Marvel makes it look easy. That’s what kept running through my head while watching Iron Man 3 Thursday night. Pumping out one solid standalone film after another with the overall goal of creating a whole that is equally, if not more, entertaining than its formidable parts can’t be that easy. And yet, Marvel makes it seem that way. In a medium outside of their native reach no less. Granted, Iron Man 3 isn’t without its flaws. But it doesn’t have to be. It succeeds on the exact level it’s meant to: in moving both the individual character and universal stories ahead in an entertaining and logical way. If “Marvel makes it looks easy” was my primary takeaway from IM3, “DC has their work cut out for them” isn’t far behind.

But enough Marvel love for one opening paragraph. In this week’s Top 5 we’ve got Iron Man 3 interviews with director Shane Black and more, a video blog review for Star Trek Into Darkness, the Pacific Rim trailer from WonderCon, Fox’s courting of Michael B. Jordan the the role of Human Torch in its upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, and the new trailer for Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx‘s White House Down. A brief recap and link to each is a “Continue Reading” click away.

There are almost as many concepts floating around in Iron Man 3 as there are suits of armor.  The only difference is that the armors have a clearly defined purpose.  In an attempt to bring Tony Stark back to basics, his latest outing is a strangely bloated affair that still manages to be an incredibly fun thanks to the hilarious comedy and exhilarating action.  Without question, it’s the funniest and most exciting of the trilogy, but it’s also surrounded by a host of underdeveloped ideas relating to notions of desperation, augmentation, and obfuscation, not to mention the aftershock of The Avengers.  Like riding in one of the Iron Man suits, it’s a bumpy but highly enjoyable ride.

With writer-director Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 now playing around the world and opening in America this weekend, I recently got to speak with the cast and filmmakers here in Los Angeles.  During my video interview with Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, we talked about how their families reacted when they were cast, script changes during production, how it’s hard to talk about the movie without giving away some of the twists and turns, what it was like working with Shane Black, and more.  In addition, I tried to get Hall to talk about Wally Pfister‘s Transcendence (it didn’t work), and Pearce talks briefly about The Rover with Robert Pattinson.  Hit the jump to watch.

Kicking off the blockbuster movie season, Marvel Studios is releasing Iron Man 3 on May 3^rd.  This time out, brilliant billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), aka Iron Man, faces a terrifying enemy, known as The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), whose reach knows no bounds, and he must rely on his own instincts to protect those that he loves.  From director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), the film also stars Gwyneth Paltrow (“Pepper Potts”), Don Cheadle (“James Rhodes”), Guy Pearce (“Aldrich Killian”), Rebecca Hall (“Maya Hansen”) and Jon Favreau (“Happy Hogan”).

During this press conference at the film’s Los Angeles junket, co-stars Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, along with Shane Black, talked about the ambitions for Iron Man 3, the version that will be shown in China with additional footage, giving up the use of the F-word for the PG-13 film, why Christmas was the right setting for the story, what made this version of The Mandarin the perfect villain, and working with co-star Robert Downey, Jr.  Check out what they had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.

Although Iron Man 3 has already had its world premiere, we here in the States have to wait a little over a week before we get to see it.  In the meantime, a new TV spot and 10 new images feature not only the principal cast of Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, but new looks at the supporting cast.  We get new looks at James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, Guy Pearce and Ty Simpkins, plus a TV spot takes us inside the surprisingly rustic cabin retreat of Tony Stark.

Also starring Don Cheadle and Ben Kingsley,  Iron Man 3 opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on May 3rd.  Hit the jump to watch the TV spot and check out the new images.

A new international TV spot has been released for Iron Man 3, and MTV just aired a clip from the upcoming superhero flick.  Thankfully, neither the clip nor the TV spot are big on spoilers.  It’s just selling the hell out of the action, and that really can’t be spoiled since it’s going to be far more effective on the big screen than it is on your computer monitor or television.  My larger concern is if the 3D will help or hinder the picture.

Hit the jump to check out the clip and the TV spot.  The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, and Ben Kingsley.  Iron Man 3 opens in 3D on May 3rd.

Marvel has released a new featurette for director Shane Black’s sequel Iron Man 3, and this one focuses on the film’s large cast of characters.  In addition to a fair amount of new footage, we get to see nearly the entire cast (including Jon Favreau) discuss their characters and how the film stacks up against the first two Iron Man pics.  Naturally everyone has great things to say about the film, but Ben Kingsley appears genuinely enthused about tackling The Mandarin and Robert Downey Jr. claims that it’s the most emotionally satisfying and entertaining Iron Man film yet.

Hit the jump to watch the new featurette and click here if you missed the first clip from the pic.  The film also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, and Rebecca Hall.  Iron Man 3 opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on May 3rd.

I’m surprised Marvel hasn’t released an online app where you can mash-up your own Iron Man 3 poster.  The latest official posters for the film have been photoshopping previous posters together, and a new international poster keeps that trend going.  The new international poster brings together the final poster with the character posters for Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce).  The result looks like Pepper looking down on tiny Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and saying, “Don’t worry.  I have your helmet.”

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  The film also stars Rebecca Hall and Ben Kingsley.  Iron Man 3 opens in 3D on May 3rd.

An international TV spot for Iron Man 3 has gone online.  The spot still has the grim tone of almost everything we’ve seen so far, but it also has the same amount of action.  It also has a very cool ending, and fans of the comics will enjoy the reference even if the reference will probably be unnamed in the actual film.  That’s all I’m going to say because some might consider what happens to be a minor spoiler.

Hit the jump to check out the TV spot, but again be warned that it contains a minor spoiler.  The film stars he film stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley.  Iron Man 3 opens in 3D on May 3rd.

Films with an IMAX release usually get a separate IMAX poster, and Iron Man 3 is no exception.  IMAX has released a new poster for the upcoming superhero movie, and it’s like the recent U.S. poster except with way more stuff.  I understand that IMAX is bigger, but that doesn’t necessarily make the picture more crowded.  They’ve crammed multiple posters together, and the result is less than aesthetically pleasing.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and judge for yourself.  The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall and Ben Kingsley.  Iron Man 3 opens in 3D on May 3rd.

The first image from director David Michod’s (Animal Kingdom) second feature film, The Rover, has been released online.  The futuristic western takes place in the Australian desert following a worldwide economic collapse and stars Guy Pearce as Eric, a man who has left everything, everyone and every semblance of human kindness behind him when a gang steals his last possession.  Eric sets out to track them down and along the way is forced to enlist the help of a naïve, injured member of the gang named Rey (Robert Pattinson).  Though the phrase “near-future, Australian-set western” automatically brings to mind George Miller’s masterful Mad Max series, Michod promises that The Rover is going to be “way more chillingly authentic and menacing” than those films.  That’s some strong talk, but considering how great Animal Kingdom is, I’m inclined to take Michod’s word for it.

Hit the jump to take a look at the image.  The film also stars Scoot McNairy (Argo), Susan Prior (Animal Kingdom), Gillian Jones (Oscar and Lucinda), Anthony Hayes (Burning Man) and David Field (Chopper).  The Rover opens later this year.

Yesterday, a bounty of Iron Man 3 goodness made its way online.  In addition to a rather intense new trailer, we shared a video blog after having seen 15 minutes of footage from the movie as well as interviews with Robert Downey Jr. and director Shane Black & Marvel’s Kevin Feige.  The trailer is packed with so much new footage, that we’ve gone back and taken some high-resolution screengrabs from the clip that are now available for your perusing pleasure.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images, and let us know what secrets you think can be gleaned from some of these new photos.  The film also stars Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley. Iron Man 3 opens in 3D on May 3rd.

The new trailer for Iron Man 3 has gone online.  The previous trailer presented a much darker tone for the franchise, and that’s still what we’re getting.  That’s fine.  Again, writer-director Shane Black has my full trust even if we’re not seeing his trademark snappy dialogue (although I love Ben Kingsley‘s delivery of the line, “You’ll never see me coming.”).  What this new trailer does show is action that looks absolutely insane.  I would love to see this trailer on the big screen, but I’ll probably have to wait until I see the finished film to check out these blockbuster set pieces.  I can live with that.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer. The film also stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, and Rebecca Hall.  Iron Man 3 opens May 3rd. 

Three new hi-res images from Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 were made available by Disney today.  While the pics show off the decidedly underpowered actors portraying their human roles, we do get to see Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Guy Pearce as Adrian Killian, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.  Also starring Ben Kingsley, Jon Favreau and Rebecca Hall, Iron Man 3 opens May 3rd.  Hit the jump to see the new images. 

Last week, Marvel released an Iron Man 3 character poster featuring Don Cheadle as Iron Patriot.  Today, we’ve got one for Guy Pearce as geneticist Aldrich Killian.  For those who don’t know, Iron Man 3 is loosely based on the Iron Man comic book arc “Extremis”.  In “Extremis”, Killian co-developed the Extremis nano-virus with Maya Hansen (played in the movie by Rebecca Hall), but he’ll probably have a much larger role in the movie than he does in the book.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  I’m sure we can expect more character posters in the days and weeks ahead.  The film also stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau, James Badge Dale, and Ben Kingsley.  Iron Man 3 opens in 3D on May 3, 2013.