231 replies to this topic

[Harmsway]

Superman is too one dimensional for me as a character.

Have you read SUPERMAN: FOR ALL SEASONS? Or ALL-STAR SUPERMAN? Or KINGDOM COME? Because I think they all make Superman fascinating. I wasn't his biggest fan until these graphic novels came along.

Back to the continuity topic i think Marvel has plenty of different continuities/universes to give the reader a choice.

Offering different continuities isn't enough. I'm not interested in continuities. For MARVEL to compete with DC, there needs to be a constant display of out-of-continuity stories that give the creators complete freedom to allow for MARVEL to move beyond its standard fare and to something more sophisticated. There's very little stuff from MARVEL like that (the closest is Gaiman's MARVEL 1602, which is quite fun).

In the end, I feel like DC simply fosters more sophisticated and creative storytelling by offering more creative freedom by allowing for so much to be done outside-of-continuity. We've gotten such wonderful stories as THE KILLING JOKE, THE LONG HALLOWEEN, ARKHAM ASYLUM, SUPERMAN: FOR ALL SEASONS, etc. In fact, nearly all of the great DC stories have been outside of continuity, since they allow for immense creative freedom and exploration.

The DC characters, because of that, become much larger. They're not as defined as MARVEL heroes. Batman isn't so much a defined person as he is an idea that has taken a variety of different forms. And I love that. I love that these DC characters aren't just redefined when a new continuity comes along, but instead are redefined almost every year. DC characters are in a constant state of flux.

[Harmsway]

What do you mean as "proof"?

A link to the video or to a website that has photos of the actual suit would suffice but, after reading your passionate rebuttal, I'll take your word for it.

It's a slideshow of the suit in action during filming.

[killkenny kid]

http://www.comics2fi...a=story&b=31619

Maybe.....maybe.

[Cruiserweight]

Iron Man poster

[sharpshooter]

That trailer does look good. I'll see this one for sure.

[minder125]

That trailer does look good. I'll see this one for sure.

The new TV ad that was on LOST just has me more excited for this film. Looks great

[Dell Deaton]

Iron Man poster

Looking forward to this one myself. And thanks for the Poster image!

[Tarl_Cabot]

I've been excited for this one since 2005...I think they've done everything right so far. The casting, the costume and the effects have been upgraded since that superbowl spot. I can't wait. After Bond 22/QOS, this is my most anticipated flick of 2008.

[Publius]

This movie is shaping up to be my surprise of 2008, like The Departed was for me in 2006, since I'm only truly anticipating Indy, Bats, and Bond.

[Harmsway]

I hope this turns out to be good.

I just don't like the visual tone of this film. I was hoping for IRON MAN to really create a distinctive feel (director Favreau said he was hoping to make the film feel really unique, as if "Robert Altman directed SUPERMAN"). It all looks generic action movie/special effects extravaganza to me. It's unfortunate... comic book movies have the potential to create striking visual styles.

[Tarl_Cabot]

I hope this turns out to be good.

I just don't like the visual tone of this film. I was hoping for IRON MAN to really create a distinctive feel (director Favreau said he was hoping to make the film feel really unique, as if "Robert Altman directed SUPERMAN"). It all looks generic action movie/special effects extravaganza to me. It's unfortunate... comic book movies have the potential to create striking visual styles.

They got the costume right by an a ocean. It looks amazing. The visual style? We'll see.I see an unpretentious and fun super hero movie on the horizon.Hopefully it will be. The last Batman movie was so much better than the others imo because of less emphisis on the 'visual style' of Gothem and focused more on the plot and characters. And Gothem has never looked better either. It's obviously Chicago + CGI but it looks like a real city actually worth defending.

[Harmsway]

They got the costume right by an a ocean. It looks amazing.

Well, it's certainly faithful, and the fact that they've been able to make it functional as well is impressive. It's not the direction I would have gone with it, but it gets the job done.

I see an unpretentious and fun super hero movie on the horizon.

I'd rather have one that challenges the expectations for superhero films.

The last Batman movie was so much better than the others imo because of less emphisis on the 'visual style' of Gothem and focused more on the plot and characters. And Gothem has never looked better either. It's obviously Chicago + CGI but it looks like a real city actually worth defending.

But BEGINS did have a visual style all its own. It was a unique spin on the look of a superhero movie to shoot it in such a natural style.

I was hoping for a more distinctive look from IRON MAN, one that made it stand out from the X-MENs and FANTASTIC FOURs. I didn't want the visual style to overwhelm the film, but I did want something that was fresh and distinctive. Given some of the earlier pictures, I was expecting a really unique retro look. That doesn't quite seem to be the case from what we have here.

[Tarl_Cabot]

"I'd rather have one that challenges the expectations for superhero films."

We are in agreement on that point.

[Professor Dent]

I was skeptical on this one initially but the trailers have been good & the music is excellent. The casting looks to be spot on & I love Stark's humor. Not expecting anything deep but just a fun time & this has a good chance of delivering on it.

[Righty007]

I think it's safe to say Iron Man will prompt me to say Tony Stark/Iron Man is my favorite superhero after Bruce Wayne/Batman and my favorite Marvel superhero. Spider-Who?

It looks that good!

[sharpshooter]

I'm a DC fan, prefering their big two of Batman and Superman over all others. Spider-Man is my favourite Marvel character, but I think Iron Man will come close indeed. He's the Marvel equivalent of Batman.

[jaguar007]

I just want to know when are they going to make the freakin' Wonder Woman movie!!!

[Righty007]

I just want to know when are they going to make the freakin' Wonder Woman movie!!!

Don't quote me on this but I thought I heard that they were going to wait until after JLA and just use that actress for a Wonder Woman spin-off.

[JimmyBond]

I just want to know when are they going to make the freakin' Wonder Woman movie!!!

Joss Whedon was working on a script for a long time before Warner's decided to pull the plug on it. Guess they werent happy with the results of his script.

[Dell Deaton]

I just want to know when are they going to make the freakin' Wonder Woman movie!!!

Don't quote me on this but I thought I heard that they were going to wait until after JLA and just use that actress for a Wonder Woman spin-off.

Wonder Woman is to me the most difficult to get right (and, as an actress, to keep right as sequels come along). I think her body and hair have to be beyond breathtaking, and the right fit for costume spot-on. Linda Carter was perhaps 75% there and the outfit pretty good for the time period; but her acting was sub-par.

The other thing that I suppose I'll weigh in on here is the period. While I'd like to see a contemporary costume, I think here character works best in World War II. And if they handled her sexual relationship w/ Steve along the lines of the romantic consumation approach of Spider-Man (at least through 2), I'd be into it.

Sorry to derail the Iron Man Thread. Briefly, I've seen the last couple of trailers and am very psyched for it. Iron Man was my "B" read comic growing up, definitely mainstream, and, as someone pointed out, a good parallel to Batman, who I also absolutely enjoyed. Read an interview recently w/ Robert Downey, Jr., where he talked about his own personal enthusiasm for the role (which is important for me to see in an actor, as opposed to seemingly "above it" or overly intellectual about it). He also expressed humility and appreciation for the fans who wanted him to do this, despite his personal issues of late. Wish I could remember where I read that, because it really moved me.

[sharpshooter]

Iron Man is out this Thursday. I haven't been to the cinema all year, this film will be my first.

[MarcAngeDraco]

I have to say that I'm looking forward to Iron Man much more than I expected to...

[Dell Deaton]

Iron Man is out this Thursday. I haven't been to the cinema all year, this film will be my first.

Wow-- that snuck up on me. May need to change my weekend plans to make this my first of 2008 as well!

[Dell Deaton]

Where's the excitement w/ this Thread today?

Variety has Posted a great review today on the release! Also looks like maybe a new trailer via their home page.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Great news! I can't wait.

[Harmsway]

Total Film has reviewed IRON MAN... they give it a "good, but not great" rating, claiming that it's a relatively by-the-numbers superhero flick without the vision that some of the more notable superhero films have had:

http://www.totalfilm...views/iron_man

Not too light, not too dark… a bit grey, then? Not at all: this is buoyant, bright, a constant breeze. But still it hovers somewhere on the superhero-adap spectrum between the good and the great. Not as flyweight as Fantastic Four or Daredevil or Ghost Rider, but just missing the myth-spinning splendour and heft of a Spidey 2 or X2 or Batman Begins.

Maybe, then, they’ve nailed their source material just a bit too well. Iron Man’s one of the original, longest-flying Marvel titans – forged in the early 60s, a founder member of The Avengers, idolised by Ghostface Killah. Still, you don’t see his masked mug on as many bedspreads and backpacks as Hulk, Webhead or Wolverine. After 40-odd years, he’s still B-list. Could be that the character’s just not as relatable as some of his labelmates, awkward teens identifying more easily with the outsider-angst of X-Men than with a flashy-pants squillionaire industrialist.

So it’s a must that the casting be imaginative, colourful, enticing. Aping the unconventional wisdom of Michael Keaton’s Batman or Tobey Maguire’s Spider-geek, the moviemakers have looked leftfield and mined a rough diamond. Robert Downey Jr’s a live wire as IM’s alter-ego Tony Stark, filtering out the potential smarm (picture Tom Cruise in the role…) but channeling the unpredictable charm and drive of creator Stan Lee’s part-inspiration Howard Hughes. The star bullseyes every Martini-dry one-liner (“I’m starving, get me a scotch”; “This is the Fun-vee; the Humvee’s back there”) and has chemistry with /everyone/: baldy/beardy/shifty right-hand man Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges); military liaison/best buddy James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes (Terrence Howard); indulgent assistant/flirt-mate Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, ginger-haired, hot); vampy journos, starstruck GIs, earnest Afghans… There’s even cute, running repartee with Stark’s anthropomorphised machine-shop ‘bots.

This isn’t RDJ just larking about, taking an easy summer-fluff payday. He sinks some straight-faced steel into Tony’s moral journey, which begins when the US army convoy shipping him from a desert weapons test is shelled by Afghan insurgents. Coming to in cave-captivity, Stark’s ordered to make a mega-missile for the militants; but he has other designs… Cue a plausibility-bothering A-Team scene of our genius inventor hammering, smelting and soldering until he’s finished the clunking prototype of his flame-spraying power-armour. Hey, terrorists: terrorise this…

For a spell, Iron Man toys intriguingly – if superficially – with the idea of a superhero righting real-world wrongs, ol’ shellhead swooping to the rescue of some imperilled refugees he’s seen on the news. There’s also A Message that paraphrases the Spider-mantra via Lord Of War – with great profits comes great accountability – as a conscience-pricked Stark decides to stop flogging WMDs around the globe (“I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up!”).

But really, you don’t need to worry too much about the geopolitics. Or any massive emotional demands. This is holiday entertainment that cleaves to its studio mandate, laying foundations for a possible franchise. Trouble is, that means another join-the-dots origin-story of the sort that’s swamped multiplexes since X-Men opened the spandex renaissance eight years ago. So we get a wedge of ability-exploring trial-and-error scenes (Iron Man spiralling all over the sky like a faulty firework) building belatedly to a true mettle-test against a vintage comic-book foe (the super-sized Iron Monger).

The pacing isn’t slow, but it may irk ADD kids that over an hour in, the hero /still/ isn’t wearing his trademark red-and-gold shinies. They might also find the final car-crunching smackdown kind of Transformers-lite. A proven juggler of moppet/adult appeal with Elf and Zathura, director Jon Favreau’s a thoroughly safe pair of hands, but his style-stamp’s often as inconspicuous as his cameo as one of Stark’s yes-men. Bits and pieces bedazzle: the cool wonder of Downey Jr air-surfing in his garage, scads of sexy holo-technology, a couple of shots of glow-in-the-dark portent… but in terms of the bigger picture, Fav’s lightness of touch isn’t a match for the verve and vision of a Raimi, Singer or Nolan. And aside from Bridges’ cotton-mouthed menace, there’s usually sod-all for the best comic-book cast since Batman Begins to do. Still, who needs ‘em when you’ve got Downey Jr’s comeback-kid charisma on full burn? Chilled or animated, snipey or righteous, he scatters the off-the-peg vibes with a jet-boot blast of star quality. Clearly, it’s not the super-clothes that make the Man…

I'm probably going to be waiting for DVD on this one. What I've seen doesn't captivate me, and the word-of-mouth isn't astounding enough to convince me that the film itself is better than the trailers suggest.

[Loomis]

Saw the trailer on TV. Looked an incredibly smug film. If it isn't as witty as it seems to think it is, it'll stink.

Not interested in this one at all, though, not even on DVD (barring, of course, sensational reviews). I know that that begs the question of "So why then are you even posting on this thread, dolt?", but this is one summer blockbuster that leaves me absolutely cold.

Still, it's something of a surprise that Downey has landed this sort of gig. Wasn't so long ago that he was considered totally washed-up, if I'm not mistaken.

[HildebrandRarity]

This has only just dawned on me having listened to Black Sabbath as a mid to late teen, but never ever having bought comics in my life...

Was the song Iron Man* on the 'classic' 1970 "Paranoid" album by Birmingham's Black Sabbath about this super hero?




*Used in the trailer.

[Loomis]

Nope. I think the song's based on Ted Hughes' THE IRON MAN. That's what the lyrics suggest to me, anyway.

[Righty007]

I still think Iron Man will turn out to be one of the best summer movies this year:

1. Batman

2. Indiana Jones

3. Iron Man

100. The Incredible Hulk