; the little -details- xXx

exams! over! let's just cut straight to the post exam activities, shall we?

1. dinner
delifrance. movin finished an entire flask of parmessan cheese.

2. still dinner
what's a destressing dinner without the small talks? conversations were centered on miley cyrus (or dislike of her), hannah montana (and dislike of her), that's so raven, suite life of zack and cody (universal favorites!) and school stuff (of course).

3. arcade
found out that me and movin really suck at time crisis (oh god it's so embarassing. we didn't even get past the prologue stage -.- i just have no luck with first person shooting games from counter strike to half life to dirge of cerberus to time crisis 2,3 and 4.) aaron of course was owning his red-blue-green game thingy.

4. movie
ironman. duh. ohmygod ohmygodohmygod. my brain's still blown away from it. anyway, without being too much of a fangirl (zomgilovelovelovetonythatlittleassholeandrobertdowneyjristhenewsexgargh) here's a really quick review:

<spoiler!>

what a superhero movie should have:

cool costume design: checked
let's face it: ironman aint have the spiffiest design around, but the movie actually didn't make the costume as ugly as some (not mentioning names here) comic book artists make it look like. really like the fact that they've included jack kirby's original grey "tinman" design as mark I as well as including a mark II before tony finalises his design. it makes it more ... realistic. after all, rome isn't built in a day (but apparently spiderman's costume is?)

love interest: double checked
hey, guess what? tony and pepper didn't do anything dirty on screen. not even a peck on the lips. but that doesn't mean the romance part of the story's as dead as the ironman costume; in fact it's as sizzling as its turbo engine (god, i have to stop with this lame similes). the "there but not there" nature of the relationship and the chemistry between the two actors only add to the appeal to the movie

revised backstory: checked
as mentioned before: instead of tony being captured by vietnamese and made to create a weapon by communists, he was captured by militants in afganishtan with a very appropriate name: ten rings (more on that later). but other than this update, tony's origin as a genius millionaire playboy is beautifully played by robert downey and the fact that the story focuses on his character more than anything else is a nice change to the normal beat-em-up-for-the-screen direction action movies take. which brings me to my next point:

cgi and action scenes: checked and a half check
no superhero movie is complete without the mind blowing cgi scenes and adrenaline pumping action scenes. cgi is flawless. plain wow. action scenes? well, after watching countless of trailers, the most exciting scenes are already given away there. there are some cool moments there (personal favorite is the airchase) when tony either does the ass kicking or at the receiving end of the ass kicking and with a suit like that, of course there are some classic moments (for example, when a militant shoots at the mark 1 costume at short range; it bounces off and kills him instead XDDDDDD). but i guess compared to the rest of the superhero movies, yeah, there's something a little bit lacking. having just read a scan of an ironman comic in scans_daily yesterday, i got to see how brutal tony--heck, superheroes can be (it was a fight against the mandarin; owch: i pity the mandarin after the end of the fight). if there's anything to iron out in this movie, then a more elaborate longer fighting scenes can be shown. like darren's put it: it doesn't feel like it's reached the climax yet.

possibility for a sequel: super checked
next time, baby.
in the words of james rhodes himself. future (BIG SPOILER) war machine, a sidekick of sort to ironman. the ten ring thing? please. here's the laydown: ironman's got a communist archrival known as the mandarin... because he's chinese. he's got ten rings that give him superhuman powers. in the movie: the leader of the ten ring militant group is a man with a grudge against tony. duh. he's the movie-verse's version of the mandarin. only because he's not chinese, i don't know what they'd call him. the afghanistan?
the S.H.I.E.L.D introduction is just too funny; have you ever thought of changing your name? heh. and its inclusion means that there's something deeper going on--S.H.I.E.L.D involvement would most likely or not involve avengers involvement. and avengers... well. rumors about a thor movie. rumors about an ironman movie. rumors about an avengers movie. fill in the blanks.
this isn't relevant, but the stan lee cameo was hilarious. old man surrounded by pretty girls. guys, if you want your golden years to be surrounded by hot babes a third of your age, be a comic legend.
anyway, the ending itself is enough to ensure you that: yes, this movie is just a prequel. a trailer. an appetizer for the real thing.
(and with ironman grossing $101 at first weekend in america only supports the fact that yes: ironman II is coming to a theater near you soon)

what a superhero movie should have but lack all the time:

a plot. a script. a story. a... something that's worth watching for, dammit.
usually, people watch movie for its story. unfortunately, superhero movies tend to get carried away by focusing on the sexy ladies and the fighting scenes and the cgi and whatnot. see: elektra, hulk (the first one, not the one's that coming), spiderman 3, xmen3. fortunately enough, the strong point of ironman is actually its script. like i've said before, the movie's all about tony's growth from immature cassanova to a hero with a heart. there are many witty lines in the movie and camerawork, pacing and everything is damn near perfect. this is the brainchild of an indie director and an indie actor geniuses. with the perfect cast, this movie is one with an indie sparkle and appeal, but also with the bigbudget blockbuster draw.

a character we'd care about
oh come on. you have to admit peter parker is actually kinda boring. so is superman--that ol' boy scout. batman? yeah, okay. a bit emo at times, but at least a unique character on its own. ironman?
tony stark isn't supposed to be a character we care about; morality states that we should despise such a selfish, arrogant, sarcastic playboy asshole. but somewhere between the cheeky grin and the tongue in cheek replies, tony stark suddenly appeals to us. especially after his brush with death and tony's become a "changed" man, a man searching for a heroic heart and a way to fight something that he's created himself--a man trying to be a hero, and a man, who even though hides in the super armor, still has a bleeding heart and a dark dark secret he's fighting to hide (well, that's sequel material).
many comic writers have lost track of this essence of who anthony stark really is (probably in the attempt to make him the dick of marvel universe; it's working), but this movie hasn't. it's tony stark--the best of tony stark with wit, charm and intelligence--brought into life by the brilliant robert downey jr which would engage not only comic fans but also the rest of the audience who's never heard of slade wilson before.

conclusion
this is not a quick review after all, is it? sigh. me and my tendency to digress and blabber on and on and on and on...
anyway, this movie is indeed a masterpiece that has set a new standard in superhero movies. it has some kinks in its armor (for one: it needs more score to accompany the movie, needs more action and come to think of it, the last part of the movie was a bit rushed... from tony the clumsy hero who's trying to use the suit properly to suddenly tony the afghanistan villlage savior and tony, the guy who almost died crushed by ironmonger), but it is still a shiny one at that. if the sequel is done properly (hint: don't focus too much on the alcholism or the movie would just turn out like some sappy crappy drama), it may even do a spiderman2 and beat its prequel and the golden standard it's set.

on a really random sidenote: a pile of 50 cent coins can really hinder the functions of your ezlink card (thanks darren for giving me the chance to try that out). darren calls it ironcoins. haha. ya lah, it's common sense especially to students trained in physics like us, but it's just fun to ... experiment that out.

----
as promised, last post where i gush about ironman.

omg the hell i just realised this movie exists?!



will smith is hancock (click here for trailer!) another superhero movie, this time with a devil may care attitude and really prone to being sued for property damage (and i think he has an agent? lol). the trailer's enough to convince me that i am so going to watch this: "you don't move, your head's gonna end up in his ass. (collective eewww from onlookers as he carried out his threat)."

and here's the second and hopefully better take on marvel's favorite beast incredible hulk trailer. hulk looks like a cross of lettuce, big foot, yeti and plain ugliness--bundled up and sent go japan to be anime-ised. ah who cares; thing meant supposed to be ugly anyway (i've been told that such ugliness muscular being actually proves to be 'cool' for guys. ah. yet another thing that separates men from women). the scene where bruce banner kisses his girl in a helicopter above a city, lets go and plummets down onto the earth before emerging from the torn ground as hulk looks cool.

there's also hellboy 2 coming out but i'm not too bothered with it; never watched the first one, never wanted to and the same pattern would repeat for the sequel (it's called: lack of interest). then there's the dark knight. who'd forget that? 

2 more exams. i feel so liberated already. (until i get back my scripts that is. oh joy.)

(first ironman-free post in how long? well if you overlook this statement, that is).