IRON MAN 3 kick-starts the summer...big time!

Just saw Iron Man 3 for the second time in the space of 5 days and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. Mainly because it was not as crowded as it was a Thursday showing and I could actually hear all the wonderful snappy dialogue that kind of got drowned out the first time with so many people laughing and cheering. 

Tony in his spare time

The sequel starts with a voice over by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr for the 4th time..five if you count his appearance at the end of The Incredible Hulk) who speaks gravely about the events taking place. He flashes back to 1999 on New Year's Eve as he and his bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) party it up in Switzerland and Tony romances the lovely biologist Maya Hansen (new to the Iron Man universe Rebecca Hall). She is working on a new project that can hack into the hard drive of any living organism and upgrade it's DNA. Flash forward 13 years and her idea is being used by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) who Tony rebuffs at the same party those many years ago. Well his project Extremis uses ex-soldiers and grants them the ability to regenerate severed limbs and project intense heat along with super strength. These are the weapons utilized by the terrorist called The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) who threatens the world with his random acts of violence.

Rebecca Hall as Maya

Guy Pearce as Killian

When Happy gets injured in one such incident, Tony calls out the bad guy for a little one on one. Meanwhile Tony is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as she wants him to give up the super hero business a little and take it easy. Easier said than done as Tony has had trouble sleeping ever since the New York incident involving him and The Avengers. So he is constantly working on gadgets as his latest armor, Mark 42, can now adhere to his body magnetically from a distance which is very cool.

Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin

He will need all his smarts to take down Killian and his Extremis cronies. The Mandarin is an all different issue that I don't want to spoil here. You will never see it coming though. There is also a cool sub-plot when Tony crashes in Tennessee and is befriend by a very wise kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins). Their scenes together are the funniest bits in the whole movie. The whole cast in very engaging. RDJ can now play Tony Stark in his sleep and he does not coast on his laurels as he is just as good and sharp as he was the first time he suited up back in 2008. Paltrow is even more fiery as Pepper as she refuses to take a back seat to Tony's technology. Don Cheadle returns as Rhodey. And this time he is working directly for the President as Iron Patriot. Pearce makes a suitable villain that definitely will get your attention. Kingsley is pretty good too as The Mandarin but I really can't say too much about him without spoiling the movie.

Yep..trouble is coming

This shot reminds me of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang so much...

makes sense..Shane Black directed both films

As far as the action goes, director Shane Black goes all out for this one. The attack on Tony's malibu home by The Mandarin's forces is awesome! If that doesn't get your adrenaline going, then nothing will. Another great scene has to the Air Force One attack and then rescue of the passengers who are falling from the sky. That is one of the best film sequences I have ever seen! The snappy dialogue is still there and the plot never gets convulted or heavy. And the movie never drags. It is a great film and a great start for the summer movie season. And it improves on Iron Man 2 big time. I'm up for seeing it a third time for sure.
B+

Tony loves Pepper!

Seminal moments in comic book movies: Iron Man flexes his muscles

2008 brought the crowd cheering funtastic comic movie Iron Man to the big screen and audiences ate it up. Robert Downey, Jr. was perfectly cast as the titular character Iron Man and his alter ego, the brash inventor and savvy businessman Tony Stark. Loaded with cool special effects, lots of humor and RDJ's best role in years, Iron Man was awesome. In this clip, he arrives in a small town that is being overrun by militia who are using his company's weapons. He has had enough and decides to intervene.

THE TOP TEN FILMS THAT I AM SO READY TO SEE IN 2012

These are the top ten films I am most anxious about to see in 2012. I'm hyped to see a lot more films but these ten are the ones I am really stoked about. And I think I may have a good shot at breaking my record of movies seen in theaters. I was on pace last year but sputtered out at 28 thanks to a soft fall/winter schedule. The record is 36, set so long ago back in 1992. Anyway, here are my picks for 2012. For a comic book and action enthusiast lover, this year is a dream come true.

Dwayne Johnson looking all bad ass as Roadblock for GI JOE 2

10.) G.I. JOE 2 - I thought the first GI JOE was a good enough action flick, but I think the sequel is poised to be even better. Two words: THE ROCK. And two more: BRUCE WILLIS. 


9. ) THE HUNGER GAMES - Futuristic yarn where young kids must battle each other to the death to stay alive. Oh yeah. count me in for this one.


8.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - OK, so the first trailer was kind of under-whelming. Spidey did not look right, a little too CGI-ish. But I'm still excited for this one. It's Spider-Man for crying out loud. And we finally get to see The Lizard come center stage after being hinted at in Sam Raimi's original trilogy.


7.) THE HOBBIT - Finally the beginnings of Bilbo Baggins can finally be told. The Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite film series ever and I'm so ready for some new adventures with hobbits, elves, wizards, and monsters. 

The lovely Rosamund Pike..one of the reasons why Wrath of the Titans

will be better than Clash of the Titans

6.) WRATH OF THE TITANS - Damn, it just felt like last month when the first Titans movie came out. I liked that first one a lot, but this new one looks ever better. The effects look better and the action seems to be amped up to another level. This should be really good. Plus it has Rosamund Pike in it. She can never hurt a film's appeal.


5.) PROMETHEUS - The unofficial prequel to Alien is eagerly awaited as famed director Ridley Scott is at the helm. I know he has stated that this was in no way a new Alien movie, but the cat has been let out of the bag ever since the trailer premiered weeks ago. And I'm so cool with that. Bring it on Ridley!


4.)  THE BOURNE LEGACY - The action franchise gets a new player in Jeremy Renner who takes over as a different character. Renner who knocked audiences for a loop in the latest Mission Impossible movie and also stars in The Avengers is poised to become a major star.

HE'S BAAAAAACKKKKKK!

3.) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - OK, we all know that Chris Nolan won't be able to top his masterpiece, The Dark Knight. But there's no denying that his third Bat film promises to go out with a bang. Tom Hardy as Bane and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman join the mix as the villains. And Christian Bale returns as Batman. But look at the supporting cast: Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Matthew Modine. Stellar indeed!


2.) SKYFALL - Bond is back. And I'm so primed for this one. Daniel Craig returns for the third time and he's backed by the best cast for a Bond film ever assembled: Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris and the returning Judi Dench. The film is being talked about as a throwback to Goldfinger and From Russia With Love. Color me excited!


1.) THE AVENGERS - I have waited for this movie basically my entire life. A gathering of Marvel's biggest super-heroes in one movie: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk and with good high quality actors like Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Renner. Oh yeah. I can't wait for this bad boy.

The Dream Team Assembled!

Review: Iron Man 2

 *Just saw Iron Man 2 for the second time and I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first time. I can only reason that the expectations were so high for this film, that may have caused me some slight disappointment upon the first viewing. But I can fully say now that Iron Man 2 is one of the best comic to film adaptations yet. Very close to the original film, and definitely ranked in my top 10 favorite comic book movies of all time. Which will lead to me finally posting my fave comic book movie list next week. So I will keep the original rating of B+ for the time being while I gave the first Iron Man movie a A.

 The 2010 summer movie season has officially kicked off with the highly anticipated sequel, Iron Man 2. Does it deliver the goods? For the most part, yes. It meets all the requirements of a big comic book movie despite some shortcomings. The story picks up immediately after the events of the previous film when Tony Stark announces to the world that he is Iron Man. Cut to Russia, where a revenge minded man named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke who is not used nearly enough) works on a hi-tech suit of his own with pulsating energy whips. He plans to exact some payback on Tony for what he believes to be justice since Tony's dad stole designs from Ivan's father. While Vanko prepares to travel and make life hell for Tony, our golden boy is busy opening the Stark Expo in New York City to throngs of rabid fans, who treat him like a rock star.

Tony makes one hell of an entrance as he is dropped from an airplane and flies down to NYC with about 20 hot to trot red and yellow clad cheerleaders to back him up. Got to be one of the best film openings ever just for that scene alone. And while Tony still exudes tons of charisma, he is facing all kinds of personal issues. The arc reactor technology that is keeping him alive is also killing him. So he is searching for a substitute energy source. He also has to deal with a rival competitor named Justin Hammer (terrific performance by Sam Rockwell) who struts all over the place, looking to knock Tony down a peg or two. And Tony also has to deal with the U.S. government who demands that he hand over his Iron Man suit to them. He is called in for a senate hearing and goes toe to toe with a tough senator (played by Garry Shandling). So with all this going on, when his sponsored race team has a race in Monaco, he is off to have some fun. Of course Whiplash (Ivan) shows up and turns the racetrack into a memorable slug fest, which is the best scene in the movie.

After this skirmish Tony and his assistant Pepper Potts (once again played winningly by Gwyneth Paltrow) head home for some R&R. Tony ends up making Pepper his CEO and Pepper hires a new assistant named Natalie (Scarlett Johansson) who is actually a SHIELD agent code-named Black Widow, working for main man Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, rocking the eye patch and leather coat and more screen time). A lot more story is emphasized in this sequel, maybe a little too much. Because there are only three main action sequences, which all well done. Just could have used some more.

Don Cheadle who replaces Terrance Howard as Rhodey, Tony's best friend gets to suit up as War Machine and gets in on the action and definitely adds to the value of the film. I was a little wary about Johansson when she was picked to play Black Widow, but that lasts for about 2 seconds. From the time she appears on film, she more than holds her own with Downey, Paltrow and the others. And her big fight scene at the end, where she just rips through about 20 guys is just bad ass. Even director Jon Favreau gets physical in this one as he gets to rough up a bad guy. Of course it's Robert Downey Jr who drives the film and he doesn't drop the ball. He is just as good as he was in the original, maybe even better. The special effects are top notch once again. And there are so many little easter eggs that any die hard Marvel fan will catch immediately.

Like I said the main problem is not enough action and once again the main bad guy turns out to be another guy in an iron suit just like Tony's. That's get old pretty quick. They need to go through Iron Man's rogue gallery and bring on The Mandarin. They mentioned his connection in the first film, now they need to deliver on that. It was cool seeing the interaction between Stark and Fury, talking about SHIELD and The Avengers Initiative, which the Iron Man films have set up brilliantly. Can't wait for next year when Thor and Captain America hit the theaters. So all in all, Iron Man 2 gets the job done despite some minor flaws. But as a film in it's own right, it'll do. Oh and the soundtrack which has all AC/DC songs on the CD only uses two in the film. I was expecting the film to use way more than that. They do go old school with a couple of jams that rock and are featured doing Tony's birthday bash that gets a little out of hand. And said bash has Tony smashed in his suit having a good time. His struggles with alcholism is played up a little in this film, but too a comedic effect with some dramatic overtones. His antics will remind you of Will Smith from Hancock.
B+