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Iron Man 3 starring Robert Downey Jr, Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley: Fun, Fun, Fun

Posted on August 26, 2013 Written by ripitup

iron-man-3-poster — Image via marketsaw.blogspot.com.

If I had to choose just one word to describe Iron Man 3, it’d be fun. It’s a fast-paced, action-packed, and highly entertaining superhero movie. It could use some more rock numbers that made the first 2 awesome, but overall it is the right type of film for the series.

Of course like any movie, Iron Man 3 isn’t without its haters or discontent viewers. But given that you know what to expect, you shouldn’t be disappointed – especially if you like director/co-writer Shane Black’s more mainstream work (the action classic Lethal Weapon, for instance).

In addition to the usual cast of Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle (who took over from Terrence Howard after the first Iron Man), we get Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Schindler’s List, House of Sand and Fog), and Golden Globe nominees Rebecca Hall (The Awakening, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Guy Pearce (Memento, Lockout, LA Confidential).

Keeping in mind Robert Downey Jr. has 2 Oscar nominations, Don Cheadle has one, and Paltrow has one Academy Award, we can add the cast of Iron Man 3 to the superhero movies that casts critically acclaimed actors who also happen to be box-office draws – e.g. check out the cast of Man of Steel.

Some viewers weren’t happy with the twist, but I found it quite fun- it was one of those laugh-out-loud moments for me, and it was perfectly acted and directed.

It was also fun to see our beloved cheeky hero Tony Stark to be suffering from anxiety attacks after everything they went through in The Avengers. Alien attacks can get to a guy, apparently…

And yes, there are clichés in the movie.

The Story:

In 1999, at a Christmas part in Bern, we meet the ever-cheeky Stark hooking up with an intelligent hottie (Rebecca Hall), and ignoring anyone who is not his date. Among the ignored and humiliated is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a geeky scientist adoring Tony’s work and wanting to work with him.

Fast-forward to now, Tony is with his former assistant/current managing partner/acting CEO Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow). While she is busy running the firm, Tony is obsessing over creating back-up Iron Man outfits, paranoid that there can be other alien attacks he will need to protect Pepper from.

In the meantime, the recent terrorist leader The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) who is hacking satellites and distributing scary messages and threatening the president (William Sadler).

When a different kind of bomb badly injures Tony’s friend/head of security Happy (Jon Favreau, director of the first Iron Man) and puts him into hospital, he openly threatens The Mandarin, and Mandarin responds more openly and violently than anyone could have predicted.

With his house and lab pretty much destroyed, Tony has his intelligence, Jarvis on zero battery and smart kid he runs into to deal with Mandarin, as well as the weird Terminator-like human/robots who just don’t get killed easily…

Have fun!!!

Also on Robert Downey Jr.

Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. & Zach Galifianakis

Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Mark Strong and Rachel McAdams

Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard

Iron Man 2 starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke

Also on Guy Pearce

Death Defying Acts starring Guy Pearce & Catherine Zeta-Jones

Guy Pearce Trivia

Lockout starring Guy Pearce & Maggie Grace

The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter & Guy Pearce

More on Gwyneth Paltrow

A Perfect Murder starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Douglas

Shallow Hal starring Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow

I Love You, Man starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel

Posted on July 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

I Love You Man starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. Image via collider.com

Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is under the impression that his life is perfect. After all, he enjoys his job as a real estate agent and his girlfriend Zooey (Rahida Jones) said yes to his proposal. But as her friends and his family find about their marriage plans, it becomes painfully obvious that Peter doesn’t have any male friends who can be his best man. Zooey’s friend Denise (Jaime Pressly) tries to get him into the group of her grumpy husband Barry (Jon Favreau)’s poker buddies while his gay brother Robbie (Andy Samberg) and his mother (Jane Curtin) fix him up with man-dates. However all these efforts end in disaster as the men either turn up to be weird, annoying or simply gay.

But soon after Peter meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) and it seems like it is a male friendship made in heaven. Sydney is fun, upfront, straight, has a good job, a garage full of guitars, loves the band Rush and he really does enjoy hanging out with Peter. While this newly found friendship makes Zooey at first, it slowly puts a strain on the relationship. After all Sydney is too blunt (his wedding toast suggest Zooey should give Peter “bj”s.), he loves being the ultimate bachelor and questions why Peter is getting married at all and he wants to hang out with him very often. Moreover he seems to have odd ideas on how to make Peter sell more houses- which end up pissing off his boss…

How will Peter manage to balance his problems at work, not losing Zooey and not screwing up his friendship?

A male friend recommended this to me as a very entertaining guy flick and he was right. It is really fun and original. Do not be turned off by the term guy flick because it is a very unisex movie. You may not enjoy watching this with kids or parents, but it is perfect to see alone, with friends or with your date. And you can’t say that for a lot of movies.

I love the whole cast. I always found J. K Simmons (he plays Peter’s father) hilarious, I really crack up every time I see Jane Curtin (a habit from watching the hilarious sitcom 3^rd Rock from the Sun). Jon Favreau (Vince Vaughn’s writing/acting buddy- director of Iron Man films) seems to love characters that are not easy to get along with and talk way too much as he keeps playing them. But it is OK because is made for these roles. You probably know Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live. You can watch this hilarious SNL stint where Andy keeps punching everyone. Rashida Jones starred in the mini romcom series NY-LON with True Blood’s Bill (Stephen Moyer) that takes place in both London and New York, hence the name.

Don’t expect a laugh-out-loud comedy. As much as I watched the film with a huge grin on my face, I didn’t really get stomach cramps. For more laughter, I will suggest watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It also stars Jason Segel and features Paul Rudd in a small but fun role.

That being said, I have no objection to this film’s high rating 7.3 rating. Written by John Hamburg and Larry Levin, directed by John Hamburg. Made in 2009. Click to watch “I love you, man” trailer on youtube.

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Iron Man 2 starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke and Don Cheadle

Posted on June 23, 2010 Written by ripitup

And Tony Stark is back!!!

The first movie is about how Iron Man gets to be Iron man, his complicated relationship with his assistant Pepper and even more complicated relationship with his business partner Obadiah You might check the review for refreshing your memory.

Iron Man 2

Well, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is just being Tony Stark. He is mischievous, fun-loving, full of funny one-linters and witty sarcasm, and loving Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow). He has reassured the government – by making total fools of them-that Iron Man is a technology that no country has ever come close yet. Of course he has made enemies in the process: the weapons expert and the CEO of weapons manufacturer Hammer Technologies, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). He also has an outraged Russian enemy, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). He is the scientist son of a scientist father who- according to Ivan-was not treated right by Tony Stark’s father, Howard Stark (John Slattery). Ivan is working on re-creating a fine weapon on his own. And Tony has another problem: he is dying. The palladium in his chest is increasing the toxicity in his blood and if he can’t find a replacement element or a cure, he will die…

So while Tony doesn’t go easy on any parties or crazy stunts, he is also making radical changes in his life. He hires a new PA, as he makes Pepper the CEO of his company. His new assistant is Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson): a fiery, intelligent and capable redhead who is just even more capable than Tony can actually imagine and will soon find out. These changes are driving Pepper crazy and she doesn’t know about his condition, are putting a strain on their relationship.

So Tony has to win a battle against himself, Ivan and later a collaboration of Ivan and Sam. It doesn’t help that he might also be screwing up his friendship with his close friend Rhoedes (Don Cheadle)….

New enemies, old and new allies, lots and lots of action (more than the first), great sexual and romantic chemistry, beautiful leads, great sound and visual effects, a kick-ass soundtrack and a very satisfying sctipt: Yes, I loved Iron Man 2. I freaking loved it. I have no idea it is rated less than the first one. Well, we will see what the eventual rating will be as it sits at 7.5 on IMDB at the moment, voted by nearly 50.000 people whereas the first is an 8.0, voted by nearly 170.000 people. I guess it is customary to rate the sequel lower for a lot of movies, no matter how great and fun it is. 9/10 from me.

I am not an Iron Man expert, mind you. I am not a comics reader. I am however a movie nut and I have an addiction for kick-ass entertainment movies like the Iron Man series. Lots of action, visually stunning, a good script and great sense of humor. Iron Man gives just that. I may not be a comic book fan but I am a fan of the movie adaptations. The technology and the fighting, the villain vs the nice guy are fun to watch. You should of course keep in mind Sam Rockwell is as terrific as always and Mickey Rourke makes a great Ivan. It is cool to have Samuel L. Jackson too. And I finally get why men love Scarlett Johannson. Yeah, yeah, she is a fine actress. But she is also playing one of the most gorgeous, dangerous and kick-ass female characters ever and she has red hair. Wow.

Scarlett Johannson as Natalie Rushman/ Natlie Romanoff in Iron Man 2 — Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/ Natlie Romanoff/Black Widow in Iron Man 2. Image: moviesonline.ca

Fun facts:

– Happy- Tony’s driver/mate/guard/boxing partner is played by Jon Favreau, the director of the series. Before Iron Man, Jon was mostly known as his frequent writing/acting collaborations with actor Vince Vaughn.

– The actor playing Howard Stark, Tony’s father, is John Slattery. Sex and The City fans might have felt he looks familiar. Well, he is. He is the actor who played Carrie’s politician boyfriend Bill Kelley in third season for 2 episodes. Remember the guy who had a really weird request? This might refresh your memory.

– James Rhoedes was played by Terrence Howard in the first movie. He is replaced by Don Cheadle and I have to say I think Don makes an even better Rhodey. He also gets have a lot more fun, wearing the suit: fighting and flying and all that….

The Trailers

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQowwwwYa0[/pro-player]

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs&feature=channel[/pro-player]

Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard

Posted on March 23, 2010 Written by ripitup

Iron Man poster with Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard — Robert Downey Jr. is the Iron Man. Just as smart, cocky and funny as any good superhero should be. Photo: filmdiziseyret.net

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is living the good life. As the CEO of Stark Industries, the biggest weapons manufacturer of the United States, he is filthy rich. He is also good-looking, smart and has a wicked sense of humor; which makes him irresistible to women.

However one trip to Afghanistan makes him realize how insignificant all these are. He is kidnapped and all the soldiers protecting him get killed. His kidnappers want him to build his latest weapon for them and that he has a week to complete it. Moreover, his heart is only working because it is attached to a battery, stopping bullet splinters from going into his heart. But instead of building the weapon, he builds something that will help him escape: an iron suit that will later be improved by him to be more efficient, stylish and kick more bad ass. But his radical decisions back home, will cause more complications than he ever imagined…

The movie does a magnificent job of depicting Tony’s life style, his predicament, how he builds the suit to survive and the change of heart he goes through. It is full of action, humor and good effects. Oh, the acting is wonderful as well. I mean Jeff Bridges is playing Obadiah, Gwyneth Paltrow portrays Tony’s loyal and more than efficient assistant Pepper Potts and Robert was just born to be Iron Man. Terrence Howards also has a major part as Tony’s good friend Rohdey. His natural mischievousness and own naughty past are combined with his acting chops and voila: You get one of the most entertaining comic book adaptations ever.

Jon Favreau is typically known his on and off-screen collaborations with Vince Vaughn. The duo recently wrote and starred in Couples Retreat. Here Favreau steps away from his usual fast-talking, know-it-all character to direct Iron Man and I have to say, his direction is much better than his writing and acting. I enjoy watching him but he sure as hell kicks ass directing. He also has a small part as one of Tony Stark’s employees.

8.0 on IMDB, voted by over 158.000 people I’m giving it a solid 9. This is how entertainment is done, folks!

Iron Man is about how the suit and the hero were born. Iron Man has more action and even more worthy enemies. Check out the review and the trailers for the second film here.

Enjoy the trailer:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIFaeqwES1Y[/pro-player]