Iron Man (Two Thumbs Up! Chick Flick!)

We're usually in the City on the weekends, in from the 'burbs, and stay at my parent's house. Sometimes when the kiddies are in bed, we take off for a late night date while my parent's are at home with the kids.

When "Iron Man" opened, I kinda really wanted to see it, but I wasn't dieing dieing to see it ASAP like "Superman Returns" or "Batman Begins." For those two, we didn't get to the theaters till long after they already moved them to smaller theater screens so my long suffering wife and I saw them on the IMAX screen at the Metreon. I figured, "Hey, if they're moved to small screens, might as well go see these mega blockbusters on the biggest screen available... IMAX baby!" Remember Superman was in IMAX 3-D BTW. And Batman fight scenes were pretty close up by the director's intention... so my wife got a little nauseous in that one.

Anyways, it had been a while since we went out on a late nighter. And my parents were leaving for a cruise to Alaska in a few days, so it was going to be a couple weeks until we'd have the convenience of free babysitting for a date.

But my wife always gives me, "Why can't we ever go to see a romantic movie?" To which I say, "We'd go if there were ever any good ones."

Anyways, I think I'm a loving husband... Sooooo... I was ready to take her to see "Made of Honor" which opened the same weekend as "Iron Man" Really!

Now, don't get me wrong. My wife is awesome. When I gleefully showed her the trailer for "Spider-Man" she sweetly, genuinely, immediately said to me, "I'd love to take you to see Spider-Man." She went to see "Spider-Man 3" with me while we were on vacation in Honolulu. Yeah- she's awesome.

Anyways... we're hustling the kids off to bed and she's browsing the newspaper to see what movies are out and I point out the review for "Made of Honor" in the SF Chronicle. I 100% would have taken her to see it if she still wanted to go. She flipped to the front of the Datebook section and saw the "Iron Man" review.

With the kids off to bed, she reluctantly said, "OK, Let's go." Whenever she's reluctant to go see one of my superhero/action movies my retort is, "Have I ever taken you to a bad movie?" Well, I think the only one would be "The Matrix Reloaded" in IMAX... the Burly Brawl made her a little nauseous.

As the movie came out over a month ago, you already know: Chicks dig Iron Man! So many of our lady friends rave about it. G loved it. Sure, she was tense through out the whole thing, but it was thrilling. She loved the story, the humor, RDJ, Gwyneth (hot!), and the Suit, of course.

I never read the "Iron Man" comic books so I went in pretty "clean." I thoroughly enjoyed it and walked out of the theater in awe thinking to myself that that was probably one of the best superhero movies ever.

So "Iron Man" is two thumbs up from us. And yes, it really is a chick flick.

It will be interesting to see how "The Dark Knight" compares with "Iron Man."

Spider-Man: The High-Definition Trilogy (Blu-ray)

I guess it's never too early to start my wish list for Christmas or my birthday...

Spider-Man: The High-Definition Trilogy (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2007 / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 30, 2007
List Price: $99.98

Shameless.

"Say, that's a nice bike you got there."

G remarked to me that I've done a really good job influencing my sons, especially the little one, to like superheroes. Little G can say "Spider-Man" - though he confuses Spider-Man w/ Superman, and even Buzz Lightyear. He'll say "Woody and Spider-Man" when he means Buzz. Oh well, he's only 2.5 y.o. close enough!

"The Dark Knight's" got a pretty nice bike:










It looks like it's inspired by the lightcycles from TRON.



I wonder if Batman's "batpod," as they're calling it, can do 90 degree angles at full speed. Now that would be pretty cool. One problem I have w/ the bike, though, is that it appears to have machine guns mounted and, from the comics, Batman never uses a gun b/c his parents were killed by a robber with a gun. Maybe those are lasers instead of traditional machine guns.

Now who uttered that line, "Say, that's a nice bike you got there."
Answer: The T1000 from "Terminator 2" :)

Superman Returns

(This movie "review" was originally sent to Swan in an e-mail. It's been edited some and posted here.)

G took me to see "Superman Returns" in IMAX 3D as part of our anniversary fun. I enjoyed the movie very much. As the movie started, it was as if I were transported back to my childhood when I saw the original with my parents. She astutely observed that it was nearly scene for scene a re-make of the 1979 original, which I made her watch prior to seeing "Returns."

Superman is a difficult superhero to write for b/c he is so powerful and such a perfect person and drama requires tension and conflict. An impossible situation has to be created for him to overcome.

In the original, the two rockets racing in opposite directions created a dilemma for him and he had to deal w/ it. The ending, turning back time to save Lois, really made the point that he is a god.

I liked "Returns" b/c of the 2 impossible situations. First, how to save the mainland U.S. from the growing land mass that was laced w/ Kryptonite? Second, what to do about the non-relationship w/ Lois. The first one he solved by brute strength and determination- lifting the land mass into space. But it is the Lois storyline that really interested me- b/c of Superman's character he can not steal Lois from Richard, yet there is still that yearning for her- That is the impossible situation.

Although he is a god and Christ-figure, the movies also carry the theme that there are things he (seemingly) can not do. In the original, his Earth father dies of a heart attack and he says to his mother, "all those powers and I couldn't save him." The same thing happens when Lois dies at the end of the movie but he is then able to bring her back from the dead. In Returns, the theme is carried further. "All those powers" but he can't have the love of his life.

But the Jor-El/Superman/Jason(the kid) "Christ" speeches- the son becomes the father and the father the son -just give me goosebumps.

I think the biggest plot hole is the fact that Lois does not remember when she had sex w/ Superman to conceive the emerging Super-kid. This is due to the amnesia kiss at the end of Superman 2. Wouldn't a woman immediately ask that question?!? The amnesia kiss is like today's date-rape drug. (That also wiped out her knowing Clark is Superman.) Finally, the movie doesn't address the fact that Jason's powers will continue to develop and that Richard will find out eventually. To sweep that under the rug in the sequel would be to lose credibility.

Swan responded w/ an awesome reference to Greek mythology:

Like I said to Leon, Superman returns is // to Da Vinci code. Both movies speak of a super powerful man having an offspring with an earth woman. The only difference is Jesus had a daughter and Clark had a son. Jason is a mythological hero Hercules, a half man half god who has super strength. When he grows up what will he be? Superboy? It is going to be an interesting sequel.

The sequel can't arrive soon enough!

Magneto's the Good Guy! (X-Men 3)

The really like Mike LaSalle's review of X3 in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Here are the best parts:

The pretensions take the form of the central metaphor that compares mutants to people of extraordinary, groundbreaking talent. That metaphor is bogus.
...
The metaphor here is the clash between special talent (the mutants) and conformity (everybody else). But it's one thing for people to react with hostility toward someone who writes an incendiary novel. It's quite another for people to react in this way toward someone who can set their heads on fire. The first reaction is intolerance. The second is simply the genuine recognition of a threat and the beginning of self-preservation. The vision at the heart of "X-Men" -- of a golden Utopia in which humans live side by side with mutants -- is absurd. It requires that mutants never get mad, ever, and that humans never even have to worry that they might. But hasn't anybody ever heard of road rage?
...
The existence of the cure upends an already shaky societal balance. Some mutants want the cure, mutant activists protest the cure, and the militant mutant, Magneto (McKellen) wants to start a war over it, seeing this as the beginning of his people's destruction. Xavier, the saintly founder of the X-Men, thinks all this intolerance is unnecessary, but if you actually stand back and examine the situation (which the movie never does), it's clear that Magneto and the anti-mutant extremists are right. After all, if Xavier's moderate course is right, why, after three movies, are there less than 10 X-Men? Obviously, his dream is not where the future is heading.

LK invited me to see it Friday night to see it w/ some buds, but couldn't make it for various considerations. If I'm lucky, this will be a DVD rental. If I'm unlucky, I'll catch it at 2AM on cable in a few years.

Star Wars Trilogy: Now in xTreme Ultra High Def w/ 32.3 Channel Sound

Lucasfilm announced that they will now release the original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD without the digital special effect enhancements from the 1997 theatrical re-release.

For the record, I have bought:

• Star Wars Trilogy (original versions) on LaserDisc from Columbia House ($1/each+shipping)
• Star Wars Trilogy (original versions) on LaserDisc, THX ($10/each from local store clearance)
• Star Wars Trilogy (special editions) on DVD, (~$25/set from online store)
• Ep 1, 2, 3 on DVD

I don't think I'm going to get this "new" old edition. It's not even Blu-Ray! Then again, even if it were (or will be), I don't think I'm going to get it. As an aside, there aren't that many movies which I already have on DVD which are worthy of the eventual upgrade to high-def disc- the LOTR Trilogy and the Pixar films are the 1st to come to mind.

The other thing is that the press release states that they heard the outcry from the fans demanding these editions. I don't believe that for one second. Lucas stated many times that he would not release the original versions of these films: a few years ago, they were released on VHS w/ THX cert. and they said,"This is your last chance to own the originals."

A similar thing happened for the DVD edition. Lucas said he wouldn't release them (special editions of the original trilogy) until the new movies were done and there'd be a super-box set. Of course, once they realized that they were about to miss out on the DVD $$$-train as high-def was on the horizon, they released it right away.

Summer Movies

It's May, so the summer blockbusters are imminent... looking good:

1. Superman Returns, the new trailer is pretty awesome.
   
2. Cars from Pixar, I wonder if mL is old enough to sit through it
3. M:i:III (mainly b/c Mr. "LOST" himself, J.J. Abrams, directed)
4. X-Men 3, only if the reviews are good

While folding the laundry the other night, and flipping channels on the toob, saw a promo piece on M:i:III which basically said, "Tom Cruise is so awesome!" Anyways, at least G got interested in the movie. (And not b/c of Mr. Scientology)

With kiddies now, it's hard to see any movies even at home, let alone at the theater. When the movie is a blockbuster that should be experienced on the big screen, I usually want to go on opening weekend. Of course, G always asks, "So when are we going to use those VIP passes?" ($6.50 tix, but have to wait 2 weeks after opening) *sigh* delayed gratification (mantra)

Last year, I was dieing to see Batman Begins. Weeks and weeks went by, and by the time we saw it the only decent screen/showtime was on IMAX. G got nauseus from the fight scenes.