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| Iron Man 3 |
The
Marvel wing of the Mouse House enters “Phase 2” of its multi-billion dollar
franchise with the same man who started it all and if the past decade of
blockbuster cinema has thought us anything then by now it’s clear: When the big
baddies have been defeated, our heroes look inward. Iron Man 3 doesn’t break the trend but it still holds on to its
playful flavour. Rattled from his near-death experience at the end of The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey
Jr.) is in full contemplation mode, struggling to define his ever changing
relationship with his suit. A bio technician (Guy Pierce) jilted by Stark years
ago returns with some alarming discoveries and a Bin Laden looking criminal
(delightfully played by Ben Kingsley) named Mandarin is terrorising the airwaves.
An attack leaves Stark in a small rural town with his suit in tatters. A
Spielberg looking sequence- complete with a young back-talking technician friend-
plays out as our hero attempts to rise from the ashes.
Director
Shane Black re-unites with Downey Jr. for the first time since his comeback-sparking turn in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,
with Black once again choosing the backdrop of Los Angeles in the festive
season. It’s an absurd setting by all means, not least for an early summer
blockbuster, but for a film series which has prided itself on RDJ’s tongue-in-cheek arrogance it seems to just about fit. Downey Jr. has hinted this will be
his last appearance in the red and gold suit. Some very large cheques will beg
to differ.  |
| Evil Dead |
Humour takes a back seat as
bodily fluids pour by the gallon in this passable re-work of Sam Raimi’s
shocker classic. We follow a young lady as she attempts a rehab weekend in the
woods but when an evil incarnation is muttered a demon rises from beneath and
proceeds to swallow everyone’s souls in increasingly grotesque fashion. Fans of
the series are given the odd groovy wink
but there’s little else here to compare with the mischief and chaos of the
original.
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| Chimpanzee |
The latest offering from Disney’s
big budget Nature series focuses on the daily struggles of an orphaned chimpanzee,
nicknamed Oscar, in the Ivory Coast’s Tai National Park. Viewers used to the dignified
tone of David Attenborough might find Tim Allen’s dubious Americanized
narration a little stomach turning but with so much terrific footage and an
irresistibly feel good narrative- apparently the first of its kind to be caught
on camera- it would take a cold heart to find nothing to like.
