Directors : Jon Favreau
Casting : Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow
Action / 125 Minutes
Movie Review:
Last year’s superhero films were disappointing. Sequels, like Spider-Man 3 and Fantastic Four : Rise of The Silver Surfer, paled in comparison with their predecessors. Transformers and Ghost Rider were, at best, special-effects monsters with no souls.
Just when all hope seems to be lost, a saviour comes in this year’s opening salvo – an armoured avenger from Marvel Comics’ second-tier heroes — Iron Man.
Created in the 1960s by the comic books superstar Stan Lee, Iron Man continues Marvels tradition of reluctant heroes.
In the movie Iron man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a gazillionaire industrialist who makes his money from selling high-tech military weapons to the United States government.
When terrorists capture him in Afghanistan and force him to replicate a missile he has designed, he creates an armoured suit to escape.
Seeing how his company’s weapons are being used by the unsurgents to bring suffering to villagers, Stark vows to use his newflanged toy to eradicate evil.
In his biggest role since his return to showbiz after drug rehabilitation, Downey is perfectly cast for the role.
Sporting a goatee, he carries the flamboyance of the rich, a la Richard Branson, and later guilt-ridden, convincingly transforms into a man of honour without losing his flair.
He will go down in pop culture history synonymous with Iron Man, the same way Christopher Reeves is Superman (1978), or Hugh Jackman is Wolverine in X-men.
The supporting cast is competent – Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges both have Oscar nods, and Gwyneth Paltrow as sexy secretary Pepper Potts is a Best Actress winner.
In Iron Man, Fanboys will be thrilled watching ol’ shellhead zooming across the skies in amazing CGI’s, but the bland final showdown may disappoint.
But director Jon Favreau of sci-fi adventure Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), a comics geek himself, litters enough easter eggs (cathc hints for a war machine appearance in future sequels) to titillate.
Archive
For April, 2011
Based on the best-selling book of the same name, Primary Colors is a beyond belief film about a smooth-operating candidate who runs for President of the United States. When the book first hit shelves in 1996, Primary Colors drew immediate parallels between its chief character and the then sitting president, Bill Clinton. Written by “Anonymous” (which probably fueled the book’s mass appeal and rise to the top of the best-seller lists), the book has since been attributed to journalist Joe Klein. Amazingly, Bill Clinton never denied that Primary Colors bore an astounding resemblance to his own life and campaign. Instead, he joked around with the White House Press Corps, saying “I too would like to know – who wrote this book!” …Startling, considering that the book paints a less than flattering picture of the candidate and the man.
Primary Colors begins when campaign operative Henry Burton (Adrian Lester) is introduced to a potential candidate for the presidency. Burton notes the deft with which the man handles his craft – the way he shakes hands, maintains eye contact, and tells compelling stories to his audience. The infatuating man is Southern Governor Jack Stanton (John Travolta), and he wants Burton to join his campaign as a top aide. (Travolta does an amazing job in the performance of this role).
After much thought, Burton throws his support behind the seemingly idealistic governor, but he soon learns that Stanton is less than what he first appears to be. Stanton is an incessant womanizer, to the point that he can barely control himself. He stretches the truth, and outright lies, if it means a good sound-bite for the cameras or convincing a group of illiterate inner-city adults that he “feels their pain” and understands the obstacles they face.
Flanked by an aggressive, power-hungry wife, Governor Stanton is kept in line by Susan (Emma Thompson) who makes certain her husband maintains a tight focus on the goals ahead. Bombastic and arrogant, Primary Colors paints a picture of the woman (i.e. Hillary Clinton) that is anything but complimentary. As the campaign picks up a number of seedy characters from Stanton’s past, such as Richard Jemmons (Billy Bob Thornton) and Libby Holden (Kathy Bates), Burton struggles with his own inner demons. Is it right to support a man of flawed character in order to carry out what he believes are good policy measures that will help millions of people? Do the ends justify the means?
When the campaign is forced to dig up dirt on opposition candidate Governor Fred Picker (Larry Hagman), the entire campaign including Governor Stanton must struggle with a bruised conscience obtained from wallowing in the mud…
One of the more interesting films of the decade, Primary Colors draws its appeal from a sort of gossipy voyeurism. Audiences want to see what happens “on the inside” of the president’s inner circle and on a campaign trail. What they see is not pretty. If Primary Colors really does portray a semi-accurate picture of the 1992 Clinton campaign as some people portend, then it’s a testament to the strength and durability of the American republic that we survived those years with relative peace and stability. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, Primary Colors is a true eye-opening experience, and it’s close correlation to the Clinton campaign, and the history thereof, is what makes Primary Colors a must-see film…
Fiction Book Review: Christmas With Tucker by Greg Kincaid – Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie-Inspired
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You know you’re in for an emotional read with any Hallmark-inspired story. Greg Kincaid continues the tradition with his new book, Christmas with Tucker, prompted by the bestselling, A Dog Named Christmas, which became a 2009 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, capturing over 12 million US viewers.
Sixty-something George McCray is expecting a Christmas visit from his mother at his Crossing Trails, Kansas dairy farm. She now suffers from memory loss. To facilitate her recollection, he’s culled key McCray family memorabilia, including a dog named Tucker’s collar, his grandfather’s tin cup and the last puzzle his father, John, gave to Grandma Cora.
Those items come to life, as George recounts the winter of 1962, while waiting for his mother’s arrival. It was then, at thirteen years old, George transitioned from a boy to a young man.
In June, George’s father died in a tractor accident on the farm, shaking the McCray family to its core. George lived with his parents, sisters Hannah and Trisha and Grandpa Bo and Grandma Cora McCray.
Late summer saw George’s mother and college-age sisters venturing back to Minnesota to be near her parents. Everyone, including George, thought it best he remain on the farm until Christmas, help run the McCray dairy farm; and adjust to life without his father.
Kincaid draws you deep into George’s young world; and describes the impact a four-year-old Irish setter has on his life.
Neighbor Frank Thorne asks the McCray family to care for his unnamed dog while he serves time for drunken, disorderly conduct at the local jail. Learn how Tucker earns his name while staying with the McCray’s.
Initially, George is reluctant to befriend the canine, which he regularly sees from afar before boarding his school bus each morning; tethered to a circular chain. It isn’t long before the two become inseparable, sharing a warm bed together during bitter cold Kansas nights. Tucker’s loyally there for George, as he often contemplates the loss of his father and life’s unfairness.
Middle America, simpler times prevail. Grandma Cora leisurely works at the puzzle table. She constructs challenging jigsaws that, until his death, her son, John provided. Grandpa Bo drinks daily from the tin cup that’s been in the McCray family for generations. He also makes a leather collar; displaying “Tucker McCray,” once, through a turn of events, George gains ownership of the Irish setter.
Experience the realities of farm life. George arises daily at 4:30 am to help Grandpa Bo milk the cows before going to school. It’s a generational chore he inherited after his father’s untimely death.
Sense too, cattle’s affinity to walk on frozen pond water, often resulting in death when the ice breaks and they’re unable to escape. Kincaid describes George’s harrowing attempt to save the animals, while enduring near frostbite and bleeding, bare feet.
Cherokee County, Kansas experiences one of its worst winter storms days before Christmas. With snow-blocked roads, many residents are left to fend for themselves. Grandpa Bo decides it’s time to teach George how to operate the mammoth machine, named a maintainer (today’s grader), to help clear the roads. “My grandfather was giving me a new book of adult rules so I could shed the childish primer that had so let me down that year. I learned to become suspicious of rules rooted in entitlement and my needs, and to instead respect rules mortared by truth and concern for others.”
Christmas spirit alludes George, given his father’s death and ambivalent feelings about returning to Minnesota to live with his mother: “Christmas, it seemed to me wouldn’t be any good this year. How could it be when you were thirteen years old and knew, just knew you were not going to get what you wanted?”
Christmas with Tucker culminates with a town-wide celebration of the season, not unlike It’s A Wonderful Life. Invest time during the holidays and read Kincaid’s short, 180-page narrative, sure to enhance your Christmastime.
Author Greg Kincaid lives on a farm in Kansas; and is a pet-adoption advocate. To find adoptable pets near you, visit http://www.petfinder.com.