Enjoyable, mindless, and very funny. Downey Jr. was surprisingly brilliant. Little plot or real substance but who cares, just fun hokum and the best film I've seen for a while. Recommended.
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After a life threatening run in with a group of terrorists, weapons maker Tony Stark (Downey) sets to work on a new weapon.
After Marvel comics Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk were made into blockbuster smash hits, the trend grew with another infamous comic book being adapted and based on Stan Lee's series; this is a very effective exciting Sci-Fi thriller.
Robert Downey Jr (Chaplin) stars as weapons genius Tony Stark, an intelligent man with a professional life. At times films can have a central hero with a bizarre under-explained background but Favreau dives into Stark's life before Iron Man by projecting a simplistic idea into the opening scenes. Stark is receiving an award and we take a look at photos of his past ... Read More:
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The overwhelming success of the Spider-Man and X-Men trilogies revitalised interest and credibility in superhero movies since the original Batman and Superman film franchises fell into great decline. Since then, floodgates have been opened, allowing all kinds of Marvel heroes to have a shot at cinematic stardom.
Although (in my opinion) there haven't been any truly horrible Marvel films, the majority of these haven't lived up to the hype as they could've done. For example, Daredevil, Hulk, Fantastic Four (the first film) had all the necessary tools to be on a par with any of the X-Men/Spider-Man films, yet they weren't.
So now, we have Iron Man, the next Marvel legend in line for a big superhero film. When I saw the first trailer, ... Read More:
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I greatly enjoyed this film and it was a delight to watch an escapist SF/Superhero story that was presented to adults rather than 12 year olds. The detail in the sets and SFX combined with the plausible(ish) story and excellent acting makes for a satisfying experience. The blu-ray is very good and includes a full disc worth of extras, all in HD, that are actually worth watching. It's refreshing to see concept art presented in 1080 for example because it's possible to appreciate the artwork rather than just the concept (if you see what I mean).
So, good story, good production, good acting, good transfer, good extras.
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If you love romantic comedy then this is a film for you! It is sweet and funny and easy to watch. I loved every moment - a fab way to spend an afternoon. Recommended.
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Hollywood loves Dick, and that's a fact. Philip K. Dick, that is: whenever the powers that be require a sound sci-fi brain scratcher, they turn to the pages of special K. The man behind Total Recall, Minority Report and the more than slightly less impressive Paycheck, Phil is the go-to guy for short tales of paranoia, future dystopia and drug abuse, with A Scanner Darkly representing only his second full novel to be adapted into a movie (the first being "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" which resulted in the mighty Blade Runner). At the helm is another Dick, Richard Linklater, one of the slipperiest directors working today, a man who simply refuses to be pigeonholed, but who is as yet unproven in the sci-fi genre.
Shane Black is easily one of the pioneering writers in action films, being responsible for the entire Lethal Weapon series, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero and The Long Kiss Goodnight. It wasn't until Kiss Kiss Bang Bang though, that he took the reins as a director and the result is one of the most enjoyable films in years.
The film follows Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer as a burglar who accidentally lands a major hollywood role and the private detective tasked with giveing him detective lessons respectively. Downey Jr breathes charisma as the perpetually out of his depth Harry, one of the most likeable protagonists Black has written. Kilmer plays the brilliantly grumpy Gay Perry completely deadpan and makes the perfect straight man to Harry's fumbling incompetence. ... Read More:
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Structurally, U.S. Marshals, is a reworking of the The Fugitive, fulfilling the classic sequel brief of "the same but different": the producers substitute an incredibly impressive plane crash for the incredibly impressive train crash, a fall from a tall building for a fall from a dam and government defense secrets for drugs trials while throwing in the same plot device of an ally who turns out to be an enemy. The main difference here is no Harrison Ford, more Tommy Lee Jones and added Wesley Snipes (presumably on the run from the taxman) and Robert Downey Jr. (who really should have kept the sunglasses on until he finished rehab). There are no surprises, it's somewhat overlong and you won't remember it a day later, but it's energetically directed by Stuart Baird and superbly edited ... Read More:
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OK it's stylish, OK it's got a cracking cast and it's well acted, but this is simply the most boring film I have ever seen, nothing happens - honestly - nothing, there is just no coherent story line to link it all together and the entire 3 hours+ (and trust me, it felt longer) was like a series of completley unrelated, depressing and, ultimately, pointless vignettes.
This is Altman at his self-obsessed, self-indulgent worst. Avoid it, unless you've got far to much time on your hands and want to be made thoroughly depressed, confused and miserable.
And the music score has got to much jazz on it as well.
George Clooney freely admits that "Ocean's Twelve" was made in order to ensure that both this and "Syriana" saw the light of day. Perhaps this is a case of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It is heartening to see something of use coming out of that.
"Good Night & Good Luck" seems, on the surface, to be a film about the witch hunts of Joseph McArthy against perceived threat of communism in America. The film traces journalist Ed Murrow's televisual campaign to discredit the committee set up to investigate this and also McArthy himself. Using newsreel footage to illustrate McArthy's interrogations highlights his approach excellently and also highlights the film's liberal tendencies, but this film isn't a critique on paranoia from invisible threats. It could be ... Read More:
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