21 Aug - "I'm not saying Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea"

Iron Man 2 (2010)

dir. Jon Favreau (Cowboys & Aliens, 2011)

CAST

Robert Downey Jr. (Back to School, 1986)

Gwyneth Paltrow (Hook, 1991)

Don Cheadle (Traffic, 2000)

Scarlett Johansson (Eight Legged Freaks, 2002)

Sam Rockwell (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 2007)

Mickey Rourke

Samuel L. Jackson (Goodfellas, 1990)

Clark Gregg (Magnolia, 1999)

John Slattery (Traffic, 2000)

Garry Shandling (Doctor Dolittle, 1998)

Paul Bettany (voice) (A Knight's Tale, 2001)

Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain, 2005)

Leslie Bibb (Private Parts, 1997)

Jon Favreau (PCU, 1994)
Evgeniy Lazarev (The Onion Movie, 2008)

How am I finding time to watch all these movies while simultaneously beginning my second year of grad school, you might be wondering? Well, I'm paralyzed into near inaction on almost everything resembling productivity, therefore I abuse my drug of choice in the pusuit of the sweet release into transcendance: cinema.

I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in Iron Man because I thought he portrayed an asshole billionaire very well. Iron Man 2 was more of the same and a little less exciting for it. As is usual for a superhero sequel, a potentially wonderful supervillain was underdeveloped. Here he is in the opening credits giving vodka to a cockatoo.

That's hilarious! I want more Vanko/Cockatoo relationship development. And more Sam Rockwell! Gwyneth Paltrow spent the whole movie acting like an overwhelmed harridan. I think there was supposed to be something resembling sexual tension between her and Iron Man, but I wasn't feeling it. Scarlett Johannson was an oversexualized agent of SHIELD - I think there needs to be a movie law that a character can't have more KOs than he or she has speaking lines (exceptions for actor/director combinations that are actually talented). I think there was a TV movie called Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D but I don't know anything else about that.

If you haven't figured it out already, I'm not a Jon Favreau fan. All in all, Iron Man 2 was unexceptional; I'll probably forget all about it in a few days.