May 02 2008
Iron Man, um, no.
You may or may not know this about me, but I am an IMDB junkie. Well, it’s not like I visit the home page & browse through, but without fail, I check out every movie at IMDB before I decide to go.
A high rating usually prompts me to go & vice versa - so much faith I have in the imdb guys.
But apparently they’re not god; apparently they make mistakes too (shudder).
Yesterday cute boy calls up & asks me out to see ‘Iron Man‘. I’ve never heard of the movie before, so naturally I check it out with imdb.
The rating is 8.3 / 10 - which even a non imdb user can tell, is bloody high. Add to that user comments like this one:
“Robert Downey Jr. is perfect! Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect! Terrence Howard is Perfect…and Jeff Bridges is brilliant!”
Honestly, for a moment there I wondered whether the review was written by a 12 year old, but cute boy was very enthu, so off we went.
And of course, I didn’t like the movie (oh come on, with the title & the intro, you didn’t get that?).
I think there are lots of reasons I didn’t like the movie; to start with, I didn’t know it was based on a comic book. Maybe if I had, I’d be more forgiving and less expecting. I also thought that the movie tried to do too many things - it tried to be funny, suave, serious and all techy all at the same time. I cannot take squirt me with a gas gun haha funny to war in Afghanistan serious two frames from each other.
Cute boy loved the film, though he agreed with me that Oscar winning Gwyneth is totally wasted in it (I personally think she did it only for Apple. My thoughts on ‘Apple’? Another time).
A lot of the plot was completely lost on me - the whole movie was like a Hindi movie in English - except for a few parts, which really were in (a funny accented) Hindi (I kid you not!) with wrong translations.
Though undoubtedly the specials effects of the movie are good - but honestly special effects have come such a long way that I wasn’t really impressed by any of that either.
All in all though, not a waste of a movie experience. Why? Because I was with cute boy of course…
If you can get him to go with you, you might even enjoy the film 
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Wow, that was nice to read that you’ve your good reasons to not like the movie. I suppose the same things that you like are the reasons people like. Well, everybody have the rights to their opinions and I would reserve that respect for your views.
Nonetheless, I saw the movie too and here is how I felt (I know it’s a-guy-thing)
http://www.brajeshwar.com/2008/iron-man/
I’m also surprised that you were able to identify and make our which ones were ‘effects’ from the real acting. This movie was praised by critics for blending the two seamlessly!
Btw, I don’t really get “she did it for Apple” part! Care to explain that a bit?
Ok, “Apple” as in Gwyneth’s daughter!
“The IMDb guys” don’t rate the movies, the site’s visitors do that. The ratings are an average of all the visitors who cared to vote. Given the popularity of the site, it’s fair to assume that the rating is indicative of general consensus.
So the lesson here is that IMDb isn’t really the movie guide for you. You should have gotten reviews from friends with similar tastes in movies as you.
Everyone I know totally loved the movie, ergo, I know I will too.
I am going to watch it tomorrow. Thank you very much for this. May your Internet connection die!
And yes, Apple is Gwyn’s daughter.
@ Aalaap: Thanks for the explanation
I would be hesitant to reply to someone who’s summed up an argument with “ergo” - but I guess I’m not always like the herd.
@ Vij: Er sorry hon. Maybe you’ll like it more because of me - as in, you’ll expect less & be twice as happy?! Long live my internet connection!!
The first few votes on IMDB are almost invariably “inside votes” - the cast & crew, mom, dad and grandma… the comments are often reminiscent of digg “hey, any b00bxxxposure in this1?????”
IMDB is great for fact, not opinion. For a non-juvenile perspective, try rottentomatoes.
Just got back from the movie. I was screaming so hard in the theater, I don’t think I’ll be able to speak properly through the weekend. Ergo, I must sleep and wake up on Monday morning. Good night.
There you go! Men have made many such sacrifices - you have guessed it - for cute girls.
Re: iMdB, always check the date of release of a movie when you check the rating. If there are only a few votes (which will happen for recent movies), the ratings may not mean much since a few votes can move it to either extreme. BTW, Iron Man is not bad…if you compare it to Transformers! But, I have to agree, not particularly great..in spite of the great reviews in the American press.
What babes…I go and you have so much fun behind my back! How very unfair.
Hope alls well.
See ya soon.
Awww….cho chweeeeeeet……i wanna go for iron-man toooooo…..and that too wid cute chick…..Can you picture this…..cute chick n me in our li’l pirsche…….aint that like picture perfecto?
I am very much surprised here as I also look at the rating in IMDB everytime I plan to go for a movie and it has always worked
This one is in the Top 250 as well. Hmm.
@ Aalaap: You were screaming all through… that bad eh?
@ Shantanu: Thank you!! Knew at least one other person in the world would agree with me. Phew.
@ Saks: Honey, life is bland without you. Going to PVR without you seems like I’m committing a crime - I have been creeping all around stealthily. Can’t wait for you to get back!
@ Pensive: I write a post saying I don’t like a movie & you say “awww, cho chweet” ?? Cute chick & your pirsche have lost what was remaining of your mind.
@ Shriram: Well, don’t take it from me. So far (excepting Shantanu & me) all seem to have loved the movie & are raving about it, so!
1. You know another cute boy?
i am heartbroken.
2. Iron Man rocks. i loved it.
3. i had cu…nah… hot girl for company (who also loved it and we had beers after the movie!), and i had a tough time concentrating on the movie. hehe.
4. i should be working and not commenting on ur blog. i know
I went to Iron Man with couple of guys,…. um colleagues. No cute girl for me to go with
And yes I didn’t like it either, maybe my expectations were too high?
And glad to know you didn’t like it either. A girlfriend of mine was raving about the movie just last night & looked at me as if I was nuts when I told her I didn’t like it!