B and M hosted us for a wonderful week in Santa Cruz and Monterey/Carmel.
Among the highlights, we stood in the dark (with knitter LED ear-lamps), listening as Bob played Owl calls. Saw-Whet, Screech, and Pigmy responded. Strange to stand in a vast darkness and hear this intelligent life calling out. There were far too many species to list the event of seeing each (139 in total, I believe). In Monterey, S bonded with the Octopus at the Aquarium. We also learned that they are called 'jellies' now, not 'jellyfish.' Carmel was half resort town and half Pacific natural wonder. Carmel Country Inn was a really nice B & B, especially with the fresh-baked cookies, the snacks we were encouraged to take back to the rooms, and Michelle's constant help. From Moss Landing, we took a boat trip into the bay and saw Hump-Backed Whales as well as Orcas (circling a buoy full of Sea Lions). Some good photos (yet to be processed). Point Lobos afforded some opportunities to photograph ocean/rocks/more rocks/Cormorants and the occasional Crab. Gorgeous.
After all of that, we needed some down-time, so we saw 'Iron Man.'
Movie review: Iron Man
Perhaps taking a cue from the Onion's hilarious video about the danger of lengthening a successful trailer into a full-length film, Iron Man begins by breaking the linear narrative with a jolting "grab you" beginning and then a "let's jump back" non-segue. After this intro, the film falls back into the classic time sequence of things.
There are plenty of reviews that will give you the narrative. I would rather jump right to some things I found interesting.
Characters:
First, Gwyneth Paltrow gets many of the best lines and delivers them with understated but intelligent sarcasm. I liked how they drew this character, though perhaps she is the real super-hero in this film for being able to run in 4-inch heals over metal grating without getting stuck. But I digress.
Second, Jeff Bridges is a great nemesis, though I must admit that I was waiting for him to tell Robert Downey, Jr. "Hey, just call me The Dude, or just Dude."
Third, Terrence Howard played it too soft. I expected Jim Rhodes to be a bit louder and more... military. Perhaps he will come out of his shell once he is allowed to get into one.
Fourth, Robert Downey, Jr. was certainly a nifty bit of casting. I found many of his interactions with Paltrow to be strained, like they were ad-libbing and waiting for each other to say something. The ending, which I will not give away, set up (for me) the narcissistic self-destructive tendencies in Tony Stark that Downey, Jr. was in danger of giving away with his post-conversion niceness. Stark is, on some level, just a billionaire playboy with a new, cool sports car that he can wear. He's not a role model. That's what makes him real.
Suit, cool. Trashed cars, cringe-inducing. Robot humor, funny. Villain, how many bad guys have missed The Incredibles and the dangers of monologuing? Setup for sequels, stay for all of the credits, and then your comic-geek-filled audience will raise a shout of joy as they did when I was there.
Rating? My rating system is Blue Thunder (BT) and AirWolf (\A/). Scale: Blue Thunder = bad and AirWolf = good. 2 BT is worse than 1BT. 2 \A/ is better than 1 \A/. Maximum is 5 on either end.
Iron Man = 3 \A/.
That's enough for now. More on my recent church class and the nature of the Genesis narratives, Creationism, and the Theory of Evolution. Perhaps.
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