I'd never been to Rome until you smiled

[jlh]

Anyone else notice that Joel is wearing skinny ties and jackets with super narrow lapels just like, um, some other host we know that he's kind of obsessed with?

I haven't been talking about Top Chef much this season because I don't find that I have much to say, not that I haven't been enjoying the show. Now that we're at the half and on the verge of "wedding wars" I'll say that I like Richard, Dale and Stephanie quite a lot and they're my pick for the final; I like Andrew and Antonia more than I did at first but I haven't seen either of them do anything of real creativity on their own; and I wish Nikki, Lisa and Spike were already gone.

Saw Iron Man this weekend. Short version: go see it. Action/adventure movies aren't really my thing but I liked it quite a lot; be sure you stay through the credits for a nice surprise. I'm a Robert Downey Jr. fan and he was completely fantastic the whole way through, and I didn't find Gwynneth overly irritating either, perhaps because she wasn't asked to be smug. I liked the "origin" part of the plot, but the rest of it I found rather tiresome. The whole father-dies-friend-steps-in-son-takes-over-friend-resentful plot is well overdone; the Tower of Babel mercenaries never had a clear motivation for anything they were up to; Jeff Bridges used the sound-that-could-kill-someone one time too many; and seriously, they could drive a caravan of SUVs across the desert and no one would notice? Also, why were both the villains bald? The only moment where the movie really had me fooled was the S.H.E.I.L.D. guy turning out to be on Iron Man's side—I admit I was worried when Gwynneth went off with him. One thing I liked about the cameo at the end was that the scene started very Bueller-esque, with Tony wandering out of his bedroom, even if that wasn't where it was going.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think I have the exact same pics so far for Top Chef that you do. But then, they're the strongest.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

They really are. I think there were a few really strong chefs (like Jen) who went out early, but that happens every year. I have no idea what Nimma was doing there. I don't think Valerie or Zoi or Marc or Ryan or Eric were particularly strong in any case. (I'm missing a man here, I wonder who?)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Err...what was his name? Mexican food? Carlos? Manuel?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I feel sad that I forgot Manuel, but they of course didn't feature him much because he was nice and therefore didn't create drama. He didn't have big food or leadership skilz so he wasn't bound to stay long, though I wish Spike had left instead of him.

[ziggy1278.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked Iron Man. I was going to tell you to go see it because it had alot of elements I thought you'd like.

Gwynneth was awesome in this. I was totally impressed by her mature handling of this subject matter - all the actors really - which is what I think set it apart from lesser superhero flicks.

I agree about the Jeff Bridges plot being overdone, but I thought they played it well. He was so friendly and cool that even though I knew he was the villain beforehand I was hoping things would work out. I bet some people were fooled.

Also, after the origins, we got alot of discovery, and I thought that was good fun. The suit building and the relationship with the robots and him kindof testing his own limits all made it more interesting than if he had just flown around being badass (which still would have been awesome).

Stark is really flawed in a very Robert Downey way as well, which will probably come into play in the next film. There's a a whole phase in the comics where he gets so fucked up about the whole Iron Man thing that he goes into this alcoholic stupor and his friend (the army guy) actually secretly takes over as Iron Man - which they alluded to in this first film.

Lastly, I loooove (love love love) that Stark is all "Yup, I'm Iron Man." People knowing who he was was always more interesting for me than the secret identity thing in the comics. He's this vigilante figure protected by billions of dollars and really good lawyers, and it's just... weirdly based in reality.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Originally the final line of this post was that I hoped that the week you might visit Hulk is out, as I've read up on what the appearance of Samuel L. Jackson means and I reckon I'll have to see that too—not that I didn't want to, as I love Liv Tyler and it's about time Edward Norton played something other than a bad guy.

I didn't know anything about the film except the Stark goes to Afghanistan has a change of heart about his industry part, and the Gwynneth as capable assistant, so I was slightly initially surprised when Jeff Bridges turns, but I agree—HE was fantastic. I'm a fan of his, I think he's often great because he's usually subtle but can be hilariously over the top when warranted, so he was perfectly cast.

I didn't say this, but I LOVED the mechanical porn, and I love that yes, he's a genius, whatever, but he also knows how to actually make things with his own two hands. And the robots were awesome, totally hilarious. Watching someone do something that they really know how to do, seriously, there's nothing sexier, but you probably noticed that about me while you were taking apart the computer I'm currently typing on. I totally agree about him tinkering with the suit, too. It's like he earned the right to later fly around being badass.

I'll be glad to have Terence Howard have a little more to do, not that he wasn't super cool and not that there was really room for him to do a lot here, but that he'll be more important later is welcome.

Another thing I liked was Gwynneth's reaction to him—she wasn't just being missish or ridiculous, but more, "right, I'm supposed to kiss you now when you fucked off last time and also you've been sleeping with everything that moves and I really don't need people thinking I'm your girl of the moment, so I'm glad you are having the change of heart and all but you're going to have to earn this kthx." However much she is or isn't pining, she certainly has her self respect.

I had read about the future alcohol storyline and I'm intrigued about how he'll play that. ITA re the lack of secret identity, because I always did find that sort of tiresome, esp with the ladies/friends/etc.

Favreau did a great job. One of the reviews I looked at (after I saw the film) mentioned that once he was in the suit it wasn't as interesting as when he wasn't, which I think is saying a lot for a superhero movie!