Iron Man (Marvel/Paramount) The anticipation that preceded the summer’s first big superhero flick was memorably parodied in an Onion News Network segment with the tagline: “Wildly Popular ‘Iron Man’ Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film.” Iron Man’s makers must know they appeased the fanboys and -girls — otherwise, they wouldn’t have included the spot among the special features on this two-disc set. The fact that Robert Downey Jr. makes a
gratuitous C.H.U.D. reference during an interview segment will leave geeks even more delighted, as will the DVD’s long doc on the comic’s history.
As for the movie itself, its cheeky tone and snappy pacing are especially attractive given the more pensive and lugubrious nature of the summer’s other movie about a guy in a super suit. One reason the film moves so well is director Jon Favreau’s fresh take on the action sequences: with its savvy mix of conventional FX and CGI, Iron Man is one of the few superhero spectaculars to stay plausibly grounded in physical reality. Some credit for that must go to Stan Winston, the FX legend whose team helped create the suit. This was also one of the last movies Winston would work on before his death in June. Those same fans should give him a heartfelt thanks for all he did to wow them.
Taxi to the Dark Side (ThinkFilm) Despite its Oscar and Peabody wins, Alex Gibney’s film about how the Bush administration came to wipe its collective ass with the Geneva Convention has yet to get the viewership it deserves. Employing cool logic and solid investigative techniques rather than overheated polemic and conjecture, Gibney effectively portrays the conditions and decisions that led first to the death of a wrongly imprisoned Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base and then to the abuses at Abu Ghraib. EXTRAS: commentary by Gibney.
Also out this week
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal) Director Nicholas Stoller and writer-star Jason Segel took the figure of the sensitive schlub to a new extreme of sensitive schlubbiness with this comedy’s hero, a guy who spends much of the movie weeping and/or naked. This sausage-friendly strategy yielded the most endearing of this year’s batch of Apatow-related products. EXTRAS: cast and filmmaker commentary, alternate and extended scenes, gag reel, music videos.
Lou Reed’s Berlin (Weinstein Company) Directed by Julian Schnabel, this dignified concert flick captures Lou performing his 1973 mega-downer in its entirety in 2006 alongside Antony and Sharon Jones. Good times not exactly had by all. EXTRAS: song lyrics, interview with Reed.
An Autumn Afternoon (Criterion) This probably isn’t the last Ozu movie that the Criterion Collection will get around to reissuing but it is the last one he made before he died in 1963. EXTRAS: commentary by David Bordwell, essays by Donald Richie and Geoff Andrew, excerpts from French TV doc on Ozu.