Dave's Blog

Review: Iron Man 2

2010-06-13T18:01:00.003-04:00

So the 2010 summer movie season is upon us once again. I only saw two movies so far, but hope to see more as they come along. Here are my reviews on the two already seen:

Iron Man 2

*WARNING* Spoilers ahead and some stuff from Wikipedia

As you might think already, I love the Marvel movies so far. Tony Stark revealing his identity as Iron Man at the end of the first film was a curve-ball I didn't see coming. The post-credits scene at the end was another, with Samuel L. "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson as Nick Fury, a character who, in the Marvel Ultimate comic book continuity is BASED ON HIS APPEARANCE. Major plus.

Roles include: Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Tony's bodyguard and chauffeur. Paul Bettany returns as JARVIS' voice, and Phil Coulson's back and played by the same guy.The only person replacing the previous is Don Cheatle as Rhodey, which is a slight improvement from Terrence Howard. Stan Lee has a cameo, but Tony mistakes him AGAIN, this time as Larry King. A bit of real-world flavor is added in by Christiane Amanpour and Bill O'Reilly. The late great DJ AM has a cameo as well, and the film is dedicated in his memory.

The new film is set six months after the first, with Stark now being brought in by the US government about the Iron Man armor (Senator Stern played by Garry Shandling is a nice touch). Stark refuses to turn over the suit, claiming that his competitors are years away from successfully recreating it, with humorous test videos adding an exclamation point to the statement.

We then find out that Tony's slowly being poisoned by the core in his arc reactor (oh, the irony). Because of this, he appoints Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as the CEO of his namesake business, and fills Potts' former position as his personal assistant with a hot number named Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson).

He then tries for Semi-suicide at the Circuit de Monaco, where he's almost killed by one PO'd guy named Ivan Vanko (played by the coming-back Mickey Rourke), who has an arc reactor and a suit of his own, along with whip-like energy weapons. However, Stark defeats Vanko with the aid of a new portable briefcase armor (hearkening back to some comics and the '90s cartoon). Afterward, Stark learns that Ivan is the son of his father Howard's (John Slattery) old partner, Anton Vanko, who collaborated with Howard on the first arc reactor but was deported to the Soviets following his attempts to cash in on the technology and died in poverty. Ivan blames the two for his family's fate, and seeks revenge. Rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (played nicely by Sam Rockwell) has Vanko broken out of jail - by way of faking Vanko's death - and recruits him to perfect a line of armored combat units to upstage Stark at his own Expo. However, things go sour between Hammer and Vanko when Vanko, instead of building armored suits like Hammer wanted, instead builds a series of military drones for an unknown purpose.

So there, one-half of the movie's plot for you. I think that's all I need to get you guys to know that this is a hell of a film. If not, here's one: Scarlett's character is a spy from S.H.I.E.L.D. and wears a bad-ass jumpsuit later in the movie. That must have increased male movie-goers by the double-digits. If you bought a ticket, it should have been a good time. If you didn't, go see it in theaters or buy the DVD or Blu-ray Disc.

Although there are a lot of new characters and some flying plot threads in this film, but everyone's performance was rock-solid and the action was comfortably packed in.

Rating: Four out of five popcorn kernels

2012 and the IHC

2009-08-03T18:25:00.003-04:00

Okay, new thing here. It's the IHC, or the Institute for Human Continuity. Their mission is to ensure the survival of the human race beyond 2012. Why 2012, you may ask? The Mayans predicted the end of the calender to be on December 21, 2012. Why believe them? Before going public earlier this year, they conducted three decades of research. They have various initiatives based around research, preparation, and long-term survival. They even have a lottery to guarantee every citizen of the planet an equel chance of survival. you can sign up for it at their site I bookmarked on the sidebar. Good luck and thank you for listening.

PS to Charlie: Give it a chance, man.

Contest!

2009-05-17T00:52:00.001-04:00

Yes, another one: this time, a soda machine: http://anyluckyday.com/contest-of-the-day-sodastream-fountain-jet Genius idea, right? And tasty. :9

2009-03-15T15:56:00.001-04:00

Another contest for ya http://anyluckyday.com/contest-of-the-day-the-slanket for the Slanket, the earlier and more expensive version of the Snuggie. One winner, Ruby wine. Follow instructions to enter.

Away from film, into contests!

2009-03-09T01:10:00.001-04:00

No, not a contest from ME, but from this: http://anyluckyday.com/contest-of-the-day-flip-video-camcorder follow instructions for chance to win cool camcorder. Nuff said.

Changes in Star Trek film

2008-11-10T15:44:00.000-05:00

OK, so there have been some changes to Star Trek. First, it has been delayed until 2009. Yes, DELAYED. In February 2008, midway through the shoot, Paramount announced they would move Star Trek from its December 25, 2008 release to May 2009, arguing that more audiences would see the film during summer rather than winter. Here's the updated stats:

“STAR TREK”

Paramount Pictures and Level 1 Entertainment Present

A Bad Robot Production

A J.J. Abrams Film

“Star Trek”

Produced by J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof & Bryan Burk

Based upon “Star Trek” Created by Gene Roddenberry

Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

Directed by J.J. Abrams
Cast: John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, Ben Cross as Sarek, Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike, Simon Pegg as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson, Zoë Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban as Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, with Eric Bana as Nero and Leonard Nimoy

Synopsis: From director J.J. Abrams (“Mission: Impossible III,” “Lost” and “Alias”) and screenwriters Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (“TRANSFORMERS,” “MI: III”) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, “Star Trek,” featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no man has gone before.

Release: May 8, 2009

This film has not yet been rated.

AS BEFORE, CREDITS NOT FINAL AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

So, there you have it, you're up to speed. Oh, one more thing... NEW TRAILER WITH 'QUANTUM OF SOLACE' AND ONLINE FRIDAY!!

Thank you, that is all.

-Dave

Star Trek

2008-01-24T23:36:00.000-05:00

Oopsie, forgot to put on info:

"STAR TREK"
Paramount Pictures and Level 1 Entertainment Present
A Bad Robot Production
A J.J. Abrams Film
"Star Trek"
Executive Producers Bryan Burk Jeffrey Chernov Roberto Orci Alex Kurtzman
Edward Milstein Bill Todman, Jr. Paul Schwake
Produced by J.J. Abrams Damon Lindelof
Based upon "Star Trek" Created by Gene Roddenberry
Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Directed by J.J. Abrams

Cast: John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, with Eric Bana and Leonard Nimoy

Synopsis: From director J.J. Abrams ("Mission: Impossible III," "Lost" and "Alias") and screenwriters Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman ("TRANSFORMERS," "MI: III") comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, "Star Trek," featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no man has gone before.
Release: December 25, 2008

This film has not yet been rated.

CREDITS NOT FINAL AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Happy January!

2008-01-24T23:18:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! Updating earlier than I thought, but I just want you to know I saw Cloverfield, and it was GREAT!!!!! 5/5! Also, I saw a trailer before that film for the naxt X-Mas '08 movie... "STAR TREK." That's right, it's coming! See more on Wikipedia (search 'Star Trek (film)') or go to this site: http://www.startrekmovie.com/ It'll be on the links section, so get clicking!
Until next time!
Davy

Yikes, I did it again!

2007-11-03T13:03:00.000-04:00

Hello again, Dave the Movie guy here again for my now yearly movie reviews and previews, even with another 'year of the sequels' almost behind us. But fear not, sequel seekers, for 2008 is projected to be YET ANOTHER SEQUEL YEAR!!!!! (at least, if the writers' strike ends as soon as possible) First off: reviews!

First up: 300, arguably the most talked-about film this year. Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae, I give it a 7/10. Next on my list: Spider-Man 3, part of the Spider-Man story, (which I'm a fan of) I give an 8/10. Thirdly, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The biggest film in '07 is given a 9/10, 'nuff said. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is next. I agree that it't more fun than the original, and the mystery gives it an 8/10. Transformers, Michael Bay' best movie, is a 9/10 because I'm an Optimus Prime fan. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best and darkest in the HP series, a 9/10. My final review is for The Simpsons Movie, which is an 8/10.

Preview time! Cloverfield (AKA: 1-18-08) is the most mysterious project I've seen. Iron Man: Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. Again, 'nuff said.

That's all for now. See ya lata!

Sorry

2006-10-30T21:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for my 1-year+ vaca. but I have good news: I have tons of info for current and upcoming movies! First: Saw III - the perfect film to see on Halloween night to make you wet your pants. Taglines:
Suffering? You haven't seen anything yet...
This year, he's pulling out all the stops.
Legends never die.

Here's some stuff about the promoting:
A scene from Saw III was going to be shown when the action/thriller film Crank opened in theaters on September 1. However, the MPAA did not allow the preview, due to the scene's reportedly large amount of gore. For similar reasons, an early teaser trailer for the movie was removed from the official Saw III site.
The next trailer released featured flashbacks of Jigsaw attaching the "reverse bear trap" to Amanda and applying his makeup for posing as the corpse in the bathroom from Saw I.
Around 1,000 posters were made and were sold for $20 each in support of Saw III. All 1000 posters were sold out hours after they went on sale. The posters were made with a small amount of Tobin Bell's blood (mixed with the printing ink). One such poster was also signed by the entire cast and crew of Saw III, and was auctioned off. All the proceeds from the auctioned poster will go to the Red Cross.
At Spike TV's Scream Awards on October 10, 2006, Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith appeared on stage with director Darren Lynn Bousman. The two actors staged cutting Bousman's head open, whereupon Shawnee found a blood-saturated piece of film on his brain. This led to a "World Premiere" trailer featuring the plight of Troy in the Body Chains trap.
In a promotional video featured on MySpace (with similar versions made for YouTube and Break.com), Billy, Jigsaw's puppet, addresses the watcher in the same fashion as the videos in the film. He states, "Hello. Are you watching me on MySpace? Good. I'd like to play a game with you. Up until now you've...just sat there as a voyeur, watching other people in their videos without care about who that person is. Well, what do voyeurs see when they look into the mirror? Let's find out. Right now you are being watched. If you forget for one second that you're being watched, you will lose. Your only way out is to understand these numbers: 1, 0, 2, 7, 0, 6. Find the meaning and you will live. Just remember; knowledge changes everything." Video Clip The numbers represent the release date of the film, October 27, 2006 or 10-27-06.
The original cut of the movie ran for over three hours, the only scene that has been confirmed to be cut out was a brutal fight scene between Amanda (Shawnee Smith) and Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), as it was shown being filmed on Much on Demand.
Note: all links are for Wikipedia sites (or "Wikis" as I like to call them).
Anyway, it is a cool movie. I give it a 9 out of 10.
Next: The Omen, yes the 666 stuff, Damien and all that. If you saw the movie or didn't and don't mind spoilers, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omen_%282006_film%29 8 out of 10 for dark, dark stuff.

Next: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Just an equation: Will Ferral + role as retard racer = genius for comedy! 8/10 for the knife scene.

Now for upcoming movies: Borat (R, 11.3.06, WR=Wide Release)
I love it for I know about Borat and how he does things in the film trailers. Ending line for all trailers: Please, you come see my film. If it not success, I will be execute. But why does he speak broken English? 9/10 until I see it.

Next: The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Claus (G, 11.3.06, WR)
Tim Allen again plays Scott Calvin (Santa Claus), while Martin Short plays Jack Frost, a competing Holiday character. Sounds like a good way to end the SC trilogy: 9/10 until I see it.

Next: Casino Royale aka Bond 21 (PG-13?, 11.17.06, WR)
Casino Royale is a reboot of the 007 James bond franchise in the same light as Batman Begins. After obtaining his 00-number and his licence to kill, James Bond (Danial Craig) sets out on his first mission which takes him to Madagascar to spy on a potential terrorist. Soon after, Bond is pulled into a game of high-stakes poker in Montenegro with Le Chiffre, who provides a global money-laundering service to many terrorist organisations.
Sounds like Danial Craig will be Bond for a pretty long time: 9/10 until I see it.

Next: Rocky Balboa aka Rocky VI (PG, 12.22.06, WR)
You may not like it, but I love the Rocky saga. Please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Balboa_%28film%29 for more. 9/10 until I see it.
PS: there will be Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye (5.07?, NR, WR?)

Next: DOA: Dead or Alive (PG-13, 12.8.06, WR)
Finally, a film based on a video game I like! Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOA:_Dead_or_Alive for more.

Next: Eragon (PG?, 12.15.06, WR)
Eragon is a fantasy/adventure movie based on the novel of the same name, by author Christopher Paolini. It is scheduled to be released on December 15, 2006 by 20th Century Fox.
Sounds like a good one to me. 9/10 until I see it. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eragon_%28film%29 for more.

See ya for more tomorrow!
Davy

Hello

2005-07-27T15:38:00.000-04:00

Hey, my name is Davy Perkins, and welcome to my movie blog. This is where I will preview and review movies. I will also rate them from a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (must-see!). See you soon!

Sincerely,
Davy Perkins(aka: DP)