Can we talk about Robert Downey, Jr.’s beard for a minute? It’s not quite pencil thin, but it’s distressingly narrow, a strip that connects tweezed sideburns with a manicured mustached and a chin strap. It’s decidedly not fashionable; the look really hasn’t been hip since the late 1990s, which is when the third installment of Iron Man opens. It was douchey at the turn of the century (when that insult wasn’t really in use), and it just looks bad now. I’m not entirely sure why I am so focused on how awful Downey’s beard is. Overall, it was just a minor part of why he bugged me so much in the movie. I guess it’s partly because I’m bear and prefer real beards, but partly it’s because Downey spends disappointingly little time in his armored suit, and his face and awful beard are on full display: It turns out Iron Man 3 is less of a superhero movie and more of an action movie vehicle for Robert Downey, Jr. and his trademark, and to me, increasingly irritating, shtick. Continue…