beforethedarktimes.com reviews IRON MAN

Wondering if this one's gonna be worth seeing? Read for yourself what beforethedarktimes.com has to say about this new release (caution spoilers)

beforethedarktimes.com had a special opportunity to review this film before its official debut (5/2/08).  The commentary below contains SPOILERS but is definitely worth a read, especially if you're on the fence about seeing this early Summer blockbuster.  But first, some answers to some highly-anticipated concerns:

 

For anyone who didn't think making this movie was a good idea...

*you're dead wrong*

For anyone who thinks the trailers have given away the best parts of the movie...

*rapidly shaking head NO*

For anyone who didn't think Robert Downey Jr. could pull off the part of Tony Stark...

*print a copy of this and take it with you to the movie theatre*

 

This movie is the coolest one made in a long time..  For any person who has ever appreciated any of the following, this movie is a MUST-SEE for you:

-cars, old, new, exotic

-motorcycles, old, new, exotic

-airplanes, old, new

-any comic book

-old jukeboxes

Everywhere you look in this movie, it SCREAMS both mechanical and electrical eye candy.

It's pretty obvious to know that most men will want to stand up and chant HOO-YAH for Tony for the first half of the film, while most women will probably sum up their thoughts on him in one word: "PIG".  But for anyone who has half a clue what the character of Tony Stark is supposed to be like, this will come as no surprise.  The guy truly has it all (at least from a materialistic sense).

The film runs 2 hours 6 minutes, and does very well in keeping the audience from finding any lulls.  There are some HILARIOUS moments in this film, especially when Robert Downey Jr. first dons the suit.  Again, as mentioned above, the trailers do NOT show it all- and we here at beforethedarktimes.com are going to keep that level of respect in this area, so you can see the best moments for yourself..

The acting in this film is very well done by ALL cast members- it is actually surprising to see Jeff Bridges portraying the role of a hidden bad guy, but it's great to see a new side of his acting finesse.  The only other character we could think of off-hand where he portrayed a masked bad-guy was his role in The Vanishing with Sandra Bullock and Kiefer Sutherland.  Aside from that, most of his roles are always on the "good" side of things.  It was an interesting switch.

Gwyneth Paltrow pulled off a good job as Pepper Potts (OK... we do have to ask: WHAT kind of flippin' name is Pepper Potts??? anyway-).  Her role is relatively thin in the grand scheme of things, but her performance is believable, and we're just thankful that she is in this movie and not Kirsten Dunst (cough*HAG*cough).

Robert Downey Jr. has been a funny guy since his appearances all the way back to movies of the 80s (anyone remember him in Weird Science?).  But the beauty of his performance in this film is, his antics are done at the perfect times, and it doesn't appear that he tried to steal the show with any moments of idiocy or over-acting.  Two thumbs up for Robert's portrayal of Tony Stark..

The effects found in this movie are simply incredible.  It is absolutely amazing to see the achievements that have been made using this new technology in modern films.  If you were impressed by what you witnessed in Transformers or War of the Worlds, you will be right at home with Iron Man.  Some of the best moments in the movie from a cgi perspective, believe it or not, are all of the HUD-oriented scenes that are found throughout the film.  They include but aren't limited to:

-shots/angles from INSIDE the suit with Tony Stark
-displays that come up on various glass panels within Tony's home
-the wide variety of equipment used in Tony's garage/lab area

It is astounding to see how many different types of functions the suit possesses.  One of the funniest is early on in the film, when you actually hear Tony receiving a call on his cell during flight.  There, we gave you that one-  But one thing that impressed us the most is, Downey was able to make us believe that there really WAS a way to get that suit on and off of a human being- and believe it or not, it does show how DIFFICULT it is to fit into that suit!  Any previous attempts to fool an audience on this PRE-cgi would have been disastrous.  This feat was VERY well done by the special effects crew.  Hats (and helmets) off to ya!

You can tell that there is room for a sequel, and from the perspective of what we saw tonight, a sequel could come out just as strong as this first film.  We invite you to check out the film for yourself, and report your findings here or in our Forums!

(review has been migrated from prior server location as of September 2012)

NEW FORUM UPDATE!

Forum update process:"Working on upgrades"


As of 04-18-2008...

Blog on the Forums

I wanted to start an active, ongoing blog about the progression of the Forums updating process which started on 04-13-2008.
Here is the most recent, updated info on the Forums:
As of 04-17-2008, here is what I have been able to find out from the webmaster about the detailed Forum update process:

"Working on upgrades"

End of the update on the Forum Updating for 04-17-2008.
Check back tomorrow for nothing new!

....that is all people, there's nothing to see here, please move along.
Bloggin aint the same as the forum, the forum is a collection of artistic, informative and hilarious postings from us all that is worthy of being proud of. We just hope that it can be returned to us exactly as we left it otherwise, I know a little piece of my soul will be FDISKed and formatted along with it.
Not for nothing, but if any does need any help with these upgrades, I am more than willing to throw my hat in the ring. FYI.
Long live the BTDT Forums!

The Quest For TRON - are you strong enough?

I have posted the details surrounding the undertaking of adding a TRON arcade game to my current lineup. You can read the full story here:

http://59registry.hypermart.net/btdt/tron/tron.htm

You might want to bookmark this link, for when you think things aren't going your way 8^]

Jim/FETT

I'm not the only one..

I scraped this from one of my daily reads. Anti-music really has got the perfect nuts and bolts site for music; good music, metal and rock music, not that Britney J-Lo Timberlake crap either. Altho, they may occasionally comment on the retardation news that goes on in the bubblegum world, its more funny than news. Mostly, its great insight to the music world. But my last read isnt so funny, in fact, it reflects the same rant I went on for my Foo Fighters show. Except for I extended mine to the digusting state of the world, he focused his rage very poignantly at the source. Same sentiments. Please read on. Thanks Anti-music, sorry for your pain.


Ticketmaster Taxes Reach Absurd High: 75%
03/03/2008 .(antiTorial) My backside is stinging a bit having just been r@ped by the Ticketmaster monopoly. The problem with their monopoly is glaringly apparent when you are charged 75% over the face the value of tickets after Ticketmaster gets done adding all of their various fees.
I logged on to their site at 10:00 am hoping to score orchestra seats to Iron Maiden's upcoming concert in Irvine. Of course by 10:00:25, after filling out all the fields on the form, all of the orchestra seats were gone. (Check scalper sites later today for those) Since the orchestra seats were the same price as the lodge and lower terrace, I opted to get two $20 lawn seats since you can still see pretty well on the lawn at Irvine Meadows (I refuse to call it by it's corporate sellout name).
So I submit my order and the screen with all the various Ticketmaster monopoly taxes comes up and low and behold my $40 worth of tickets had suddenly become $70.45. If you failed math that's 75% in additional charges (I opted for the free mailing). To add insult to injury they tried to sell me insurance on top of what they already bilked me for.
This has just gotten ridiculous. I went to see Heaven and Hell this past summer at the same venue and was going to buy tickets at the window since a few were left (It was the band's second swing through the area). Walking up we were approached by a ticket scalper who had decent seats and offered them up for $5.00 over the face value. So we ended up buying from a scalper at a huge savings over what we would have paid buying them through the legal scalper (Ticketmaster).
I can understand adding some charges to handle their overhead, but when it reaches 75% of the face value of the tickets something just isn't right. Convenience fees, order processing fees, facility fees-- the only thing missing is the Vaseline fee.
I was really looking forward to this tour since Iron Maiden is revisiting their famed World Slavery Tour. I was just a kid when it rolled into Long Beach arena for a historic four night stand. My older neighbor ended up with an extra ticket, so at the last minute he asked me to go. That show was later immortalized in the "Live After Death" album and video. The video was just reissued on DVD, go grab it (if you haven't already) as it's one of the best live concert videos in existence! That concert really changed my life, helping fuel my love of music and kind of ruined shows that followed since no band could live up to it (not even KISS in makeup). But it's doubtful that with the high r@pe fees added to tickets now, that anyone would buy extra tickets like my neighbor did 20 some years ago. So some 11-year-old kid will be deprived of being introduced to the world of music by a kindhearted neighbor or friend. As it stands, I'm going to think twice about buying tickets in the future, let alone extra ones.Let's hope that Live Nation does go forward with plans to cut out Ticketmaster and sell tickets direct for their events and that they won't follow Ticketmaster's example of ripping off fans. Eddie Vedder where are you when we need you?
Keavin Wigginseditor antiMusic.comMarch 1, 2008

Foo Fighters tonight

I thought that I would share the fact that Im heading to see FF tonight. Now, most would say, "Wow, thats a strong intro (not)" but if anyone had any idea what I paid for them, then you would understand that I am paying to be pre-excited about it right now. Im just going with the flow here to make myself feel better for the brutal virtual mugging I got online.
I have seen FF 2x recently, once with their acoustic tour and then they came back around for a rock tour. Both were first affordable, but moreover both concerts were tremendous and made me appreciate them as true legends of our time. You hear them on the radio and stuff but it wasnt until 3-4 years ago I really had a driving urge to go see them, especially since I practically tour with Pearl Jam each time they come within 500 miles of my vincinity, it gets Expensive, but PJ loves their fans and make it niceynice to afford a ticket thru their fan club....at face value. Which is the basis of this post. Prices.
I just went to a metal show and the headliner was All That Remains at the Trocedaro. The ticket itself was 15 bucks. With the service fees, the -et-hem- convenience fees and handling fees, it doubled the ticket price. And I bought it online and I did all the work to get them. They just have a server that emails the .pdf ticket to my inbox and I even have to use my own paper/ink to print it out. Not to mention, after my years of concerts, I have quite a collection of ticket stubs that help as a nice token of the time. Now, I got a lousy printout, which does carry the same mystique as holding a stub from say the Black Crowes/Jimmy Page tour or my Pink Floyd ticket from 1988...but I digress.
So, why all the fees? I found the tickets, bought them and had them emailed to me. I guess, I am paying for their electricity of the packets sent to and from because I know, there wasn't any "Human" interaction with this process. And what of their reduced staff that helps them save money because everything is automatic and internetly connected. 8] (they're all TUBES)
This is just an example of what I've noticed in the last 8 years or so. You pay for more, but you get less and we're supposed to like it. Its funny, that the cost of gas to the show, the ticket that was not within five leagues of its face value, parking and not to mention the price of beer/food at the show, all of these things seemed to be breaking my will to go see concerts anymore. With all the cost, I cant even afford drugs to bring to the show and God forbid I want T-shirt.
I thought all this may be getting better once Ticketmaster lost its monopoly on ticket sales, but its more like they paved the road for worse ticketing companies to rip people off in more ingenious, despicable ways and then just call them some kind of new "fee".
The described pattern above, can be said for most companies that are operating today.

Prices are theme here, remember?
I am dumbfounded by how the economy is so in the drink but inflation is barely mentioned but running ramped. Oil, housing, utilities, health care, even freakin food is up in price but hardly talked about. Price. That is key here. Because if the price hasnt risen-yet-, then there was a new "fee" added to what you purchased, transacted or even for something you did yourself but had to pay up, regardless. Maybe thats how inflation is flying under the radar because the 'price' isnt the problem under the umbrella of inflation. If its not the price rising, its a new fee which somehow cant be added or considered to be 'inflation'. What good is it if something costs the same as in 1998 but they added 15 different fees to the overall purchase? Same can be said of Taxes, you wont see anyone raise taxes or even speak the word, they'll just call it a fee. Look for new fees to pay for the war in 2009. Good thing we have a Oil tycoon, corporate headboard slamming POTUS in office, maybe he can help us all out before he leaves.

In closing, at this cost, I'll enjoy the show. But, I am not sure if I'll go to any others, anymore. Its a luxury and I got to save for more future fees of some kind, from someone/some company that has what I need/want. Think maybe the Foo Fighters could start a revolution by renaming them to 'Fee Fighters'?
I hope they appoint Pearl Jam as their cabinet...

Hello, and thanks all... especially Jim!

Well folks...

I've never posted via a blog before, so I thought I'd take time out to try out this thingie-doo. First, a little bit about myself. My name is Mark Bellomo, and I'm a professor at a state university in New York where I run their Writing & Tutoring Program. I've been a freelance writer for the past ten+ years, and have published composition/rhetoric textbooks, over 150+ articles on action figures, toys, and pop culture, a few books on action figures (The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe: 1982-1994, Transformers: Identification & Price Guide, Warman's Action Figure Field Guide and Warman's Transformers Field Guide) and I've also presented papers on Robert Penn Warren, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway (my favorite American stylist) internationally and I'm published in sundry literary journals.

I'm not sure what I hope to accomplish here... I suppose to keep people abreast of what's going on in the toy/action figure world with borderline exclusive news... I'll be going to Toy Fair in a couple weeks, and have made appointments with AT LEAST the big two (Mattel, Hasbro), and will be checking stuff out from Diamond, Gentle Giant, Bandai, et al. Since I'll be returning from Toy Fair MUCH quicker than most (I live 90 miles north of NYC), I hope to post some exclsuive photos of new Star Wars product here before anyone else in the world can... I hope. So keep watching.

STAR WARS news:

Picked up a few new vintage and modern pieces. VINTAGE: Grabbed a MOC (with yellowed bubble... ugh) Ewoks Dulok Shaman and a POTF Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight (unpunched card, really nice & minty, clear bubble). Will eventually have to go back and finish my vintage SW collection this year if I hope to put out a collector's guide within the next two years. Am apprehensive about completing an entire set of figures, vehicles, playsets, promotions, etc., because a complete collection would include those darned POTF ("Power of the Force": 1983-1984) coins--promotional coins packaged in the last wave of vintage Star Wars figures. These POTF coins are SOOOOOO freaking expensive... especially category IV, Category V, and the 63rd coin. HUNDREDS of dollars each. I don't need these coins to be MINT and GRADED by the AFA (the Action Figure Authority), but a full set would make a nice picture in a vintage Star Wars Identification & Price Guide. But... what would a full set of POTFcoins cost? Bad enough I'd have to buy a MLC Sonic Landspeeder and MLC Remoted Control Sandcrawler...

New figures: they're okay-looking. Picked up McQuarrie Concept Rebel Trooper (#60), Clone Trooper: Hawkbat Battalion (#50), and Tycho Celchu: A-Wing Pilot (#44)... all at retail. Should complete the first sixty 30th anniversary by the end of the month.

HE-MAN and the MOTU news:

1) Spoke with Dan Salazaar (head of Mattel's Boy's Toys line) on the telephone last night... since I'm poised to pitch a new book The Ultimate Guide to He-Man, She-Ra, and The Masters of the Universe, I kept asking questions about the MOTU line (for those of you who aren't He-Man fans, "Masters of the Universe" = MOTU).

QUESTIONS: a) "When will a new He-Man and the MOTU line be reissued... more specifically, when will we see (be teased with) new product?" b) How far along in the process are you with the new upcoming He-Man film?" c) "When will fans see this new film?"

ANSWERS: a) "Not at the 2008 Toy Fair. Expect a release [of what? new product? confirming there's a new line?] at the San Diego Comic Con."
b) "The script has not been green-lit as of yet. Nothing has been approved. We're at the initial point of the process. But it is a process in motion."
c) "No comment."

G.I. JOE news:

The 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe figures are flying off of retails shelves: stores simply can't keep them in stock. Good times, good times...

Feel free to ask any questions!!!

-- Mark W. Bellomo

You Can Always Count On The EMPIRE

Although Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Admiral Diecht ruled, we can't give them credit for this find.. today's update lends kudos to EMPIRE magazine, which has posted the latest Indiana Jones image to hit the streets.. Click on the below link if you wanna see, spoiler wary no-a-clicka-da-linka..

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=21881

And be sure to post a comment below, on your thoughts about the next IJ in the lineup!

Welcome Mark Bellomo!

Please join me in welcoming Mark Bellomo to the BTDT staff! Mark joins us from the realm of Toy Shop magazine, which as we posted on the main site page earlier this week, will be closing its doors forever.

We are proud to have Mark among us, and look forward to the updates he will be providing on scifi toys and collectibles!

Jim