The stakes have been raised so many times with event flicks that, when approaching one, hope is always tempered with experience about what to expect, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson. With AVENGERS: ENDGAME, though, hope wins out. The spectacle is everything it should be, and the story, of necessity a meandering thing, is nonetheless sustained by… Read More »
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
For sheer value-for-money, you can’t top AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. It’s pure entertainment with an endless parade of the kind of whiz-bang special effects, not quite sloppy sentiment, and a constant barrage of the quips and banter that define grace under pressure in the Marvel Universe. Plus, pretty much everyone from the MCU finds his or… Read More »
TROPIC THUNDER
The problem with making a satire about Hollywood is that the real thing, ego-and money-driven to the point of madness, is so much more absurd than anything writers can come up with. TROPIC THUNDER succeeds as a brilliant piece of inspired lunacy because it doesn’t try to top reality, instead it reflects it with just… Read More »
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Guy Ritchies approach to the SHERLOCK HOLMES is predictably, but delightfully, bombastic. Which is not to say that this lushly produced, stylishly realized film is not perfectly entertaining. A clever script that is not quite as sharp as it should be is redeemed by a pair of superb performances by Robert Downey, Jr, as the… Read More »
IRON MAN 2
In IRON MAN, there was the inestimable delight in discovering the giddy elan and surprising depth that Robert Downy, Jr. brought to the titular role and his alter ego, Tony Stark. In IRON MAN 2, there is an equal delight in discovering that far from a retread, Downey has discovered even more subtle nuances to… Read More »
DUE DATE
Nitpickers may have a qualm or two about DUE DATE. There are certainly loose ends abounding by the time the film comes to a close. Even for those pickers of nits, though, this anti-buddy picture that pits the intractable against the inane works so well, thanks to co-stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Zack Galifianakis, that… Read More »
SHERLOCK HOLMES — A GAME OF SHADOWS
Theres a nefarious plot to force the collapse of western civilization in SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, and as befits an eponymous character, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) is the only person who can save the day. Not just because he is scathingly brilliant, as is his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarity (Jared Harris). No, as… Read More »
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
MARVELS THE AVENGERS is an audaciously ambitious film with a singularly Herculean task. It must take the disparate superheroes of previous films, their unique tones and styles, and mold them into a cohesive work. Its not unlike the plot of the film itself, which finds Shield, the super secret organization that keeps the Earth safe… Read More »
IRON MAN 3
The important thing to know about IRON MAN 3 is that after an iffy start, it zooms into the stratosphere as easily and as dynamically as Tony Stark himself does in the latest incarnations of his Iron Man suit. The past, however, haunts the present, with the trauma of wormholes and aliens vying with demons… Read More »
THE JUDGE
THE JUDGE is everything thats wrong with studio bids for Oscar consideration. A carefully calculated effort designed to hit all the perceived necessary tropes to qualify as both important and as quality. Alas, it is neither. True, there are excellent performances by Robert Downey, Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, and Billy Bob Thornton, but they… Read More »