Category Archives: Avengers
Review: Iron Man 3
Iron Man has defeated the three movie curse! With a blast of repulsor ray and that signature charm, Robert Downey Jr. and company easily live up to expectations, and deliver on the promise that there are still movies to be made after last year’s The Avengers. Iron Man 3 is a fantastic action film, one built on the shoulders of Downey’s command performance as Tony Stark. Is there any cooler or more popular character in Hollywood right now than Tony Stark?
Iron Man 3: 4/5: Good!
While Iron Man 3 doesn’t match the spectacle of The Avengers, it doesn’t have to. Instead, Iron Man 3 shows us the blueprint for all of these upcoming superhero solo films. It focuses on Tony, the man beneath the armor, and it does an exceptional job. The Avengers went big, so Iron Man 3 gets personal. This is Tony’s movie, and Downey carries it with ease. The rest of the cast do their best to keep up, but Pepper and Rhodey can’t match the excitement and energy of Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. Still, they try, and mostly succeed. Gwyneth Paltrow, especially, steps up in a big way as Pepper Potts. This may be her best of the three films. As for the new characters, they mostly hold their own, but none of them – including the villains – are anything to write home about.
Though the Mandarin is pretty awesome, and not at all what any of us probably expected.
I’m very happy with Iron Man 3. It’s not a perfect film, but whatever complaints I might have are very minor. The first third felt a little mediocre, I suppose. The humor and one-liners weren’t as funny as other Marvel films. The emotional connection wasn’t very strong. And the villains didn’t have a lot of depth. But seriously, these are very minor, almost meaningless gripes.
The Iron Man franchise is as strong as it’s ever been, as is the Marvel Movieverse. Iron Man 3 could serve as the series finale, and I would be perfectly happy with that. But I bet we’ll see an Iron Man 4, and hopefully Robert Downey Jr. will be a part of it.
Join me after the jump for my full review! There will be some SPOILERS, so be warned. Plenty of reviews on the web are spoiler-free, but I’d like to be able to talk about some of the cooler moments in the movie. So please, if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading now. It’ll be worth it, trust me.
My Favorite Iron Man Armor
Today is Iron Man 3 day! The film has been getting great reviews, and I’ll be seeing it after work this afternoon. I’m very excited, and I’ll post my full review later tonight. But just to give my blog a little taste of Iron Man today, I’ve decided to share my favorite Iron Man armor!
Chillaxing like an iron boss
Ever since Iron Man was created back in the 1960s, he’s had dozens of armors. Upwards of 30 are going to appear in the new movie. Tony Stark is a genius inventor, and he’s always tinkering. Plus you just have to admit that Iron Man is a pretty rad look. That red/gold style is flashy and awesome.
So what’s my favorite Iron Man armor? Join me after the jump to find out!
Joss Whedon Reads My Blog!
Or at least that’s what I have to assume based on the idea that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have been all but confirmed for Avengers 2! And they were No. 5 on my list of the 6 Avengers That I Absolutely Want to See in Future Movies. So by the mathematical process of ‘I’m Awesome’, we can naturally assume that Joss Whedon was trying to think up what to put into Avengers 2, he saw my blog post, and boom, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch!
Yep, brother and sister…
Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily set in stone. But follow this logic.
Last week, Joss Whedon dropped this bombshell during an interview:
“I try not to think of it as topping it. I try to think of this as its own movie,” he replied. “Sometimes, yeah, I feel pressure […] But when you’re in the story and you’re dealing with these characters that you love, that everybody loves, when you’ve got the new characters sliding in next to them it’s very exciting. Then I don’t feel pressure, it’s like I’m reading my favorite comic.” He continued, “I’ve got these two characters … two of my favorite characters from the comic book … a brother-sister act … they’re in the movie …”
That’s pretty clear to us comic book geeks that he means Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who are twins.
Then this week, Entertainment Weekly puts out an article on Iron Man 3, and they write that an unnamed source has confirmed that the two characters are in the movie. EW confronted Marvel Movie Guru Kevin Feige about it, and Feige had this to say:
“I’m not confirming or denying. The draft could change six months from now.”
Which, despite his best efforts to remain mum, pretty much confirms that the two characters are in Joss Whedon’s first draft of the script. And while the movie is a long ways off, you just have to know it’s already in pre-production. A lot of work has to go into securing which characters appear in the movie, I imagine, especially these two. Because of licensing rights disputes, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch would require a lot of work, so I doubt Whedon is just tossing them around into scripts all willy nilly.
Feige said in April 2012 that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are in an odd place when it comes to the licensing rights. The two characters have always been known in the comics as Avengers…but they’re also both mutants, and the children of Magneto, which would theoretically put them in the X-Men films, which are owned by Fox. But Feige said last year that the rights are shared by both Marvel and Fox, and since Fox hasn’t put either of them in their X-Men films, perhaps they’re free for Marvel and Joss Whedon to use in Avengers 2.
Suffice to say, this is awesome news and I really hope the two characters make it into the sequel. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were amazing in The Ultimates, and they could be amazing in the next Avengers movie.
Also, Joss Whedon is more than welcome to keep reading my blog for ideas.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 4/27/13
Wanna know a surefire way to eat up an afternoon and sap your will to read and review comics? Have a root canal. Ouch. My tooth is still sore a day later. I do not recommend sitting through one of those if you can help it. Of course, I also highly recommend eating as much candy and junk food as you want. So I guess it’s a double-edged sword. Or that I’m full of bad advice. Either way, the latter half of my week was a little busy, so today’s reviews will be a little shorter than normal, as in I skipped a few books I normally would have reviewed. But I also took this time to try out Young Avengers again, because if you guys and gals have any recommendations you’d like me to try out, and I more than willing to listen.
That doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily enjoy the comic the same way that you do – as you’ll see in my Young Avengers review – but I’m still more than willing to give any comic book a try. Though I will always love my favorites. This week, FF #6 wins Comic Book of the Week for its usual mix of hilarity and awesomeness. Though I think Guardians of the Galaxy wins joke of the week.
Marvel really, really hope Rocket Raccoon will work
I’m still not liking Guardians of the Galaxy very much, but it was legitimately a little bit funny this week.
Comic Reviews: Batman Incorporated #10, FF #6, Guardians of the Galaxy #2, New Avengers #5, Talon #7, Uncanny Avengers #7, Uncanny X-Men #5 and Young Avengers #4.
Patton Oswalt is Our Nerd King
I love Patton Oswalt, I love Parks and Recreation and I love Star Wars. Somehow, in this wonderful world of ours, those three things will come together tonight in a glorious manifesto of Oswaltian brilliance! And even better, the people at NBC posted online the full, unedited spiel!
Trust me when I say all 9 minutes are completely worth it. Oswalt is playing a citizen of Pawnee, Indiana, where Parks & Rec takes place, and he decides to impose a citizen filibuster during a city council meeting. He has to talk uninterrupted for however long he wants without ceding the floor to keep the council from some kind of vote. So he launches into this great proposal for his vision of Star Wars Episode VII.
It’s greatness personified.
It’s good to be a geek.
