Quick Movie Reviews (May 13, 2008)

Iron Man (2008)
Great comic book movie. Robert Downey Jr. is surprisingly good. You have Jeff Bridges as the bad guy. Then you have supporting players like Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard. I took both of my kids (10 and 14) opening weekend. They liked it. My youngest is the super-hero fan, but she is all about X-Men and Wolverine. There’s plenty of action. The plot is easy to follow and understand. The acting is strong. Be forewarned: It is violent. People die. Soldiers die. Scary men are really scary. More than once I felt my 10-year-old’s face pressed against my arm. Then there is one raucous romp in the bedroom, which is totally unnecessary. No one is nekkid but you get the idea.

I Am Legend (2007)
This was pretty good. I had heard mixed reviews on it. I like Will Smith so I found myself liking the movie. It’s fairly straightforward but I was really left with a whole bunch of questions at the end that the movie too neatly skipped over. How did Anna get on the island? How did she get off the island? Why didn’t Smith leave? The special effects were okay but not phenomenal. You could tell some of the scary folks were CGI. I’m also not a big fan of hurting kids and dogs.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)
This is a two-hour documentary detailing the emergence of a premium cable channel in Los Angeles in the ‘80s that featured uncut, uncensored and, many times, unseen movies. This seems fairly pedestrian today but there was a time when there were no movie channels and few, if any, video stores. Jerry Harvey was the visionary for the channel and was a movie addict. He and his buddies basically aired the movies they liked. He was buddies with Sam Peckinpah, Michael Cimino and others – many of whom credit Jerry for reviving their careers (James Woods credits Harvey for his Academy Award nomination and win for Salvador) and giving voice to movies that were unfairly ignored by the major studios (two examples: the full version of Once Upon a Time in America directed by Sergio Leone and the full version of Heaven’s Gate directed by Michael Cimino). The problem? Harvey was truly crazy. In 1988, he killed his wife and then killed himself.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)
More often than not, a breath of fresh air is needed and movies like this classic provide a nice breeze. This John Huston-directed film features one of the best actors of all time, Humphrey Bogart, working in top form. Then he is surrounded by other terrific folks – Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Ward Bond. I know most folks have seen this movie at one time or another but, if you get a chance, take another glance at it. You get a whole new appreciation for Bogart’s acting skills as you watch him struggle between being attracted to Astor and understanding that she is lying to him pretty much all the time. Also, let’s face it, there are great lines all throughout this movie like when Bogie slaps around Lorre, and Lorre complains about being slapped – Bogie replies: “When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it.” Awesome stuff!

Bud Greenspan: At the Heart of the Games (2008)
This documentary was developed this year in honor of Bud’s 50 years of capturing Olympic moments on film. For those of you who don’t know, Greenspan has worked himself into being the official filmmaker of the Olympic Games. He gets criticized for it but his films focus on the personal triumphs of Olympic athletes and celebrate the glory of the Olympic games. I TiVoed this off ESPN2 and was really looking forward to it. In case you don’t know, I am an absolute Olympic-aholic. I love everything about the Olympics. I am a sucker for Greenspan and the whole idea of the Olympic spirit. But I have to be honest here and tell you that his documentary is not very good. It’s uneven. The editing is odd. There appears to be no real order to the script. We sort of bounce between this Olympic event and that Olympic event and then go to an interview with Bud. It was a huge disappointment.