I've never read a Sherlock Holmes novel, so I can't claim to be a real fan of the great detective. However, the purist that lurks within me is more than a little shocked by the first screen shots of the new film directed by Guy Ritchie.

This first one is OK...

But I'm a little concerned by this one...

Sherlock Holmes fighting with his shirt off? It doesn't seem quite right to me. Surely he could beat his opponent into submission using only his remarkable intelligence and cunning wit without needing to resort to physical violence.

I have never been overly confident that Ritchie is a good enough film maker to do Sherlock Holmes justice. However, I am more than confident in Robert Downey Jr's talent as an actor, so perhaps this might just work.

The Straw Men

It says here that Benderspink, the production-management company run by Chris Bender and JC Spink have picked up the rights to Michael Marshall’s book The Straw Men.

Michael Marshall is one of my favourite authors and while I prefer his earlier, more sci-fi books, the Straw Men series is probably the only story that will transfer to the big screen.

The first and third books in the series are good but, from what I remember, the second one was a bit poor so I’m hoping they’ll do something good with it when transferring the story to film.

If you are ever looking for some really crazy and quite disturbing books, I can highly recommend some of Marshall’s work. Only Forwards, Spares (both as Michael Marshall Smith) and The Intruders are my personal favourites. But be warned, they will mess with your head.

Then, if after reading those you have the stomach for it, check out What You Make It, one of his collections of short stories.

Calling all Iron Man fans

It has been announced today that Robert Downy Jr. has extended his deal with Marvel, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of him as Tony Stark in the future. This means that there will now be at least two sequels to last Summer’s fantastic Iron Man. Good News.

However, what is even more exciting is that we will also see ‘Bob’ in The Avengers, which is scheduled for release in 2011. Don Cheadle, who will replace Terrence Howard as Stark's right-hand man, James Rhodes, will also appear.

This is the first major casting announcement for the Avengers and, in my humble opinion, it’s a great one. Choosing Robert Downy Jr. was one of the best decisions in comic book movie history and I think it will only get better as he explores Stark’s character floors in the coming films.

News on who will play the Hulk, Thor and Captain America are expected in the coming weeks. It looks like the budget for this one is going to get BIG!

Satchmo

According to Variety, Forest Whitaker is set to direct and star in What A Wonderful World, a biopic of Louis Armstrong.

This sounds like good news to me. His performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland showed that Whitaker is right up there with the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of this generation’s great character actors – even if the film itself was a big disappointment.

Other than ‘that’ song, ‘that’ voice and the trumpet, I don’t know a great deal about Louis Armstrong, so I’m looking forward to finding out a bit more (with a Hollywood slant of course).

Although I’m always going to have slight reservations about seeing a Whitaker film because I still remember ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’... shudder!

Paul Newman 1925-2008

I don’t think myself a particularly cold individual, but it’s very rare that I find myself truly sad when I hear about the death of a celebrity. Unfortunately for me, this is one of those occasions.

It would be a considerable understatement to say that Paul Newman never gave a bad performance. He was excellent in every film I every saw him in, from ‘The Hustler’ to ‘The Road to Predition’. He was even outstanding as the voice of Doc Hudson in ‘Cars’.

Considering his remarkable career it is almost unbelievable that he did not win an Academy Award until 1987. However, it is fitting that he won it for reprising one of his greatest characters, Fast Eddie Felson, in the ‘Colour of Money’. Of course, if it had been up to me, he’d have won at least five best actor gongs.

While there are so many greats to choose from, my favourite Paul Newman films are the two he starred in with Robert Redford, one of the very few people that are comparable to him in terms of talent. I know this isn’t exactly a controversial choice but ‘The Sting’ and ‘Butch and Sundance’ are, in my opinion, amongst the greatest movies ever made and are just two of the reasons why my heart is a little heavy this evening.