2010 Movies: #46 & 45

Ref: Mulhern

# 46 Just Wright

Point of clarification on the Rapper/Actor phenomenon: if I recall correctly, Vanilla Ice actually rapped during TMNT II in a club fight scene. One must give him full credit for his hour of glory. Also, any discussion of Rapper/Actors that does not include LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea, NCIS: LA, need I say more?) is sorely lacking. With that out of the way...

The viewing of this film again resulted from one of my requests. I recall seeing its preview (perhaps during Valentine's Day?) and prodding B: "I want to see that!" Fast forward a few months and Redbox brought Queen Latifah and Common in all their glory to the comfort of home.

I enjoyed Just Wright and would probably see it again. I liked the fact that Leslie was a strong, independent career woman with realistic qualities and personality attributes. From her clunky car and fixer-upper home to the girl-next-door attitude she was challenged to shed, I felt like Queen Latifah was playing a real woman (albeit in a somewhat contrived situation). Her cousin, on the other hand, completely annoyed me. And Common was a bit of a moron when it came to recognizing the motives of said jersey-chaser - but I suppose that was necessary to get the movie going.

Above all, I was pleased that *spoiler alert* the (w)right one won out in the end.

#45 Iron Man 2

I put this in the "shame" category. Shame on you, creators of Iron Man 2, for so desecrating the sophomore effort of what could have been a solid superhero franchise. Overall, I would rank Valentine's Day and Just Wright above Iron Man 2 - which is probably the result of the high expectations to which B alluded.

Watching this movie with Mulhern, I found myself distracted by his disgust at the annoying Stark-competitor character bent on taking over the world or whatever. When he says he was cringing he isn't kidding. A drinking game for every cringe would have left all of us with heads spinning.

In the original Iron Man, I appreciated the dynamic between Gwyneth's Pepper Potts and RDJ's Tony Stark, splendid in the glory of hinted-at-yet-unacknowledged love. This time around, it fell kind of flat, from what I recall.

I appreciated the flashbacks to Roger Sterling, whiskey in hand, as Papa Stark laying out a puzzle for his son to solve. I also liked the bird.