Iron Man, best comic book movie ever?

Well once again I've failed to be a consistent blogger. I'd promise more again, but refuse to this time as life happens and this unfortunately does not pay the bills. So moving on.....

This morning on the way to that dreaded activity called work, I was listening to KFAN's Power Trip Morning Show here in the Twin Cities. Ah yes, how I love to torture myself listening to other grown men that actually get paid to talk about sports, games, and movies day-after-day. This morning they had an interesting topic that I thought would be fun to expound on. The big talk these days in the realm of movies is the incredibly (and well done) Iron Man. Having seen this on Sunday afternoon, I found the main question of the morning from the Super Star and crew rather interesting.....What is the best comic book movie of all-time? From the three that were a part of the discussion, I heard Iron Man, Spider Man, and Batman Begins. Three outstanding choices, and more surprising to me, three different movies spawned from the question.

As I noted earlier, I wanted to expound on this topic, and here it is. My Top Five Comic Book movies based on the current Iron Man release.

1. Iron Man - This is a hands-down, clear-cut, no-brainer to me. I have to confess, when I first heard that Robert Downey Jr. was playing Tony Stark, I was very skeptical. Actually, I was irritated that someone like him continues to get another chance, but I'm more than pleased now that he did. I could not imagine anyone else playing this role. His on screen charm and witty remarks brought life and heart to a Super Hero character, a combination rarely seen in this genre.

2. Batman Begins - Now this movie was a proper representation of what the Dark Knight is all about. Other than Jack Nicholson's role as the Joker in the prior Batman movies (which very well may be usurped by the late Heath Ledger), the others were far too corny and "light" for me.

3. Sin City - For the record, I place graphic novels right alongside comics which is why this fits here. With an intricate combination of live action and CG backgrounds, Frank Miller's amazing work came to life on the big screen. It didn't hurt that this film included a wealth of outstanding acting talent.

4. 300 - Another breath taking work from Frank Miller comes to life. The Battle of Thermoplyae is shown in gruesome, yet beautiful detail as it should be when you consider the premise of 300 Spartans taking on an entire Persian army. While Iron Man got its high marks for deep characterization and spot-on dialog, 300 sits here for the unbelievably bloody battle scenes.

5. Spiderman - This one set the tone for Comic Blockbusters. While it still had some of the corny elements that many comic book movies suffer from, this one had a passion filled story and did a wonderful job developing Peter Parker.

Honorable Mention: X-men - I had a hard time not fitting this into the top five so I had to mention it here. While there is enough story with in the X-men comics to make movies for ever, this first movie was clearly the Wolverine show, and Hugh Jackman was great in the role. I can't wait to see X-men Origins: Wolverine in 2009.

That's my list and I'm sticking to it. There are several others that I love such as The Crow, Ghost World, Blade, The Punisher (NOT the Lundgren version) and Superman, but the ones I listed I could watch over and over. Feel free to comment on my list and I'd love to see some others. Besides, I'm sure I forgot a few that might make me say.....oh yeah.....

Later, and if you haven't seen Iron Man yet, get your ass in the theater now!