Fan Rants

Hello Loyal Listeners!  This week on the pod we talk about Johnny and his love of Thor’s IMAX sized Hammer.  Johnny got to see a sneak preview of the movie “Splice” and we talked about it.  It is spoiler free.  I did cut out a part that was very spoilery, but HILARIOUS.  I’ve got it tucked away for when the movie has been out for a few weeks.  Unfortunately it’s tucked right next to my dong, so it’ll be a little ripe whenever we do pull it out.  I have NO idea what I dropped at minute 22, but it was a funny little break from the normal, so I left it in.  We then talk some more about the upcoming Marvel movies, like Captain America.  Apparently, Red Skull drags teeth.  When we move on to TV talk, we talk about Human Target and Lie to Me being renewed, then Kevin Freaks out about V being renewed and Flash Forward being canceled.  We briefly talk about Smallville.  Theres some Comic book talk too.

This weeks music was from Kaemmerer from the album Sir Agent Chill.

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I was lucky enough to attend an Iron Man 2 sneak peek at my local theater. Let’s see if I can sum up my feelings in three words: Holy f*%$ing $h1t!!! This movie is incredible! The personality arc that Tony Stark goes through in this movie alone is great. He starts out very narcissistic and arrogant.

He’s pushing everyone away, even his personal assistant, Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.  The story starts off by introducing us to the movie’s villain.  We see a huge man with a bottle of vodka in his hands speaking to his father, who, obviously on his death-bed,  is apologizing for not being able to take care of him.  “All I can pass on to you is my knowledge”.  Cut to the huge, drunken , tatted up, russian thug making himself an arc reactor just like the one Tony has. Needless to say this can only end with awesomeness. 

Nick Fury is around too, trying to get Tony to join the Avenger Initiative and also helping him with his health problems.  Tony continues to go on throughout the movie insisting that he doesn’t need them or want to join their team. By the end of the movie, Nick Fury lets it be known that S.H.I.E.L.D. is interested in Iron Man… But not Tony Stark.

There’s a phenomenal scene in the movie where Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson, and Happy Hogan, played by Jon Favreau, break into Hammer Industries on the hunt for Ivan Vanko (a.k.a. Whiplash) and Happy starts fighting with the first guy through the door.  It’s a real battle back and forth and we’re not sure who’s going to win.  In the mean time, it turns out that Natasha can kick some serious ass.  She takes out about 20 guys with class and style.  Happy finally knocks his guy out, turns, and exclaims “Hey!!! Look at that!!! I got him!!” just before he focuses on the carnage Natasha left in the hallway.

In the end, Tony has come full circle. He even acknowledges this when reading the report prepared by Natasha about him by stating “yeah, but that was last week” when they are talking about his bad attitude. 

A word on the cast: Everyone did exceedingly well in this movie.  I could do without the Pepper Potts character.  She seems pointless to just about everything.  There wasn’t even a hint of her being a “love interest” until the end of the movie.  Don’t get me wrong, Gwyneth Paltrow did a fine job playing her, the character just seemed moot.

Sam Rockwell was brilliant as Justin Hammer, Tony Stark’s top rival.  He came off as a rich jerk most of the time, but there were some moments where you almost felt sorry for him and his uncoolness.  He even does the Howard Dean “WOOOOO” at one point.

Mickey Rourke made what could have been a cheesy villain in Whiplash and made him cool.  He oozed confidence.  Hell, every time he was beaten he says “heh heh heh…. you lose”.

Don Cheadle really stepped into the role of James Rhodes/War Machine and made it his own.  The interaction between him and Robert Downey Jr. felt natural and was hilarious. There’s even a great fight scene between Iron Man and War Machine!

Sam Jackson is great as Nick Fury.  I love the way Marvel is slow burning its way to the Avengers movie.  I really enjoyed the way they took the focus off Tony Stark and Iron Man for just a fleeting moment when Nick Fury says “I’ve got bigger things than you to worry about right now” followed by a dramatic pause.

And finally, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony “I am the Iron Man” Stark.  This was another great performance by Mr. Downey Jr.  There’s not a lot different about the character of Tony Stark between the last movie and this one for most of the movie.  It’s not really until the end when you realize the journey he’s made.

In the end, this is a movie about a guy who flies around in a mechanical suit of armor with a giant hole in his chest for a battery.  If you can’t suspend your disbelief beyond that, then maybe this isn’t the movie for you.  I didn’t even have a huge problem with how Tony fixed his health problem.  Health problem? Yeah, go see the movie.

Finally, sit your butt down for the whole credits to catch an ever so slight look towards the next Marvel movie.

Even though I ran out of rum about halfway through, things still got a little crazy.  For some reason we talked about how digestion works.  We talk about Iron Man 2, The Losers, Captain America, Danger Girl, The Hobbit, random television, the comics we’re reading, and, for some reason, how food is digested.  We go old school and bring up Tad Lincoln too.

Music this week was from Kellee Maize from her album “Aligned Archetype“. It was fun to listen to and I highly recommend that that you check her out.

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Thanks to MSN France (via Trailer Addict) for this wonderful Iron Man 2 featurette. You should consider this as more than a simple trailer so if you don’t want spoilers, just wait a few weeks till the movie comes out.

Well it looks like Marvel has found their director for the upcoming Avengers film, Joss Whedon! I can just hear all the Buffy fans and Browncoats yipping in glee right about now.

Deadline New York reports that Marvel Studios is in final negotiations with Joss to direct the biggest Superhero film of all time. The film is going to be fast tracked for release May of 2012. Right now we are expecting Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and maybe the Hulk (Edward Norton).

This is an interesting choice, considering that Joss is better known for character creation and writing than he is for directing. But he has had some great success with the Marvel line over the last few years, in particularly the X-Men franchise with The Astonishing X-Men.

Frankly I was hoping he would take on the Runaways movie (not the Joan Jett biopic) coming from Marvel next year.  He was one of the writers for the second volume of this excellent Marvel comics series and definitely his forte with young characters. But I am quite happy to see him taking the lead on this diverse property and wish him the best on this film.