comment #1

vansmith says ...

i wouldnt say apart from that, i would say because of that, his hipster attitude the CG the bad guys, it all ads up to a winner, i'll see the DVD but Hancock is something i'll go see in the theater, there's a twist on this whole super hero shit, lets see a superhero fuck some broad that he's not suppose to which would totally happen in real life ha..

comment #2

WesGoulet says ...

The gulf between Jeff and the world just keeps growing. You're a maniac. Either:
a.) You've gotta get out of LA or
b.) You've gotta stay, get entrenched as you can, and please, please, don't stop writing. Thankfully, it looks like you'll continue to embrace the latter.

You can't make some of this stuff up.

comment #3

romeoisbleeding says ...

Variety is saying it will make $201 worldwide this weekend
"Paramount and Marvel Studios' summer tentpole "Iron Man" mined enough in its box office debut to join the pantheon all-time highest openers, grossing an estimated $104.2 million domestically and $96.7 million internationally for a worldwide cume of $201 million in its first five days."

I saw it twice already! the audience was a cool mix of old and young .. llittle kids and teenagers andlots of middle-aged folks too. Both times the audience loved it and stayed for the cool hint of things to come after the credits. Everyone must have heard you have to stay for the surprise.

comment #4

vansmith says ...

you saw it twice already, what a mope..

comment #5

breadlymoore says ...

The bottom line is that the public is REALLY digging this movie. I'm thrilled for Favreau.

After seeing "Speed Racer" this past week, I hope "Man" clobbers it next weekend.

comment #6

GKLondon says ...

Saw it yesterday at a packed house, loved it, though the projectionist had somehow switched the audio mix from the 6 channel dolby to the two channel (I think it's an automated problem solving setting), so while I loved the movie, the rock and roll experience was diminished by the fact that the score and the impacts in the movie sounded like they were playing on my tv. My partner mixed the foreign versions so she knew it was not correct.

Damn projectionists.

Downey Jr is great, but I also think Favreau did a bang up job too. Also liked that Stark was waterboarded.

comment #7

Arran says ...

Why do I get the feeling this starts with "hey, I have nothing against this movie. It's solid and congratulations to Favreau" and ends with "JOHN FAVREAU IS A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING AND AN OGRE AND I HOPE HIS FACE FALLS OFF".

comment #8

D.Z. says ...

I wonder if Iron Man doing well means GTA is losing its appeal. It came and went pretty quickly.

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

I just hope Rob doesn't blow it like Heath.

comment #10

diesel says ...

saw it last night, the theatre in my town (sundsvall, middle of sweden, some 90000 people), loved it but the theatre was half-full, twenty of us stayed to watch the nick fury debacle. which was a joke, no way can anyone take samuel l jackson for real.

great for downey though, glad he got such a break.

can't wait to see what he does with the soloist, come awards season.

comment #11

giantman says ...

DZ, I was thinking the same thing, the whole GTA thing seems to have blown over with little to no impact.

I've seen it three times already, once a free screening last week and twice with different groups of friends, and will be seeing it again tomorrow night. So I guess that makes me an Uber Mope!

The thing some people seem to be missing, and which is hidden deep within Jeff's comments, is that it doesn't suck! Not one single part of IM sucks, the acting is good if not almost great in parts, RDJ is awesome, the CGI doesn't suck, the dialogue is solid and doesn't embarass anywhere (which is a small miracle in a comic book movie) and the whole thing just feels real. Certainly it isn't perfect, but it doesn't suck at all. Except for the music, which keeps it from being really perfect.

comment #12

giantman says ...

I got carried away and missed my own point, which was simply that a Summer tent-pole movie that doesn't suck is almost certain to make 300 million these days. We get so few of them anymore. I think that is what has people excited about IM.

comment #13

Mr. Blood Vessel says ...

Posted by vansmith at May 4, 2008 10:42 AM
i wouldnt say apart from that, i would say because of that, his hipster attitude the CG the bad guys, it all ads up to a winner, i'll see the DVD but Hancock is something i'll go see in the theater, there's a twist on this whole super hero shit, lets see a superhero fuck some broad that he's not suppose to which would totally happen in real life ha..

the sad part is(and maybe i'm alone here) it's a black guy being a bad person.

comment #14

corey3rd says ...

GTA4 came out Monday at Midnight. People had a lot of time with the game before they needed to push the pause button and go see a movie for 3 hours.

comment #15

D.Z. says ...

corey: Still, I've heard more buzz for Iron Man since it came out than since GTA IV's release.

comment #16

vansmith says ...

blood vessel - he's not a black guy he's will smith ...

comment #17

corey3rd says ...

buzz? Why wouldn't you hear more buzz for Ironman since most of the people who are playing GTA4 are buzzing each other. I've heard more buzz about playing virtual darts on GTA4 than Made of Honor. You're not listening to drum. Dirk Belig will give you GTA4 buzz.

What's up with Will Smith and his new fixation of being the Last of his kind? Is this part of his scientologist weirdness? Is he taking over Heston's crown?

comment #18

Arran says ...

I wonder if GTA4 having little to no effect on Iron Man's box office will mean DZ finally realises he has no fucking idea what he's talking about.

comment #19

corey3rd says ...

Don Murphy belittles all of you that saw Iron Man.

comment #20

btwnproductions says ...

Wasn't HANCOCK originally titled MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND? The concept of romantically dysfunctional superheroes isn't exactly unique.

comment #21

Mr. Blood Vessel says ...

vansmith [TypeKey Profile Page] says ...

blood vessel - he's not a black guy he's will smith ...

touche` vansmith.

Posted by btwnproductions at May 4, 2008 01:57 PM

Wasn't HANCOCK originally titled MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND? The concept of romantically dysfunctional superheroes isn't exactly unique.

I remember kevin smith writing a blog post saying that he actually created the idea and then they stole it from him.
but he was pretty cool about it,just annoyed.

comment #22

Arran says ...

Mr Blood Vessel, I don't think Smith actually said they STOLE it; more that if you think you have a good idea for something, you should get on to it right away because someone else is bound to have the same idea sooner or later.

Not that My Super Ex-Girlfriend turned out to be a good idea, but you know what I mean.

comment #23

Undercover Brother says ...

Have to completely agree with Jeff on this one. IM is nice, agreeable, fairly decent. The relentless praise being heaped on it by the likes of the AICN and CHUD gangs are a sorry reminder that they can easily get swept up into an event they're entirely too close to. I think in a few months, when a few more summer flicks have come and gone, and IM hits DVD, there will be a fair amount of re-reviews. It's short comings and lack of innovation will be far more visible when everyone has to take it home with them and live with it for a while.

comment #24

berkguru says ...

is it OK to take my 4-year old? or too violent?

comment #25

dgaughan says ...

Good old Wet Blanket Wells. What will you mope about next?

comment #26

Josh Massey says ...

"I wonder if GTA4 having little to no effect on Iron Man's box office will mean DZ finally realises he has no fucking idea what he's talking about."

Don't be silly.

comment #27

romeoisbleeding says ...

it is ok to take your 4 year old too. no problem. the violence is hinted at for the most part..just to let you know this is from the mope according to someone up the thread. oh well. I am not ashamed of having a good time at the movies and seeing it twice. Looks like I was not the only one having a good time at the movies this weekend.

comment #28

Edward says ...

My wife's not much for super heroes, but I was nice and took her to see 27 Dresses (not too bad, really), so she owes me...

comment #29

actionman says ...

Before Will Smith had any involvement with Hancock there were multiple white actors considered and attached to the lead role.

I am very pleased for Downey Jr. and Favreau. The sequel will probably be spectacular.

On a completely unrelated note, yesterday I saw John Malkovich eating some Red Mango yogurt on Pico in front of the Landmark and today, the fiancee and I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in Malibu as we ate our lunch. It's been a surreal weekend.

comment #30

D.Z. says ...

Arran: It probably has nothing to do with what *I* know, but the death of torture porn impacting games like GTA, too. Up until that stupid "hot coffee" brouhaha, that franchise was huge for a long time; you'd see ads for the company on billboards and drinks everywhere around here. So it wasn't an unreasonable assumption that the fourth game could cut into Iron Man's sales, especially considering how many hours hardcore gamers blow on Warcraft. But I guess Iron Man just seemed a lot more fresh to that audience; the "They're from Eastern Europe" gimmick didn't cut the mustard. I was wrong, but my speculation had some credibility.

comment #31

Arran says ...

GTA4 sold 4.2 million copies worldwide on the day it came out.

This will probably lead DZ to say "That's still a disappointment because they hoped to sell 89 million" or some other horseshit.

comment #32

bb says ...

Saw Iron Man today and along with the packed Cinerama dome, loved it. It was simply action packed, exciting and funny.

Fairly early into the movie during an action sequence, the audience, let out a collective gasp, one of my favorite kind of moments in such a movie.

We also waiting for the "surprise" after the credits. It all had to be explained to me but it was fun.

comment #33

D.Z. says ...

It's kind of true, actually. Worldwide sales aren't the same as domestic sales.

comment #34

lipranzer says ...

I saw this last night, and I liked it, though I didn't love it. It was too long, and I wish Terrence Howard had more to do (people who know the comics better than me have told me his last scene was a setup for how important his character becomes later, but nevertheless), but it was enjoyable, and Downey, Bridges and Paltrow were all terrific.

Oh, and I was spoiled for the post-credit sequence, so my fave part was the last line before the credits.

comment #35

Bob Violence says ...

I've heard more buzz about GTA IV than Iron Man and my anecdotal evidence is better than D.Z.'s. They should've held off on IM -- $100 million is a huge disappointment (because I say it is) and it clearly didn't stand a chance against the combined onslaught of GTA IV and Forbidden Kingdom.

comment #36

iamwhoiam says ...

Dear Jeff. This must be your most pathetic post ever. Seriously, i'm sad for you. You didn't love the movie, fine, but don't insult a huge public (including women and non-comics fans) who enjoyed every moment.

comment #37

moorish says ...

Say, where *is* Don Murphy? Somewhere eating crow, hopefully.

comment #38

Rich S. says ...

"the joy of killing Middle Eastern terrorists and all that"

So, no bitterness that more people saw a comic-book movie that had interesting things to say about war profiteering and the collateral consequences of the war on terror in its first weekend than saw all the "Iraq Movies" combined?

Next time D.Z. makes one of his iron-clad predictions, someone needs to make a loser-leaves-blog bet with him. There's no risk because he's always invariably wrong.

comment #39

D.Z. says ...

Rich: "So, no bitterness that more people saw a comic-book movie that had interesting things to say about war profiteering and the collateral consequences of the war on terror in its first weekend than saw all the "Iraq Movies" combined?"

I doubt people saw it for that, though. Who knows if they even if they got that message out of the pictures?

"Next time D.Z. makes one of his iron-clad predictions, someone needs to make a loser-leaves-blog bet with him."

Bah, how many times have people been consistently wrong about a Matt McConaughey picture? Everyone has their off days.

comment #40

mjn says ...

FYI gruver1: Jon Favreau is a speechwriter for Obama's campaign. Maybe this will make you happier for Iron Man's success.

comment #41

mjn says ...

Disregard last post. Same name, different person.

comment #42

leepe says ...

You sound SOOOO disappointed that IM is doing well. Hoping that the talent will jump ship from this franchise and make REAL movies, eh?

Try as you might to pour it on, and for goodness sake take a Cialis, make no mistake about the impact of your review.

The cast performed well under the direction of the director who all worked from a good script. Whether you like the genre or not, it is a good story that won over the audience.

That and killing SW Asians, I'm down with dat!