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movie reviews

mini movie reviews

IRON MAN

Unlike Spider–Man or X–Men, Marvel’s Iron Man doesn’t have wide brand–name recognition. Despite being a relatively unknown superhero, the movie manages to succeed admirably. It may not go down as the best superhero movie of all time, but Iron Man is very entertaining, the visual effects are absolutely fantastic, and it has some engaging performances that make it soar. You could easily say Iron Man is in the top 10 superhero movies of all time, which is quite an achievement considering the number of movies in that genre.
When billionaire weapons manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is captured by Afghani terrorists, Stark escapes by doing what any genius robotics creator would do — he builds himself a flying robot suit that shoots fire. Back in the USA, Stark announces he’ll stop making weapons but his shareholders, led by Stark’s lifelong friend Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), try to stop him. In secret, Stark begins to build a new and more advanced suit that he hopes can be used to right all of those wrongs his weapons have caused. But the evildoers have found Stark’s old suit, and they have nefarious plans to backwards engineer it into something more deadly.
The plot actually ambles around, mostly following Stark as he lives the jet–set billionaire lifestyle, or as he diligently works away on his various supersuits, or as he cracks wise with his very British–sounding intelligent computer system, Jarvis. Thankfully, none of the scenes are ever boring, but you wish the movie would kick up the action a bit sooner.
The performances are what hold Iron Man together, and the best is from the star himself, Robert Downey Jr. He also throws in some fantastic one–liners throughout, and he has a great, love/hate comedic relationship with his two robot helpers, “Dummy” and “You.” It’s a testament to Downey’s skill as an actor that he can interact with two animatronic robot arms and make them seem like real characters.
As Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow manages to be amusingly perky but throws in subtleties that show a yearning for her employer. Terrence Howard gets a short shift as Jim Rhodes, military buddy to Tony Stark, who doesn’t get to do very much. Howard is basically in there to set up further sequels where he’ll become another Iron–character. He even has a self–referential moment when you think he’s going to don the armor, but he simply says, “Next time, baby.” Jeff Bridges manages to have an interestingly deceptive character arc, slowly revealing nastier layers to the character in every scene.
There is a very unique spirit to this film that makes it stand out from regular superhero fare. In all superhero movies, we’ve seen the hero don his costume as the dramatic music swells. Naturally, there’s a scene like that in here, too. But Iron Man adds something original: it shows the complicated and painful process it takes for Stark to get out of the suit afterwards. Another fantastic scene has Stark testing out the flying capabilities of his suit, and it leads to one of the funniest and most unexpected gags in the entire movie. The movie is full of little details and brief aside that make it more colorful. Since director John Favreau (Swingers) came from an indie background, he adds a unique spin not seen in most mainstream superhero flicks. The film keeps giving right up until the ending, and even past; after the credits there’s an extra scene that’ll set comic fanboy hearts a–twitter. V

Ghost Rider

(Mark Steven Johnson) Non–screened films are usually crap
movies dumped into the market with hopes of an opening
weekend to, essentially, trailer the DVD. Ghost Rider isn’t nearly
that bad. It’s 20 minutes too long, the effects are cheesy, and it
has one of those problems that beset a lot of the Marvel
adaptations. But it’s anchored by one of Nicolas Cage’s always fun
mad Elvis performances and has a strong supporting cast with the
likes of Donald Logue, Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda and Sam Elliott.
Ghost Rider, for those who haven’t read the comic book is about a
motorcycle stunt rider who in his youth sold his soul to Lucifer to
save his father’s life. This didn’t work out well, as deals with the
devil usually don’t, and years later, the Devil comes to collect,
making our hero into Ghost Rider, a flaming skeleton who works
as the devil’s bounty hunter. The Devil’s son shows up searching
for a mystical soul contract that’s been out there for more than a
century. Mayhem ensues. The weird problem that affects Marvel
comic books is their habitual creation of heros who don’t have
eyes. Spider–Man, for example. Ghost Rider for another, his head
being a flaming skull. It’s a great and striking graphic concept,
but it’s a comic book idea. It’s a lousy movie idea, because a
flaming skull has no emotional range, rather like a hero whose
face is entirely masked, including his eyes. Eyes are what they pay
movie stars for. It’s where we read the emotions. Take that away,
and anyone could star in movies. 112 min.

Reno 911: Miami

(Robert Ben Garant) The movie tracks the dumbest cops on earth
on a jaunt to a police convention in Miami, where they find they’re
the only officers on the street when a bio–terrorist attack leaves
all the other cops quarantined in the convention centre. It looks
cheap and moves fast, like three episodes of the show crammed
into one, so there’s no real reason to shell out theatrical coin for
something due on DVD in a very short time, but it is funny and
works exactly in the spirit of the TV show. If you enjoy the series,
here it is. We were overdue for a remake of Police Academy 6
anyway. 84 min.

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