Who isn't better at Owen's job? He's definitely the week link on Torchwood and that's taking into account Ianto, who's job it is to order pizza and make out with Jack.

gosh she's adorable, even when she's delivering bad dialogue.

i am thoroughly disappointed by the troubling music choices of the IRON MAN trailers. Black Sabbath's "iron man" is awesome and all, but it is not really relevant to the Iron Man mythos depicted in the film ("he was turned to steel/ in a great magnetic field" comes to mind, as well as "kills the victims he once saved"!?). PLUS, Sabbath is awesome and should not be associated with the filmmakers (MARVEL) who brought us Ghost Rider and Dare(puke)devil.

And who the heck said it was OK to smush the drum breakdown from Sabbath into the middle of a cheesy alterno-one-hit-wonder FILTER song?

the costume(s) look great but i am convinced that this film will FAIL.

How did they get Gwyneth Paltrow to act in Iron Man? Is she hard up for money?

@NefariousNewt: Maybe she likes movies with killer flying robots?

She was in Sky Captain.

@braak: Which, for all the hokey, was a pretty good movie. But there's a big difference between the mythical Sky Captain and Iron Man. Maybe she has the hots for Robert Downey, Jr.?

@DSTRYA: super concur on paltrow being more adorable than usual in this one. it's the hair.

unrelated: i cannot imagine there will be any variants of the armor in the movie: toy companies hardly need the incentive to sell variant toys. plus, given that the sculpts look identical to each other (with different accessories), really seems like a money grab.

Plus: if War Machine is a "walmart exclusive", it's almost assuredly not in the movie.

(caveat: it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the regular armor have stealth features and/or be able to turn grey via a photochromatic process. but definitely wouldn't be a different suit in movie)

@NefariousNewt: Maybe she's a big fan of The Order and was thinking down the line?

@NefariousNewt: Maybe her agent is just a big geek, and just keeps telling her, "Oh, yeah, Iron Man is all that's out there right now."

@NefariousNewt: Yeah, for his *acting* -- he's one of those people other actors talk about wanting to work with. I hadn't heard she was in it. Now I'm even more excited about it!

oh man i knew jack and claire were brother and sister all along

Edwards AFB should be renamed North Hollywood AFB. Good to see that control tower in the background. :)

@JennaW: She does tend to try and work with good actors, but please... this is not exactly Shakespeare in Love or The Talented Mr. Ripley.

@braak: I really hope she has not sunk to the level of taking career advice from her agent.

@epitomeoftight: It was already clearly established in Season 3 (episode 12, "Par Avion") that Jack's father was also Claire's--but neither Jack nor Claire are aware of their relationship, yet.

@NefariousNewt: But please what? She's only allowed to want to work with good actors in artsy films? Actors can't be geeky or enjoy action?

Batman Begins proved superhero movies can be done artistically; when you cast top-notch actors, it elevates the material; the fact that they both chose to do this movie probably means it had a good script which -- along with casting -- is the most important thing to have if you want to make a good film.

@NefariousNewt: Besides that, if she's not hard-up for cash, it's kind ideal time to do something that she thinks might be zany and fun.

@JennaW: I think my beef with it is that perhaps the movie is trying to up its cachet by having her in it. Now, if she wants to play in the Marvel Universe, that's fine, but I'm not sure why. I mean, they've cranked out big budget action flicks that have been successful, but the movies themselves are certainly not making anyone's career.

As to Batman Begins, I couldn't get into it. I think that after the Tim Burton movies, the franchise has taken some less-than-desirable detours. Mind you, I like the addition of back-story, because that brings in anyone who is not familiar with the whole Batman story (Batman tried, but I don't think Burton tried hard enough to make the killing of Bruce Wayne's parents more than a set-up for the confrontation with The Joker).

I'm still not completely convinced I'm going to watch it, Gwyneth or no. I'm frankly jaundiced by the turns that Marvel is taking in wrecking the superhero world I grew up with, and that might be the nostalgic in me, but there it is.

@braak: Again, I concede the point. After all, actors can make any movie they want, for whatever reason. It just doesn't seem like a good fit adn rubs me the wrong way... but then the whole movie rubs me the wrong way.

@NefariousNewt: That's fair, and I can't argue that Marvel has a track record that is composed of mostly misses.

I want Iron Man to be good, though, so I am wrapping myself up in delusion.

@NefariousNewt: They were restarting the franchise with a whole new team. Holding the Burton movies against the new ones is rather like trying to square Silver Age grinning Batman with The Dark Knight Returns -- you'll hurt yourself ;)

@braak: Yes, and I don't see any reason to judge this movie by other Marvel movies--different actors, team, etc., on this, and the first 2 Spider-Man movies were great, so, ??? They've had good and bad and middlin' films; I think their track record is good enough to hope that this is one of the successes, especially considering who is involved.

And trying to square or holding the comics against the movies (and vice versa) is another thing that will cause a person to hurt himself.

@JennaW: Ah, that's okay. I never read the Iron Man comics, anyway. I just think the idea is really cool.

@JennaW: Perhaps... that would explain the kink in my colon and the ruptured disks in my back. Still, I think that it's hard to go back once you've gone down the road a ways. I like the first two Batman flicks and was sorry about what happened next. I can see the need to clear the air and try to bring the edginess back to the franchise, but I have to weigh it against what I know and feel, and while it's good movie-making, I have to say I liked Michael Keaton's Batman better.

This is always an on-going problem. "Old timers" like myself can't stand to see our cherished memories trampled, and "young whippersnappers" think we lived when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. It isn't really possible to go back, but it does bring on the tinges of nostalgia and perhaps has the good effect of making me remember how much fun it was to act out my favorite comic book heroes when I was kid.

@braak: Iron Man, Avengers, Spider Man, X-Men... I was an addict when I was younger. Perhaps that makes it harder for me to enjoy these movie incarnations. Strangely, I haven't been nearly as taken aback by the liberites the took in the X-Men movies as with others, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps because the whole mutants storyline is very hard to tell easily.

@NefariousNewt:

Let me clue you in to how Hellywood works. A good actor like Gweneth has her agent pick 2 or 3 good scripts of her choice. THEN, she bargains to have creative control over the movie. In other words, carte blanc over the ultimate outcome. In trade, Gweneth will agree to do a single movie Hellywood wants with no creative control what so ever. It's like selling your soul so you can do something you actually enjoy.

Another past example of this is Halle Berry in Catwoman.

Who knows though, Iron man could end up being really good like X-Men. Halle isn't complaining about X-Men is she?

@braak: Wouldn't that make her a hot nerd? (Ok, now I love her even more.)

(BTW the same international trailer was up on JoBlo for Months!)

@Klappstuhl: It would, in theory, but to be honest? I don't think it's hugely likely.

Can anyone tell me why the Taliban/AQ guys are using high-end submachine guns instead of their beloved AKs?

@NefariousNewt: I wonder how old you think I am. ;)

It has nothing to do with being an old-timer; it's how you enjoy things which is in a continuum regardless of other changes. That's cool, but it's an outlook that ends up spoiling more things for you than my outlook does.

I've never been someone who needs all versions to line up and agree. For instance, the movie doesn't have to match the book if the movie is good on its own.

And continuity? In comics? That's one of those cute Santa-Claus things comic fans keep believing in.

And Keaton better than Bale? You, sir, are scaring me.

@JennaW: Ok, I know you think it's a stretch. Bale has a lot of good qualities, but I think what makes me think Keaton is better is that he brought a slightly humorous edge to Batman that paid homage to the 60's Batman without going for the camp. Bale makes a better Dark Knight version.

Look, I know continuity in comic books is a joke, but it wasn't always. I think when Marvel and DC started to tinker with their universes, the problem, which had always been in the background, exploded into something unmanageable. It's my German roots... I like order. Fortunately, I've overcome the unfortunate tendency to want to conquer small European nations. ;)

As to your age... a man never asks a lady her age. :)

@NefariousNewt: :)

And when was continuity not a joke? When Batman carried a gun? When the Golden Age comics were revealed to have taken place in another universe? When Black Canary was revealed to have been living her mother's life? (EW!)

@JennaW: The problem with continuity in comic books is that life outstrips the ability of the comic book character to keep up. Just how long has Spider Man been around? Why isn't he cashing his Social Security checks? Hell, Aunt May is now verging on immortal! And Bruce Wayne should be pushing up daisies!

I read the comics for the stories mainly, and then when they make radical changes, I suspend my disbelief a lot. Hell, I had to, to believe in superheroes to begin with. I think both Marvel and DC can be accused of muddying the waters with amazing and uncanny ability. Take the whole Mary Jane/Peter Parker split -- really ruins what was a story line that was better than any soap opera.

Of course, I don't read them anymore and my collection long since has perished. I think I hold onto the image of my comics as pristine because facing the reality of the comics business is too hard.

The fundamental issues with the Batman movies is that they had no idea how to cast the actual role of Batman for the longest time. Keaton was a fabulous Bruce Wayne, but his Batman needed to be more brooding, although until recently he was closest. Clooney, again, was a great Wayne, but a terrible Batman. Kilmer had the broody Batman side down, but had no idea how to play Wayne.

The reason why many Batman aficionados love Bale so much is because he NAILED both sides of the man in the mask. Batman, especially at this part of his life, is a screwed up, tortured soul that is trying to strike out in a constructive way to relieve his pain. Wayne is the happy-go-lucky cover story that really and truly bears no resemblance to the "real" man. Wayne, in this case, is the mask.

I'm not saying that Bale's performance didn't have issues, but a lot of that could be attributed to them creatively trying to have the character "find" himself, and the persona that he would present.

So yeah... Keaton brought more humor to the role... but Batman really doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

@NefariousNewt: Batman Begins is the way it was supossed to be done from the beginning. That's the way Bob Kane meant for BM to be. Dark and dirty.