40Cent @ the movies

[Longdan]

I have never loved Gerard Butler.  He might be okay to hang out with.
I love Salma Hayek and have had sex with her thousands of times.

[Centurion40]

Saw the next GI Joe installment.  This may not come as a shock, but it pretty much blows.  Could be awesome if you're 8 years old and you don't care about a decent storyline or logic!  There are lots of 'splosions and action!!

20 out of 40

[Centurion40]

Iron Man 3, well, I guess that I can sum it up the same way that I described Iron Man 2... it's not as good as the original Iron Man.

It's longer and it's in 3D, so there is that... but... well... it lacks something.  That being said, I felt the same after seeing IM2 and that one has really grown on me.  Hopefully IM3 will grow on me too.

Lots of plot development in this one (the kind of shit that critics eat-up), lots of story-line, lots of time with a slightly twitchy Tony Stark running around like a sleuth or secret agent with no Iron Man suit... which kinda makes 3D pointless.

Without (hopefully) releasing any spoilers, Tony goes a bit twitchy after battling aliens in the streets of New York (The Avengers).  He can't sleep, has panic attacks, and tinkers all the time.  Meanwhile a terrorist mastermind called "Mandarin" is challenging the US.  Happy gets hurt in one of Mandarin's bomb blasts, Tony snaps and calls the Mandarin out on TV, the Mandarin blows-up his house, almost killing both Tony and Pepper, and then Tony travels the country (with no Iron Man suit) trying to track-down and kill the Mandarin.  Big battle at the end.  The end.  Well, not quite the end, there is the obligatory scene at the end of the credits.  Staying for it was a complete waste of time, IMHO.

SPOILER ALERT

Here is the end scene, I'll change the font.  Highlight it to read what it says.  The scene shows Tony sitting on a psychiatrist's couch, unloading all of his problems and thanking the shrink for helping him carry his burdens. Cut to the shrink, who is asleep.  But wait, the shrink is Bruce Banner! He apologizes for sleeping, telling Stark that he's not "that kind of doctor".  The end.

END SPOILER ALERT

So what do I give it?  I'm giving it a 31 out of 40.  I was hoping for a 35-38 out of 40.

[Martok]

I actually liked the second Iron Man film more than the first one (I enjoyed the original as well), so maybe I'll like this one even more? 

[Centurion40]

Give it a shot! I mean, what have you got to lose?

[mirth]

Without Agent Coulson, how good can any of the Marvel movies really be?

[Staggerwing]

Did they actually have a funeral for Agent Coulson? if not, then all bets are off.

[Martok]

Clark Gregg, the actor who plays Coulson, said he's been informed his character will return.  (Yay!) 

[Centurion40]

The Mrs and I saw Oblivion this afternoon, and honestly, it wasn't that bad.  The trailers let too much of the cat out the bag, IMHO it would have been better if I didn't know that the "Scavs" were humans.  But there were still some twists that made the movie ok to watch.

SPOILER ALERT

It's almost the perfect cross between Omega Man, Independence Day, and Moon

SPOILER ALERT ENDS

I'd give it a solid 32 out of 40

[Martok]

^  I still want to see that one as well, despite my father and one of my best friends not caring for it. 

That my friend wasn't enthralled with Oblivion doesn't surprise me, as she's just not a big sci-fi buff.  (She only went to the movie to hang out with her brother, who *is*. ;) )  I'm a little more concerned about my dad not liking it -- his main issue is that he got confused/bored trying to follow the plot. 




Oh yeah, I went and saw Iron Man 3 Sunday evening.  I didn't love it, but I certainly liked it well enough -- I'd rate it somewhere in between the first two films (bearing in mind that the second one remains my favorite). 


I liked most of the plot development & dialogue, and the action scenes were (as usual) very well done; I loved the final battle!  The relationship between Tony and Pepper is fleshed out a good bit, as is his friendship with Colonel Rhodes/War Machine (and even Happy to a lesser degree).  Stark's interaction with the boy Harley felt a little rough at first, but eventually found a natural flow & rhythm.  Despite being yet another streetwise, smartass kid, I ended up enjoying Harley's character, especialy when he was able to help talk Stark out of some of his panic attacks.  I found the stinger after the credits to be pretty damn funny myself, but I suspect that one's really going to be a case of YMMV. 

The single biggest complaint I have is regarding the main villain:  He's guilty of even more skewed motivations than those in the first two films...not to mention some seriously disproportionate retribution (which was in response to [SPOILER ALERT] Stark pulling a dick move on him 13-14 years prior to the main events of the film) [/SPOILER ALERT]; any sympathy you might have had for him completely disappears by the halfway point.  IMHO, it would've been better to have simply made him ax-crazy like The Dark Knight's Joker. 

On the other hand, I absolutely loved [SPOILER ALERT] Ben Kingsley's performance as the so-called Mandarin; that was a nice bit of misdirection there.  Also, it was fun to see him play a comedic role for once; the image of him playing a perpetually drunk stage actor with a lower-class British accent[/SPOILER ALERT] was friggin' hilarious! 


Personally, I'd rate the movie slightly higher -- probably a 33 out of 40 -- but overall I'd say 40Cent's impressions are pretty spot on. 

[Centurion40]

Yeah man, check-out Oblivion.  The story-line did have twists, but it was not that hard to follow.  However, if you went to piss or zoned-out during Morgan Freeman's last monologue, then you would have missed the story that tied a lot of the plot twists together.  The overall story line isn't bad.  Sure, bits are poached from other movies- but what is really original these days?

It would be a totally-worthwhile cheap night or rental viewing choice.  I kept thinking that, had this movie been made 30 years ago, it would be deemed a "sci-fi classic" and someone would have cashed-in big on the toy merchandising.

Go alone, or with a male friend.  My wife got up 3/4s of the way through and went shopping.

[Gusington]

I just watched Gladiator for about the 1000th time. I can't get enough of that movie. Everything about it is awesome.

[Steelgrave]

I just watched Gladiator for about the 1000th time. I can't get enough of that movie. Everything about it is awesome.

[Gusington]

[Steelgrave]

^Ha! Nice response, Gus   8)