Yeah Stone, you were right... Iron Man kicked, like... 8 different kinds of ass. Pitch perfect casting in all roles, perfect balance of action and humor that sets the tone for all good Iron Man stories. I think that's what really did it for me... 90% accuracy on the source material and they got the tone right.
This is the type of humorous tone that Spider-man should have had. I mean, sure Peter Parker gets shit on at every turn of his civilian life, but when he puts on the mask all that melts away and he can be the charismatic swashbuckling Spidey we all know. But the movies are so fucking somber and depressing. They stressed the "power and responsibility" point of Spidey over the fun aspect of being Spidey. That type of tone works excellently for a character like Batman, it's a major problem for Spider-man.
Back to Iron Man, all I can say is WOW. This is the type of Iron Man movie I envisioned when I was eleven. This is the movie where they start tying the ends of the Marvel Universe together on film. Nods to S.H.I.E.L.D., War Machine, and the Avengers. Nick Fury even shows up sporting 3 claw marks over where his eye used to be, from running into a particularly foul tempered feral mutant. Word has it he shows up in the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie too. Thanks to opening weekend grosses, Marvel Pictures has greenlit Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and the Avengers. The first two movies will show up summer of '09, the last two in summer of '10.
The new Dark Knight trailer showed up in front of the movie as well. Heath Ledger's Joker, while adhering to no particular vision of the character in the last 70 years, appears to be an interesting performance nonetheless. He's going less for clowny aspect of the character than the deranged fuck-job aspect of the character. Which definately works... I've always thought the Joker should be the only one who laughs at his jokes... everyone else in the room should want to lose their lunch. Aaron Eckhart's Two-Face also appears to be deeply disturbing if the pictures I've seen on the internet turn out not to be fakes (they look a little photo shopped).
All in all a good time to be a comic/movie geek. No Fantastic Fours or X3's on the horizon!