Director: Jon Favreau (Made, Elf)
Budget: $140million
Box Office: $585.2 million
- For some reason I always felt Incredible Hulk came first, probably because it’s never ever referenced again.
- Three references to Marvel in the opening 10 seconds, in case you thought this was a DC movie or something.
- Tony Stark drinking whiskey, making jokes and talking about banging women. OMG he’s so cool and totally not wish fulfilment for a bunch of 13 year old boys.
- Ewww he made a myspace reference. That was a dated reference even back then. But I suppose he is old so we should be pleased he didn’t make a bebo reference.
- Army guy making a peace sign.
- Let that be a lesson kids, taking pictures with billionaires results in explosions.
- That’s a lot of bullet holes in the wall and yet surprisingly none hit the main character.
- Why did he have his phone out then? Was he tweeting? “OMG, about to be blown up with my own weapon #Irony”
- You know these guys are evil because they look foreign and have beards, and because they’re pointing a gun at someones head and seemingly making a ransom demand.
- “he graduated summa cum laude”. I also hope to cum laude in the summer.
- Would Rolling Stone really put a weapons manufacturer on the front page? They’re just not that well known, really, name one.
- This guy’s bald, he’s definitely evil.
- “colour me up will you?” Didn’t you already do that in Tropic Thunder? You can’t black up again.
- That was a really weird laugh.
- Wait, they’re in Malibu? That’s either a 1 hour flight, a 4 hour drive, or a 4 day walk. No way were his pick up lines enough to make it worth her waiting that long. He must have paid her.
- Like he’d listen to Suicidal Tendencies.
- Tony Stark has at least three people who basically run his life, well, two people and a robot. So it’s kind of hard to believe he’d find it difficult to trust people and not want to work in a team when it comes to the Avengers movie. “I work on my own, I’m a loner, walking down the lonely road, alone, on my own, with these three people”
- “When you need your diaper changed let me know and I’ll get you a bottle”. You don’t know how to change babies do you?
- “Repulser technology” I already have that, it’s called my face.
- “The bad guys won’t even want to come out of their caves”. Well the biggest threats to peace right now are North Korea, China, and Liverpool, not a lot of caves.
- “presenting, The Jericho” Does that weapon break the walls down?
- “Welcome Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America”, somewhere, Ted Bundy is crying.
- “your life’s work is in the hand of those murderers”, as opposed to the previous people who used those weapons, who used them only to cuddle teddy bears.
- So this guy’s discussing how he can’t wait to see his family. Thus almost guaranteeing he’s going to die.
- Wait, why does that guy look through the tiny hole in the door? They have video surveillance.
- Ah, there’s the mask, for the missile. Because all missiles have masks obviously. These bad guys are idiots, they deserve to die.
- Why are these trained soldiers and they’re running away from someone who can’t even hold a gun properly?
- He’s breathing heavily and saying “I want this, I want this”.
- Not one of those shots went through the MASSIVE eyeholes he has?
- For a multimillion dollar action film the fire effects in this are f*cking awful.
- Wouldn’t that fall have liquified him inside the suit? Or at the very least caused massive damage? I mean, when he landed his body would have bounced off the inside of the metal suit, he’d be in a lot of pain, definitely not able to walk across the desert.
- Oh wait he’s injured, he’s got two cuts on his face and his arm is in a sling in which I’m sure will be plot significant and certainly won’t be forgotten about.
- “We’ve been approached by the CIA, the FBI, the DOD” the AC/DC, the MIA, the LOL and the ROFL.
- Bald, and riding a segway, definitely evil.
- Little information on this guy hosting the finance news: he’s a guy called Jim Cramer. He’s known for getting a lot of very big decisions wrong. For example he said that everyone should invest in Bear Stearns as they’re safe and will never depreciate in value. 6 days later the company went under. He then complained he’d been unfairly treated by the media and that all he said was that money was safe, not that you should invest. Which is true, to find him saying that you have to go back a whole 7 days before they went under.
- That crash into the concrete would have killed him. That’s at least twice he should have died.
- “Come on we’ve got tot break the ice” how about a “how are you?” usually works.
- How on earth is that tea still steaming hot? Or coffee, whatever.
- “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart”. Oh, but when I ask for a display case to be made for my bosses heart then suddenly I’m a psychopath and no longer fit to work. Political correctness gone mad.
- “bizarre and highly controversial press conference”, yes, because nothing is more controversial than “I don’t want to kill people anymore”
- Really unsubtle Stan Lee cameo.
- “We need to debrief you” you can at least buy him dinner first.
- Where does that shell end up? Seriously, a shot is launched at him and it flies behind him. But there’s no explosion or anything. It’s like it just faded into the ether.
- “We’ve got visual on the bogey” Then ask him to wipe his nose.
- “A man with a dozen of these could rule half of Asia” yeah but would you want to? Seems like a lot of work.
- That weapon that paralyses you is the most useful weapon in the entire Marvel universe. So obviously it’s never used again.
- Wait, so nobody translated this? Wouldn’t that be the first thing you do?
- “Next time, baby”. Lol, not for you.
- So Tony stops people in cars being hurt, by launching a massive metal suit onto a car?
- Tony here fighting against a guy in a suit, thank god that never happens again
- “you gave me the best weapon”, no that paralysing thing is waaaay more useful.
- “and now I’m going to kill you with it”. You had loads of chances to kill him. For example, when he was fucking paralysed.
- “I am Iron Man”. do do do do Vote For Me.
- Actually I have a problem with that. Ideally should be “I am Iron Man”, then it ends. But there’s like a two second gap between him saying it and it ending. Just seems weird.
graphic novel, Watchmen. And it was a bit mixed. People either loved it for its gritty, stylish, thought provoking take on the superhero genre, while others hated it for all those things. But you can guess which side of that I fall upon. Hell, I still think it’s the best superhero film ever made, yes, I like it more than any Dark Knight or Marvel film, and here’s why…
, what would that world be like and who would those heroes be?
directed film, his key hyper-reality style that mixes CGI better than almost any film, works masterfully to bring the pages of the book to life, without losing the texture and grit. With the talent he showed here he could have easily gone on to be a blockbuster director like a quirkier James Camron, but instead he made Sucker Punch.
detached humanity of Dr Manhattan, Jackie Earle Haley embodying Rorschach’s grizzled insanity, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan embracing the assholeness of The Comedian, costume changes aside they walk right off the page.
is carefully implemented, from the iconic Bob Dylan opening credit sequence, the cheesy Leonard Cohen sex scene, and the sad Simon and Garfunkel funeral, Watchmen took seminal well known songs, and instead of being distracting fit them skilfully into the story as if they’ve always been there. Oh and the My Chemical Romance cover is badass, they really embrace the 80s punk vibe.
ending better than the comic, even amongst people who have read the comic. The comic’s ending may work better from a plot stand point (some say), but the film’s use of Dr Manhattan in it’s climax comes from much more of a character and thematic place, and ties into Dr Manhattan’s dehumanizing arc so much tighter, and the ideas of nuclear war. It’s not just that I think the endings better than the book; it’s what that represents about the power of adaption through someone else’s vision, that making changes to original text doesn’t have to come from a hollow, money grubbing place, but from the texts itself…also the giant squid would of looked silly on screen. But more so because it wasn’t Hollywoodised, it was complex and morally gray and left us with a message not many blockbusters have the balls to tell, that as people we will expect an easy lie over a hard truth. We are compromised.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of my favourite films (I know, another one!). It’s also, technically, a Christmas film (like EVERY Shane Black film), so by that logic it must also be my favourite Christmas film….Okay no its not, as it’s not a film I associate strongly with Christmas, like Home Alone or Die Hard. But it is an underrated classic, it is Christmassy enough, and it’s a film I can ramble on about its awesomeness for a post. So here I go.
Now the film itself is a pulpy Neo-noir mystery, which follows a petty crook played by a pre Iron Man Robert Downy Jr, and a badass gay Private-eye played by post Batman and relevance Val Kilmer, who are forced to work together to solve a classic and very compelling murder mystery in LA.
mn fine double feature) and it is also gleefully Meta. It turns the classic hard boiled narration into a rambling fourth wall demolishing spiel delivered by whom else but Downy, who spends much of the film deconstructing film narrative and murder mystery tropes, in an enjoyably if sometimes too smugly, nit-picky and self-referential way.
But the heart of the film, what really makes it tick, is the razor sharp, character driven, machine gun dialogue. In a world, of Tarantino and Brother’s Coen, this is one of the sharpest scripts in cinema. There is not a minute that goes by, where a clever bit of word play or a visual gag or a marriage of both isn’t being pulled off. And it’s not just a series of funny but generic one-liners that could be said by anyone in anything, the comedy is pulled from its characters, from their plight and problems, and walks of life. To laugh with them and at them, is to get to know them.
And there are characters beyond Downy and Kilmer…well character. With most of the cast ranging from two note Hench-men and campy as hell villains, the only other big character is Michelle Monaghan (one of the most drop dead gorgeous women ever). The fem fatale of the film, who really isn’t in anyway, but is actually the ditsy heart of the flick, adding the much needed warmth and tonal levity to this dark and funny tale of murder and sexual abuse….yup. Whose dynamite chemistry with Downy not only helps ground both characters and gets the plot moving, but will make you wish she’d pop up in a Marvel film just so you can see them bounce off each other again.
y and Monaghan are…this is Kilmer’s film. He is pitch perfect as the aforementioned badass gay Private-eye, known as, what else, Gay Perry. Now this is a 2005 film, so the handling of his gay character isn’t perfect, my biggest issue being how other characters overreact a bit too much to his gayness (though in funny ways). But his 
character itself is one of the best in fiction; because despite the name, it doesn’t define him. He’s a tough, foul mouthed, no nonsense talking, gun toting, sassily witted, motherfucking pimp, who also happens to be gay. And it’s not just shoved to the side either; it’s just one part of a whole character, who steals scenes like Robert Downy Jr steals hearts.
But It’s movies like this along with other Downy classics like, Wonder Boys, A Scanner Darkly, Zodiac, and the very good A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, that still have me convinced that Robert Downy Jr did his best work pre Iron Man (not to knock it), when he was exiled from Hollywood (you know because of drugs), and was trying to crawl his way back in. And I wish he would go back to doing smaller more interesting films, than just the Marvel flicks; hell just films more interesting than The Judge. But I doubt he ever will, with everything Marvel still happening, the piles of money just his goatee is worth, and his recent comments about his hatred towards indie films. So I won’t hold my breath.
Troubled Productions 