IRON MAN

I'm sure you heard by now just how good "Iron Man" is, so I will spare you a full review.

But, suffice it to say that I was thrilled by the 10 p.m. showing the GF and I attended on Friday night. That's not to say the movie doesn't have flaws — there are some, and I'm sure a bigger Iron Man fan has a couple more nitpicks than a casual Golden Avenger fan like myself has — but overall the movie was just flat-out fun.

Minor spoilers coming!

And I think that's what really has people loving this movie. There are just as many goofy comic book cliches in this movie as there was in a movie like "Daredevil," it's just that by the time we see that goofball junk, Robert Downey, Jr. has already won the audience over.

And I mean that — Iron Man himself doesn't win the crowd over, it's Tony Stark. We see a heck of a lot more of Stark here than Iron Man, anyway. And again, that's the difference between this movie setting records, and flopping like, well, again, let's use "Daredevil" as the example:

I, for one, really liked "Daredevil," but I have to admit that a good portion of that movie depends on how much you like Ben Affleck's Matt Murdock, an intentionally un-charismatic character. On the other end of the spectrum we have Tony Stark, who in the span of the first five minutes of the movie is drinking with the military, cracking jokes in Iraq, and bedding Leslie Bibb (something that only he and Ricky Bobby have managed, nice job Mr. Stark). Immediately we love this character, and immediately we're willing to love the movie, despite it's goofy conventions.

And, to that extent, that's just a great job from Jon Favreau (or, you can call him Happy, now — what a great cameo).

As for the flaws...

1) I thought things were taken one step too far when the flight attendants were pole dancing. That just made Tony into a cartoon cliche, and it's a darn good thing the movie quickly shifts to the cave setting helping us to forget it.

2) Tony Stark should still be an alcoholic playboy after becoming Iron Man, and yet the movie makes him suddenly seem like a saint. If he doesn't get some booze in him for the sequel, it will flop.

3) Jeff Bridges was the worst comic book villain since Nick Nolte in "Hulk." Everything was great until he wouldn't stop talking while inside that suit. Here's the bulk of the goofball junk, as far as I was concerned. A new take on the Mandarin would have been a much better final villain. (Sequel? Please?)

But, that was it as far as my concerns with the movie. Everything else was great. Really, if you can only find three flaws in a comic book movie nowadays, that's a success. There are three in the first three minutes of "X-Men: The Last Stand." And, again, there may have been more in there if my geek-radar was looking close enough, but the movie was so much fun I was just enjoying it, as I'm sure you all have or will.

Rest assured, I will be seeing it again some time soon.

P.S. How great was Stan Lee's cameo?