Iron Man 3 fades to Black

I've had an excessively tough time sitting through Iron Man 2. I loved the first movie, dig Robert Downey Jr and think Jon Favreau is the cat's ass as a director and actor. But the second film is just, well, blah. Worse than blah. Boring! Even with Mickey Rourke. What's up with that!?!

But I might have to force myself to catch the entire film now that Shane Black is in final negotiations to helm Iron Man 3.

Who's Shane Black? He's considered one of the best screenwriters in the business. Black wrote the first two Lethal Weapon movies, The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Last Action Hero (we forgive you for that one, Shane). He also wrote and directed the brilliant Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, which starred Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.

Oh yeah, he was also one of the soldiers in Predator. The guy who told all the jokes.

This is great news. Black's scripts are edgy, funny and violent. He could breathe the right amount of life back into a franchise that's at risk of dying before it gets out the gate. Hopefully the deal won't fall through!