5 Years ago to the day my father took me to the mid-night premier of Iron Man & through my eyes I witnessed the beginning of the age of the Marvel-Cinematic Universe.

• Tony Stark…Has saved his company from Obadiah Stane, rescued the love of his life from the clutches of Ivan Vanko, & he’s even saved the world from an alien invasion(with a little help of course). Life should be grand….but it’s not & as usual Tony is in denial. We all saw Tony’s big sacrifice at the end of “The Avengers” where he guided the Nuclear Missile through the wormhole & onto the alien armada. Tony knew it was a one-way trip & yet against all odds he made it back alive but his brush with death has clouded his heart & mind with fear.
• As Tony slowly comes to grips with his near death experience a new enemy makes himself known & after someone close to Tony is injured, Tony does the only thing he can…HE DECLARES WAR & seeks REVENGE!!!! The Mandarin (The Head of the 10 rings Terrorist organization that abducted Tony in the 1st film) is more than happy to oblige to Tony’s declaration of war. With this the stage is set for the climactic battle.
• It was nice seeing this side of Tony. We really haven’t glimpsed such a broken & defeated Tony Stark since the original film, & he is arguably worse off now than he was then. It’s the classic story of a hero who at his pinnacle bites off more than he can chew & must face his inner demons before he can vanquish the one that threatens those most dear to him. While Tony’s been off with his superhero pals, Ms. Pepper Potts has been hard at work as the CEO of Stark Industries & in this film she proves she is more than a pretty face. We are treated to the introduction of two new characters. Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, a rival tech industrialist & Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin (AKA the Head of the 10 rings Terrorist organization that abducted Tony in the 1st film). Pearce’s character is very interesting as you’re never sure what his intentions are or what hill do next. Kingsley does a magnificent job as The Mandarin & every time he talks his lines really sink in & you can tell he is the most dangerous person Tony has ever come across.
• There are plenty of action packed fight scenes with Tony in & out of his Iron Man armor that keep the movie fresh. With this movie it becomes very obvious that the world is in a state of flux & the world is changing due of course to the events in “The Avengers”. Aliens, Monsters, & Gods that’s a lot to take in at once. Slowly but surely the funny one liners that Tony always spouts are peeled back to reveal a very worried Tony Stark. “Things are different now, I have to protect the one thing that I can’t live without. That’s you.” All Tony wants is to keep Pepper safe & he’s not sure if him & his armor can compete with the new threats of the world. One of Ton’s newest ideas to combat new threats is The Iron Man Armor Mark 42, yep that’s right. With the events of “The Avengers” weighing heavily on Tony’s mind he goes overboard & creates 35 new suits of armor in addition to the 7 suits that were introduced in the 1st two Iron Man movies as well as “The Avengers”. The Mark 42 armor takes a page from the comic books and is able to be manually controlled to fly to Tony’s location & assemble around him in an instant.
• Unfortunately there was two parts of the film that really angered me as a comic book fan. It was the portrayal of The Mandarin. (Now let me be clear) Ben Kingsley did a great job & I felt he was the best villain of the franchise. The person I have a gripe with is Director & Writer Shane Black. I won’t spoil anything for anyone but later on The Mandarin’s character is more or less written off & instantly becomes distasteful & an absolute insult to the original character. There is no doubt in my mind that the movie could have been even better if the character had been used correctly. Secondly the movie simply didn’t come close to the original 2 films. Shane Black drifted to far from the comics & the movie paid the price.
• Ultimately it looks like the end of Tony as his enemies close in around him.…or so they think. Taking another page from the Iron Man comic books Tony remotely summons his entire hall of armor. Tony’s enemy is no joke as some suit jumping is required to combat him, which is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
• Now the hard part. With the enemy defeated Tony realizes he can’t be Iron Man and take care of the woman he loves. He makes a choice & initiates the clean slate protocol effectively destroying all his Iron Man armors. In addition Tony finally has the shrapnel removed from his chest & with his heart no longer in danger he removes the arc reactor from his chest. Without looking back Tony throws his arc reactor off a cliff & into the ocean. “Could this really be the end”, I thought. Tony’s last words leave a glimmer of hope for the character as he recites his most iconic line “I am Iron Man”.
• While the storyline was ok, the action sequences where fun to watch, and the use of Comic book references where great, Shane Black really did a number on this film. There was essentially to much drama & not enough superheroing. I was actually a little disappointed which is something I have never felt after watching any of the marvel superhero movies.Don’t get me wrong the climax battle sequence was AWESOME but the movie as a hole did not even come close to the previous films. Hopefully Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role once more to clean up the mess of this movie. In the end it was Robert Downey Jr’s performance that carried the film, nothing more.

I give this film a 3.5 out of 5

THE MASKED CRITIC HAS SPOKEN!!!!

This week’s chaper 535 of Bleach was very interesting but very much a suspense builder. This one scene made it all worth it. In this scene you can definitely see where Ichigo gets his ( Never tell me the odds attitude from). Plus Urahara & Ryūken reactions are priceless.LOL

I would normally give this chapter a 5 but this page bumps it up to a 7.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!

Sasuke has made up his mind & has decided to defend the leaf village & what his brother Itachi believed in.

Watch out Obito & Madara. Now there going to have o contend with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Hokage as well as Orochimaru, Suigetsu, Karin,Jūgo, & of course SASUKE UCHIHA!!!!

easily a 10 out of 10 chapter!!!!!

This poster was revealed at ComicsPro but no other information has surfaced.

A few months ago Night of the Living Dead creator George Romero announced that he’s working on something for Marvel that included zombies.

Could this possibly be a movie based on the Marvel Zombies comic book series written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam?

Yachiru Unohana The 1st Kenpachi IS NO MORE!!!!!

Not much went on this week but it is official. The Captain of Squad 4 Yachiru/ Retsu Unohana has been killed.

It was a very short chapter this week & out of respect for the character I give this weeks chapter a 10 out of 10.

THE MASKED CRITIC HAS SPOKEN!!!!

WARM BODIES MOVIE REVIEW!!!!

At first glance I was like OMG are they seriously doing a Twilight like movie with zombies. After a few trailers I figured as a critic I had to give the movie a chance. I ended up going & was honestly surprised.

I ended up enjoying myself. The movie has some pretty funny scenes, a scare here & there, and though it lacked much of the normal doom & gloom of a normal zombie movie, it had something else. I mean how many zombie movie are told from the point of view of a zombie.

Ok mystical/cursed zombies aside. It actually is not too farfetched to think infected virus type zombies could not cure themselves. If the cure came in the form of a virus then it might be able to live inside a dead body. A virus could very well evolve to regenerate a dead body. There are certain animals that have the ability to regenerate dead cells.

OK enough with the science lesson.

Is it so wrong to think that when all hope is lost that the human spirit would fight back & win? I know that is not normally present in a zombie movie but it was rather interesting. I am in no way saying zombie movies should all change to this but it certainly was an interesting take on a concept that has been done a million times. Overall a very good & unique romantic comedy.

I give this movie a 7.3 out of 10

Ultimately it was very entertaining, it provided some laughs (Which are rare in a normal zombie movie), & it had a heart felt message (If a zombie can be a better person, then why can’t we.) A little cheesy but none the less true.

THE MASKED CRITIC HAS SPOKEN!!!!