Move Review: Iron Man 3

 

I was able to enjoy Iron Man 3 on my birthday with my wonderful youngins in early May.  I really enjoyed the movie and think everyone should watch it in the theaters.  I still see the first Iron Man movie as the standard bearer for this franchise and I can't say Iron Man 3 was quite as good.  I do think it was better than Iron Man 2 but as the difference between them is slight it doesn't really matter. 

 

The villains were good.  I always think Iron Man must have super powered bad guys to fight and they were there.  I still think there are some bad guys in the Iron Man rogues gallery who would make a good transition to film and have high hopes for any new films in the franchise.  There is a big twist in this movie concerning the bad guys.  I won't ruin it. I never saw it coming and that I like.  Overall I thought the pacing was good and I never got bored.  There were minor plot points that I am not a fan of but they didn't detract from my movie experience.   

 

Probably the best gauge for this movie would be how the kids like it.  Mine ranged from 12 to 25 (my 70+ year-old mother also went) and all really enjoyed the movie.  A couple have made multiple trips to see it again.  I've always liked Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. is the best guy out there to portray him.  I'm not sure anyone knows if he'll be back but I hope he'll be back for more.  You always have to worry about sequel fatigue but the makers of Iron Man have done a good job of keeping this franchise going strong.   

Review: Iron Man 3 Cards

Saw the Iron Man 3 tradings cards at Wal-Mart today and picked up a pack.  I believe the set was released on the 24th.  There are five cards in each pack and it sold for $1.48.  Inside were all cards from the basic set, no inserts, to include #5 seen above.  A "banner" runs the length of the card on the bottom front of each card.  The fronts have the Iron Man 3 logo to the right and bottom of each cards which are horizontal.  The Marvel logo is just above that.  In the left of the banner is the Iron Man helmet/artwork.  The pictures are nice.  Pretty standard fair for movie trading cards of today but I do like the lack of a border which maximizes the area for the photo. 

The back of the card is shaded in red with the card number in white in the upper left hand corner.  Along the bottom is the upper deck hologram, their logo, the Marvel logo, and the same Marvel/Iron Man 3 logo from the front.  To the left on the back is a circle with a cropped image of the front picture inside of it.  To the right is a small description to go along with the front picture.  Again everything is shaded in red. 

Below is a breakout of the set and chase cards:

60 card base set featuring first-look images of Iron Man 3. Four (4) base cards in each Hobby Pack.

Palladium Poisoned foil parallel of the entire base set.

Actor autographs and pieces of memorabilia that came directly from costumes shown in the movie.

Two (2) movie memorabilia cards per box.

Look for any one (1) of the following per hobby box: actor autograph, sketch card or on-card comic book artist or writer autographs.

Chase one-of-a-kind artist sketch cards from some of the greatest comic artists in the industry.

Look for randomly inserted Hall of Armor insert cards featuring the many suits of Iron Man.

Looks for Authentic 1 of 1 press plate cards.

Link to the Upper Deck press release for the set - Upper Deck Press Release

Overall I like the set.  Again it is pretty standard fair for today's movie card releases.  For a movie aimed at the younger crowd I do like the price point even if it means you only get five cards in each packNot sure I'll pick up more packs but I'd definitely tell anyone interested that they should.  .