Sunday, May 26, 2013

Ironman 3 and On DVD: Ride With the Devil

Ironman 3
(2013, Shane Black)

Robert Downey Jr. is back as Tony Stark in Marvel's third installment in the Ironman series.  Marvel Studios has done a good job of re-tooling their properties in an effort to bring comics to cinema in a way that doesn't piss off fans-- Bravo Marvel! This movie is very much like first film in that the audience gets to see that what makes Ironman special is not the technology but Tony Stark's amazing intellect. This movie was fun and the best thing about it is Ben Kingsley's very fine performance. I strongly recommend checking this out if only to have a chuckle at Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE. (5/7)

Trailer

Ride With the Devil (Criterion)
(1999, Ang Lee)

Ang Lee's Civil War epic about Southern skirmishes, Jayhawkers, and Bushwackers is really a meditation on brotherhood, love, and the power of circumstance and less of an historical examination of an aspect of the Civil War not usually brought to film. Outstanding performances by Geoffrey Wright as the slave Holt, who chooses to stay by his friend who freed him and follow him as he fights a guerrilla war against the Union, and Tobey Maguire as Jake Roedel, a young man of German descent who chooses to support the South rather than the Union as many other recent German immigrants were doing at the time.  Skeet Ulrich, Jewel Kilcher, Simon Baker, Mark Ruffalo, Jim Caviezel, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers all put in fine performances. A solid film well shot with an appropriate soundtrack. Filming on location in Kansas and Missouri adds authenticity. (5/7)

Trailer