OT: Iron Man

Keyser Soze

Anti-Social Socialist
May 28, 2002
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I went to see Iron Man early this morning (midnite show at the Arclight's Cineramadome in Hollywood) and let me tell you... Bloody brilliant. Action-packed, beautifully directed, geniusly cast... A great way to start the summer movie season...If you go see it... be sure to stick around and watch the neat treat at the end of the credits.

I bought my tickets 2 weeks ago (me = geek) for the midnight show only to get really pissed off when an 8pm show was announced. I drove to the Arclight to change my tickets, but the only ones available for the 8pm show were much worse than the ones I already had. Having gotten little sleep and a rather horrible day at work, I proceeded to go pick up my friend and head to the Arclight. We get to our seats and the presentation starts... A bloody dream set of trailers for a geek like myself:

Full Trailer to The Incredible Hulk

Full Trailer to Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Full Trailer to The Dark Knight

Because we were supposed to be the first audience to see it and the circumstances (8pm show) would have prevented that, the film's director, jon Favreau and star, Robert Downey Jr., were on-hand to present the film. That was a hell of a treat and, outside of the movie, it more than makes up for the fact that I've ony slept 2.5 hours.

Go see it... Go see it at the Arclight... The suit worn by Robert Downey Jr. is on display there, there are 21+ showings of the film this weekend there...

OK... I'm going to go get a shower and try to look presentable for work.
 
Saw it tonight and LOVED IT!!! I have been a fan of Iron Man since I learned to read. Unfortunately, I didn't hang around til the end of the credits, as I had one of those HUGE sodas and needed to leave in a hurry once the credits started... Keyser, could you PM me and let me know what I missed? Please?
 
Just got my copy of "Iron Man" complete with silouettes (how do you spell that word!?:erk:) of people finding their seats and getting up to get popcorn, but in typical pirate movie fashion, the camera man packed up his gear right at the end of the movie and skip all the credits. WHAT DID I MISS!!!???
 
I thought this movie was good, but nothing special. I don't see what people were ranting and raving about. It was fun, done well, a good movie, but brilliant? Uh, I don't think so.

Speed Racer, now that is fuckin brilliant! That movie is an entire alternate universe. Blew my mind!
 
Iron Man has made $288,847,640 in 6 weeks...
Speed Racer has made $42,075,228 in 5 weeks...

Somehow I think the entire country disagrees with you there bro. No disrespect meant, but Speed Racer, while visually stunning, has a shitty story with a script that may have been written by a small group of chimpanzees (Chim-Chim's relatives maybe?). I saw it because I see anything Christina Ricci and/or John Goodman are in, but it was disappointing as hell.
 
First off, I see you think if a lot of people like something, it makes it brilliant. Well in my experience, sometimes, what pop culture labels as great, is utter crap. Plenty of popular stupid shit in this world.

Speed Racer story wasn't good, like the cartoon, but the movie was about the visual appeal. A totally unique style of film making.
 
Fortunately, there is quite a bit more to movie making than just making it look pretty.

Iron Man is a BIG indie film (Marvel Studios fully funded and produced the movie) with a pitch-perfect cast and a production team who truly owns the material in every sense of the word. I'm really glad Marvel started their own production company. I only wish Sony would take the hint and let them have a shot at cleaning up Spider-man 3.

Not only the box office has spoken, so have the critics.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/speed_racer/ - 36% "freshness"
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_man/ - 93% "freshness"

But hey... Taste is a relative term ;)
 
I'm not going to change my opinions because of other critics opinions. I liked Iron Man, I just didn't think it was all that. I like Spiderman 3 much much better.

Speed Racer was a brilliantly made film. The story wasn't much to it. He has to keep racing to save his family. But its Speed Racer for gods sake. The story has been written by Japanese in the 60s. It wasn't the Wachowskis job to reinvent the story. The movie was brilliant, mediocre story or not.

Iron Man I give thumbs up, but nothing too memorable for me.
 
Really? The Saturday Night Fever Dance number didn't make you want to leave the theater? ;)

Some need to be engaged in the story and the characters while the enticing visuals are a good bonus (I'm a huge fan of looking for that perfectly lit scene in a movie), others enjoy the visual thrills more. In other words, to each their own.
 
I guarantee, just like The Matrix, movies for now on will be influenced by how they made Speed Racer. What will the world remember about Iron Man?

The guy from Less than Zero in a metal suit fights The Dude in a bigger metal suit while Gweneth Paltrow plays an incompetent, pitiful assistant in high heels?
 
It seems to me that we have reached an impasse.

No one has impugned the visual merits of Speed Racer and how technically innovative the Wachowskis are as filmmakers, so don't take it that way. However, there's more to a film than technical innovation, in my honest opinion. Call me old-fashioned, but the films I remember most have had great characters and an intriguing and engaging plot (LA Confidential, Chinatown). While I do enjoy an effects film, the effects are not what I remember when I leave the theater. Why did the Matrix work? It wasn't just because of "bullet-time" I can guarantee you that.

That being said, your point seems to have taken a weird turn. You have argued that popular support shouldn't dictate whether something is actually good or bad. But now, you are asking what the "world will remember?" Shouldn't that be predicated on "popular support?" I seem to remember Iron Man getting a sequel already slated for release in 2 years. You know that movie about the guy from Less Than Zero flying around in a metal suit and his incompetent assistant? ;)

In closing, I think we are boring the people here. How about we take this discussion to the Private Message realm?
 

Guess I waited too long - Paramount had it taken down! :mad:

Haven't seen Iron Man yet so can't ( and wouldn't, even if I had!!!) speak on either movie in a VS fashion because my feelings are that this would be like comparing apples and oranges.

But I will say this- I was prepared to completely hate Speed Racer and had to be talked into going- I thought the guy picked to play Speed was annoying as hell when I saw the trailers - & thought it was going to be a live action Pokemon type movie (which gave me a huge headache!!!) o_O:p

Much to my surprise ( and I was VERY surprised - believe me!) I ended up absolutely loving it and thought the Wachowski's had created a quite brilliant piece of innovative filmmaking while keeping the essence of the cartoon intact, so in that respect I would agree with you, Acujer - though definitely, as the reviews have shown, not for everyone. I think it's one of those love it or hate it type movies..

But now, after hearing so many good things about Iron Man, I must get out to see that one as well, while it's still on the big screen! You've never steered me wrong yet, Jackie - I still remember the stomachache I had from laughing so hard when I saw Shawn of the Dead! :headbang: