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IRONMAN: from the ongoing comments at Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood article, and that site's report about IRONMAN's big opening weekend box office, it looks like this is a really enjoyable film.

I am particularly fond of Robert Downey, Jr.'s work -- who stars in IRONMAN as "Tony Stark" -- so reading from so many who have already seen this film, as to just what a successful performance Downey's provided in the lead, is great. The film's dialogue (screenplay by Hawk Ostby) is said to be entertaining and lively, so Downey's keen abilities in those regards appears to not have gone wasted here.

Also from the comments at Finke's site, the film does not dive into the "anti American" pratfall as to our military, our nation, the nature of weaponry, although, of course, true to Stan Lee's IRONMAN Marvel story-line, the entire character of Tony Stark is based upon a man who creates and then is forced to manipulate the use of military weaponry along with his role in the industry of weaponry. Hollywood, to-date, has persisted in a foolish effort in authoring ongoing negative stereotypes about the United States of America, especially as to our military, so reading the enthusiasm in the comments at DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD from many who identify as "Conservative," who have now seen IRONMAN and enjoyed it far above the average film, is good news, good news, indeed.

I never had my doubts about Downey's abilities to fulfill and excell in this role, however, contrary to what I read a year or so ago when news of him cast as IRONMAN, Tony Stark, first began perking. The man's truly talented and a sober Downey more than deserves to be back on top. The Tony Stark lead character and role are compelling -- I have always been a fan of the IRONMAN comic series for these reasons -- and it looks like, finally, a credible, enjoyable film has been made. So, go see IRONMAN -- I will, soon.

Very, very entertaining and funny broadcast, last night's THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO with Russell Crowe guesting, an uncomfortable Larry the Cable Guy joining later, and wrapped with an endearing musical performance by Willie Nelson.

From website CONSTANT CROWE, there are media files of the entire broadcast -- Crowe's appearance is concentrated in files 02 and 03.

Leno02142008-01a.wmv (78MB) [Monologue]
Leno02142008-01b.wmv (82MB) [Opening]
Leno02142008-02.wmv (43MB) [Russell - Part One]
Leno02142008-03.wmv (54MB) [Russell - Part Two]
Leno02142008-04.wmv (69MB) [Larry The Cable Guy - Russell also appears]
Leno02142008-05.wmv (30MB) [Willie Nelson and Russell appears for close]

I tried uploading the downloaded files to my server but it was like waiting for a snail to cross an asphalt highway -- I have no idea why because I have a huge amount of as-yet unused bandwidth and FTP capability. So, I've linked to them, as above, which I hope will be alright and viewed easily by trafficking over to Constant Crowe.

Speaking of Russell Crowe, he's been named as one of three Ambassadors for Sydney, Australia -- Crowe will be featured in a media campaign in the U.S. later this year to promote Sydney, Australia.

And, the DVD for AMERICAN GANGSTER is due out in a few more days. I have not yet seen this film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington (weighty interview with the two actors here), but am looking forward to the DVD (purchase and) viewing after reading such great press about the film -- though I'd have purchased the DVD anyway, whatever the press, based upon it being Scott's work with Crowe and Washington, either/or or any.

Another film starring Crowe --- 3:10 TO YUMA -- was out on DVD a month or more ago and what a film it is. Remarkable to see Crowe play a truly bad man, though honest to a point of near chivalry of sorts. Christian Bale, also starring, is equally remarkable as a vulnerable but heroic, stoic struggling rancher in the 1880's Old West in relationship both antagonistically and sympathetically to Crowe's villian. Supporting Actor Ben Foster, too, is not to be missed, does an exceptionaly job as an utterly snarly junior-bad-man as sidekick to Crowe's villianry.

The production quality of 3:10 TO YUMA is genuine and exceptionally well done accordingly -- the lighting is especially dear, as is the very accurate degree of ranch-worn working rural wear of all the characters: very well done, no betrayals by contemporary cosmetics in site.

I've yet to see any film starring Crowe that I haven't bought on DVD and enjoyed about as much as any I could and have, including the odd A GOOD YEAR, despite the critical bans of that lighter-weight tale. Crowe's a fine actor and continues to renew my faith in filmmaking and filmmakers.

Speaking of which, I read a February 11, 2008 interview with Ridley Scott -- probably my most admired, favored film director and producer and certainly an incredibly prolific artist what with the ongoing spate of excellent, unique titles he has and continues to direct and/or produce -- and Scott is now prepping to make ROBIN HOOD starring Russell Crowe as none other than Robin Hood. Should be lively! And wonderful, I'm thinking! 'Can barely manage to wait for that one. He and Crowe have just wrapped the production of BODY OF LIES co-starring Leonard DiCaprio, so, Crowe's a busy guy! So is Scott, by the way.

Thank Heaven our world with us in it has these wonderful artists, each and every one of them.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) West and East (WGA-e), are on strike. The union membership represents most writers who create the words -- screenplays, scripts -- from whence feature films and television programs are produced. The nemesis is the producers -- referred to as "the moguls," people who are, for most intents and purposes, the studios, the organizations that finance and make the physical process of production and later distribution possible for the films and television programs that began with -- and earn their money from use of -- the scripts.

Nikke Finke has about the best, up-to-the-minute coverage of the entire process ("On The Line - Strike News As It Happens" Part I and Part II) -- the strike itself, the daily discussions that are identified, the experiences of the writers along with many shared comments from the other production and studio people also affected -- from mostly the WGA, the writers', perspectives. There are a few "union heavy" or "thug" type comments here and there from obviously Leftwing socialist union members of the WGA, but for the most part, the comments shared by WGA members in Finke's comments section have been decent, informative, level and reasonable.

At stake in the strike is the residual income the WGA seeks from "new media" -- media streaming on the internet from work they've created -- and this issue is significant to the moguls because as goes the WGA configuration now if the strike is resolved, will also go the other unions in the entertaiment industry, specifically the Screen Actors Guild, if not all the others involved (crafts, Teamsters, all areas).

Unfortunately, the WGA has to work against (deserved) anti-union sentiments in the nation, and, a degree of disgruntled lack of sympathy from consumers (also deserved), due to the ongoing "bad product" of the last few years emanating from the entertainment industry. Many Americans, mostly, are well fed-up with the overwhelming "blame America first" range of films from Hollywood and the writers are taking most of the blame for that in the public eye so far.

A lot of writers, however, maintain that they are not responsible for the bad product of late -- that they write what they're asked to write, what the studios (those "moguls") expect, what they deem will sell and that is mostly blood, gore, destruction and anti-American screed.

I both agree with the writers and disagree -- I'm not keen on the entire concept nor functionality of unions but in this specific case, writers in the entertainment industry, the WGA as a union not only makes sense but is necessary. Also, WGA members have to support themselves and their dependents on per-project basis -- they're what the rest of us refer to as "independent contractors" and they have to maintain their own health insurance and retirement funds -- and very few of them are the big-money earners that the media makes the most of as to income news. They also must write scripts that someone is willing to purchase the use of; their ongoing source of income through non-active project times is the residual money they earn from rebroadcasts of films and television made with use of their words, and this residual income security is a benefit established by the union and wouldn't exist without a union effort involved.

But, as long as the anti-American screed standard persists among the moguls, that's what the writers create, or so the writers say. However, I wonder if but what the screed standard that is the problem for many of us consumers is actually the shared sentiment of a bad and badly affected industry.

On practical terms, I'd like to believe the writers are not responsible for the bad product but then there are the comments that persist on Finke's website from those antagonistic socialist WGA members, that seem to promote antagonism of capitalism as the primary issue -- if not of the strike, certainly now to continue one. Thus, I wonder just to what extent the entire entertainment industry remains respectable.

Once in a while, a really good if not great feature film comes along and a few times a year we get a remarkable broadcast on a television series, but otherwise, I find myself wondering if the vast majority of the film industry shouldn't be off applying for work elsewhere. Obviously, it's time for a change in the arrangements that keep many people pushing the negativity on the rest of us and thinking it's worth our dollars.

To all who have served and serve now in defense and protection of our nation and our nation's interests worldwide, my immense gratitude and appreciation. Expressing that falls so very short of the intensity of my gratitude and respect, yet words are what I have to use here, however limited.

It truly pains me when I read and hear so much from the Left today -- it's all over the internet -- that dwells upon the ruination of our national character, of despicable denigration of our military, especially. It's nearly impossible to even contend with because so many among the Left lack any experience with the military or with public service, or worse, are so indoctrinated by some sort of "hatred sickness" of our nation and the U.S. military that they won't accept information when it contradicts their hatred and the propaganda they've come to accept to the contrary.

And this illness is especially present in today's spate of Hollywood anti-intelligence, anti-U.S. and anti-Christian movements, most if not all based upon the primary negative assumption that to be affiliated with or represent our U.S. government is to be generally bad or of disrespect. What Hollywood and the entertainment Left today advocate is any government or nation that opposes the United States militarily and/or poses a threat to our security -- in which case, most political candidates among the Left today are aligned with those efforts and those efforts are supported by the Hollywood and entertainment Left.

How do any of us even speak to that when it's encountered? How can you tell someone who hates those who serve our nation in service and protection that there are a lot of reasonable, good and reliable people involved in our nation, along with the spattering of bad characters that can be found in any and all walks of human life: military, homemakers, school teachers, store keepers...you name it, somewhere there'll be a rogue bad man or woman involved. It doesn't mean, however, that all of them are "bad" but that there are bad individuals in all walks of life. The bad are interspersed with the good and the very good -- and most are that, are the good -- in terms of bravery, honor, reliability, willingness to help and consideration and empathy for their fellows, in courage by instinct, not by expectation of reward.

In other words, heroes are among us in all walks of life and far outnumber "the bad" who are otherwise. The Left just does not understand that and dwells upon the lowest common denominator as being the average, which, in most the rest of our experiences, certainly is not the case. The "silent" heroes among us -- everywhere in our daily lives -- are not making big noises, aren't demanding a lot in return, are not the ones making the vast amount of criticisms about their fellows.

But, Hollywood -- the Hollywood Left -- is not that and their extreme efforting to promote the negative is not heroic, it is the voice of those who prey upon failure. In other words, not heroes, but losers -- albeit with big salaries, grand homes, big public relations efforts, a lot of notice when they speak and pose -- based upon what they produce, the acts inherently of not the heroic but just the business and it's a mistake to assume that their louder voice equates with honor and truth unless what they have to say is honorable and truthful. In most cases, unfortunately, it isn't today: the entertainment Left capitalises upon loss, upon the negative and when they remain in genres of fantasy and horror and exploitation otherwise, it works, but when they try to touch Earth with their dirty toes and call it freshly washed, it's deplorable. And worse, they cast dirt on everyone else they come into contact with.

The Left today is saturated with some sort of character assassination sickness as to our nation and millions of our nation's citizens. I've yet to read -- when questioned -- a member of the affected Left specifically describe or represent just what or who it is who is consistently as terrible as they conclude "all" are, and yet, they persist in their unrealistic derisions. And the obvious truth is that the Left is most often populated by people who have little or no familiarity with military service.

I feel low when and as I continue to bump into that, but there it is, like I said, all over the internet: the Left is embroiled in bent humor -- it's really not humor but they're enjoying themselves anyway -- because of a vast number of negative assumptions about everyone else, with particilar venom targeting Conservatives, Christians and especially, the GOP and our U.S. military. Republicans are their worst fear, they're latest tag that is the general equivalent of gutteral spit. The Left is more embittered in writing searing nasties about others outside their marginal territories of Liberalism -- go look at any one week's TOM TOMORROW or read the "news" overall at places like Salon.com or various other Liberal websites and see the irreverance the Left thinks "is funny." Try explaining why the 'toons and most of the gossip are ridiculous and unfounded, the Left will doubt you even more.

So, enter the Brian DePalma film, "REDACTED" -- it is Brian DePalma's BOGEY-MAN-UNDER-MY-BED film, a look into his fears and paranoias and treacherous inability to trust or admire or respect. But try telling him that. Unfortunately, my guess is that he'd withdraw into deeper paranoia, or, perhaps attack from deeper paranoia. Either way, increased paranoia -- makes communicating with anyone so affected very difficult.

But when that degree of paranoia is funded by millions of dollars (Mark Cuban, in this case, funded DePalma's treacherous film) and the paranoia then washes over the general public in readily available literature -- such as are films in general -- it's a problem and a measurable concern for everyone. Content like this also affects everyone's safety as to our nation's security, and most especially, places our U.S. military at greater risk in their daily activities of service. That latter aspect is why I most loathe what DePalma and Cuban have wrought.

Many online news readers will have read this story by Pat Dollard from yesterday -- though today it's not available, so I'm glad I saved a cached copy yesterday via FURL (and I don't know whatever issues caused the Pat Dollar blog to take the story down because the article is quite frank):

The Man Behind The De Palma Smear: Mark Cuban Declares War On The Troops

Billionaire Mark Cuban has decided to put all of his weight behind a campaign to smear US troops in Iraq as "monsters'. Cuban has decided that De Palma's film "Redacted" must be seen as the cornerstone of his and De Palma's self-declared anti-victory campaign against America and her troops fighing in Iraq. Cuban's company Magnolia Pictures will be bringing this propganda campaign to a theater near you this winter. According to a source close to Cuban, the decision for Magnolia to develop, finance and distribute the film was personally made by Çuban. Cuban has a full producer credit on the film, and DePalma shot it on HiDef video at Cuban's request, in order for it to qualify as fodder for Cuban's hi-def cable channel. So far neither he or DePalma have explained how they can be "bringing the truth of the Iraq war to the American people", as Louie DePalma has said, when neither of them have ever been to Iraq, filmed any of "Redacted" in Iraq, or spent one minute with any soldier in Iraq. Clearly they are only bringing you their imagined propagandists' reality of Iraq. Both had the opportunity to go, both declined. They have chosen the coward's path in a quest for legitimacy as spokesmen for the Iraq war, and as such both have failed in that quest. Indeed, they are left standing as laughingstocks. Their reach has exceeded their grasp. Cuban is a jet-set, armchair "Iraq Truther" who made sure not to have his private jet stop anywhere near Iraq. But he and DePalma are more than anxious to bring you the "reality of the Iraq war"...

...The best defense DePalma has been able to muster about the lack of direct military reality in his film is "I had plenty of real stuff to put in but I didn't put it in, and can't show it to you to prove it, because my lawyers won't let me". That kind of bulls**t pr spin may fly in Hollywood, but it isn't flying here on earth. If you've got the goods, Louie, show them. It would appear quite clear why you haven't already.

None of the troops in Mr. DePalma's film are real. They are as imaginary as he and Mr. Cuban's balls.

Close to a year ago, Daily Kos ran a featured post declaring that it was time to attack the troops if the anti-victory movement was to succeed. Clearly DePalma and Cuban took the cue...

Read the rest...

What Cuban and DePalma have done is take one incident that occured in our U.S. military ranks and "overhype" or promote that tragedy of terrible behavior into some sort of framed icon as to what the military is in general. While, instead, the few individiuals who were engaged in the particularly criminal incident that Cuban and DePalma are so eager to blow out of proportion (and have), were brought up on criminal charges by the military and received severe prison sentences. The incident that "inspired" Cuban and DePalma to make this film was a lone situation of criminal characters engaged in criminal actions that does not represent the vast majority of those who serve and how in our military.

My lone voice here, however, says God bless and love you all who serve, that you are respected, valued, appreciated and often considered by this American, in my prayers, in my work, while I cook the supper, do the dishes, care for my plants and garden, while I look at the early morning and evening sky and stars, while I thank God that our nation is still a place where honor and consideration and courage inspire many citizens to serve and protect so that we -- and many others worldwide -- can sleep in our beds at night and not fear the dawn.

"...it's not just blowing things up and unleashing the force on anyone..."

Coming Spring 2008, STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED, newest game from LucasArts Entertainment.

The trailer is available to view on LucasArts site, but I found that there's a better video stream when viewed on Yahoo's Star Wars site (starwars.yahoo.com).

Yahoo's site includes several additional videos that are more interesting to my view than the trailer, however, as to the creative paths and processes involved in bringing this latest experience from Lucasfilm into existence:

"New Technology: Learn about Digital Molecular Matter"

"Euphoria: A Revolutionary Behavioral-Simulation Engine" ("...simulation based, not driven by animation...")

and,

"The Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed"

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Release Date: Spring 2008
Publisher: LucasArts Entertainment
Developer: LucasArts Entertainment
Genre: Action

The Star Wars video game saga continues with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which casts players as Darth Vader's secret apprentice and unveils an expansive story about the era between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. Players will help Darth Vader in his quest to eliminate the Jedi from the universe and possibly change the course of history.

Tthe game is available on:
-- Xbox 360 -- PlayStation 3 -- PlayStation 2 -- PSP -- Nintendo DS

My thought, however, when viewing the trailer, is, what with the use of the force in the opening sequence, why didn't this new apprentice stop the craft from crashing, or, better still, why didn't he send the craft back into the air to fly -- it's the force, after all, use of it can put any broken thing back together and return the busted to whole. The apprentice in black probably explains why that doesn't happen.