iron man 3
I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THAT MOVIE. Look, I'm not saying it was great filmmaking, or brilliant storytelling in any way, but it was 100% pure unadulterated entertainment, and this is all I really need from a superhero movie. Bullet points to follow.
-RDJ is Tony Stark. I can't even tell them apart at this point. I am totally okay with this.
-PEPPER POTTS SAVES THE DAY, OF COURSE.
-Oh my gosh I ship Tony/Pepper so hard I can't even handle it. He bought her an enormous ugly stuffed rabbit for Christmas. But seriously, I like that this is an actual, adult relationship with actual, adult relationship problems that both parties work together to resolve. How is Tony Stark now the poster boy for stable romantic relationships?
-I'm...pretty sure it passed Bechdel? Pepper and Maya's conversation was sort of about Guy Pearce's character, but more in a general way about Maya's work and her boss and the direction the company was taking, and how that affected Maya, so I'm going to call it a Bechdel pass. Anyway, I liked Maya as a character, though her motivations got fuzzy in the end.
-So basically, casting Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, with all the extensive comic book history that implies, and all the publicity and marketing for the film, and fan speculation, and everything...was just a massive trolling campaign on the filmmakers' part. I think that was kind of brilliant. Like, I didn't even know Guy Pearce was in this movie until I read a review this morning, and even then, I didn't twig. I know some comics fans are kind of infuriated by all this misdirection, but that only makes me love it all the more. My only complaint is that Guy Pearce's character (I cannot remember his name and can't be arsed to look it up) didn't really have any particular goal or motivations that I could suss out. I mean, he wanted to "own the war on terrorism"? What does that even mean? But I don't really care, to be honest. It wasn't that kind of movie.
-Ben Kingsley, incidentally, looked like he was having SO MUCH FUN in that part.
-On a more serious note re: Guy Pearce's fuzzy motivations and personal army, I feel like a very good argument could be made about this movie and ableism, which is a world of not okay. But I am not the person to best articulate that argument. Also, re: mental health issues and Tony Stark -- I am very pleased that these were addressed, but I don't feel knowledgeable enough to discuss whether or not the movie dealt with it properly. I feel like that if it had a bit of ableism fail, it did a decent job in regards to mental health issues? But I don't think I'm qualified to judge.
-All of the scenes with Tony and the kid were fucking golden. Of course that's how Tony would interact with a child. OF COURSE.
-This really did draw a lot of inspiration from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, didn't it? Especially the Tony&Rhodey show at the end. I approve.
-I love the random guard who was all like, "SERIOUSLY I DON'T EVEN LIKE WORKING HERE THESE GUYS ARE WEIRD."
-I find it strangely appropriate that Jon Favreau was in a coma for the bulk of the movie.
-IRON MAN 3 SHIPS SYBIL/BRANSON. OF COURSE IT DOES.
-Knew it was coming, but I still loved the imagery of ALL OF THE SUITS joining the battle, and Tony sort of hopping from one to another.
-Barrel of Monkeys at 15,000 feet.
-Headcanon: SHIELD totally sent Captain America out to deal with the Mandarin, but due to the massive misdirect Steve spent the entirety of the action wandering around the Middle East and getting royally pissed that, once again, everything became all about Tony Stark.
-And, of course, most importantly of all, the post-credit scene: SCIENCE BROS FOR LIFE!
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you'd like.
-RDJ is Tony Stark. I can't even tell them apart at this point. I am totally okay with this.
-PEPPER POTTS SAVES THE DAY, OF COURSE.
-Oh my gosh I ship Tony/Pepper so hard I can't even handle it. He bought her an enormous ugly stuffed rabbit for Christmas. But seriously, I like that this is an actual, adult relationship with actual, adult relationship problems that both parties work together to resolve. How is Tony Stark now the poster boy for stable romantic relationships?
-I'm...pretty sure it passed Bechdel? Pepper and Maya's conversation was sort of about Guy Pearce's character, but more in a general way about Maya's work and her boss and the direction the company was taking, and how that affected Maya, so I'm going to call it a Bechdel pass. Anyway, I liked Maya as a character, though her motivations got fuzzy in the end.
-So basically, casting Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, with all the extensive comic book history that implies, and all the publicity and marketing for the film, and fan speculation, and everything...was just a massive trolling campaign on the filmmakers' part. I think that was kind of brilliant. Like, I didn't even know Guy Pearce was in this movie until I read a review this morning, and even then, I didn't twig. I know some comics fans are kind of infuriated by all this misdirection, but that only makes me love it all the more. My only complaint is that Guy Pearce's character (I cannot remember his name and can't be arsed to look it up) didn't really have any particular goal or motivations that I could suss out. I mean, he wanted to "own the war on terrorism"? What does that even mean? But I don't really care, to be honest. It wasn't that kind of movie.
-Ben Kingsley, incidentally, looked like he was having SO MUCH FUN in that part.
-On a more serious note re: Guy Pearce's fuzzy motivations and personal army, I feel like a very good argument could be made about this movie and ableism, which is a world of not okay. But I am not the person to best articulate that argument. Also, re: mental health issues and Tony Stark -- I am very pleased that these were addressed, but I don't feel knowledgeable enough to discuss whether or not the movie dealt with it properly. I feel like that if it had a bit of ableism fail, it did a decent job in regards to mental health issues? But I don't think I'm qualified to judge.
-All of the scenes with Tony and the kid were fucking golden. Of course that's how Tony would interact with a child. OF COURSE.
-This really did draw a lot of inspiration from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, didn't it? Especially the Tony&Rhodey show at the end. I approve.
-I love the random guard who was all like, "SERIOUSLY I DON'T EVEN LIKE WORKING HERE THESE GUYS ARE WEIRD."
-I find it strangely appropriate that Jon Favreau was in a coma for the bulk of the movie.
-IRON MAN 3 SHIPS SYBIL/BRANSON. OF COURSE IT DOES.
-Knew it was coming, but I still loved the imagery of ALL OF THE SUITS joining the battle, and Tony sort of hopping from one to another.
-Barrel of Monkeys at 15,000 feet.
-Headcanon: SHIELD totally sent Captain America out to deal with the Mandarin, but due to the massive misdirect Steve spent the entirety of the action wandering around the Middle East and getting royally pissed that, once again, everything became all about Tony Stark.
-And, of course, most importantly of all, the post-credit scene: SCIENCE BROS FOR LIFE!
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you'd like.