Iron Man and Dummy

Mommy and Daddy had a "date night," although it wasn't technically night when we saw "Iron Man 3."  We actually saw an afternoon show, pretty much guaranteeing that certain points of the movie wouldn't be spoiled - and believe me, there is a lot to be spoiled.  Years from now, certainly after repeat viewings, the overall plot of this movie will be more well-known.  But currently and the way things have been built up for the past year (or more), we've all been expecting one thing from this movie - and what a plot twist there is within!

Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the movie quite a bit - and yes, you have to stay after the credits.  As noted here earlier, the first "Iron Man" movie came out just before we went to China.  That said, this character is sort of tied to our adventure with Madison, in a way.  We were thinking with a villain named "The Mandarin," and having seen some footage in China earlier that there would be a Chinese connection to this newest release.

There is not.  Well, not here in America.  The biggest we see of anything Chinese would be the Chinese Grauman Theater in Hollywood.  Which blows up.  Coincidentally, that theater is now closed for renovations the next few months.  They claim it needs a "digital facelift," but the truth is pretty obvious:  we saw it get blown up.

ANYWAY, overseas in China, evidently there is extra footage shot for the movie to be shown over there.  It is literally added onto the completed movie afterwards.  We in America don't get to see this footage - at least not legally.  Yet.  Obviously, we were intensely curious about seeing this, but after reading reviews about the extra Chinese footage, it's probably something we don't need to see.  According to a few articles we read, Chinese audiences love the movie, but hate the extra stuff actually filmed there, mainly because of product advertising and jarring transitions.  Still, it would be interesting to see here I suppose.  And maybe entertaining from a "wow, that's bad" point of view.

Nana and Ba-Ba watched over Madison while we were gone, and by the way:  $20 for large tub of popcorn, a large drink and two adult tickets.  Yeah, that happened.  It's why we love going to the theater in Cumming more than the one in Gainesville here.  The prices sort of remind you of a time when more people could afford to go to the movies.

As the theme of the day is Iron Man, we downloaded a comic book on the Kindle for Madison, which basically recaps the first two movies and sets up a part in "The Avengers."  It's all in comic book form, and also a bit interactive.  Madison really likes this - especially the page above.  Dummy is the name of the robot, and even though Iron Man is not on fire, Dummy keeps spraying him with a fire extinguisher.  Basically, Madison keeps getting Dummy to do that over and over again, and laughing each time.  It was a funny part of the first movie too.

It's odd how these inanimate robot parts can develop personalities - and you become attached to them.  They're in the third movie as well, and although things look a bit harrowing for Dummy, he and his friends should be okay, as evidenced by a scene that shows Tony Stark driving off with them at the end.  That's not the big spoiler, by the way.  It's not the big plot twist at all.  I'm not going to give the plot twist away at all - not today.

I'm no dummy!