I wasn't all that crazy about Iron Man 3, but my friend Tom Carson really liked it. I point this out not because it's so rare that Tom and I disagree—we disagree, at times avidly, about a lot of stuff. What I did find interesting is that, if you look at both reviews (of which Tom's is the better and more tightly written), you don't get that "did those two even see the same movie?" sense of disconnect. It's pretty clear we did see the same movie, and came to some of the same conclusions about it. It's more that for Tom the interesting stuff wasn't overwhelmed by the bombast, while for me the bombast wiped all the interesting stuff away. Tom's response to the movie remained enthusiastic through the bombast, to the extent that he was better able to take in what it was signifying, whereas my unconscious inclination was to stop giving the movie the benefit of a doubt at every turn that pissed me off. I don't know if seeing it in a different frame of mind, or maybe from a different seat, would have made a difference.
Also, I was maybe a little kinder to Xan Cassavetes' Jean Rollin rip Kiss of the Damned than I might have been, had I not been a Rollin fan to begin with myself. I suppose maybe I ought to be crankier about the fact that a taste for Rollin was once regarded as a psychological anomaly, and is now apparently an emblem of exquisite hipster connoisseurship. I might take it up with my therapist, except she'll have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about.
Many thanks for the link, Glenn. Otherwise, who the hell knows what accounts for my more favorable reaction -- so far unshared by the crits I think well of, with D. Edelstein only a partial exception ? I crawled into the screening with pretty low expectations, so maybe I was just unusually smitten by anything that seemed to be deviating from formula and in a mood to read too much into it so far as Black et. al.'s intentions were concerned. I do think the movie was at least trying for something more interesting than the same old-same old, though.
Posted by: Tom Carson | May 03, 2013 at 02:15 PM
Oh, your therapist isn't au courant with the Jean Rollin? You'll get little sympathy from me on that score - I brought up THE LAST DETAIL and BLADE RUNNER at different points during my last session, and my therapist hadn't seen either one.
Posted by: DeafEars | May 03, 2013 at 04:15 PM
If you folks are seeing non-cinephile therapists, you're doing it wrong...
Posted by: Petey | May 04, 2013 at 10:45 AM
The most interesting thing (thus far) to come out of 'Iron Man 3':
http://paddymacjr.tumblr.com/post/49441870540/really-thenewyorker
Posted by: Oliver_C | May 04, 2013 at 10:54 AM
Isn't Peter Bogdanovich still doing his therapist sideline business, or was that only happening while The Sopranos was running?
Posted by: colinr | May 05, 2013 at 07:53 AM