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Author Topic: Iron Man 3 (2013) Carlos Villalpando Film Handler Posts: 21 From: Villa de Álvarez, Colima, México Registered: Jan 2013 posted 05-02-2013 08:17 PM                     CINEMA: Cinépolis Zentralia, Colima. AUDITORIUM: 9 PRESENTATION: Christie 2K DLP (2D) PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Right Channel failure during trailers, but it was corrected right before the movie started. RATING: 4 (out of 5) So, I decided to go see this movie. -ME: 4 tickets for Iron Man 3 at 3:40pm, please. -EMPLOYEE: That show is sold out. -ME: Then for 4:00pm, please. -EMPLOYEE: That show is sold out. -ME: Then for 4:40pm, please :I -EMPLOYEE: It's 40 dollars. After Avengers (which I found to be a very good superhero movie) I had somewhat big hopes for this one. Right from the movie's start, I noticed it has a different style from its predecessors. It has a more "comic-book like" style, when the other 2 were more "serious" (yes, even with Tony Stark's sarcasm), and I think I liked that style a little more than the one this movie had. As always, Robert Downey Jr. gives a wonderful performance as Tony Stark, also Gwyneth Paltrow —as Pepper Potts—, Ben Kingsley —As The Mandarin—, Guy Pearce, etc. The film definitely has the epic feeling I wanted it to have, in the first act, but it looses it in the 2nd act, only to recover it at the 3rd act. It has some spectacular action scenes, like that one from the trailers when Stark's house is destroyed, which is spectacular —although a bit messy in the editing— and exciting (Having Pepper in the Iron Man suit was an exciting twist), and the Big Battle at the end with all the suits. The sound mix was great as well. Although it has a good amount of action scenes, I thought they kinda abused of comedy in this one. In Avengers I thought comedy was greatly balanced with drama and action, but here I felt they totally overused it, taking the drama from a number of scenes and replacing it with a joke. The one thing I didn't like that much, is the twist they made for The Mandarin character. As I've read in Wikipedia (hehe), he's the greatest villain in the Iron Man universe (in the comic), but here, they turned him into a joke (again). I thought it would have been A LOT more epic if they followed the villain storyline (anyone who have seen it will understand what I mean). Surely it is a great superhero movie, highly entertaining, unpredictable and exciting —with spectacular action scenes and all— but it certainly IS NOT what it promised to be. The trailer promised a greatly epic movie with Tony Stark totally devastated, having to choose "to have an empty life or a worthy death", and probably one of the best villains of superheroes movies. That's not what we have in the film. 4/5  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 05-03-2013 12:23 AM                        Is it better than Iron Man 2? That one was awful and made me never want to watch an Iron Man movie again.  |  IP: Logged Carlos Villalpando Film Handler Posts: 21 From: Villa de Álvarez, Colima, México Registered: Jan 2013 posted 05-03-2013 03:54 PM                     It's definitely better than Iron Man 2 But my favorite is still the first one.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-03-2013 06:16 PM                        I haven't watched all of it yet but I can tell already that it (like its predecessors) suffers from the "Transformers" syndrome where a six inch metal thing unfolds, unwraps and slides out etc. to eventually be many times its original size.... but once unfolded it's still thick and rugged enough to be "armor." Plus all the tiny motors and mechanisms that make the thing work seem to be completely impervious to being bent, knocked out of alignment or otherwise damaged. Don't they take physics into account AT ALL in these movies? I already know the answer to that I guess. But I'm still looking forward to watching it -- buzz last night from the crowd was very good.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-03-2013 08:37 PM                        Ok Mike, you asked for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZtXtDBQviA  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 05-04-2013 07:24 PM                     quote: Mike Blakesley Don't they take physics into account AT ALL in these movies? Physics is just a lame excuse for a limited Special Effects budget . quote: It's definitely better than Iron Man 2 [Smile] But my favorite is still the first one. I do agree on that one. But I didn't really hate Iron Man 2. I somehow like the kind of humor they put into it, although it might be getting somewhat old after iteration #3. Regarding the presentation: It was in 3D and had some massive ghosting issues, the picture wasn't too bright either. Also, instead of zooming the image in place on the rather large, curved silver scope screen, they overshot the screen even beyond its masking and scaled and moved the picture into place (somebody installed a wrong lens I guess?), leading into some rather nasty scaling artifacts and a lowered resolution; you could easily count the pixels in the subtitling and end credits...  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 05-06-2013 12:20 AM                     quote: Joe Redifer Is it better than Iron Man 2? That one was awful and made me never want to watch an Iron Man movie again. +1 (decided to see this with a friend much against my wishes ... )  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-06-2013 11:22 PM                        quote: Ok Mike, you asked for it: Thanks...that was hilarious! I do remember thinking how dumb it was that Superman could grab a helicopter or a gigantic object like a building or a huge boulder by just holding two inches of the object at one end in his hand and lift the thing back into place.....HELLO, the weight of the object would make it break and fall. I also thought it was a giant cop-out when Superman spun the world backward to get out of the jam in the first movie (and the Donner cut of the second). To me it was just lazy writing -- don't put your character in a jam if you can't write a plausible way to get him out. Anyway back to this movie. I'm going to have to give up on action films, I guess. They are just too fast and frantic anymore. My wife said she liked the movie but still had to admit she didn't quite understand a lot of the story. I guess I would have to say the same. I enjoyed what I was watching but kept losing track of what was supposed to be happening. So I went and read the Wikipedia plot summary and there were plot points and other stuff in there that I didn't remember seeing in the slightest. I liked it when an action movie's hero had some actual weak spot -- Iron Man doesn't appear to have one here, in fact he doesn't even seem to be subject to physical laws. I liked it when there was ONE story that you could follow from beginning to end, as opposed to the scattershot affair that passes for a story in this movie. I liked it when there would occasionally be a break from the action. I liked it when you only had to believe ONE fantastical fact (such as: The hero has super powers.) In this movie, you need to believe the hero has super powers (even though he doesn't), he's not subject to the laws of physics, his machinery is impervious to damage (unless it is critical to the plot that something stops working properly), and all of his stuff continues to function perfectly even though his entire house/lab/workshop is completely destroyed. I liked it when the hero had a set of rules he had to follow. I liked it when something that's supposed to happen in the "present day" would use present day technologies to make it seem like yes, it really COULD happen. I liked it when you could wonder how they pulled something off in a movie -- knowing that a set had to be built, some actor had to actually do the stunts, and whatever machinery they were using actually had to work in front of the camera or "fake it" effectively -- as opposed to now, when probably 90% of the time we are essentially watching a glorified Looney Tunes cartoon, except without most of the humor. I liked it when the action would dwell on a shot for more than a nanosecond, so you could get a feel for what was happening. I liked it when a movie ended when it ended, and didn't tack on an extra ending scene that left most of the audience coming out disappointed that they "waited eight minutes for that?!" I have to say I enjoyed this better than the noise-fest that was the last Transformers movie, but not by a whole lot. If it wasn't for Robert Downey Jr.'s smartass remarks they wouldn't have had much. The sound mix was excellent and the VFX of course were spectacular. If only a person was allowed to actually see them as they flash by. I'd be curious how many "cuts" there were in this movie. My rating: 2 out of 5.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-07-2013 09:03 AM                        Here ya go, Mike, the perfect book to read while not watching superhero movies. It will let you be the cranky old guy who ruins it for the kids http://www.amazon.com/James-Kakalios/e/B001JPCKVM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1  |  IP: Logged Carlos Villalpando Film Handler Posts: 21 From: Villa de Álvarez, Colima, México Registered: Jan 2013 posted 05-08-2013 09:05 PM                     After a rewatch today I realized I didn't really like it.. some movies I can watch them over and over again and don't get tired of.. but with this one I couldn't stand the second viewing.  |  IP: Logged Joseph L. Kleiman Master Film Handler Posts: 380 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 05-09-2013 08:37 AM                     The Mandarin character was changed because in the comics he was a 1960's version of Fu Manchu. The producers wanted the film to play better in China, especially since one of the producers is a major Chinese production company. In fact, the Chinese version of the film features additional footage that includes China-centric elements just for that audience. I loved the film. Saw it in digIMAX. Only thing that concerned me was the Ten Circles. This was the terrorist group from the first Iron Man film. But was the Mandarin actually related to them or was it all just part of the set?  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-09-2013 08:53 AM                     quote: Mike Blakesley Don't they take physics into account AT ALL in these movies? Nah. I was laughing pretty hard at the scene in the first Iron Man movie where Tony Stark's "beta" Iron Man suit runs out of fuel or whatever. He flies like an incoming meteor into a sand dune. Stark's insides would have been reduced to a lumpy pudding from the force of that crash if something like that happened in reality. Instead Stark walked away from the crash a little shaken up. That "beta" suit didn't even have any air bags, instant crash foam or any other story excuse to keep him from getting killed. Did he even have a pillow in that thing? It might actually be more interesting if they grounded these super hero movies and most other action movies as well into reality. There might actually be more suspense invovled. But that would involve screenwriters, producers and directors working harder to do a better job rather than insult the intelligence of the smarter members of the audience. Yeah, I'm willing to charge many of today's movies are made for stupid people. It's drama on a grading curve. In today's movie business marketplace it would be flat out impossible to green light a movie like Lawrence of Arabia. Movies that make people think, read between the lines, etc. are seen as too risky. Instead we get action movies that are trying to apply the broken laws of physics from The Matrix into a contrived reality.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-11-2013 07:27 PM                        So you guys are willing to accept he survived open-heart surgery in the desert with no medical supplies, anesthesia or expertise, recuperates and then build a power supply for his chest out of spare parts... and then you have trouble with the suspension of disbelief??  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 05-12-2013 06:13 PM                     No expertise? Hey, we're talking about Tony Stark here. He's got all the experience to build a super-reactor to power an electromagnetic coil to keep a splinter from entering his hearth, but pulling out that splinter takes almost three entire movies. Actually, I think it would be great to see what happens if we lock Tony Stark in a room together with MacGyver and the A-Team. But let's be real here, if you want storytelling that doesn't involve some mystical over-the-top super powers or some mega-tech that comes at handy when needed, it might be better not to watch a franchise based on some comic books .  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 05-13-2013 12:00 AM                        CINEMA: Valle Drive-In Theatre, Newton, IA AUDITORIUM: 1 PRESENTATION: 35mm/2-channel FM stereo PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Picture was a bit soft...they usually project a really sharp image here RATING: Three stars (out of four) It was a perfect cool evening and I couldn't resist. Sunday is apparently the night to go to the drive-in...there were maybe a couple of dozen cars and nobody was smoking. THE PLOT: Uh, a guy pretends to be a bad guy, and there's some fiery guys who can heal things and an oil rig and...oh hell, I don't know. Wackiness ensues. I kept hearing about how this movie had a darker Tony Stark, yet I found this nearly as much fun to watch as "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows". I've seen intended comedies where I laughed less than this. Kingsley's character? Just freaking great. Pretty fun summer popcorn movie right here.  |  IP: Logged

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