Iron Man 2 (2010)

          Essential plot rundown:  Iron Man has to deal with the government, a communist and some lead poisoning.  So, I wanted to watch this when I re-watched everything for The Avengers, but I never got around to it.  But, we watched Iron Man in my class yesterday so it re-sparked an interest.

          Iron Man 2 is not nearly as good as Iron Man 1.  It is not as funny.  It doesn't have as much heart.  The soundtrack is not as awesome.  And it has a lot more problems.  And it is those problems that I will primarily be addressing.

          The whole War Machine thing bothered me.  First of all, I preferred Terrence Howard over Don Cheadle; for some reason, I'm not a big fan Don Cheadle.  And how did Rhodey get access to the suits?  Tony must have given him some kind of clearance to get into his basement (because we see him using codes to get in), but access to a suit?  And when did he learn how to operate it?  It doesn't make sense.  And that fight scene was kind of weird.

          And then he just steals the suit?  What a dick.  And then he hands it over to Hammer so he can "weaponize" it?  Isn't it already weaponized?  Isn't that why the government wanted it?  What's the point of putting a gun on another gun?  It seemed a little redundant to me.  And then he presents at the Stark Expo?  It's like stealing a Big Mac, putting some bacon on it and advertising at a McDonald's convention.  It doesn't work.

          And why didn't Ivan Vanko die in the beginning?  He gets hit by a car multiple times and then Iron Man punches him in the face.  Does having an arc reactor give his super strength?

          And what about the poison?  Other than dying, it doesn't really add anything to the plot.  Everybody just sits around saying how bad it is.  But it doesn't really affect him.  And then he easily creates a new element right after JARVIS said he couldn't?  Why does JARVIS say he can't do it when, in the very next scene, he does?

          And I didn't care much for Agent Fury.  They should have just shown him once and then left him out.  Just have Iron Man interact with the hot chick and the cool guy.

          And how can Vanko transform suits into drones?  The only thing he does is replace the helmet with a remote control.

          And how many paragraphs can I start with the word 'and'?

          So, overall it is an ok film.  It's not bad, it has some good action sequences.  But it pales in comparison to the original.  But, the third one looks pretty badass; so, I'm excited for that.

     But that's just my opinion...

The Reward (2013)

          So, this is a pretty sweet animated short.  It's good and I liked the ending; good moral.  But yea, enough of me; go watch it.

     Watch it right HERE!

          But, seriously; go watch it.  And they are trying to get funding to make it into a feature film.  So thats' cool too.

     But that's just my opinion...

The Iron Giant (1999)

          Essential plot rundown:  A boy must protect a giant robot from the government.  I watched this in my class yesterday.  And I guess it's based on a book.

          This is a really good movie.  Probably one of the best things about it is that it can appeal to both kids and adults.  It is not a childish cartoon.  It has a good story and it also has some pretty good themes and messages.  (Though, I felt like it's "anti-gun" moral was a little heavy handed.)  Other than that everything was handled pretty well.

          Like I said, the story is pretty solid, though not entirely original.  It's pretty funny, there are some good one liners and comic timing; it's also a little moving.  (I may or may not have gotten a little teary eyed...)  The animation is good.  The Iron Giant has a cool design.  And he's entirely CG whereas the rest of the movie is traditional hand drawn animation.

          There was only one negative thing I could think of.  I don't see how a train could do more damage than an army.  But I'm glad they haven't done a sequel.

          So overall, I really liked it.  I don't really have much to say other than it has a solid story, good animation, it's funny and moving, and has some good messages/themes.  I feel like this whole post is just me repeating myself...  But you should go see it if you haven't yet.

     But that's just my opinion...

Mama (2013)

          Essential plot rundown:  Two lost kids pick up a ghostly follower.  So, it had been a month since I've been to the movie theater and considering I had some free time in between classes, I decided to go.  And this was the only movie that ended before my evening class, so I saw it.

          I had mixed feelings about Mama; I felt it had a lot of potential, but didn't execute properly.  One of the things that bothered me was the story; it didn't flow well.  Basically, what it seemed like was that they had two interesting stories and mashed them together and they didn't mash very well.  Story 1 was about these girls that grew up alone in the woods, then re-entered society and had to adjust.  Story 2 was about a ghost that did ghostly things.  I thought each individual story was interesting and could have work on their own as individual movies; I didn't think they blended too well.  Story 1 had some touching moments and I think they could have really expounded on those and made a convincing drama.  And, while I don't know how original story 2 was, I was intrigued and thought it was a good ghost story.  So, basically the potential was the two stories and the bad execution was putting them together.

          I didn't really think it was scary, either.  It relies mostly on jump scares and music.  Yes, there were some scary parts (the best coming straight from the short on which it was based; that gave me chills), but it didn't work for me overall.  Part of the reason for this was that they showed waaaay too much of Mama.  They show her right in the beginning and continued to show her throughout the whole movie.  And some of the things she did looked really corny and stupid.  Less is defiantly more.

          I also had mixed feelings about the ending.  The ending, once again, shows way too much of the title character.  And it didn't really make sense.  So, I wasn't a fan of that.  But, I did like that fact that they "went there".  I don't want to spoil anything, but you'll probably know what I mean when you see it.  I give them kudos for that, because it is so easy not to.

          And one last thing, I don't know how it took them five years to find the car.  It wasn't that hidden.  They must have been pretty dumb not to see it sooner.

          So overall, it is an ok movie.  It had some good parts and merits; but it also had a lot of mistakes.  It's worth checking out when you have the time but it's nothing special.  But Jessica Chastain is pretty hot.

     But that's just my opinion...