The Film Reporter

Over the past decade franchises has risen dramatically as filmgoers who are are low on money (thanks recession) want to know what they’re getting when they pay £10 for a ticket. Iron Man fits that bracket, and I didn’t dare set my hopes up for this film because they often disappoint and after Iron Man 2, I had right to.

Iron Man 3 is set shortly after The Avengers when Tony Stark saved the planet by retuning the missile into the ‘wormhole’ shall we say to defeat the aliens. However Tony has now started to go through anxiety attacks. You may squint but I was happy to see that Shane Black had written this into a mental flaw for Tony after taking the reigns as director from Favreau. Iron Man has utilised one liners to attract a bigger audience and it does so in this film far too often, but for once we really see that Tony has suffered from his battle scars, it was just a shame the comedy undermined it. 

So in this sequel to the franchise, a mysterious man who seems to be hidden away in the Middle East under the name ‘Mandarin’ has been the culprit for many untraceable explosions that has been set off in the Middle East itself as well as the U.S. The Mandarin calls himself the teacher and wants to teach the U.S a lesson, one of which infuriates Tony into provoking the Mandarin to which he complies and destroys Tony’s house which we so kindly revel in in the trailers. 

Iron Man 3 does touch on sensitive issues, including terrorism threats from the Middle East and loss of Fatherhood but once again manages to undermine them. This is where I felt they really lost their way, the film had a lot of potential, and it’s worth mentioning most of us all love to see the one liners Tony pulls out the bag as they’re often very funny, which not to mention are in this movie, but are used way too often making him look, well, a bit of a dick and undermining almost every serious situation in the film to the point where I was like, you know what, who gives a crap?

However the main antagonist in this film is that hidden treasure, Guy Pearce who plays Aldrich Killigan, a hugely talented man who works for ‘AIM’. We see him in a prologue where Tony revisits a memory from 1999 where he teased Aldrich when he was a cripple creap, but has now become the founder of a hugely powerful organisation as well as reaped the rewards of physical therapy. 

Aldrich has developed a physically changing process called ‘Extermis’ which somehow makes the body reach temperatures of 3,000 degrees on and off, but when it doesn’t work on certain subjects, develops into these ‘untraceable explosions’.

I’ll leave it there for you guys as many of you would not have seen this movie yet, especially over in the U.S. But don’t be fooled, this is still a good movie to watch with twists and turns that will keep an audience excited. 

Iron Man 3 is in theatres everywhere.

Dexter Season 8 is on the horizon. 

Excited much?

Russell Crowe playing around with Ty Simpkins on the premiere of ‘The Next Three Days’ (2010)

(via carolinaricciardi)

                             The Place Beyond the Pines Review. 
                                                  Spoilers

The Place Beyond the Pines is unique. It’s not like every film you watch and forget about the next week. The film carries a universal theme. Family. How do we raise our children? What is left for them? How do the actions we make now dictate our future and the future of our children?

The Place Beyond the Pines reminded me of Psycho (1960) 30 minutes in Hitchcock kills the protagonist. A physical change in the story that startles the audience into disbelief, a physical change that then changes the storyline completely, our point of view changes but his legacy lives on. Ryan Goslings character Luke dies because he was trying to support his family. I remember vividly a statement he made to Romina (Mendes), “I wanna be there for the first time he does something, every time he takes a mouthful of ice cream he’s gonna see my face”.

Ok so why is the film unique? After Ryan Goslings character dies by the hands of Avery (Cooper) (possibly unjustifiably you decide), he is only just introduced. We move on from Luke’s storyline of fatherhood to Avery who also has a one year old. Parallel plots, and it feels like it which is what felt so strange in the theatre. Two characters, two protagonists in two plots in a film. But the plot is not whats important, its the theme of family and upbringing that rings out for me. One decision becomes your legacy, one moment defines your life. Avery is a good man and so is Luke, both ends of the spectrum yet so alike. Avery is a father of a top Judge in the state of New York and is morally sound, he attempts to turn in the money Luke earned in the robberies to the police and even tries to return it to Romina, the mother of Luke’s baby. in the end the evidence box suffices his guilt. 

Avery’s decision to run for Deputy Attorney General is an interesting one. He is so dedicated to law that he over see’s his son who has gone off the rails. His past, his decisions, they have caught up with him. What we do as people defines us. Avery never forgave himself for killing Luke which I believe is why he strives to become attorney general, he thinks that in him becoming that person, he may overcome that guilt. Only for it to be shoved in his face after Luke’s son grows up. 

At a certain point in the narrative the film moves time periods to 15 years later which was quite the jump. At this point both children are now teenagers in the same high school. After Jason (Luke’s son) finds out AJ (Avery’s son’) father is his fathers murderer, he buys a gun and forces Avery out into the woods. Avery has nothing but shame and guilt on his shoulders, he cries for his action as he releases what has been tied in him so long. 

The one quote that I’ll always remember from this film, is moments before Luke gets shot and he knows it, he rings Romina and tells her, “Just do one thing for me and I’ll never bother you again. Don’t tell him about me”.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) 7/10

Daniel Day Lewis breaking character during filming of There Will Be Blood

(via previouslyjonknows)

Mystic River (2003)