Iron Man 2

I really think that the Iron Man films have been in somewhat of a class of their own, at least when it comes to their genre. As others have opined (like Ebert), "Iron Man 2" doesn't exactly stack up to the first, but what it does is perpetuate the enjoyable style that Jon Favreau has found. He achieves that with the heavy-metal music (an element that was thoroughly enjoyable from the first seconds of "Iron Man") and extremely well-done cinematography, which edges beyond the sober compositions of such films as "The Dark Knight" and "Spider-Man," being (as Ebert put so well) "high-octane." I especially was affronted and somewhat delighted by the use of first-person camera that is put into effect here.

But let me set something straight: I don't think is as bad of a film as you've probably heard. I won't swat off the fact that the film, as others noted, goes practically nowhere during the beginning half, but then again, it's really a bit of a setup. Tony Stark, played again by Robert Downey, Jr. in what may be his career-defining role for many, guards his superhero suit and says the U.S. government can't get in on it. There's a somewhat bizarre scene towards the opening of the film where comedian Garry Shandling plays a Senator Stern who's desperately trying to convince Stark to hand it over and where Stark employs flagrant behavior and strange ways of eluding him.

This scene also introduces Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell in what has been called by many an excellent performance, which I'll second. Hammer is a rich guy who really, really, really doesn't like "Anthony Stark," as he calls him. He dislikes him so much that he's built an entire fleet of "Hammer Drones," with the help of a person to be named later. What Rockwell does is cash in on his regular screen persona and adds the right touches of menace to pull it off. His fleet of bodyguards/men play off of him in a really good way as well. His part, among others written by Justin Theroux, is, as others said, superb, especially in the "Ex-Wife bullet" monologue that many have mentioned. He has a hilarious quip about "Ulysses."

Let me swing back to the "person to be named later," who is who we see throughout the beginning and opening credits in his native Moscow. This is Ivan Vanko, who's beloved father passes as the film opens and who has a real dislike as well for Stark. This is enough to make a similar suit, which is not in fact plagiarism, as Stark's father apparently was associated with Vanko's in some way. He becomes one severe case of Whiplash, what with his (as said before) "whips of electricity" that he uses. Mickey Rourke was criticized by Anthony Lane of the New Yorker for his accent, and although Lane often makes over nitpicks of the American mainstream, he does draw his Russianness out a little here when talking to Hammer, who gives him a chance to help him become even richer (as a supplier to the U.S. as opposed to Stark, who refuses).

There is one good performance given by Samuel L. Jackson to, as he makes another "Kill Bill: Vol. 2"-type "appearance" (as people have said) as Nick Fury, who tries to give Stark a tip from the Avengers, of which he is the director. Don Cheadle is a very good replacement of Terrence Howard, who I'm very sure can't deliver with the same emotional power as Cheadle (to add to the fact that Cheadle can perform the same sort of acting that Howard pulled off before). And also, there are minor roles by both Scarlet Johansson as Natalie Rushman, who flirts and kicks the crap out of people when she needs to (apparently she's Black Widow) and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, to whom Stark hands over Stark Industries to while he's being Iron Man, which apparently now is a full-time job. Note also, as others have, "how Jon Favreau places himself into the action" as Happy, Stark's "bodyguard" who has a lot of difficulty taking out just one goon.

Structurally, you could say that there is something to be desired. I felt for large portions "What is this about?," but that got taken care of. The ending was, as Ebert would say, "a standard finale," and also, as my friend said, "complex," and I would agree. But to say I didn't enjoy it would be lying. I would disagree with those who complained that the film had (as many have said) "too many villains and too many subplots" (I think it was People magazine who directly said this, but it was reiterated by many others, including the Playlist) as if that was (entirely) a bad thing. I think this could have cobbled the film a little bit, but it really helped it out, too. A coda: Tony Stark has one of the most beautiful houses in the history of cinema, and a real tragedy is seeing what he misguidedly does to it throughout the film. B

Artists Only: Matchstick Men

"Matchstick Men" shows up movies such as The Grifters because it is intelligent as well as slick. Nicolas Cage is Roy Waller, a veteran con man/OCD neat freak (stained carpets make him flip out), who is living a pretty routine life. In fact, routine is his life. His partner, Frank (Sam Rockwell, with a touch of wit), is a polar opposite, but still, they work well together and they get the job done. A pill problem sends Waller to his psychiatrist, Dr. Klein (Bruce Altman), who notifies him (after Roy tells him to call his wife for him) that he has a daughter, named Angela. Angela is played by Alison Lohman, who is convincing as a teenager, although she was not close to being one when she shot this film. She plays the part well, though, with a charming sense and a real chemistry with Cage on-screen. After a while (after his daughter starts crashing at his place), he breaks it to her what his real occupation is (he originally told her he was an antique salesman). She wants to help and so on and so forth. As a subplot, Roy and Frank are working on a long con to trick Chuck (Bruce McGill). Anyways, that's not exactly extremely important to this review right now. Just to tell you, the next part is a spoiler, and if you want to enjoy the full experience of the movie, I suggest that you stop reading. I am only including this for the purpose of discussion. My advice for those who decide not to keep reading is to view multiple times. What happens later is that Angela isn't Roy's daughter and that she is only there to get his coveted Safety Deposit Box passcode to take the money and run...to Frank. So basically Frank is a real son of a gun here (or to use the modern phraseology, a dirty rotter). So Roy is the (cigarette) butt of the joke and loses out on tons of money. He ends up (in a cheesy tack-on ending) being a carpet (ha, ha, ha) salesman and marrying a grocery clerk that he likes and making tongue-in-cheek parting remarks with his now grown up daughter (she's 15, so that's pretty darn old, ain't it?). I really wished they didn't do this. Anyways, Nicolas Cage is amazing in his part, and from this movie and The Family Man and Adaptation, he has proved to be the leading authority on the slick/nervous guy. Rockwell is at his smarmy best, playing a real smarty of a partner. The supporting cast is good, too. I also liked the many cons in this movie, especially the lottery ticket one (which I won't spoil). Bottom line: Ridley Scott is doing very well. A