Howard Not Cheadle: The Petition

The blogs and entertainment websites have been a-buzz with the recent news that Don Cheadle will replace Terrance Howard as Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes in Iron Man 2. Initially, the reason given was a dispute over Howard's paycheck for the next Iron Man, but in a recent interview with Scott Simon of NPR, Howard said that there was no dispute. In fact, he says he learned about the switch just like the rest of us, through the media. In the interview, he seemed offended and remarked that Hollywood contracts aren't worth the paper they are printed on, insinuating that Marvel has broken a contract with Howard. So, why is Cheadle going to be Rhodes in Iron Man 2, and not Howard (who did a wonderful job)? We may never know, but there are some very devoted fans out there who want to do something about it.

The website howardnotcheadle.com is devoted to a petition to let Marvel studios know that fans want Howard to be in Iron Man 2, not Cheadle.

Now, personally, I have nothing against Don Cheadle. In fact, he's probably one of my favorite actors, and I think he could do just as good a job as Howard did in Iron Man, but that is not the point. There is no need to replace Howard and doing so only disrupts the continuity of the story and characters. But in the end, a petition like this will have virtually no effect on the studio. Remember, studios don't listen to movie-goers, they only listen to movie-goer's money.

So, you can go the website and sign the petition, or you can speak with your money by boycotting Iron Man 2 and all other Marvel Studio releases in theaters and on DVD. But, who are we kidding? We'll see it anyway. And that is precisely why studios don't listen.

What do you think of the Howard/Cheadle switch? Sound off in the comments section.

Netflix Has Finally Come to Its Senses

I just recently joined Netflix. And I know what you're thinking: "The 'one guy' at One Guy's Movie Blog did have a Netflix account?" Yes, I am ashamed to admit that I have been missing out of the beauty of mail-dvd-rental goodness. But I have repented and turned my heart toward unlimited rentals and streaming movies. And that last part (the streaming movies) is the part I want to talk about. As some of you may know, I am a Mac user, and Netflix's streaming movies feature will not work on my Mac, which has been a major issue with Mac users as you can imagine. But Netflix just announced that it has finally found a platform that will allow Mac users to benefit from the "watch now" feature they are currently paying for but have not been able to use until now. Apparently, the video format runs on Silverlight, which can be downloaded for Mac or PC for free. Currently, the service has only been opened up to a handful of testers, but should roll out for everyone by the end of the year. Yipee! Hooray! Mozoltov!

Video of the Week: If Hollywood Directors Made Campaign Ads

Since the election is just a little over a week away, and McCain is down in the polls, I thought I'd post something relevant. What if John McCain hired Hollywood directors to make some new election ads for him? They might look something like this.

V ideo of the Week: Sleepless in Seattle, the Horror Movie

I've post videos in the past, and I've received lots of feedback on them, so I thought it might be fun to do it on a regular basis. Starting today, I'm going to try and post a Video of the Week every Monday.

This week's offering is a recut trailer for the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Much like the Shining recut trailer I posted a little while ago, this trailer gives a different spin on the classic romantic comedy.



Tell me what you think. Leave a comment below.

Gosling Rumored to Wear the Green Lantern Ring of Power

If you’ve been a faithful visitor to One Guy’s Movie Blog, you will have picked up on the fact that I’m a big Green Lantern fan and was thrilled when I heard that the script for the Green Lantern movie was in it’s final stages. Some guys over at Latino Review even got a copy and they were very public in their praise of the story and the characters and, basically, the whole thing.

So, some more exciting news comes our way this week as we found out that Ryan Gosling is up for the role of Hal Jordan. Now, there are some naysayers in the movie blogosphere who say that Gosling doesn’t “look” like Hal Jordan, or that he seems too soft. But I am with the majority who think Gosling would be an awesome choice. He is a great young actor who has shown a considerable range. And for those who say that Gosling can’t play the part of a cocky test pilot turned superhero, check out his movie Fracture, where he showed he could be self-assured but with a hint of humanizing self-doubt.

Since GL has been fast tracked by Warner Brothers, and aims to start shooting in early 2009, I hope they can nab Gosling before he signs on to other projects.

Can Gosling pull-off Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern? Sound off in the Comments section.

Let the Right One In: Americans Are (Apparently) Too Dumb for Subtitles

If you are into Swedish vampire films (like, who isn’t?), then you may have heard the buzz surrounding a little film called Let the Right One In, directed by Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson. In fact, early reviews for the film, which centers around the relationship between two children, one of whom is a vampire (it has been described as a coming-of-age Vampire movie), were so good that Matt Reeves (of Cloverfield fame) has been tapped to remake an American version of the film. And, get this, the remake was announced before the Swedish version even had its wide release in Sweden.

Understandably, Alfredson was a little miffed. He told Moviezine that “Remakes should be made of movies that aren’t very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong, … I’m very proud of my movie and think it’s great, but the Americans might be of an other opinion. The saddest thing for me would be to see that beautiful story made into something mainstream. … I don’t like to whine, but of course – if you’d spent years on painting a picture, you’d hate to hear buzz about a copy even before your vernissage!”

It bothers me that, for some reason, studio executives don’t think that American audiences can handle subtitled (or, heaven forbid, dubbed) films. It’s not as if there is not a precedent. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a big hit, and it was up for a best picture academy award. And what about The Passion of the Christ, or Apocalypto? Both of which also made a lot of money. Even a lot of the Jackie Chan American rereleases were dubbed. (Heck, do you remember that German song “99 Red Balloons”? It was a big hit, and then they made an English language version and nobody liked it.) American audiences don’t have a problem with subtitled and foreign language films when those movies are worth seeing and they are supported by the studios.

I’m just sick of the studios thinking that American audiences are dumb, and that we don’t want to be challenged by our entertainment. Granted, some of the biggest films lately have not exactly been intellectually challenging. On the other hand, look at the success of The Dark Knight. TDK isn’t your normal brainless action movie. It’s dark and thought provoking, challenging in ways that studios don’t normally think American audiences can handle. When you look at it, it is the movies that break convention, that defy audience’s expectations that make the most impact.

Personally, I don’t have a lot of faith in Matt Reeves because I didn’t think Cloverfield was very good. But more than that, often when a foreign film is remade for American audience’s it falls flat and lacks the originality and creativity that made the original so good—I’m thinking of all the J-horror remakes that we seem to have been bombarded with since The Ring.

If Let the Right One In is an original, thought-provoking, and genre-defying movie in its original Swedish, why change it just so American actors can speak the lines in English? There is no reason other than the fact that some studio exec thinks we are all stupid, and the remake will fail as a result.

Check out the trailer for Let the Right One In here, and let me know what you think.

Are we all stupid? Can a wide American audience not handle subtitles?