Roque's Corner » Movies

MOVIES: IRON MAN

roque — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:01:28 +0000

I took this long to finally put my two cents about this movie because of several spoilers that are in it. That being said, cue obligatory:

SPOILER ALERT

I’m going to preface this by saying I’m a HUGE Iron Man fan. I loved the character since I was a kid, even owning one of the Secret Wars Iron Man figures. I can always say my absolute all-time favorite comic cover is Tales of Suspense #39. My favorite armor will always be “Silver Centurion”. My love for the character waned a bit, but after reading the Civil War story arc I didn’t hate the character, I respected him more because the decisions he made seemed to be the right thing to do in the situations presented. (Let me say am by far and large a BIGGER Cap fan than of ol’ Shell Head. Steve Rogers lives!)

My anticipation for this movie was hampered by everything I had seen up to that point. The trailers were amazing, but I thought that was all there was to the movie. But, after forcing my girlfriend to wait in line (with the payback of I had to watch the “Sex In The City” movie with her in June. *shudders*) I obtained my ticket and eagerly awaited the next showing.

I absolutely loved this movie, it was everything you were expecting, not just from the trailers and the comics, but there was “more” there than you would know. First, I loved the nods to the United States Air Force. Seeing Marine and Navy jets in movies over the past decade made it seem like those branches of the service owned all the jets (or worst, they have the best pilots!) Â I also liked the movie’s real-world feel, in line with the X-Men movies. Robert Downey, Jr. nails Tony Stark’s both playboy side and his tortured weapon’s-designer-with-a-heart underpinnings. The rest of the cast was pretty good, nothing too spectacular, but this was Iron Man’s origin, so nothing was lost in presenting his character prominently.

The pacing was dead-on. Very few movies have no dead spots in them. This is one of them. Downey chews scenery with Stark, and little humorous instances keep the plot going. Some argue that this could have been two movies, and the jump in decades of continuity was a bit much, but I though it was perfect. You didn’t need to tell the story of Iron Man over 5 movies. The ending (the first one) was the best ending to a Super Hero Movie ever. Every hero movie ends with at least one character knowing who the hero is secretly, and invariably that person dies or “keeps the secret safe”. This idea was turned on its head by having Tony reveal to the world who is. Absolutely perfect, and in line with what is going on in the comics now.

Little nods to us fanboys littered the movie, whether it be a reference to Rhodie eventually becoming War Machine, agents of SHEILD running around trying to keep a handle on all the shady dealings with Stane, or the ominous “Ten Rings” terrorist organization that may or may not be the coming of Mandarin in the sequel. Oh, and lets not forget that ending after the credits rolled: Sam “THERE’S-A-M*F’ING-NICK-FURY-IN-MY-M*F’ING-MOVIE!” Jackson. Classic!

I can’t lay enough praise on this movie. If you’re a fan, see it. If you like Summer Blockbusters, this movie is why you wait in line during the Summer time. Highly recommended.

MOVIES: The Summer Movie Season

Roque — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:55:57 +0000

One of my favorite times of the year is the Summer Movie Season. Growing up it was always an excursion to the nearest movie theater (usually on post) to catch the latest and the greatest. Some of my fondest childhood memories were my father taking his kids to watch the movies. I’ve been a summer movie nut ever since.

I still prefer watching movies the old fashioned way: in the theaters. Sure, you get those who insist on talking on the phone during the movie, the people who insist on holding conversations, and in one case, the guy who snores so loud the whole theater can hear him (true story). But there are those times when you get in, get in with a good crowd who are really into the movie. It’s fun when the entire theatre cheers at a movie’s high points, and if the movie was really good, there’s a standing ovation at the end.

Here’s a list of stuff that’s coming up, for all those interested. I put a lot of filler movies in just to catch all the weekends, but generally if I’m interested in it, it’s on this list. This list will most likely change before the season is out. The movies I marked blue are the ones I’m particularly excited about.

My biggest disappointment? Nothing I’m interested in is coming out on my birthday! Oh, well…

May 4
Spider-Man 3
May 11
28 Weeks Later
May 18
Shrek the Third
May 25
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At Worlds End

June 1
Knocked Up
Gracie
Mr. Brooks
June 8
Hostel II
Ocean’s 13
June 15
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
June 22
Evan Almighty
Black Sheep

June 27
Live Free or Die Hard
Ratatouille
July 4
Transformers

Jul 13
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
1408
July 20
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Hairspray
Jul 27
The Simpsons Movie

Aug 3
The Bourne Ultimatum
Underdog
Aug 10
Rush Hour 3
Stardust
Aug 17
The Invasion
Aug 24
The Last Legion
One Missed Call
Aug 31
Halloween

MOVIES: Daddy’s Little Girls and trailer injustice

roque — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:35:43 +0000

Yesterday I begrudgingly was talked into seeing a movie, and once again was pleasantly surprised. This was a trade off to taking my girlfriend to see the not-really-that-bad Ghost Rider.

Short story: My girlfriend mentioned wanting to the movie Daddy’s Little Girls. I hadn’t heard of the movie (I’m a movie buff, I’ve heard of everything, and keep track of most movies), so I decided to do some research and look up the trailer online. The trailer portrayed the movie as a seemingly slapstick comedy featuring Gabrielle Union. Okay, another version of kids versus the new person in their single-parent’s life, make life a living hell for said wannabee fill-in-parent, hilarity ensues.

Wow, did that trailer suck.

The movie was nothing of the sort. Gabrielle Union was more of a supporting role. What follows is a touching story about a man trying to keep his kids. It was a good story that kept you in movie, very well acted by all the main players, and light on the comedy. I have to say that the trailer had nothing to do with what the movie was about.

What’s really disappointing is that people won’t be drawn to this movie for the right reasons, and it may even keep droves people away because of the entirely stupid trailer attached to it. That’s too bad, this movie deserves a look.

MOVIES: Ghost Rider vs. Trailers

roque — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 13:14:39 +0000

Ghost Rider: while it isn’t Shakespeare or Citizen Kane, it wasn’t too terrible a movie by a long stretch (I’ve seen worse comic-based adaptations **coff**coff** Batman and Robin). But as with most movies, this one was done a terrible disservice by its trailers. Many of the trailers released prior to the movie being released made the movie look incredibly hokey. Interestingly enough, the moments featured prominently in the trailer were “taken out of context”, not really matching the scenes that they came from. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie (being a Ghost Rider fan, to boot), it did capture the spirit of the…err..Spirit of Vengeance.

This also brings up another comic based movie that I thoroughly enjoyed but were nearly ruined by the trailer: The Fantastic Four. Once again not Casablanca, but not terrible. The trailer made the movie look like a Lost In Space (the movie version) clone, which I heard turned many people away from that movie. Once again, the movie captured the spirit of the books, and actually got me reading FF again.

The point is, like that old adage about books: don’t judge a movie by its trailer.

MOVIES: Doomed To Fail

roque — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:25:04 +0000

Walmart is offering a new video download service. What makes this different from other download services is that they have the backing of all six major studios.

Of course, like the RIAA, the movie studios are still woefully behind the times. Here’s why: you’re paying 19.98 for new movies. You can’t transfer them anywhere. You can’t burn them to DVD. They are not in high definition. So what’s the point?

You can go out and buy a DVD for at many times less than 19.98. You can take this DVD anywhere, play it on any DVD player (at higher quality than the download no less). Plus you have bonus features on the DVD. Why would anyone pay the EXACT SAME PRICE for downloadable content when they can have all this for an EQUAL or REDUCED price? Hmmm…greed perhaps? Or maybe this is sheer idiocy. Or perhaps this is the movies studios way of setting up Walmart to fail, and having more ammunition against downloadable content.

Look! Downloadable content doesn’t work! It didn’t work for Walmart, do you think it’ll work for anyone else?!? (and somewhere, Steve Jobs and laughs, and counts the next million he’s made)

Either way it seems ludicrous, destined to fail before it gets out the door. They should take the hint from Apple, who already have a system in place that seems to work. Or better yet, listen to the consumers. Making things more difficult for them doesn’t work, it only pushes them further from cockamamie schemes to keep their content locked down. Of course, they won’t listen. Instead of cashing in, they’ll play greedy, dumb and paranoid. Too bad for them.