Batson's Blog

Terrence Howard opened up about being replaced by Don Cheadle in the Iron Man movies. He was on Watch What Happens Live and hinted at the reason he was replaced by Cheadle as Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes. The reason? Apparently it's Iron Man himself. Yep. Howard says Robert Downey Jr. is the reason he got booted...more or less. He told host Andy Cohen: "It turns out that the person I helped become Iron Man ... when it was time to re-up for the second one, (he) took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out." Iron Man, of course, is Downey. I guess he and Downey had some kind of falling out. "We did a three-picture deal, so that means that you did the deal ahead of time," Howard said. "It was going to be a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second one, a certain amount for the third. They came to me with the second and said, 'Look, we will pay you one-eighth of what we contractual...

After some speculation that Robert Downey Jr. may have put on the Iron Man suit for the last time, Marvel announced that he's signed on for more appearances as the high-tech super hero. " ... Marvel is pleased to announce the signing of Robert Downey, Jr. to reprise the role of the “billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist," they said in a statement on Marvel.com. There may not be any additional individual Iron Man movies, but Downey will return in The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3 . Marvel also revealed that the sequel to The Avengers , being written and directed by Joss Whedon, will feature new Marvel characters that haven't been on the big screen before. It's slated for production in 2014 and is set to be released May 1, 2015. Related Content: • Iron Man 3 - reviewed. • The Avengers - reviewed. • Stan Lee's Top 15 Cameos

Can we talk Iron Man 3 ? I was told by a friend of mine on Twitter that Iron Man 3 stopped being cool on Sunday. True, I was not one of the many people who saw it opening weekend, but better late than never right? The third installment in the Iron Man series (and the sequel to The Avengers ) was definitely very cool! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I had high hopes after the first two Iron Man movies, Thor , Captain America and The Avengers . Marvel has been on a role the past few years, so I was hoping they’d deliver a kick-ass movie in order to keep that momentum going. Based on the one trailer I saw for Iron Man 3, it seemed that Tony Stark faced a threat like never before. The preview I saw showed some of the Iron Man suits getting blown up. Iron Man 3 almost immediately started with that very same image. It wasn’t all explosions though. In fact, perhaps more than in the previous Iron Man appearances, this movie had a back-story, characters with different al...

After blogging about the best super villains come to life , I figured it only appropriate to come up with a list of the best super heroes come to life. Just like with the villains, some of my choices were made for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s the weaponry that makes a character. Other times it’s the costume. Sometimes it’s the physical Whatever the reason, the end result was successful. 10. Rachel Nichols as Scarlett ( G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra , 2010) I had to Google Rachel Nichols to write this blog post. I haven't seen her in anything before or since G.I. Joe. Turns out she's been in quite a few movies -- just nothing I've seen. She's proof that sometimes it's best to pick an actress that isn't as well known to play a role rather than going to the A-listers. She didn't set the world on fire with her portrayal, but she looked the part and captured the essence of the talented and confident (yet not arrogant) Scarlett. The only thing...

The Raven is a poor man’s Sherlock Holmes . Instead of being highly entertained, wishing there was a sequel, and considering buying a DVD copy of my own, I found myself grateful that I Redboxed this one. It wasn’t a ‘bad movie,’ but it was almost more disappointing than one because I was hoping for something good. If you break it down, all the elements were in place for what should have been an awesome movie. Set in Edgar Allen Poe's last days, The Raven is a murder mystery with interesting costuming and a few cool action sequences. In addition to that, Edgar Allen Poe is a historical character with a bit of a fan base already built in. John Cusack (who plays Edgar Allen Poe) was cast very well. In fact, I was really impressed with Cusack. I can't think of a better Poe. After seeing this film, I think he would have made a good Sherlock Holmes . He probably wouldn't have been as comedic as Robert Downey Jr. is as Sherlock, but I think Cusack would h...

Disclaimer: this review is written by an unabashed super-hero fan-boy nerd and may contain some bias. I finally broke down and went to see The Avengers at AMC last week. I loved both Iron Man movies, I own both of The Incredible Hulk movies. Thor was a good flick too. The Captain America film wasn’t my favorite, but I enjoyed watching that one too. I was really anxious to see The Avengers , but I made a decision to wait until it was at the Redbox. See, when it comes to super heroes, there aren’t many I don’t like, but my allegiance always has to go to Batman. I was reading so many articles about The Avengers doing so well at the box office that I figured I’d better make sure my money goes to The Dark Knight Rises . The predecessor, The Dark Knight , is already on the top ten list of the most grossing movies of all time. I don’t want to see the Batman series edged out by The Avengers . Seriously, this is an important matter we're talking about here. We're...

DC vs. Marvel. The Green Lantern and C aptain America: The First Avenger . I haven’t seen a superhero movie that I haven’t liked so I figured The Green Lantern and Captain America were two good choices. ( Warning! Superhero geek mark-out mode here) Batman will always be the best, but I remember wanting a shield like Captain America when I was five-years-old. I started off with The Green Lantern . As big a fan of the comic book heroes as I am, the Green Lantern is one back-story I wasn’t familiar with. I knew he had the ring and it had some sort of power, but, beyond that, I didn’t have a clue what to expect. Unfortunately it fell a little short of what I would’ve liked. It was a little more corny than epic, a little more predictable than exciting and, with the heavy use of computer animation, a little more video game than movie. It felt a little bit like they were going through the motions with this one. Ryan Reynolds was a good choice for the part, but it seems he wa...