Review of Iron Man

Iron Man has to be one of my all time favorite superheroes, so you can imagine my excitement when I heard of a movie that would bring Iron Man to life. Who else better to play the wise-cracking, Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist Tony Stark, than Robert Downey Jr. Downey's performance is intriguing, and unexpected. he doesn't behave like most superheroes: He lacks the psychic weight and gravitas. Tony Stark it seems like was created from the many personas Downey has fashioned through his many movies: irreverent, quirky, self-deprecating, wise-cracking. Some superheroes speak in a kind of heightened, semi-formal prose. Not Tony Stark. He could talk that way and be Juno's uncle. "Iron Man" doesn't seem to get how serious other superheroes take themselves. If there is wit in the dialog, the superhero is often unaware of it. If there is broad humor, it usually comes from the villain. What happens in "Iron Man", however, is that sometimes we wonder how seriously even Stark takes it. He is flippant in the face of disaster, casual on the brink of ruined.

Iron Man has to be one of my altime favorite superhero movies. What I like even more than the mind-bending action sequences, and trust me I love those too. Is the characters that it brings along with it. Tony Stark manages to somehow relay sarcasm and humor through a huge suit of armor. It seems with most superhero movies all you get is the surface of illusion. With "Iron Man" it gives you a glimps into the depths of Stark's life. Take Pepper Pots (Gwyenth Paltrow) Stark's loyal aid, and Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) Stark's business partner. When you see them interact, you feel like they have been working together for quite a while, not just charters drummed up for the occasion.  Much of that feeling is created by the chemistry involving Downey, Paltrow and Bridges. They have relationships that seem fully-formed and resilient enough to last through the whole movie, even if the plot mechanics were not about to take them to another level.

This a great movie, and I would recommend it to any superhero fan that has not already seen this movie

Review of Pulp Fiction

     Full of blood, guts, shootouts, gimp men, drugs, and plenty of cussing, Pulp Fiction has all the ingredients of a Tarantino film. Pulp Fiction is filmed in in such a nonlinear way that you see it a dozen times and still not remember what comes next. It doubles back on itself, telling several interlocking stories about characters who inhabit a world of crime, intrigue, triple-crosses and loud desperation. The title fits the movie perfectly, like in the old pulp mags named "Thrilling Wonder Stories" and "Offical Dectective". The movie creates a world where there are no normal people and no ordinaries days -- where breathless prose clatters down fire escapes and leaps into a dumpster of doom.
                    

Tarantino takes us on a ride, weaving in and out and going back and forth through the plot. Slowly, he unravels the stories, giving us a backstory or explanation to each scene. What I love most about this movie, is how Tarantino sets up a great scene, then gives a flashback or flash forward in time that makes the previous scene even better. The main stories and characters that Tarantino follows are: the two hitmen, Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta). Jules is one  cold blooded mother f*cker who quotes the Bible, Ezekiel 23:17 right before he puts a cap in your ass, and Vincent, who can't quite handle the assignments that are givin to him. Not only does he kill people inadvertently ("The car hit a bump!") but he doesn't really know how to clean up his messes either. This does not take away from the fact that he is one ruthless character.                                                                             
Some others are, Butch Collidge, a boxer who had just killed the prized boxer of the infamous mob boss, Marsellus Wallace. Butch is now on the run for his life from Wallace, but fate would bring them together in a way that I do not think either of them enjoyed
                                       
This is such a great film, and it is truly a masterpiece to watch unfold. If this does not represent Tarantino's true skill as a director, than I do not know what would.

Review of Shaun of the Dead

     Shaun of the Dead is a British zombie comedy that follows two layabouts. Shaun (Simon Pegg)  and Ed (Nick Frost), who's life mostly consist of drinking, video games, and more drinking. When a zombie apocalypse breaks out they view it as more of an interference with their drinking time than a deadly threat that could possible wipe-out the entire human population. When it becomes apparent that the zombies might actually pose a threat, the two friends lead a group of survivors, mostly consisting of their friends and close relatives to the Winchester (Shaun and Ed's favorite pub) to wait out the zombie apocalypse. 

                    
                                     
     The irony in this is that Shaun's girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield)  had just previously asked him to get his priorities in orders, and to choose between her or the pub. She lives with her friends, Di and David, who think that in a showdown, Shaun would choose the pub. So you can imagine the fuss it creates when Shaun suggests that The Winchester be their hid-away.

                                            

     I really like this movie because of the the wonderful and colorful characters it brings to the screen as well as their dynamic, and the way they interact. Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and directed by Wright. Between these two they create the thing I love most about this movie. Which is, that instead of mainly focusing on the undead, and trying to raise a few laughs here and there, it treats the living characters as sitcom regulars, whose conflicts and arguments keep getting interrupted by the flesh-eating zombies. 

     This is great movie, and I highly recommend it.
    

Review of The Incredibles

     It may be a little childish, but this movie is just to great to pass up. Every time I watch this movie, even as a teenager, I find myself full of childish joy every time. Mr, Incredible, the hero of this story, is a superhero in the traditional 1950's mold, dashing through town, defeating super-villains, and saving civilians. Alas, in a turn of unfortunate events, Mr.Incredible saves a man jumping from a building who's intent is to take his own life. Yet instead of being grateful, the man decides to sue Mr.Incredible for the inconvenience that he has caused him. After, the populace is not unanimously grateful, and he is faced with so many lawsuits for unlawful rescue and inadvertent side-effects he is forced to retire, along with many of the superhero community.   

                                         

     Under the governments superhero relocation program, Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) moves to the suburbs, joined by his wife Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) and their children Violet(Sarah Vowell), Dash (Spencer Fox) and their little baby Jack Jack. Each of them posses a certain super power of their own, Violet can turn invisible and create force-fields (almost mimicking the Invisible Girl from The Fantastic Four). Dash is able to run at incredible speeds, Mr. Incredible has super-strength, and Elastigirl pretty much speaks for itself.

     Bob Parr hates the insurance business. Joining him in the suburb is another relocated super, Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) who can freeze stuff. Claiming they belong to a bowling league they sneak out on these nights to remember the good old days, by preventing low-profile crime. Until Mr.Incredible receives  a message from a mysterious woman named Mirage (Elizabeth Pena), who lures him to a Pacific island where where Mr. Incredible, very over weight and very out of shape, battles a robot named Omnidroid 7.  Spawning a whole new wave of super adventures.      

     I really love this movie, for all the laughs and fun it brings to the silver screen. It brings a whole new look on the superheros ways of life. I defiantly recommend watching this movie, whether you be young or old, you will love this movie.  

Review of V for Vendetta

In 2020 a virus runs rampeded though the world. Most of all Americans are dead and Britan is ruled by a fascist dictator, Adam Susan (John Hurt) who promises security but not freedom. One man, known only by the letter V, stands against Susan. Warring the famed Guy Fawkes mask, who back in 1605 tried to destroy the House of Parliament. Since then, on November the 5th the ev of Guy Fawkes day, British school children for centuries have started bonfires to burn Fawkes in effigy. On this eve in 2020, V saves a young TV reporter named Evey from being raped at the hands of the police. The.n takes her to the rooftops to witnes him destroying the Old Bailey.
                                                                                                        
                                                                     
The movie fallows V for the next 12 months until the day that he would vowed to strike a crushing blow against the dictatorship on November 5. We see a police state that hold citizens in an iron grip and yet is repeatedly humiliated by one man who seems impervious. The state tries to suppress knowledge of his deeds--to spin a possible explanation for the destruction of the Old Bailey, for example. But V hijacks the national television network to claim authorship of his deed.

I really love this movie because of the message it brings. And the way that it expresses it. 

Review of Howl's Moving Castle

 The first site we see in "Howl's Moving Castle" is the castle itself, which looks as if it were hammered together in a shop class by wizards inspired by the lumbering , elephantine war machines in the "Empire Strikes Back" the castle is an amazing visual invention, a vast collection of turrets and annexes, protrusions and after thoughts, which makes its way across the landscape, like a lumbering, metal turtle.

Story opens with Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer)  sitting on the workbench, patiently sewing hats while a smoke belching train roars passed her window. When she ventures out, she is attacked by soldiers, but is saved by Howl (voiced by Christan Bale) who is also being chased by black creatures, of no shape or form. This interaction brings Sophie's existence to the attention of Howl's enemy, the Witch of the Wast, who fancys Howl for herself. And in a fit of jealous rage, the witch turns Sophie into a wrinkled old woman, now voiced by Jean Simmons. Leaving the house in shame and confusion, Sophie takes to the hills. After meeting and freeing a scarecrow, he takes Sophie to Howl's castle.  Howl is the real thing, a shape-shifter who sometimes becomes a winged bird of prey. So is his key assistant Calcifer (Billy Crystal), a fire demon who's job is to supply the castle's energy. Sophie also meets Howl's apprentice, Markl (Josh Hutcherson), and sets about appointing herself the castle's housekeeper and maid of all work.
                   
The plot deepens as Howl is summoned to serve both of the warring kingdoms. And Sophie try's to regain her youth.

 This would not be a standout film to see if you're looking for a great film to enjoy on the weekends or something like that. This is definitely it would be film if you are a strong Miyazaki fan. Miyazaki nevertheless is a  Master who, frame by frame creates animated  compositions of wonderment.

Review of My neighbor Totoro

      Diving into Studio Gibley, Hayao Miyazaki creates a world we should live in rather than one we occupy. A film with no villains. No fight scenes. No evil adults. No fighting between two kids. No scary monsters. No darkness before the dawn. A world that is benign.  A world where if  you meet a strange towering creature in the forest you curl up on it's tummy and have a nap.        
The movie tells the story of two young sisters Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe.  As the story open their father is driving them to the new house, near avast forest. Their mother, who is sick, has been moved to the hospital in their district.  When they move in, something peculiar happens.  when they let light into the glue, they get just a glimpse of little black fuzzy dots scaring to safety. "Probably just dust bunnies", says their father but there is an old nanny who has been hired to look after them, and she confides that they are "soot sprights" , which like abandoned houses and will pack up and leave once they hear the sound of laughter.  A few days pass by. Mei is playing in the yard, when she spots a small creature, no bigger than a kitten. After fallowing the creature for a bit,  it becomes aware of her presents and try's to give her the slip. After tracking it down again, Mei fallows it through a tunnel in the bushes then down a hole in a great big tree. When she gets to the bottom, she finds the great spirt Totoro, sleeping peacefully in its bed.  

This is an absolutely fanominal movie, from the beautiful watercolor backgrounds to fascinating story line, this is a masterpiece.  But it would not have one it's worldwide audience just because of it's warm heart. It is also rich with him and comedy in the way it observes the two remarkable convincing, life like little girls ( I speak of their personalities, not there appearance).  It Is awe- inspiring in the scenes involving Totoro, and chanting in the scenes with the cat bus. It is also a little sad, a little scary, a little surprising in just a little informative, just like life itself. If you haven't watched this movie already, I highly recommend it.