Iron Man vs. Batman

I know many others out there have already caught the eerie similarities between Iron Man and Batman. Alright, maybe not so eerie, however it is oddly coincidental for the top two grossing superhero movies this summer. Let me assure you, Batman: The Dark Knight WILL be a top grossing film this year. Sadly Hulk will have nothing on these two.

I mean let’s go over the facts, here.

Iron Man is a billionaire. Batman is a billionaire.

Iron Man is a playboy socialite. So is Batman.

Iron Man has Jarvis, his butler (though in the film they basically gave Pepper his role and made Jarvis into the AI in his suit and lab). Batman has Alfred, his butler.

Both don’t actually have superpowers. They merely… use their money and go traipsing around flaunting the fact they could become heroes because they were rich and had some time on their hands.

Iron Man lost his parents. Batman lost his parents.

Iron Man has his sidekick, War Machine. Batman has his sidekick, Robin. War Machine > Robin.

Iron Man has the Avengers. Batman has the Justice League.

The only thing Batman has that Iron Man does not is an extra 30 years and 4 more movies.

In total, Iron Man did 100.8 million dollars not including international sales. Indiana Jones nabbed 126.1 million dollars. How will the Batman sequel do in the box office? You can bet it will land somewhere in between. I doubt it will beat out the almost 3 decade’s worth of hype and anticipation of Indiana Jones, however it does have a lot of free advertising surrounding the death of Heath Ledger. My money down on 119 million, give or take 2 or 3 +/-.

A friend of mine showed this little clip to me a little while back. It’s basically everything I just talked about in the form of a PC vs. Mac commercial. Enjoy!

The Golden Avenger

What can I say about that movie? I know it’s been out for quite some time now, but I was in Mexico so now is the time to post my personal review. Marvel bet the bank on this production, and it marked the first Marvel superhero movie to be completely controlled and produced by them. Literally they put their own intellectual property on the line if the movie went south.

They needed to make this movie all that it could be. They certainly succeeded.

The script was nothing less than phenomenal. It was quick, it was witty, it was funny yet not childish and it was serious when it needed to be. I’ve realized, though, that any script given to Mr. Downey Junior automatically becomes excellent merely through how he reads his lines. To say that Robert Downey Jr. was destined for this role as Mr. Tony Stark… would be quite accurate. The cosmos MEANT for him to play this role, and he did it justice.

Then we had quite a few supporting actors/actresses who also did their part to make this movie great. I was very skeptical about Gwyneth Paltrow playing Stark’s secretary, Pepper Potts. Although I am sure I am right when I say that she was chosen simply to drag in Paltrow fans who would not normally see a superhero movie (above many other more qualified actresses who would have fit the role, I digress), I found I actually enjoyed her in the role. She did good, though a few of my friends would say different.

Is it just me, guys out there, or did she look smoking hot for a good chunk of that movie? I’ve never thought that way of her before…

Terrence Howard held the role of Rhodes, and I found his voice a bit too… soft. I looked past it. He’s going to be awesome in the next film anyways as War Machine. Jeff Bridges did very well as Tony Stark’s corporate partner-turned-bad guy. I like that dude’s voice. Very intimidating.

I didn’t go into Iron Man with extremely high expectations, because my heart might have shattered if one of my favorite superheroes was destroyed much as Spider-Man was. I came out of that theatre brimming with new hope for ALL of the upcoming Marvel-made superhero movies.

And now for a couple of ***SPOILERS***, to round this off.

I’m sure many others caught the allusions toward the Mandarin’s rings? Because that terrorist group was one of (I’m assuming) 10 groups calling themselves ‘The Ten Rings’. Raza (the leader of the group that captured Tony) would always be casually stroking the ring on his right hand ring finger – a massive red stone.

Alright folks, time to geek it up a notch. Bonus points if anyone can remember what that ring was supposed to be able to do…

It was a ‘Disintegration Beam’ ring. It has the power to literally destroy the links between atoms of anything it hits, at a recharge time of 20 minutes. Powerful stuff! Perhaps we’ll be seeing more of the 10 rings terrorist groups in the upcoming Iron Man 2, as well as The Mandarin, who in the comics gathered all 10 rings to control ultimate power and summon the dreaded dragon, Fin Fang Foom!

And that scene after the credits? Marvel Entertainment is definitely pushing their comic book genius. Tying together movies as they would comics… You can bet that Mr. Samuel L. Jackson will most likely make an appearance in the Incredible Hulk movie later this summer, recruiting yet one more member to the Avenger Initiative.

Did you HAVE to go there, George?

Where to begin? That would be the first question one would ask oneself, perhaps, after viewing the newest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. I suppose I WILL begin by stating that this post will include some spoilers, so here we go:

***SPOILER ALERT***

So what makes Indiana Jones… Indy? The first thing that comes to mind when asked that particular question is his mischievous smirk that comes right before doing something so mind-bogglingly risky that it leaves you with a lingering “wow” escaping your lips. That and a bunch of witty one-liners to ease any situation.

What else defines Indiana Jones? Well… Nazis. I know most people would say, “Well Temple of Doom didn’t have Nazis…” and to that I say ‘touché’. Temple of Doom certainly did NOT have Nazis. This, however, is why Temple of Doom still stands as my least favorite of the original three movies, though I definitely respect it and cherish it as if it were my child… though my third favorite child.

That would mean this newest film was the unexpected mistake of a child… but I digress.

Alright so what’s my beef with the newest Indiana Jones film? For one I thought the script to be nothing less than trash. It all seemed a bit… not Indy. Where were the witty one-liners throughout? That was a small part, I suppose. What really bothered me was the general plotline. Here is where the primary spoiler comes.

Aliens?

Really?

As soon as I came to realize this, which didn’t take long (You discover this fact not long into the movie), I knew that Mr. Lucas had left his greasy fingerprints all over this. Was Star Wars not enough that you would have to put your damned extra-terrestrials into everything you do now? We get it! You made Star Wars! Want a cookie?

I honestly don’t know why Steven and Harrison agreed to do this story… I mean there are tonnes of other artifacts and ancient stories that could have been more… archaeological. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the past Indiana Jones films had a certain feeling of awe surrounding ancient artifacts and the power flowing from them. An alien skull seems a bit… I don’t know… I guess it would have made a better X-Files film.

Another thing that bugged me about the newest installment was the unbelievable factor. Some would say “What, and triggering an elusive trap and running away from a boulder wasn’t unbelievable?” or maybe even “What, just because Short Round claims there are “No more parachutes!” you are able to survive a 20+ story fall from a plane with only an inflatable dingy?”. Again - touché. But to survive not once, not twice, but thrice over waterfalls of ascending magnitudes… there seems to be a problem. I mean sure a couple could have survived. Perhaps the younger folk. But for crying out loud, one was an invalid! He probably couldn’t even wipe his own ass in that state let alone be able to swim and get back into that car-turned-white-water-raft. Again I digress.

The whole Alien thing really turned me off of what, in my opinion, Indiana Jones should be. Harrison Ford did a great job once again as Indy. He can still fill those shoes. It’s just the script didn’t allow Ford to do it justice. It wasn’t the same Indy.

By the end of the film I was half expecting a light-saber battle and Han Solo jumping out of nowhere proclaiming he was Indy’s great, great, great, etc. grandfather. Maybe even a bit of Jar Jar Binks in there somewhere.

It just wasn’t… epic enough. Raiders and Last Crusade had the whole “If we don’t find this thing first, the world is going to end.” This one merely had a “If we don’t find this thing first, some chick is gonna be super smart, but she’ll die anyways cause she can’t handle it.” Although it always happens. They got that right, at least. Bad guy still gets there, tries to utilize whatever object, and meets their untimely end.

Oh and one last thing. A refrigerator? I don’t care if it’s lead lined. That was just… was it really necessary?

Sigh. Some things, I think, are best left alone – preserved in their glory.

Showtime

And... back.

It's been a wild month what with Mexico and hospitals, etc. Long story short, the hiatus ends now.

I've got a line-up of movies to review, some old, some new and some forthcoming. Got some book reviews rattling around here somewhere. Got some news coming out of every orifice around here that's been stacking up for a month now.

All will be revealed! Stay tuned!

Whew!

Wow, sorry for the crazy hiatus we've been on. Been a busy month what with me graduating here this weekend, so many video games, so many movies, and a Mexico trip starting Sunday.

The hiatus will ensue for just a bit longer, but as soon as I get back into Canada in a couple weeks, I've got a good number of posts cooked up. We'll do some catching up then.

Look for a few movie reviews, a few book reviews, and other stuff like that!

Ok, time to go pack!

Daniel