"I believe in fate," murmurs the soft-spoken Shawn MacArthur, by way of explaining how he was positive that he'd run into beautiful single mother / cocktail waitress Zulay so soon after a fleeting encounter in the most populated city in the United States. But he might as well have said, "I believe in movies in which every step of the narrative is telegraphed well in advance, every character is numbingly familiar, every choreographed brawl is edited into unwatchable confusion, and a feisty, tiny, Spanish-speaking mother steals the show."

As played by Channing Tatum in Fighting, a low-key potboiler directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), Shawn is a mysterious, brooding loner with downcast eyes that only light up when he's flailing away at an opponent with his hands, feet, or head. Shawn has somehow landed in New York City, evidently by fate, since we never learn why he headed to the Big Apple instead of, say, Cincinnati or Atlanta or Albuquerque.

Eventually, pieces of his back story emerge, but long before that happens, the two defining aspects of his personality are writ large: he's a nice guy with a wicked temper. One moment, he's politely holding an emergency gate open for an elderly lady in the subway and bemusedly indulging a long stream of cheats who quickly follow behind her. The next, he's flailing away at a gang of thieves intent on disrupting his fledgling street merchant "business" of selling scavenged items on a sidewalk.

The latter scene is where he catches the eye of two other characters who will, inevitably, become the most important people in his life: Terrence Howard as street hustler Harvey and Zulay Henao as Zulay, a woman trying to buy a children's book.

Can you ever successfully modernize Shakespeare? I've been thinking back to all of the 're-imagined' Shakespeare films I have seen over the years, and as someone who has spent more time than she would have liked studying the Bard, I have to tell ya, most of them are pretty darn bad. I don't claim to be an expert, but for some reason watching Ethan Hawke deliver To Be or Not to Be in a Blockbuster really didn't add much to the experience. Well, that's what I thought anyway when I read the news over at Sci Fi Wire that Terrence Howard has announced the start date for his very own 'Modernized Macbeth' which will be replacing the misty moors of Scotland with the Caribbean sun.

For those of you who skipped high school English, Macbeth was the story of a Scottish warrior who is so affected by a 'witchy prophecy' that he is driven to usurp the Scottish throne through treachery and murder. It is by far one of Wilie's bloodiest plays, but there just must be something about it, because there have been Macbeth updates set in everything from rave culture to the fast food business.

So how to do you successfully transplant Shakespeare to modern day? Well, I happen to think that the films that work the best are the ones that are willing to throw the language right out the window -- sacrilege I know, but hear me out. I think for a lot of audiences the mismatch of modern settings with iambic pentameter just doesn't work as well as it should, and ends up distracting audiences from becoming truly involved in the story and instead spend their time trying to figure out what the hell people are saying. Granted there are some exceptions; Baz Luhrmann did a fair job with his Romeo and Juliet update (although he did a little trimming with the dialog), but I still think the best Shakespeare films are the ones who only look to the plays for inspiration, and not as the script.

So what do you think? Does modern-day Shakespeare ever work? Sound off on some your favorite Shakespeare adaptations below...

With one of next year's biggest films now in production, the race was on yesterday to snag the first photos from the set of Iron Man 2. Director Jon Favreau spent a little time on Twitter, offering fans a glimpse of his director's chair and some warning sign, but what folks really wanted was a first look at the cast in character (and costume). Just Jared and SpoilerTV managed to snag some shots, all of which include Robert Downey Jr. (as Tony Stark), Gwyneth Paltrow (as Pepper Potts) and Don Cheadle (who replaced Terrence Howard as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes). Favreau also left this note on Twitter as day one of production wrapped up: "First day went great. I've never worked on a sequel before. It's like we picked up where we left off."

In addition to these new photos, IESB reports that comedian Garry Shandling (of all people) has not only been cast in the sequel, but he was also on set for the first day of shooting. They claim he's "a reporter or Senator or some sort" who pops up in a continuation of the final scene from the first Iron Man (when Stark proclaims, "I am Iron Man" and all that). Does that mean Iron Man 2 will literally pick up right where the last one left off? Seems so, especially since it looks like Downey Jr. is wearing the same shirt and tie from the final scene of the first film. Check out larger versions of the three images above down below. Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7, 2010.

The last we heard about Red Tails, the new George Lucas project, dear, classy George was saying that while he wasn't directing the feature, "a black director" was. (The name Lucas failed to mention: Anthony Hemingway.) And now we've got a cast. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard will head the ensemble cast that includes a whole slew of names.

Get ready ... the rest of the cast will be filled out by: Bryan Cranston, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Cliff Smith (aka Method Man), Kevin Phillips, Rick Otto, Lee Tergesen, Andre Royo, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Marcus T. Paulk, Leslie Odom Jr., Michael B. Jordan, Jazmine Sullivan, Edwina Findley, Daniela Ruah, and Stacie Davis.

The Lucas-created story, sent off to John Ridley to write, was inspired by Tuskegee Airmen (the first all-black aerial combat unit in WWII). There's no further word on the plot, but Lucas has talked about the effects, which are pretty much a requisite for Lucas: "We're working on techniques that will give us the first true look at the aerial dogfighting of the era, and our top-notch cast will really make this story special."

It's free of the Lucas-helming fear, while having a dedication to great, authentic effects, it's a Gooding Jr. project that isn't about animals and isn't something immediately cringe-worthy, and it's work for the Iron Man 2-shunned Howard. I'm in. You?

As Jon Favreau Tweeted last week, Iron Man 2 begins filming today -- and while we still don't know what storylines the new film will tackle, we do know one that it won't: Demon in a Bottle.

Robert Downey Jr. brushed off the rumors with a "Not Really" to the MTV Splash Page. "As a matter of fact, I think that's probably best saved because it's such its own storyline. We're going for the interim space [between the origin and Demon] which is more a look behind the mask of someone who says he's Iron Man and what it really is to become a superhero."

That teaches us all not to read too much into a scene that involves Tony Stark puking into a toliet. But I bet we'll still see Stark knocking back a few, especially since Don Cheadle is supposed to don the War Machine armor.

In the meantime, the man who was supposed to be War Machine is still upset. Terrence Howard sat down with Sci-Fi Wire to complain about Marvel, who he insists didn't honor the cast contracts, but that the cast should have stuck together. All those rumors of diva behavior sound a little more truthful now, even as he wishes the best for Cheadle. "Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it. I want to see what happens with that. I want to see Don Cheadle become me. I want him to do better than me. That's what I really want to see. I think he can."

Click image below for full poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Fighting, starring Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard. Directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), Fighting follows a young fighter/ticket scalper who's "discovered" and subsequently mentored by a smooth-talking trainer with eyes on making a whole lotta money on the underground fighting circuit. Kinda feels like Fight Club meets The Fast and the Furious, but with Montiel behind the camera, you're going to get a strong, gritty realness since he grew up on the streets of New York City (where the movie is set) and likes to inject a lot of his own experiences into his films. (And hey, you ladies get Channing Tatum without his shirt on for an hour and a half -- life ain't so bad after all, eh?)

Fighting hits theaters on April 24. Check out the full poster below and the trailer over on Moviefone.

We know that Terrence Howard was upset and confused about being dropped from Iron Man 2. Robert Downey Jr. admitted he was in the dark about the decision. Guess who else was perplexed by it -- the new Rhodey himself, Don Cheadle.

IGN caught up with Cheadle, who was quick to describe the sudden and surprising offer from Marvel: "I got a phone call from my agent saying they were offering me the part. That was kind of it. It happened very fast, and I had a very short time to answer. Literally, overnight. I was unaware of what was happening with Terrence. And when they called me I asked what was going on with Terrence. I've worked with Terrence, I've known Terrence for a long time. And they said they were moving away from him. So it's not like I was taking Terrence's job, because the job was already gone. Someone else was going to do the part. I don't know who the next person in line was, but that's who they were going to. And I literally had a few hours to accept the job or not. "

A handful of geek news bits are the perfect way to end the week. There's all kinds of intriguing little quotes scattered all over the Internet tonight, and I've compiled them all below to give your mouse finger and Google toolbar a rest. Enjoy!

As always, the Old Canuckehead gets first grab -- X-MenFilms.Net was informed by Fox that the first X-Men Origins: Wolverine teaser is supposed to be attached to The Day the Earth Stood Still, which hits theaters on December 12th. Will we see the same footage that most of us glimpsed via YouTube bootleg from San Diego ComicCon? I bet we will!

Buried in that Ain't It Cool News scoop on J. Michael Stracynzki was the news that he had just finished his rewrite of Thor. I think the God of Thunder is moving faster than Captain America.

MTV's Splash Page caught up with Robert Downey Jr. and pressed him for word on the Terrance Howard/Don Cheadle swap. He stayed classy, of course: "I had nothing to do with that decision. I love Terrence very very much. That's all I'll say because I haven't talked to him yet ... I've always admired Don [Cheadle]. It's one of those situations where I still don't quite know what happened or why. Here's what happens too: things happen and you wind up commenting on them before you've actually talked to the people and it's in poor taste." He also stressed that the Iron Man franchise will be an "interactive" one, with he and Jon Favreau striving "to make sure we don't piss off the public that put us in the position we're in."

Continued after the jump.

You might remember the big shocker last month that Terrence Howard wouldn't be returning as Rhodes in Iron Man 2 because he got replaced by Don Cheadle. The actor said he found out through the trades like the rest of us, and rumors began to run rampant. Now EW is trying to get to the bottom of things and got an interesting bit of news from insiders who say that two things were to blame for the recasting -- money and Howard's performance. The latter isn't too interesting -- apparently Favs wasn't happy with the footage.

But the former -- it appears that Mr. Howard was the highest paid actor on set. Oh yes, he signed first for some hefty sum, and no one else, not even the Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. got as much. So the story goes -- Howard got a drastically reduced offer for #2 unsurprisingly, balked, and Cheadle was tapped. It all sounds fishy to me. Who let the pay get so out of whack, and why are the powers that be upset with his performance when everyone else likes it!?

Meanwhile, the Bruno shenanigans continue in a rather appropriate forum. Yahoo reports that Sacha Baron Cohen's character crashed a rally supporting Proposition 8 -- the bill trying to ban gay marriage in California. I wonder what his poster said...

Finally, I'd like to make a request. In a world where we get movies-musicals-movies, and slews of adaptations, I want to see the latest Waiting for Godot production get its own feature film. Variety reports that a British production is gearing up with -- get this -- Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Professor X and Magneto. Doing Samuel Beckett!! McKellen will play Estragon, while Stewart plays Vladimir. Now this is worthy of the big screen. Kevin Kline got to follow Pirates of Penzance to the big screen, so it's possible ... I hope.