Oh and Sean, I beat Superman Returns enough for everyone:http://film-book.com/review-superman-returns/

…just kidding.

That is so lame, you know what I meant though.

I suck

You’d hate to be Christopher Nolan?

You’re right, the frame work is very similar. As Phillip noted, it wasn’t a break out film in terms of writing, but these script “templates” just work for these types of movies. That being said I would still hate to be the person who has to please you Phillip! hahaha

BTW Evan, after Coen month is over how about pulling out the superhero/comic book movies of the last few years and reviewing them, its comic book summer blockbuster year. I would love to see you beat up Superman Returns— again.

Now that everyone is established and all the players are set up, the second Iron Man will most likely be a grand slam out of the park. Favreau obviously has what it takes, and from what I’ve read the second film will be delving into Stark’s alcoholism, which should inject the film with much needed pathos. Also, who doesn’t want to see Potts and Stark get together after Downey and Paltrow set it up so beautifully in this one?

And the film brilliantly skirts between war and peace, left and right, etc. so that an individual’s take on the subject of war toyz is sated or at least acknowledged.

Half-way through the movie, a friend of mine leaned over to me and whispered, “What is this movie?!” My sentiments exactly.

BUT, the awesome new Indy and Dark Knight trailers were worth the price of admission.

And even if you don’t like Raimi’s take on Spider-Man, you can’t disagree with the strong similarities between this movie and the first Spidey. They have a lot of the same plot beats and the same tones.

I actually hold out a lot of hope for the new Hulk. I think it’s going to be a good reboot for the series. And yes, the Dark Knight (apart from Indy IV) is my most anticipated film of the summer.

And Thadd, you may be right, although perhaps the distinction is subtle. Regardless, its still a political metaphor for America.

Robert Downey Jr is Iron Man. I loved every minute of this movie and I would see it again and again.

I slightly disagree with the Spider Man correlation simply because outside of Spidey 2 I hated Raimis take on it. Or to put it another way, IMHO I think it stunk. Box office numbers don’t line up with my thinking but hey, that’s my opinion. Tobey McGuire is not Peter Parker to me, not the Peter from the comics that I grew up reading. Also what was the big idea with CGI in spider man? It sucked. As G.O.B. Bluth would say “come ON!”

Since I’m going off on CGI (Iron Man had me fooled most of the time which is what I need in order to appreciate CGI)after seeing the Hulk trailer in the theater the Hulk looks pretty fake which is really disappointing to me. I’ve been expecting a lot from that movie.

The Dark Knight makes me all giddy and gabby like a teenage girl. I CANT WAIT TO SEE IT.

So that’s it- great review Evan, I appreciate the 5 stars, I was thinking maybe 4.5 personally but 5 is definitely fair. You didn’t mention the cave segment which seemed to lag a little to develop a character who was basically a red shirt. That’s a matter of opinion I suppose because the person I was with did like it. I felt like it didn’t match the pace of the rest of the film. Anyway, good review. Thanks.

And I cannot believe that you didn’t even mention Stan Lee’s cameo, which I thought was the best one he’s ever had.