The Beast Reviews: Iron Man and Indiana Jones

Actually, to say I am reviewing the films is not really accurate, I don't have the time or the energy to give a complete detailed account. So, here are my brief thoughts.

Iron Man

Iron Man is probably the best comic book adaption I have seen on film to date. I still have a soft spot for the original 1989 Batman with Michael Keaton, but everything about Iron Man works. The "set up" for the movie depicting how Tony Stark becomes Iron Man is beautifully done and unlike other comic book movies, actually pulls you into the movie rather than have you wondering when the fun stuff is going to begin. Not enough good things can be said about Robert Downey Jr - he just absolutely nails the role. It is not an easy thing to portray a character who is clearly an arrogant, selfish, sexist, elitist jerk and still create sympathy with the audience. Yet even when Stark sends his date for the night out the front door in the morning, we still love the character. By the way, this concept is huge in horror movies and is also something that my fav director Michael Mann pulls off in almost every film he makes. We are actually partially rooting for Tom Cruise and Robert DeNiro in Collateral and Heat even though they are vicious killers!

So, I fully recommend Iron Man to all action movie fans out there. Andi even loved it, and she is way more of a Jane Austen kind of gal.

The Beast Paw Rating: 4 out of 4 paws.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I managed to see the fourth entry in the epic Indiana Jones series over memorial day weekend. I was with family and there was 7 of us that viewed the film. The opinions ranged from really enjoying the movie to really hating the movie and everywhere in between. The opening sequence of the movie is extremely rough, with bad acting, forced lines, and a lackluster action sequence. Indiana does not make an epic reappearance. Granted, I loved how Spielberg parody's his opening shot from Raiders using the Paramount mountain. Once the movie gets going, it definitely picks up the pace and there are moments of it seeming to be an Indiana Jones movie. But just not enough of them. In the end, you are left feeling like you are watching a neat tribute to a previous series of great movies. Go see Iron Man first.

The Beast Paw Rating: 2 out of 4 paws