I saw Iron Man 2 over the weekend. I’ve heard some not so wonderful things about it, and Entertainment Weekly referred to it as critically panned. Um, what? It has a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. How is that critically panned? But whatever. I went in with lowered expectations even though I loved the first one, and this one looked just as good. My only concern was that there would be too many villains. Anyway, I really liked it! Robert Downey Jr. can pretty much do no wrong, and he was once again in top form. The story was pretty solid, and the villains all fit together well, and didn’t seem too shoehorned into the film, like they were in Spiderman 3. The action and humor were all there. The only complaint I’d have were a few slow parts in the middle, and the final battle at the end seemed a bit short. But all in all, it was really fun. I love how they’re working the S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers storylines together within movies. I wish they’d do that with DC heroes.
I also saw Date Night, which I’ve been wanting to see before it left the theaters. It obviously wasn’t a masterpiece of modern cinema, but it was really fun, and we had a packed theater with people that probably would have laughed their way through The Back-Up Plan, which always helps. No, but really, it was good silly fun. Steve Carrell and Tina Fey make an awesome pair, and you can totally seem them together as a real couple. They also infused a bit of their Liz Lemon and Michael Scott personalities into it, which also made it fun. The story and resolution was a bit easy, but you can’t expect something too crazy from 90 minutes of wackiness.
I loved both of those movies. Date Night was good in spite of the script and directing and Iron Man was good because all of the ingredients (except an overly hammy Samuel L.) fit together nicely.
I saw IM2 this week as well and didnt really like it. I just felt that Jon Favreux took everything that people like in the first one and said “here’s more of that same thing!!”. I groaned when i saw that robotic arm again. It wasn’t HORRIBLE but I would not recommend it to anyone. The highlight of the trip was getting to see an extended trailer for The Last Airbender. I’m so nervous about that movie. I want it to be great and can’t shake the major concerns of M Night trying to put his signature stamp on it. Having said that, I still get goosebumps whenever I see a trailer for it.
Aw, I kinda love the robotic arm! Yeah, it was the same thing over again, but I liked the consistency and the fact that since the first one was such a success, they weren’t too cool to have the silly robotic arm again.
Sorry, Craiggers, I gotta disagree with you on IM2. My one word review was: disappointment. I had such high expectations, since the first IM was damn near perfect, and this one plainly wasnt. It wasn’t a bad movie by any stretch, it just wasn’t, in my opinion, as good as it should have been.
And I had no intention of seeing Airbender, since I knew nothing about it, until I saw the extended trailer. now I too am kinda looking forward to it. But as I’ve never seen it, I don’t think Ihave to worry about the director ruining it.
HUGS…
Awww. I was hoping you were going to regale us with tales of your date night at IM2. Damn. Okay, I didn’t LOVE IM1. Is that a sacrilege? I adore RDJr. (Really, did anyone think when he was in jail for drugs he would ever again be this hot or popular? I think not.), but it just didn’t grab me.
I do love Steve Carrell but it would likely be more of a rental for me. Something has to be pretty amazing these days for me to hit the theatre. Oh wait, I went to Clash of the Titans, okay, has some pretty amazing buff guys in it. There.
I agree with you on Iron Man 2, Craig. I think it was much better than everyone was saying. I liked that it had action from pretty much the beginning. I also thought Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rouke worked well together as the villians. It made sense why they were teamed up, it wasn’t simply random. I also really liked Robert Downey Jr and was glad that they showed him as himself a lot. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Joss Whedon does with the Avengers movie.
After watching Red Letter Media’s reviews of the TNG movies and Star Wars prequels, I’ve been turned off of the action genre’s emphasis on explosions over plot. The fight at the race track really bugs me because Iron Man could have avoided a whole bunch of problems by simply remembering that he had bullets that could hurt enemies from outside the range of the whips. The War Machine plot also felt contrived.
Cupcake: being Lord Of The Nitpickers, the race track scene bugged me cause there’s not way, in this day and age, that anyone’s just gonna be able to walk onto a racetrack, especially a high profile one covered on TV, without security doing something even if he’s wearing an orange jumpsuit.
But I could have overlooked that, and other small things, if the rest of the movie was as superb as the the first IM.
HUGS….
Polt, you’re wrong on that. I live near Daytona and people who are much less intelligent than Mickey Rourke’s character have made it on the track. There are multiple points of entry, especially if you’re an employee, which he was.
And Ryan, the briefcase suit didn’t have those bullets. He explained that in the final scene.
I’m with Avitable on this one, I really enjoyed Iron Man 2 because of all the elements. I especially loved Sam Rockwell, he is awesome in everything he does. I also liked Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow. I do agree with Craig that there were a few slow moments, but overall, I thought it was a fine addition to the series and it continued the Avengers storyline quite well.
Hmm, well apparently I’m in the minority. *SIGH* like that’s anything new.
I DID love The Black Widow, tho, I’ll agree with everyone on that one.
HUGS….
Yep, Polter-skee-doodles, I’m afraid you are in the minority at least on this blog’s comment section. As I tweeted and posted on facebook (during the credits in the cinema might I add), I *LOVED* IM2. I read your criticisms, Polterz, and they just didn’t convince me.
Now, I do think I’m quite unusual in that I liked it better than the first. I just wasn’t all that excited by the first. I thought it was … ok. But it was wayyyyyyy too gun-happy for me. I’m not a big fan of guns. One of my favorite lines in the first X-Men movie (still the gold standard for me for comic-book movies) was when Magneto says “ahhh, Homo Sapiens and their guns”. The gunplay was one of my biggest peeves with the Matrix movies, too. Ok, not biggest. The fact that the movies ended up being a big fat mess that made no sense was my BIGGEST peeve.
I personally found IM2 far superior to the first. I didn’t really think of it as “more of the same” at all. I found it fast-paced, exciting, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable. When Scarlett Johansson took out all those guards my heart was pounding — I *LOVED* her character. I won’t say I got a woody but it was definitely one of my “she could almost turn me straight” moments.
I loved Sam Rockwell — I’ve been a fan of his for years: he’s one of those rare men that I find attractive over the age of 40 — and I loved Micky Rourke. His Russian, by the way, was excellent. Unless it was dubbed, which I suppose is quite likely — it was a pretty flawless accent.
I’m glad you guys brought up the previews to The Last Airbender — I’m curious whether Craig is going to recommend that we see that movie or not, since he is such a big fan of the animated (?) series. I’m also curious: is the protagonist really supposed to be like — whatever he was — 6 years old? — though?! He looked wayyyy too young to me to take seriously. But the special effects look awesome.
I also was somewhat intrigued by the previews for “Inception” — the special effects look great, though I have a feeling it’s one of those movies where all the great scenes are in the previews. The soundtrack to the preview was pretty cool too, I thought. (Man oh man, though — Leonardo is NOT aging well. Not that I ever thought he “younged” well — he was never my cup of tea. I just think it’s interesting that guys like Sam Rockwell and RDJr can be so hot — RDJr just seems to be getting hotter with age, and I am manifestly NOT a big fan of peepawz — while former pretty-boys like Leonardo diC and Matt Damon are kind of bloating into early middle age…)
Date Night I think I’ll wait for on On Demand or Netflix ….
I haven’t seen either of these. But I want to.
Justin – your comments are longer than the Puntabuschlong.
Michelle FTW!
BWAAA! If anyone needs me, I will be cleaning the spit take off my computer screen!
The Last Airbender: Aang, in the animated series, is 12 years old physically. He was frozen in an iceberg so in reality he’s probably over a hundred, I believe.
Justin: Then you probably won’t like Equilibrium, with Christian Bale, where they practice a martial art known as gunkata. Its a pretty cool movie that I loved when I saw it in the theatre because I was not expecting that kind of movie. Below is a link to some scene from the movie involving gunkata.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tINWl0gzQWI
Hm. 12 is a bit young for a protagonist but it depends on the story. The early Harry Potter books/films and the Narnia books/films work well with young protagonists. The Phantom Menace decidedly did not.
Thanks for the Gunkata link. It got some chuckles out of me — not that this is what it was going for
I do love Christian Bale, though 
Michelle — honestly, how can you dis the Puntabuschlong? *NOTHING* is longer! That’s the story, and us flying monkeys gotta stick to it, right?
Justin: The Phantom Menace doesn’t have a protagonist.
Good point, Ryan!
I thought midichlorians were the protagonists?
john: that’s what SHE said. Ba-dum-DUM!
HUGS…
Thank you, Polterstilskins. This comment thread was decidedly lacking in puntabuperversity until you rectified the situation. Ryan is obviously of his game but at least you stepped up
Does Iron Man sound more like a gay porno, a sex toy, or an erectile aid?
There’s the Ryan I know and love
Saw Date Night with the gf and liked it much more than I thought I would. Funny stuff.
Cupcake: I’m going to go with sex toy. Though, the porn parody writes itself.
Perhaps a sexbot for steam punk fetishists?
I am forbidden to watch either of the “Iron Man” movies. David knows better.
… knows better than to expose you to RDJr and suffer in comparison?
I also was somewhat intrigued by the previews for “Inception” — the special effects look great, though I have a feeling it’s one of those movies where all the great scenes are in the previews. The soundtrack to the preview was pretty cool too, I thought. (Man oh man, though — Leonardo is NOT aging well. Not that I ever thought he “younged” well — he was never my cup of tea. I just think it’s interesting that guys like Sam Rockwell and RDJr can be so hot — RDJr just seems to be getting hotter with age, and I am manifestly NOT a big fan of peepawz — while former pretty-boys like Leonardo diC and Matt Damon are kind of bloating into early middle age…)
+1
The “cute” as a species do not age well.
I haven’t seen either Iron Man movies, though I always hear great things about the first one. Maybe I’d watch if they actually got an attractive lead. Ugh.