Iron Age - Part II

Director Jon Favreau clearly realizes that he has a good (read lucrative) thing going, and wants to keep his powder dry for later installments, as far as Iron Man 2– the second installment of the irrepressible Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark aka Iron Man, is concerned. This superhero clearly differentiates himself from the rest of the save-the-world pack on two counts (a) his identity is out in the open (b) he is singularly immodest. With a cast that clearly “trades up” from the first installment, Iron Man II runs through Tony’s idiosyncratic jaunts, in particular handing over the Stark empire to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) on what appears to be a whim, and an impulsive participation in the Monaco GP that reveals potential supervillian Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Lt Col James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) brings the voice of reason, the Hammer empire headed by the unscrupulous Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) is all about bare-knuckles corporate rivalry, and Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) ups the glamour quotient substantially. Endnote – this movie keeps you wholesomely entertained, and waiting for more from Tony Stark. Mission accomplished for now
13/20

Timeless De Niro

Take a family of four children dispersed across America – of blue collar origins, but now a successful (?) quartet – one a part-owner of an ad agency, one an artist (as opposed to a painter), one a composer (or is it a drummer), and one a dancer (in Las Vegas? And perhaps a lesbian?). Now throw in Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) as their father, a man of blue collar origins who pushed his children hard, to get to where they are, and ostensibly Everybody’s Fine. So what does one expect when, seeing that the children are too busy in their careers for a reunion, the ailing father sets out across America – by road – to catch up with his children individually. And finds the truths of their individual realities. And while all does not end well – what remains of the family is re-united, with their realities out in the open, and accepted. Even as De Niro just keeps adding to the roster of why he is a living legend, the all-star cast takes the movie to a different plane. A movie about paternal authority and the demands of career, and the varying reactions to the same, and the eventual result of acceptance all round, reminding us yet again that while success matters, in the end its all about the family. Miss this one and you miss something vital about valuing the ties that bind family

15.5/20

To the Moon and Back

Given that this is a private blog, I think the Moon deserves a closer description lest I forget later what this was all about (at the cost of giving away some of the movie’s secrets). I remember watching Solaris and 2001 and their ilk and the loneliness and silence of space, and I got that same eerie feeling all over when I saw Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) at the fag eng of his 3-year long mining stint on the moon. Sam Bell ventures out to study a leak, and finds himself next at the sick bay in the base station. Ventures out again to the crash site, and finds himself – or a copy of himself – at the site – alive. Succeeds in hatching a plan to return to earth and succeeds in bringing the diabolical plans of The Lunar Corporation to light and put an end to the trauma of clone usage in the mines of the moon, all clones that have been implanted with memories of lives back on earth that were never theirs to begin with. A science fiction movie that is convincing, touching and flawlessly executed by Sam Rockwell in two concurrent avatars, and Kevin Spacey as the voiceover for GERTY, the resident robot who faces moral choices – and chooses right

15.5/20

Come Confess

As Chuck Barris, Sam Rockwell given the performance of a lifetime, in this intriguing blend of cinema noir foreseeing the coming of the brooding graphic novel movies a half decade or so later, and blending it with a scathing indictment of the travesty that is modern television, in Confessions of A Dangerous Mind. The skewed moralities of adolescent sex, killing without compunction for the greater good of the United States, the numerous women and the singular lack of attachment and the double-crosses, and the overarching peddling of the “lowest common denominator” of reality TV brings to the audience a movie that swings from passion to global intrigue to self-flagellation. A movie that leaves me reflecting on the overarching question of seeking our own individual identities and the eventual price of fame

14/20

Mother of Interviews

In an amazing character portrait, director Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Apollo 13) pits the dilettante-ish English talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) with all his charm and naivete and susceptibility to “mind games”, against the redoubtable Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) whose pugnacious redoubtable personality was bruised but not beaten by the experience that was Watergate, in Frost Nixon. The clash of unequals is not concluded by any unexpected victory in favour of Frost – it is perhaps more of a case of the former president clearing a heavy conscience, going through a televised catharsis for all to see. Yes, as the movie mentions, television simplifies, and a single shot becomes the summary statement on a complex and difficult presidential tenure. Witness today’s reality shows the need to capture that defining moment that woos audiences and “sums it all up”, while completely missing the undertones, the buildup and the complexities therein. And it takes a brilliant performance by Frank Langella to show us just how acute those nuances can be.

17.5/20