I saw Iron Man. It rocked. Explanation? Downey, Jr., good script, written with a set of balls. And I mean that in the non-PC sense of the word. Key to rockingness? A script and cast good enough to make me want to watch the movie and not roll my eyes while waiting for the next action sequence. Wired is spooging all over itself about it. Well, it's good enough to, so it's cool.
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But what my Korean friends teased me for -- a silly movie about a "철인" (an "iron man") -- will only be #2 best movie this summer, since The Dark Knight is going to absolutely fucking own everything this summer. Reasoning? Partially the same as the last one: Bale as the Bat, Caine as Alfred, Freeman as Fox, finally taking Batman seriously and not some Happy Meal joke. And for the present one? Ledger as the Joker, introduction of Two Face, the Batman gets darker. Oh, and the new trailer!
Looks gooood.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be #3 best blockbuster of the summer. Why? Jones is back, the movie admits he's old, they tried not to use much CGI for the stunts, and there's something about aliens. Why #3? Because Spielberg's become a big pussy and he's gonna cheese it up somehow. But it won't suck -- we'll just roll our eyes a few times. As for the place in the Indy pantheon, my hunch is that it'll go Raiders, Skull, Grail, and Temple. Listen -- the quest for the Holy Grail wasn't actually THAT good -- it doesn't stand up to many close watchings.
And many parts of that scary-ass Temple were pretty good, and I liked Short Round. That kid was hilarious. I almost placed Grail last, but I realized that that would have totally shot my credibility with certain people. Even though the opening sequence rocked, the banquet scene is legendary, the removal of a still-beating heart by a Thugee priest and lowering the still-living victim into a lava pit scared the pee-pee outta me and scarred me permanently all were friggin' AWESOME, and it was the only one in which Indy actually somewhat confronts the fact that he is actually not so different from his former nemesis Belloch, in terms of being an overblown grave robber, some people still think it was "too dark." I think it was awesome, with the only detriment being the annoying Girl Friday. But she was supposed to be annoying, so was it so bad? And did I mention the banquet scene? Oh, yeah. I did. "Chilled monkey brains!" Oh, yeah.
After that? Well, who cares? I'll still go see stuff, but it won't be a party. And as I said, we're going to be having some events, baby. Movie nights -- Dark Knight and Indy. More on that later.
But I've called 'em. Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Indy, in that order.
Speed Racer? I think it's gonna kinda suck as a film, from my viewing of the trailer -- and I'm pretty good with the trailers, baby. But I think John Goodman and Christina Ricci will be good, and the picture will be a visual treat -- that trailer looked fuckin' sweet in HD! -- but I think the movie is gonna be limp overall. Sorta like Lost in Space, which looked great, but made me yawn. Hopefully I'll be wrong -- and if the racing sequences are as good as they say, I think it'll be well worth seeing, but I still don't think it'll be top 3. And Rain? Who cares? His English is still awkward and will make everyone wince, from what I saw. I think he's just a nod to lock in Korea as the 3rd-largest movie market in the world, right behind Japan, which will be sporting the very talented and gritty Hirouki Sanada as its entry in the film. He was great in Sunshine, though -- and he certainly doesn't make you wince.
The new Hulk flick with Edward Norton? Well, restarting franchises has been a good idea, what with Superman and Batman getting renewed lives. But the first/last Hulk was like, not even 10 years ago, dude. Right? Norton's cool, what with his complexity and raw talent, yadda yadda. But the Hulk will pass without much notice.
These are my calls. Let's see how they pan out, and let's just go see 'em!
