As appropriate to a movie as self-referential as Iron Man 3, the real question for audiences isn’t whether Tony Stark/Iron Man defeats the latest supervillain (of course he does), but whether the movie itself rises above the dreaded third-in-a-sequel torpor of Spider-Man and The Dark Knight. Spoiler alert: Yes, mostly, it does.
Stronger than 2010’s anemic Iron Man 2, though not as bold and shiny as the first film in the Marvel Comics-derived series, Iron Man 3 adds a slightly fresh twist to the usual package of wisecracks and spectacle that led the first two films, under Jon Favreau’s direction, to a $1.2-billion worldwide box office.
This time, Favreau has been replaced by director and co-writer Shane Black, who brings his own baggage and bag of tricks. Black, who first came to fame as the writer of one of the first smartly deranged action films, 1987’s Lethal Weapon, went from hot to not in the early nineties (the low point was The Last Boy Scout). In the past decade, he also directed Robert Downey Jr. in one of their mutual comeback movies, 2005’s smart crime film, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.
Black, who knows that Downey is Iron Man’s best asset, gets the actor out of the mask for much of the film. Even more than before, the series feels as though it should probably be retitled Irony Man in Downey’s honour. With his neurotic glib patter, lounge-lizard goatee and moments of pop-eyed exasperation, he adds an indispensable personal eccentricity to spice up the mundane business of saving the planet.
The film begins with a prelude, set on New Year’s Eve in the innocent days of 1999, and introduces us to a couple of characters from Tony’s past who are ready to pop up again: a botanist called Maya (Rebecca Hall), who is reconfiguring plant DNA with unfortunate explosive results and whom Tony beds in Switzerland at the end of a conference.
On that same night, he meets a needy, nerdy scientist (bespectacled, buck-toothed and lame) named Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), whom he mockingly dismisses. Little does Tony know that Killian is looking to finance his new start-up, Extremis, which can “hack into the hard drive of any living organism” and change its DNA. When those organisms are human beings, this means that they glow orange like jack-o’-lanterns and shoot lasers from their fingers.
Jump to the present, when Tony is suffering from anxiety insomnia in the aftermath of last year’s The Avengers, in which superheroes and gods had a set-to. Though still equipped with his armour of wit, as well as a series of experimental metal exoskeletons, Tony works late in the night in his Malibu lab. Busy developing a team of Iron Man robots, Tony pays even less attention than usual to his girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), in the same flirty, if heatless, relationship.
Soon, Iron Man’s government calls on him again for help. A new bad guy is on the loose, an Osama bin Laden-like America-hater named The Mandarin (the original comic book character was Chinese) who hijacks the airwaves to boast about his past and upcoming attacks. The Mandarin speaks in a broad American accent, punching the r’s in an exaggerated fashion that at first sounds like bad acting, but turns out to be a clue to his secret identity.
When The Mandarin’s henchmen blow up part of Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre, he leaves Stark’s security chief (Jon Favreau) near dead, leading Iron Man to personally challenge the villain to a mano-a-mano battle. Though Black avoids the self-important seriousness of the Spider-Man/Dark Knight franchises, he mixes his jokes with some old-fashioned sentimentality. After The Mandarin chases Tony out of his Malibu digs, the stranded superhero finds himself, just before Christmas, hiding out in rural Tennessee, where he bonds with a misfit fatherless kid (Ty Simpkins). This is straight out of Black’s Last Action Hero.
Other elements of the script feel barely sketched in. The villains’ motives remain murky. There’s little effort to make the technology sound plausible, while the glowing-fingered soldiers feel left over from a no-budget sixties sci-fi movie. Mostly, though, Black papers over plot holes with constant self-referential quips and a few set-piece stunts, including a discomfiting sequence in which passengers free-fall from Air Force One.
Otherwise, IM3 feels as though it has been put through a script echo machine. Every major character seems to be equipped with a double identity at some point, and Tony tends to keep a kind of play-by-play commentary on his own performance (“It’s moments like these when I realize what a superhero I really am”).
Numerous characters get a chance to don his Iron Man suit – from Pepper Potts, to Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), to the kidnapped President. There’s even an army of robotic Iron Men on standby, underscoring the assembly-line nature of these kinds of sequels.
Of course, clever is better than its opposite, and Black’s stamp along with Downey’s rakish louche style are fun for a while – but there is little room for emotional engagement, or the illusion that any of the characters are in jeopardy, no matter how many objects are exploding. After a while, the steady diet of tongue-in-cheek starts to taste monotonous as day-old gum.
Like “Inglourious Basterds,” “Django
Unchained” is crazily entertaining, brazenly irresponsible and also
ethically serious in a way that is entirely consistent with its
playfulness. Christoph Waltz, who played the charming, sadistic SS
officer Hans Landa in “Basterds,” here plays Dr. King Schultz, a
charming, sadistic German bounty hunter (masquerading as an itinerant
dentist) whose distaste for slavery makes him the hero’s ally and
mentor.
That hero, first glimpsed in shackles and
rags on a cold Texas night in 1858, is Django (Jamie Foxx), who becomes
Schultz’s sidekick and business partner. Schultz is an amoral gun for
hire, tracking down fugitives and habitually choosing the first option
offered in the formulation “Wanted: Dead or Alive.”
Over time the traditional roles of white
gunslinger and nonwhite sidekick are reversed, as the duo’s mission
shifts from Schultz’s work to the rescue of Django’s wife, Broomhilda
(Kerry Washington). After the couple tried to run away from their former
plantation together, they were whipped and branded (the horrific
punishment is shown in flashback), and Broomhilda was sold.
Django and Schultz’s search for her leads
them to Candyland, a Mississippi estate whose debonair master, Calvin
Candie, is played with almost indecent flair by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Candie is assisted in his savagery by Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), a
house slave who may be the most shocking invention in “Django
Unchained.” He is an Uncle Tom whose servility has mutated into
monstrosity and who represents the symbolic self Django must destroy to
assert and maintain his freedom.
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Hit man Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) earns a well-deserved reputation as a cold-blooded killer but manages to keep his violent profession a secret from his wife (Winona Ryder) and children for years. (more)
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Critic Review:
★★★
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Genre: Action, Adventure, Science fictionCast: Robert Downey Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow , Don Cheadle (more)
Plagued with worry and insomnia since saving New York from destruction, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), now, is more dependent on the suits that give him his Iron Man persona -- so much so that every aspect of his life is affected, including his relationship with Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow). After a malevolent enemy known a... (more)
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London Film Awards
Sunday, Dec 15
10:00a
Virtual,
Los Angeles
As a distinguished international film competition, the London Film
Awards celebrates and awards independent film's best and brightest
talent spanning the globe...
Los Angeles Film Festival
Thursday, Jun 13
7:00a
Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium 14, Auditorium #1,
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent, a
501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting and
supporting independent films and filmmakers...
Los Angeles Film Festival
Sunday, Jun 23
7:00a
Regal Cinemas LA Live Stadium 14,
Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent, a
501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting and
supporting independent films and filmmakers...
Mission Viejo Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular
Thursday, Jul 4
10:00a
City of Los Angeles,
Los Angeles
A traditional fun-filled family day celebrating our nation's birth.
Non-stop activity begins at noon and closes with a spectacular fireworks
extravaganza. Fun for all ages...
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LA Comedy Film FestivalPostal code 90010, United StatesLos Angeles, CA
Mission & ObjectiveLA comedy film festival provides a showcase for the best shorts, features, tv pilots, web series,... (read more)
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Apr 26 (Apr 26 - May 5) |
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International Family Film FestivalRaleigh StudiosNorth Hollywood, CA(Los Angeles metro area)
18th annual festival competition for feature and short films, and feature and short screenplays from adults, student... (read more)
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Apr 24 (Apr 24 - Apr 28) |
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SFTV Bonn Film Screenings | Find ticketsLoyola Marymount UniversityLos Angeles, CA
Please join us as for a screening featuring the student films from our fall semester Bonn Study Abroad Program.Frida... (read more)
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Cannes: Lineup shows Malick, Almodovar and 'The Beaver,' but no Payne or Cronenberg
The Cannes Film Festival on Thursday morning unveiled the lineup for this year's edition, announcing several highly anticipated titles and confirming that a pair of buzz movies won't be there.
"The Tree of Life," Terrence Malick's long-awaited coming-of-age opus starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, will play in a festival competition slot, capping a year of waiting after the film was not completed in time for last year's festival.
Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar will bring his third film in six years to Cannes when he unveils "The Skin I Live In," a revenge story about a plastic surgeon. Like "Tree of Life," "Skin" comes into the festival with U.S. distribution.
But several other anticipated movies won't be making the trip to the Croisette: the George Clooney-starring "The Descendants," Alexander Payne's first directorial effort since his Oscar-winning "Sideways" in 2004, won't be at the festival. Nor will the Carl Jung-Sigmund Freud drama "A Dangerous Method" from Canadian auteur David Cronenberg.
"The Beaver," the Jodie Foster-directed drama starring Mel Gibson as a mentally unstable man, will play an out-of-competition slot after previously world-premiering at SXSW. The film had been scheduled to open in limited release in the U.S. on May 6, which is before the festival begins; it remains to be seen whether that date holds. Also occupying out-of-competition slots are the animated sequel "Kung-Fu Panda 2" and the live-action sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."
Cannes typically offers one or more slots to high-profile Hollywood films; in recent years "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" each premiered at the festival. This year's festival will offer an unusually consolidated schedule for some of its higher-profile English-language films -- "Pirates," "Tree" and Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" all open within two weeks of their Cannes debuts.
Rounding out the lineup, Lars von Trier, who created one of the noisiest controversies in years with the premiere of his explicit "Antichrist" two years ago, comes back with "Melancholia," a sci-fi-infused drama starring Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland. Lynn Ramsay brings her family drama "We Need To Talk About Kevin," based on the bestselling book, to the festival in a competition slot.
And the Dardenne brothers, the Belgian filmmaking duo who have already won the Palme d'Or twice, will return to the festival for the first time in three years with their drama "The Kid With the Bike." (For the full listing of titles, please visit the official Cannes website, which will be updated throughout the day.)
A large contingent of female directors will represent at the festival: In addition to Foster and Ramsay, Julia Leigh ("Sleeping Beauty"), Jennifer Yuh ("Panda") and Nadine Labaki ("Where Do We Go Now?") all have films at Cannes.
Festival chief Thierry Fremaux announced the selections at a news conference in Paris. The Cannes Film Festival will hold its 64th annual gathering beginning on May 12. Several (likely smaller) films could still be added to the lineup.
As has become de rigeur in recent years, a wide range of celebrities will come to the French Riviera during the festival. Pitt is likely to turn up for the premiere of "Tree of Life," partner Angelina Jolie could come to promote "Panda," indie darlings Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan are expected to attend on behalf of competition film "Drive," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" could result in Cannes appearances for Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. Sean Penn, who has two films there (the other is Paolo Sorrentino's "This Must Be the Place"), remains a wild card, as he often is at Cannes.
As has become de rigeur in recent years, a wide range of celebrities will come to the French Riviera during the festival. Pitt is likely to turn up for the premiere of "Tree of Life," partner Angelina Jolie could come to promote "Panda," indie darlings Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan are expected to attend on behalf of competition film "Drive," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" could result in Cannes appearances for Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz. Sean Penn, who has two films there (the other is Paolo Sorrentino's "This Must Be the Place"), remains a wild card, as he often is at Cannes.
This year's lineup is slightly heavier on American fare than other recent years: Allen's "Paris" opens the festival, and Malick will of course play in competition. Gus Van Sant, who is the last American to win a Palme for a scripted film ("Elephant" in 2003) will bring a new movie, the relationship drama "Restless," to the festival's Un Certain Regard section, as will American Sean Durkin, who takes his Sundance sensation "Martha Marcy May Marlene" to the Croisette. Meanwhile, American actor and filmmaker Robert De Niro will head up the main competition jury.
A Cannes slot can often set a film on the path to critical and awards acclaim. Last year, Oscar winner "Inside Job" and Oscar nominees "Biutiful" and "Another Year" both world-premiered on the Croisette. The festival's most prestigious prize, the Palme d'Or, was given to the impressionistic Thai film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives."
KATI WITH AN I OPENS TONIGHT IN NYC!
Get tickets here for Rooftop Alum Robert Greene’s beautiful new filmKati with an I, opening TONIGHT!
Looking for something to do this weekend? Well look no further, because Rooftop Alum Extraordinaire Robert Greene’s gorgeous new film Kati with an I opens TONIGHT, right here in our fair city.
Kati with an I is an intimate documentary portrait of Kati, a teenage girl in Alabama, about to graduate high school. The film captures her moment-by-moment emotional transformation over the course of three tumultuous days that leave her future in doubt. With microscopic focus, through the searching lens of cinematographer Sean Price Williams, the movie explores the period in one’s life when the only constant is motion. As Kati says, “What happened…happened.”
The film is playing for one week only at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem.
Get tickets here. There is a $10 “suggested” donation, which means you can see the movie that made all these great year-end lists and was nominated for a Gotham Award for really, really cheap!
Here are the details about the theater:
kati-with-an-i-opens-tonight-in-nyc.htmlSouth By Southwest is largely awesome as a condition of place. Austin is an amazing case study that has much going right. It is a city of filmmakers, lovers and scholars with public and private support. An organization with the most visible influence is the Austin Film Society, which sponsors filmmaker financially through the new Texas Filmmakers Fund (partly funding two strong films I saw – Where Soldiers Come From and Five Time Champion) amongst other initiatives. I think SXSW Film has grown partly because Texas filmmaking has grown. There is a large display of strong work including the festival’s Lone Star States showcase. This is as much a local festival as it a national festival (and shockingly less so an international festival, with very little work from other non-traditional Hollywood funding bodies like Europe).
The flexibility of SXSW to discover new voices is one of their leading strengths. If I had my way there would never be any movie trailers. Walking into a theatre knowing just the running time of the film (if that) is the ideal way to experience any piece of cinema. The badge system of SXSW encourages discovery – not only of new films, but also of new people. Everyone waits in line together, there is no schedule specifically for you, and it works in a way a festival should, by encouraging exploration. There is even an app for that – to paraphrase a popular commercial for SXSW Go – “you’re hungry? What’s playing at the Alamo Drafthouse?”
My experience was shaped largely by just going with it. I had a set schedule that changed when I realized how far apart the venues were and, in one case, my schedule changed because I was invited to the Foo Fighters secret show. Yes, just go with it indeed. Along with Jon Sullivan and Jack Giroux, the other The Film Stage journalists covering the fest, here are our top ten favorite films and a rundown of everything we saw.
The Best
Armadillo
Through Janus Metz Pedersen’s striking compositions, Armadillo is a documentary that doesn’t behave like one. The filmmaker follows Danish soldiers as they set off to any army base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. A brilliant technical and dramatic feat. – John F.
The Beaver (review)
Jodie Foster‘s latest and best directorial effort yet, The Beaver, is a sad, funny and poignant film about depression and isolation. This isn’t just the Mel Gibson show, although he is fantastic as Walter Black, but the film is more so an ensemble piece. All the leads – Foster, Yelchin, and Lawrence – are trying to cope with depression in one way or another. You’d think based on the title that this is solely Walter’s journey, but The Beaver is a representation for all the lead characters. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes for depression and The Beaver is symbolic of that. And yes, Gibson does a fantastic Ray Winstone impression for his anti-shortcut puppet. – Jack G.
Becoming Santa (review)
Being new to the SXSW experience, I had assumed that the movies I would be watching would be weird or dark or just completely out there. So when I saw the documentary Becoming Santa about the process of becoming a professional Santa, I was completely taken aback. This doc was so sweet it gave me a toothache and after watching it, I had a giant grin on my face that was difficult to get rid of. This is a must-watch for any Christmas junkie and it will open your eyes at just how intense becoming a Santa Claus really is. - Jon S.
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'Source Code' a wild, entertaining ride
'Source Code' a wild, entertaining ride
By Linda Cook
After I saw the thoroughly entertaining "Source Code," I felt as I did after seeing "Inception."
My mind had been blown, numerous times. And I wanted to see the movie in a "know what I know now" mode.
There's a bit of "Groundhog Day" here, along with a smattering of other movies that deal with time travel. The film stands on its own, though, as a tense science-fiction-based thriller that's quite a mindbender.
You have to pay attention. But you probably know up-front that you're not going to see a paint-by-numbers romantic comedy, so you won't be surprised that you have to think while you're entertained.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Sean, who wakes up quite startled on a moving Chicago commuter train. He's sitting across from Christina (Michelle Monaghan), who seems to have the beginnings of a romantic interest in him.
But he literally doesn't recognize himself. He knows his name is really Colter Stevens and that he's a soldier in Afghanistan.
Minutes later, the train explodes and "Sean" finds himself in a sort of capsule where he receives instructions from Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), a woman in a military uniform who appears on a screen.
Goodwin assures him that he really is a pilot named Capt. Colter Stevens and that he is on a government anti-terror mission to find out who blew up that train and killed all of those commuters. To accomplish this, he is being dispatched into the "source code," whereupon he will take over Sean's actions during the final eight minutes of that man's life.
This is an alternate reality we're talking about here, and before you give yourself the heebie-jeebies trying to figure it out, I'd suggest just sitting back and watching the movie unfold. I finally did and was glad that I surrendered to what seemed to be an incomprehensible set-up.
It won't be. Just go along for the ride and take everything you see and hear at face value.
Although this is a serious picture, it may remind you of "Groundhog Day" because Sean/Colter must relive eight minutes on the train over and over again. But you will see how differently each of these eight-minute segments can, and does, unfold, with plenty of action and great interplay between him and Christina, with whom he become more and more enamored every time he "meets" her.
We learn what we know as the Sean/Colter character learns it, and that makes us root for him even more: If he figures it out, then we will, too.
Prepare for a wild ride.