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WHY THE MANDARIN WAS PERFECT IN IRON MAN 3
The following article contains a MAJOR SPOILER regarding Iron Man 3. It is strongly recommended that you do not read this until after you’ve viewed the film.
If you saw Iron Man 3 last week (given the $175 million opening it enjoyed, chances are you did), you were probably caught off guard by The Mandarin. Given how he was displayed in the trailers, fans fully expected him to the primary villain facing off against Iron Man. His measured speech delivered in an undeterminable accent threw a cloud of mystique over the character, played by Ben Kingsley. Where did he come from? Who are his allies? What does he want? He wears lavish robes, is adorned in jewelry, and sits on a throne. All of this means he MUST have power, and this is why we should fear him.
It’s not until you watch the film that you see Marvel has successfully orchestrated one of the greatest trailer misdirections of all time. It turns out The Mandarin isn’t a powerful terrorist leader at all. He’s just an actor, and a particularly goofy one at that. His entire existence was a ruse devised by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) in order to satisfy his own evil plot. Writer and director Shane Black took Iron Man’s greatest nemesis from the comic books and reduced him to a punch-line; a meager pawn in the scheme of a villain that hardly appears in the comics at all.
And it’s an absolutely brilliant decision.
REVIEW: IRON MAN 3
Iron Man 3 should be renamed Tony Stark, as that more accurately captures the true subject of Shane Black’s new summer blockbuster. The third entry in the Iron Man canon and the first Marvel film released post-Avengers, Iron Man 3 offers a hefty share of CGI battles featuring an innumerable quantity of red and gold suits of armor. But those who want nothing more than crash-bang-boom action will have to be patient, as we also spend a healthy portion of time with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the man beneath the iron mask.
![JOSS WHEDON SAYS FILMING MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING HELPED HIM FINISH THE AVENGERS
Have you ever been working too hard on a single project and felt the best medicine was to focus your mind on something else for a while? Well director Joss Whedon took that idea to its furthest reach when it came to working on The Avengers.
When Whedon finished filming the mega blockbuster, he was so frustrated that he took a breather…by filming a whole different movie. In the weeks when The Avengers was being edited, Whedon took a break to film a no budget adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. The film is currently set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Speaking about how Much Ado helped him with The Avengers, Whedon had this to say:
I came off The Avengers and I was exhausted. We were already editing because our schedule on The Avengers was very accelerated, and I was having to cut out things and I was in that space where I’m like, “Ohhh, it’s not really my movie anymore. It’s not about anything!” [I was] sort of having the angst. And then I shot Much Ado and was able to come back to The Avengers and go, “Okay! Whoa, sorry guys. I’m back.” I could see it clearly and go, “You know what? [The Avengers] is getting better, and here’s what I need to take out.” It just sort of gave me perspective, and not the perspective of, “Oh well, I got to make my passion project, so now I’ll just churn this out,” but the perspective where I could look at it the way I was supposed to because I felt like I’d been on a vacation for a month. At least, that was my idea of a vacation.
Obviously this isn’t really big news or anything, but this is a rather interesting anecdote. It informs us about Whedon’s process and how dedicated he is to filmmaking.
What do you think of Joss Whedon? Let us know here.
For more from us, please visit FestivalOfFilms.com/blog](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9wttkNQur1rcc42zo1_500.jpg)
JOSS WHEDON SAYS FILMING MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING HELPED HIM FINISH THE AVENGERS
Have you ever been working too hard on a single project and felt the best medicine was to focus your mind on something else for a while? Well director Joss Whedon took that idea to its furthest reach when it came to working on The Avengers.
When Whedon finished filming the mega blockbuster, he was so frustrated that he took a breather…by filming a whole different movie. In the weeks when The Avengers was being edited, Whedon took a break to film a no budget adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. The film is currently set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Speaking about how Much Ado helped him with The Avengers, Whedon had this to say:
I came off The Avengers and I was exhausted. We were already editing because our schedule on The Avengers was very accelerated, and I was having to cut out things and I was in that space where I’m like, “Ohhh, it’s not really my movie anymore. It’s not about anything!” [I was] sort of having the angst. And then I shot Much Ado and was able to come back to The Avengers and go, “Okay! Whoa, sorry guys. I’m back.” I could see it clearly and go, “You know what? [The Avengers] is getting better, and here’s what I need to take out.” It just sort of gave me perspective, and not the perspective of, “Oh well, I got to make my passion project, so now I’ll just churn this out,” but the perspective where I could look at it the way I was supposed to because I felt like I’d been on a vacation for a month. At least, that was my idea of a vacation.
Obviously this isn’t really big news or anything, but this is a rather interesting anecdote. It informs us about Whedon’s process and how dedicated he is to filmmaking.
What do you think of Joss Whedon? Let us know here.
For more from us, please visit FestivalOfFilms.com/blog
JOSS WHEDON TO PRODUCE S.H.I.E.L.D. TV SERIES FOR ABC
When Joss Whedon recently signed a three year exclusivity deal with Marvel, part of his contract stated that he would produce a TV series for the studio. ABC has now ordered a pilot from Whedon that will center of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division), the secret government organization that brought the Avengers together.
No word yet as to who the main characters will be or what the show will generally be about, but the series is to be set in the same universe as all the recent Marvel films related to The Avengers. Whedon will write the pilot with his brother Jed and Maurissa Tancharoen, and possibly also direct the pilot.
Are you excited about a live-action Marvel TV series? Let us know here.
For more from us, please visit FestivalOfFilms.com/blog
UPDATE: We just realized the logo we found on google images is misspelled (SHEILD is not a thing). Rather than change it, we will just say that we didn’t design it, and we will be more careful next time.
CHECK OUT THE ALTERNATE OPENING SCENE OF THE AVENGERS
If you can’t wait for The Avengers to come out on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 25, Marvel has been keeping you satisfied. They’ve released several deleted scenes, a gag reel, and now we have an alternate opening scene with a dour tone.
The scene features Cobie Smulders’ character Agent Hill being debriefed after the climax of the film. There’s lots of serious music, destruction and furrowed eyebrows, and absolutely none of the fun that ended up in the final film. This is a scene that was cut for obvious reasons, but at least it shows that Smulders’ character originally had more to do than in the finished product.
So what do you think of this scene? And will you be buying the 4-Disc Combo Pack of The Avengers, which features a 3D Blu-Ray, regular Blu-Ray, DVD, Digital Copy, and Soundtrack for $49.99? Marvel? Let us know here.
For more from us, please visit FestivalOfFilms.com/blog
WHAT WAS THE BEST COMIC BOOK FILM THIS SUMMER?
The summer of 2012 saw three new major comic book films hit the big screen, all with different intentions. The Amazing Spider-Man sought to revive a dead franchise by bringing in a whole new cast and crew and starting the story over. The Avengers was a culmination of nerd anticipation building up since Iron Man in 2008 and was designed to stop your heart with superhero overload. Finally, The Dark Knight Rises brought an end to one of the greatest film trilogies of all time, an event on par with the original Star Wars films. All three of these films were impressive, but only one can be named the best comic book film of 2012.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT FESTIVALOFFILMS.COM/BLOG
Do you agree or disagree with this assessment of this Summer’s movies? Let us know in our Ask box or by commenting on FestivalOfFilms.com
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9th August 2012
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Notes: 6
#Amazing Spider-Man#Amazing Spiderman#DC comics#The Dark Knight Rises#avengers#bane#batman#captain america#comic books#dark knight rises#dc#festival of films#festivaloffilms#film#iron man#loki#marvel#movies#spider-man#spiderman#tdkr#the amazing spider-man#the amazing spiderman#the avengers#the dark knight#thor#tom hiddleston#tom hardy#christian bale#andrew garfield
WHAT WAS THE BEST COMIC BOOK FILM THIS SUMMER?
The summer of 2012 saw three new major comic book films hit the big screen, all with different intentions. The Amazing Spider-Man sought to revive a dead franchise by bringing in a whole new cast and crew and starting the story over. The Avengers was a culmination of nerd anticipation building up since Iron Man in 2008 and was designed to stop your heart with superhero overload. Finally, The Dark Knight Rises brought an end to one of the greatest film trilogies of all time, an event on par with the original Star Wars films. All three of these films were impressive, but only one can be named the best comic book film of 2012.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT FESTIVALOFFILMS.COM/BLOG
Do you agree or disagree with this assessment of this Summer’s movies? Let us know in our Ask box or by commenting on FestivalOfFilms.com
![JEREMY RENNER WASN’T PARTICULARLY THRILLED WITH HIS ROLE IN THE AVENGERS
In this LA Times interview, Jeremy Renner expresses a disappointment in his role in The Avengers as Hawkeye. When asked whether he preferred playing the “good” or “evil” Hawkeye, he responded:
I prefer the good, because if we go to the evil part, or hypnotized or whatever the heck you want to call it, it’s kind of a vacancy. Not even a bad guy, because there’s not really a consciousness to him. The interesting part was being guilty about the bad things I did do when I was hypnotized. I think he’s already an interesting enough character. To really kind of take away who that character is and just have him be this sort of robot, essentially, and have him be this minion for evil that Loki uses. Again, I could just focus on the task. I was limited, you know what I mean? I was a terminator in a way. So yeah, fun stunts. But is there any sort of emotional content or thought process? No. That doesn’t exist in that time [that he’s hypnotized]. It happens to be for most of the movie.
If you read the full interview, Renner is far from ungracious about his participation in the film, but he cannot hide the fact that he wishes he had more to do.
Renner:
At the end of the day, 90% of the movie, I’m not the character I signed on to play. I’m literally in there for two minutes, and then all of a sudden… All I could really work on was the physical part of it all, because that didn’t change.
Renner has a point, because of all the characters in The Avengers, he really did draw the short straw. The majority of his screen time is spent as a brainwashed assassin, so there wasn’t much to do other than look menacing. On the other hand, there were so many other well established characters that to spend too much time on Hawkeye would have bogged down the whole movie. It’s a no win situation for Renner, though we still think he should be thrilled just to be part of the franchise.
What do you think of Renner’s statements? Is he being a diva or does he have a fair argument? Let us know in our Ask box.
For more from us, please visit FestivalOfFilms.com/blog](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8g1ggPSzg1rcc42zo1_1280.jpg)
JEREMY RENNER WASN’T PARTICULARLY THRILLED WITH HIS ROLE IN THE AVENGERS
In this LA Times interview, Jeremy Renner expresses a disappointment in his role in The Avengers as Hawkeye. When asked whether he preferred playing the “good” or “evil” Hawkeye, he responded:
I prefer the good, because if we go to the evil part, or hypnotized or whatever the heck you want to call it, it’s kind of a vacancy. Not even a bad guy, because there’s not really a consciousness to him. The interesting part was being guilty about the bad things I did do when I was hypnotized. I think he’s already an interesting enough character. To really kind of take away who that character is and just have him be this sort of robot, essentially, and have him be this minion for evil that Loki uses. Again, I could just focus on the task. I was limited, you know what I mean? I was a terminator in a way. So yeah, fun stunts. But is there any sort of emotional content or thought process? No. That doesn’t exist in that time [that he’s hypnotized]. It happens to be for most of the movie.
If you read the full interview, Renner is far from ungracious about his participation in the film, but he cannot hide the fact that he wishes he had more to do.
Renner:
At the end of the day, 90% of the movie, I’m not the character I signed on to play. I’m literally in there for two minutes, and then all of a sudden… All I could really work on was the physical part of it all, because that didn’t change.
Renner has a point, because of all the characters in The Avengers, he really did draw the short straw. The majority of his screen time is spent as a brainwashed assassin, so there wasn’t much to do other than look menacing. On the other hand, there were so many other well established characters that to spend too much time on Hawkeye would have bogged down the whole movie. It’s a no win situation for Renner, though we still think he should be thrilled just to be part of the franchise.
What do you think of Renner’s statements? Is he being a diva or does he have a fair argument? Let us know in our Ask box.
For more from us, please visit FestivalOfFilms.com/blog
HAS THE VILLAIN FOR THOR 2 BEEN CAST?
While nothing has been announced officially, reports are coming in that Christopher Eccleston, famous for being the ninth incarnation of The Doctor on Doctor Who, has been cast as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World.
So Thor fans, how do you feel about this news?
For more from us, please visit FestivalofFilms.com/blog
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS SEQUEL TO FEATURE THE SENTINELS!
According to Bryan Singer, producer of X-Men: First Class, the sequel will be called Days of Future Past, and will be based on the X-Men storyline that involves the Sentinels, the mutant hunting robots that fans have been craving for years.
Are you excited about finally seeing The Sentinels on the big screen?
