Last week, the Cubs got swept by the Rays on the road (still want to type Devil Rays) in a frustrating series, the last game of which saw the Rays score 7 runs in the 7th to win 8-3. Carlos Marmol failed to retire a batter while walking 2 and hitting another 2 guys. He appeared again in the White Sox series over the weekend, and while it was a less disastrous outing, he still didn't look quite right. Hopefully its not a result of him being overworked (and he has been worked A LOT in the first half of this season-- on pace for about 94 IP). The aforementioned White Sox series was at home and ended up in a sweep, running the Cubs' home winning streak to 14 games. They're an almost unfathomable 32-8 at Wrigley thus far, compared to 16-20 on the road.
Aramis Ramirez had a fantastic series, going 6-for-14 with 4 HRs. He's now one away from trying Derrek Lee and Alphonso Soriano for the team lead at 15. Ryan Dempster almost got his second complete game of the year, running his record to 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA. Dempster now leads the team in ERA, wins, winning percentage, WHIP, and hits per 9 IP. Right now Edinson Volquez is playing out of his mind, but its not inconceivable that Dempster could be in the discussion for Cy Young at the end of the year. With 16 starts under his belt, I think its certainly safe to say that his success isn't a flake and that the work he put in during the off-season made a huge difference in his pitching. He's certainly exceeded my expectations--and I suspect most everyone else's expectations--for how he would perform as a starter.
Carlos Zambrano left his start in Tampa Bay after feeling something in his shoulder. An MRI did not reveal any structural damage, which is great news. He has, however, been placed on the 15-day DL and will miss some time. Sean Marshall is expected to start Tuesday against the Orioles. Right now the Cubs are carrying 14 hitters so someone is going to be sent down. It seemed obvious that it would be Eric Patterson, but Patterson decided to have a huge series against the White Sox going 5-for-8 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Matt Murton, who was called up before the Tampa Bay series might get sent down, though he's had a few key hits as well. Another dilemma is going to present itself when Darryl Ward gets healthy, which Jim Hendry claimed over the weekend might happen as early as this week (I believe he's already on a rehab assignment). In his absense Micah Hoffpauir has been hitting .400 in 35 ABs, and I'm not convinced that Ward is necessarily better than him.
FYI, lest you think I pull these out of my ass, as always all the stats in this post are from Baseball Reference. I can't stress enough how amazing a resource the site is.
Monday, June 23, 2008
[Venture Brothers] Home is Where the Hate is
Season 3, Episode 4: Home is Where the Hate is
Funny episode. Probably not my favorite of the season thus far (gonna give that to "The Doctor is Sin", I think), but funny.
Episode rating: Like a guy with a fever yelling at your pants
Favorite bits & random thoughts:
-21, 24, Hank and Dean determining who could do the best Pac-Man noise. "No, it only sounded like that when you died! When you were just goin' along eating dots it was more like "Wakka-wakka-wakka-wakka..."
-Brock watching a PBS special on "giant crossbows." "I wanna see 'em fire this thing!"
-21 sending in Dean to play Patch Adams for 24, to which 24 can only reply, "I hate you!"
-The Monarch acknowledging that 24 sounds exactly like Ray Ramano
-The Monarch expressing his undying hatred for Dr. Venture, while Dr. Venture assumes that he's still playing the "guess the sign on your back" game. "Am I Hitler? Ohhh, Mariah Carey, of course!"
-Sargent Hatred with "ATRED" spelled down the length of his chest to go along with the "H" on his head.
A Sargent Hatred/Monarch feud has a lot of potential to be funny.
[Venture Brothers] The Invisible Hand of Fate
Season 3, Episode 3: The Invisible Hand of FateIn a sharp departure from the previous two seasons, three episodes into season 3 of "The Venture Bros." we've already had two episodes that feature the main characters only very briefly. In this case, we learn more about the past of Master Billy Quizboy, namely how in the hell his hand ended up like that. The episode was funny, though it didn't have as many laugh-out-loud moments as the first two episodes. I'd say it was probably the weakest of the three episodes thus far. With that said, the episode is pretty cool in the way it ties up some of the remaining loose ends regarding how characters came to know each other and how they got in their current positions. Its amazing how much care Jackson Publik and Doc Hammer put into keeping the continuity of their show consistent, while still keeping the show fresh and funny.
Anyway, its been 2 weeks now since I've seen this episode so I'm not going to do a full list of bits that I liked, but I do want to point out the sequence at the end that's made up of a bunch of quick cuts with Brock bringing Billy back to Pete and then going off to start "Operation: Rusty's Blanket." It was actually oddly touching.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Sometimes things just go your way
The Cubs finished their west coast road swing against the Dodgers and Padres 4-3, and won their first game back at home against the Braves last night. Ted Lilly recovered after a rough 1st inning to get his 6th win, and the still-best-in-the-NL Cubs offense put up 10 more runs. The best news for the Cubs as far as their playoff chances are concerned may actually be what's happening with St. Louis. The Cardinals are currently the only team reasonably close to the Cubs at 2 1/2 games back (next is the Brewers at 7 1/2 back), and while it certainly seemed as if they were overachieving when they got off to a hot start, they're still 12 over .500 about 40% of the way through the season. If the Cardinals are going to fall of though, this may be the stretch in which it happens. Their top 2 pitchers in terms of ERA, Adam Wainwright and Todd Wellemeyer, have both missed starts with injury, although Wellemeyer's injury isn't believed to be serious at the moment. A much bigger blow may have happened last night, when Albert Pujols left after sustaining a calf injury running out of the box that was described as "pretty bad." The next team after the Cardinals is the Brewers at 33-31, who have not hit nearly as well as expected (they're currently 14th in the NL in batting average and OBP). Rickie Weeks is hitting .210, J.J. Hardy's hitting .242, and Prince Fielder has a good but not great OPS of .825 with 10 HRs. They'll probably finish out better offensively than they're playing now, but it certainly doesn't look like the team is going to have improved leaps and bounds from last year, as many thought. The Cubs's road to winning the division hasn't had too many bumps in it to this point.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (***)
It's been 19 years since we last saw our whip adept, ophidiophobic, archaeologist on an adventure containing giant rolling stones of death, melting Nazis, heart stealing witch doctors, Alfred Molina, or some combination thereof. When we see Indiana Jones now in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he's a step or two slower and has a lot more gray hair, but the same basic formula is still in place, as Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford reunite for one last installment of the franchise. There's still all manner of chase sequences on period accurate vehicles of all sorts, there's still ancient burial sites with deviously clever traps, and there's still villains everywhere trying to cramp Indy's style and claim the treasure for themselves. Yet, the synergy of all these radio serial adventure type elements don't really add up to as good a finished product this time around, although the movie is still certainly an entertaining watch.
The film begins in 1958 with Indy and "Mac", an old acquaintance he's known from World War II being held captive by Russians, who pose as U.S. army personnel and break into Area 51 in the Nevada Desert. They are led by Cate Blanchett, a completely stereotypical Russian villainess (think: "I will crush the American capitalist scum with my superior Russian intellect!", that sort of thing) who specializes in the paranormal and is researching artifacts that can be used for "psychic warfare". I suppose I shouldn't spoil it, but within the military warehouse she finds something of interest to her that ties into the plot later on. Indy meanwhile, uses a distraction to start whipping people like the good old days, and tries to escape, leading to what is probably the best of the myriad chase sequences throughout the movie. Harrison Ford's performance is probably at its best during these early scenes. He's old, he's grumpy, he seems to be sort of worn out of these strange situations he always gets himself into, and it adds up to being very funny.
After this relatively encouraging opening which ends with some of the most preposterous deus ex machinas of all time, we see that Dr. Jones is still a university professor, and so we get a few plot points to get him back out of the classroom. On a train out of town, Jones meets Mutt (Shia LaBueff), a high school drop out greaser and biker mechanic who tells Dr. Jones that one of his colleages, Dr. Oxley or "Ox" has gone missing in South America. Turns out Ox (who is played by John Hurt for some reason even though he doesn't have much to do other than act crazy) has been committed to a sanitarium after he sound a legendary crystal skull that is the source for the movie's subtitle and is the goal of the quest in this iteration. As it turns out, who'd have thunk it, but the same Russians from the movie's first sequence are going after the skull as well because its believed to have psychic powers. Indy and Mutt go tomb raiding and find the skull in its original resting place--Ox had returned it for yet to be revealed reasons--only to find that the Russians are waiting outside for them.
It's once Indy and Mutt head into the jungles of Peru with the Russians that my tolerance for some of the movie's cliches and over-the-top ridiculousness started to waver. I understand that the entire Indiana Jones franchise is based off of old serial adventure stories and indeed that's a big reason why the original trilogy was so fun, but there is a point when your suspension of disbelief is just shot and it's all too much. For me, this was somewhere around the time when Indy and company along with the Russians are riding in a convoy of trucks along the outskirts of the jungle, and monkeys come out of the trees and seemingly instinctively know to go bat shit crazy on the villains and leave the main characters alone completely.
There is more silliness when Marion (played by Karen Allen, as she was in Raiders) pops up in the film, coincidentally also captured by the Russians. There seems to be little point in her being in the movie, except to engage in completely unfunny banter with Indy every once in a while. There are multiple instances of the clichéd "let's have an argument about our relationship even though we're in extreme danger right now" bit that completely fall flat. Beyond that, she never really seems concerned at all about any of what's going on around her during the action sequences. There are times in which Mutt and Indy are literally under fire from a dozen Russian troops and this will be intercut with a shot of Karen Allen with a sort of contended half-smile on her face. I also thought the film had a few two many in-references and moments that were very self-aware of the fact that this was the big long-expected fourth Indiana Jones movie. In particular, there are a lot of moments where Indy is able to get his hat back at the last minute despite losing it while a crazy amount of stuff is happening to him. Sometimes its funny, sometimes its just too clever by half.
Once all these chase sequences are done with and the true nature of the skull, and why Oxley was going nuts, and all the other mysteries in the film are solved, there is a climactic sequence that's very much reminiscent of how Raiders or Last Crusade ended, and yet somehow isn't as satisfying. Maybe it's the heavy and obvious use of CGI, or the fact that the big reveal at the end is in some ways even more ambitious than the "oh shit, Judeo-Christian mythology is real and the Nazis are going to get what's coming to them!" moments from the previous films, but it just doesn't quite add up the way the endings to said films did.
Even with all this going against the movie, I do think it's worth viewing, if perhaps only after it leaves theaters and comes to DVD. While I think the script for this latest iteration was somewhat phoned in, and the action sequences are much more clichéd and uninspired than you would expect from Spielberg, some of the Indy allure is still there. Harrison Ford's performance is very good, and he does a great job of maintaining the quick wit and grittiness that's always been in the character, while making him more world-weary and more of a cynical old man sort. In no way is this movie destined to become a Spielberg classic, but its not a complete disaster.
It's been 19 years since we last saw our whip adept, ophidiophobic, archaeologist on an adventure containing giant rolling stones of death, melting Nazis, heart stealing witch doctors, Alfred Molina, or some combination thereof. When we see Indiana Jones now in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he's a step or two slower and has a lot more gray hair, but the same basic formula is still in place, as Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford reunite for one last installment of the franchise. There's still all manner of chase sequences on period accurate vehicles of all sorts, there's still ancient burial sites with deviously clever traps, and there's still villains everywhere trying to cramp Indy's style and claim the treasure for themselves. Yet, the synergy of all these radio serial adventure type elements don't really add up to as good a finished product this time around, although the movie is still certainly an entertaining watch.
The film begins in 1958 with Indy and "Mac", an old acquaintance he's known from World War II being held captive by Russians, who pose as U.S. army personnel and break into Area 51 in the Nevada Desert. They are led by Cate Blanchett, a completely stereotypical Russian villainess (think: "I will crush the American capitalist scum with my superior Russian intellect!", that sort of thing) who specializes in the paranormal and is researching artifacts that can be used for "psychic warfare". I suppose I shouldn't spoil it, but within the military warehouse she finds something of interest to her that ties into the plot later on. Indy meanwhile, uses a distraction to start whipping people like the good old days, and tries to escape, leading to what is probably the best of the myriad chase sequences throughout the movie. Harrison Ford's performance is probably at its best during these early scenes. He's old, he's grumpy, he seems to be sort of worn out of these strange situations he always gets himself into, and it adds up to being very funny.
After this relatively encouraging opening which ends with some of the most preposterous deus ex machinas of all time, we see that Dr. Jones is still a university professor, and so we get a few plot points to get him back out of the classroom. On a train out of town, Jones meets Mutt (Shia LaBueff), a high school drop out greaser and biker mechanic who tells Dr. Jones that one of his colleages, Dr. Oxley or "Ox" has gone missing in South America. Turns out Ox (who is played by John Hurt for some reason even though he doesn't have much to do other than act crazy) has been committed to a sanitarium after he sound a legendary crystal skull that is the source for the movie's subtitle and is the goal of the quest in this iteration. As it turns out, who'd have thunk it, but the same Russians from the movie's first sequence are going after the skull as well because its believed to have psychic powers. Indy and Mutt go tomb raiding and find the skull in its original resting place--Ox had returned it for yet to be revealed reasons--only to find that the Russians are waiting outside for them.
It's once Indy and Mutt head into the jungles of Peru with the Russians that my tolerance for some of the movie's cliches and over-the-top ridiculousness started to waver. I understand that the entire Indiana Jones franchise is based off of old serial adventure stories and indeed that's a big reason why the original trilogy was so fun, but there is a point when your suspension of disbelief is just shot and it's all too much. For me, this was somewhere around the time when Indy and company along with the Russians are riding in a convoy of trucks along the outskirts of the jungle, and monkeys come out of the trees and seemingly instinctively know to go bat shit crazy on the villains and leave the main characters alone completely.
There is more silliness when Marion (played by Karen Allen, as she was in Raiders) pops up in the film, coincidentally also captured by the Russians. There seems to be little point in her being in the movie, except to engage in completely unfunny banter with Indy every once in a while. There are multiple instances of the clichéd "let's have an argument about our relationship even though we're in extreme danger right now" bit that completely fall flat. Beyond that, she never really seems concerned at all about any of what's going on around her during the action sequences. There are times in which Mutt and Indy are literally under fire from a dozen Russian troops and this will be intercut with a shot of Karen Allen with a sort of contended half-smile on her face. I also thought the film had a few two many in-references and moments that were very self-aware of the fact that this was the big long-expected fourth Indiana Jones movie. In particular, there are a lot of moments where Indy is able to get his hat back at the last minute despite losing it while a crazy amount of stuff is happening to him. Sometimes its funny, sometimes its just too clever by half.
Once all these chase sequences are done with and the true nature of the skull, and why Oxley was going nuts, and all the other mysteries in the film are solved, there is a climactic sequence that's very much reminiscent of how Raiders or Last Crusade ended, and yet somehow isn't as satisfying. Maybe it's the heavy and obvious use of CGI, or the fact that the big reveal at the end is in some ways even more ambitious than the "oh shit, Judeo-Christian mythology is real and the Nazis are going to get what's coming to them!" moments from the previous films, but it just doesn't quite add up the way the endings to said films did.
Even with all this going against the movie, I do think it's worth viewing, if perhaps only after it leaves theaters and comes to DVD. While I think the script for this latest iteration was somewhat phoned in, and the action sequences are much more clichéd and uninspired than you would expect from Spielberg, some of the Indy allure is still there. Harrison Ford's performance is very good, and he does a great job of maintaining the quick wit and grittiness that's always been in the character, while making him more world-weary and more of a cynical old man sort. In no way is this movie destined to become a Spielberg classic, but its not a complete disaster.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
[Venture Brothers] The Doctor is Sin
Season 3, Episode 2: The Doctor is Sin
After the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend-centric season premiere, we get an episode that focuses again on the Venture family themselves first and foremost. We learn that ever since The Monarch stopped arching Dr. Venture, many a villain has attempted to take The Monarch's place only to get their asses handed to them by Brock (who gets a little tired of it after a while). Between this and the fact that the military doesn't seem to think too much of his new inventions (which seem to be mostly his father's old inventions) Rusty finds himself in rut. Enter: Dr. Henry Killinger, who shows his extensive resume and immediately begins to rejuvenate Venture Industries (but at what cost? dun dun dunnnn). Another episode, of which there were several last season, that doesn't really seem to be going anywhere in terms of story at first, but ends up not only having a satisfying conclusion, but is hilarious.
Episode Rating: Like having your own team of non-union, government paid Vench-men
Favorite bits & random thoughts:
-Brock gives pretty much the only appropriate answer to Dr. Venture's question "Am I a good person?": "Eh..." complete with the side-to-side hand wave thing.
-Apparently the magic murder bag actually is a magic murder bag. And a quite effective one at that.
-In the season 2 commentary they claimed that season 3 wouldn't have any Star Wars references. Well, I think in the 2nd episode there's already been one, as Dr. Killinger tells Rusty to enter the odd virtual world that apparently exists inside his bag and he answers Rusty's question of "What's in there" with "Only what you take with you." I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Yoda tells Luke when he goes into the cave and sees the bogus Darth Vader. At any rate, it was funny. If they want to continue to break their commitment to no Star Wars references that's fine with me.
-Dr. Orpheus leaving the building with his European business man costume on, then running in plain sight while taking off his costume and going to put on the next one was just fantastic.
-The Lion King-esque face in the clouds ending: completely random but also fantastic. "You can learn more about it in The Bible"
-The Alchemist is still around, but where's Jefferson Twilight?
After the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend-centric season premiere, we get an episode that focuses again on the Venture family themselves first and foremost. We learn that ever since The Monarch stopped arching Dr. Venture, many a villain has attempted to take The Monarch's place only to get their asses handed to them by Brock (who gets a little tired of it after a while). Between this and the fact that the military doesn't seem to think too much of his new inventions (which seem to be mostly his father's old inventions) Rusty finds himself in rut. Enter: Dr. Henry Killinger, who shows his extensive resume and immediately begins to rejuvenate Venture Industries (but at what cost? dun dun dunnnn). Another episode, of which there were several last season, that doesn't really seem to be going anywhere in terms of story at first, but ends up not only having a satisfying conclusion, but is hilarious.
Episode Rating: Like having your own team of non-union, government paid Vench-men
Favorite bits & random thoughts:
-Brock gives pretty much the only appropriate answer to Dr. Venture's question "Am I a good person?": "Eh..." complete with the side-to-side hand wave thing.
-Apparently the magic murder bag actually is a magic murder bag. And a quite effective one at that.
-In the season 2 commentary they claimed that season 3 wouldn't have any Star Wars references. Well, I think in the 2nd episode there's already been one, as Dr. Killinger tells Rusty to enter the odd virtual world that apparently exists inside his bag and he answers Rusty's question of "What's in there" with "Only what you take with you." I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Yoda tells Luke when he goes into the cave and sees the bogus Darth Vader. At any rate, it was funny. If they want to continue to break their commitment to no Star Wars references that's fine with me.
-Dr. Orpheus leaving the building with his European business man costume on, then running in plain sight while taking off his costume and going to put on the next one was just fantastic.
-The Lion King-esque face in the clouds ending: completely random but also fantastic. "You can learn more about it in The Bible"
-The Alchemist is still around, but where's Jefferson Twilight?
Iron Man
Iron Man (***1/2)
I'm sort of late to the party on Iron Man, which came out in early May and immediately made tons of money and got tons of hype. Having finally seen it last weekend, I can confirm that the hype was very much justified, and that the movie proves that it is still possible to make a superhero movie that doesn't feel like a cookie-cutter re-branding of another movie, despite how many superhero movies are out there now. It's a very intelligently written movie, and it manages to maintain a certain degree of unpredictability, despite having the core "Guy becomes hero, hero discovers villain, hero beats up villain" plotline that most of these Marvel/DC movies are based around.
The movie begins by introducing us to Tony Stark, who is very much true to his character's portrayal in Marvel comics. He's a genius when it comes to engineering, but he's also a drinker, a womanizer, and in just about every other way someone who lives live with reckless abandon. This is how he's first presented to us as he's riding in a Humvee with U.S. soldiers on his way back from a weapons demonstration for his company, Stark Industries, somewhere in Afghanistan. Things hit a snag for him, to put it mildly, when the convoy of Humvees is the target of an attack and Tony finds himself in the hands of a terrorist organization (a fictional one, whose members are made up of many different nationalities, no doubt to stave off controversy). He has shrapnel lodged in his chest that would've pierced his heart and killed him, were it not for another scientist captured with him who keeps him alive with an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery (I strongly question the validity of the medicine behind all this but whatever, it's a comic book movie). In a cruel twist of fate, Stark realizes that he's being kept alive so he can build the very missile he just demonstrated for the U.S. military for his captors.
Stark, of course, has other ideas, and creates an early prototype of the Iron Man suit and uses it to escape. He also makes a breakthrough in "arc reactor" technology (no idea if this has a real world equivalent, be it actually functional or theoretical), which he uses to power the electromagnet in his chest without him having to be dragging a car battery along. Upon his return to the U.S. he has a sort of epiphany and decides that Stark Industries, despite being primary a weapons manufacturer, since the weapons keep ending up in the hands of the wrong people. This doesn't go over well with Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who briefly headed the company after Tony's father died but before Tony was old enough to become CEO himself.
Much of the next section of the film tracks Tony's progress as he designs a new and improved Iron Man suit--without letting Obadiah or the rest of the company know--in the lab in his mansion. He does it with the help of Jarvis, the personality of the super-sophisticated AI that controls his entire house. In a movie in which everything that's not owned by Tony Stark basically resembles our, normal present day world, the fact that Jarvis seems to rival the computer from Star Trek: The Next Generation in intelligence is a little cartoonish, but I can forgive that because a. it's a comic book movie and b. it leads to some extremely funny exchanges between Tony and the various robotic appendages that Jarvis controls. Tony's near obsessive level of devotion to his new project concerns his devoted, if perhaps somewhat overwhelmed at times, assistant, Pepper Potts (Gweneth Paltrow). She doesn't have a huge role, but there are some very good scenes in which we see her doing the best she can to be a companion to the loner that is Tony Stark while not encouraging his more self-destructive habits. Their relationship has some vague sexual tension, but doesn't turn into a hokey love story which at times seem to be a prerequisite for any big Hollywood movie. This, along with the fact that the movie is more about Tony building the suit and taking on the identity of Iron Man than him endlessly fighting random guys as Iron Man makes the movie stand out amongst the cluster**** of big budget superhero movies, and hopefully will influence the myriad superhero movies that are still on the way.
The movie ends with the requisite hero vs. villain confutation, and has the much expected "greed is bad, selfless is good" morality tale woven in, but the movie is well-written enough and the performances by Downey Jr., Bridges, and Paltrow are good enough such that the movie feels like it has something unique to contribute to the genre and isn't just a cookie-cutter duplicate of other movies with a different guy in a different costume. It also sets itself up for sequel in a way that actually makes you believe that a sequel would actually branch out from what the original was, instead of just swapping villains and rehashing mostly the same plot. This is a superhero movie done right.
I'm sort of late to the party on Iron Man, which came out in early May and immediately made tons of money and got tons of hype. Having finally seen it last weekend, I can confirm that the hype was very much justified, and that the movie proves that it is still possible to make a superhero movie that doesn't feel like a cookie-cutter re-branding of another movie, despite how many superhero movies are out there now. It's a very intelligently written movie, and it manages to maintain a certain degree of unpredictability, despite having the core "Guy becomes hero, hero discovers villain, hero beats up villain" plotline that most of these Marvel/DC movies are based around.
The movie begins by introducing us to Tony Stark, who is very much true to his character's portrayal in Marvel comics. He's a genius when it comes to engineering, but he's also a drinker, a womanizer, and in just about every other way someone who lives live with reckless abandon. This is how he's first presented to us as he's riding in a Humvee with U.S. soldiers on his way back from a weapons demonstration for his company, Stark Industries, somewhere in Afghanistan. Things hit a snag for him, to put it mildly, when the convoy of Humvees is the target of an attack and Tony finds himself in the hands of a terrorist organization (a fictional one, whose members are made up of many different nationalities, no doubt to stave off controversy). He has shrapnel lodged in his chest that would've pierced his heart and killed him, were it not for another scientist captured with him who keeps him alive with an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery (I strongly question the validity of the medicine behind all this but whatever, it's a comic book movie). In a cruel twist of fate, Stark realizes that he's being kept alive so he can build the very missile he just demonstrated for the U.S. military for his captors.
Stark, of course, has other ideas, and creates an early prototype of the Iron Man suit and uses it to escape. He also makes a breakthrough in "arc reactor" technology (no idea if this has a real world equivalent, be it actually functional or theoretical), which he uses to power the electromagnet in his chest without him having to be dragging a car battery along. Upon his return to the U.S. he has a sort of epiphany and decides that Stark Industries, despite being primary a weapons manufacturer, since the weapons keep ending up in the hands of the wrong people. This doesn't go over well with Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who briefly headed the company after Tony's father died but before Tony was old enough to become CEO himself.
Much of the next section of the film tracks Tony's progress as he designs a new and improved Iron Man suit--without letting Obadiah or the rest of the company know--in the lab in his mansion. He does it with the help of Jarvis, the personality of the super-sophisticated AI that controls his entire house. In a movie in which everything that's not owned by Tony Stark basically resembles our, normal present day world, the fact that Jarvis seems to rival the computer from Star Trek: The Next Generation in intelligence is a little cartoonish, but I can forgive that because a. it's a comic book movie and b. it leads to some extremely funny exchanges between Tony and the various robotic appendages that Jarvis controls. Tony's near obsessive level of devotion to his new project concerns his devoted, if perhaps somewhat overwhelmed at times, assistant, Pepper Potts (Gweneth Paltrow). She doesn't have a huge role, but there are some very good scenes in which we see her doing the best she can to be a companion to the loner that is Tony Stark while not encouraging his more self-destructive habits. Their relationship has some vague sexual tension, but doesn't turn into a hokey love story which at times seem to be a prerequisite for any big Hollywood movie. This, along with the fact that the movie is more about Tony building the suit and taking on the identity of Iron Man than him endlessly fighting random guys as Iron Man makes the movie stand out amongst the cluster**** of big budget superhero movies, and hopefully will influence the myriad superhero movies that are still on the way.
The movie ends with the requisite hero vs. villain confutation, and has the much expected "greed is bad, selfless is good" morality tale woven in, but the movie is well-written enough and the performances by Downey Jr., Bridges, and Paltrow are good enough such that the movie feels like it has something unique to contribute to the genre and isn't just a cookie-cutter duplicate of other movies with a different guy in a different costume. It also sets itself up for sequel in a way that actually makes you believe that a sequel would actually branch out from what the original was, instead of just swapping villains and rehashing mostly the same plot. This is a superhero movie done right.
Monday, June 02, 2008
[Venture Brothers] Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny
Season 3, Episode 1: Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny
The Venture Bros. is one of my favorite shows currently airing on TV, animated or otherwise, and the almost 2 year wait for season 3 to start has been absolutely brutal. At long last its here, and if the first episode is any indication, co-creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer (yeah, those are their actual names) haven't missed a beat. If you've never seen the show it's nigh impossible for it to be fully explained to you, but my attempt at a one sentence summary is this: It's like Johnny Quest on crack. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out, but in the meantime here's some random thoughts on the season 3 premiere for those already indoctrinated.
Rating: Like two ninjas taped together to form one giant ninja
Favorite bits/quotes: (with aid from The Mantis Eye Experiment)
-The Monarch: Oh man, if that shows up on YouTube- I- I'm serious! What kind of torture is this? Couldn't you just drill my teeth, or shove bamboo under my nails or something.
Councilman: This is not a torture, Mr. Monarch.
Councilman: It is an interrogation!
Councilman: Or a trial of sorts!
Councilman: I always say, it's a crucible.
Councilman: Oh that's way cooler!
-The Henchmen rolling away a giant penny, referencing the one that's always shown in the Bat Cave.
-The Monarch tearing through Dr. Ventures lab with his early, crappy version of the Monarch mobile, pulling a lever up and down while he's driving to make the crudely attached wings on top flap.
-The Monarch: I would have taken him down then if Venture hadn't hired a private army of ex-Navy Seal ninja witches to protect him. Also my memory is a little foggy, but I'm pretty sure he had a fucking tank.
-The Monarch: Wait, wait, did that video have a wipe?
Councilman: Councilman 3 got Adobe Premiere.
Councilman 3: Was it too showy? I thought it would make the scene more lively.
The Venture Bros. is one of my favorite shows currently airing on TV, animated or otherwise, and the almost 2 year wait for season 3 to start has been absolutely brutal. At long last its here, and if the first episode is any indication, co-creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer (yeah, those are their actual names) haven't missed a beat. If you've never seen the show it's nigh impossible for it to be fully explained to you, but my attempt at a one sentence summary is this: It's like Johnny Quest on crack. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out, but in the meantime here's some random thoughts on the season 3 premiere for those already indoctrinated.
Rating: Like two ninjas taped together to form one giant ninja
Favorite bits/quotes: (with aid from The Mantis Eye Experiment)
-The Monarch: Oh man, if that shows up on YouTube- I- I'm serious! What kind of torture is this? Couldn't you just drill my teeth, or shove bamboo under my nails or something.
Councilman: This is not a torture, Mr. Monarch.
Councilman: It is an interrogation!
Councilman: Or a trial of sorts!
Councilman: I always say, it's a crucible.
Councilman: Oh that's way cooler!
-The Henchmen rolling away a giant penny, referencing the one that's always shown in the Bat Cave.
-The Monarch tearing through Dr. Ventures lab with his early, crappy version of the Monarch mobile, pulling a lever up and down while he's driving to make the crudely attached wings on top flap.
-The Monarch: I would have taken him down then if Venture hadn't hired a private army of ex-Navy Seal ninja witches to protect him. Also my memory is a little foggy, but I'm pretty sure he had a fucking tank.
-The Monarch: Wait, wait, did that video have a wipe?
Councilman: Councilman 3 got Adobe Premiere.
Councilman 3: Was it too showy? I thought it would make the scene more lively.
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