Iron Man 3 (2013)

The month of May summer blockbusters are intense for me.  The first to come was Iron Man 3.  I’ve been generally looking at the scores that other movie review blogs have given but not read the context much.  If you saw that I liked yours, I will be back to check it out right after this is posted 🙂 Honestly, as much as I was extremely excited to see this movie, I was worried it wouldn’t do as well because I really did not enjoy the 2nd one a lot.  Still, we managed to go last night (Wednesday) and the theatre was pretty much packed except for the few rows right in front of the screen and after watching 30 minutes of ads then another 20 minutes of previews (almost all superhero movies previews), Iron Man 3 started with the narration from Tony Stark 🙂

Director: Shane Black

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall, William Sadler

A insomniac and anxious Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) after the events of last year’s The Avengers in New York is bothered constantly by the sudden possibility of danger hitting him and the people he loves, especially his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwneyth Paltrow). When the terrorist The Mandarin starts decreeing that he will take steps to teach the President (William Sadler) some lessons by causing explosions and destruction and it ends up injuring his friend and bodyguard, Happy (Jon Favreau), he issues a threat to The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).  Little to his knowledge does he know that the Mandarin will end up destroying his home and turning it into rubbles causing him to have to scrabble to piece together his life again.  With this fall, he needs to find ways to work with what he has left and try to have his revenge and save the day!

The first Marvel movie to arrive after The Avengers was certainly entertaining! I loved it a lot.  This one was action-packed, fast-paced and still had a lot of Tony Stark’s witty remarks.

Tony Stark is definitely a great hero in this franchise.  This one brings in more of a personal struggle to find himself.  It was not only a struggle against keeping the ones he love safe but also digging deep into who he is amongst all the humor that he lashes out with whoever he is interacting with.  He seeks to find who he is at the base whether he’s really just a hero because of the suit or whether just himself as an individual, he can still be as great an individual.  Packaging that into a lot of action and introducing Don Cheadle’s Rhodey and his version of Iron Man but called Iron Patriot definitely gave this an extra push also.

I also enjoyed the sub characters.  Although Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts got a lot more screen time in this one which was for the better.  Her character has become one that I love and enjoy.  She’s tough and smart and just perfect for the uncontrollable Tony Stark.  I really love the little screen time at Jon Favreau’s Happy had also.  He’s just a hilarious man.  Don Cheadle’s character starts bringing in the political side of the equation as he tries to protect his country in general.  On the more business and science side, we have the great scientist here, Aldrich Killian played by Guy Pearce.  Ever since Memento, this guy has been on my radar and its nice to see him in this role 🙂

Whats a superhero movie without its villain, right? Super hero movies are straight forward and a lot has to do with finding that perfect villain to make the hero look awesome.  In this one, we have The Mandarin and his deadly explosions and taking over the wavelengths to broadcast his plans to terrorize the president and his country.  I’m a big fan of Ben Kingsley.  If you’ve seen this, then you’ll understand when I say that he was so awesome! Its not a normal role that I’ve seen him in but man, he was so good at doing this!

 

Iron Man 3 may not be as great as the first one but definitely is superior and worthy as a sequel, especially after a very unsatisfying 2nd.  The runtime was relatively average at a bit more over 2 hours ( I believe) but the time rolled by relatively quickly as the plot moves forward quickly, the action never stops (or at least it felt that way) and there’s always a lot of humour and snarky remarks (a la Stark style) to keep the audience entertained!  I can’t ask for more! I loved it and its definitely a great addition to the Marvel movies 🙂 I look forward to grabbing a copy of this when it gets released on Blu-ray!

Are you pumped up for the other summer blockbusters coming out? I know I am! Two more to go this month (at least)!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

I told you I’d be back with a real life movie! I was never a big fan of Robert Downey Jr. until I saw the first Sherlock Holmes. But, I’m a mega huge fan of Jude Law..I think I’ve probably confessed my love for him in a few reviews like The Holiday and Hugo.  I love his voice and his charm.  I don’t think that he’s in the drop dead gorgeous category but his charm gives him so much more.  I really enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes and that one was a pleasant surprise.  It made me really excited to see the second one..so don’t ask me why it took so long to see it after its release…

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel  McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry

In this sequel to the 2009 original (I should go back and review that one), Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.)  is now linking a lot of affairs to do with a very smart and evil man called Dr. Moriarty (Jared Harris).  A professor that was revealed to him at the end of the first movie through a woman that his path crosses with a lot called Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams).  This time, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) is getting ready to be married soon and to stop being his assistant afterwards because of the nature of danger that Holmes is involved in.  Holmes brings Watson out on his stag night and takes his brother (Stephen Fry) also and at this party, he syncs this with going to follow his clues which leads him to eventually saving Sim (Noomi Rapace), a fortune teller and learns about her and her brother’s connections to Moriarty’s plans.  This launche Holmes and Watson to go on at least one more adventure and mystery across different countries as they try to stop Moriarty’s plans from going forward.

I really love Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes.  I’ve never had to debate whether I like him better as Sherlock or as Ironman but the different charisma he can pull off in his role is just so great. He turns into this somewhat comedic ass. He just is that way. He’s going straight up into being in a few of my favorite on screen character.  As much as I like Holmes and Robert Downing Jr.’s version of it, there is really no way I can disregard the chemistry and bromance with Jude Law as Watson.  I love Jude Law to bits (I think I said that up there) and I can’t say it enough. He’s just such an awesome man, not that I’m saying he’s handsome but rather the vibe that he gives (weird, I know).  When Watson and Sherlock are together, you can’t help but to laugh a bit at their odd interactions.  The struggling danger of a professional and personal relationship that will end when one party goes off to get married.

Aside from this, the introduction of Stephen Fry as Holmes brother and Noomi Rapace as the fortune teller/gypsy Simka.  Stephen Fry gave some fun moments here and there and his addition contributed a bit to my enjoyment (only a bit). However, Noomi Rapace has been surprising me over and over again.  I first saw her as the boyish Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish original of The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo (or otherwise called Millenium Trilogy).  After that, I saw her in Prometheus and that really was interesting and she lead that role really well.  But now, we’re talking about her role in Sherlock Holmes and it was pretty awesome.  Her expressions and acting in general has impressed me. I really hope to see her in more flicks.

Another thing I look at was the villain himself, Moriarty.  Somehow I felt that the downfall was Moriarty himself, I never truly felt that anyone would be in danger.  Sure, Moriarty played a smart and intelligent man but he never made me feel like a worthy villain.  In a flick, thats based on a villain that should make you feel like he is actually threatening the movie, I wasn’t totally pleased in the domains of how evil he was or how dangerous he was.  I still enjoyed the movie but it would have really hit higher on my scale if he was better.

All in all, I’d say this one was pretty good.  Its not as good as the first one to me.  I have to get around to reviewing that one.  What this one has for it is the odd actions of Sherlock Holmes and the amazing chemistry that he has with Watson.  Their interaction and dialogue usually was what had me focused into the movie.  At the other times, I wasn’t totally into it as much.  Even though the villain wasn’t much, there were some fun elements in this flick that makes it into an entertaining watch.

What do you think of Sherlock Holmes? How about Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law? What are your favorite films of these two?

The Avengers (2012)

Last Saturday I went to go see The Avengers with a group of friends.  I don’t know much about superheroes other than by names.  I have no idea what their individual stories were and I even planned to watch a few superhero movies such as Ironman 1&2 and Thor (since I own it but hadn’t found time to watch it yet).  As usual, I ended up not having the time to do so but still I went, a bit of worry that I’d be lost.  Fortunately that did not happen and I found it amazing.

There has already been many reviews on The Avengers and many people probably already have a general idea of the plot.  I think that is part of the appeal of superhero productions.  The plot is always very simple but with some twists here and there.  There is a villain (or a group of them), some scheme goes down and the superhero(s) come in and save the day.  Straight forward!  There is a lot of fighting, a lot of explosions and a enjoyable adventure to watch.

With all the rapid developments in technology, the films that use a great amount of computer graphics are the steal a lot of our attention and this is especially applicable to superhero movies. The last few days, I’ve been watching Ironman 1&2 as a complement to The Avengers hype going on and just looking at the development of Ironman gear.  Not only in the gear, the costumes, the weapons, but especially Loki’s army was just so…WOW! (as lack of a better word).  I found the movie compelling at parts where we felt like we were in it and we wanted to do something, we felt like we were part of it.  I think that feature was worth a whole lot of applause (which the audience in my theatre gave at certain parts: cheering and clapping at certain parts).

Aside from that, they used really good actors.  The actors each had already been seen before in their current roles (except for one, The Hulk) and had already gained general acceptance of their portrayal. Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) all brought their A-game to this production.  In the aftermath, I watched both the Ironman and Thor to gain better perspective on what led up to this and why some characters did or said certain things.  My issue at the end of the movie was not with the Avengers themselves but rather with the villain, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).  I felt that he was not convincing as a villain and that some of his actions wasn’t justified, maybe it was also because to me, he did not feel “evil” enough.  I have changed perspective on that though.  I watched Thor shortly after and realized that his character was built to act the way he did and many of his actions did make sense afterwards.  The cast was booming as usual, with the Avengers led by the character, Nick Fury (Samual L Jackson).  I can never expect a bad movie from Samuel L. Jackson (even Snakes on a Plane didn’t suck because of him).

So to wrap this blog up (since its taken me a few days already), cast was fantastic, technology (computer graphics, etc) was innovative.  The movie itself was compelling.  It definitely was an amazing adventure to go take part in: I laughed at parts, I was startled, I cheered and clapped.

It was a great way to start off the summer blockbusters! Lets hope that the rest of the summer will be as awesome!