ParaNorman

Cute Undead Things!

The undead in ParaNorman weren't so cute, but the movie itself was cute in the extreme sense of the word. I went to see it for the stop motion animation, and stayed for the everything.

This is a personable tale about a little boy who feels like a freak. Norman can see and talk to those who have passed on. Expired. Gone to the taco shop in the sky. Basically, Norman can interact with the dead, and people treat him differently because they don't want to acknowledge his weird gift. It makes everyone uncomfortable around him, including his immediate family. So poor Norman is alone, misunderstood, and only feels like a normal kid when conversing with the dearly departed. But not everyone is ready to steer clear of Norman, and a surprise visit from his estranged uncle will show Norman a higher purpose for his unusual ability.

I've always loved stop motion animation, dating back, of course, to The Nightmare Before Christmas. The level of dedication it takes to create a feature length film using this method is mind boggling to me, and I respect the heck out of it. I can't imagine how annoying it could get just trying to film a character blinking. Blinking, for Pete's sake! So I had to see ParaNorman, especially after I saw the teaser trailer that featured Donovan's Season of the Witch. That's my jam!

And I was not disappointed! This is one of the best stop motion animation movies I've ever seen. I know, it sounds like blasphemy, and you want to smack me upside the head for disrespecting Nightmare, but hear me out. The characters in this movie are so life like in their personalities and actions that it's hard to hear the voice actor behind them. You think of the character's voice as belonging to them, not to some guy in a studio. I feel like every character was flushed out, and given an identity, down to their individual mannerisms and asymmetrical features.

Norman has a fascination with zombies, and he has so much zombie merchandise that it made me giggle.  Because he can see dead people, and can relate to them because they don't judge him for being different, he can hide from the world in the fiction of zombies. But he learns that he can accept friendship and let go of his barrier. Daw. The cuteness, once again, was touching. Go see it already, and cry tears of understanding and joy like I did! You're going to be surprised at who your favorite characters are by the end of the film.

Moonrise Kingdom

Kingdom of awkward romance.

It's a special class of people who enjoy movies by Wes Anderson. Many would say that his movies are boring and depressing. Many more people, including those who love his movies, call them just plain weird. I admit when I first saw The Life Aquatic and The Royal Tenenbaums, I wasn't sure what to think, with all the understated dialogue and odd interweaving relationships. But if there's one thing I appreciate in a movie, its characters that have both good and bad qualities. Wes Anderson is pretty good at that. 

Moonrise Kingdom isn't like other Wes Anderson movies you may or may not have seen. Its a sweet love story about two misunderstood tweens and the lonely adults who try to control them. The boy is an orphan who is a master at wilderness preparedness, due to many years spent in a group of "boy scouts" called something that doesn't infringe on any copyrights. His love interest is a twelve year old girl that wears lots of blue eye shadow and has anger management issues. The two run away together for a romantic camping trip to find a coastal alcove where no one will bother them, and their budding love can bloom.

No matter what their intentions are or how well they handle being on their own, children running away like that understandably puts the community on edge. Everyone panics and turns on each other, ready to point the finger of blame. I really enjoyed watching each individual's reaction, and how they applied the story of forbidden young love to their own lives. As we've come to expect from Wes Anderson, this is a film about lonely people, coming slowly to terms with their past as well as with their family. The difference with Moonrise Kingdom is that the young lovers add an element of innocence. Although the two are lonely and depressed, they are untainted by life, and it brings this movie to a level of lightheartedness that I didn't expect.   

Well... Its lighthearted for Wes Anderson. I thought it was cute!

You may be disinclined to see this movie because of that "cuteness", and the child actors being such a main staple of the plot. Let's face it, kids aren't usually great actors. Look how long it took Daniel Radcliffe to learn how to play Harry Potter! At least 8 films! The truth is, the tweens in Moonrise Kingdom aren't exactly on par with folks like, I don't know, say Daniel Day-Lewis? However, they are quite good, and they display a rawness that would be difficult for their legendary co-stars like Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton to pull off. I imagine it would be near impossible to evict emotions like that from tweens and even harder to capture it all on camera. Watching the two speak intimately with each other made me uncomfortable like I was interrupting something private. For that, I commend Wes.

I'm not sure if this is still in theaters or not, I watched it some weeks ago. But if it is still in theaters, then this movie is well worth the time spent in an air conditioned theater, on semi-reclining padded chairs. In this summer heat, you can't ask for much more than that, but this movie provides it anyway. 

The Dark Knight Rises

Wham! I just got socked in the face by a colorful exclamation, used to make Adam West look like he's beating someone up.

Adam West is off doing his own things, and as he is no longer filling the black boots of Batman, Christian Bale has taken them up (we can ignore most of the actors who have played Batman in between the two, although I have a soft spot for Michael Keaton's portrayal) and done them honor. These last three movies have gotten better and better, bringing us to this magical crescendo that we call The Dark Knight Rises.

I know what you're thinking, because I thought the same. No way can this movie out-awesome The Dark Knight. You'd be wrong! I was blown away, and if you have any love for Batman, you must watch The Dark Knight Rises.

Usually at this point I would try to give a quick run down of the movie, giving only a taste of what you might see on the silver screen. The truth is, I don't want to give away anything from this film. I want you to see it and be surprised each step of the way. Don't worry about the trailers, don't look up the actors, just buy a ticket and let yourself be taken away by it all.

What I can talk about is Anne Hathaway. She had quite an act to follow, what with Michelle Pfeiffer having been the embodiment of Catwoman two decades ago. I read in an interview that Anne didn't think of herself as Catwoman, she couldn't replace Michelle Pfeiffer in her own mind. That made me a little uncertain as to how good her performance could be, if she had no confidence in herself. But I saw that she wasn't attempting to be the same Catwoman as Michelle, and I think that's what she meant. Anne was the Catwoman of a modern, realistic world. Her costume was boring and normal, but suited the character.

The truth was I've hated Catwoman for two decades, being extremely jealous of her agility, crazoidness, and overall sex appeal. However, I must say I did appreciate the emotion and vulnerability that Anne Hathaway brought to the character. And I was only slightly jealous of her.

As for Christian Bale, he plays a great Batman and Bruce Wayne. He doesn't only display the duality between the two personas, he has a third side to him: the Bruce Wayne that only Alfred sees down in the Batcave. He isn't wearing a mask there, he's worried about preparing for the next mask he puts on, and if he can pull it off.

Ah! I want to say so much, but I cannot! Go see it!

The Amazing Spider-Man: Once More, with Feeling!

Movie Deja Vu! No, not the one with Denzel traveling four days into the past. I'm talking about that other Spider-Man movie with goofball plot devices and freaky William Dafoe as the Green Goblin. Both that Spider-Man and this Spider-Man movie tell the same story of a punk kid named Peter Parker who gets bitten by a spider and turns vigilante. The difference in this reboot is that it's actually GOOD.

The other three Spider-Man movies were directed by Sam Raimi. You may remember him from such works as Xena: Warrior Princess, or Evil Dead. Don't get me wrong, Xena was my hero, and I love Bruce Campbell. But if Sam Raimi does one thing well, that one thing would be the cheese factor, and that is best displayed in the Spider-Man series he did with Tobey Maguire. I wasn't really a fan, especially because Spider-Man is perhaps one of my least favorite superheroes. My favorite superhero is Batman, so you can imagine that cheese doesn't usually bother me, but when it's paired with Tobey Maguire, we have a problem...

In any case, The Amazing Spider-Man has resurrected the story for me. Andrew Garfield, who plays as the new Peter Parker, gives him a raw quality that is rare in superhero portrayals. He doesn't have the severity of Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne, or the rapier wit of the billionaire playboy Iron Man. Garfield came off to me as being a realistic version of Peter Parker, with angst, awkwardness, humor, and heart.

The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone was breathtaking! Watching the tenderness they show for each other leaked into my brain to remind me of and reaffirm the relationships I have in my life. Wow. Romantic comedies wish they could do that. Heck, The Notebook wishes it could do that, and here it is, accomplished by a superhero action movie. Go figure.

This all sounds like I was surprised about how good this movie was. Psh! I knew from the instant I saw Rhys Ifans in the trailer that this had to be worth the watch. That guy is great in everything, from Harry Potter to Notting Hill, and he did not disappoint as Dr. Curt Connors, AKA The Lizard. His performance was pretty darn good, because he imbued his character with so many redeeming qualities that if you only saw select scenes from the movie (skipping most of the violence), you might think he was a protagonist. It takes guts to play such a potentially brutal character with bald-faced sincerity, bordering on innocence. And that, my friends, is the best kind of bad guy: the kind that believes they are doing the "right" thing.

All in all, great movie! I give it five and a half strawberry lollipops, out of six total lollipops. That half a lollipop was deducted because of the ending and how it disappointed me... But you shall see for yourself, I hope! Now I can pretend those last three movies never happened. You may think this reboot is awkwardly too soon, but I say it should have bloody come first! 

Brave: Pixar Princess

Merida glows (a faint red) as the vivacious heroine in Pixar's Brave.

It's hard to say just by watching the previews what to expect when you see Brave. You know she likes archery, horseback riding, and has a glorious mane of bright red hair. The hair, I'm jealous of, but I'm not jealous of the expectations placed on Princess Merida. Three neighboring clans show up with goof-head sons in tow to compete for Merida's hand in marriage. Ugh. Poor sixteen year old girl, unable to choose her own fate. And fate is something Merida talks a lot about, as if it were a tangible force. To change her fate and escape the possibility of an arranged marriage, Merida runs into the forest looking for a magical solution to her problem.

This is a beautiful movie, in more ways than one. The visuals were stunning, I recommend seeing it in 3D so her crazy detailed hair actually seems like its going to whip around and smack you in the face. And the story itself is very passionate and touching. I was surprised to find that this movie is about a girl and her mother, and their struggle to understand each other. It has been a long time, if indeed ever, since I've seen a movie so profoundly feminist, without shoving it down your throat. Steel Magnolias shoves it down your throat, because they deal with dumb and mean men who can't keep up with them. But the men in Brave aren't wife beaters. They have their own skill sets, and help the women out, even if the clan leaders are dopey at times.

That's why I thought this movie was so brilliant. It shows that a woman can be the main character, not fall in love with a prince, still love her daddy, and kick butt the whole time. Merida, as well as her mother, shows a very healthy range of weakness and strength. Which is what makes them "Brave", because you wouldn't have to be brave if you had no weaknesses to overcome.

ted: A Fuzzy Peter Griffin

The title of this movie reminds me of an 80's song. "...my name is Ted... and one day, I'll be Dead. Yo-yo..." Silly 80's music. 

There's only one kind of humor for Seth MacFarlane, and if you've seen American Dad, Family Guy, or Cleveland Show you already can guess at what humor I am referring to. It's a low brow bundle of jokes with several interchangeable pop culture references, where anyone's name could be inserted into the punchline and it would still make you laugh. The movie version of all Family Guy is ted, if you replace Bryan and Stewie with a talking stuffed animal. And since it's a movie, there's no FCC to keep Seth restricted.

If you like Family Guy, you'll laugh at ted. I laughed, probably pretty obnoxiously, throughout the whole film. It was a good story of childhood friends learning to grow up and let go, even if one of them is a magical talking teddy bear. The whole theater of cheapos (like me) who dropped in to catch a free movie, were cracking up so much I know I missed lots of jokes. But the plot and characters do not ask anything of you as a member of the audience. 

Honestly, I enjoyed the movie in a way that others did not. Seth MacFarlane made a movie using dumb screwball humor, that goes all over the place and has no point to it. It felt fresh to me because of that, almost like watching Airplane or BASEketball. 

So don't expect a masterpiece, and keep an open mind. I think you'll laugh and enjoy your evening. But this isn't a movie you need to see in theaters, wait for Netflix.  

Madagascar 3: Cirque du Afro

Comedic timing out the wazoo!

You thought the first two were advertised badly but turned out much funnier, well this one takes the cake. I loved the first movie, it had so many jokes whizzing past your ears that you have to watch it more than once to get them all. I loved the dance scene, the lemurs, and the penguins. Then came film number two, and I was NOT interested. Based on the previews I thought it looked silly and wouldn't be able to live up to the first (like many cartoon sequels. Lion King Two: Simba's Pride, for example). But I ended up watching it with my niece and found it to be delightful, if a tad too sentimental.

And once again, these previews stunk. The only reason I wanted to see the movie was to enjoy one more time the song and dance of Chris Rock working his circus Afro. But I assure you, this movie was much more than a circus Afro, it was a wonderful film!

You remember where the second one left off? Everyone's in Africa, meeting their own kind, and there's some strange interspecies relations forming. This movie starts off with the four zoo runaways following the penguins to Monte Carlo, en route to get back to their old home in New York. But Europe doesn't want a bunch of ferocious creatures running around, so a crazed red head French woman gets called in from animal control. She's obsessed with finding a lion to mount on her wall, and so she goes on a determined hunt worthy of the terminator to kill Alex the Lion. To avoid detection, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melmann hop a circus train and do their best to blend in.

If you enjoy the dazzling lights and musical numbers of the first movie, then I recommend you take the time and money to watch Madagascar 3. Don't forget to see it in 3D, that makes the circus perfomances all the more appealing. :D I want a rainbow Afro for Halloween this year!

Prometheus: How the Mighty Are Still Mighty

Delight in getting the wits scared out of you for price of admission? Me too. That's why I love this movie!

(Don't worry, you don't have to watch every Alien movie, with Sigourney Weaver saving cats and kicking butt, to enjoy this movie. It stands on its own.)

I've heard some smack talk about how the trailer was boring and dumb. I have no idea who in their right mind would not love this trailer, I saw it without knowing anything about the movie, and almost peed my pants... in excitement. But from those same people I've heard that the trailer was crap, but that the movie was awesome and not to pay attention to the trailer. So... eh? If you didn't like the trailer, then don't shut off all hope for the movie, I guess?

Maybe what people didn't like about the trailer is that it shows NOTHING. Unless you're in the clique (and I am not in said clique), you can't tell that Prometheus may or may not be some sort of spin-off/prequel to Alien. I've heard that Ridley Scott goes head-over-tea-kettle keeping his movies secret, especially this one, going so far as to print everyone's name on the script that gets sent to them to prevent leaked copies. I've also heard, after I saw the movie and spoiled all the fun, that there were several fake ads and videos released to tease the world about Prometheus, without telling anyone what the movie was about. Here's a fake ad starring my favorite character:

In the not too distant future, a team of scientists and space explorers board a spaceship called Prometheus to a distant solar system, similar to our own. At the head of the expedition are two anthropologist types who believe cave paintings and hieroglyphs all over the world show a map. This map possibly leads humanity to the planet from which our creators, or Engineers as they are referred to in the movie, came from, and would like us to visit when we develop the technology. The characters wake up from their space sleep as they approach the planet, and begin to explore it for any signs of life- hopefully friendly, but judging from the scary previews, probably not.

We are introduced to David the robot in the beginning of the film, and we get to watch him wander around the ship, tending to things while all the humans get to sleep through the two year long journey. He's a bit creepy with his overly straight posture, and the way he watches the humans sleep. But once I see that he likes the movie Lawrence of Arabia, I know that I can't possibly find any fault in him. :D If I had two years to myself in a cold spaceship, I'd watch Lawrence of Arabia on repeat too. You imagine that as a robot, he cannot choose how he looks, sounds, or acts, because it is probably down to programming. Yet, as he's watching Lawrence of Arabia, he repeats some of the lines, trying to perfect his Peter O'Toole impersonation. I think that adds a lot to his character and to the movie. It's had me pondering the themes of Lawrence of Arabia and how those themes might apply to the movie Prometheus.

Now personally, I'm scared to death of aliens. Not just Alien, or Aliens, or Alien vs Predator. I mean any creatures from outer space that grace the silver screen- up to, and including, E.T., that love-able brown lump. So it's no surprise that this move scared the heebie-jeebies out of me. But I don't think it was because of E.T.'s running around, it was because the nail biting conflicts had me on the edge of my seat for two and a half hours, wondering what in the hell was going to happen next. There weren't cheesy 'boo' scares, there wasn't a lot of unnecessary gore, the fear came from a good musical score, good acting, and almost zero CG effects. And that's what makes me say this movie is good old fashioned movie making.

Snow White and the Huntsman, or Bella: Warrior Princess

What a surprising movie! A genuine fantasy the likes of which I haven't seen in years.

There's been a few dark retellings of the old Snow White. One featured a hag version of Sigourney Weaver that freaks me out even though I don't remember ever seeing the movie. But this version blew me away, because it didn't try to turn the Disney cartoon into Nightmare on Elm Street. Instead, I feel like they took a more mature approach to the characters, by examining real human emotion, portrayed by (a few) amazing actors.

The story begins with a quaint royal family and their happy kingdom. We are shown a bright eyed and cheerful little girl called Snow White, and told that she is the embodiment of innocence. I believe it of that little girl, she was adorable. Then enter Charlize Theron to beguile the king out of his kingdom with beauty and dark magic. Very early in our introduction to Charlize Theron's character, the evil queen, we see that she is off her rocker. To secure her position, the new queen throws Snow White in a tower, where that adorable young girl turns into Kristen Stewart.

At that point, I stopped caring about Snow White. Lucky for me, there were plenty of other neat characters to keep me engaged.

As her power wanes, the evil queen gets it in her head that by eating Snow White's heart, she will forever be young and beautiful. But her plan is foiled when Miss White escapes her tower prison and flees into the dark forest, where monsters and evil hallucinogenic spores await. Only one man is desperate and drunk enough to brave the dark forest in order to recapture Snow White for the evil queen, but he has plans of his own...

The depth that Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron brought to their characters, and to the movie, took my breath away. I had a hard time thinking to myself that the 'evil' queen was really all that evil, and I wonder now if perhaps they shouldn't have called her the Misguided Queen. Or the Scared and Lonely Queen. Or lets have out with it and call her the Crazoid Witch Queen Who We Still Feel Sorry for Because She's Had a Rough Life and You Can't Blame Her for That. I'm assuming that title doesn't fit in the credits.

I've heard a few people were disenfranchised by a few of Charlize Theron's facial expressions, calling them goofy and over the top. I heard that before I saw the movie, and I went in prepared for some goofy scowls, but honestly I didn't see it. Her facial expressions were intense, I admit, but I feel like she did a good job portraying a desperate woman who used anger to cover up for her fear. I admit, Miss Theron's performance brought me to tears. She balanced out her character with good and evil, as well as strengths and weaknesses. Good Job, I say! (Because she can hear me...)

And Chris Hemsworth, too, got me choked up a bit. He has a way of playing subtle emotion that is unequaled in other actors. As Thor and the Huntsman, he played these tough men who were hiding weakness. The weakness didn't shine through too much, just enough to realize the depth of the character.

Both of these great actors (as well as the wonderful dwarves) fed life and emotion into the movie. They also fed life and emotion into another character, that we will call Kristen Stewart. Honestly, I think that's the only character she can play, and it's not a very good one. 

Men in Black 3: Will Smith in a Bow Tie

Men in Black III

AKA Better than Men in Black II

That's reason enough to go out and purchase your tickets.

The story begins with our old friend Agent J, doing what he's done for 14 years, which is to catch alien baddies with his partner Agent K. The two are frustrated with each other, and Agent J is ready for Agent K to open up to him about anything personal, just to break up the monotony. That's when a guy named Boris the Animal enters the picture, bringing up a fiercer Agent K than Agent J is prepared for. When he wakes one morning to find Agent K mysteriously disappeared, Agent J goes back in time by jumping off a building to find his partner.

I liked this movie quite a lot, and I didn't expect to. Sequels and trilogies tend to make the mistake of assuming we know everything there is to know about the main character that we fell for in the first movie, and so they must be done bigger and better right? With a fast moving plot and no character development, or at least no character development that coincides with the stuff that happened in the first movie. Men in Black II was very much guilty of that, but Men in Black III added little touches here and there to keep character development fresh. We see a glimpse into the living spaces of J and K, as well as into their hobbies. I liked how Agent J was playing Mass Effect 3, for instance. As if he doesn't fight enough aliens, he goes home to it as well.

Those were the characters we already knew. As for the newbie bad guy, I am less than impressed. He's introduced as Boris the Animal, and is played by the brilliantly awesome Jemaine Clement. Boris' character design was great, I liked how they incorporated his human disguise, and I liked how he was over the top. However, I wished he could have had more going on in the film. He had a lot of dumb one liners, like "You complete me," talking about his hand spider/crab (sounds pretty cool, no?), that I could have done without. It was unfortunate how his character was thrown in for scene advancement. But... I still thought he was cool.

But what tickled me in places that I forgot were inside of me, was the time period that most of the movie takes place in: 1969. Moon landing. Any other Dr. Who fans out there? I was waiting for the broadcast of the moon landing to tell me to kill every Silence I see on sight. I was also waiting for Will Smith to bust out a stetson and a bow tie. Because bow ties are cool, and I bet Will Smith thinks he could make one "look good." 

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: Mouthful not Eyeful

You've never heard of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?? GASP! Well, that's because it wasn't marketed to a wide audience, it's for people like me who see movies just because it has at least two Harry Potter actors in it: namely Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith. I tell you what, if nothing else, it was great to see Professor McGonagall as a racist bigot.

This is a quaint British flick about exploring life over the hill, and across the world. Unsatisfied with their golden years being spent in England, seven aging retirees independently decide to move to a newly restored cheap hotel in India. Despite the beautiful pictures in the brochure, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is in shambles, and this is only the first in a series of disappointments for some of the guests.

The truth is I very much dislike when someone tells me they thought a movie was, "OK." Come on, did you like it or not? Make up your mind! But, I've found that I must use that boring description for this particular movie. It was ok.

I enjoyed how all of the characters were introduced, particularly Maggie Smith. Maggie is a racist jerk-off, offensive and belligerent, and is forced by cost and time to get a hip replacement in India. Her development is interesting and feels organic enough till the end, when suddenly she's accepting and world-wise. I wouldn't say the other characters were bland, but they were definitely underplayed, and realistic in terms of how a real person would react to real world situations. That being said, there was only a few humorous moments, and only one or two really emotionally charged scenes. For instance, there was a very raw moment between Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton that portrayed a side of marital dysfunction that you rarely see in films.

So if you usually enjoy understated British thingies, and aren't in the mood to be razzle-dazzled, I recommend this film to you. Also, you must have an interest in stories about getting old, otherwise you wont get past the first 10 minutes.

Dark Shadows: As Opposed to Light Shadows

There's nothing like a disappointing movie based on a silly outmoded soap opera.

But Tim Burton has done his darndest over the past decade to turn what could have been a cool movie into something that you wish you had waited to watch on Netflix. I remember when I saw Alice in Wonderland in theaters, and thought to myself something along the lines of... Guh. Over the top, except where it counts. Sure, Jonny Depp was interesting to watch. But ultimately it was a disappointing movie.

And now cometh Dark Shadows. The movie looked unique back when the previews came out, and I remember liking the mix of old world charm with 70's quirk. However, all those funny parts they shoved down your throat over and over, (like, "A woman doctor? What an age this is!") were all the parts in the movie that I might have enjoyed, had I not memorized them already.

Johnny Depp plays a vampire who is trying to pick up the pieces of the life he knew back 200 years ago. And yet, the very witch that put him in the ground continues to plague him with her unrequited and bitter love. To make the most of it, Johnny re-vamps (ah ha.. ah ha... hah...) the family business. Can he take care of his wacky descendants, fight off the witch's advances and come to terms with his evil curse?

Probably not. I've seen the movie, and I'm not even sure.

But there was some greatness, too. Michelle Pfeiffer with a shot gun, for instance, was quite awesome. Johnny Depp himself was very interesting to watch every time he came on the screen and purrrrred out his lines. I loved the Collinwood Mansion, it had a creepy, nautical old world feel to it that made me want to rent a room. And I also liked the ghost of Barnabus' long dead lover, she looked cool, even if the actress was horrible and easily dismissible.

All in all, I thought the movie was either too much, or not enough. For being based on a soap opera, they could have at least given someone a brain tumor or an evil twin.

Avengers: Thor and Lonely

Chaos! That's the word that comes to mind when I see this picture. Chaos, and awesome.

There's no other way to describe this hodgepodge of different super heroes, many of whom have already starred in their own features. In the case of the Hulk, he's had two films with different story lines, actors, directors, approaches, etc. There's Jon Favreau of Iron Man, versus Shakespearean master Kenneth Branagh who directed Thor. All these mixtures could have blended together poorly, leaving dregs of mush at the bottom of the glass and a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.

But it came out beautifully! The feel of each separate super hero movie was present, while not stamping out the importance of any of the other super heroes.

Another aspect that intrigued me was the lone wolf-ish quality to each of the individual heroes. Iron Man has daddy issues that keeps him from bonding with people, along with his intelligence and bank account that probably keeps him from feeling relatable. Captain America is lost in time, and doesn't recognize the world or people around him. The link between these two men stands in Tony Stark's father. At first I think Tony Stark despises Captain America for having been a friend of his father, whereas Tony never felt appreciated in his father's eyes. Captain America finds Tony Stark to be just as brazen and unlikable as his father was. But they can't ignore that link, and when they call each other out and start to work together, they are more similar then they originally thought. It seems like they need each other, just as the group needs the different approaches to leadership that each man takes.

Of course, Bruce Banner is lonely. What else is new.

And Thor? Well he's "thor" (Sore. Get it? Aha... haha... ha) about what went down in his first movie, between Loki and himself. Although he admits that Loki and him were never similar, and that his brother is a psychopath and adopted, Thor wants to help his brother by bringing him to justice. In so doing, he must ignore the woman that he knew for three days, kissed once, and apparently has been pining for, all evidence to the contrary. (Thor seems a little flat in this movie to me, like a walking plot device to keep things moving along.)

Black Widow and Hawk Eye have their own issues to sort out, I assume. But I don't care enough about them to wonder as to what those could be. Probably their dealings with espionage and killings have estranged them from the world as well as from themselves. Whatever, they were kind of boring.

I commend Joss Whedon! He did a great job in making an interesting and heartfelt movie. I was clutching my heart the entire time, both thrilled and nervous for what the scene laid out before me.

Iron Man 2: Villainous



Which villain is the hero?

This is what I like about Iron Man 2, especially for it being a sequel. Depending on how you watch the movie, you can argue the roles of the villain versus the hero. In many movies, to my great disapointment, you start out with a clear cut defenition as to who you must root for. Sure, you've got your anti-heroes who try so hard to be dark and selfish until unforseen circumstance #1 forces them to action. But they end up saving a cat, or getting sweet on the wayward female lead, so you HAVE to like them, according to marketing research.

But what about Tony Stark? He's a genius billionare who likes the ladies, and isn't afraid of a little self promotion. Possible alcoholic. Sarcastic and rude to his friends and co-workers. Really, he's just not the guy you want to root for, because he isn't the underdog. Not at first, in any case.

I'll tell you who does start out as the underdog, a certain Whiplash we all know and love. In most movies, if a character is introduced by way of weeping over his father's death, he is being set up to recieve your sympathy, and thence your trust. Poor Whiplash looks like he'd been caring for his ill father for some time, living in a rundown apartment, with a bottle of vodka and broken dreams. He should have been rich, he should be using his smarts for the betterment of mankind, but all that oppurtunity was taken away from him via Papa Stark. If it weren't for the Stark famliy, Whiplash would have been living the good life, and his father probably wouldn't have died from too much cheap vodka. (Because dying of good quality vodka is a much better alternative.)

Well, can you blame a guy for wanting revenge? Maybe, but other movies celebrate a good revenge driven rampage, and even root for the one doing it. Kill Bill, The Punisher, and Rocky 5, just to name a few.

The end of the movie shows us that Tony Stark could change for the better and appreciate those around him once he got a taste of death. This transformation is what makes a traditional hero, whereas Whiplash died still a bitter and stubborn crazy Russian man. And yet, I maintain that Whiplash is arguably a good candidate for a tragic hero type. Tragic because he died without fullfilling his quest, and hero because he tried his best to honor himself and his father, even if it meant becoming a bad guy.