Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

The Future is Now with this Tom Cruise Science fiction; as the movie was set to take place in the year 2020.  Edge of Tomorrow is based on the 2004 Japanese Light novel called ' All You Need is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakirazka.  Cruise plays Major William Cage an officer with no combat experience. As most of Europe gets invaded by an alien race called Mimics; Cage gets brought in as the public relations officer. His Superior, General Brigham played by Brendan Gleeson wants Cage to join the landing operation to spearhead and capture the success of their armed forces. What Brigham wasn't expecting was Cage's quick dismissal of the notion. As a result Cage gets stripped of his ranking and thrown into the battalion as a deserter on its way to re-join the front lines. Upon minutes of his landing he gets killed by the ever elusive Alpha Mimic and is bestowed the power of reliving the same day every time. Unfortunately, William Cage wakes up in mid-travel onto the front lines and has no way of escape from his predetermined destination.

 Its' been counted that on screen we witness Cage dying 24 times to relive the same day over again,  in actuality in the context of restarts from the moment he first dies to the end of the movie when he literally has to win the war by himself its been estimated he has died the equivalent length of 13 years, In that passage of time, that amount of  repeats  is nearly 5000 deaths. With the hope of getting a step closer to killing the Omega Mimic or the queen hive of the alien species.  So that he can one day escape his time loop and break free to see tomorrow.
The screenplay adaptation was written by Christopher McQuarrie, who has both written and directed Tom Cruise in the 2nd trilogy of Mission Impossible Films, and is set to do the future installments. As a side note - McQuarrie wrote 4 other of Cruises earlier films, that includes Valkyrie, The Mummy, Top Gun: Maverick, and Jack Reacher.
Separately, Edge of Tomorrow was directed by Doug Liman whom Cruise had the opportunity to work again with a few years later on 'American Made'.

The obvious go to comparison would be  Groundhogs day meets Aliens, which is an acute observation.  With Bill Murray's Character Phil Connors a self absorbed weather man who gets trapped in a time loop.  In the lesson achieved for spiritual enlightenment; director Harrold  Ramis had observed that according to Buddhist doctrine, it takes 10,000 years  for a soul to evolve to its next level. So it was suggested that Connors would have repeated a hundred life times. 
Another film that quietly tapped that stream of thinking was with Marion Cotillard and Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan's Inception, when the couple entered into a dream that jumps into a dream within a dream and further into another dream, we learn that the passage of time now runs extremely different to the outside world.  What was only one hour was actually 50 years trapped together in a plane of existence,  which played out with Cotillard character seeking suicide upon escaping; and DiCaprio's character Cobb being haunted with a Flatliners impression of  Cotillard's character Mal.
Another side note - the name Mal is a derivative of the word Malbouche - evil speak; which in Dante's inferno Malebranche (of the Divine comedy) that represents the 5th circle of hell.
This historic inspired source has led to both directly and indirectly to the original light novel source material, and that of the screenplay of an alien nemesis trapped in a repeated cycle of dying and re-living with Cage having the sole complete awareness of the passage of time and the whole journey.

Invincible Iron Man (2007)

Invincible Iron Man was released one year before the theatrical release of the MCU's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr.. It is important to point the time of the release as the animated movie took all its references from the comic book storylines for it's source material.
The film achieved an audience score of 46%, on rotten tomatoes, as it was largely panned by the collective of critics who reviewed the movie. As it was given a rating of PG-13 and has been classified as an action adventure animation with elements of science fiction and fantasy.  Upon reading the main points of  most critics, their summations tended to recycle a similar sets of patterns .
The animation  felt rushed as it left audience unimpressed, those who enjoyed the animation felt it  was merely satisfactory. Devote fans were upset as it became clear it was a story that was not a derivative of the comic character's origin, but an else-worlds story. There was a lot of plot points, so those with a short attention span could quickly and easily lose interest. Which leads to the decision for placing an alternate opening sequence on the Blue-ray. The removal

L-R Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper

which explains the history of the Mandarin, the elementals, and the entire backstory along with motivations behind claiming the mystical rings.  This decision of watching the movie without the backstory just presents an unforeseen threat without any stakes, or understanding of the dangers.  The flipside of that decision to not separate that backstory would lead to a very lengthy, trotting story that slows momentum to when we finally meet Tony and Rhodes. As the audience would then be subjected to an equal amount of more exposition before we see Tony suit up in his armor; a full hour into the movie.

Li Mei

The animation was written by  Greg Johnson, and directed by Patrick Archibald, Frank Paur, and Jay Oliva; all four men worked together again on the Doctor Strange animated movie which was released in the same year of 2007.  This would support the criticism of  both audiences and critics who had viewed the movie.  To start it can take an average of  up to 24 months or longer to produce a feature length animation from concept to its release.  So its understandable that over lapping of production time and energy (on Dr. Strange & Iron Man) has transpired during the creative controls of the movie.  It was also spotted in the Doctor Strange movie  that there was a side character that bore a striking resemblance to the Character of Li Mei, whose role is pivotal in the telling of the invincible Iron Man story. Yet in actuality had no connection to each other.
The Plot:  Li Mei and her father are the heads of an extremist militant group dedicated to the prevention of the rise of the Mandarin, their cause conflicts with Stark industries latest business venture.  As Tony Stark final comes to China to aid his friend and company attaché James Rhodes, Stark's convoy is attacked; and a recently captured. It is here another captive  Dr. Hope Yinsen saves Tony's life.
The work Stark industries have brought fourth, has started a chain of events foretold in forgotten scrolls of the coming of the Mandarin and his cataclysmic prophecy.  This prophecy is a glaring sore point in the animated movie for purists of the comic book; In addition that the Mandarin when in possession of his rings could control the dragon Fing Fang Foom as what they believed the creature to be just a giant Dragon. Fing Fang Foom is in fact an alien from Asgard,  which has now been re-written as one of the elemental spirits working for Mandarin. Also,  the actual five elements of the Chinese Zodiac are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. This  animation deposits the demon elementals to be Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Air and Fing Fang Foom.
Finally, Tony's father is alive and well and continues to work for Stark Industries.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron man 2  a film that largely benefited from its predecessor, as most of its' principal and supporting cast members reprised their roles including Jon Favreau who returned to the helm as its director. 
Remarkably all three Iron Man films continued to stay ahead of the curve with modern technology. Garnering each film an academy award nomination for best visual effects, with real tech companies marveling on how much it was on the pulse of cutting edge technology.  The film attracted billionaire tech genius Elon Musk the CEO of Tesla and friend of the director, who wanted a walk on cameo role. In exchange, the film crew was able to shoot at night at his SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, CA. as it doubled for Justin Hammer's factory. The people walking in the background were actual employees.  It turned out that Musk was a huge fan of the Iron Man character from earlier in his youth, and that shortly after filming. A statue of Iron Man, complete with company ID, "stands guard" at SpaceX, along with a Battlestar Galactica (2004) Cylon.

The US Air Force were fans of the original film, whereas before Favreau had to shoot scenes on a sound stage; but  now the military branch openly allowed access for the film crew to shoot on Edwards Air Force base.  The weapons that Justin Hammer brings out on display were actual military weapons stationed in the facility, and the various aircrafts seen when Rhodes brings the Mach 2 suit onto the base were all real.
It was during the filming that Samuel L. Jackson signed a 9 picture deal to continue to play Nick Fury as  a concession for having an unexpected diminished role and threatening to walk out. And Clark Gregg's character of Agent Coulson spun off to shoot two of the five one shots; short films. Leslie Bibb's character of reporter Christine Everhart was reprised as a favor to actor Sam Rockwell as both actors were dating since 2008 and continue to be a couple to this day.  The only actor who was noticeably absent was Academy award winning actor Terrance Howard, who was said to have displayed creative differences from his time on the first film, and as such Marvel and Disney amicably parted ways with the actor.  Marvel casted Howard's co-star from Crash (1994)  Don Cheadle to play the role of Col. James Rhodes. As  the film's principal leading stars Downey, Paltrow and Favreau  return to reprise their roles,  as was Paul Bettany to voice J.A.R.V.I.S. "Just A Rather Very Intelligent System", and Mickey Rouke to portray the main antagonist Whiplash.

Besides introducing former Russian spy, now S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Natasha Rominov, and War Machine; halfway through the film we the audience are introduced to Nick Fury at Randy's Doughnut shop. It is here at the re-introduction are we shown on a television monitor, briefly,  a newscast at Culver University where the Hulk and US Army's confrontation has led to chaos in its wake. It's also around here that we break away from the whiplash story and focus on solving Tony's arc reactor dilemma, and with Coulson re-assigned  from his babysitting duty of Tony to head out to New Mexico to locate Thor's hammer.
The film's narrative plot begins to jump around once we are introduced to Fury. Jon Favreau  who always wanted to make the film a trilogy that would have culminated to the Mandarin; surprisingly chose not to direct the third installment.  As producers were in his ear throughout the process and causing multiple re-writes even on the day of shooting. Cutting dialogue from Mickey Rouke performance, and shifting the length of Fury's scenes. The result of which has left Iron Man 2 as a film by the numbers; hitting all the required check marks for a summer action blockbuster, but lacking a character driven polish from the supporting cast.  And for many fans placing Iron Man 2 as a lower tier movie to be  remembered within the 22 film infinity saga.

Rumble in the Bronx (25 years later)

For the North American audience 'Rumble in the Bronx' represents Jackie Chan's big breakthrough role. Which follows the recipe of an overnight sensation; the reality of many of Hollywood stars and the very exclusive international exported stars. Jackie Chan began his career as an unknown, in Chinese motion pictures back in 1962. His first official accredited roles began in 1973, coincidently at the release of  Enter the Dragon which reached a global theatrical stage;  where he was uncredited, playing a thug in prison.  He appeared in 10 films that year in various roles both accredited and uncredited.  Jackie always wanted to make an impression in American cinema appearing opposite Burt Reynolds in both Cannonball Run movies and starring opposite Danny Aiello as a New York cop in The Protector (1985).  The result of which was unflattering of being taken as actor who could not headline a movie.  Though his mark left an impression with audiences and to the genre of martial arts. It would take ten years and over one hundred films later as Jackie Chan grew an enormous loyal fan base that had allowed him to reach an international icon status.

Rumble in the Bronx debut in China in January of 1995, and made it's North American debut in February 1996,  After his rocketed success of Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarentino who jump started John Travolta's career after it stalled in  the look who's talking franchise and put Samuel L. Jackson on Hollywood's radar. Was given the opportunity to introduce the North American audiences and a brand new generation for its second time to Jackie Chan. As Jackie was being the recipient of the Lifetime achievement award at the 1995 MTV Movie Awards. Tarentino's enthusiastic  rub and well crafted video package brought a generation of new eyes on to Jackie Chan and to Rumble in the Bronx. This help paved the way for five more films that were in production oversees and would set to debut in North American Screens for over the next few years. That eventually led to the Bret Ratner's Rush Hour films and the Shanghai Noon movies. Rumble in the Bronx Debuted at #1 at its opening day weekend taking in just under 10 million domestically and 32 Million abroad from its 7.5  million dollar budget  and amassed 76 Million in the US alone.