Iron Man 3 Revisited!

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 In anticipation of the next installment of 'Phase 2' of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I thought I would revisit the first film in that cycle. Also check out my thoughts on the last installment Thor: The Dark World  here
 and my predictions for The Winter Soldier here 

 At first, I was somewhat disappointed with Iron Man 3 but, every time I re-watch it, I end up liking it a little bit more.  I finally realized that my problem was that I had been trying to view it as a stand alone movie; it's not.  When viewed in the context of, not only the first two films, but the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe (which now includes Agents of SHIELD) it works much better.

This was not meant to be a stand alone work or even the latest installment of a film franchise; it is the final 3 episode story arc of Iron Man season one (or, for you anglophiles, and probably a bit more accurately, series one). The movie even breaks up pretty much evenly into three 40-45 minute segments; you can pretty much pinpoint where the 'To be continued....' would have come up at the end of the first two episodes.Granted, this is basically a three-act structure which is not at all unusual for a big budget action movie (or any movie) to follow, however, the more in-depth exploration of the character of Tony Stark and the plot's dependence on the developments from other films in the MCU makes it feel like it belongs part of a larger whole as well.

The first 'episode' sets up the events that are to follow and sets the stage for the resolution of the final act.  In fact, if we are now to consider Iron Man the first story arc in this series, then the flashback of a pre-Iron Man Tony Stark at the beginning of the film is an appropriate callback that allows the final story arc to bookend nicely with the first.  Also, we have Tony Stark dealing with the fall out from the previous story arc which would have, of course, been The Avengers.

Having had to truly risk his own life for the first time, he has become traumatized.  He is suffering from a sort of PTSD and it all goes back to a conversation he has with Captain America in The Avengers:

Captain America:  You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.

Tony Stark: I think I would just cut the wire.

However, at the end of The Avengers Tony finds himself, for the first time, unable to "cut the wire"; if he wants to be the hero, he has to lay down his own life.  He couldn't outsmart the situation. At the start of Iron Man 3, we learn that he has been busy trying to make it so that he never finds himself in this situation again.

He has been building armor, after armor, suitable for every imaginable scenario so that he never finds himself without a way out again.  In fact, his latest project, the Mark 42, is a direct response to the dilemma of The Avengers; he doesn't even need to be in the suit to control it. Thus, he can save the day without having to actually put his own life on the line. However, the problem with this is that he has become too dependent on his armor; he retreats into it whenever he feels the least bit insecure.

What is great about the Marvel heroes, not just in the movies but in the comics as well, is that it's always about the guy underneath the mask not the mask itself.  Iron Man 2 demonstrated this by showing us that Tony Stark might not be the best guy to be in the suit--- at least in objective terms--- but, for better or worse, he is the guy in the suit and Iron Man is more than just the suit.  However, it would seem, that in Iron Man 3 Tony seems to have forgotten this. This paves the way for the second act of the film where Tony finds himself unable to use, not only his suits, but any of his sizable resources.

The second 'episode' in this story arc is, perhaps, the most successful.  If we are viewing it as a single 'episode' of the Iron Man series, it might be my favorite episode. Also, it would probably  be titled simply, "The Mechanic".  In it, Tony must learn to function without a suit and most of his technology; hell, the best watch he can conjure is a child's Dora the Explorer watch.  He must learn to remember that what makes him Iron Man is not his suit or even his resources but his brain. He is "the Mechanic"; he can always build.  That is his gift.  That is his 'super-power'.

Note: I would be remiss if I didn't mention the relationship with the kid in the second act.  Not only does it make for some of the funniest exchanges in the film, but it is handled in a way that manages to both have heart and avoid being overly sentimental.  Not an easy combination to pull of in this type of film.

The final act has always been the most problematic for me but, the more I watch it, the more I end up liking it. After a second act which saw Iron Man out of his armor, you would expect the final act to consist of Tony and Rhodey suited up and fighting side by side, right?  Yet, Tony still spends most of the final act out of the armor.  Oh, sure, we see a lot of armor--- about 40 different suits to be exact--- but Tony spends very little time in them. The final action sequence involves him jumping from one suit to the next without spending much time in any of them with most being controlled remotely by JARVIS.

While I still feel the ending is a bit overblown in terms of the action (Director, Shane Black, is perhaps best known for scripting the original Lethal Weapon and developed a reputation in the late 80s and early 90s for writing big-budget action scripts that were fun to read; particularly if you were a coked up studio exec.... and some moments--- James Rhodes rolling and jumping through a glass window, guns blazing; the final showdown at 'the docks'--- feel a bit cliche), it actually manages to distinguish itself from the previous Iron Man movies.

Most of the solo Marvel films have followed a similar approach for the final act:  the hero has a final showdown with an evil counterpart--- in both the first two Iron Man films and Captain America: The First Avenger these counterparts are, quite literally, evil versions of the protagonist: The Red Skull is a product of the same formula that produced Cap and both the Iron Monger and Whiplash are variations of Iron Man's own suit.  If the 3rd film had Stark, yet again, going mano a mano with another guy in a suit of armor, it would have been redundant.

In Aldrich Killian, we have a very different kind of villain; yet, one who still serves as reflection of sorts for Stark.  Killian is another brilliant mind but, unlike Stark who hides inside a suit of armor, he has transformed himself, his very body, into a weapon.  As the Extremis formula gives him a very different set of powers, it requires a very different solution. Tony can't just go armor to armor; he has to find a different solution.

That solution takes the form of the Mark 42 armor and it's unique ability to shift, piece by piece, to someone other than Stark.  In the film's climactic moment, the Mark 42, believed to be destroyed, enters the fray late.  The audience is set up to believe that this will finally be the moment that the glitchy armor proves itself but, instead of triumphantly merging with Tony, it crashes and, once again, falls to pieces.  It is actually unclear whether this was a legitimate malfunction or a misdirection play by Stark since his next move is to have the armor attach itself to Killian before self-destructing.  Once again, it is Tony's mind that saves the day--- the technology itself isn't important, it's knowing how to use it (it is also worth noting that it is a powered up Pepper Potts who, ultimately, finishes of Killian).

A final word on The Mandarin; I loved the twist!  Kingsley was brilliant! Mandarin is a fairly problematic character to bring into the 21st century anyway; he's very much a relic of "yellow terror" fears from the Cold War.  Besides, if you weren't happy with what the film did with him, the latest Marvel One-Shot with the Thor: The Dark World DVD drops some hints that there might be more to "The Mandarin" than we are seeing here (after all, the '10 Rings' was a legitimate terrorist organization in the first film).

Community: Advanced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

After the triumph of last week's episode, there is only one way to describe this episode: disapointing.  The original episode of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, episode of Community; this episode wasn't even an homage--- it was simply a pale imitation.

The original episode had real heart to it; even though the plot centered around a periphery character, "Fat" Neil, it managed to have some real emotional depth to it.  Basically, Neil stood in for every nerdy kid who was ever picked on for their nerdy habits.  In that episode, he got to be the hero. However, this 'sequel', despite being built around what should have been a more poignant concept (the relationship between Hickey and his estranged son) just felt phoned in.

More importantly, it just wasn't that funny. The original D & D episode wasn't just funny because of the stylistic homage to Lord of the Rings and other fantasy films, it had genuinely brilliant bits, like the montage of Annie, playing as "Hector the Well-Endowed" describing (in what was apparently great detail) giving Abed's 'Elf-Maiden' a night of pleasure (Donald Glover taking notes was priceless). The most this episode had to offer was more of Dean Pelton's unrequited man-crush for Jeff (which, quite frankly, has gotten a little old and, in this episode, just felt tired).

On top of that, David Cross! How can you have David Cross and be this unfunny?  He was severely underused in this episode.

Perhaps my expectations were a little too high for this one but, when you go back to the well of one of your most beloved episodes, you better be able to do something a little better than this.

Community: VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing

Another great episode! More importantly, an episode that was laugh out loud funny throughout. Dean Pelton's rap in the cold open is probably the funniest thing the show has done since the second or third season.  Once again, it is an episode of the show doing what it does best: playing with pop culture references.

However, rather than doing a genre/homage, this episodes is built around an obsolete bit of pop culture from the past: the VCR game (I'm pretty sure I had one of these as a kid--- I think I might have had the tape but not the game). These precursors to Scene It (which also appear to be going the way of the VCR) were ridiculous, overly complicated and I have yet to meet anyone who has ever successfully played one to completion; the show captures the clumsiness of both the rules and the technology perfectly. And how great was seeing Breaking Bad creator Vince Gillian obviously having a lot of fun as the prospector/narrator of the game?

This episode, once again, sees the return of the delightful Brie Larson (Alison Brie Larson for you Celebrity Game Night fans) as Abed's quirky love interest, Rachel. It's a cute coupling and she is a worthy companion for Abed on his hijinks; however, as this episode demonstrates, she will not be as accommodating as Troy which, in the long term, will be good for Abed. It will allow their relationship to be more real.  Abed's "Third Act" apology was adorable but also heartfelt.  The show has replaced a 'bromance' with an actual romance.

The B-plot involving the 'stolen' textbooks was less interesting, however, Jonathan Banks' presence and Chang's taped 'confession' (not to mention Vince Gilligan's appearance elsewhere in the episode) can't help but bring to mind Breaking Bad, with Shirley filling the Walter White shoes.

As I had predicted, it looks like Harmon & Co. have saved the best episodes for the tail end of the season (as they usually do).  Next week is a callback to one of my all-time favorite episodes, "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons".  Here's hoping it doesn't disappoint!

Community: App Developments and Condiments

Now THIS is the kind of thing I've been waiting for since Dan Harmon returned; a high concept episode that is both a satire of pop culture trends and an homage to a classic film genre.  This is the kind of thing Community does best.

In this episode, an app similar to Yelp called MeowMeowBeenz, which allows students to rate other students and teachers, in grand community fashion, quickly escalates to a dystopian society that brings to mind 1984 but, most likely, draws its inspiration from Logan's Run (I really need to get around to watching this movie).  Perhaps, as a college writing instructor, I found the idea of the worth of anything being stripped down to clear, quantifiable data particular poignant to my current situation.

Most importantly, this episode was truly funny; I think it might be the only episode to have me laughing out loud throughout.  Jonathan Banks' reaction to the concept of MeowMeowBeenz is probably the best thing that has happened this season.

Sure, it's a far cry from the show's finest episodes but, still, it is a reminder of what the show can still do when it's used properly.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer

What can I say about this trailer?  I love it.  After seeing this, it may, now, be the movie that I am most looking forward to this summer.

First of all, let me state that, before seeing this trailer, I was not at all familiar with the latest incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy that has been appearing in Marvel's comics for the last few  years (after seeing this, I did read a couple of issues from the 1st series and the 1st trade from the current series). But, this just looks like it's going to be so much damned fun!

As a sci-fi aficionado, my preferences has always been for the space opera over the hard sci-fi that more "serious" fans of the genre tend to prefer; I am a Star Wars kid and, as such, I'm more concerned with cool-looking spaceships and strange alien creatures than I am with how the hyperdrive works.  That spirit of adventure and excitement (which a Jedi does not crave) seem to be present in spades in Guardians.

Like most Star Wars fans, I was not as enamored with the prequels as I was of the original trilogy. It felt like there was something sorely missing.  That something, as far as I am concerned, was there Han Solo.  Not the literal character, mind you, they were missing someone that could be that voice that would remind us, "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."  Han Solo grounded the original trilogy; Yoda may have told us not to crave adventure and excitement, but Han still showed us much fun it could be.

This film's Han takes the form of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord (who, from the trailer, it appears is only a legend in his own mind).  Pratt is the perfect choice for this role; not only is his comic timing-impeccable (something Parks & Rec fans are more than aware of) but there's something about him that makes him immediately lovable.  He exudes niceness, even when he's playing a guy who is obviously supposed to be kind of a rogue.

While we are introduced to all the Guardians in this trailer, Star-Lord is clearly the focus; we are even given some hints of his back-story when we see his rather territorial reaction to anyone fiddling with his 1980's-era cassette Walkman. I'm sure the reason for his sentimental attachment to such an archaic device while being an intergalactic outlaw will, ultimately, be explained in the film (most likely a bittersweet relic of sorts from his childhood) but, even without that information, it can't help but make that character that much more endearing.

Also, while The Avengers gave us earth's mightiest heroes, the Guardians are a group of outcast and misfits and, at the end of the day, that's what I think will allow it to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack. After all, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away it was a farm boy, a fugitive princess, a smuggler, a wookie, and a couple of bickering droids who managed to take down the empire. JJ Abrams, this is your competition.

March's Album of the Month: December's Children (And Everybody's)- The Rolling Stones

After a month of Beatlemania on my part, I decided to give a little air-time to their greatest rivals in the competition for greatest rock band of all time: The Rolling Stones. 

December's Children (And Everybody's) is one of my favorite early stones records for one reason and one reason only: "She Said Yeah", a cover of a Larry Williams B-side, is perhaps 95 seconds of the purest rock and roll ever recorded; fast, load, and raucous--- it's perfect.  It might even be the best thing the Stones ever recorded!

However, that isn't all this album has to offer; as the band's first real follow-up after their stateside breakthrough earlier in the year with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", it helped solidify the Stones' reputation as the harder rocking, bluesier alternative to the Fab Four (would that make them the first alternative rock band?).  But, more importantly, it saw Jagger/Richards continue to grow as songwriters.  The lovely ballad "As Tears Go By" would be a hit for Marianne Faithful but, quite frankly, I've always preferred this version.



Key Tracks: "She Said Yeah", "I'm Talking About You", "Get Off of My Cloud", "I'm Free", "As Tears Go By"