Short Review: A thoroughly satisfying and entertaining comic book super-hero movie.
Medium Review: "Iron Man 2" bucks the trend of super-hero sequels bettering their original installments, but remains a fun, satisfying experience. Director Jon Favreau manages to work in multiple heroes and villains without making the movie feel crowded or silly, and brings back most of the elements that made the first movie such a treat. Still, it doesn't quite hit the emotional or adrenaline highs previously seen, and in spots felt like it meandered a bit. Overall, though, an excellent super hero comic book movie that's well worth a full price admission.
Long Review: Since I consider "Iron Man" possibly the best super-hero movie ever made, it's not surprising that I wouldn't think the sequel is better -- that would be a tall order indeed. But it is very good, giving us what we want: Lots and lots of things blowing up, accompanied by Robert Downey Junior's excellent Tony Stark attitude. I'd rank it with movies like the original "Batman", the most recent "Hulk", and the original "X-Men", as a movie that does a great job translating the spirit and fun of the source material into a new medium.
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This week in RPG Corner I wanted to bring up the subject of enemies. Are there particular creatures you like to fight in your games, or a specific "boss" you remember vividly? I know in our Champions games, the players hated this character Nereid. She was a mentalist, who generally come in for a lot of abuse in that system, and they really loathed seeing her marker pop up on the battle mat. I don't know if it was the willpower-sapping entangling shawl she'd wrap around people, or the mind-controlling kisses, or what, but the hatred got almost visceral at times.
