Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3

Director: Shane Black

Written by: Shane Black and Drew Pearce 

Photography: John Toll 

Starring:  Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley

Country: USA 

Year: 2013  

I feel that I should start this review with an apology for the recent absence of activity on this site, I've been distracted with other non-film related activities and I haven't actually been to see a film at the cinema since Stoker two months ago, in fact, I haven't really watched that many films in the comfort of my own home either. But fear not, I'm steadily getting back on pace now and I should be posting regular reviews from now on. As a result of my hiatus, I've fallen far behind on my Blind Spot challenge, so you can be assured of at least three new posts this month (he says).        

Anyway, I digress, Iron Man 3... 

The first two Iron Man movies, the first one very good  the second one not so much, were both directed by actor/director Jon Favreau. In Iron Man 3 Fravreau remains on as a producer and as an actor in a quite a big supporting role but the directing role has fell to another man. The director that was chose as Favreau's replacement was an odd, but in hindsight, a brilliant decision. Shane Black, who made is name as a screenwriter known for making 18/NC-17 rated action-comedies with creative and colourful  language, most famously the Lethal Weapon franchise and the brilliant Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And for playing the role of Hawkins in Predator. Shane's auteur style brings a refreshing burst to a sub-genre that's been dominating the box office for over a decade. 

Regardless of the number three that appears at the end of the title is not so much at sequel to the previous two Iron Man films, but more to last year's Avengers Assemble, with Tony Stark trying to psychologically adjust after the events at the end of that film. Suffering from insomnia and anxiety Stark spends his nights obsessing over the Iron Man suit. Parallel to this the United States is falling victim to a succession of terrorist attacks from an international terrorist known an the Mandarin.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a fantastic performance once again. He's even more enjoyable to watch in this film as he suits Shane Black's sharp witty dialogue so fell. Gwyneth Paltrow, as annoying and unlikable as she seems to becoming in real life, is still highly watchable on screen. Don Cheadle is far more interesting in this film then he was in Iron Man 2. Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce were both very good. The real disappointment though was Rebecca Hall, her character was severely underdeveloped, waste of a great talent. 

The film looks great, the most beautiful of the Iron Man films. Containing lots of strong bright colours that make the film reminiscent of the old silver age comics. The cinematographer on the film was John Toll, a fantastic DP, whose filmography includes Braveheart, The Last Samurai and The Thin Red Line.              

It's for certain that some fans of the comic book source material will react negatively to the film and the artistic freedom Pearce and Black have taken especially concerning The Mandarin and Iron Patriot. Personally it didn't bother me because I felt it worked in the narrative of the film. Others might be disappointed that there is a lack of screen time containing Iron Man. Much like in The Dark Knight Rises, most of the film is Tony Stark weak and lost scrapping together materials to keep him self alive. I like this, it reminds us that Tony Stark's greatest asset is his intelligence, not the suit. 

Overall I found Iron Man 3 to be one of those films so enjoyable that I'm willing to look over few flaws, it's also evidence that the superhero sub-genre has a lot of life left in it yet.             

Looper

Looper

Director: Rian Johnson 

Written By: Rian Johnson 

Photography: Steve Yedlin 

Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt

Year: 2012 

Country: USA, China. 

The third film from writer/director Rian Johnson (whether that's pronounced Rain or Ryan is one of cinema's great mysteries).

Looper, which was selected as the opening film for the Toronto International Film Festival, takes place in two futures: 2044 and 2074. In 2074 surveillance is so advanced that it's literally impossible to dispose of a body. The only way criminal organisations can kill someone with safely is to use recently invented and outlawed time travel to send the target, cuffed and bagged, back to the year 2044 where a Looper will be waiting to blow them away.

Joe Simmons (Jospeh Gordon-Levvit) is a Kansas based Looper, he's selfish, a junkie and a bit of a badass; he's like Han Solo before he was ruined by Lucas is '97 by making Gredo shoot first; anyway, I digress. Waiting in a cornfield for his next hit to show up, (this is all in the trailer, no spoilers!) a few seconds late they show up but with no headbag. Joe makes the mistake of looking into his eyes and recognises immediately that it's himself, thirty years in the future (Bruce Willis). In the shock of seeing himself, he lets the taget escape. So now he's both running away and after himself while the looper orginazation, lead by Jeff Daniels, is after him for letting his target go. Confused?

Loopers remnicent of a lot of past Sci-Fi classics. Clearly Rian Johnson is big fan of James Cameron's Terminator films (it's safe to assume not of the other two) and Terry Gilliam's, brilliant, 12 Monkeys. The only modern Sci-Fi classic it's nothing like is The Matrix which seems to be the film most people are comparing it to.

Looper has a great cast, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I'm a big fan of does a brilliant job as always. The script was a bit more Bruce Willis lite than I was hoping for, but it's great to see him back at his best. Emily Blunt was good, if slightly miscast. The story goes she accepted the role before her character even showed up in the screenplay she liked the story so much. And Jeff Daniels (who was either Dumb or Dumber, I can never remember) who was the surprise delight of the film.

Rian Johnson directs with such vitality, he really is one of the more intresting film-makers working in the mainstream today.

The only major problem with Looper is that the film changes half way through and it stops being an Sci-Fi action film about time travel, and starts being a pedophobic horror film in the tone The Omen.

I don't think this is quite as brilliant as Johnson's first feature, Brick, but it's a solid, well directed, well acted and interesting film. It's no Twelve Monkeys but it's not far off. Time will tell if Looper becomes a classic.

Score: 4.5/5

The Man Who Fell To Earth

The Man Who Fell To Earth 

Director: Nicolas Roeg.
Written By: Paul Myersberg.
Photography: Anthony B. Richmond.
Starring: David Bowie, Rip Torn and Candy Clark.
Year: 1976.
Country: UK.


 It's often said of rock-stars that they can't act to save their lives. This isn't too unfair, we've all seen and winced  at Madonna and Henry Rollins attempting to act in movies before. But let's not forget how how phenomenal Björk was in Dancer in the Dark and that Will Smith was once The Fresh Prince.

 David Bowie stars in this 1976 cult sci-fi classic. Bowie is held in the minds of most as a poor actor. Mostly for his performances in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and his small role in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The only Bowie movie I've seen actually (other than The Man Who Fell To Earth) is Labyrinth, and that was a long time ago. All I know about David Bowie's acting in The Man Who Fell To Earth is, frankly, amazing.

 Nicolas Roeg's first film was Performance, which stars Mick Jagger. Then four years after making The Man Who Fell To Earth, Roeg made Bad Timing starring Art Garfunkel. Roeg got a reputation of liking to cast musicians as his leads. But Roeg originally wanted to cast Peter O'Toole as the lead in The Man Who Fell To Earth, but was watching the BBC one night and saw the TV Documentary David Bowie: Cracked Actor. He thought that Bowie had an ethereal quality, perfect to play a space alien.

 The Man Who Fell To Earth is about an alien from a planet that's suffering from eternal draught. He's sent to earth to try and find a way to transport water from earth to theirs. But when on earth he becomes corrupted by capitalism, emotion and becomes a drunk.

 That's all moot, because nobody involved in the production of The Man Who Fell To Earth cared about telling the story. The Man Who Fell to Earth is more about, and I'm quoting Nic Roeg here,  pushing the structure of film grammar in to a different area by taking away the crutch of time that the audience holds onto.  In layman's terms: It doesn't make sense. If you thought Prometheus was bad, wait till you see this!

 Despite it being completely incoherent, it's actually a really impressive film in an avant-garde sense. As is often the case with science fiction movies, the art direction is stunning. And Nic Roeg does some really impressive and progressive stuff with his direction, especially with inter-cutting.

 The Man Who Fell To Earth has a diverse soundtrack, from Roy Orbison  to Grace Kelly. The real surprise is that there's no Bowie in the soundtrack. Actually, Bowie was working on the soundtrack. There's a lot of stories about why we never it never appeared on the finished film, non official. But Bowie has said that some of the music he was working on for The Man Who Fell To Earth ended up on the b-side to Low. (The cover to low is also a shot from the movie, as are the covers to Station to Station and John I'm Only Dancing)

 If you can handle the incoherence, The Man Who Fell To Earth is worth checking out as it's aesthetically stunning and Bowie's acting alone is worth your time.

 Score: 3.5/5

Prometheus

Prometheus 

Director: Ridley Scott.

Written By: Jon Spaihts & Damon Lindelof. 

Photography: Dariusz Wolski.

Staring: Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce. 

Year: 2012.

Country: USA.   

 30 years after the release of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott makes a return to Science Fiction, and to a familiar franchise. Prometheus is set in the Alien universe about 40 years before the events of the first movie. And is in many ways, a prequel. But it's not an Alien movie. There are no Xenomorphs in this fim regrettably. 

  Instead we get a new humanoid race, only referred to as The Engineers. Who the crew of the Prometheus believe may be able to tell us something about our past.      

  Ridley Scott, the director of the first Alien movie back in '79 returns for Prometheus, although there are some scenes that feel like the reins have been handed back to Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Damon Lindelof, of Lost fame, is one of two writers and we're also treated to an all-star cast. Man of the year, Michael Fassbender adds another sterling performance to his CV, channelling Peter O'Toole as a synthetic. Though as good as he is, he hasn't got shit on Lance Henriksen. Guy Pearce is in there, unrecognisably, as a ninety-something Peter Weyland. Not much can be said for Charlize Theron, she gives a sturdy performance, nothing spectacular. For me the show was stolen by Noomi Rapace. A lot of buzz was generated around her for 'The Girl Who...'  trilogy which I haven't seen yet. This is the first I've seen of her, I was impressed. Even if her accent did occasionally slip through.             

  I appreciate the boldness of Prometheus, it takes of big themes and questions especially around the origin of life and faith. I also picked up what I thought were warnings about climate change and nuclear armament. But that may have been me looking in to deep. Of course Sci-Fi has never shy about topics like such. Prometheus doesn't really explore anything that 2001, Solyaris or Star Trek V don't. Even way back in 1951, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a film warning against the disasters The Cold War could bring.   

 Some of the things in Prometheus, to put it bluntly, don't make sense. And I'm not talking about deliberate ambiguity, the screenplay is just incoherent at points. But it is a Ridley Scott film, so it will have a director's cut or three, which hopefully will make things a bit clearer.    

  If you were hoping Prometheus would be lots of  grand setpieces, then you're in luck, because there are plenty. And great ones too.  The scares are there, but they are few and far between, and you don't get the claustrophobic feel you got with the first film. This is New Ridley Scott - the directer of historical epics. 

 The cinematography in Prometheus is breathtaking. So is some of the CGI, but I'm old-school and no computer generated image can live up to the model Nostromo from Alien. 

  The Prometheus holds a crew of 17, having this many characters and having the movie start with them waking from cryo-gen having not met means you don't get any banter between the crew. You can also tell that these members are marked for death as most of them are typical horror movie morons straight out of a Friday the 13th Sequel.     

 Prometheus has a lot of flaws,but it's a big movie that asks big questions. Anything that big doomed to have flaws. Overall it's an enjoyable movie filled with thrills and subtle references for sci-fi die-hards to spot. It's a good films, but I think I;ll wait for the Director's Cut before I buy the Blu-Ray.