This is topic Iron Man 2 (2010) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 04-28-2010, 08:38 PM:
 
I quite enjoyed it. It took a while to get going (the first 30 minutes could have been trimmed a little.) The final main battle sequence looked and sounded great.

Overall enjoyable, but not as good as the first.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-29-2010, 03:03 AM:
 
I have heard from several sources that this is a giant turd.
 

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Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 04-29-2010, 05:47 AM:
 
You have heard correctly Joe.

It was terrible , I was drifting off to sleep during the first half , not a good sign for an action flick .

Then I just could not wait for it to end.

1 out of 5 from me
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 04-29-2010, 07:25 AM:
 
That's a shame. I'm going to see it in IMAX anyway with my brother and his crew. It's hard to imagine screwing up such a great first movie with a terrible second one. But we see it all the time. I'll post my review later.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-29-2010, 10:36 AM:
 
I lost interest when I saw the trailer that turned it into a Transformers movie. Lame.
 

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Posted by Richard Garbarini (Member # 5709) on 04-29-2010, 01:29 PM:
 
I saw it yesterday in a theatre in Paris. It was passable, but not much more, I am sure much better in I-Max.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 04-29-2010, 02:13 PM:
 
Well everything that made the first one good (origin, creation) obviously won't be in this one. Just hoping it doesn't come locked or gets unlocked at a decent time.
 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 04-30-2010, 01:05 AM:
 
Its coming locked. You will be able to build reels 2-7 and then when you get the combo some time on Thursday you will get reel's 1 and 8 and the trailers to finish up.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 04-30-2010, 01:37 AM:
 
I guess this means we will get the KDMs on Thursday too.
 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 05-01-2010, 03:20 AM:
 
The funny part to me is, we received our IMAX print today and it came just like any other IMAX print. In 37 little brown boxs.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-01-2010, 04:50 AM:
 
Well there you have it. Give it a day and there will be IMAX bootlegs.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-01-2010, 03:07 PM:
 

quote: Kurt Zupin

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In 37 little brown boxs.

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"Little"?
 

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Posted by Justin Gorka (Member # 3727) on 05-01-2010, 03:43 PM:
 
We had ours with KDMs two days before the show day. They don't seem to trust you lot much! (yeah, it is crap!)
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-01-2010, 04:43 PM:
 
Nobody over here uses PAL so they don't consider you guys a threat.


 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 05-03-2010, 09:52 AM:
 
Justin you had yours only two days prior to first show? Well seems they trust us a little bit more I had mine a full 7 days before first show.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 05-03-2010, 11:44 AM:
 
Haven't gotten ours yet, either for the rerelease of the 1st film or the 2nd one.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-03-2010, 03:48 PM:
 
Obviously you guys are not to be trusted. The movie's been out here since last Thursday yet they are still going to lock your cans? Apparently, no-one else in the world could have possibly recorded it yet.


 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 05-03-2010, 04:22 PM:
 
It is all just a big joke. The locks do nothing, but they have to keep up the show.

My actual review of the film follows.

I loved the first one, thought it was fun, a great addition to a genre that was starting to get a little stale with each new release. While it didn't invent the wheel it took a good formula and made it better.

The sequel had large shoes to fill. While it did a good job for the most part, it did not reinvent the wheel. It stayed with its formula and didn't move much outside of the box. While this is good, it's also bad. It dragged in spots that it probably shouldn't of and fell flat in a few spots it shouldn't have. This one had more humor then the first one, and I think most of it fit well.

Mickey Rourke to me was great as the bad guy, not to over the top but right at that edge. Sam Rockwell was a great counterpart to RDJ's Tony Stark.

I think I might of gotten my hopes up a little high and then put this on a mountain that it could never reach. I still enjoyed it alot, but wish it could of been more.

A side note about the Marvel Movie Universe. I love how they have brought characters in and moved them around in to other movies. To build on the universe and make it feel like a real world. Not just with big name characters, but people like Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson. Not a huge character but someone that can pop up in next summers "Thor" and help bring them together.

Also loved the two fanboy moments.

7.5/10
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 05-03-2010, 09:48 PM:
 
Just called TechDigital. Drive for IronMan 1&2 won't be delivered until thursday afternoon, with the full feature unlocked at showtime (9pm for 1, 12am for 2). This has all the potential for a huge disaster, which part of me is secretly hoping for.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-03-2010, 11:17 PM:
 
Well, they wouldn't want to unlock #1 too early or it could be copied and put on DVD...

Wait...
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 05-04-2010, 01:28 AM:
 
Lemme get this straight...

• Due to screener dvd's that are already out there on torrents...
• The studios decide to lock all other copies of Iron Man 2...
• Some as close as 1 hour before showtime if not earlier...
• And THIS is going to stop piracy because the studios won't recognise that copies are already available on Torrents?

Yep. Makes perfect sense.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-04-2010, 01:55 AM:
 
It is as if they are setting themselves up for failure with this last second KDM unlocking. I wonder if anything would change if everyone called into Technicolor between 12:01am to about 12:04am on Friday, claiming the movie won't play (even if it will)?

How many phone lines do you think they have?

You know, fuck with them a little bit. Keep them on the phone for a good 5 minutes having them tell you retarded suggestions on how to fix things. After 5-10 minutes you claim their last suggestion worked so you didn't lose the show (which has been running fine for 10 minutes now). They can get the warm fuzzies and then realize there are another thousand people on hold to treat like idiots because of a last second KDM unlocking.

Turnabout is fair play the last I checked.

In fairness it isn't Technicolor's fault. It is a joint problem created by the paranoia of the studios, and some jackass wearing a suit at the Technicolor corporate office convincing the studios they need to pay for more useless and annoying services...usually in the form of a phone call. "Hello Mr. Theater? Yes, we just wanted to make sure you knew we would be sending keys over later. Mmmmkay, thanks."

Seriously though, where is my phone call alerting me they will be sending this week's 35mm print split over several reels? How can I possibly run the show without being reminded of the same damned routine every week??? We need that phone call each week reminding us that some of the trailers may need rewinding before we can run them!!!

These studio heads need to wake up and realize they are being taken for a ride with all of these "services".

Ok, I'm going to stop before I say what I really think about all of this. We do need to stop the chit chat here and move it elsewhere anyway. The next person to comment please open up a new thread in the Yak forum titled "Iron Man 2 Stupidity" or something along those lines.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-04-2010, 07:10 AM:
 
Done.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Smith (Member # 5609) on 05-07-2010, 09:01 AM:
 
What's the point of seeing something in IMAX that is coming from a 2K file? FORGET screen size, even if you dupe it onto 7" aerial film, a straight 2K digital file (assuming lossless compression and the same color-space as the film recorder) is going to look better than IMAX every time.

IMAX blowups from 2K DIs are just a gross waste of perfectly good 70mm film. . .
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-07-2010, 03:00 PM:
 
I agree it is a waste to blow up any 2K image to 15-perf 70mm film. I'm not all that fond of the IMAX DMR process even when they are working with actual 35mm film elements (not stuff digitally rendered and laser recorded onto 35mm). Basically there is no substitute for 65mm origination.

The only advantage an IMAX blow up has is a bigger, possibly brighter image. But bigger is not always better. When the image has limited native resolution it just gets blurry when it is enlarged to true IMAX sized proportions. Nevertheless, a decent number of summer movies will be available with the IMAX blow-up treatment, including 3D blow-ups of Shrek 4 and Toy Story 3. Inception is the only IMAX blow-up that interests me at all and that's only because parts of it may have been filmed with 5-perf 65mm cameras.

BTW, Iron Man 2 has settled in with a 71% "certified fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 181 reviews counted. 129 Fresh, 52 Rotten. Average rating 6.4 of 10.
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 05-07-2010, 08:38 PM:
 
CINEMA: Cinemarkury 20 at Jordan Creek, West Des Moines, IA
AUDITORIUM: 11
PRESENTATION: Cinemark XD Extreme Digital Cinema DLP
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Bouncy image slightly out of focus
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

Well there's nothing Century about THIS auditorium anymore. They gutted it and gave it a Cinemark interior with some "XD" upgrades. Sconces are more modern (but about the same size as the antiquish ones in current Cinemarks). Seats are the same inserts Cinemark lifted from Century but are covered in black leather. Armrests also have leather inserts, but have so little padding they may as well have stuck with plastic. New JBL speakers replace the Century THX EV's. They lifted the slope floor a bit and stair-tiered the front rows to give the front end of the auditorium a more 'stadium' feel. The seats and rows are numbered, but they're not doing reserved seating (yet). They even moved the exit door from the front to the side wall to make way for the new wall-to-wall (and nearly ceiling-to-floor) screen. There is no adjustable masking, of course, so movies play letterboxed on the exposed screen.

They spent a ridiculous amount of money on signage with a HUGE lighted Cinemark XD logo on the side of the building and put some lit signage and a special poster case in front of the auditorium entrance. They're really pushing this as their sort of proprietary IMAX, aren't they.

Ticket: $12. Sound was awesome, damn near perfect. Picture, not so much. The image was okay while the movie was running, but the flaws all came out during the credits. Flickering up and down, rainbow effects, fuzzy...Actually, it fits right in with the rest of this building.

THE PLOT: A Russian claims trademark infringement. Wackiness ensues.

I had to look back at the original Iron Man thread to remember if I'd even seen the first Iron Man. Apparently, I did, and I liked it okay. I apparently bought the Blu-ray at some point (I think I spotted it on sale or something), but I've never watched it.

I like this one better in every way, especially the supporting cast.

There's a "stay for the credits" deal that apparently has to do with teasing another Marvel character. I won't spoil who it is, but I wouldn't have figured it out if it weren't for others in the auditorium freaking out and shouting the name.
 

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Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 05-07-2010, 09:26 PM:
 

quote: Sam Graham

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There is no adjustable masking, of course, so movies play letterboxed on the exposed screen.

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quote: Joe Elliott

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edit: Well, more of a vibration and wobble.

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'Vibration' is probably a better description for it.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-08-2010, 03:39 PM:
 
I heard some early reports that people didn't like this movie as much as the first or whatever. I just saw it in IMAX film, and I don't know what they're talking about at all. I thought it was right on par with the first one, which I thought was great. King of Prussia IMAX - good presentation overall, and it sounded awesome on the IMAX sound system.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-17-2010, 05:55 PM:
 
It's a good action movie but a little hard to follow at the beginning. I noticed that a lot of the dialogue had the characters talking over the top of each other a lot. Is this to encourage repeat viewing?

Overall I liked it. The sound was good, story was decent for a change. I can't really compare it to the first movie because I don't really remember much about it...typical for a summer popcorn flick, I guess.

I will give it three and a half stars, with a half star deducted for the disappointing scene at the end of the credits. (I never heard so many people say "we waited for THAT?!" as I have this past 10 days.)
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-17-2010, 07:42 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

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I noticed that a lot of the dialogue had the characters talking over the top of each other a lot. Is this to encourage repeat viewing?

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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(I never heard so many people say "we waited for THAT?!" as I have this past 10 days.)

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