I’m heading off to get inline for Iron Man 2 shortly and I’m excited about it…as my recent slate of posts probably indicates. But I’m surprised at how high my anticipation is. I’ve always liked Iron Man of course, but I’ve never felt an urge to follow his solo adventures. I think that’s because he works best when surrounded by vastly different characters. Tony Stark is highly enjoyable as the backbone of the Avengers or guest starring in Captain America or Hulk comics because he stands out.
For the most part though the Iron Man solo comics surround him with Evil Iron Men or Evil Tony Starks or armed goons. I do think it’s important to have a hero’s villains reflect an aspect of the hero, too much can be too much. Batman for instance fights characters who are similarly driven or focused or driven insane through a catastrophic event. Iron Man fights other people in suits of high tech armor. Though in his defense, while Iron Man has fought roughly a dozen Crimson Dynamos (seriously) he does also fight The Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom.
Of course the movie made him fresh and vibrant and unique. He stood out had a personality. It was the best Tony Stark and Iron Man ever produced and that’s why he’s a household name now. And that’s why I’m excited about this movie but sadly it still hasn’t made me want to read any comics that have “Iron Man” across the top (as good as I hear they may be now). I will admit I have a very strong desire to dig out my Secret Wars Iron Man figure (in his Mark III armor!) and play with it though.
It’s been so hard to avoid having Iron Man spoiled for me. The commercials air constantly on tv trying to show me all the different things they’ve managed to cram into the movie. And if a commercial isn’t selling me a on the movie, it’s using the movie to sell me Burger King, Dr. Pepper, Seven Eleven slurpees, and Audis. To say nothing of the countless spoilers lurking around on the internet constantly threatening to jump out at me. Trying to tell me what the extra scene after the credits is, and how Captain America is involved, and how Thor is involved, and how much Sam Jackson is in it, and what character Oliva Munn plays, and what character Oliva Munn originally played, and so on… (Of course I had to research on my own “Who Oliva Munn is” and “Why I should care about Olivia Munn”. I found an answer to question One, but Question Two is a trick question, I shouldn’t care about her.) And since the movie premiered internationally before it did domestically. It’s already pirated out there and to make things worse for me. Bah!
Another movie that bothers me though is “Letters to Juliet”. I first saw the trailer for that movie in November before “Twilight” and knew right away I had no interest in seeing the movie. Not only because it was not a movie I would like, but because it also showed the entire movie in the trailer. And not even cut up and out of order. The entire movie was shown in just two minutes and thirty-one seconds. So honestly, there’s no point in seeing the extended cut. Don’t believe me? Watch the trailer.
Now, here’s what happens in the movie. Amanda Seyfried comes to Italy with her boyfriend Gael García Bernal but they aren’t as close as they should be. She finds Vanessa Redgrave’s letter and replies to it which brings in her grandson Chris Egan. Amanda, Vanessa and Chris go traveling around picturesque Italy looking for Vanessa’s old boyfriend “Lorenzo Bartolini” during which Amanda and Chris become very close. Both Amanda and Chris get some sage advice about love from Vanessa. After looking at lots of schlubs named “Lorenzo Bartolini” they finally they find the correct one, dashing hero on a horse. Vanessa and the proper Lorenzo are going to be married. Amanda and Gael’s relationship has become strained while she’s been gone and he has developed into a jerk throughout the movie. Amanda leaves to go back to Gael and Chris doesn’t stop her in time to let her know how he feels. But later Amanda decides that she really loves Chris, leaves Gael, and arrives at Vanessa and Lorenzo’s wedding to tell Chris she loves him. Everyone hugs. Roll Credits.
Bam there you go. That’s the movie. That’s all there is to it. The studio was able to condense every important beat in their movie down to under three minutes. But for some reason they expect people to give up $10 and two hours of their time to see it again on May 14th.
Iron Man 2 is all over the city of San Francisco (and Daly City whose theater is within a mile of the city & count limit). It is playing at 10 different theaters:
4-Star Theatre, AMC Loews Metreon 16 & IMAX, AMC Van Ness 14, Castro Theatre, Century 20 Daly City, CineArts @ Empire, Marina Theatre, Presidio Theatre, Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Vogue Theatre.
I’m not sure how many screens the movie is on, but I do know that there are currently 115 showings of the movie that start between 12:00am and 11:59pm on May 7th.
Those times are:
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