Iron Man II Review

It was good and could have been so much better.

If you are not a comic book fan from the 70′s & 80′s when this story was first written it is very likely you would have been lost and wondering “who are these people”.

The problems with Iron Man II are several but they emanate from one key point, they tried to keep the movie short by gimping the story thus leaving it with huge gaps. Keeping the movie short means you can get more plays per day and maybe set an opening weekend revenue record.

Enough.

Stan Lee, the creator of the Marvel Comics Universe, has a reputation for telling great and wonderful stories in his comics. My advice to Stan is to do what feels right and just tell the story.

The Iron Man II story revolves mostly around Tony, Pepper, Tony Stark’s best friend Lt. Col. Rhodey, and Nick Fury played by the great Samuel L. Jackson.

Finally Tony and Pepper start to fall in love, but it comes as a total shock because they do no real exposition and growth in their relationship till the end when Tony tells her his “secret” and wham they are kissing. It is barely believable.

Tony ‘s best friend (Rhodie) steals one of the Iron Man suits and Tony can stop him but doesn’t. How do we know that this Lt. Col. Rhodie is Tony’s best friend? Well either you read the comics 30 years ago and knew this like I did, or you found out in the movie when someone says “your best friend just stole one of your suits”, or you remembered the few moments he was on screen in Iron Man I. Each Iron Man suit comes with an intelligent computer that only answers to Tony Stark named Jarvis. All Tony would have to do was say “Jarvis shut down suit two” and that’s it.

There is no character exposition of Lt. Col. Rhodey at all so it was simply not believable that they were best friends. There was no build up of a relationship between them and even at the end of the movie you are still not left giving a rip if “Tony’s best friend” lives or dies.

Planet Earth to Marvel Comics; without good character exposition the audience will not care about the character.

This goes double for Nick Fury. Nick Fury is the head of a secret organization (think of them as Section 31 from Star Trek) called SHIELD. Tony Stark completely cooperates with SHIELD which is not believable because he routinely tells the United States government to go fly a kite. But maybe if they spent six  minutes cultivating a relationship between Nick Fury and Tony Stark we might buy it.

I heard the whispers in the theater and after in the hall people wondering what is this SHIELD guy?

My message to Marvel, stop screwing these stories up, fix Iron Man II in the directors cut and start telling a story about people we can care about as I know full well you are capable of doing even if it means a 2 and a half hour movie.

With that said there are many delightful aspects to the film: The Senate hearing scene was wonderful,  Tony saying that he has had enough of the liberal agenda and the pressure groups that come with them, and the human side of Tony that shows how difficult it is for a man of great ability and creativity to be surrounded by so many people who are just out for their own narrow-minded selfish wants or incapable of appreciating Tony for the wonder that he really is (I felt this way in college where I often had to dumb down my own work for the class either to please a professor or to not intimidate fellow students. It really is very frustrating).

Last but not least, Mickey Rourke deserves an award for what was a beyond brilliant performance as the “bad guy” in this film. Words cannot do justice to what he brought to the character so I will not even try.

I say Iron Man II deserves 3 and a half stars. It could have been and should have been a 4 and a half star film.

UPS & Unions Lobbying Government to Change Labor Rules to Screw FedEx

UPDATE – FedEx Fights Back – BrownBailout.com  Another update HERE.

This is what the Democrats say, “We need more regulation” because government only has your best interest at heart.

This kind of corruption is called “Corporatism”, “Political Market Economics” and my least favorite term “Crony Capitalism” because once the government cronies get involved it ceases to be capitalism.

Via Big Government.com and Reason TV:

The AP is reporting that the Obama administration has changed a 76-year-old rule to make it easier for unions to claim dues members in the airline and rail sectors — since, you know, those are such vibrant industries right now that need to have their wealth redistributed to workers.

That’s not the only bailout unions are looking for in this area. Be sure to check out this classic explanation from Reason.tv:

Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad Removed from Terror Watch List in Spite of Numerous Terrorist Contacts

Meanwhile, Joan Rivers is bumped off a Continental flight as a national security risk after which they abandoned her at a closed airport, Dr. Laura Schlesinger was getting repeatedly felt up by TSA when she was going to fly till she had enough and totally went off on them on her popular radio show (I was listening that day), Ann Coulter gets the frisk from the TSA, and Rush Limbaugh now tries to avoid flying commercial because of the harassment.

Remember, these are the idiots that some of you want running our health care.

Via Big Government.com:

Confessed terrorist Faisal Shahzad was removed from the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list sometime after Barack Obama came into office.

CBS reported:

Sources tell CBS News that would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list – Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) – between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States.

The New York Times reported that the person who bought Faisal’s apartment back in 2004 was interviewed by federal investigators.

George LaMonica, a 35-year-old computer consultant, said he bought his two-bedroom condominium in Norwalk, Conn., from Mr. Shahzad for $261,000 in May 2004. A few weeks after he moved in, Mr. LaMonica said, investigators from the national Joint Terrorism Task Force [JTTF] interviewed him, asking for details of the transaction and for information about Mr. Shahzad. It struck Mr. LaMonica as unusual, but he said detectives told him they were simply “checking everything out.”

The Strata Sphere is all over this story.

Barack Obama began shutting down Bush-era terrorist investigations last year including the investigation of Faisal Shahzad.

We all know what happened next.

Last week Faisal almost blew a hole in the middle of Times Square.

The only thing that saved the people of New York was Faisal’s incompetence.

UPDATE: Faisal Shahzad had contacts with several other terrorist leaders including the radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki, the Taliban Chief, and the Mumbai Massacre mastermind.

ABC reported:

Shahzad also had a web of jihadist contacts that included big names tied to terror attacks in the U.S. and abroad, including the figure who has emerged as a central figure in many recent domestic terror attempts – radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki.

Besides Awlaki, sources say Shahzad was also linked to a key figure in the Pakistani Taliban, its Emir Beitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a drone missile strike in 2009. The Mehsuds had been family friends of Shahzad, who is the son of a former high-ranking Pakistani military officer.

Progressivism Unrestrained: Illinois $13 Billion in debt, 48th in the nation in job creation. UPDATE – Now Broke and Not Paying Bills

By contrast Texas is number 1 in job creation.

The problem in Illinois is progressivism that punishes success and favors leviathan government and the corruption that goes hand in hand with the constant politicking progressivism requires.

In fairness all of Illinois’ problems are not the fault of this one guy so in that respect the ad is a little too slick for my taste, but the description of the situation Illinois is in is directionally accurate.

UPDATE - Illinois now broke, unable to pay bills.

Bernard Goldberg on Elite Media making excuses for the Times Square bomber and other ridiculous bias.

Reason Number 2,387,134 that society is in decline: Spike in parents naming their kids after pop film Vampires…

Maybe if our schools and elite media would teach people about real heroes maybe some wouldn’t have to find twisted pop culture ones…

If you do this, you might be a pinhead.

New York Times:

For baseball fans, 2009 was the year of the Yankees. For job seekers, it was the year of the Great Recession. And for people who track baby names, it was the year of the vampire.

The Social Security Administration released its annual rundown of the most popular names for newborns on Friday, and flying up the list was an ancient name with modern fame: Cullen, the surname of one handsome bloodsucker, Edward, in the frighteningly popular vampire films “Twilight,” based on the best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer.

Cullen materialized at 485, leaping almost 300 spots from 2008 for the biggest increase of any boy’s name; it wedged firmly between Braiden and Kason.

But the nation’s fascination with the undead may not end there. The most popular boy’s name was Jacob, an eternal favorite that happens to be the name of the buff rival of paler-than-thou Edward: Jacob Black. The most popular name for girls was Isabella, the progenitor of Bella, the love interest of both Edward the vampire and Jacob the werewolf. Just plain Bella logs in at 58.

Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, said that about 22,000 children were named Isabella, out of 4.1 million babies, and nearly 21,000 new Jacobs are toddling about. Mr. Hinkle noted that Jacob had held the crown for most popular boy’s name for 11 years — something he suggested Ms. Meyer might have noticed.

Jayden became much more popular as a name about the same time as the “Jaden” variant of the name did in the last few years. “Jayden” was the name of a guest character in Star Trek: The Next Generation and “Jaden” is very well known in the Star Wars universe for famed Jedi Knight Jaden Korr.

/sigh

Progressivism Unrestrained: Venezuela annual inflation rate hits 30 percent

The more the central planners plans fail the more the planners plan. And the result is prices up, income down, wealth creation down, availability of goods are down. Yet this is the system that so many leftist academics favor and Hugo Chavez is the one that is so often defended by indoctrinated professors and students.

This is interesting:

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuela’s annual inflation rate has surpassed 30 percent after consumer prices surged in April.

The Central Bank and National Statistics Institute on Friday reported a 5.2 percent increase in consumer prices during April, driving up the annual rate to 30.4 percent.

President Hugo Chavez’s government has been struggling against the highest inflation rate in Latin America and a weakening economy in general.

Prices increased 11.3 percent from January to April, up from 6.7 percent inflation in the same 2009 period.

Venezuela’s economy shrank by 3.3 percent last year amid a downturn in its all-important oil industry. It’s the nation’s first recession since 2003.

The country imports most of its food, and Chavez on Friday announced the government will create an import-export corporation aiming to break with the private sector’s “hegemony.” It wasn’t immediately clear how the new state entity would operate.

Chavez said wealthy Venezuelans involved in the import business “buy abroad, come here and ask for more than it really costs.”

So of course Chavez blames the people doing the importing. Well if you persecute those doing the importing and you try to keep them from making a profit, they will stop importing and import to somewhere else. So the people get even less goods which drives up prices.

So maybe government decides that it will do the importing, but the government is so cronied up and inefficient that the prices go up even more. When that happens the government will blame the manufacturers for wanting to make a profit. Maybe the manufacturer will get sick of Chavez’s crap and sell to someone else who is less of a headache.

It is never the planners fault; just ask a planner.

Unlimited Bailout: Senator Kyl Says Fannie Mae Lost More In Past Year Than Last 30! !

Here is your government sponsored enterprise at work which gave fat bonuses to its political appointee execs.

AFP News:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – – Troubled US government-backed mortgage firm Freddie Mac on Wednesday asked for an additional 10.6 billion dollars from the Treasury Department to cover losses.

Announcing a 6.7 billion dollar loss in the first quarter, Freddie Mac said it would need the new funding by June 30 this year.

The Washington-area company has already received more than 50 billion dollars in taxpayers cash to cover losses from toxic assets.

It warned that further demands would be on the way: “Freddie Mac expects to request additional draws,” the firm said in a statement.

“The size and timing of such draws will be determined by a variety of factors that could adversely affect the company’s net worth.”

In 2008, the government pledged to ensure that Freddie Mac, and its larger sister organization Fannie Mae, kept a “positive net worth.”

The deal was designed to prop up the vital US housing market from collapsing totally and pushing the economy over the precipice.

But in a sign that the US housing sector is still in difficulty, Freddie said the percentage of its loans not paid on time or in full rose to 4.13 percent in the first three months of the year.

In the final three months of last year the rate stood at 3.98 percent.

Awesome! Glenn Beck Special on Sam Adams and the Black Founders!!

Sam Adams, he’s considered the Father of the American Revolution. A rich white slave owner? Well, yes- I’ll give you that he was white..but he was very much against slavery..and rich? Not so much.

Sam Adams was called “The Patriarch of Liberty”. He was the original revolutionary radical. Of all the Founders, it is Sam Adams that I identify with the closest.

Be prepared to learn more about the founders than you ever learned in school.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Responds to Obama’s Lies

Thanks JWF for the video link!

Awesome:

IUSB Vision Analysis Confirmed. Dr. John Lott: Creepy Claims Made By Dems About Arizona Immigration Law Are False

It is always nice when a famed intellect like Dr. Lott confirms what we say here.

Dr. Lott:

On April 28, while speaking in Iowa, President Obama denounced Republicans who “exploited” the immigration issue “for political purposes.” President said Arizona’s new immigration law would “undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.” He painted an alarming picture: “local officials are allowed to ask somebody who they have a suspicion might be an illegal immigrant for their papers. But you can imagine, if you are an Hispanic-American in Arizona — your great-grandparents may have been there before Arizona was even a state. But now, suddenly, if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed.”

Pretty scary rhetoric. And President Obama isn’t alone in making these claims. Take some of the statements on the Sunday morning talk shows this past weekend:

When asked by David Gregory on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if the Arizona law involved “racial profiling,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton replied: “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that because, clearly, as I understand the way the law is being explained, if you’re a legal resident, you still have to carry papers.” Similarly, on ABC’s “This Week,” Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned: “Unfortunately, I think it does and can invite racial profiling.“

Not to be outdone, Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) alleged on New York City’s WPIX: “That is outrageous for a governor and a state to support something that a local policeman will determine by sight whether a person is illegal. . . . a governor of one of our fifty states and the legislature has passed something that is racist in nature, that jeopardizes the lives Americans.” He claimed that local police will arrest people simply based on the color of their skin: “they will enforce the federal illegal immigration laws by allowing local police men to take a look and determine whether they are illegal and arrest them. And I would think that you would agree with me that they are talking about people of color. Now I think that is outrageous.”

So, do all these politicians have a point or is it just scaremongering? Unlike the couple thousand plus page laws passed in Washington that are filled with very complicated legalese, the Arizona law, along with the minor clarifications passed last week, is only about four pages long and is written in pretty straightforward English. Anyone reading the law will clearly see that the claims made by some Democrats are false.

As a matter of fact, Arizona legislators themselves didn’t want the police to have the power to simply “ask somebody who they have a suspicion might be an illegal immigrant for their papers.” So they set up not just one but two requirements. First, police must have “lawful contact,” meaning officers must already have detained an individual they suspect violated some other law.

Rush Limbaugh & Glenn Beck Now on FM 95.3 in South Bend – Niles

A new talk radio station! Oh I love it! WAOR 95.3 told IUSB Vision that they intend to have a new broadcast schedule up later today.

New Web Site for 95.3  - http://www.michiananewschannel.com

Here is their new FACEBOOK page.

File this under awesome!