With Logan being wide released, I thought I would gaze back at the film that kickstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Every time I rewatch Iron Man, I reminisce on the formula that is finally started to wear itself out.  ​Iron Man was iconic with it's use of a powerful villain, historical relevance, and superhuman character at the center.  Yet, these types of films existed long before Iron Man.  With the new hero on screen, Marvel struck gold and was able to build an extremely well-developed franchise that is still running well almost 10 years later.  

In 2008, Iron Man revolutionized the Marvel superhero genre.  When DC hit audiences with darker Batman films, it seemed as though superhero flicks would struggle to be anything greater.  I will not argue that Iron Man is better than The Dark Knight, but the two films are both signs of success in a genre that needed freshness.  Tony Stark was a hero that audiences could relate to.  Everyone knows that personality type and can somehow relate to Robert Downey Jr.'s (The Avengers) portrayal of the character.  Downey Jr. has become the face of the MCU and is paid way too much because of his perfected character-type.  Alongside RDJ, the cast shines bright with a lot of familiar faces including Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, True Grit, TRON: Legacy), Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en), and Terrence Howard (Prisoners).

To this day, I watch this movie and marvel at the effects used to create the poster hero.  Creating a film that includes large-scale battles is one thing, but just watching Iron Man suit up is a whole other monster for filmmakers.  Every transition is smoothly executed and realistic.  In fact, I am surprised that a suit like Iron Man's has not been created in modern society.  That is a scary thought, but not too far away from what our technological capabilities are.  While I might be tired out of this genre for the time being, I will always have a special place in my heart for where it all started.

The Bottom Line: Iron Man is a superb start to a franchise that has invaded cinemas and grown into a money-sucking machine.

Score: 8.5/10

Image credit: ​By Edgar Meritano - Publicada en wikipedia, author sent original by email, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4008669

Ed Sheeran is one of the few musical geniuses alive.  His pop music calculations have led to his success, starting from the bottom and working to the top of the charts.  At the young age of 26, Sheeran has released his third album, Divide.  Divide is a well balanced journey through beatboxing, latin guitar themes, soft ballads, and stadium-scale pop songs.  Every song is somewhat formulaic for pop music, but each differs and branches into a unique music zone.  The two hit singles are easily the most fun to listen to on the radio, but every one of these songs has a deep story behind the red-headed guitar player.  At the start of the album, you will probably rock and sway to the gospel-like "Castle on the Hill".  However, you will eventually start to tear up a bit by the end of the album as Sheeran reflects with "Save Myself".  This album is sure to win some awards when the time comes around!

Notable Tracks: "Castle on the Hill", "Shape of You", "Galway Girl", "Supermarket Flowers"

Similar Artists to Ed Sheeran: James Bay, Passenger, Sam Smith

Image credit: ​By Eva Rinaldi from Sydney, Australia - Ed SheeranUploaded by tm, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25418814

February 28th
James Walker (b. 1940) - 1984

March 1st
Richard Karron (b. 1934) - History of the World: Part I
Michael M. Ryan (b. 1929) - Another World
Jins Shamsuddin
Vladimir Tadej (b. 1925) - Hitler from Our Street

March 2nd
Helene White 

March 3rd
Miriam Colon (b. 1936) - Scarface
Frances Hargreaves - Number 96
Lazar Stojanovic (b. 1944) - ​Ona voli

1. "Can We Hang On?" - Cold War Kids
2. "Something Just Like This" - The Chainsmokers, Coldplay
3. "Step out into the Light" - Matisyahu
4. "Suit and Jacket" - Judah & the Lion
5. "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran
6. "Shot Out Of A Cannon" - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
7. "Basically" - STRFKR
8. "Way It Goes" - Hippo Campus
9. "I Don't Wanna Dance" - COIN
10. "Feel It Still" - Portugal. The Man

At first glance, this movie had everything going for it.  Fresh off of directing the indie film, The Kings of Summer, Jordan Vogt-Roberts was ready to take on a big blockbuster.  What could go wrong?  With Max Borenstein (Godzilla) and Derek Connolly (Jurassic World, Safety Not Guaranteed) on the writing team, Vogt-Roberts had writers who proved themselves with previous monster hits.  If that's not enough to bring you out to the movie theater, look at that star-filled cast.  Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers, Thor), Brie Larson (Room, Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Wreck-It Ralph, Step Brothers) and John Goodman (Monsters, Inc., The Big Lebowski, 10 Cloverfield Lane​) are the top names on the cast list.  With everything going right with the casting, direction, and writing, I somehow left the theater with the most disappointment I have felt in quite a while.

Let's start by dissecting the writing problems.  There is one character that the audience can care about by the end of the film.  Almost every single character in the film is a hollow image of a Hollywood star.  You know the film is bad when someone sitting next to you counts the lines of a lesser character throughout the film.  None of the characters are developed throughout any of the film.  For example, Tom Hiddleston's character is simply a tracker or a hunter.  It's not clear why he is a tracker, or what his motivation for anything in life is.  With so many characters, I imagined that there would be a lot of room for backstory and development.  The only character with any sort of backstory is John C. Reilly's character.  I won't go into details about the character, because that would give away the only decent writing in the movie.  Just know that by the end of the film, you will most likely only care about that character.

As an action film there are some cool sequences throughout the adventure, but the action still falls very short of perfection.  I got the "privilege" of seeing this one in IMAX 3D.  I would definitely not recommend paying extra to upgrade the viewing experience.  At times, there are really poorly made green-screen backgrounds, and the 3D adds nothing that pops out in a grandiose manner.  There is a monster battle towards the end of the film that is somewhat well shot, but by then I was ready to head home for the night anyways.  Constant flaws detract from the experience.  There are flaws that could have easily been fixed, such as the number of helicopters that fly to Skull Island.  However, there are also overarching flaws that the writing team should have looked at a bit more carefully.  Overall, this is the biggest disappointment of 2017 cinema so far!

The Bottom Line:  Flaws and poor writing create a shallow film that should've been reviewed before it was released to modern moviegoers.

Score: 5/10

Image credit: ​By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55961946

1. Get Out - $33.3M

2. The LEGO Batman Movie - $19.2M

3. John Wick: Chapter Two - $9.3M

4. The Great Wall - $9.1M

5. Fifty Shades Darker - $7.7M

6. Fist Fight - $6.5M

7. Hidden Figures - $5.8M

8. La La Land - $4.6M

9. Split - $4M

10. Lion -​ $3.8M

Image credit: ​By Peabody Awards - Keegan-Michael Key / Jordan Peele, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32944266