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Any FReeper Iron Man Review? (Vanity, but political)
Yossarian's fertile fermented brain ^ | 5/1/08 | Yossarian

Posted on 05/02/2008 10:40:44 PM PDT by Yossarian

OK Freepers, Iron Man is now out, and is getting great reviews in the press.

BUT-

Iron Man has always been a political beast. And the reviews mention things like "social commentary" and infer that "Tony Stark changes his opinion on being an arms dealer". Those things tend to be red flags for a FReeper FRiendly Movie.

SO-

Can anyone who's actually seen Iron Man give a good spoiler-free review, including any political hack work done in the flick?


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: bias; hollywood; ironman; moviereview
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Just looking for a solid conservative viewpoint on Iron Man before spending my precious conservative cash on a ticket! Thanks for any feedback you can give.
1 posted on 05/02/2008 10:40:44 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: Yossarian

It is a movie about a guy who flies around in an iron suit and kills bad guys. It has great special effects. That’s all you need know or that matters. Trying to read any sort of coherant political commentary into it is pointless. It is a fun movie. I highly enjoyed it.


2 posted on 05/02/2008 10:44:25 PM PDT by Spiff
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To: Yossarian

I liked it.
The romantic subplot was good.
Stay for the end of the credits.

It has some major plot holes caused by trying to update a 1970s military setting to a modern one, but civilians won’t see the gaping unsealable holes caused by the march of time and hey, when you are already imagining a simple tiny glowing coil as an immense power source - just go with it.

The flight scenes rock.


3 posted on 05/02/2008 10:47:11 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Spiff

Thanks for the feedback. I just want a good non-political flick, and was worried - based on wording in the reviews - that Hollywood was injecting obnoxious bias into the flick.


4 posted on 05/02/2008 10:48:12 PM PDT by Yossarian (Everyday, somewhere on the globe, somebody is pushing the frontier of stupidity...)
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To: Yossarian

I’ve read that Tony Stark changes his worldview after being waterboarded. As far as I know, no mention is made in the movie of hooking up car batteries to genitalia or shoving prisoners into plastic shredders...I guess if American doesn’t do it, it’s not worth showing.


5 posted on 05/02/2008 10:49:41 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored; Yossarian

Read “America” for “American” in that last post...


6 posted on 05/02/2008 10:50:10 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: Yossarian
I just want a good non-political flick, and was worried - based on wording in the reviews - that Hollywood was injecting obnoxious bias into the flick.

There is a certain amount, but that was in the original comics, if you are old enough to remember the early years (or if they are available as a graphic novel).

7 posted on 05/02/2008 10:51:22 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Yossarian

Well, the reviews on Yahoo were good enough to convince my lady friend so we are seeing it tomorrow(Saturday) so I will post a review.


8 posted on 05/02/2008 10:54:18 PM PDT by Pylon (Remember boys, flies spread disease, so keep yours closed.)
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To: Yossarian
It wasn't too bad. There was the usual corporate fat-cat bad guy, but he was not really representative of the entire military-industrial complex. The protagonist was the bad guy's business partner, who changed his views on war after being involved in an IED and firefight in Afghanistan, and decided to devote himself to some "arc generator" power supply to provide clean cheap energy. Of course he was marked for death by his wicked partner.

There was a "Man in Black" type from a secret Government agency that turned out to be one of the good guys, and they didn't sugar-coat the depravity of the Muslim terrorists.

The special effects were terrific, and the sound effects were earth-shaking. This will be a good one for people who have Blu-Ray players, 1080p HDTV's, and chest-crushing audio equipment.

-ccm

9 posted on 05/02/2008 10:55:13 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: snarks_when_bored

Not quite accurate. I think many films, even with slight biases, are ruined for conservatives by REVIEWERS, be they liberal or conservative who want to see one side only.

SHIELD is a secret government agency and clearly served a positive role (though initially menacing) in the film, the warlord-terrorists were shown as the evil scum they were, though I heard no “Allahu Akbar.” There was a Nick Berg/Iraqi hostage-type scene that they put a twist on but at least they weren’t afraid to show something like that.

Stark changes his mind because he sees his weapons everywhere, including in the hands of the bad guys (mostly in their hands actually.) That’s due to Stane’s dealings it seems and not simply because any weapons manufacturer is inherently evil.

BTW, while I personally would not feel terrible about building weapons, it is not ‘liberal’ for someone to feel conflicted about it and Stark does nail the liberal reporter broad who questioned him about that issue. OK, he does change but it’s because he doesn’t want his technology serving the bad guys, not merely because the products are destructive.

Plus, he’s such a genius, he probably COULD do more with his talents than just create weaponry (and demonstrates as much with his response to the Vanity Fair reporter.)

I enjoyed the film, Downey is a good actor and brought his gift for snarkiness to Iron Man. I don’t know enough about Tony Stark, other than his drinking problem, to know how close it was to the comic book but I enjoyed it and I could DEFINITELY detect a good deal of the Favreau influence in the dialogue.


10 posted on 05/02/2008 11:05:44 PM PDT by Skywalk (Transdimensional Jihad!)
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To: Skywalk

I’ll keep your points in mind. As I said, I was just going from a review that I read...


11 posted on 05/02/2008 11:11:19 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: Yossarian

Here’s Ace’s take on it and I usually find him reliable. Generalized naughty language warnings apply to the whole site:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/261555.php


12 posted on 05/02/2008 11:14:06 PM PDT by Uriah_lost (This space reserved for a decent candidate,,,lemme know when we get one.)
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To: snarks_when_bored

I always enjoyed comic books because “they could never depict that kind of stuff in a movie.”

Well now they can.

So It’s nice to see the pages come to life in that way.

I don’t think it was a particularly politically left leaning movie.

Stan Lee makes his obligatory cameo.


13 posted on 05/02/2008 11:54:32 PM PDT by shineon
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To: Yossarian

“Any FReeper Iron Man Review? (Vanity, but political)”

it was a fun flick, sold out all night at the theatre that I and my daughters went to, we were lucky enough to get three tickets and seats together, many groups had to sit apart from each other. The movie was well worth the price of admission and should give “I am Legend” a run for movie of the year honors. Robert Downey Jr. acted “above himself” if that makes sense, and I really hope that he can remain clean and sober because there has GOT to be a sequel!


14 posted on 05/03/2008 12:27:31 AM PDT by Grunthor ( there's more than 100 billion barrels of untouched oil and gas in this country)
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To: Skywalk

(and demonstrates as much with his response to the Vanity Fair reporter.)

In more ways than one, lol!


15 posted on 05/03/2008 12:30:50 AM PDT by Grunthor ( there's more than 100 billion barrels of untouched oil and gas in this country)
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To: shineon

Yes, I was a comic book guy long ago. I’ve got quite a few Silver Age books, including some Iron Man...


16 posted on 05/03/2008 12:39:52 AM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: Yossarian

More like Rock’em Sock’em Robots. Robo Cop II, and the Transformers piled into one. A quick dig on water torture too. It’s another action movie with lots of special effects.


17 posted on 05/03/2008 3:43:52 AM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (Mc Cain is Dole vs Clinton Part Deau. Brace for it.)
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To: Yossarian
If I were a movie-goer I'd go see it just to support Robert Downey Jr on his recent conversion.

“I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can’t. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics every since.”...Robert Downey Jr

18 posted on 05/03/2008 4:33:32 AM PDT by youturn (I'm learning to draw a fish. I suggest you do too.)
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To: Yossarian

Here is a review from Christian Film and Telivision

MOVIEGUIDE REVIEW: IRON MAN

Quality: * * * *
Acceptability: -1

IRON MAN stars Robert Downey, Jr., in the heroic story of billionaire defense contractor Tony Stark. After a new missile demonstration in Afghanistan, Tony is kidnapped by terrorists (using arms developed by Tony’s company) and forced to build the weapon he just demonstrated. Instead, he builds a suit of armor to escape. Back home, he tries to change the direction of the company because terrorists have access to his high tech weapons. His noble efforts are blocked by corporate partner Obadiah, who has his own agenda. Undaunted, Tony builds a new version of the armor suit to stop the terrorists.

IRON MAN is an enjoyable ride with terrific special effects. A battle of good versus evil, it contains minimal foul language and one implied sex scene. However, as a role model, Tony is a womanizer and rarely is far from an alcoholic drink. As he finds his calling to protect refugees from terrorists, those aspects to his character are dropped, suggesting a positive change. The military scenes are too intense for children, though most actual violence is either off screen or between men battling in suits of high tech armor.

For the complete review of IRON MAN, and other current movies, visit http://www.movieguide.org.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children and adults
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE: May 2, 2008
TIME: 126 minutes
STARRING: Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow

DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures/Viacom

When you need help figuring out what a movie is saying, look to the most trusted source of Christian movie analysis, MOVIEGUIDE®.

The Media Creates the Culture that Influences Children and Teenagers — Please Send Us Your Most Generous Donation Now! Thank you!

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Christian Film & Television Commission®
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Phone: 805-383-2000
Fax: 805-383-4089
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The Christian Film & Television Commission®/Good News Communications, Inc has a 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt status. Donations are tax deductible.


19 posted on 05/03/2008 4:40:35 AM PDT by poobear (tagline is on a coffee break!)
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To: Yossarian

A reviewer mentioned Tony’s change of view but also said there was no lingering on it. He emphasized that this was NOT a movie with a politcal message or agenda.

He just blows things up real good!


20 posted on 05/03/2008 4:48:19 AM PDT by toddlintown (My kingdom for a beer!)
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