Movies! - "I'm just not the hero type."

I figured that I'd write about Iron Man since I just saw the trailer for the new one. I thought that it would have to wait, but since Fight Club came out in 1999, I'm technically writing about a movie from a different decade, which fits my goal of each review being on a different genre and from a different decade than the previous one.

I have long since considered making a list of what I thought were the Top 10 comic book movies of all time. Then I reconsider it and think of doing a Top 10 superhero movies of all time (which would include a movie like Unbreakable that wasn't based on a comic). What prevents me is that push comes to shove, I might like reading such lists, but I hate making them, as my mind changes far too often. I will say though that in some scenarios, Iron Man tops either one of those lists. Other contenders include Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Spider-Man 2.

It's almost strange that Iron Man gets such high marks from me. After all, Spider-Man and Batman are my two all-time favorite superheroes. Still, that doesn't make their movies good, but it certainly helps me to be so fond of those films. Iron Man though? I have only a small handful of Iron Man comics, and in all honesty, I might have more appearances of the character in The Avengers and various guest appearances than I do of him in any of his solo series. I guess that I like him just fine, as I love superheroes in general, but I've never followed his adventures on a regular basis. I guess that says a lot about the film, as it made me want to read more of the comics than I did before.

While I'm hardly an Iron Man expert, I knew enough that Robert Downey, Jr. was the right person to play the part. I think that it was a pretty universal feeling amongst fandom that he was the right guy, and this isn't just because he's had substance abuse problems just as Tony Stark/Iron Man has also had. Downey was easily believable as the part of a billionaire/genius/wunderkind. As for everybody else, I wasn't invested in the characters enough to really have much of an opinion one way or another.

One thing that's good about this film is that it really doesn't hit any bad notes - unlike some of the other contenders for best superhero film. It also has a really solid pacing from the beginning to the end, and it really just seems to fly by every time I watch it. Another good thing is the special effects, as they really found the right balance between CGI and practical effects. There were some people who critiqued John Favreau's lack of training as an action director, but I think that he did a great job in all the major combat scenes. I especially liked the "cool" factor of when Iron Man shoots the tank, turns around and then walks away as it blows up.

Just like any other genre film that raises itself up above the competition, this film is a good one because it's ultimately about something relatable. Tony Star is consumed with his own selfish desires, and it takes a major trauma for him to realize that he's connected with the rest of the world and what he does has an impact on other people. It's also quite fitting that what powers his suit is also what's keeping him alive, and it's essentially "connected" to his heart. That works as a handy metaphor, as the film is all about a man who finds just that and learns to use his talents for the betterment of mankind. (Sounds a lot like socialism!)

I also must say that what I really liked about this film was the love story. Of course, it's an unfulfilled love story, and it's basically leaving things open for the sequel. Still, the scenes between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts are more genuine than what you see in a lot of supposed "romantic" movies. Sure, the film puts them in a lot of far-out predicaments, like when she has to reach into the hole in his chest, but there's some genuine emotion and drama that comes out of that.

Check out the trailer for the sequel if you get a chance. It looks like it should be fun. (I should add that another great thing about Iron Man is that it is a really fun film. There's great action and a lot of humor and snappy dialogue that really keeps it moving along.) Mickey Rourke looks like he'll make for a good villain, and I'll try to stomach the repellent thought of Scarlett Johansson with red hair and in tight black leather. Truly, truly repulsive, I know.

Movies! - "I'm Jack's smirking revenge."

Fight Club is a movie that a lot of people didn't get, continue to not get and simply never will get. Of course, you can never make this clear to them, as people who don't get stuff rarely acknowledge that the problem is that they just don't get it. There are people I know with whom I would never bring up this movie. I wouldn't recommend it to them, and if they've seen it, I don't want to hear what they have to say because I know that it will involve a lot of comments that only a person who doesn't understand it would say.

I certainly liked it the first time I saw it, but just like most of my favorite movies, I grew to love it with repeated viewings. This is also the movie that made me a Brad Pitt fan. I liked him just fine in Seven, but honestly, there might have been some other actors who could have pulled it off. With Fight Club, it's Pitt and only Pitt who could be Tyler Durden.

What's good about the film is that it gets you on board with the protagonist right away. At least, it does if you're a thoughtful person who realizes that true happiness can never be achieved through the embrace of the consumer culture in which we live. Edward Norton's character (let's just call him Jack) is living a pretty hollow, meaningless existence at a job where he doesn't even feel good about working for. I genuinely felt for him when he tried to find some sort of real, human connection (although brief and fleeting) by going to support groups. I also understood how getting in a fight made him feel alive. After all, when you're numb to everything, getting punched in the face would suddenly make you feel a lot more aware of the world around you.

I suppose I should point out that I don't really want to do these things, and I don't think that a person should. However, I do understand it up to a point. Still, that's what the movie is trying to do. It gets you to feel for the character and understand his actions. By that point, it forces you go along with where those actions will eventually lead. Of course, people are always worried that impressionable youngsters will want to duplicate what they see in a movie. Call me crazy, but joining an underground fight club and engaging in urban terrorism seemed like a pretty bad idea - even if I could understand why they were doing it.

Of course, a lot of people won't get this movie for the simple fact that it has a twist to it and the narrative is somewhat unconventional. Also, they'll find the behaviors of Tyler Durden to be so objectionable that they would never like him. No, I don't think that splicing in a fraction of a second of porno into a kid's movie is a good idea. I'll be lying if I told you that I didn't think that it was funny on some level. The same thing applies to using the fat from liposuctions to make soap that you'll sell to the rich people who had the fat sucked out of them in the first place. (Actually, scratch that. I'd be totally fine with that.)

Much of the film is a visceral thrill. The characters engage in behaviors that I would if I didn't have a conscience or consequences. Watching it satisfies those baser desires without me actually having to engage in them. And perhaps that's where we come to when there are some people who simply don't get the film. Lots of people like to pretend like they don't have those low, animalistic tendencies and to acknowledge them would be inconceivable. Me? I have no problem realizing that they're there. That helps me to keep them in line.

Movies! - "...you want love on your own terms."

I think that I waited for the right time in my life to finally watch Citizen Kane. I was twenty-eight, and I was becoming more interested in watching the classic movies. I'll admit that some classics didn't grab me right away, but I later learned to appreciate them. As for "Kane", I loved that one right from the start. I'm glad I didn't try to watch it while I was younger, as I doubt that I would have understood it. That's kind of funny, considering that Orson Welles was twenty-four when he wrote, directed, and starred in the film. I definitely related to it; as we all know what it's like to compromise on our ideals, although some do it moreso than others. I also liked the style, the characters, the...

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm not going to have anything new and intelligent to say about Citizen Kane! I'm sure that I'd just cover the same territory as every other armchair critic like myself. I guess I'll take a different approach.

One time, I was told by a couple of teenagers that Citizen Kane, in fact, sucks. Apparently, the AFI and hundreds of critics have their heads really far up their own asses when they keep naming it one of the greatest films of all time. After all, these kids really know what they're talking about, just like I did when I was one. It's kind of amazing how much worse my taste has become and what a looser grasp on the world I currently have. Anyway, I thought that I'd get in touch with that smarter part of myself and explain to you guys the truth, so here it is:

Citizen Kane, is, like a totally boring movie that was made in like the 70s or something. It stars some fat guy who was in a bunch of other boring movies like Casablanca and The Wizard of Oz. The worst part about it is how I was totally confused and didn't get it.

Apparently, some old guy dies and says "Rosebud" then everybody wants to know what that means. SPOILER ALERT: It was a sled. A sled? How totally gay. Why does he care so much about a sled? That's stupid. After all, wasn't he like, this totally rich guy? Was it really so hard for him to just go out to the store and buy another sled? What a retard.

The movie also has all this other stuff and he doesn't age like a regular person. He goes from being old to being young to being old again. There's also a little kid in the movie who has a sled and he's taken away to live with a rich guy. They never get back to who that kid is. Maybe he could have just given Kane his sled and then everybody would be happy.

Kane is also hella stupid when he isn't being hella gay. He cheats on his wife and he has an affair with this one chick who sings opera, but nobody likes the way she sings. He still wants her to sing, but everybody tells her that she's no good! What's his problem, anyway? I can't blame him though, as this was before American Idol, and people didn't know about good singing then like they do now.

There's also this one dumb friend of his who is all obsessed with Kane's "Declaration of Principles". His dumb friend thinks that he's all cool when he shows it to him when they're both hella old. What's the point of that?

Oh, and Kane hung out with Hitler. Why kind of a hero is that? Man, this movie hella sucks.

Man, I sure hope that Roger Ebert never reads that review. If he does, he'd probably be pretty embarrassed about doing that audio commentary (in all seriousness - it's highly recommended) not to mention that one class where they analyzed it shot-by-shot.

And now, with no transition, I shall include some of my favorite, unconnected, quotes from the film:

Leland: You don't care about anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you love 'em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.

Charles Foster Kane: You're right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars *next* year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in... 60 years.

Bernstein: There's a lot of statues in Europe you haven't bought yet.
Charles Foster Kane: You can't blame me. They've been making statues for some two thousand years, and I've only been collecting for five.

Leland: I can remember everything. That's my curse, young man. It's the greatest curse that's ever been inflicted on the human race: memory.

Apologies to the teenagers who can recognize what a great movie this actually is...I know you're out there.

Movies! - "Slappa de bass, mon!"

I Love You, Man might not be the intellectual apex of comedy, but dammit if it doesn't make me feel happy every time I watch it. Don't misunderstand me; it's not a dumb movie by any means. Sure, there are a few low-comedy turns like the projectile vomit and the guy with the squeaky voice, but it has a lot of solid characterizations and keen life observations that elevate it from the muck. While I'm not quite sure that I'd put it in the same category as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it's just a rung below it.

The basic premise is that Paul Rudd's character, Peter Klaven, has just proposed to his girlfriend, Zooey. While planning the wedding, they quickly realize that filling his side with groomsmen is going to be difficult as he doesn't really have any close male friends. In order to rectify this, Peter sets about making some male friends and finally connects with Sidney Fife (Jason Segel). Sidney's quite a character, and he sometimes winds up embarrassing Peter to the point where it creates a strain on Peter's relationship with his fiance.

The one thing where this movie really works is getting the Sidney Fife character just right. It's a fine line between making a character's actions questionable and making him downright unlikeable. It has to be believable that Peter would like this guy in the first place, but Sidney's actions have to be far-out enough for you to believe that it would lead to some conflict. The film certainly pulls that off, and Sidney is both likable and frustrating. More importantly, both he and Peter are believable characters.

Another success of the film is that it really shows the difference between men and women. Normally, when I hear that a movie is going to attempt this, my initial reaction is to groan. Usually all this means are heavy-handed, unoriginal bits about how men don't put the toilet seat down and would rather watch sports than do anything else whereas women just love to shop and are so emotional that they can't even see the most basic logic. This film does not fall into that trap. Two scenes really highlight this: the Rush concert and when they go golfing.

Also, enough can't be said about Paul Rudd's performance in this film. He's both completely believable and totally awkward when he tries to do the "guy talk". There are some bits where I can relate, as I don't feel that I'm always that well versed in guy-speak or guy-behavior. (I have no idea what to do when a guy approaches me with a handshake that's more complex than your standard one.) It's also great when he attempts to do funny voices, as everybody tells him that he sounds like a leprechaun. My wife often accuses me of having several different silly voices that all essentially sound the same.

Sydney Fife: You get home safe, Pistol.
Peter Klaven: You got it, Joben.
Sydney Fife: I'm sorry, what?
Peter Klaven: Er... nothing.
Sydney Fife: No, what did you say?
Peter Klaven: Nah, I don't know... You nicknamed me Pistol, and I just called you... "Joben"... It means nothing... I don't... I'm drunk... I'm gonna call a cab.

Sydney Fife: [on phone] Just meet me at Muscle Beach in like... I don't know... half an hour?
Peter Klaven: Muscle Beach. Half an hour. I will see you there or I will see you on another time.
Sydney Fife: That was very confusing. I don't know if you're gonna come or not.
Peter Klaven: No, I'll be there. I'll be there.
Sydney Fife: [laughing] Alright I'll see you then, buddy.
Peter Klaven: Alright. Laters on the menjay.
[Hangs up]
Peter Klaven: What did I just say?

Of course, the scene that manages to be both the silliest and most "real" is when Peter does his "Slappa de bass, mon!" bit for Zooey. I won't say any more in case you haven't seen the movie, but while watching it in the theater, my wife and I both turned to each other and smiled, as it's almost exactly the sort of thing that happens in our house in an almost daily basis.

Movies! - "Bitches leave!"

I first saw Robocop while at a friend's house. As I've explained before, I didn't grow up with cable, so I missed a lot of movies while growing up. I remember really liking it, and even though I couldn't have been older than fourteen or fifteen, I knew that there was something more going on with this film than just a simple-minded action story. When you're that young, you're not quite able to appreciate satire and irony as well as you probably do when you're older, but I definitely understood that some of the stuff in there was meant to be funny, just not "ha ha" funny.

The plot is pretty simple. Good cop gets killed. Cop is reborn as Robocop. Robocop avenges his own death. That's pretty basic, and on its surface, all you could hope from that is a good-bad kind of a movie. Robocop goes a few steps further, and although there are lots of bits in there that are appealing to the good-bad mindset (like the guy getting hit by toxic waste so he starts to melt, only to have a car hit him and make his body splatter all over the place) there's stuff in there that elevates it above your common genre film.

The movie is part satire, as one of the plot points is that the police department gets privatized by a corporation called Omni Consumer Products. ('Cause the way we run it now is socialism!) When Murphy is reborn as Robocop, his memories are erased. The company views him as a product, and they make no recognition of his humanity. Of course, the mindwipe isn't successful, and the conclusion of the movie isn't when Robocop gets revenge on his murderers but when he recognizes and accepts his humanity.

There was definitely one thing that I recognized when I was younger that I still appreciate now. That's the fact that the movie has some of the most despicable bad guys of any film I can recall off the top of my head. The lead bad guy, Clarence Boddicker, is completely over-the-top in his evilness. At the beginning of the film, he tosses one of his henchmen out the back of a truck during a high speed chase. Perhaps he did it because the guy "burnt the fucking money!" I have a feeling that he might have done it anyway. Also, Clarence takes delight in killing Officer Murphy, and he doesn't just shoot him - he encourages his cronies to torture the man before finally delivering the fatal shot. From that moment onwards, you just can't wait for him to get his just desserts. (Oh, and it was Boddicker who delivered the line from today's title. It's from the part when he walks into the home of Bob Morton to assassinate him. There are a couple of models partying with Bob, and Clarence barges in and the first words out of his mouth are, "Bitches leave!" Part of the greatness is the delivery of Kurtwood Smith.)

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that there are a lot of people who don't realize all of the other levels that this movie is playing on. They can't seem to get past the basic premise. I remember a neighbor of mine even saying that it was "stupid" because "he dies and they bring him back to life." I suppose I should point out that this guy is a total right-winger, and it's a known fact that they're irony and satire impaired. Still, I've talked to other people who like it for the great action scenes, but they don't seem to go past that.

Don't get me wrong - it's not really high art we're talking about here. It primarily works as an action film, and it definitely delivers on that level. However, there certainly is a lot more going on than that.

As for the sequels? Utter crap. They both had a couple of interesting ideas in them that perhaps could have been developed into decent films, but the execution of those ideas was craptacular.

Movies! - "You've got a friend in me."

I had a hard time deciding whether to write today's entry on the first or second Toy Story, so I figured that I'd just give you double your money's worth and write about the two of them. They are on my mind because there's a third installment coming, and I really hope that Pixar doesn't break it's very long success streak. (While I like some of their films more than others, there isn't a single one that I dislike - or don't own.) I've been tempted to watch them again, but once you see a Pixar movie in Blu-ray, it's pretty hard to think of watching it on DVD, which is all that I have right now. Supposedly the Blu-ray discs will come out in March, so I'm going to have to wait.

I've explained before that I don't really distinguish between movies for kids and adults, at least not when it comes to what I'll watch. My standards don't really change all that much; it's just that I am able to judge the film based on what it's trying to do and how successful it is at doing that. With that said, both Toy Story films rank as some of my favorites.

I suppose that I can defend them on an objective level, and I'd be in pretty good company as they have really high scores with the critics. We'll see if I get to that, but for me they resonate me on a very personal level as well. The reason why is that growing up, I always really loved my toys. I know that every kid does, but I probably played with my action figures for a much longer time than most of my peers. I think that I finally stopped playing with all my Star Wars/Transformers/GI JOE figures when I was a freshman in high school.

For me, it was always a really drawn-out affair. I would set them up and take over a couple of rooms in the house. I had elaborate storylines, and I would make the toys argue and pontificate just as much as I would make them fight. I was acting out my imagination, and I have to be honest with you, sometimes I still wish that I could do this. It was always very cathartic, and it was certainly a more healthy outlet for me than what a lot of other kids engage in. Don't get me wrong, I'd feel pretty silly if I tried - even if nobody was around to see me.

I should probably point out that I still have a lot of my toys. It was hard, but I finally got rid of a lot of my Star Wars toys just a year or two ago. I did, however, keep all the action figures. I also have a lot of action figures that I collected when I was in college and in my early twenties. I probably average a new action figure every two years, as I still like to have them around the house. The last one I got was a Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones figure, as I always wanted an Indy when I was a kid. I'd probably would still be getting action figures if it wasn't for the fact that I have neither an unlimited amount of money nor an infinite amount of space in my house.

Anyway, you can probably see why these films would mean so much to me. Aside from that, they're both really great examples of solid storytelling. They have compelling characters and plots along with some fun dialogue. Most importantly, they're both about something that goes a bit deeper than the surface. The first one is primarily about friendship and how to deal with the feeling of being replaced. Who can't relate to that on some level? The second one is even deeper, as it deals with the one thing that every human has ever struggled with - the uncertainty of what will come with adulthood.

I've only seen the short preview of the third film, and it looks to be a natural progression of the ideas that were introduced in the first two films. By this point, the characters have already won me over, so I'm already invested in what will happen to them. I just hope that it can go somewhere interesting now that Andy will be all grown up and off to college.

Comics Roundup for 12/9/09

Not much this week, but here's what I got:

The Amazing Spider-Man #614 - I was wondering how all of this "The Gauntlet" stuff was going to start tying together. Basically, Spidey's facing a slew of his old villains, and this issue wraps up an encounter with Electro. By the end, you get a bit of a hint as to how it's going to relate to all of the other stories. I guess that it's going to be a Sinister Six sort of a thing but with a lot more than just six. Oh, and it looks like Javier Pullido is drawing the next story arc, so we'll finally get some solid artwork again.

The New Avengers Annual #3 - The lady Avengers bust Hawkeye out of prison, as he was being held by Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers. This was a pretty fun read, and the art by Mike Mayhew is pretty slick. Things are definitely coming to a head, and it looks like the old Captain America is going to be leading the New Avengers again - which isn't really a surprise, but it's still nice to see that happen.

The Astounding Wolf-Man #20 - This issue wasn't quite as self-contained as the last one, but it's nice to see that as a result of Wolf-Man's heroic actions, he's finally starting to catch a break. It looks like he finally has his daughter back on his side, and he's no longer wanted for a crime he didn't commit. Still, how is Robert Kirkman going to wrap this all up in five issues?