Blog Archives
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 2010
I think it’s kind of funny that right after putting up a poll and a blog discussing spoilers I watch a movie that was not spoiled to me in any way shape or form. Here is everything I knew about Iron Man 2 before watching it: Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Rhodie and he gets to pilot his War Machine suit. Black Widow makes an extended appearance in this movie. Whiplash is the main villain played by Mickey Rourke. And that’s it. I had an inkling about the role of Tony’s father, I had no idea Nick Fury played such a big role, and also had no idea about the subplot about him being slowly killed by the use of his arc reactor core. So everything going into this movie was a big surprise and I must say a delight. I can’t say right now if the sequel is better or worse than the original, but it’s absolutely on par with it.
How I feel about spoilers
There’s not a whole lot that can really be contentious in a review situation. There can be disagreements on how good one movie or another is, but in the end, it’s all personal opinion and everyone is entitled to have their own opinion of a movie whether it’s good or bad. But there is one other thing that some reviews include that many people complain should not be included in a review as it may “ruin” the entire moviegoing experience and that my friend, is the spoiler. A twist, a death, a revelation, a relationship, a sled, they can all fall into the category of a spoiler in someone’s eye, but does it really hurt if a review includes a spoiler? If you found out, and I haven’t seen the movie yet or read any spoiler-filled reviews so this is completely made up, if you found out that in The Avengers that Black Widow died in the movie before seeing it how would it really impact your viewing of the movie? I think I would still enjoy the movie just as much if I had gone in ignorant.
FTMN Poll: Spoilers
With the Avengers out in the UK and reviews pouring in, how do you feel about spoilers? Do they ruin the movie, or just make you more excited to see it. If you hear a big spoiler like the death of a character, do you get mad? Does it make you enjoy the movie more, or less knowing what happens. A study shows that knowing the ending actually improves your enjoyment. What do you think? Leave a comment, share, and tomorrow I’ll give my whole feelings on the subject.
Iron Man
Iron Man 2008
After watching the two Hulk movies that left something to be desired, I was ready to move on to an Avenger that had it all: Great characters, great plot, great action, great everything. I’m talking about Iron Man, the first movie released as part of the Avengers Initiative and arguably the best of the bunch. Disappointingly once again, Jena was disinterested in this movie and I hope it doesn’t extend to when we watch the Avengers in theaters because I’d prefer to not have that experience and everyone else’s around us ruined by an unruly five year old. I’ve heard mixed things about Iron Man 2 so I’m not sure what to expect next, but for now at least, I had a great time with this movie.
Superhero Shorts: The Hillywood Show
Superhero Shorts: Dark Knight by The Hillywood Show
Welcome to this week’s edition of Superhero Shorts where I take a look at a different superhero themed short film and get the creator of the film to answer a few interview questions. This week is from a YouTube channel that my wife really enjoys called The Hillywood Show ran by Hilly and Hannah Hindi. These sisters started out doing a mashup movie character sketch show called The Hillywood Show. The highlight of the show are the well made costumes of characters such as Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, and other Johnny Depp or Tim Burton characters. But they got their biggest boost in popularity when they made a music video parody of Twilight featuring an extended remix of Katy Perry’s Hot and Cold which brought their videos from 10s of thousands of views to over a million and have grown from there, parodying the other Twilight movies as well as Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, The Hunger Games, and the one I’ll be looking at today: The Dark Knight, which you can watch right below or you can visit The Hillywood Show’s website.
The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk 2008
I feel like I first have to justify my viewing order for preparing for the Avengers. Out of all of the tie-in movies the only one I have yet to see is Iron Man 2. But when I decided to rewatch all of the Avengers movies leading up to the Avengers itself I knew I wanted to start with Hulk because I remembered it tying into the Incredible Hulk, and I like to watch movie sequels back to back. And to end the series, I had most recently watched Captain America this year so I wanted to put that at the end, especially because with the ending it feels like it leads directly into The Avengers. So instead of using one of the other methods to order the movies, I decided to go with this order: Hulk and The Incredible Hulk, then Iron Man and Iron Man 2 so I can watch those sequels back-to-back as well, then Thor, and finally Captain America’s audio commentary. I used to love watching audio commentaries but it’s been a while since I’ve put aside the time to watch the commentary instead of or in addition to the actual movie. It won’t get a full review but it will get a brief mention in a blog post.
DC Showcase Short Films
DC Showcase
I absolutely love animation, so when I saw a blogathon about animated short films over at Pussy Goes Grrr I knew I wanted to participate. And I didn’t want to just use an installment of my Superhero Shorts for it. So instead I decided to search out all the recent DC Showcase short films that have been packaged with various DC movies. There have been five of them so far, but as the blogathon limits it to a total hour of animation, I eliminated the longest one. Read below for my short reviews for Catwoman, The Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Arrow.
Five by Five? Try Seven by Seven
First off, I’d like to say thanks to FilmsRruss for picking me along with six other blogs to share with his readers in the blog meme “7×7 link award”. I apologize to him in advance if this post comes off as insincere, but I just don’t look at these chain letter awards the same way I used to. I honestly do appreciate the fact that another blog likes this one enough to share it with their readers, but I don’t buy into the whole “award” mentality that it’s supposed to give off. That said, I decided to not just follow along with the basics of it and decided to go on a blog journey. Everyone who got the award would mention who gave it to them, so I went backwards through the links to see if I could get to the origin of this award.
FTMN Poll: Assembling the Avengers
I’ve already decided what order I’m going to be watching the movies leading up to the Avengers. I didn’t include Ang Lee’s Hulk in this poll since most people prefer to ignore it and it was made before The Avengers was even in the planning processes. Are you going to be re-watching any or all of these movies before seeing the Avengers or are you going in clean. If you haven’t seen them all, which ones haven’t you seen and do you plan to?
Hulk
Hulk 2003
It’s finally time for me to begin assembling for the Avengers, and while many people try to forget this installment of the franchise and it was made before Marvel decided to make all the movies lead up to a big crossover movie event, it is generally considered that The Incredible Hulk is a sequel and not a reboot. So by this theory I decided to watch this version of the Hulk first to refresh my memory before heading into its sequel. On top of that, it’s a great chance for me to once again become involved with the LAMB and their Lamb’s in the Director’s Chair. This time around the director is Ang Lee who at the time seemed like a very interesting choice to take on The Hulk. He had just come off of his acclaimed and popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and it was thought that he would bring a unique take on the Hulk, and he definitely did do that even if it might not have been a good thing.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 