Iron Man

[ria_oaks]

Saw Iron Man today. Fucking loved it. I can't believe I'd barely even heard of this movie until like 2 weeks ago, then it was released and was getting such good reviews and I sat up and took notice. I'm the first to admit that I'm not a comic books fan, beyond the Buffy comics, Japanese manga, and when I was a kid the Sonic comics. ^^ But damn, I do enjoy a good comic book movie, and this is easily one of the best I've seen from the recent crop of comic book/superhero movies in the past 5-7 years. It's been awhile since I saw a movie that had me practically bouncing in my seat with pure glee and making randomly excited noises and grinning crazily whenever I think about it. XD But seriously. It was damned shiny. I loved how character based it was - all explosions aside (and I can't deny that I greatly enjoyed said explosions...), at the core it was about Tony Stark and his growth as a character. I... feel like I should have intelligent and detailed thoughts on it, but at the moment I'm mostly all flaily. I loved the snark. I loved the fact that Tony grew the fuck up and took responsibility for his actions while retaining said snark. I loved Pepper, I loved the fact that she was smart and competent and awesome, and I loved the fact that their relationship was kept at a subtle UST level rather than a Grand Epic Superhero Romance level. I loved the fact that RDJ totally owned the role and became the character. And on a not-so-deep level, hotDAMN but I loved the bulging muscles and alternately the tank tops and the expensive suits. And is it strange that I found the... whatsitcalled, the thing on his chest keeping his heart going... kinda hot? ^^; I dunno, it just added to his look, heh.

So yeah, deep thoughts... not happening right now. But I thought all the elements of it worked together really well - the character drama, the action, the comedy and snark, the themes and such, and just in general the editing and cinematography and effects and music and all that jazz. I'll prob see it again on DVD, so my parents can see it - I'm def having the urge to see it again. Already. o.o

But for now, new icon. Because I realized that I've had my Scrubs one since fall, and it's now May for chrissakes, plus I'm pretty sick of it, and because I want a pretty pretty Tony Stark icon. So. New icon. :) Credit goes to sincerely_jane. Now I just need a wallpaper. XD Found a really nice header which I might use as a wallpaper, but being a header it's rather small. Hmm.

Comments

[bk635.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it too. Well, except for the propoganda bit at the start, but I read the Wikipedia article and it's apparently just coincidental, as the origin arc in the movie remained true to the comic. It was originally (1963) the Vietnam war; it was then later (1990s) retconned to be the Gulf War, and finally Afghanistan. I wonder if this story is used to boost US morale and garner support for their wars.

(Actually reading this article, it's amazing how much they deviate after a certain point.)

Oh well, now that I know it wasn't tacked on, it doesn't bother me much anymore.

But yeah, it's definitely one of the best Marvel/DC comic adaptations to date. I'd probably rank it right up there with Batman.

Good characters make good movies.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Well, I still wouldn't exactly say that it's propaganda. I too was wondering a bit at the start, since I went into the movie knowing basically nothing, but I figured they would turn it on its head and they did. After all, the whole point was to show the destruction that American weapons and the American 'let's blow shit up!' ethos can cause. The real villains, and the truly corrupt ones, were the Americans selling their weapons to the terrorists - which is certainly true enough, given that the US government is at least partially responsible for the original arming of a good number of Middle Eastern dictators and terrorist groups. ^^; I'm also inclined to point out that there are in fact some pretty batshit insane and dangerous people over there, and that pointing that out doesn't necessarily equal American propaganda. (the problem comes with a. assuming that everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist, and b. that raging into their countries with guns a'blazing is going to solve anything) After all, the first thing Tony did with the suit was to go and rescue Afghani civilians - they were the real victims here, and he came to recognize that. His weapons, and his country's policies, were at least in part responsible for the destruction and pain in the Middle East.

But yeah. I was feeling a bit "whaat?" at first, too - I just decided to go with it, and figured that if certain people on my f-list loved it then it couldn't be super-over-the-top-American-propaganda.

Otoh, I did kinda feel like even if American policies and weapons were censured by the movie, they still kinda fell into the trap of "and then the white guy goes and saves the poor Afghani victims". Otoh, it all really goes with the theme of taking responsibility, and the fact that Tony had been responsible in part for this mess and ergo he had to clean it up. Because the US (and probably us, too, I know far too little about this county's politics sometimes...) does have some responsibility to clean up the mess they're made - just... without invading and making things worse. o.o

Anyway. All things considered I think they came out of it with a good theme, aka blowing shit up is not always the answer unless you're actually using it to save people rather than fucking things up more. Or something like that. ^^ Or more to the point, "selling weapons to terrorists is not a good way to bring peace to the Middle East". Heh. ^^;;

Though really, even as all this was going through my head while watching the movie, in the back of my brain I was really just thinking "dear god that man looks amazing in that suit/that tank top/shirtless". *ahem* I enjoy watching movies on multiple levels. ;)

[bk635.livejournal.com]

"Well, I still wouldn't exactly say that it's propaganda. I too was wondering a bit at the start, since I went into the movie knowing basically nothing,but I figured they would turn it on its head and they did. After all, the whole point was to show the destruction that American weapons and the American 'let's blow shit up!' ethos can cause. The real villains, and the truly corrupt ones, were the Americans selling their weapons to the terrorists - which is certainly true enough, given that the US government is at least partially responsible for the original arming of a good number of Middle Eastern dictators and terrorist groups. ^^; I'm also inclined to point out that there are in fact some pretty batshit insane and dangerous people over there, and that pointing that out doesn't necessarily equal American propaganda. (the problem comes with a. assuming that everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist, and b. that raging into their countries with guns a'blazing is going to solve anything) After all, the first thing Tony did with the suit was to go and rescue Afghani civilians - they were the real victims here, and he came to recognize that. His weapons, and his country's policies, were at least in part responsible for the destruction and pain in the Middle East."

I think that because US Foreign Policy and self-image really has grown to irriate me a great deal over the years, it's kind of gotten to the point where I'm seeing it everywhere now, even though it's not really there.

"But yeah. I was feeling a bit "whaat?" at first, too - I just decided to go with it, and figured that if certain people on my f-list loved it then it couldn't be super-over-the-top-American-propaganda."

I was going into the movie knowing completely nothing, so I was probably going "whaat?" longer than you. :p

But yeah, I don't think it's propoganda anymore; especially having read the backstory.

"Otoh, I did kinda feel like even if American policies and weapons were censured by the movie, they still kinda fell into the trap of "and then the white guy goes and saves the poor Afghani victims". Otoh, it all really goes with the theme of taking responsibility, and the fact that Tony had been responsible in part for this mess and ergo he had to clean it up. Because the US (and probably us, too, I know far too little about this county's politics sometimes...) does have some responsibility to clean up the mess they're made - just... without invading and making things worse. o.o"

Usually the only reason they start shit is because they want to get something out of it, which goes into my whole not liking their Foreign Policies-thing. Although we're probably guilty of it too.

"Though really, even as all this was going through my head while watching the movie, in the back of my brain I was really just thinking "dear god that man looks amazing in that suit/that tank top/shirtless". *ahem* I enjoy watching movies on multiple levels. ;)"

There wasn't much eye-candy for me in this movie. :\

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

I think that because US Foreign Policy and self-image really has grown to irriate me a great deal over the years, it's kind of gotten to the point where I'm seeing it everywhere now, even though it's not really there.

heh, tell me about it. ^^; and really, thinking on it more, the movie's not entirely innocent by any means.. I mean, ultimately it is pretty damned pro-American and anti-terrorists, but I figure they tempered that message well enough with the "but the Americans are corrupt too!" that it didn't bother me too much by the end of the movie. Plus I figure, hell, it's a superhero movie - they're always pro-American/patriotic/etc (remember the last shot in Spiderman 1? Of Spiderman landing on a flagpole with an American flag on top of a building? Course, this was less than a year after 9/11, so I suppose it was to be expected. ^^;) Anyway, they could have done a better job of not making the terrorists such flat and typical villains, but I suppose the movie was never really meant to be a pointed political commentary of any sort. ^^ More of a "big metal suit! big guns! big explosions FTW!!" type of thing. lol. Fortunately it had good acting, good characterization, and sharp writing at its core to elevate it beyond a typical 'big robots smashing each other' action movie (Transformers, I'm looknig at you...).

Heh, yeah, Canada's not especially innocent, either... though I'm inclined to say that we're not as bad as they are. XD ...i hope.

Poor baby. Well, Gwenyth Paltrow is attractive, and she did get to wear a backless dress. :) but really, it was all about RDJ and the bulging muscles and... mmmm... *goes to happy place* Funny, cuz I wouldn't have necessarily found him attractive before (though granted a lot of people do, heh), but he brought so much charisma and intensity to the role that it made him damned sexy.

*ahem*

Sorry. XD

*stares at clock* 1 more hour... I wanna go home and draw Tony Stark. XD And try to make a wallpaper with OpenCanvas, since I'm lacking Photoshop at the moment (on that note, you get my email? no more to be said here ^_^).

...I should do some work. Boss is away this week, which means that I'm not especially inclined to work hard. ^^;

[bk635.livejournal.com]

We're guilty of helping, definitely, but I can't recall many events where we started shit abroad. The US just usually does it because it has interests (e.g., resources, political leverage). But it doesn't admit to that; usually just says that it's for the good of freedom and rights (because you know, only they have those things). Then there have been times where, after retracting their forces from whatever country they were meddling with (Somalia for example, I think), ended up resulting more civilian death. I definitely wouldn't say that there's a lot of difference between the US and terrorists; it's just that the US is more systematic and political about it.

Haha.. Oh Spiderman.. Yeah, I forgot about that scene. You're right that superhero comics are very pro-American; I guess I was wrong in expecting that it would be otherwise.

But yeah, I enjoyed Ironman. Looking forward to the sequel.

I'll check my email. Gmail notifier has been fucked for a long time so I usually only find out when I bother to check manually.

Absolute WORD

[quettalinde.livejournal.com]

Saw it a week ago and still bounce and grin like an idiot when I think about it. Have suspicion I will probably cave and go see it again in theatres before the summer is over. Definitely asking for it for birthday/Christmas, and don't care that my sister will be getting it as well.

Dude, twas amazing. The characters, the total owning of the characters, esp. RDJ, the … everything you said, really. I have my own post about it here, in which I manage to actually be coherent and intelligent while coming off the post-movie high.

Also, I think I finally see why my sister considers RDJ to be a sex god. We need him in more tank tops. (And will not pass judgment on sexiness of arc reactors embedded in chests. Suspect have a few odd SFy kinks of my own like that.)

Re: Absolute WORD

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

I'm prob going to see it in theatres, too - gotta drag parents to it :)

I realized after that I've never seen RDJ in anything! And yeah, wow. Tank tops good. ;) And I'm not the only one that found the arc reactor sexy, lol - bottom of this post (2nd to last pic): http://elite.livejournal.com/891911.html#cutid1. Love that last pic, too.

Re: Absolute WORD

[quettalinde.livejournal.com]

Zodiac. He is awesome in Zodiac. The only other film I've seen him in is Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which my sister love but I find only okay. Still, he's good in that too. It's the rest of the movie that sucks.

I wouldn't be surprised if a fair percentage of fandom enjoyed the look of that arc reactor… For me, it adds to the sex but is not itself sex. If that makes sense… And my sister has that torso shot in her customized screensaver.

Re: Absolute WORD

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks, I'll check that out. And Jake Gyllenhal's in it, too! :)

Lol, us fans are a strange type. ;) I suppose it on itself wouldn't be sex, but the overall effect... there's something about the way his shirt hangs around it. ...yeah, I'm nuts, I dunno. XD

Re: Absolute WORD

[quettalinde.livejournal.com]

That he is. He is also awesome in it. :D

True, true… I've realized that I am a complete sucker for anything resembling wing!fic. And that the House fandom needs more of the stuff. What I've found sucks.

Re: Absolute WORD

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Haha, ahh, wing!fic. Indeed. :) Brings back fond memories of Changeling in Scrubs fandom (you read that, right? I seem to recall talking to you about it?). Haven't seen any House wing!fic... pity, really. But I suppose it doesn't immediately lend itself to such things, since it's not sci-fi/fantasy - course, that hardly stops people. ;) (I'd bet money on there being House mpreg out there... and bodyswitch fic. And I've read a couple of House/HP crossovers, both of which were actually very good.)

Re: Absolute WORD

[quettalinde.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, and as soon as I wrote that I was seized with a desire to reread that fic. But I didn't, because it was late, and I needed to go to bed. But I want to… After the novel's done. After the novel's done. ^^

I searched for wing!fic in FFN's House section and it seems to all be "House sees Wilson naked. Wilson has big white wings. Wilson confesses to being House's guardian angel. House gets pissy about not being told this before. Wilson and House make out, and/or bond."

And yeah, if Scrubs can get wing!fic, and there can be good House Xovers in which there are, and I list my faves, vampire!House, werepanther!House, Firefly!Chase, and telekinetic!Chase, I see no reason why we can't give House wings and see what happens… XD Really.

And I'm positive there's got to be House mpreg out there. There is for everything else. And ooh, House bodyswitch… I wonder… ^^

Re: Absolute WORD

[quettalinde.livejournal.com]

Or House genderbending…

Re: Absolute WORD

[quettalinde.livejournal.com]

And wouldn't you know it, there's all three…