Ever So Slightly Disappoint...

[retsuko]

In Movies:

Iron Man 3: Now I know what that giant bunny was doing there!

Comments

[pointytilly]

I too would have liked more awesome Pepper and less body horror, it was juuuust heading close to my squick zone but thankfully stopped short of it. But Iron Man 3 made me very flaily and happy anyway.

I especially liked it for actually going there with PTSD and panic attacks re: nearly dying, because uh, kind of been there for different reasons, and the I'M FINE NOPE GONNA JUST DO STUFF YEAH FINE reaction and that Tony was shifting more to...starting to get more healthy coping mechanisms (or at least learning to do things like okay panic I know panic distract myself doing something more legit productive, that's halfway there) yes. Uh. Oversympathizing with characters helloooo how are you today.

And yeah, the way they handled the Mandarin by making it actually be the AIM lot playing to all the scary terrorist tropes = win. and and I love you reluctant henchmeeeen.

I want fic of Pepper and dealing with superpowers and such. But I'm a bit scared of the fandom to go looking, so if anyone in the comments has recs I would be

[retsuko]

Totally agree on the PTSD plot angle, and I liked the way that the writers acknowledged that Avengers happened, but it wasn't running the show. Hell, if I'd done what Tony had done at the end of Avengers, I think panic attacks would be the least of my problems. ;p

I usually frequent crack_van for my fic recs, but I've not seen anything like this up there yet... I'd love to read the same thing.

[digitalemur]

The anxiety angle made me SO HAPPY. Oversympathizing with characters? That has been me for the last 10 days or so. I have had soooo many of those conversations in my life, what with my anxiety issues, and my significant other's anxiety issues, and our cheerful dysfunction. Except some days I'm Tony and he's Pepper, and some days it's the other way around.

Really, I just wanted more Pepper screen time. I was so happy with what they packed in there. I just wanted more Pepper screen time. (I get it about the body horror, that... just isn't a trigger for me anymore.)

[retsuko]

I wanted more Pepper screen time, too! See comment down thread. :)

[orichalcum]

Reluctant Henchman was the fight choreographer, so probably a nice bonus for him, and as @cerebralpaladin pointed out, listed in the credits as Si Fu Oram.

Largely agree on NinS - had lots of potential but too much crammed in. But at least Clara taking agency and being cool?

[retsuko]

Oh, cool about the choreographer. I have to admit, if I were working on a film and awarded a one-line walk-on appearance, this is probably the sort of thing I'd be thrilled to do. ;)

I feel like this season of Doctor Who has been very uneven and with all the expectations going into the final, I don't know if Moffat &Co. can live up to all the plot points they've set up. I hope they can, and that the 50th anniversary special doesn't jump the shark. (Or, in this case, time travel with the shark???)

[digitalemur]

So I looked up Sifu Oram, because the form of address implies he's a martial arts master and I know Downey has been doing Wing Chun and is supposedly hoping to test for black belt soon. Bingo! Sifu Oram is not only the fight choreographer, he's a Wing Chun instructor, more specifically he's Robert Downey Jr's Wing Chun master, how awesome is that? I don't know if I've ever watched a movie where everyone was so obviously putting so much love and joy into the production, which just makes me happier and happier.

[digitalemur]

Hmm. I think I'll just be over here being impressed that Pepper got to kick so much ass and that she got to KILL THE FINAL BOSS after he pretty much had Tony cornered, since one of the best way to make this plausible as a movie involving just Iron Man and not all of the Avengers was to endanger her, and I had assumed that they were going to do serious damsel-in-distress to make that happen. Perhaps I had just managed expectations. Perhaps I just really like how little crap Pepper already takes, both professional and from her obnoxious superhero boyfriend

[retsuko]

(No worries on the comments. I'm totally fine with that

[ladybird97]

YES, on Doctor Who! I was really disappointed that those stereotypes came from Neil Gaiman. Except for the captain - she was pretty excellent, and contributed to some Bechdel-test passing.

I've got this weird disconnect about Clara. On the one hand, I feel like the audience is getting to see her personality: she's brave, resourceful, and impulsive enough to make her a good Companion. On the other, the Doctor isn't getting to see it. She's spending most of each episode apart from him (or in a freakin box!) so she's still just the Puzzle Object to him, not a person.

Plus, everything is moving way too fast for us to get any depth - she went from not knowing anything to Fully Committed Companion in the space of about five minutes. I agree with you that this episode in particular would have benefited from being a two-parter, but in general I feel like the season overall should have had more to it. I know that the next episode is the last of the season, but I don't feel it.

[retsuko]

I wanted to hear more about the Captain--so she'd previously disobeyed an order to destroy an entire planet, and now is in charge of the "punishment platoon"--let's hear more about that, and while we're at it, did she know WDavis was the Emperor the whole time? How did that change her attitude about what she was doing? I'm sure that someone will write some amazing fanfic about her (and about the whole episode), but I wish I didn't have to count on fanfic for certain plot points' fulfillment.

And, yes, I agree that this second season has been a bit flimsy and uneven. I love the show so much, and I'm sort of flabbergasted that everything has turned out this way.

[pskettios]

We just went to see Iron Man 3 last night and I am generally agreed on all counts. I told Vince as we were leaving; sure it's great that Pepper has approximately a minute of badassery at the very end of the film, somewhat offset by the fact that she spends the rest of the time being shuttled to safety/kidnapped and dangled precariously after having been forcibly administered drugs.

The henchman made me laugh out loud too. There were quite a few laugh-out-loud funny moments. I hadn't even seen trailers so the barrel of monkeys thing was a complete surprise for me. It had a great payoff after the utter horror of watching people being sucked out of the plane like tiny rag dolls.