Iron Man

Iron Man in his various incarnations: comic book debut in 1963; TV cartoon; with The Avengers; and in the new movie. (Marvel Comics/Paramount)

Iron Man made his debut in Marvel Comics' Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963. He was the creation of writer-editor Stan Lee, writer Larry Lieber, and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. Iron Man, much like DC Comics' Batman, was the superhero alter ego of a wealthy bachelor. In the case of Iron Man, he was the alter ego of inventor and industrialist Anthony Stark, a character Lee says was inspired by Howard Hughes. Marvel and DC are two of the largest and longest running comic book publishers in teh U.S., and they've seen a lot of changes. For one, comic books and graphic novels have come up in the world - you can find them at libraries, at chain bookstores, and sometimes even in schools. Some people are still skeptical about the literary value of comics and graphic novels but most people take a more more enlightened view. Yet it wasn't that long ago that the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency conducted its investigation into the comic book industry and the impact of comics on kids. The reason I bring this up is that some may look nostalgically at Iron Man as one of the old school comics designed as pop entertainment for kids. But the Marvel comic, even back then, had more on its mind than just superheroes and cool gadgets. In the comic, Tony Stark goes through a life changing experience in Southeast Asia just as the U.S. was ramping up its involvement in Vietnam. Stark was depicted as a genius, and a playboy who enjoyed a bevy of beauties but he also battled with alcoholism. Hey, that doesn't sound like mindless entertainment! That sounds like a work that deals with some serious issues mixed in with all the action and fantasy. And that's what the best comics have always done.

So as Iron Man (opening May 1 throughout San Diego) reaches the screen as a big budget Hollywood blockbuster, it's sense of social consciousness has been updated. Tony lives in the present day and ends up in Afghanistan where he's captured. But instead of being aided by an Asian physicist, he's helped by an Arab doctor, and he comes to realize that maybe building all those powerful weapons isn't the best way to make the world safe. The irony here is that it may just take a Marvel superhero to find a way to make American audiences come out in droves to a film that deals with terrorism and Afghanistan. But then as with the comic, this movie knows how to emphasize the entertainment value and just slide in a message on the side.

Hey Dude! It’s Harold and Kumar 2!

Dude... Kal Penn and John Cho return in Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay (Warner Bros.)

By Tony Galindo

Four years after the original, Harold and Kumar 2: Escape from Guantanamo Bay is set to open in theaters Friday April 25th. Though four years has passed since the release of the first film, the sequel picks up right were we left off at the end of the first movie as Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) prepare for Amsterdam in search of the girl of Harold's dreams. After meeting up with a new love interest of Kumar's at the airport the boys are finally on their way. A little later when we see the boys on the plane Kumar has the brilliant idea to test out his new invention -- the smokeless bong. Not being able to wait till they arrive at the "weed" capital of the world, he lights up in the bathroom only to be spotted by a paranoid old lady who yells out, "Bomb!" It is this incident that makes everyone think the boys are terrorists. This causes their arrest and they are sent to prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But they are only there for what seems like five minutes before they escape and must seek help from friends to help clear their names and finally get on to Amsterdam.

Again, I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I signed up to review this movie, although I already knew what the first Harold and Kumar film was about and what this one could be like. The theater for the preview screening was packed and full of rambunctious fans as we got ready to enjoy the film. Beach balls were being tossed around the theater, hit left and right; people were fighting for seats; and many were jumping up and down at the chance to get free Harold and Kumar stuff that was being thrown into the audience.

This movie turned out to be just like the original. You have your tasteless comedy, drugs, and of course Neil Patrick Harris playing Neil Patrick Harris. It delivered well on the funny factor with a scene involving George Bush hiding from Cheney, and heading off to go light it up with the boys. There was also the racist comedy -- poking fun at the KKK and racial stereotypes held by the government officials -- that you could enjoy.

These two aspects have been present in both this film and the previous one I reviewed, Zombie Strippers. Everyone seems to be getting their last shots at Bush before he leaves office and we have someone new to make fun of.

I enjoyed this movie -- what can I say it was funny and it made me laugh. Though rated R for obvious reasons (strong use of drugs and some nudity), it was a fun time -- you know being in a crowd with people constantly yelling 4-20! Definitely something I would go see just for fun.

-- Tony Galindo is a senior at Mount Miguel High. He was recently accepted at the Art Institute of San Diego where he wants to major in game art design and pursue a career in environmental design. Writing is a hobby of his as well as watching movies, so he thought it would be great to be able to share his opinions on film with people.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Breaking up is hard to do for Jason Segel (right) in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal)

In order not to shock anyone driving in their cars and listening to my radio feature on KPBS during the morning commute, I couldn't call Forgetting Sarah Marshall (opening April 18 throughout San Diego) what it really is and that's a "dick flick." It earns that title in two ways: Not only does writer and star Jason Segel bare all but he also wallows (humorously) in a male version of chick flick emotiona upheaval. The film's gender bending approach turns a romantic break up into a hilarious comedy. When I ask debuting director Nicholas Stoller about the label he laughs.

The Grand

Werner Herzog plays it straight in The Grand (Anchor Bay)

In 1980, Werner Herzog appeared in a Les Blank short film called Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, in which he did precisely that. The new film The Grand (opened April 4 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) should have been called Werner Herzog Steals the Show because that's precisely what he does in this mockumentary about a poker tournament.

George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead

The dead are coming back to life... again. Diary of the Dead (The Weinstein Company)

Let me be upfront about this – I love zombie movies. I don’t know what it is about the lumbering undead that I find so endearing but they definitely charm me. And George A. Romero is THE master of zombie horror, having essentially created the genre with his 1968 black and white film, Night of the Living Dead. (There were some zombies before Romero but he defined them as we know them today, and anyone who saw him at his panel at last year's Comic-Con should be convinced of his master status in the horror genre.) This year, the 67-year-old Romero delivers his fifth zombie film, Diary of the Dead  (opening February 15 exclusively at the AMC Palm Promenade Theaters), so run, don’t “shamble,” over to catch the undead’s latest uprising.

The great thing about Romero’s zombies films is that you can enjoy them in any of a number of ways. If you just want a zombie gorefest, he delivers a bloody thrill ride of horror fun. But his films can also be appreciated as truly independent filmmaking in which Romero has complete control of everything; his films serve up primers on how to make a film on little or no money outside Hollywood. And finally, if you want something a little meatier, you can always find social commentary mixed in with all the blood and gore. Romero’s latest, Diary of the Dead, satisfies on all three levels.

George A. Romero Interview

George A. Romero reanimates the zombie genre with Diary of the Dead (Weinstein Company)

When George A. Romero made The Night of the Living Dead in 1968, he essentially invented a genre. But potential distributors were not initially impressed. In fact, they asked him to change the film's bleak ending. But he simply said, “F--k you.” That pretty much set the tone for Romero's relationship with the mainstream film industry. Like John Waters, he's a filmmaker who has remained outside the industry (Pittsburgh for Romero and Baltimore for Waters) making the films he wants. This year he delivers the much-anticipated zombie outing, Diary of the Dead (opening exclusively at the Palm Promenade Theaters).

“It's not a continuation, it's not sort of a fifth film in the series,” Romero explains, “It goes back to the first night when the dead are coming back. I sort of felt that I had gone far enough with Land of the Dead, and I was ready to get off of that train… There was a collection of short stories, actually two volumes, called Book of the Dead, and they were all stories about what happened on that first night. I came to realize that I could sort of keep doing stories about different people over those first two or three nights.”

Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days And 30 Nights — Hollywood To The Heartland

On the road with Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show (Picturehouse)

Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days And 30 Nights — Hollywood To The Heartland -- I think that tests the limits of marquee real estate even more than The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. At the very least it uses more eccentric punctuation to break up its extensive title. But don't judge a movie by the excessive length of its title. Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show (opening February 8 throughout San Diego) delivers a lively and fun documentary as it follows Vaughn and a quartet of hand-picked stand-up comics as they traverse the country performing live shows. The four male comedians -- I guess a female stand up might have posed problems in the tight sleeping quarters on the bus -- are Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst and Sebastian Maniscalco.

Touch of Evil

Orson Welles in Touch of Evil screening at MCASD La Jolla (Universal)

I was watching the new film In Bruges when I noticed that the movie being viewed by an Irish hitman stuck in Belguim was none other that Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. The scene playing was the famous extended, single take, opening tracking shot that plays out to Henry Mancini's music. The reason I mention this is that you have the rare opportunity to see the entire Touch of Evil on the big screen Thursday January 31 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego's La Jolla location. But the version MCASD is showing will not have Mancini's music in the opening credits. That version of the film was the one Welles did not approve of. After he was removed from the production during the editing, the film no longer adhered to his vision. He ended up writing a 58 page memo outlining all the things that did not meet with his approval. That memo provided the basis for the re-issue of the film decades later. In his version, there's no music over that opening sequence. Instead, you hear the ambient sounds of the places you pass by as the camera moves from one side of teh border to the other.

Orson Welles' 1958 film noir classic festering with police corruption, and jolted by violent outbursts. Welles was initially hired just to play seedy detective Hank Quinlan. But because of a misunderstanding, star Charleton Heston had thought that Welles would be directing the film as well. To appease its star, the studio brought Welles on as director (but would end up removing him from the film in post-production). The resulting film serves up a mouth-watering feast of cameoes, noir elements and visual bravado. Among the memorable cameos are Meecedes McCambridge in a black leather jacket and ominously demanding "I wanna watch" when Janet Leigh is being terrroized; Joseph Cotton as a detective who utters the blunt appraisal "Now you can strain him through a sieve;" and of course the great Marlene Dietrich who gets to sum up Welles' Quinlan at the end of teh films with "He was some kind of man." Touch of Evil is some kind of film. I wish I had more time to do this film justice here but I at least wanted to make sure to highlight this screening. See Touch of Evil on the big screen and revel in Welles' genius. Plus, how often do you have the opportunity to see Charleton Heston play a Mexican! 

Companion viewing: Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Lady From Shanghai 

The Independent

Remember Teenage Flag Burners, L.S.D.-Day and The Peace Zombies? How about Brothers Under the Covers, The Harlem Globetrotters Meet the Black Panthers and Nuclear Nun? Well you must have seen A Very Malcolm Xmas, Abra Cadaver, Christ for the Defense or Right to Live, Left to Die? No? Well if you've never heard of these or the 417 other films made by B-movie legend Morty Fineman then you need to check out the enlightening documentary The Independent (playing for one week only at the Ken Cinema beginning May 3).

Earlier this year, and in celebration of 30 years in the industry, Morty Fineman took out a full page ad in Variety imploring acquisition executives to invest in his catalog of 400-plus independent films. Shortly after the ad appeared, Variety ran a story explaining that Morty Fineman didn't exist. The ad, the catalog of films, an accompanying web site and Mr. Fineman himself are all the creation of filmmaker Steven Kessler. Not since Rob Reiner created the pseudo band in This is Spinal Tap and Peter Jackson duped unsuspecting New Zealanders with Forgotten Silver, has a filmmaker pulled off a hoax of such magnitude and with such deadpan panache as Steven Kessler has with The Independent. Kessler's "mockumentary" chronicles the life and times of fictional B-movie icon Morty Fineman. The film serves up a hilarious and loving tribute to filmmaking on the fringes of Hollywood. And as Kessler says in the press material: "part of the fun of marketing The Independent in general release will be treating Morty and his films as if they are real."