Iron Man 3

I liked this movie. I liked it a lot. But then again to be honest all Iron Man 3 had to do for me was be better than Iron Man 2, and it most certainly was. There were a lot of threads that needed to be tied together; the existing Iron Man universe, the fallout from the Avengers movie, and a new villain for our modern world. The last point is the one that I seem to differ with quite a few people on, BE WARNED IT'S A SPOILER! and I'll get to it a bit later in the review.

Iron Man 3 reconnects us with Tony Stark. It's been several months since the events in New York (from the Avengers, remember that little flick?) and things aren't going so well for everyone's favourite millionaire, philanthropist, engineer/playboy. He saved New York by flying that bomb through the worm hole, and ever since then has been having a bit of an existential crisis. He can't sleep, and when he does he's haunted by those events. To keep his genius busy he's been building some new Iron Man suits, did I say some? I mean A LOT of Iron Man suits. I think he's taking the 'does the suit make the man or the man make the suit' conundrum a bit far...but this is Tony Stark we're talking about here. On top of incessant tinkering, Tony's trouble with dealing with his feelings is causing him to push those who love him away. Silly Tony, just when things with Pepper were starting to go well!

As much as I enjoy watching Robert Downey Jr. act with those adorable anthropomorphic robots in his lab and the witty banter between him and Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts, that does not a movie make. Enter the Mandarin! The Mandarin is a terrorist (played brilliantly by Sir Ben Kingsley) who is prone to hijacking the airwaves across the US and taking credit for various attacks on American soil. Tony stays out of it until an attack hits a little too close to home, then he acts a little brashly and gives the terrorist his home address making his already fragile personal world fall to pieces. The rest of the movie is Tony Stark rebuilding himself and his suit to come back as the hero we all fell in love with. The most charming part of this is when Tony's stuck in the middle of nowhere, suit out of commission and the world believing he's dead. Doesn't sound charming? Add a smarty-pants kid. RDJ and children is a pretty entertaining combination. Plus they have the same emotional maturity. Sure, it's seems a bit silly that a man with Tony Stark's brains and money would just hang out in small town America, but suspend your belief here folks. He was pretty rattled and then used it to his advantage to do some sleuthing. ANYWAYS! There are some steps and rescues in between, but the movie finally climaxes in a pretty excellent blowup at a shipping yard, yup, it's one of those, needs-to-be-seen-on-the-big-screen type of endings.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
I'm just warning you now! Here's the thing with the Mandarin: it's all a front. Ben Kingsley is amazing as both the terrible terrorist and the sloppy British stage actor who's been hired to be the Mandarin. WHAT!? I know, fans of the comics have been a bit outraged about this, but I think writer/director Shane Black has taken a very modern look at what terrorism is. It doesn't have to be men in caves in the middle of nowhere, it absolutely can be corrupt scientists manufacturing serums and promoting a fear complex in the US. Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian was charming and horrifying as the true villain of the piece.

A couple extra things.
Don Cheadle was underused in this film.He and RDJ are great together, and quips about the Iron Patriot are funny, but come on! He's such a great actor and could've been used better.
I loved the opening of this movie. As the stars fly over the mountain in the Paramount the first strains of "Blue" by Eiffel 65 start to play. I couldn't help but smile, that was a huge song when I was in high school, and definitely helped put me in the 'Y2K' frame of mind. There was also a quick cameo in this scene, I hope everyone else caught it....maybe I won't spoil it, if you caught it, post it in the comments.
Speaking of cameos, this was my least favourite Stan Lee cameo. After his hilarious one in The Amazing Spider-Man I had high hopes.

That's about it! It wasn't as good as the first Iron Man, which officially launched Marvel's Cinematic Universe 'Phase 1', but it's a not too shabby way to launch 'Phase 2'. We have Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier and  Guardians of the Galaxy leading up to Avengers 2 to look forward to!

The King's Speech

Yes, yes, I know, it's Tuesday. I'm well aware that I am, in fact, a day late in this post. However! I did see the movie yesterday, so it was actually a matinee that I saw on Monday. [It's also fitting that this movie was nominated for 12 Academy Awards this morning] Also, I was busy yesterday afterwards [a rare thing, I guarantee] watching my dear Vancouver Canucks absolutely trounce the Dallas Stars. Now I won't bore you with the details of how amazing it was to watch my team win, but I do have an interesting observation about seeing it in person. Watching a game at the arena, with all those fans can be quite similar to seeing a movie in the theatre. Both are infinitely better in person. While watching a movie or a game at home is still pretty great, and you can pause to get a drink, or run to the store during intermission, what you really miss is the atmosphere. In the theatre, the lights fade to black, the sound envelops you and you get to watch your movie on a 20 foot screen. For me this never, ever gets old. Which is more than likely one of the reasons I continually shell out $12.50 to see movies at the theatre, even if I have to see them all by my lonesome.

That's enough waxing poetic, I think, on to the flick!

Honestly, I don't think there is a movie that is better suited to a rainy Vancouver Monday than 'The King's Speech.' This time, instead of hitting up Metrotown, I drove out to the SilverCity in Coquitlam, and while the seats weren't quite as nice, the crowd certainly was. It was an interesting mix of lovely old ladies and young folks like me. I'm not surprised that this movie has been nominated and won many a statue this awards season, as the people who give them out love a good 'based on a true story' and I have to admit I'm a sucker for them as well.

Like most living in the Commonwealth I have a very general knowledge about the monarchy, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, King Henry VIII [thanks CBC and the Tudors!], you know, the biggies. 'The King's Speech' expanded my knowledge of the current monarch's family and manages to cover an amazingly large amount of information in it's two hours, most of it coming while Geoffrey Rush's speech 'defects' teacher, Lionel Logue, digs into the reasons for the Duke of York's stammer.

Speaking of Geoffrey Rush, he was fantastic. I know Christian Bale snapped up the Golden Globe for best supporting actor, but after seeing both 'The Fighter' and 'The King's Speech' I certainly think the Oscar race is going to be a tight one. There's something perfectly charming about Rush, not only in this role, but in most things he's in. He always seems to have that twinkle in his eye, as if he's in on some secret that you would like nothing more than to know, I don't know, maybe it's an Australian thing. This twinkle was absolutely perfect for Lionel Logue, also an Australian, who uses odd, but effective treatments to help his patients.

Colin Firth was also fantastic as the troubled man who never believed in his ability to be king. As I was watching the movie I went through the movie rolodex in my mind to see if I could remember Colin Firth ever playing royalty before. None came to mind, which I found surprising for a man so well known for playing Mr. Darcy, a nobleman. It just seemed to me that if you can play a member of the aristocracy, a member of the royal family would just be the next logical step up. That being said, there was absolutely NO Darcy in George IV, or Bertie as he was more fondly referred to by family and Logue. Bertie is so self-conscious of his stammer that it takes over all parts of his life. The wireless has just come onto the stage and the Royals no longer just need to look presentable, but also need to be able to speak eloquently to their people, something Bertie could barely do with his wife, let alone in public to strangers. I have to imagine it must have taken Firth a lot of effort to take the stammer on, but he does it beautifully. Your heart most especially breaks for him as he makes up a story for his princesses before bed. A sweet, but still halting story, since not even being home with his family can alleviate his speech impediment. I suppose there is a small part of Darcy in Bertie, and his desire for things to be done in a 'proper' manner. And while he does allow for some protocol to be broken by his unorthdox speech pathologist, that certainly doesn't translate to his brother's insistence on seeing a married [gasp!] American [GASP!]. Guy Pearce [who I LOVE, and, interestingly, another Aussie] plays Edward, who briefly takes the throne after their father dies, but then abdicates so he can marry his twice divorced American, forcing the reluctant Bertie take the throne on the eve of World War II.

The speech, for which the movie is aptly named, comes at the end of the movie, after war has been declared with Germany. It's George VI's first proper address to the Commonwealth since taking the throne from his brother, and while it may be a 'bit halting at the start' as young Elizabeth says, it ends up coming across almost perfectly, and more than that you can tell that he means every word of it, especially now that he can get the words out.

One last note on acting before I sign off. Helena Bonham Carter. I don't know what to say, more than that she was absolutely lovely. I'm so used to seeing her as the evil Bellatrix Lestrage in 'Harry Potter' or all gussied up for one of her many roles in Tim Burton movies. There was no darkness in her Elizabeth, just a wife concerned for her husband. While I do love her as the crazy/neurotic type I would love to see her in more of these type of roles where you can really see how good an actress she is.

Last, but most certainly not least, I'm dedicating this post to my awesome friend Craig. Not because he has a love for period dramas, or the now defunct UK Film Council, but because it was his birthday yesterday and I promised I would. Happy birthday buddy, see a good movie! Which I know is hard in the filmic wasteland that is Prince George!

That is all, see you next Monday!