Ask 411 Movies for 5.5.08: That Column That is Iron Man...Well, Not Really

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 05.05.2008

Iron Man, the Avengers (but not those Avengers), Filmation’s Ghostbusters, Dateline's to Catch a Predator and more red movies suggested by you the readers

I caught Iron Man. I liked it, but it's pretty much every comic book movie I've ever seen. The narrative structure has a lot in common with Fantastic Four. What brings it a notch above is the acting performances, particularly Robert Downey Jr. in a near flawless performance as Tony Stark. Downey obviously drew on his own demons and natural glib personality to embody Stark. There are also a lot of little touches in the script that hark back to the comics and foreshadow some interesting developments for a sequel. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to sit all the way through the credits.

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I won't spoil who wins the Bad Ass Movie Character Tournament, but after you listen to the podcast, click the video below to see evidence to back up the winner as being purely bad ass.



You can also slip over to the music zone and read my review of Steve Winwood's Nine Lives album. Then you can check out the video for his first single below. The tune is "Dirty City" and Eric Clapton guests on guitar.



I got a lot comments on last week's column and we'll cover those. I would like to give a tip of the top to two readers for providing corrections. Jason corrected me that Manhunter was not a made for TV movie, but did get heavy television play after Silence of the Lambs came out. I also referred to Filmation's animated series as "The Real Ghostbusters." This was the animated series based on the feature film. "Filmation's Ghostbusters," or "The Original Ghostbusters" or just plain "Ghostbusters" was a different series. Thanks to JT on that.



First of all, Filmation had a live action series in the mid-seventies called "The Ghost Busters" that featured the exploits of Jake Kong (Forrest Tucker), Eddie Spenser (Larry Storch) and their gorilla Tracy (Bob Burns, whom I've met). When the movie was a big hit, Filmation still had the rights to their original concept and adapted that to a cartoon. There is actually continuity as Jake and Eddie hand the ghostbusting business and custody of Tracy down to their namesake sons. Their primary foe was Prime Evil and most weeks they fought one of his minions, such as Fangster, Scared Stiff, Haunter and Misteria. The Ghostbusters are often assisted by Futura, a ghostbusting gal from the future, and news reporter Jessica Wray.

Filmation sued Columbia Pictures after Ghostbusters came out and the parties reached an out of court settlement. Originally, Filmation was going to do the cartoon based on the movie, but Columbia decided to go with DIC instead. Filmation's Lou Scheimer later said it was foolish of them not to have made them doing the cartoon off the movie as part of the settlement package.

Also, ChuckDawg mentioned that Go-Bots was based on a Japanese series entitled Machine-Robo that predates Transformers. He says that Go-Bots was supposed to debut in America six months before Transformers, but got held up in production of the cartoon. Hey buddy, the American perception is always the correct one.

Q: I was always under the impression that "Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom" was the first movie to be given a PG-13. At least that's what I
remember Speilberg saying, that the rating had to made up for that movie. Maybe
I'm wrong.
-Deano

A: Scotty Flamingo answered this in the comments last week, so a tip of the top hat to him. Temple of Doom and Gremlins were two of the films that led to the creation of the PG-13 rating, but they were released before the rating was created. Parents groups objected to these two movies specifically getting PG ratings, even though they had moments of violence that seemed a bit harsh for the rating, however not harsh enough for an R. Stephen Spielberg himself suggested to MPAA president Jack Valenti the new rating, but Spielberg called it PG-14.

Q: Regarding EF's question on the Voltron-like show: what comes to mind was
something I watched in the late 70's called "G-Force" or "Battle
of the Planets"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Planets

Based on his questions of 90's cartoons this may be too old though.
-CK

A: EF did confirm in the comments section last week that "The Might Orbots" was the show he was looking for. However, I thought I would throw in the series that CK mentions.



"Battle of the Planets" was the Americanized version of Japan's "Gatchaman." Five young people are formed into G-Force They protect earth from the planet Spectra and other threats. Their ship the Phoenix could transform into a large bird that shot fire. The series was reworked in 1986 as "G-Force: Guardians of Space" that had more of the original Japanese material put back into the American episodes and followed the plotline of the original series more closely.

Q: I don't know the dark knight looks pretty damn good and ledger's death will only
bring in more people
-Tyler

A: This is reference to me picking Iron Man as the best reviewed and highest grossing film of the year. So far on Rotten Tomatoes, Iron Man has a 94% freshness rating and the movie grossed $60 million worldwide in 24 hours. So my projections look pretty good. I do think that Dark Knight will do well, but I believe that critics might be less kind to it than the first movie. Oddly, I think Heath Ledger might knock it down in some people's eyes because of his untimely death. I pick it to do well, but under the first film in critical response. It might out gross the first movie though.

Q: I realize this is only a partial list, but you left out the two most obvious movies with "red" in the title:
-Red (or the French title, Rouge)
-Reds
-Eric

A: Those are one word titles, that's boring.



Red (1994): This is the last part of Krzysztof Kieslowski's three colors trilogy that also includes White and Blue that focuses on modern European society. The stars of the other two films make a cameo at the end of this one. In this installment, Valentine (Irene Jacob) is a model who runs over a dog and through the incident meets a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintigant) who is spying on his neighbors. The film was disqualified for a nomination for the best foreign film Oscar from Switzerland because it did not meet the Academy guidelines for the category. Harvey Weinstein had sixty industry big wigs sign a letter that he sent to the academy in protest, but they wouldn't change their minds. This was Kieslowski's last film as he died of a heart attack in 1996.



Reds (1981): Warren Beatty writes, directs and stars in the story of radical American journalist John Reed. Writer Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) leaves her husband after being mesmerized by Reed. They do have a brief falling out that results in her staying with Eugene O'Neil (Jack Nicholson). Reed covered the communist revolution in Russia in 1917 and hoped to launch a similar revolution in the United States. Uniquely, the film features clips of real people who were witness to the events in the film relating their memories. Beatty wanted his love interest at the time, Julie Christie, to play Bryant, but she backed out thinking that an American should have the part. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars and won three, for best director, best cinematography and best supporting actress for Maureen Stapleton. The movie seemed assured of taking best picture, but was trumped by the surprising Chariots of Fire.

Q: Awww, I know it was a partial list but no Red Scorpion?? For shame! I was really looking forward to that write up. And with you scoring Rocky 4 from the dump bin, I figured old Dolph would be forefront in your mind. How disappointing.
-Jeff

A: You might be more disappointed after listening to the podcast.



Red Scorpion (1988): Dolph Lundgren plays a KGB agent sent to Africa to squash a guerilla uprising by killing its leader. He's shocked by the way the Soviets and Cubans are treating the locals and switches sides. With the help of an American journalist played by M. Emmett Walsh, he joins a group of guerilla bushmen and earns the nickname of Red Scorpion. A real bush tribe was used in the movie and the leader Gao, played by Regopstaan, would only do the movie if his tribe could follow him everywhere during the shoot. He was 95 at the time. In another podcast connection, the helicopter used in the movie was the same one from Missing in Action III.

Q: I was looking forward to a small review of "The Man With One Red Shoe." I used to watch this movie over and over again as a kid. Why, I do not know.
-Latino Meat

A: And I thought I was weird.



The Man With One Red Shoe (1985): Cooper (Dabney Coleman) is the deputy director of the CIA. He's trying to smear Ross the director (Charles Durning) so he can take over. The director knows that Cooper is bugging him and sets up a con that there is a man coming in from the airport that can clear him and bust Cooper. Agent Brown (Edward Hermann) is supposed to make contact with anyone at the airport just to send Cooper on a wild goose chase. He picks violinist Richard (Tom Hanks) because of his mismatched shoes. Cooper then puts him under surveillance and sends Maddy (Lori Singer) to seduce Richard and see what he knows, which isn't anything. The film also features Carrie Fischer, Jim Belushi, David Lander and David Ogden Stiers. The basic premise of the film started with the Cooper vs. Ross, which was a play on the famous Spy vs. Spy.

Q: This is the ask 411 e-mail right? I got a couple of questions for you to answer if you don't mind.

1. Why was the second season of The Riches only 7 episodes? Was it because of the writers strike?

2. Do you think it will take another year before season 3 comes on tv?

3. Also I read somewhere that Kurt Cobain once said that he would like to try acting one day? Is that true or made up?

Thanks!
-Hiphops

A: Just because it's the email at the bottom of the article to email me questions what makes you think it's the email for emailing me questions?

The writer's strike did play into the current season of "The Riches" being so short. Minnie Driver is pregnant and her baby is due in August. Eddie Izzard is currently on tour for his stand up comedy and that will be finished in August. So they couldn't film new episodes even if they were ready to go. Projections have them starting filming a new season in October to start broadcast in March.

I couldn't find any direct reference to Kurt Cobain wanting to be an actor. I would seriously doubt it as he wasn't happy with the fame and scrutiny brought to him by being a musician. I did find a couple mentions that Cobain and his wife Courtney Love were offered the roles of drug dealer Lance and his heavily pierced girlfriend in Pulp Fiction. Cobain either turned down the parts or died before filming. The roles were played by Eric Stoltz and Rosanna Arquette.

Q: Leonard,

I have a couple of questions for you this week.

1. For those Dateline: To Catch a Predator shows, does NBC need to receive permission from the busted pedophiles to show their faces on the air? I can't imagine why anyone would sign a waiver voluntarily. Of course, I can't figure out why most of these guys sit down and speak so calmly with the interviewer after they've been caught instead of trying to hightail it out of there.

2. Are there any movies you recall seeing trailers for and thinking that they would be huge commercial and critical successes only for them to turn out to be total crap? (I felt this way about Mulholland Falls.) On the flip side, are there any trailers that you saw that left you thinking that a movie would terribly bomb only for the movie to turn out really good and make lots of money?

Thanks….and don't die.

-Eddie

A: My research finds that a lot of people have had this question without a definitive answer. It would seem that the predators do sign a waiver. Keep in mind that not everyone caught is shown on television. They probably just show the ones they have permission to. Now why someone would sign a waiver to be on television like this is hard to say. It could be part of the denial or the idea that they didn't do anything wrong. I'm not up on all legal elements, but it could have something to do with them not having to sign a waiver if they are officially arrested and charged with a crime. It could also be a freedom of the press thing. "Dateline" is technically a news program, while a show like "Cops" where faces are blurred all the time isn't really.

For a movie with a good trailer that wound up being really bad, I would go with the Avengers. It looked action packed with some good chemistry between the leads and Sean Connery came off really evil and intriguing as the villain. However, the movie tested poorly and the studio hacked it down from about two and a half hours to 89 minutes. A lot the special effects sequences were cut and plotlines were left dangling or making no sense. It was a colossal bomb any way you cut it.



Nothing is readily coming to mind for the second question. There have been trailers I've seen that I thought I wouldn't like the movie and then it's done well, but that's not really the same thing. Check back in a couple weeks on Speed Racer. I thought it was flash and no substance with laughable performances from the lead actors, and not laughable in the way they'd want.



I still have some questions for once, but I'm personally out of time, so check back next week.

Don't die.

"Mr. Stark, you've been called the Da Vinci of our time; what do you say to that?"
"Absolutely ridiculous, I don't paint."