Robert Downey Jr. is millionaire Tony Stark who has made his money manufacturing weapons. When he almost gets killed in the desert by his own weapons, he decides to quit making weapons and concentrate on a suit that will help him take on the people using his weapons for evil.
Kind of ridiculous, but still really entertaining. It's somewhere between the Spiderman movies, which I think are really lame and cheesy, and "Batman Begins", which is darker, more intense and altogether better. So as long as you aren't hung up on things like... how did he make this extremely complicated suit all by himself in his basement in like 23 minutes... oh wait, I forgot about the montage of magazine covers at the beginning showing all the stuff he's done! Nevermind! Oh and Jeff "The Dude" Bridges is the bald bad guy. Ha! Fun movie. Worth seeing in the theatre.
8/10
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly dir. Julian Schnabel
Based on the true story of French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Dauby (Mathieu Almaric) who suffers a stroke and is left paralyzed except for his left eye. Working with a nurse he developed a system of communicating involving blinking with corresponding letters. He used this technique and a book deal he had to "write" his memoirs.
I realize this sounds kind of boring but it is actually really good. The film starts with Dauby waking from a coma, but of course there are flashbacks showing what his life was like. Still the stuff from his point of view accompanied with his narration is entertaining as well. And the fact that a lot of the movie is taking place inside his mind allows the director (a painter) to be really creative and artistic. I think a big help to this one is the fact that it is a true story, and a French movie. If this was a Hollywood creation, it probably could have been a little more super sad at the sad parts and super uplifting at the uplifting parts. Instead its just realistic sad and realistic uplifting. Maybe a little too long...
8/10
I'm Not There dir. Todd Haynes
Six different actors play Bob Dylan-esque characters (none of them are named "Bob Dylan") during different stages of Dylan's life. I really like Bob Dylan, but this movie was kind of disapointing.
A lot of the dialogue comes from quotes and a lot of the shots are re-enactments of photos or video. I suspected this when watching it, even though I didn't exactly recognize all of it, but it was confirmed in some notes on the DVD, and the commentary. I don't really think that was a great idea. I guess if you're some kind of Bob Dylan historian (I'm not) this might be kind of cool.
I'm sure the whole six actors thing seems really novel and inspired and "oh it suits his music so well" when I think maybe just one good actor who could act like different characters might have worked better. But what do I know? Walt from Lost was just annoying as little kid Dylan (named Woody Guthrie in the movie) and Cate Blanchett (Jude Quinn) actually looked the most like Dylan, but was just kind of annoying, aaaaand she's not a man.
Music's good though. David Cross is hilarious in a small role as Allen Ginsberg. Some of the cinematography is really great, and there are some good parts scattered around. But the structure and loose narrative don't make for a good two and a half hour movie. One actor, 90 minutes. Solid movie. Instead...
6.5/10
46/150
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