Links roundup: Iron Man 2, Toy Story, and Vanilla Ice

Having undergone the mirthless, witless, and generally worthless Iron Man 2 recently, I attempted to write short pieces on it a few times. But I found myself overwhelmed by the staggering pointlessness of the film, and moreover somewhat disinclined to contribute to the inevitable 'debate' on its values (or conspicuous lack thereof). Suffice to say therefore that IM2 is typical of the very worst kind of contradictory, redundant Hollywood franchise, with Mickey Rourke's effortless charisma the only thing even approximating a redeeming feature.

This post however is less about my obviously pointless criticism of the summer's biggest superhero film, and more about a roundup of recent links to clever images and mash-up clips. The niftiest superhero-related post I came across in a while is Chris Sims' Periodic Table of Superhero Elements, which cleverly sums up the generic powers and origin stories into an elegant overview of elements. (Just for the record: Superman breaks down as OAFSISpVxVhSn...)



In the ongoing series of witty mash-up videos, Iron Man has been by far the most-repeated figure, as a quick look at the most recent posts on this blog will attest. But although they all play up the hilariously inappropriate homoerotic subtext the films work so hard to avoid, none managed to be quite as ridiculous (and weirdly fitting) as the latest one, which pits Tony Stark against Ivan Drago in Rocky IV and that manages to throw in Jim Carrey, James Brown, Apollo Creed, Vanilla Ice, and -so help me- the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for good measure.



Meanwhile, the upcoming reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise gave occasion to a fast-paced short that puts Spidey on the operating table, with his surgeon calling for a 'gritty reboot.' To illustrate the success rate of the proposed procedure, an image on the wall briefly flashes by with stills from Batman Begins, Hulk, Casino Royale and Star Trek.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Finally, the Joker may no longer be the ubiquitous video mash-up figure he was two years ago, but that didn't keep one person from getting creative with the trailer for The Dark Knight. In this mash-up, images from the two first Toy Story movies are edited together with the audio from that intensely familiar to amazing effect.

The Iron Man Mash-Up Meme

We're now just days away from the much-hyped international premiere of Iron Man 2, the sequel that appears to offer more of the same, but -as per the logic of franchises- bigger, louder, and with more colorful celebrity bad guys. And as 'fanticipation' reaches fever pitch, the video mash-up meme that incorporates Iron Man's CG exoskeleton (along with his signature AC/DC riff) into an iconic movie scene continues to proliferate. Following the well-done appropriation of Hugh Grant getting his ass kicked in Bridget Jones's Diary, the man in red has now also appeared in similarly skillful mash-ups of wonderfully inappropriate scenes from Titanic and Dirty Dancing. What's next, you ask? Hopefully, at some point, Iron Man vs. Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire...

Deconstructing the Star Wars Prequels

Red Letter Media's epic seven-part video essay on Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace has been making the internet rounds for quite a while now, and seemed like a bizarro one-off tour de force that somehow combined genuine film criticism with a deconstruction of the kind of sociopathic nerd culture associated with this kind of obsessive fandom. But just as George Lucas succeeded in confounding fans' lowered expectations with Attack of the Clones by writing and directing a film that managed to be somehow worse than the first prequel, the second epic YouTube take-down is longer, more coherent, and at least as funny as the its predecessor.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Master of the Snappy One-Liner

For funny stuff on April 1, I say you can't go wrong with this great collection of patented one-liners and come-backs from the Austrian Oak. All the classics are there, from the orgasmic satisfaction of The Pump in Pumping Iron to the hysterical hijinks from Jingle All the Way, peppered throughout with his infamous nonstop punning as Mr. Freeze in Batman and Robin.

Saturday Morning Watchmen

Teaching Watchmen alongside Jamesonian theory again this week prompts me to revisit this appropriately bizarre take on Alan Moore's classic text.

1% Inspiration, 99% Cliché

A pretty seamless montage of 'inspirational' moments from Hollywood history.

"There's not many happy superheroes, are there?"

Finally, an amusing superhero-related YouTube clip -this one from The Ricky Gervais Show- spurs me back to long-delayed blogging. My habit of posting every link of interest that I come across to Facebook and/or Twitter is meanwhile making me re-think my blogging habits, as it's becoming increasingly frustrating to retrieve those links a few months down the line. Perhaps it's time to start relaxing my 'superhero material only' policy for this blog and start using it as a public archive for more general stuff of interest.

Superhero movies: if you've seen one...

How long has it been since my last blog post that had anything to do with superhero movies (supposedly my object of research)? A long time. And why is this? Because obviously all superhero movies are exactly the same. See below for evidence...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

More Dark Knight parody: "Key of Awesome"

Somebody up there clearly wants me to keep updating my blog: now that I recently indicated that my update-finger starts a-twitchin' as soon as I come across a fresh Dark Knight analysis and/or parody, they seem to be popping up all over the place. This one is a spot-on music video parody that combines some astutely observed critical points on the film with the usual kind of silly parody (discovered via Jim Emerson).

You're The Voice

A fabulous peek-a-boo moment last week on NBC's Community, a new comedy that is continuing to pick up steam as it moves through its first season. In the Halloween episode, Abed comes dressed as Batman, entering an early scene with a flawless imitation of Christian Bale's increasingly irritating Batman whisper/growl. But what brings the episode home at several levels is his climactic reappearance at the end of the episode, which currently stands as the finest parody/homage/reappropriation of Nolan's Batman universe.

Classic Colbert: Superhero Stamps

"But the real injustice: out of ten stamps, no Captain America. Ridiculous. He's a real hero. Every lick of his sticky backside would taste like democracy. Plus: your tongue would be greeted as a liberator."

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Weirdest interviews: Adam West

No. 3 on the new list of "20 Weirdest TV Interviews of All Time": Adam West and Jerry Lawler in Batman and Superman costumes (1977).

The true Iron Man