Popcorn For One: IRON MAN 3 review (SPOILERS)

Was it up to the level of THE AVENGERS? No. Was it better (much better) than IRON MAN 2? By far and more.  Let's go into some of the details with a few SPOILERS:

Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle are all back in their roles, possibly for the last time.  Tony is now having some anxiety issues stemming from his actions with the Avengers in New York.  He tries to cover them with his usual smart-aleck and assured attitude, but Pepper knows that something is wrong.  Meanwhile, a terrorist known only as The Mandarin has been attacking various American targets abroad and now in the U.S. When Stark announces his intention to hunt him down his own home is attacked and destroyed. 

Unfortunately, Stark's latest version of the IM suit has not been completely tested and it is further damaged during an attempt to battle the Mandarin's forces.  Without his equipment and miles from home he finds he has to improvise until he can return to action.

At about the three-quarter point in the film everything takes a pretty dramatic turn when we discover that The Mandarin (played in all his facits by the wonderful Ben Kingsley) is not who or what we thought he was, but actually a front for the actual villain.  Guy Pearce, plays Aldrich Killian, a scientist who had once been humiliated by Stark and now seeks revenge, while also putting himself into a position to increase his own wealth and power by whatever means.  Pearce, has changed more than his physical appearance and is also using a former lover of Stark's to entrap him.

A lot of folks are upset by the change in The Mandarin, from the way he has always been portrayed in the comics.  Not only does he not possess the rings of power that made him all but equal to Iron Man, but it turns out that he is a fake in more ways than one.  I was surprised, as everyone was, by this turn of events, but Kingsley was so good (as both the Mandarin and his true identity) that I forgave the deception.  The film-makers go for a political message about the public's need for a 'bad guy' to hate and the government's use of them for their own purposes.

I'm giving the film a 3.5 stars.  Also, while not a huge moment I do recommend you stay through the credits.  First off, the end credits are really nicely done with a sort of '70s feel to them.  Then there is a moment were we see to whom Tony has been telling the story in flashback since the beginning.  Funny bit with another Marvel character.  The movie has my recommendation.

Doctor Who - new season so far

Only three episodes into the new season (not counting the Christmas episode which re-introduced Clara) and I'm enjoying it for the most part. While I like Jenna-Louise Coleman in the role of Clara (Oswin) Oswald, I don't feel the immediate affection for her that I did for Amy Pond after only her initial appearance.  Maybe it was because Amy's first meeting with the Doctor as a child, and you just knew they were fated to finally be together (not in the way that the previous incarnation & Rose were, of course). It may be because the back story for Clara is not being completely revealed at this point.  After all, The Doctor has already met her twice and in both instances things went badly. (Didn't want to toss in a spoiler, just in case.)

While the first episode, involving the Internet and wireless technology was very good, I found the second (involving a soul-devouring creature) not as strong as it might have been.  As I believe I've said before, the opening and end sequences were solid, but it seemed as if the story was padded and the show is only about 40+ minutes, plus commercials.  It was like, "We've introduced the little girl and we know DW & Clara will rescue her, but what do we do for the next half-hour?"  A bit too much Star Wars bar scene, if you know what I mean.

The most recent episode, as of 4/13, was a really great story and brought back the classic Ice Warriors as the villain.  Taking place almost completely in the rather claustrophobic interior of a Cold-War era Russian
submarine.  Adding to the natural tension of stopping the menace and possible nuclear war, was the great David Warner in the role of a Russian scientist who had discovered the warrior encased in ice. A nice touch is the off-handed manner in which Clara discovers another wonderful thing about the TARDIS and why the Doctor seems able to communicate wherever he goes.  I don't know about other folks, but this sort of episode reminded me of older DW episodes where the Doctor and his companion are discovered in a place were they should not be. The Tom Baker Doctor always seemed to be popping up in the wrong place at awkward times and I was half-waiting for the Doctor to ask the Russian captain if he wanted a jelly baby.

Well, the up-coming episode HIDE, looks like a good old-fashion scary one and the folks who do the show certainly have proven they can do scary pretty darn well. I'm looking forward to it.

By the way, anyone else enjoying the DOCTOR WHO: REVISITED episodes on BBCAmerica?  Love seeing the interviews with past Doctors, companions and other cast & crew who watched the show and later became involved with it.  It's also the first time I've complete stories that the first three Doctors appeared in.  You really can see both the character and the show evolve over time (pardon the expression).

I think I have mentioned before, and even did a video, talking about dropping out of comics collecting.  I still love comics, but financially and interest-wise I just wasn't finding them worth it.  I would hit the shop every couple of weeks for my subscriptions and immediately catalog them when I brought them home.  Then, except for a couple of titles I would find that the rest would be unread for a couple of months.  If I wasn't that interested, what was the point.

I'm currently using the Comixology  and Dark Horse apps to keep up with what is coming out and grabbing some freebies along the way.

Marvel doesn't seem to be putting out as many previews as DC, which has a regular weekly one.  I'm finding that there really doesn't seem to be much in the new and continuing titles that catches my interest.  Nothing that would get me back into the shops anyway.  If I have a chance I may check out a shop on or near "Free Comic Book Day" to not only pick up any goodies, but maybe check out some of the other titles on the shelf to see if they still interest me.

I haven't seen my current schedule for that weekend, but if things hold true I will probably be working.  For some odd reason known only to the Library Gods, I have been scheduled to work on FCBD for each of the past five years.  Not really worth using a vacation day (which I am doing to attend San Diego on Friday, with my one-day pass this year), but it is annoying that I can't seem to get my hands on some of those great goodies.  Of course, I notice that some of the publishers will distribute either copies of the FCBD books or limited-edition 'convention' copies that reprint the same material with a new cover.

Sorry for the 'feeling sorry for myself' sound of this post.  I do miss comics and going to the shop, but thanks to those apps, rereading some of my collection and our Library's graphic novel/manga collection I haven't had to go completely cold turkey.  See you in the funny papers!

Remote Viewing - THE WALKING DEAD & DOCTOR WHO

The nice thing about having Monday morning off is that I can catch up on some shows I've taped, that Donna doesn't care about. Those are pretty much any fantasy/horror related stuff.

I'll try not to give away any spoilers here, but I expect at this point anyone who watches the shows has probably already seen them.  By the way, Rosebud was Kane's childhood sled, so you can skip that old B&W movie.

THE WALKING DEAD ended a pretty decent season with the death of several characters.  Personally, I doubt many folks will mourn the death of one of them, as she had to be the most annoying b**** on the show.  Of course she only got that spotlight after an even bigger annoying b**** died off earlier.  If fans had been expecting the battle at the prison we got to see in the comic, well they were certainly disappointed.  The folks behind the show decided they needed to give the b**** a goodbye scene, so that dragged things out for minutes longer than necessary.  Also, if everyone thought AMC was doing us a favor by making the season finale longer I'm sure they were delighted that it was extended so the network could plug MAD MEN every ten minutes.  Maybe I'm in the minority, but I have never had any interest in that show, maybe because I grew up in that era and the folks in the program sure as hell don't act like anyone I knew.  The promos for the show always made it look like an extended MAD Magazine spoof of Madison Avenue, drained of humor.  Call me shallow.

All that aside I actually enjoyed the episode, as it did have some surprises and set up some tensions going into the next season.  Great walker stomping and if anyone still had doubts about The Governor, this proved that the guy is completely bonkers.  Also, there is an incident involving Carl which brings the character more in line with the kid as portrayed in the comic.  His confrontation with his father brings home the fact that he is no longer the whiny "Carl stay in the house!" kid from the first season.  Now we just have to wait until October to see how these things come together.

The DOCTOR WHO season premiere was a great beginning for a season that will celebrate the Doctor's fifty years as an icon.  Most American's probably didn't get introduced to the Time Lord until the '70s with the Third Doctor (portrayed by Jon Pertwee), unless they had caught the two DW films made earlier featuring Peter Cushing in the role.  While the Doctor in those films does have a time traveling machine he is a human scientist.  The current Doctor (the 11th) is portrayed again by Matt Smith, who initially seemed too young for the role when I first saw him but quickly won me over in the initial episode in which he appeared.  We have seen this incarnation of the Doctor die and comeback, spend time with his once & future wife and see his companions choose a fate that drove him to travel back in time and stay away from playing the hero.  The first episode of this season picks up in a way from the Christmas special which introduced (re-introduced?) his newest companion, Clara "Oswin" Oswald.  Clara is 'the girl who died twice' and at this time (pardon the expression) is still very much a mystery to both The Doctor and to us.

The first show involves the Internet and specifically Wi-Fi, which is being used by someone/something to capture the 'souls' of people all over the world.  For the modern day Clara this is her first meeting with the Time Lord and his wonderful 'bigger on the inside' machine the TARDIS. (Oh, look it up!)  It appears, from trailers, that this season will have the thread of discovering more about Clara and why she seems to come back into the Doctor's life on different planets and different times.  Hints are also being dropped online about some of the things and characters returning for this special celebration.  Will the Doctor meet himself?  Well, he has done so in the past, so why not?

That wraps it up for me for the time (hee hee) being.  Peace out!

The Hobbit: my review

Geeking on Technology

Why I'm not buying comics.

San Diego Comic Fest - What I thought.

Thanks to Mark Evanier, I'm going to add this link to a video on the 1st San Diego Comic Fest which was held last weekend.  What you see in the video will give you a good feeling of what the convention was like and some of the folks who spent time there.

As I have said before, while my first 'convention' experience was a small one held in a high school in the Ocean Beach community of San Diego, about two months later I found myself at the El Cortez Hotel with hundreds of other fans for the 1975 SDCC.  In some ways those two very different experiences match the difference between what the current SDCC is to what was held at the Town & Country Hotel and Convention Center the past weekend. 

The utter size and overwhelming experience of SDCC is hard to imagine for anyone who has not gone to one.  I've been to dozens of cons around the country the past few decades but even the larger ones in NY, Philadelphia and Chicago could not match what you get when you enter the SDCC as it is now.  The sounds, sights, cos-players, famous actors and all the media crammed into that building for four-days is just way too much for me now.  I think my experience this year on Sunday was enough to prove that I am not able to deal with these events very well. I'm pretty sure that the one-day pass I already have for 2013 (Friday) will be even more tiring and may be the last time I go through the hassle and aggravation of even trying to get a ticket.

As Mark says in his post, Comic Fest was more about the feelings and nostalgia of those El Cortez days than a recreation of that era.  While those early SDCC's were smaller they were still all about the future of comics, film and entertainment.  Fans wanted to see the hot new talent, get the new titles and find out what the publishers were going to bring out in the coming year.  If there were panels on the Golden Age (and a number of the folks who created those books were still active at the time), more were about the current crop of creators or those trying to break in.

The contemporary SDCC continues that, with those panels that do deal with the older stuff becoming a smaller part of the overall picture.  While Comic Con has always been about more than comics, the modern event really is about the entertainment media beyond the four-color pages that fewer and fewer seem to care about.

For me Comic Fest was a chance to see some of the folks who made my early convention experiences so special.  It was the opportunity to hear others talk about what those events meant to them and how special they were.  While there was some sadness when people talked about those who were no longer with us, there were also a lot of laughs when those still here told stories of their lost friends.

Panels covered the anniversaries of BLADE RUNNER, ROBOCOP and STORM TROOPERS.  Creators talked about working on the 'underground' comix that had to be bought in headshops, adult stores and small bookstores in college communities.  People who had not seen each other in decades were reunited on stage or in the halls, some discovered things that had happened years before that they had never known about.  While some friendships were renewed, some old animosities were also brought out into the open.

Bottom line is I'm really glad that I went.  It was fun and I had some laughs, which is what you really want from any convention.