Iron Man 3 opens with a flashback to 1999, narrated by Tony Stark. It’s the eve of the new millennium, and Tony is partying with an attractive scientist who is interested in DNA modification as it relates to regeneration. They have an elevator encounter with an enthusiastic scientist interested in recruiting Tony (and the woman) to his new company. We’re told via Tony’s voice over that this is where it all started.
We then jump to modern day Tony Stark, struggling to deal with recent events. Christmas is approaching, and Tony has been spending all of his time in the lab, hardly ever sleeping, working on perfecting a new suit of Iron Man armor that will fly to his body in pieces at just a thought. He’s currently living with Pepper Potts, who is still running his company. Tony hasn’t been sleeping because he’s still haunted by his near-suicide in the wormhole in New York during the events of The Avengers.
The Croods live in a cave. That should be too surprising, considering that they are cave people. But beyond just living in the cave, they define their entire lives by it. The last surviving family of Neanderthals in the valley, the Croods spend almost all of their time in the cave, emerging only to hunt for food. The cave has kept them safe, as have the rules implemented by Grug (Nicolas Cage), the father of the family. Inside the cave live Grug and his wife, Grug’s mother-in-law and the three kids. Eep (Emma Stone), the oldest child, hates the rules, the cave, and her family, and longs to explore new things, in contradiction to her father’s mantra, “New is always bad. Never not be afraid.” 
I’ve never had a spot on the anti-Star Wars prequels bandwagon. When The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, I was 14 and a huge Star Wars fan. I was too young at the time to go to a midnight showing, so I had to wait all day to see the film that evening, and I could not sit still. By the time the 20th Century Fox fanfare started playing, I was in tears, and stayed that way through most of the film. I remember everyone in the theater enjoying it immensely, laughing and cheering throughout, and I saw it again two days later. Needless to say, I’m a Star Wars fanboy, and while my 28 viewings of the Star Wars saga films in the theater are not anything close to a record, it’s safe to say that I was in no way disappointed by the prequels.
The Love Pirate 