Mixed Feelings

So, by all reports Grindhouse is a brilliant, brilliant movie. Filled with all sorts of interesting dialogue, poor plotting, cheesy effects, and outstandingly bad acting. Altogether, that sounds like just the sort of movie I'd like, doesn't it?

Excessive use of violence, swearing, sex and nudity comprise the greater part of this movie. In fact, the excesses of the movie define it. That's what it's all about, right?

And that's where they lose me.

Why is it that in order to be artistic, in order to be considered at all serious about film-making, you need to drench your movies with blood and sex in equal hues? Is restraint in filmmaking only enforced from without, by stringent censors? Were the films that had to imply everything really so much less than the current let-it-all-hang-out movies? And isn't there something infantile about the American obsession with sex and violence?

That little whine-fest aside, this is a good time to be a big old nerd. Superhero movies are finally coming into their own as a mainstream phenomena. And as the kind of guy who collects comic books, let me just say... some of them stink. Big time. I mean, I kind of liked Daredevil, but even I was left with a bad feeling my mouth and a hatred for Mark Steven Johnson. (he did a little better with Ghost Rider, but you were still left wanting so much more)

Still, when they hit it out of the park... The trailer, that first adrenaline rush, for FF2, was awesome. It was a scene more awesome than anything we saw in the first movie. It was a scene worth waiting for. It was great. Images from the third Spidey flick are great. Spiderman in a bell tower fighting the symbiote? Wow.

And the very IDEA of an Iron Man movie starring Robert Downey Jr and directed by, of all folks, Jon Favreau... Wow. Jon Favreau blew me away with the saccharine-sweet Elf, and then again with the very dark and tragic kiddie movie Zathura. The idea of him being set loose with a dark hero like Iron Man... it's great. Of course, people don't know who Iron Man is. He's not one of the big names, like Hulk, Spidey, Bats, or Supes. Iron Man is, in his own way, darker. Batman, after all, pretends to be a worthless millionaire play-boy to hide his dark, serious alter ego. Tony Stark is a worthless millionaire play-boy, an alcoholic womanizer... with a dark, serious alter ego. Dark and consuming past? Um, no, just a rich kid with nice toys. Reasons? Motivations? Just because it's the right thing to do. I can't wait to see that movie.

It's a good time to be a fan.