I have seen my fair share of Marvel Super Hero movies over the past few years: Spiderman, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Daredevil…the list goes on. One thing that I can say without any hesitation is that Iron Man blows them all away in every aspect. When this movie was made you can definitely tell that the writers had future plans for Iron Man (stay for the end of the credits if you don’t know what I mean). In many of the super hero films half of the movie is spent figuring out what weird twisted mutation the main character will take on to become his super powered alter ego. In Iron Man they waste very little time building up the character of Tony Stark; it’s all summed up rather quickly then all hell breaks loose.

To me Tony Stark is the Marvel version of Bruce Wayne (except Stark is all about money and not much of a humanitarian). Without his suit of armor he’s pretty much the stereotypical billionaire playboy; much like Wayne. I don’t want to give away everything about the movie, so I’ll just talk about the movie in general. 

CHARACTERS

Every character in the movie is spot on with the comic books. I was personally not too pleased when I saw Apple’s Mom (Gwyneth Paltrow) in the previews, but as the movie went on I found her to be a perfect fit for the role of “Pepper” Potts, Stark’s Assistant.

Obadiah Stane is the mentor of Tony Stark played by Jeff Bridges. Personally, when I first saw him I had no clue who it was until I heard the unmistakable voice of Bridges. He plays a huge role in the film towards the end and that’s all I’m going to say.

Tony’s good friend and military liaison Lt. Col. James Rhodes is played by Terrence Howard. We see a lot of him during the late stages of the film when Iron Man really takes center stage and gets in the mix. His character is on the fence with Stark’s attitude towards the military after his run in with terrorists, but he comes around in the end. If there’s a sequel or cross-over (hint-hint); we’ll definitely be seeing more of Rhodes.

Robert Downey Jr. was perfect as Tony Stark! His attitude, sense of humor and overall look was dead on for the arms dealer turned hero. If you’ve ever read any of the comic books or seen any of the animated movies with Iron Man you’ll agree that Downey Jr. was perfect for the part. Some of the scenes where he’s working on the testing of the suit were hilarious. I know I laughed out loud a few times.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Okay, I don’t know about you but I thought the Iron Man suits were awesome! The way they developed getting Stark into the suit was cool as hell. The first time we see the Mark 3 suit in action blew me away. The famous tank scene in the trailers is by far the coolest with Iron Man firing a rocket into the tank and waltzing off calmly as it explodes was freakin’ awesome! I’m glad that it was retooled for the movie after the Super Bowl spot. The original version was too CGI and looked fake…it looks 100 times better now.

OVERALL REACTION

Obviously, I loved the movie. I want to see it again in the theaters and when it comes out on Blu Ray I’ll be pickig it up for sure. I felt that it was the perfect length for a Super Hero Movie at just over two hours. Any longer and I would’ve had to piss like Seabiscuit from the large Dr. Pepper I downed during the film. There are a lot of great movies coming out that I can’t wait to see. This was at the top of the charts for me…just ahead of The Dark Knight. May and June will be long, expensive months for me. Having an eight year-old son who loves movies is going to break the bank.

So have you guys seen the flick? What did you think? What movies are you looking forward to this Summer ‘08?

Next movie stop for GrandmasterB is Speed Racer, followed by the highly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Until next time…

~ GrandmasterB 

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I can’t believe it, but it seems like every blogger out there reads the story of the infamous John Chow and wants to be just like him. Some think it’s cool, others think it’s hilarious…me, I think it’s friggin’ lame. This is going to come as a surprise to my readers, but I think for today’s post I’m going to flip the switch to the dark side and it might get ugly. Fear not, the true GrandmasterB will return shortly.

I have only seen one spinoff of the John Chow idea that really impressed me and got my attention…John Cow. I mean how could it not get your attention? Taking a famous blogger’s name and turning it into a cow theme is hilarious and well done. Alas, I am not here to talk about John Cow, because quite frankly it’s not really a clone…it’s original. What I am here to talk about are the no talent hacks that somehow believe that they are the next great thing on the Net. Guess what clones (or should I say clowns?)…you’re not even close.

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Holy WOW! I have found some hilarious and helpful stuff all over the Net today. From tips about increasing your Technorati rank, increasing RSS subscribers and a lot of folks piling on John Chow. Without further ado…the Heads Up Seven Up Blogroll for May 7th.

Dot Com Mogul - Increase Technorati Authority Rank
Club Blogger - 21 Killer Ways To Ethically Increase Your RSS Subscribers
Michael Talk - 6 Things I Don’t Like About John Chow (Archives…old post)
Bloggin-Ads - You Eat Where You Work? (disgusting!)
Cuzoogle - The Seven: Summer Movies
Funk13 dot com - Please Avoid
ShoeMoney - Fighters.com Sponsor XTreme Couture 5K Run

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For awhile now I have wanted to review some of my favorite websites that I frequently visit. This review is my honest and truthful opinion. If there’s something I love or hate about the site reviewed I will let it be known. I have not been paid by the reviewed website’s owner for this post.

iDesign Studios is a web design and development company owned and operated by Selene Bowlby. Selene’s original intention for her site was to use it as a showcase for her portfolio of previous work. From the moment that I first visited the iDesignStudio’s website I was impressed with the overall look and design of the site.

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It’s that time again kiddies! GrandmasterB took the day off yesterday from blogging to do some springtime landscaping on the back forty. I must say that if there’s one thing that I absolutely cannot stand it’s manual labor. My soft blogger hands were not meant to be digging holes; they are better suited here at the computer. Can you imagine if I would’ve gotten a splinter? That would’ve been awful, I don’t even want to think about it…the horror!

Other than my landscaping nightmare yesterday the week was fairly uneventful. I did see the Rockies get pounded on by the Dodgers 12 - 7 on Saturday night at Coors Field. The sting of the loss was numbed by a few pints of In Heat Wheat from the Flying Dog Brewery. If any of you are near Coors Field for a game or for leisure definitely check out the Blake Street Tavern (23rd and Blake). They’ve got great grub and serve all of Flying Dog’s finest brews. If you’re there during the day you can get a tour of the Brewery; which by happenstance is located next door to the tavern. I highly recommend you check them out!

With that shameless plug out of the way…onto the week in review!

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