Pads & Panels

Title: Captain America: The First Avenger

Directed by: Joe Johnston

Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Samuel L. Jackson

Studio: Marvel, Paramount

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

Captain America: The First Avenger marks the final superhero movie to hit theaters before next year’s Marvel mega-film-event The Avengers. And like most superhero flicks as of late, it starts with the beginning, telling the origin of a scrawny man named Steve Rogers who through the wonders of science becomes Captain America, a beacon for patriotism during the war with the Nazis. But for all of its stylistic successes, its plot could use some work, and it is hard to shake the feeling that it’s in part an incredibly long trailer for another movie. (more…)

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Title: The Incredibles

Format: 4 Disc Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy

Directed by: Brad Bird

Written by: Brad Bird

Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Sarah Vowell

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Feature Rating:

Blu-ray Rating:

Review: Bill Jones

The Film

The Incredibles may be the best animated superhero feature around (it may be one of the best superhero features, period), and it earns that distinction for two very important reasons. First and foremost, it comes from the fantastic folks at Pixar, who constantly reset the bar for what animation can achieve as a medium. And second, it takes the conventions and clichés of the superhero genre, turns them on their heads, making the mundane exciting, the exciting fantastic, all with the trademark Pixar touch of charm. (more…)

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Title: Iron Man 2

Platform: 360 (PS3, Wii, PSP)

ESRB: M

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega Studios San Francisco

Rating:

Review By: Eric Stuckart

Games like Iron Man 2 only reinforce the stereotype that movie franchise games tend to allow for the quality to be completely thrown out the window in favor of getting it on shelves by the time the movie premieres. It also shows that the best of intentions don’t always pan out. (more…)

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Title: Iron Man 2

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Justin Theroux

Produced by: Paramount, Marvel

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The 2008 comic-to-movie Iron Man was a bit of a surprise hit. Not necessarily an out-of-left field kind of surprise, but Iron Man up until that point didn’t have the prominence of the likes of Spider-Man and the X-Men. In fact, other producers deemed Fantastic Four, The Hulk and The Punisher more worthy titles to adapt first. And despite being in the apt hands of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, the script throughout the entire movie felt like something that was teetering, and could just as easily have fallen from the greatness it achieved to the kind of movie one might watch hung-over on a Saturday morning during a marathon of action flicks on TNT, alongside wonders by Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris.

But Iron Man instead found wide critical acclaim, thanks in part to the fan service-guided direction of Jon Favreau. And of course, even more of the success is arguably owed to Robert Downey Jr., who played the characters of Tony Stark and Iron Man to perfection, turning what could have come across as simply arrogant and smug dialogue into something charming in the way of a playboy James Bond. The film still suffered from the lack of a true villain, and it wasn’t high art. It didn’t quite touch the likes of Spider-Man, X2 and The Dark Knight, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. It’s hard to say the same about Iron Man 2. (more…)

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