It’s Wednesday so it’s time for our weekly open discussion, but as it happens this one is hitting on the last day of 2008! Can you believe this year is over already?

And what an incredible year it’s been for movies… 2008 was a banner year for superhero movie fans with the likes of The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and yes - even Hancock and Punisher: War Zone.

Other great genre films included Rambo, Cloverfield (do you even remember that opened this year?!), Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kung Fu Panda and more.

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Let’s just nip this stupid little rumor in the bud before it starts to get ANY traction, shall we? One well known movie site posted up a story (admittedly calling it a “whacky rumor”) stating that John Cho (Sulu in the new Star Trek movie) will be playing the villain in Iron Man 2.

This is utterly and completely FALSE.

The rumor river is flowing again, this time giving us word that Tim Robbins will play Tony Stark’s father Howard Stark in the comic book movie sequel Iron Man 2. The character was portrayed briefly during the slide-show presentation at the beginning of the first film by Gerard Sanders, but director John Favreau wanted:

…to get a good actor because he didn’t think the guy who played Howard in the last film could carry such an important scene.

Click to continue "Is Tim Robbins Howard Stark In Iron Man 2?"

More info: Iron Man, Iron Man 2

I’m sure you can all guess which movie took the top spot (just in case…. it’s The Dark Knight), and yes it’s predictably Twilight and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that are the second and third most searched.

But the rest of the list may not be as you might have thought. Here it is, in descending order:

It’s no surprise to find the likes of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and the beloved The Dark Knight on the American Film Institute’s Top 10 of 2008. But what is startling to see is that Iron Man, the surprise kick-ass flick of Summer 08′, made the cut as well. In case you were wondering here is the full list:

Robert Downey, Jr. deserves a Best Actor Oscar Nomination for his role as Tony Stark in Iron Man.

Now, before you tell me I’m crazy, I’m going to put out a good argument as to why he should, and then why he probably won’t. Plus, a few of my fellow Screen Rant writers chime in on why I may be wrong in an Oscar nod for RDJ.

First things first, as to why RDJ deserves to be nominated: Hollywood, and pretty much everyone else, loves a comeback kid. And RDJ is the king of making a major comeback. His acting career is nothing short of amazing, and he is one of the most versatile actors of his generation.

It looks like the Academy has found some sense and reversed their decision to disqualify The Dark Knight score. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, who collaborated to bring the tense anthem of The Joker, will now be able to compete in the “Best Original Score” category.

The news comes after just one month of ruling the score ineligible, citing too many composers on the cue sheet. When the Los Angeles Times spoke to the Academy’s executive director Bruce Davis a week prior, he said the Academy’s music branch:

A couple of weeks ago we asked if Terrence Howard had been blindsided by Marvel with his removal from Iron Man 2. According to that post the word that he was left out of the sequel and replaced by Don Cheadle came out of the blue, and he heard about it online like the rest of us. My first reaction was “What the heck is wrong with Marvel?” but I did figure that there were two sides to the story and we should wait until we heard the other side before coming to any conclusions.

Well we now have the other side of the story (albeit unofficially), and it’s quite fascinating and unusual.

Well the title “Cool Stuff” is already taken by my buddy Pete over at /Film, and although I hate “cute” names for things I had to come up with something different - so until someone comes up with a better title, I’m going to lump stuff like this under “SR Picks.” Help us come up with a name!

When I saw this thing over at Sideshow Collectibles my eyes about popped out of my head. In case you don’t know - I’m a HUGE Iron Man fan and own a number of cool collectible statues, comiquettes, busts and yes, even toys. The last thing I really wanted was the life size Stan Winston bust from these guys, but it was just too far out of my price range.

Another week means another jammed-packed Mid Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This week:

Mel Gibson returns from the Edge; Iron Man goes Halloween; Jack Ryan may have two-faces; Elvis goes to hell and we bite down on some R-rated Pie.