Iron Man 2 and How to Train a Dragon

Saw a couple of movies in the theater lately, so I guess I better get those reviews up or the mob will be at my doorstep with pitchforks and torches.

How to Train a Dragon (3.5/5)
We saw this with the kids in 3D. First a word about 3D. It was kind of neat, but totally not necessary. I wouldn't go so far as to say it detracted from the experience, but eh, it wasn't required by any means.

Largely, this was a pretty typical kids movie. There was enough in there for the adults to keep me interested (I mean come on, dragons are cool!). It was a bit strange that the Vikings were speaking with Scottish accents. I was also kind of annoyed that after building the dragons up for the first act as these big, menacing foes, that once we got to know them they were more like dogs to be trained instead of equally smart enemies with whom to become friends. The technical quality was good, but the story just average.

The overall summary: A sound kids movie.

Iron Man 2 (3.8/5)
Saw this for my birthday the first weekend it was out. I think my opinion of the movie was hurt slightly by high expectations, but helped by viewing the movie with an excited and passionate audience (going to a big movie on opening weekend is always fun). I felt like this, the sequel, lacked a bit of the good humor or campiness that made the first film so fun, becoming a bit more serious. It got away from the Tony Stark character a bit and focused on the Russian antagonist ... to the detriment of the movie (Robert Downey, Jr. is an infinitely better actor than Mickey Rourke). The relationship with the secretary/CEO (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the undercover agent (Scarlett Johansson) was a bit amorphous and probably un-needed. Despite that, I enjoyed the movie. Gow, Laura, and Cyndie all really liked it, so yeah, I'm probably being a bit hard on the flick.

The overall summary: A strong follow up to Iron Man, but not quite the equal of its predecessor.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Lars and the Real Girl - 4.1/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Star Trek - 3.9/5
TransSiberian - 3.9/5
Iron Man 2 - 3.8/5
Wolverine - 3.8/5
Hurt Locker - 3.8/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Definitely, Maybe - 3.7/5
Up - 3.7/5
The Blind Side - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
How to Train a Dragon - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
Appoloosa - 3.5/5
Sherlock Holmes - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Stealth - 3.4/5
New in Town - 3.2/5
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel - 3.2/5
He's Just Not That Into You - 3.1/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Inglorious Bastards - 2.9/5
Push - 2.8/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Meet Bill - 2.1/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5