The Hollywood Reporter has broken some news about casting for the next Iron Man movie that should kick ass and decimate the box office. Of the two that are reported one I wouldn’t really call news but the other has me interested. Heres a small excerpt, click here for the full article.

Kate Mara and Clark Gregg have joined Marvel’s “Iron Man 2,” being directed by Jon Favreau and currently shooting in Manhattan Beach, Calif.Mara’s role is being kept under wraps.  Gregg is returning as Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Wrestler, which was perhaps one of the best films of last year, arrived yesterday on DVD and I was quite excited to get my hands on it. Watching the film again, I wonder how it didn’t get more award nominations. In case you’ve been living in outer space, The Wrestler revolves around “The Ram” (played, in what should have been an Oscar Winning performance, by Mickey Rourke), an aging wrestling star whose glory days are behind him. He’s estranged from his daughter (played beautifully by Evan Rachel Wood) and is alone in the world until he meets a stripper with a heart of gold (played brilliantly by the ever better looking Marisa Tomei).

Since I’ll assume that you guys haven’t been living under a rock, I’ll assume that you have seen the film and we all know that it is top notch, so we can move onto the specific features of the disc. I will be very honest and upfront about this: This disc is extremely light on special features. I’m grateful for these features and found them extremely excellent, but I would skip the DVD version of this film and go straight for the Blu-ray.

The special features consisted of a behind-the-scene’s featurette and a Bruce Springsteen music video.

Both were good. I didn’t realize how non-traditional the filming of The Wrestler was, though I shouldn’t have expected anything less from a visionary like Darren Aronofsky. The interviews and behind the scenes footage were enlightening and raised questions about the nature of the filmmaking that sometimes it didn’t quite answer. In any case, it’s always fascinating to get a glimpse of the way Aronofsky runs a set, no matter how unorthodox. I was also fascinated to learn that the venues and wrestling matches were, for the most part, real due to the inadequate budget of the film.

There’s lots of nuggets of information to be gleaned from this feature and I wish there were more of it. I was a little disappointed by the lack of commentary on this disc as well since that’s a pretty standard feature, but if there was a lesson to be learned with The Fountain, perhaps we’ll see a downloadable version of one on Aronofsky’s website.

My verdict on this one? It’s obvious you have to own this movie. As Aronofsky fans and a lovers of excellent films, we have to own this film, but my advice is to skip the DVD and get the Blu-ray.

I expect to see more of this by film studios as well. Stripping down the DVD version and loading up the Blu-ray. It makes sense if they want to dictate purchasing behavior.

Yesterday, Dr. Cyborg posted a review of The Last Kiss on Blu-Ray. The review was less than favorable, and while the good doctor is of course entitled to his own opinions, I really enjoyed this movie and feel it deserves a “counter-review”.

First off, to blatantly counter Dr. Cyborg, I didn’t find this movie the least bit cheesy, nor to be chock full of phony insights about relationships. Braff does a great job at playing the near-thirty-year-old who is starting to panic a little about the “permanence” of his relationship with his newly pregnant girlfriend (Barrett). This leads to him stepping out on her with a younger college girl (Bilson), something that he eventually gets caught in and confesses to. Cue drama.

I think some people expect this to be a romantic comedy going into it, and while it has several good laughs, especially at the beginning, it is certainly more dramatic than what most expect. There is a great supporting cast of Braff’s friends who are all going through their own trials and tribulations: Izzy is having a hard time moving on from his high school sweetheart, Chris and his wife are struggling with a failing marriage that involves a new born son, and Kenny is well, a man whore, who for a brief time thinks he has finally found someone to settle down on for at least a little while. I think this is where my main complaint of the film comes in, these are all strong characters who in their short time on screen lends a lot to the film as a whole (the supporting cast is where a lot of the comedic relief comes in), but I feel they could have been developed a little more than they were. However, all the interactions work and keep everything moving.

The movie tackles a lot of mature relationship issues and handles them well, with the main theme being infedelity. Braff actually makes you feel like he’s a guy who made an honest mistake for something that I would guess 99% of the population consider unforgiveable, but yet, you don’t fully forgive him for what he’s done. Meanwhile, Barrett is great as the love-scorned girlfriend who has been hurt beyond belief, trying her hardest to recover and forgive the father of her child and the man she plans to spend the rest of her life with. Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner are great (as always) as the wiser older couple (going through issues of their own throughout the course of the film) both lending some wisdom to Braff and Barrett’s characters. One of the best scenes in the movie is between Wilkinson and Braff when Michael has to come face to face with the father of the woman he cheated on.

While the movie wraps up a lot of the plot nicely, it also leaves some aspects open-ended; not necessarily in a frustrating way, but you get the sense that this is the end of this story for all of these couples and they will go on living their lives, not necessarily happily-ever-after, but stronger and wiser people.

Some might say this movie is full of cliche’s and it brings nothing new to the romantic genre, and I don’t totally disagree. However, I didn’t get the sense that this movie was trying to be anything more than a solid movie, telling a story. It wasn’t pretentious, wasn’t trying to give any deeper insight than what common sense might tell us if we were in these situations if we really listened; the movie simply takes you along on the rough seas of these individuals current situations and allows you take from it what you will, and does a good job at it.

This isn’t Garden State, but in my opinion it’s another solid outting for Zach Braff and is definately worth checking out. As mentioned in the previous review, The Last Kiss is now out on Blu-Ray. You can order it here from Amazon.

I get more and more excited to see this movie the more I see of it. You can see the trailer here.

I am generally not the chick flick kind of machine, but I am aware that they call them chick flicks because girls like them. The Last Kiss is, indeed, a chick flick.

So the question I would be asking me if I were you, which I am, is “Is this the type of chick flick, I, as a male robot would be willing to sit through?”

Well, all I can say is that I am still alive after watching it.

“Was it good?” is the next question I would ask me, if I were you. Whom I also am.

The answer is no. This movie is not good. It’s really cheesy, it’s chock full of phony insights about relationships. In all fairness, though, it’s not really my cup of tea.

Plot: The main character (Zach Braff) has a girlfriend whom is pregnant and wants to marry him. He’s having second thoughts.  He has three buddies with different but similar and applicable problems that resonate with his problem. His wife’s mother and father are also haven’t similar problems that reflect theirs. A younger girl comes along and you can guess what happens next…

The biggest problem I have with it is how much like a formula it feels like. Everything sticks to a single theme to such an extent that it feels like a giant montage. A lot of things happen with a lot of different characters, with a very similar theme, but the characters all seemed fake. They all felt like stereotypes acting out stereotypical scenes. I don’t feel like you got to know any of the characters past the surface.

I don’t think that this movie brings anything new or exciting to the world that we haven’t seen or won’t see again in a far better way. I don’t think it was very impressive is all I’m saying.

Which for a chick flick might be an okay thing.

Most of the comedy came from gay, fart, and erection jokes, it really wasn’t funny to me, but I’m aware it was supposed to be. This is actually the first movie I have seen with Zach Braff, and all I can say is that I wasn’t very impressed.

There are plenty of special features, including a gag reel, and two different audio commentaries. But the best reason to buy this movie on Blu-ray is it’s a swell transfer of the film and there are several boobs in it. In high definition!

So if you’re a guy that has to watch a chick flick, but you want to see some boobs this is the film for you! I

It’s filled with archetypes and cliches, but nobody’s perfect.

My advice for you, if you can get over the fact that there are no boobs in it, is to watch Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It has a similar theme, but is much more entertaining and much less forceful. It’s available on Blu-ray, and is much funnier.

*Exclusive* Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Footage from Bay Films/Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

I don’t know about you gentletrons and femmebots, but I’m über siked to see this. My only gripe is that none of the Big Shiny Robots were asked to play one of the villians or even be asked to guess star! It’s BS man. Another thing is I can’t get over Prime without is mouth shield, his nose is huge and he’s got little tiny fish lips. Still all in all, Pencilbot can’t wait. You?

UPDATE: Apparently, Michael Bay pulled the footage, but we found it on Youtube. Enjoy it while it lasts or they ask us to take it down:

The Hollywood Reporter is…well…reporting, that DC’s next big move, The Green Lantern, will be shooting at Fox Studios Australia. Production is set to begin in July and shooting begins in November, though no one is cast yet.

Martin Campbell (GoldenEye and Casino Royale) is helming the film.

The budget is set for $150 million.

For more information, check out the Hollywood Reporter story here.

I don’t know about you bots, but I get comics solely for the pictures and I find this discriminate against those who like story and can read good… weirdos man, weirdos. So, join us, in the fight against anti-illiteracy and don’t actually read the free comics you get, just look at the drawings.

Then go see the wolverine movie, it looks like it will be also visually stimulating.

Michael Chabon has confirmed that he will be working on Pixar’s “John Carter of Mars” script.

Via The Amazing Website of Kavalier & Clay:

“I’ve been hired to do some revisions to an already strong script by Andrew Stanton and Mark Andrews,” Chabon said. “I wrote my original screenplay The Martian Agent back in 1995 because I wished I could do [Edgar Rice] Burroughs’s Barsoom. So this is pretty much a dream come true for me.”

Andrew Stanton, if you’ll remember, directed Wall-E and A Bug’s Life, two excellent films and both close to my heart. And this film, “John Carter of Mars” is his follow-up to Wall-E. Based on the Edgar Rice Burrough’s series, this could be an excellent way to follow up what a lot of people, myself included, called the best film of 2008.

I’ve heard rumblings from some (particularly Drew McWeeny at HitFlix) about Chabon’s abilities as a screenwriter, and as someone who’s read Chabon’s draft of Spider-Man 2 and his eighth draft of the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay in screenplay format, I can only say that I think McWeeny is way off the mark.

If you’d like to, go back and read my review of the Kavalier and Clay script here.

And I’d like to point out that I thought what Chabon did in his draft of Spider-Man 2 turned out to be some of the best material in the movie. Yeah things changed and got better, that’s always the goal when writers collaborate, but to say that it just laid there is a gross mis-statement.

This has been a very hard week to make recommendations for.

Pillow Talk is the first on the list today. It’s a special release for the 50th anniversary. This is one of perhaps two Doris Day movies I can stand, the other being Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. Oh, and That Touch of Mink. That movie is great, too…

The Last Kiss is coming out on Blu-ray today. I haven’t yet seen it, but I’ll be posting a review of this film in the next day or so, as will Dr. Cyborg. Anyone have an opinion of it? I’ve been meaning to see it since I really liked Garden State.

The last thing I’ll mention is The Spirit. I didn’t see it and all the reports I’ve gotten back about the film are about 90% against and 10% for. Where do you guys stand on this one?