Iron Man!

First up- trailers before last night's advance Iron Man Screening:
Indiana Jones, Prince Caspian, and Speed Racer (all scattered applause)
The Happening (groaning when M. Night Shyamalan's name came up on screen). Although I thought the teaser looked like it had potential; the eerie people jumping/falling off of roofs? But I'm not sure people are willing to give him another chance. And Mark Wahlberg was not impressing me so much in this trailer.
Incredible Hulk. Meh. And I really like Edward Norton and Tim Roth.
Don't Mess with the Zohan. Oh good god - WHY?
And the Dark Knight. Wild cheering. Very joker centric. Awesome. Speaking of the joker, this cracks me up. Best viral marketing ever. Someone was complaining that the movie doesn't come out until July, but I'm glad there's a bit more time for stuff like this.

So - Iron Man! I thought it was really fantastic. I had so, so much fun. I think what impressed me most was how snappy Jon Favreau kept it. I feel like origin stories can occasionally drag, but this kept along at a perfect clip. It was a lot of fun. Robert Downey Jr. was completely perfect. My only teensy complaint was Gwenyth Paltrow, but I think that had to do more with her character's subservience than any fault on her part. I think one of my bigger worries was that that whenever Downey was in the suit, the movie wouldn't be as much fun (James Marsden's inability to act from behind Cyclops' visor comes to mind), but the graphics department really gave the suit a lot of character - enough so that it did seem like an extension of Tony Stark's character. Even Stark's robot helpers had spunk.

Now I want to see Wall*E. Anyways, if you are one of the 5 people who have yet to see it, go check it out. Very worth it.