Iron Man

Directed in 2008 by Jon Favreau, this superhero movie starts when a wealthy industrialist, Tony Stark, is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, he decides to use its technology to fight against evil as well as shutting his weapon industry. 

The movie stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/IronMan, Gwyneth Patlrow as Pepper Potts, his assistant, and Terrence Howard as Rhodey.

I just jumped into this after watching The Avengers and loving Tony Stark/ IronMan. I wasn't expecting much, but the characteristic charm that I loved in The Avengers, and I have to say I wasn't left down. 

So the movie isn't your multiple-oscar-winning-deep-thought-and-metaphysical movie. This is just for entertainment. The plot is rather simple, yet consistent, the evil guys are obvious, but intelligent, the battles are explosion-filled with loads of glass flying around. It's cool and the visual effects are just magnificent. 

The best part of the movie is Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark. For those who don't know IronMan let me give you a heads up about the main character: there where other superheroes get knocked on the head and pushed towards helping people in need, altruism, being kind, being responible, etc, knight in shinging armour, etc - which in the end makes them rather lame, obvious and predictible as well as boring, Tony Stark is selfish, narcisistic, stinking rich, works developing weapons, drinks too much, cares too little... He's very happy with the system and ignores all the rules, doing whatever he wants whenever he wants to. And that's great. He has a terrible character and it's funny. It's refreshing and makes you love the guy, even though you would wanna kill him if you ever met him in person. 

Which is probably what Pepper Potts - played by Gweneth Paltrow - wants to do more than once. She's Tony Starks assistant/motherfigure/person-for-everything. She and her boss are in love, but they kind of keep denying it. There are very few akward moments due to their mutual feelings. 

That's another cool thing about the movie. Unlike most superhero movies I've seen like Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Tony Starks love life has a very low relevance in this movie. Whenever Pepper's life is threatened she either kicks the crap out of the threat, or is safed by Iron Man. That's it. There's no big sacrifice from IronMan so that Pepper won't be in danger anymore. That would be out of character and probably hasn't crossed his mind. 

The battles are pretty well done, with stunning effects and magnificent technology. 

I really, like the ending. The very end of the movie in which Tony Stark is confronted by the press and has been told not to reveal his secret identity.... You can imagine how Tony Stark answers to the press questions. 

IRONMAN TRAILER

So if you like superheroes, check this one out. If you don't, check it out anyway, there's fire, robots, plus a hot guy runing around in sleveless-tight-shirts. That alone should be worth it. 

The Avengers

Released in 2012  and directed by  Joss Whedon, this superhero movie, brings IronMan, Captain America, Hulk and Thor together into a hero-league created by Nick Fury to fend of and battle the god Loki and his army. 

It stars Robert Downey Jr. as IronMan, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Tom Hiddleston is the infamous Loki, whereas Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner are Black Widdow and Hawkeye. 

I have to admit that I went to see this movie without any good expectations. I'm not a superhero fan, I don't  read Marvel comic books and other than Thor - which isn't all that good - I hadn't seen any of the previous movies. But I did get around and watch it and it wasn't bad at all. 

Let's start as allways with the worst parts of the movie. Which is - in my humble opinion - Captain America. He's stupid, oldfashioned - which is justified by the fact that he was frozen for 60 years - and your typical american-knowital-racist-stereotype. I plain and simply hate him and his good lines can be counted by the fingers of one hand. 

Another not so good thing about the movie is the plot. It's rather obvious and predictible. But that's usual for this sort of movie. The evil guy in this one is Thor's halfbrother Loki. That in itself just pisses me off. Ok, Loki's not the most kind of gods, and yeah, he may be considered the evil god of nordic mythology. But, come on! Why can't they leave him alone! Anyway Loki as the evil one here is rather thin. His motives are weak and stupid, barely explained, but I really like his reasoning and some of his assholeness is just glorious. Yet in the end they only use him as an excuse to make fun of him. 

The visual effects, on the other hand, are anything but cheap. They look gorgeous and really pull you into the movie. I specially like the technologie used by IronMan and the aliens at the ending. The explosions and the final battle are very, very cool. Hulks transformation - specially towards the ending - is impressive as well. 

I know it's not typical for this sort of movie, but I think one of the best things in "The Avengers" is the script written by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon. I haven't seen many of Penn's movies having only seen the X-Men series but I've discovered that I know and love a lot of the movies written by Whedon, such as Toy Story, Atlantis, and his tv series, like Buffy VampireSlayer. It's a rather refreshing if simple script, with a lot of punchlines and funny moments.

And finally the best thing of this movie is IronMan. He's a highly gifted, egocentric and insufferable pain in the ass. Yet he has the best lines and, as you only have to know him through the screen, you quickly find you like him. I loved the guy so much, I ran and watched IronMan and IronMan 2 - you will be hearing my reviews of those in a short while. 

As for the rest of the heroes. I still haven't seen Hulk, but I probably will be watching that in a short while. Another thing why it's worth watching this movie - specially if you're a woman or gay - is Thor. He looks nice, as a beautiful voice and funny lines. Plus runs around wielding a hammer with his golden locks in the wind. 

THE AVENGERS TRAILER

 So, if you have some taste for superheroes, want to watch people run around in explosions and beat the crap out of aliens, and if you don't mind ninies telling gods what to do and get beaten around, then you should check this out. 

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Directed by Jack Arnold in 1957, this movie tells the story of Scott Carey, who starts to shrink due to an exposition to the combination of radiation and insecticide. The films main topic is the problems he has adapting to his new situation, which forces him to constantly change his point of view of the world. 

It stars Grant Williams as Scott and Randy Stuart as his wife Louise and it was written by Richard Matheson. 

The incredible Shrinking Man is considered a B science ficcion movie that appeared due to the horror that the atomic bombs from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the cold war had awakened in the population. Personally I don't think it's a B movie. I think it manages in a magistral way isuses such as discrimination and the inherent fear of change that human beings have, these two isues being still characteristic for our society.

The main actor does a damn good work managing to capture the atention of the viewer through half of the movie in which he's completly alone. His adventures get more and more Robinson Crusoesque after he falls down a flight of stairs and is trapped in the cellar of his own home, facing giant monsters and curious threats. 

The ending of the movie is rather surprising and it invites the viewer to think, being very good for those same reasons. A lot of the greatness of this ending is due to the good work of Rochard Matheson, the writer of this movie. 

Matheson was an US writer who wrote a lot of science-fi, fantasy and horror books. He's also the writer of 'I'm a Legend' [1954], a book - please ignore the fact that Will Smith tryed and failed in doing a movie about the book - with an equally surprising ending and some impressive depth. 

For a low-budget 50s movie, the edition and visual effects are rather impressive. Obviously the inocence of some of them can be funny for now-a-days-viewers. 

Attentions aracnofobics: the main enemy of Scott in this movie is a huge tarantula. Maybe you would like to watch this with someone who can tell you when the thing is gone or you can use the music to guide you, so you may know when the spider is appearing and leaving the screen. 

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN TRAILER

All in all this is a very recommendable movie, with an itneresting plot and a modern view of the world and the human condition. The developement of the characters is very interesting and the effects clean and very well done.

Snow White: A Deadly Summer

Released in 2012 and directed by David DeCoteau, this movie tells the story of a troublesome teenager who is sent to a disciplinary camp by her evil stepmother. Once there she has to discover who's killing all of her fellow campers before the killer kills her. 

Starring Shanley Caswel, Maureen McCormick and Eric Roberts, Snow White: A Deadly Summer actualices the classic tale of Snow White giving it a 'horror' touch. 

There's no doubt that this is a B movie without great ambitions other than to entertain the viewer in an hour and a half. The tale is acctually coherently set into an actual context, taking the recent news about abuses in some american disciplinary camps. It also makes an effort to put in all the simbology of the traditional tale. 

I think that the main problem with this film is the ending, with a mayor 'plot device' in the last five minutes. Other than that the script is pretty consisten and not badly acted. The characters, even without a very extended developement - as is usual for this sort of movie - are somewhat round. 

Another problem is the ilumination of the main character's house. As I said in my Neverland review, the ilumination is what gives essence to a movie; what differentiates  the video of your vacation in Albuquerque from a super-production. The ilumination of the main character's house resembles more the video of your vacation in Albuquerque. The ilumination of the rest of the movie improves a little bit, but not a lot. 

As a curiosity: the main actress, Shanley Caswel - who could do a much better work - has a keen resemblance to Kristen Stewart.

SNOW WHITE: A DEADLY SUMMER TRAILER

All in all, this is an entertaining horror movie without any pretenses and with less horror. The actors could be better, but they're not all that bad and the references are well hidden. 

The Three Caballeros

In 1944 Norman Ferguson and Clyde Geronimi directed this Disney movie in which Donald Duck gets a series of birthday gifts that include traditional gifts and information about Brazil and México. 

The main voices star Clarence Nash  as Donald Duck, Joaquin Garay as Panchito, a mexican rooster; and José Oliveira as José 'Zé' Carioca, a  brazilian parrot. 

The movie is divided in foru parts: the two firts tell short traditional stories - the first one about a penguin that wants to live in a warmer place and the second about a winged donkey. The third part is where Donald Duck and 'Zé' Carioca discover Brazil, while the forth centers around Mexico, hosted by Panchito. 

It's a visually very tireing movie, with a load of visual 'imputs'. The scenes are very quick and brightly colored acompanied with very quick music. It's full of explosions, bright reds and greens - specially when Panchito first appears.

There's no doubt that the animation in The Three Caballeros is spectacular and very recomendable. It's very interesting how they mix and combine 'real humans' with the animation. 

The worst thing is the story - or lack of it. The first half is - as I've already said - pretty interesting with the traditional short stories. The second half is - regretfully and as Nostalgia Critic eloquently says - 'Donald Duck trying to get laid'. 

The music is traditional Brasilian and Mexican musica and, if you like that style, it's pretty good. 

THE THREE CABALLEROS TRAILER

This can be interesting to get to know certain aspects of the Brazilian and Mexican culture, the animation is really good and the music's not all that bad. But in my opinion it's one of Disney's worst.

Cinderella

In 1997 Disney released this race-friendly musical retelling of the clasic tale directed by Robert Iscove and starring Brandy Norwood, Bernadette Peters, Paolo Montalban and Whoopi Goldberg.

I believe you all know the story of a beautiful and tender girl whose stepmother forces into working for her and her evil stepsisters as a maid and who ends up falling in love with the prince during a ball. She looses a shoe and he looses his mind. And everybody ends living happilly ever after. 

Well there isn't much to say about this other than it completly ignores the genetic - at least where the Prince's Family is concerned and that even though it starts off ok, the levels of corniness reach a level towards the midle of it, that turns watching this into a BIG torture. 

It's actually your typical Disney Channel movie, with a load of mache and shinny  props and over-the-top dresses that don't contemplate the era in which this is supposed to be. The songs suck... most of the time, but you have to give the actors credit, they don't sing badly. 

CINDERELLA TRAILER

If you feel the urge to puke rainbows you can check this out in youtube. Some people have posted it whole in one single one and a half hour video that will make you wish to cut your eyes out or go in a killing spree.

The Princess and the Goblin

Directed by József Gémes in 1991, this animated fantasy movie is a coproduction of Japan, UK and France based on a book by the same title.It tells the story of the adventurous Princess Irene and her friend Curdie. Together they have to fight an evil plot designed by the Goblin Queen and the goblin prince, Froglip. 

It stars the voices of Sally Ann Marsh as Princess Irene, Peter Murray as Curdie, Claire Bloom as Great Great Grandmother Irene; Peggy Mount as the Goblin Queen and Rik Mayall as Prince Froglip. 

The story seems to be set in Russland. At least judging from the disign of the Great Great Grandmother Irene, who's a ghost that helps Irene find 'her own magic'. 

The animation is OK, but the drawings aren't very beautiful. The story, on the other hand, is well balanced, and interesting, holding the viewers atention even though it's a little bit predictible.

Remarcable is the song sung by Curdie.

THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN TRAILER

If you want to check it out, you can watch it whole in youtube. It's not all that good, but it can be interesting and nice to watch for your children.