Last year, between the two of us, we watched an average of 317 movies.
This year our goal is to top that by watching at least one a day.
And as an extra special torture, we've decided to write about all of them.

09 May 2008

Iron Man, dir. Jon Favreau (2008)

STEVE says:
Hey, Fantastic 4, Punisher, Daredevil! See? That's how you do that.

I went into Iron Man knowing nothing at all about it: I've never read an Iron Man comic, and know nothing about the character, his origins, his nemeses, none of it, so I had no preconceived notions about what the movie should be, and could judge it only on what it was.

And what it was was absolutely fucking awesome.

4/5

NIKKI says:
Is it better if you go in with no idea what you're looking at? I have no knowledge whatsoever of Iron Man, the comic, its history, the villains, and heroes, and whatnot. I'm like Deb -- I hear the words "iron man", I think of the Nutri-Grain cereal: "Iron man food!"

Still, the previews for this looked really good. I felt after so many lame movies of this type (the Spiderman sequels, X-Men 3, Fantastic Four), we were finally looking at something ready to turn that around. It appeared smart, funny, and slightly subversive with Jon Favreau at the helm and Robert Downey Jnr in the lead. Those two guys are as far from comic book movie guys as one can get.

Turns out the previews didn't lie. This is probably the best superhero movie since the original Superman. It's fast, it's clever, it's got its adult audience firmly in mind, and it doesn't waste time on stupid romantic subplots or windbag on about the state of the world. It gets in there, does its thing, and we come out knowing who iron man loves, and how he feels about his country.

It's good storytelling, good direction, and filled with a cast of real actors. Oh, wasn't that just the best? Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow -- real actors and not just hotties ripped from hip TV shows or newbies I have no chance of relating to. Everything came together to make for a really cool experience. It had cute robots, good computer effects (for once), and Ralphie was in it, from A Christmas Story. I'll see it again, for sure.

4.5/5

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