iron Everything

Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man are going to be pissed….

A new comic book hero – a very little known at that – is making the transition to the silver screen, and he’s doing it successfully. Robert Downey Jr. kicks off 2008’s sizzling summer season in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, the first production from Marvel Studios, which, you should know, has become and fully funded, autonomous company.

In a fun, defining role of a lifetime, former-Bad Boy-of-Hollywood Downey plays Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist-and-genius inventor-turned-heroic Iron Man.

The star has battled excesses in the past, but, much like his munitions mogul alter ego, he managed to turn it around. Who knows how it happened in real life, but in the movie, someone tells Stark, after recognizing his talent, “Don’t waste your life.” Cue the 180.

Iron Man puts us in the thick of action right away – a smart move from Favreau, an actor-turned-director who has helmed such crowd-pleasers as Elf.

After Stark is kidnapped in Afghanistan and forced to build one of his own weapons for the bad guys, he decides to put his smarts to good use and build a high-tech iron suit to escape captivity.

But when he uncovers an evil plot with global implications, of which his company has become an unwitting participant, Stark decides to perfect his invention and don the armor to protect those he has put in harm’s way.

And thus, a hero – and blockbuster franchise – is born.

Iron Man is a sexy, loud, entertaining movie. It’s funny, too.

Downey is quite perfect as flawed Stark, and he definitely ups the game of his already-effective co-stars, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. Jeff Bridges co-stars as Stark’s bitter associate Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger.

Especially noteworthy is the chemistry between Downey and Paltrow, who plays his spunky assistant, Virginia “Pepper” Potts. It’s rather remarkable, and one of the movie’s strongest suits. (Thank goodness for sexual tension.)

If this movie is to serve as an indicator for what is to come this season, then we’re in for good one. Better yet, this movie sets everything for a sequel beyond nicely – and the truth is I wouldn’t mind one bit seeing Stark back.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Update 1: Marvel Studios has announced, on the heels of a $101 million opening weekend for Iron Man (better than anyone expected), that it will release part deux on April 30, 2010.

And wouldn’t you?

Here’s to hoping the sequel features a kiss between Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, though.

The company also announced plans to bring to silver screens a few other superheroes, namely Thor and Captain America, as well as a movie that would bring together these three plus the Incredible Hulk.

Awesome!

Update 2: Iron Man’s official weekend tally was $98.6 million.

Iron Man Gets a Gal

One of my all-time favorites, Gwyneth Paltrow, has been tapped to play Virginia "Pepper" Potts, the personal assistant to Iron Man's alter-ego, billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), in next year’s Iron Man.

Production on the Jon Favreau-directed project, which will co-star Terrence Howard, is scheduled to begin in March.

Now, I don’t know if the role will require that Paltrow be involved in any heroics or if she will play the damsel in distress, but just so you know, the actress can pull off both (sometimes at the same time) quite well.

See the criminally underrated Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow if you don’t believe me.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Photo: Style.com.