So consensus is bad (because it's the corporate media feeding it to us).
And disagreement is worse?

Unfortunately both are independent of film quality...

Oh, and you are one of those fanboys who think their favorite film is the greatest and will be unhappy if someone only REALLY LIKE it not LOVE it..

GET REAL!



you too, young man.. B+ is the backlash? wow!

disrespect the other opinions is something I didn't expect from you, Bradley..

I'm disappointed..

Here is a link to my review of Iron Man for my school Newspaper....

http://nevadasagebrush.com/blog/2008/05/06/iron-man-shoots-down-preconceptions-of-superhero-genre-with-wit-and-flare/

To maybe hook you into reading it, here is my opening line...

"Megatron and the rest of the Transformers can kiss Iron Man's gold-tinted ass, because Robert Downey Jr. ("Charlie Bartlett") and Jon Favreau ("Zathura") have created something Michael Bay has never heard of - a clever, engaging blockbuster."

Gold-tainted?

I suppose that may be literally true - - after all Tony Stark did inherit his father's fortune/gold and it did corrupt/taint him till he saw the light - - but it sure is an odd description to put in your opening line...

Haha... That is some deep insight i never thought of before Bradley. All i meant was that the color of the suit's ass is gold tainted... i think... Trying to play off of Bender's famous line, "Bite my shiny metal ass"... That is all.

Perhaps "tinted" then?

OMG! Lol, its one thing that i didn't catch that, but i can't believe all of the paper's copy editors didn't catch it....

Thanks Bradley!



P.S. If you read the whole review, what did you think overall?

I know I wasn't asked, but feedback is feedback, right?

First, Batman was 1989 (not 1988) and Spider-Man was 2002 (not 2001). As for the actual review that was definitely solid. I personally could have done without the plot summary of the first 20ish minutes but thankfully you abandoned that (unlike so many mainstream reviewers who feel the need to summarize the whole movie) and got to the meat.

I disagree with the way you describe Paltrow's Pepper characterization. I feel she did wonderfully with what she was given to work with and that in less capable hands Pepper would just have been a one-dimensional "loyal assistant with unrequited love of Stark" but I felt more than that from her.

The odd Burger King reference in the film was almost made worth it with some jokes from Downey's Tonight Show appearance this past Monday.

Just saw this tonight and LOVED it! First time I've ever really taken notice of Downey Jr.

Can't wait for a sequel!

Joy

I don't get the love for Paltrow. In every scene where the camera was slightly behind her she didn't act at all, she just used voice to do emotions. The most notable scene is where she's changing Stark's battery. Everytime the camera shot her from the back with just a bit of her face you could see she was just standing there. And when she said something her voice was shaky, but you could see her face and it had boredom written all over it...

She was never brilliant, she was merely good.

Great writing style - - I'd read your full reviews on a regular basis if they are all that well done...

She played it well and was believable (not much more one can ask for with such a role), the one exception being when she was chased by the big bad robot (Bridges), that looked so "oh let's pretend i'm scared".

I liked it. Quite a bit! Downey Jr. was good, as was Gwyneth. I was engaged by the early stuff in the middle east, rapt by the suit building, and even the supposedly rushed last third worked for me. Overall a very solid B+. Can't wait for the sequel.

Was anyone else surprised by how effeminate Terence Howard is?

'Twas good, not great. About on par with the first Spider-Man and Batman, but below Superman and X-Men as far as superhero origin stories go. Downey is terrific, of course, and the FX were surprisingly impressive (not just Iron Man himself, but also all the futuristic technology), but the action was shot oddly and felt pretty low-key, making it all seem kinda lame. It was also paced pretty poorly, with no real story to speak of and a finale that came about far too quickly. It was funny and witty and enjoyable all the way through, but it really didn't seem to lead to anything. I'm really not sure where the raves are coming from, because this is far from the pinnacle of the genre. I have hopes for the sequel, though.

Just got back from seeing Iron Man with friends.

I liked the light-hearted feel of the movie. With a thin plot (a "bad" military industrialist-turned-"good" (?); the motivation toward his designing of the iron suit was ambivalent), a light, humorous and self-interested Iron Man made the movie a fitting entertaining adventure. It saved the movie from being a pretentious serious soap-opera (Spiderman 3).

By the way, I don't see the movie making any political or social commentary like some of the critics says. Enlighten me if there is any. The movie just plays to the stereotype of no substance that weapon manufacturers are greedy and selfish profiteers.

Grade: B-

As this board's foremost expert on Marvel and Iron-Man, I felt it was my obligation to post some thoughts on the Iron-Man film. (I've watched it over 10 times now!)

I've been a fan of the character and read his comic since the 70's. To prepare for the movie (which was my #1 anticipated for 2008), I read and I read and I read Iron-Man comics. I hadn't read those stories in years, and reliving those memories was a lot of fun. (over 200 Iron-Man comics digested in less than a month)

The movie hit the perfect notes. Robert Downey Jr. was the best superhero/alter ego realized on the big screen yet, and that is quite the compliment, considering how excellent Patrick Stewart, Tobey MaGuire, Hugh Jackman, and Michael Chicklis were at playing their respective characters. I now think, with Sean Connery being retired and all, I finally have his successor as my favorite actor. I've always been a fan. I've even made several very high comments about him at these very forums. His portrayal of Tony Stark was perfection, and Marvel picked a great guy to throw their universe on the back of. I, of course, was not at all surprised by the film's massive success.

Downey pulled off the trickiest role in years, and made a war profiteering, selfish, womanizing bastard with a bloated self awareness, into a charming and likeable guy who you would want to hang out with ALL THE TIME! Very few actors can pull off that kind of likeability. Terrence Howard played himself with great humor, as well as with class and respect. He and Downey had a great chemistry, and it truely looked like they were close friends. Gwenyth Paltrow added much to this film with her portrayal of Pepper Potts. Her and Downey ignite the screen with their scenes together, leaving the audience wanting them to have sex. Jeff Bridges does a fine job (pretty brilliant, actually) as the slimey but likeable Obadiah Stane. If I did have a small wish, it would have been that Stane died like he did in the comics.

The special effects were the best I've seen in some time, and I would expect it to bring home the Oscar, unless something else comes out and is mind numbingly good. The pacing was excellent, so were all of the perfomances, with Robert Downey Jr. (Mavvy's freshly announced favorite actor replacement for the retired Sean Connery) standing out with a performance that will do much to make him one of the biggest stars in the world, much like Johnny Depp did with Pirates, but not to such a high degree.

Iron-Man is the best superhero film since the original Spider-Man, and Marvel studios really knocked it out of the park with their first effort. I would expect this to bode well for Incredible Hulk. You should expect that, too.

A+

How appropriate!







(PS: Glad to hear you enjoyed the film!)

Watching it 10x already is beyond my comprehension. I've never even see a SW film that many times in a theater.

So how does Obadiah actually die in the comics?

If Transformers can't win visual effects then nothing is a favorite ever again.

Ten times in nine days? Yikes.

Glad you loved it, though.

It's not that Transformers lost, it's that Golden Compass won. That's the head-scratcher, because Pirates 3 would've actually been deserving of the award. TGC was... not.

Stane vaporized his own head (with a ray beam), so Iron Man won't have the satisfaction of seeing Stane suffer in prison.

Least surprising review ever, hehe.

(not to say I didn't find the film great, but still...ya know)

Yes, thanks a bunch man. I have the unique oppertunity to be the assistant web editor for the paper as well as a staff writer, so i have the chance to fix any mistakes in my writing online, but the print version is of course permanent. So, i changed those time refrence mistakes. Thanks for the positive feedback overall.



Thanks a bunch Bradley! I have tried to stand out by adding a bit of wit to my reviews. If you're interested here is a link to my author page on the newspaper website with all of my reviews from the year.

http://nevadasagebrush.com/blog/author/jbrissenden/

finally saw it. I really liked it. The humor worked well and the story was fun. The villain was a bit weak with the final fight scene being a bit anti-climatic. Pepper Potts bothered me a little too but still the movie worked well.

A-.


1. Spider-Man
2. Spider-Man 2
3. Batman Begins
4. X2
5. Iron Man