Iron Man

Coming Soon

/ / Film News & Trailers
  • Title: Iron Man 3
  • IMDB: link

A new full-length trailer for Iron Man 3 has arrived featuring Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) trying to protect the woman he loves (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the planet from a terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). A couple of points: 1) I’m pretty mixed on the look of the Iron Patriot on screen, 2) The Mandarin without his magic rings sounds pretty unimpressive, and 3) Why does Iron Man’s armor look worse instead of better in each successive film? Who designed this look, DC’s New 52? Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, William Sadler, and James Badge Dale also star. Iron Man 3 opens in theaters on May 3rd.

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From A to Z – The Top Ten Movies of 2012

/ / Top Tens & Lists

2012 turned out to be a pretty darn good year at the movies. There were two films which I gave perfect scores to this year, one of which the majority of the country won’t be seeing until early next year. I’m breaking my own rule of including it on the list, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Between these two films, which naturally open and close the list (as it’s presented alphabetically), are eight other films rounding out the class of 2012.

Cutting down my list to ten means I need to speak for a moment on films that barely missed the cut. John Carter was the year’s most under-appreciated film, The Cabin in the Woods turned the horror genre on its ear, Ang Lee delivered an amazing journey with Life of Pi, Wreck-It Ralph was this year’s best animated feature, Safety Not Guaranteed was a terrific little sci-fi flick almost no one saw, and Moonrise Kingdom was director Wes Anderson‘s best film since The Royal Tenenbaums.

Enough with what didn’t make the list, let’s get down to discussing what did:

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From A to Z – The Top Ten Movies of 2012Read More »

From A to Z – The Top Ten Movies of 2012 Read More »

Iron Man #3

/ / Comics

iron-man-marvel-now-3-coverIron Man continues to protect Maya Hansen‘s legacy by hunting down stolen black market versions of Extremis. His latest trip takes him to Columbia where he tries out his spiffy new Lightbender Stealth Armor. Not expecting much resistance, the lower-powered armor will allow Stark to sneak in and out of a Columbian drug lord’s compound.

Things don’t go quite according to plan when he discovers the drug dealer has hired the Living Laser, Firebrand, and Vibro to protect himself from Iron Man. Even with the limitations of his stealth armor, Iron Man dispatches the C-List villains with relative ease before turning his attention on the drug dealer and discovering what his plans for Extremis are.

I like the new new stealth armor (even if it makes Stark look like a huge fan of Tron: Legacy). The twist involving the health of the dealer’s young daughter is interesting, but it does end the comic on a rather flat note. For fans.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Iron Man #2

/ / Comics

iron-man-marvel-now-2-coverIron Man travels to the tiny nation of Symkaria to stop the spread of Extremis technology by engaging in gladiator-style combat with an Arthurian legend obsessed group known as the Circle.

The comic plays to the strengths of Greg Land as it offers several different types of armor and action without giving the artist too many opportunities to draw in porny women (although he still finds a way). The various armor of the Circle was created by an old enemy of Stark known only as Meredith who blames him for ruining her promising career. Knowing her armor couldn’t stand up to Stark’s one-on-one she put her faith in pilots by choosing gymnasts and marital artists including the talented Russian Alex Draguno.

Although writer Kieron Gillen is pretty heavy-handed with the Arthurian references and let’s Iron Man cheat his way out of a competition he should be able to easily win, the comic introduces a couple of intriguing ideas and a new stable of enemies for our hero. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Iron Man #1

/ / Comics

iron-man-marvel-now-1-coverReacting to the success (at least in terms of the money raked in) of DC Comics’ New 52, Marvel moves forward with their own soft-reboot of several characters and titles starting with Iron Man. This new version, written by Kieron Gillen, is certainly meant to appeal to the fans of the current Iron Man movie franchise. Not only does it (not so subtley) introduce one of the big pieces to the upcoming movie but it gives us the Tony/Pepper relationship from the first two films that most mainstream fans are familiar and most comfortable with.

As first issues go Iron Man #1 is actually pretty good. I’m not sure it’s good enough to justify multiple issues a month at $41 (issue two hits stores in two weeks), but I’ll admit I did enjoy this issue. Gillen doesn’t quite have Stark’s voice right but the story plays out well even for those jumping on with the character after a long absence from regularly reading his title (like me). I was also pleasantly surprised by the art of Greg Land. Sure, the woman look porny as hell (it is a Greg Land comic), but I actually really like the look of his version of Iron Man’s current armor.

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Iron Man #1Read More »

Iron Man #1 Read More »