versus-z.blogspot.com: 2010

So this past weekend was pretty great for me. Mother's Day, just a weekend from working too much, and of course the release of Iron Man 2. I was set to go see it with my mom and some friends that Friday night but others decided to catch a mid-night release instead... which I did end up going through with. Tons of people were around, and many lines, and many popcorn, and many, many, MANY women dressed like they were about to go to a club which does sound unnecessary but hey I didn't complain =p

My friends and I sat in our chairs for two hours just to make sure we GOT seats to begin with and make sure it was a nice view, and a really nice view it was if you get my drift. 12:05am hit and the trailers let lose starting with The Last Air Bender which was an AMAZING trailer and even though I'm NOT a fan of that show, the movie DOES look fun and promising. More trailers roll through but none that really caught my attention with the exception of the next installment of Shrek and another Cloverfield-esque trailer for Super 8(?). Oh and I cant forget the trailer for Grown Ups starring a main cast of the most funniest comedians on screen, another Happy Madison film.

Now about the movie itself. It starts off in Moscow, Russia with our main antagonist Ivan "Whiplash" Vanko witnessing Tony Stark make his live speech announcing to the world that "He is Iron Man" which is actually the basis of this story. Tony Stark pays the price for busting himself out and now the whole world wants his suit for better or worse, mostly worse, reasons. Not only that, but Tony is going through some internal conflicts for both emotionally and literally so the audience will be expecting more drama and a darker tone to this story than the first one. There's also much more of everything in this movie aside from the drama. There is much more comedy, much more development, and definitely much more action though it falls short of what many were hoping for. The whole cast from the first movie returns with the unfortunate exception of Mr. Terrance Howrad who played Tony Stark's grounding man James Rhodes, who is now played by Don Cheadle. New cast members who are consisted of Scarlet Jo-hot-as-hell-hansson who plays SHIELD agent Black Widow, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, and Mickey Rourke as Tony Stark's rival Ivan "Whiplash" Vanko.

Now with the casting being great already, do they deliver? Or is the script to blame for some of the things i have to pick on about? First being the fact that Sam Rockwell's character, Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries, is the equivalent to Jar-Jar Binks. Now don't get me wrong but i love Sam Rockwell's performances but in Iron Man 2, there were just some parts of his acting that just made me cringe sometimes. Another thing i need to pick about is how the hell did Don Cheadle's character James Rhodes get into the War Machine suit?! I mean obviously because he was the one who brought it in and of course hes got some time with it but HOW?! And out of no where... so a lacking on development there and a little bit inconsistent. now the biggest gripe i have against this movie is Mickey Rourke's, a.k.a Ivan "Whiplash" Vanko, screen time. He had very little screen time and for most of the time he didn't even have too much dialogue. Mickey Rourke is known for big roles especially his ground-breaking performance in The Wrestler, and i can't really say this sticks out too much but hey, you get to hear him using a Russian accent and literally "whip" some ass.

Overall, id have to agree that this was a pretty good movie as is though some improvements would've been nice. It was great to see more of the Avengers Initiation, especially getting to see more of Nick Fury played my Samuel L. Jackson, and newly introduced on film Black Widow played by, once again, Scarlet Jo-my-goodness-shes-friggin-gorgeous-hansson. Did i mention she kicks ass? And the music that plays right after she does that crazy move on the guy, right before she sprays that pepper spray... very sexy-girly, which adds to the hotness. But putting that aside, I loved the balanced amount of drama, comedy, action, and none of that seemed to be useless to my eyes and it all flew by smoothly. If you're a long time Marvel fan, you'll especially enjoy this movie because there are plenty of winks and nods at some older sub-plots and even to some possible future tricks and treats that Marvel would have to offer to us. I can't say the same for those of you who just have no clue about the Marvel universe and you are just someone who just enjoys the movies. There might be some confusion as to why Sam Jackson is in this movie and who is the character he's playing. It might not be that exactly but i would definitely have to say that this isn't for the clueless, as they might heavily judge the movie based on what they see and most of the movie felt more like a set-up for upcoming Marvel movie releases anyway. But if you take my word for it? Its worth seeing. Could've done better but I'm happy with what they gave us.

so as i enjoy the rest of my weekend, well its 11:20pm... pretty much a quarter till midnight so my weekend is also pretty much done... im uploading and editing some videos/reviews and at the same time i taking some test shots to see how my pictures would look like if i actually took night-time pictures instead of having to rely on mostly natural daylight. and luckily enough they came out pretty decently... decently enough that i should actually upload them onto photobucket and share them with you guys as a nice way to also update this long un-updated blog -_-

i decided to go with my recent purchases that were made during this past wonder-con, and also using some of my other figures so here they are =)

this first one was just a simple test shot using the all white Unicorn Gundam in its iconic Unicorn Mode

next weve got the famous Gurren Lagann

another revoltech figure, Overman King Gainer

an SD kit that ive had laying around for a while just like the SD Blitz, Kakuka Virsago

and now finally the one that im most excited to announce... S.I.C kamen rider ultimate kuuga from the kamen rider kuuga vol.13 set

well there you go!! i hope you guys enjoyed in some way... as far as future updates im thinking photo-based updates and/or reviews will be the way to go but until then... ciao!!