Iron Man is here and ready for action! This ultimate Iron Man figure features electronic lights and sounds. With his repulsors fully charged and his hypervelocity pulsejet boots fueled and ready, the bad guys don''t stand a chance. He''s a super sonic savior, an awesome armored hero, and he''ll blast through or soar over anything that stands in his way. Features electronic speech, repulsor sounds, glowing repulsors, launching repulsor projectile, blast-off and landing sounds, motion activated super sonic flight and combat sounds, plus chest and hands that light up. Requires three "AAA" batteries, included. Measures 12"H.
REVIEW
Iron man action figure Action figure takesa beating from my 4 yeard old. There are barely any scratches and all the features work great. Excellent item.
Amazon.comYou know you're going to get a different kind of superhero when you cast Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. And Iron Man is different, in welcome ways. Cleverly updated from Marvel Comics' longstanding series, Iron Man puts billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (that's Downey) in the path of some Middle Eastern terrorists; in a brilliantly paced section, Stark invents an indestructible suit that allows him to escape. If the rest of the movie never quit hits that precise rhythm again, it nevertheless offers plenty of pleasure, as the renewed Stark swears off his past as a weapons manufacturer, develops his new Iron Man suit, and puzzles both his business partner (Jeff Bridges in great form) and executive assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). Director Jon Favreau geeks out in fun ways with the hardware, but never lets it overpower the movie, and there's always a goofy one-liner or a slapstick pratfall around to break the tension. As for Downey, he doesn't get to jitterbug around too much in his improv way, but he brings enough of his unpredictable personality to keep the thing fresh. And listen up, hardcore Marvel mavens: even if you know the Stan Lee cameo is coming, you won't be able to guess it until it's on the screen. It all builds to a splendid final scene, with a concluding line delivery by Downey that just feels absolutely right. --Robert Horton
On the DVD A fat collection of Special Features bulks up the Iron Man experience. The heftiest is I Am Iron Man, a feature-length behind-the-scenes doc that exhaustively covers the making of the movie, with full access to director Jon Favreau and the cast and crew. A half-hour look at the visual effects will satisfy gearheads (the legendary Stan Winston weighs in, shortly before he died), and a thorough chronicle of the comic-book Iron Man provides the character's print history, with Stan Lee noting that the comic brought in more fan mail from women than any other Marvel title. Scenes from Robert Downey, Jr.'s screen test are fun, and a rehearsal with Downey, Favreau, and Jeff Bridges working out a tense scene is a tantalizing look at collaboration. A selection of deleted and extended scenes reveals no special gems,but confirms the editorial judgment. The cherry on top is a splendid Onion parody news bulletin, purporting to report that the awesome Iron Man trailer that everybody loved is now about to be expanded into an actual full-length film--but fans are skeptical they'll ruin it. --Robert Horton
Stills from Iron Man (Click for larger image)
REVIEW
2-Disc Set Does Iron Man Justice! There is a lot to `give away' in describing "Iron Man', but suffice it to say that the film makers have created the real Tony Stark. He is the rowdy billionaire responsible for building weapons of mass destruction and selling them to the enemy who then turns into a reluctant and then powerful `Iron Man'. The cinematography is stunning in Blu-ray and the scenes starting from Afghanistan to Los Angeles's skies are over-whelming. The action is intense, funny, witty and true to the character of the comic book character. Plus, it is all believable. Robert Downing, Jr. playing around with his Iron Man invention is nothing short of hilarious and thrilling. Gwyneth Paltrow is a bit underused as his assistant, but she supplies some killer one-liners. Jeff Bridges plays a role that truly threatens Iron Man, but that's all I'll say. The effects are fantastic, the storyline is fast and clever and it is no small wonder it broke box office records. On Blu-ray disc, it is just as good as being in a movie theater - the details, color and sound are that amazing! Tony Stark IS `Iron Man'.
All Blu-ray discs are set up differently according to their theme, but for Iron Man, I'll describe the screen imagery. The initial PLAY/SCENES board is a colorful statue of Iron Man with colorful, comic book scientific looking diagrams. Audio is available in English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese. There are some great extras like the `Hall of Armor' showing all four Iron Man designs, `The Invincible Iron man' and deleted scenes. These deletions are great, including, 'I Am Iron Man', `Visuals Effects of Iron Man', a fantastic `Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test'. 'The Actors Process' (Downing and Bridges get down with some real improvisations), a semi-spoof trailer from `The Onion' on Iron man,' Theatrical Trailers, Galleries, Credits and Subtitles. Not to leave anything out, more extras include six mini features such as `Friends and Foes' and "Demon in a Bottle". If you're really into Blu-ray, try connecting to the Internet for BD-Live capability. This is one of the Blu-ray features that put it so far and above regular DVD.
Become Iron Man with this awesome role play kit! Comes with mask and gauntlet that shoots a repulsor ray disc!
REVIEW
Fun being a super hero Mask looks just like the TV show and the blaster is fun. Well, anything that shoots is fun.
The mask is sized for an 8 year old or bigger, though my 5 year old can wear it. Though he barely sees through the eye slits, he still loves it.
The compartment that holds the flying disk always comes off and is lost some where in the house. Every time we find it we shoot disks for a day before it gets lost again.
Amazon.com"I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?" deadpans Sam Witwicky, hero and human heart of Michael Bay's rollicking robot-smackdown fest, Transformers. Witwicky (the sweetly nerdy Shia LaBeouf, channeling a young John Cusack) is the perfect counterpoint to the nearly nonstop exhilarating action. The plot is simple: an alien civil war (the Autobots vs. the evil Decepticons) has spilled onto Earth, and young Sam is caught in the fray by his newly purchased souped-up Camaro. Which has a mind--and identity, as a noble-warrior robot named Bumblebee--of its own. The effects, especially the mind-blowing transformations of the robots into their earthly forms and back again, are stellar.
Fans of the earlier film and TV series will be thrilled at this cutting-edge incarnation, but this version should please all fans of high-adrenaline action. Director Bay gleefully salts the movie with homages to pop-culture touchstones like Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Kong, and the early technothriller WarGames. The actors, though clearly all supporting those kickass robots, are uniformly on-target, including the dashing Josh Duhamel as a U.S. Army sergeant fighting an enemy he never anticipated; Jon Voight, as a tough yet sympathetic Secretary of Defense in over his head; and John Turturro, whose special agent manages to be confidently unctuous, even stripped to his undies. But the film belongs to Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and the dastardly Megatron--and the wicked stunts they collide in all over the globe. Long live Transformers! --A.T. Hurley
REVIEW
Strictly for 8 year olds Nearly everything has already been said and written about this movie. However, consider this for the sheer level of stupidity we are talking about:
Sam's great-great-grandfather discovers Megatron in the arctic ice in 1897; Sam is also supposed to be a typical teenager getting his first car and is at most 17 years old. If we allow for some 30 years between generations, then his great-great-grandfather would have been born 137 years ago (4 generations, i.e. 4x30 years). That means around 1870 - make that 1860 to account for late bloomers in the family. In any case he would have been in his late 20s or 30s at the time of the expedition, which by itself makes perfect sense - arduous arctic voyages are a young man's game. And yet the movie portrays him as an old man! Played in fact by veteran actor William Morgan Sheppard,who was already in his early 70s at the time of production. Doesn't this kind of say it all? It either means that everybody involved in the movie was a moron, from the director all the way down; or that they assumed their audience was so infantile, that they could never conceive of a great-great-grandfather as having been a young man.
Why harp on a minor point? Because it could have been so easily avoided and because it makes it impossible to give this movie any benefit of the doubt. You can forgive all the nonsense and ignore the plot holes for the sake of entertainment, but you don't need to get insulted in the process.
Amazon.comThe Dark Knight arrives with tremendous hype (best superhero movie ever? posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger?), and incredibly, it lives up to all of it. But calling it the best superhero movie ever seems like faint praise, since part of what makes the movie great--in addition to pitch-perfect casting, outstanding writing, and a compelling vision--is that it bypasses the normal fantasy element of the superhero genre and makes it all terrifyingly real. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is Gotham City's new district attorney, charged with cleaning up the crime rings that have paralyzed the city. He enters an uneasy alliance with the young police lieutenant, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Batman (Christian Bale), the caped vigilante who seems to trust only Gordon--and whom only Gordon seems to trust. They make progress until a psychotic and deadly new player enters the game: the Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers the crime bosses a solution--kill the Batman. Further complicating matters is that Dent is now dating Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, after Katie Holmes turned down the chance to reprise her role), the longtime love of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne.
In his last completed role before his tragic death, Ledger is fantastic as the Joker, a volcanic, truly frightening force of evil. And he sets the tone of the movie: the world is a dark, dangerous place where there are no easy choices. Eckhart and Oldman also shine, but as good as Bale is, his character turns out rather bland in comparison (not uncommon for heroes facing more colorful villains). Director-cowriter Christopher Nolan (Memento) follows his critically acclaimed Batman Begins with an even better sequel that sets itself apart from notable superhero movies like Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man because of its sheer emotional impact and striking sense of realism--there are no suspension-of-disbelief superpowers here. At 152 minutes, it's a shade too long, and it's much too intense for kids. But for most movie fans--and not just superhero fans--The Dark Knight is a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi
On the Blu-ray disc The Dark Knight on Blu-ray is a great home-theater showoff disc. The detail and colors are tremendous in both dark and bright scenes (the Gotham General scene is a great example of the latter), and the punishing Dolby TrueHD soundtrack makes the house rattle. (After giving us only Dolby 5.1 in a number of big Blu-ray releases this fall, Warner came through with Dolby TrueHD on this one.) One of the most interesting elements of The Dark Knight was how certain scenes were shot in IMAX, and if you saw the movie in an IMAX theater the film's aspect ratio would suddenly change from standard 2.40:1 to a thrilling 1.43:1 that filled the screen six stories high. For the Blu-ray disc, director Christopher Nolan has somewhat re-created this experience by shifting his film from 2.40:1 aspect ratio (through most of the film) to 1.78:1 in the IMAX scenes. While the effect isn't as dramatic as it was in theaters, it's still an eye-catching experience to be watching the film on a widescreen TV with black bars at the top and bottom, then seeing the 1.78:1 scenes completely fill the screen. The main bonus feature on disc 1 is "Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene," which is 81 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage about the IMAX scenes, the Bat suit, Gotham Central, and others. You can watch the film and access these featurettes when the icon pops up, or you can simply watch them from the main menu. A welcome and unusual feature is that in addition to English, French, and Spanish audio and subtitles, there's an audio-described option that allows the sight-impaired to experience the film as well.
Disc 2 has two 45-minute documentaries on Bat-gadgets and on the psychology of Batman, both in high definition. They combine movie clips, talking heads, and comic-book panels, but aren't the kind of thing one needs to watch twice. More engaging are six eight-minute segments of Gotham Central, a faux-news program that gives some background to events in the movie, plus a variety of trailers, poster art, and more. The BD-Live component on disc 1 is more interesting than on some earlier Blu-ray discs, which could be simply a matter of the content starting to catch up with the technology. There are three new picture-in-picture commentaries, by Jerry Robinson (creator of the Joker), DC Comics president Paul Levitz, and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.--he's a Batman fan who's made some movie and TV cameos), plus you can record your own commentary and upload it for others to watch. There are also three new featurettes ("Sound of the Batpod," "Harvey Dent's Theme," and "Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard") and two motion comics ("Mad Love," featuring Harley Quinn, and "The Shadow of Ra's Al Ghul"). Last, there's a digital copy of the film compatible with iTunes and Windows Media (standard definition, expires 12/9/09). --David Horiuchi
Product description The follow-up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves effective, but soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces Batman closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Heath Ledger stars as archvillain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast as Rachel Dawes. Returning from Batman Begins are Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.
Blu-ray features:
Movie with Focus Points (picture in picture)
Explore your favorite movies through BD-Live™, an interactive gateway to exclusive content
2.40:1 aspect ratio, with IMAX sequences in 1.78:1
Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene: Director Christopher Nolan and creative collaborators unmask the incredible detail and planning behind the film, including stunt staging, filming in IMAX®, and the new Bat-suit and Bat-pod.
Batman Tech: The incredible gadgets and tools (in HD)
Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of The Dark Knight: Delve into the psyche of Bruce Wayne and the world of Batman through real-world psychotherapy (in HD)
Gotham Tonight: 6 episodes of Gotham Cable's premier news program
The Galleries: The Joker cards, concept art, poster art, production stills, trailers and TV spots
Digital Copy of the feature film
Stills from The Dark Knight (click for larger image)
REVIEW
Movie of the year !!!! GREATEST movie in a looooooong time. DVD lacks spectacular special features, but I'll take what I can get. R.I.P Heath Ledger.
Amazon.comNearly20 years after riding his last Crusade, Harrison Ford makes a welcome return as archaeologist/relic hunter Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, an action-packed fourth installment that's, in a nutshell, less memorable than the first three but great nostalgia for fans of the series. Producer George Lucas and screenwriter David Koepp (War of the Worlds) set the film during the cold war, as the Soviets--replacing Nazis as Indy's villains of choice and led by a sword-wielding Cate Blanchett with black bob and sunglasses--are in pursuit of a crystal skull, which has mystical powers related to a city of gold. After escaping from them in a spectacular opening action sequence, Indy is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young greaser (Shia LaBeouf) whose friend--and Indy's colleague--Professor Oxley (John Hurt) has been captured for his knowledge of the skull's whereabouts. Whatever secrets the skull holds are tertiary; its reveal is the weakest part of the movie, as the CGI effects that inevitably accompany it feel jarring next to the boulder-rolling world of Indy audiences knew and loved. There's plenty of comedy, delightful stunts--ants play a deadly role here--and the return of Raiders love interest Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, once shrill but now softened, giving her ex-love bemused glances and eye-rolls as he huffs his way to save the day. Which brings us to Ford: bullwhip still in hand, he's a little creakier, a lot grayer, but still twice the action hero of anyone in film today. With all the anticipation and hype leading up to the film's release, perhaps no reunion is sweeter than that of Ford with the role that fits him as snugly as that fedora hat. --Ellen A. Kim
Stills from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Click for larger image)
REVIEW
I want my money back! This was one of the worst movies I have seen in a very long while. I can't believe they made a movie with such a poor script and ending.
If this is the best Ford and Spielberg can do, its time they both hang up their hats!
Iron Man Movie Wave 01: Iron Man Mark III appears to boast an array of articulation similar to that of a Marvel Legends figure and is equipped with a missile launcher. The red and gold Mark III armor is much sleeker than the Mark I armor, the latter of which was a rough draft with a life-saving pacemaker that enabled Tony Stark to persevere against grave injury and capture in Afghanistan. The armor provides Tony Stark with vastly augmented strength, near-invulnerability, and an arsenal of advanced weaponry including missiles and repulsor blasts; with this version of Iron Man, the repulsor blast function is apparently externalized in the form of arm-mounted projectile-firing cannon. Its fully pose-able and articulated six inch scale action figure with accessories. Compatible in size with previous Marvel Legends releases.
REVIEW
Great for me, but probably not for everybody. According to Amazon's star rating system, 5 stars means "I love it," and I do, so I had to go with the full five stars, though that does not mean this toy will please everyone, and even I wouldn't have minded a few changes.
To look at it, I never would have guessed that the head doesn't move at all (at least, I can't get it to, and I don't want to break it or scratch the paint trying). The figure has many other great points of articulation though (ankles, knees, hips, elbows, shoulders, upper body, wrists), and if you get one with a good paint job (which is why I prefer to buy figures in person; I searched through a ton of these at the one store that still had any before I settled on one), it just looks fantastic. The removable, arm mounted cannon is the usual unwanted extra. I mean, I'd have preferred some attachments to make him look like he's flying or blasting from his hands. Still, packing the cannon away in a storage box of action figure accessories I don't really need, what is leftis an awesome display piece for those of us trying to build up a movie-based Marvel collection who don't intend to actually play with it. Haven't had the problem of armor popping off, but as I said, I bought this mainly for display with my other Marvel movie figures (Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Wolverine, Rogue, and a 9 inch Hulk; I know, I still need to get the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and a ton of X-Men, but I committed to this collection rather late in the game), not for playing. I haven't tried many poses because I don't want to damage it at all. I will say that the wrists look very delicate to me and are my primary concern when it comes to over-handling, along with the paint. Since he doesn't have attachments to make him effectively look like he's flying though, all I really need him to do is stand there and look pretty, and he does that beautifully, like he stepped right out of the film. If you're looking for a basic Iron Man figure from the film, this Mark 03 version is the one to get.
Amazon.comPixar genius reigns in this funny romantic comedy, which stars a robot who says absolutely nothing for a full 25 minutes yet somehow completely transfixes and endears himself to the audience within the first few minutes of the film. As the last robot left on earth, Wall-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) is one small robot--with a big, big heart--who holds the future of earth and mankind squarely in the palm of his metal hand. He's outlasted all the "Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class" robots that were assigned some 700 years ago to clean up the environmental mess that man made of earth while man vacationed aboard the luxury spaceship Axiom. Wall-E has dutifully gone about his job compacting trash, the extreme solitude broken only by his pet cockroach, but he's developed some oddly human habits and ideas. When the Axiom sends its regularly scheduled robotic EVE probe (Elissa Knight) to earth, Wall-E is instantly smitten and proceeds to try to impress EVE with his collection of human memorabilia. EVE's directive compels her to bring Wall-E's newly collected plant sprout to the captain of the Axiom and Wall-E follows in hot pursuit. Suddenly, thehuman world is turned upside down and the Captain (Jeff Garlin) joins forces with Wall-E and a cast of other misfit robots to lead the now lethargic people back home to earth. Wall-E is a great family film with the most impressive aspect being the depth of emotion conveyed by a simple robot--a machine typically considered devoid of emotion, but made so absolutely touching by the magic of Pixar animation. Also well-worth admiring are the sweeping views from space, the creative yet disturbing vision of what strange luxuries a future space vacation might offer, and the innovative use of trash in a future cityscape. Underneath the slapstick comedy and touching love story is a poignant message about the folly of human greed and its potential effects on earth and the entire human race. Wall-E is preceded in theaters by the comical short Presto in which a magician's rabbit, unfed one too many times takes his revenge against the egotistical magician. (Ages 3 and older) --Tami Horiuchi>
Stills from Wall-E (Click for larger image)
REVIEW
Wall-E was a hit! We purchased the DVD Wall-E as a gift for our grandson. He said it is "neat", which is good. All I had to go on was the name and that it should be widescreen. "Neat" means we did good. Maybe we will get to see it when we visit him.
Thank you for your help.
Iron Man Prototype appears to boast an array of articulation similar to that of a Marvel Legends figure, and is accompanied by a pair of interchangeable non-armored hands, snap-on armor, and a removable helmet. The red and gold Prototype armor is much sleeker than the Mark I armor, the latter of which was a rough draft with a life-saving pacemaker that enabled Tony Stark to persevere against grave injury and capture in Afghanistan. The armor provides Tony Stark with vastly augmented strength, near-invulnerability, and an arsenal of advanced weaponry including missiles and repulsor blasts.
REVIEW
If you were to pick one ironman movie figure, the Prototype one is it! The figure is 6 inches tall. The paint is fairly decent. The figure is primarily red with some parts painted gold like parts on his thighs, parts on his arms, minimal parts on his upper back, and the front face part of his helmet. The two eye holes on his helmet are light blue. The helmet can be removed revealing Tony Stark's face. His inner chest is silver with some circuitry design there. Has a removable power cell in the middle of the chest. It includes the removable red painted chest armor. It is rubbery. An extra power cell in addition which is used as a uni-beam. Two removable red rubbery forearm hand gloves with a tiny repulsor ray on the center of each hand palm. Which can be exchanged with Tony's lower flesh forearms with hands connected. By pulling them both out ,and inserting the other two in. Got to apply a little pressure. It has fair articulation. The head moves around, his shoulders move {watch the shoulder plates don't pop out now when trying}, forearms move, you have move around the upper ball socket above its thighs in order for them to bend, his knees also bend, and his ankles move either side ways or up and down. He has pretty good play value. I give him overall a 3.5. Also be careful you don't lose any of his accessories.
Iron Man Repulsor-Power Action Figure - Red/ Silver
REVIEW
Hasbro learns to make a great Marvel action figure. Hasbro has had it's ups and downs with the Marvel license in 2007. Either it's not having an equal distribution everywhere (Marvel Legends Series 2/3, Marvel Legends Fantastic Four Series/Spiderman 3 Series) or screwing up an entire line of figures in an attempt to be more kid friendly (Spiderman 3 movie figures). Their only ups seem to be improved sculpts but at the cost of articulation on some figures (single jointed knees and elbows).
But it's a new year now. Hasbro has two major Marvel films to deal and with a chance to renew themselves in the eyes of fans: Hulk 2k8 and Iron Man. The Iron Man figures are first out the gate and Hasbro made a deal with Target and Wal-Mart to release exclusives respective of the store. Target got an Iron Man armor most befitting. The Silver Centurion. I don't know the history behind this armor but it's been very popular in figure form. It is not featured in the movie however. This is only for the toy line. This color scheme (red/silver) almost matches the Target color scheme of red and white. The paint has a delicious metallic sheen to it. Not too loud but shiny enough to look metallic. I would like to note that you are best picking these up in the store. The paint jobs can and will vary on these figures.
It's the same as the Mark III armor only painted different. So if you read a review on that figure, the same applies here. Thearticulation is what you'd expect from Toy Biz. Hasbro went with Toy Biz style articulation and included the double jointed knees and elbows, ball jointed shoulders and hips, mid-chest joint (works beautifully!), ball jointed neck (head sits on a ball so it can be removed), and ball jointed ankles basically. Only thing it's missing is an ankle tilt but it still works well. Also the wrist articulation is really great going forward but you can't pull the hand all the way back for that perfect Iron Man repulsor blast pose. I'm sure a little modding is all you need to fix that.
The figure also comes with matching snap-on arm cannon. It shoots pretty hard so don't go aiming at the eyes kids!
Since basically all the Iron Man figures are the same, this review could apply to all of them. This new line of figures from Hasbro are top notch. They look like they came right out of the new movie and you can pose them like they did as well. Go Bro'.
