Thoughts on Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder put a little late-summer pizzaz into a fading season, and brought along a bit of baggage to boot.  Of course, everybody knows about the “retard” controversy that likely — as these things often do — increased rather than decreased ticket sales.  Myself, I can see both sides of the issue:  I know [...]

Review: Iron Man

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Iron Man is a kick in the pants, and, that’s about all any summer-blockbuster- wannabe can aspire to, isn’t it? It’s lots of fun, it doesn’t make us think (too much anyway), and it appears to have repeat-business potential. This last is important — for [...]

Robert Downey on the Rebound

Just about my favorite American actor is starring in the biggest blockbuster of the summer (ok, other than You-know-who in the Kingdom of You-know-what). It’s Iron Man, of course, and while I appreciate a good comic book movie as well as the next guy, I really appreciate him in those smaller, quirky roles like tranny-loving [...]

Square-Jaws and Twitchies: Superheroes in the Post-Modern Age

When I first heard who was playing Iron Man in the latest Marvel franchise-quest, my head spun around like a bad Linda Blair imitation. Quirky, twitchy, just-a-step-away-from-rehab Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, man of steel? Come on now . . . and then I saw this second trailer for the movie and I said: [...]