Tin man gets a heart

Writing this review of Iron Man 3 was difficult in that I didn't want to reveal too many spoilers. Ultimately, this is the worst of the Iron Man movies. That doesn't mean that the movie is bad, but that the other two are pretty good. If I had to rank the movies from best to worst I would do so in the order that they came out.

Robert Downey Jr. is so familiar with the character at this point that it looks almost too easy for him to pull off Tony Stark. Somewhat surprising to myself in this one is how much screen time is devoted to Gwyneth Paltrow's character Pepper Potts. However, upon reflection, it does make sense, because the events center almost entirely around Pepper and Tony's relationship.

From the trailers I was expecting a very epic clash between a worthy mad genius foil for Tony Stark, ie The Mandarin. I will say this, Ben Kingsley can do no wrong. Spoiler alert, do not click this link about why comic book fans didn't like the Mandarin in this movie.

Apart from the aforementioned controversy this movie actually has the most tension of all the Iron Man movies. Iron Man might not make it through this time. The enemy is substantial, and the fight is larger than before. You've got all the necessary Iron Man whiz bang, and snarkiness. Don Cheadle is there to help out. And you know what, that is enough. Definitely a movie you wouldn't mind watching if it happened to be on, and you'd probably deem it a worthy waste of time.

7/10 Good cap to the series......so far, I mean they are going to make another, no way they don't

P.S. Guy Pearce is in this movie, and he is almost as scuzzy as he was in Lawless. All I've got to say about that.

AS YOU WISH!!!

At its core, The Princess Bride really is a love story. Sure, there is a ton of comedic gold, and the narrator can be jarring, but ultimately this is about Westley and Buttercup. This movie is as witty as they come, and equally memorable, but at the end of the day it is all about "Toooooo bllllluuuuuuuuuffffffff."

True love is the motivation for our principal actors, Cary Elwes and Robin Wright, respectively Westley and Buttercup. Speaking of actors who never became as big as they probably should have, this was hands down André René Roussimoff's greatest film role. Yes, he was only in five films, but so what? The guy was great in this particular movie, and how dare you denigrate his memory.

Now that I think about it, the narrator, aka Grandpa, (played masterfully by Peter Falk) really adds a lot to the film. Initially, you are kind of like "come on," but later in the movie he adds an element of suspense. In reality, all of the pieces in this narrative play a useful and enjoyable role. Miracle Max played by Billy Crystal and his wife Valerie played by Carol Kane, are such a welcome addition, and really when you think about how little they occupy the screen it is a rather outsized addition. Of course there is also Fezzik and Inigo's boss Vizzini deftly portrayed by Wallace Shawn. Full disclosure, I had to look up his character's name, because I'm pretty sure it is never mentioned in the movie. Maybe during the game of wits.

This movie belongs in the definitive collection of American films. The film has a little bit of everything for everyone. You can't go wrong watching this. Even if you aren't in a movie mood I guarantee if you force yourself to start watching it you will be happy with your decision.

10/10 will watch an innumerable amount of times in my life

Fake Movie, Real Acting

Argo is a very good movie. Ben Affleck manages to continue directing engaging, and gripping films. I would have never guessed that from the guy in the southie tuxedo in Good Will Hunting, but it is the current reality.

For those that don't know, Argo is based on the Iran Hostage Crisis, and specifically the Canadian Caper. This isn't required knowledge to enjoy the movie, but it helps you with context. I went into the movie knowing a little about these historical events and it didn't ruin my movie experience.

I think that John Goodman's performance in this movie sticks out above all the others. For some reason I totally bought him as the Hollywood insider, injected enough into the industry, but detached enough that he would have the freedom to indulge his inner patriot and help the CIA. Also, I really liked the main revolutionary guard that holds them up at the airport, I think the actor is Bahram Khosraviani. It was a small role, but I thought he nailed it.

It's kind of odd to try to analyze the movie, because it is based on actual events, so I can't really complain about a bunch of plot points. However, not all of the facts are known about the event, and as such I do think that the way that they portrayed things was well done. I didn't feel like they made the scenes too Hollywood. I guess you could quibble about the bazaar scene, or the escape from the embassy, but that seems a little extreme to me. The ending was for sure a little dramatic, and I read that the former Canadian ambassador was a bit miffed that Canada's role was not played up to its actual level, but other than that I think the movie was pretty compelling.

Solid movie which was an easy choice for Best Picture, 8/10, will see again

A Long Time Ago Almost Exactly as I Remember

May the Fourth has become a bit of a national holiday for Star Wars nerds like myself. So, like any good observing member of a faith-based group who observes their respective holidays, I elected to watch Star Wars this past May the Fourth. I chose Episode IV: A New Hope because in many ways that is the most complete film. George Lucas managed to nail directing his third feature length movie. Go figure. I've seen the movie more times than I could ever count, but I tried to be a little more critical while watching it this time.

First off, Star Wars as a whole is deliciously cheesy. The movie is really broken up into a bunch of mini-narratives which transition like power point slides. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were surprisingly good as Luke and Leia. I think there performance is somewhat glossed over by people that are hung up on the subject matter of the film. I did notice that Sir Alec Guinness was a little out of place as Obi-Wan, probably, because he was one of Britain's most acclaimed actors of all time, and the role may be a bit below him.

As I struggled to write this critique I realized that I can't really critique this movie. You see, Star Wars is a part of me, for better or worse. I just can't treat this movie, or any of the other movies in the original trilogy, the same as any other movie. I suppose that might be a deficiency I have, but truly I don't care. I love this movie, and all of the Star Wars movies, even the prequels. They represent something pure and detached from reality. I fully understand the marketing angle employed in the prequels, and arguably in the original trilogy as well, but the beauty of the tropes utilized by Lucas in all the movies is that they are damn near universal. What adventurous kid with dreams bigger than their surroundings doesn't want to save the galaxy like Luke Skywalker?

The fact of the matter is that Star Wars is not novel. Star Wars is based almost completely on preexisting material, but it is culturally significant to a particular time period. As many would argue all creative work is derivative, but in my opinion, this is a particularly apt derivative work.

You don't watch Star Wars because you want to see great film-making. You watch Star Wars because you want to see a great film.

10/10, Will watch again and again, and introduce my children and grandchildren to the series

Oh, by the way, Harrison Ford plays Han Solo masterfully. But, you already knew that so it wasn't really worth mentioning.

Just Another Day in Paradise

"Puerto Rico Welcomes You!" reads the banner as the plane streaks by Johnny Depp's hotel room in this hilariously quirky, but twisted comedy. The Rum Diary is based off of Hunter S. Thompson's novel of the same name. Director Bruce Robinson intentionally, or unintentionally, does a homage to the mayhem of and absurdity of Johnny Depp's other take on a Hunter S. Thompson work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I'll just come out and say it, this movie has two of my biggest man crushes: Johnny Depp, and Aaron Eckhart. Eckhart plays the exploitative yankee businessman keen to capitalize on the sugar sand beaches and perfect clime of la Isla Encanta. There are other interesting characters we meet in this playful romp, such as: Giovanni Ribisi as apparently an employed reporter, Michael Rispoli as a reporter who claims to know the island, and Richard Jenkins as the editor of the paper that hired Depp.

However, it is Depp's relationship with another man's woman that really drives the story. Amber Heard is excellent as a more than meets the eyes woman who Depp covets from Eckhart. Their affair motivates Depp to action, and well you get the rest.

I loved this movie. It wasn't a great film per se, but it was deliciously entertaining to me. They do an excellent job of capitalizing on the beauty of the island to further what I guess they are calling a plot. In a lot of ways the plot is really just "let's have Johnny Depp play a reporter on drugs in the Caribbean and see what happens."

7/10, but I'm probably being generous on the score, it is realistically a 6/10 that bats like a 8-9/10

It was him, right?

The movie Zodiac is creepy. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie it is based on the historical events surrounding the Zodiac Killer who terrorized California in the late 60s and 70s. David Fincher's film does an excellent job of roping you in to the story, and generally making your skin crawl.

One of the things that I really thought was done well was the general sense of unease that you felt throughout the film. Is this person the killer? Is that person the killer? Will they find the killer? Jake Gyllenhaal was perfect parts obsessed, endearing, and quirky as the illustrator interested in Zodiac. Likewise, Mark Ruffalo was superb as the Inspector hunting Zodiac. For my money, John Carroll Lynch was the best actor in this film as the suspected Zodiac Arthur Leigh Allen. His ability to portray a sort of detached humanity and casual evil was off-putting.

I thought that Chloë Sevigny did a great job in her role by being convincingly understanding, yet pragmatic about her husband's obsession. She hated the obsession, but she realized she couldn't control it, and so left him to finish it alone.

One thing that was a little confusing is that the current temporal position in the story was sometimes hard to discern. Months would fly by, and although you did get guideposts via onscreen text it could feel a little off. Along those lines I have no idea how closely the movie followed the facts of the case. This may seem like a minor point, and it probably it is, but I thought it was pretty wild that the police officers cooperated so much with Gyllenhaal. On the other hand, if Robert Graysmith, who is played by Gyllenhaal was able to figure all of this out without the help of police that is probably more ridiculous.

Worthwhile movie that moves along at the right pace at the right times, 8/10 easily

One Day of Autumn

500 Days of Summer is a good movie. Marc Webb's movie is a little self-indulgent at times, but not to the point of making you annoyed with its borderline hipsterness. The cast I thought was great, and the story was more or less believable.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays our would be Romeo, Tom, and Zooey Deschanel is his somewhat distant, unwilling Juliet. The movie claims to not be a love story, but it clearly is. on this point, I actually found Zooey Deschanel convincing as a cold uncaring lover. The reason why? She always seems so flighty in her movies. Not necessarily in a bad way, but more so in a detached "Heeeeeey" kind of way. You remember what she was like in Elf? She was engaged, to a point.

Gordon-Levitt has quite the support system in this movie. There is his sage little sister Rachel played by Chloe Grace Moretz. His two buddies are played by Geoffrey Arend, and Matthew Gubler. As far as these supporting characters go his little sister takes the cake. When it comes to dealing with Tom's neurotic behavior she offers up pearls of wisdom beyond her years. I was a little disappointed that when Rachel asked Tom to look back on his relationship with Summer that he did not see the actions of Summer more negatively. I mean, it was a negative portrayal, but not as much as I thought they could do by repackaging his memories.

I don't really have much else to say about this movie. It was a good comedy, and really worthwhile, but I don't have much to add. Quirky movie. I did really like that Tom keeps his optimism in the end, and dares to dream again when he goes to his job interview. The world needs idealists.

7/10, would watch again