WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH? » Robert Downey Jr.

‘Iron Man 2′ – Too much of a very good thing

cftoto — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:50:05 +0000

We tried to warn them.

Yes, the folks behind “Iron Man 2″ knew not to shake up the formula – witty humor, a potentially unlikable lead character and some cracker-jack action.

But they didn’t listen when fans cried over each new casting coup – Samuel Jackson! Sam Rockwell! Scarlett Johansson! Mickey Rourke!

“Iron Man 2″ doesn’t soar like the original mainly because a film this overstuffed can barely hover over the ground.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has plenty on his plate as the sequel opens. An oily senator (Garry Shandling) wants to confiscate the Iron Man suit, claiming it’s a weapon that can’t be left in the hands of an ordinary American.

“I’ve privatized world peace,” Tony says, one of many meaty subplots not given the film’s full attention.

A new supervillian named Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) wants to take Tony out for reasons clumsily explained later in the film.

And the technology that saved Tony’s life in the first installment is now slowly killing him.

What’s a billionaire crime fighter to do?

Better yet, what’s a relatively green screenwriter like Justin Theroux (“Tropic Thunder”) to do with all these story threads?

At its best, “Iron Man 2″ falls back on its star’s limitless charm to sell the sequel. Downey, Jr. is working at a level few peers can touch, and he once again turns Tony Stark into a knotty hero you admire even when he’s at his most arrogant.

But Tony’s tale is bogged down by the appearance of a new, sultry colleague (Johansson), the pesky intrusions of a super spy type (Jackson as Nick Fury), the machinations of a rival weapons inventor (Rockwell) and even the ghost of his late father (John Slattery).

And what about the flirtations between Tony and his faithful assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow)?

Could any sequel handle such an avalanche of story threads?

The sequel’s quirky sense of humor salvages some pedestrian moments, like a battle between a drunken Tony and his best pal Rhodey (Don Cheadle, stepping in for Terrence Howard) with unpleasant echoes of “Superman III.”

Rockwell is having a blast as Stark’s rinky-dink rival, but he’s a mere distraction from Whiplash, the character best suited to smite Iron Man. It’s impossible to create an indelible screen villain like Heath Ledger’s Joker without giving him adequate time to chew scenery.

Rourke, a toothpick permanently affixed to his lower lip, could have been a villain for the ages. You know he’s ready for the assignment – just look at his barrage of tattoos and those savage line readings.

But “Iron Man 2″ is too busy juggling subplots, ogling at Paltrow’s short skirts and setting the stage for the upcoming “Avengers” mega-movie.

“Iron Man 2″ director Jon Favreau seems an unlikely action auteur, but he orchestrates the first meeting between Iron Man and Whiplash better than a fanboy’s wildest fantasies. The sequence is so superior to anything in the “Transformers” franchise it’s ridiculous to even put them in the same category.

“Iron Man 2″ falls into the traps laid by other superhero sequels, namely an addiction to “name” actors in showy roles. It still has the power to enthrall audiences – but only for a spell.

(Photo: Stark Industries newest employee, Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) with her boss, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in “Iron Man 2.” Photo credit: Industrial Light & Magic/© 2010 Marvel. All Rights Reserved)

‘Iron Man 2′ old-school poster rocks

cftoto — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:33:24 +0000

Growing up in the 1980s meant you got to see some pretty cool movie posters.

Now, every decade boasts its fair share of great movie art, but I loved the posters featuring a montage of images carefully orchestrated for eye-popping effect.

As a recovering art major, I still do.

Consider the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” posters as primo examples of this trend. I could stare at them forever.

The “Iron Man 2″ poster art has me thinking back to my teen days.

It’s a great melange of head shots that speak to the characters in the new film, out May 7 in theaters nationwide.

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Blu-ray review: ‘Sherlock Holmes’

cftoto — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:10:47 +0000

The game is afoot, indeed.

The thought of a big-budget take on “Sherlock Holmes,” directed by Guy Ritchie of all people, conjured up visions of “Wild Wild West” – or worse.

But the film became one of 2009’s final box office smashes and set up yet another franchise.

And, shock of all shocks, deservedly so. That is if you can swallow Holmes’ makeover into a man of action and intellect.

“Sherlock Holmes,” out on Blu-ray and DVD March 30, reinvents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s super sleuth, making him more palatable to today’s action starved audiences.

This Holmes (Downey, Jr.) is just as comfortable using his fists as he is his mind, but the actor never lets the former outweigh the latter.

In fact, in every scene Sherlock looks tormented by his brilliance. It’s a remarkably sly component of the actor’s performance, one mixing angst with an indomitable fighting spirit.

Holmes and Watson get tangled up with the mysterious case of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a sort of super villain charged with a series of murders. He’s captured by Holmes and trusty sidekick Dr. Watson (Jude Law) early on and sentenced to death. But Blackwood rises from the dead via the Dark Arts to confound the city and challenge Holmes and Watson anew.

This Sherlock Holmes is a bare knuckled brawler in his spare time, but even while dodging blows his mind is racing, always racing. Somehow Downey, Jr. teases the new physical elements into Holmes’ intellectual fold.

The actor, adopting yet another distinct persona as well as a capable British accent, radiates quirk intelligence in a way few peers could. His Holmes is a mess emotionally, one who deeply needs Watson but can’t express it any meaningful fashion. When he lets loose on Watson’s betrothed it’s a thing of ugly beauty to behold.

Law serves up his most entertaining screen work in ages as the fussy Watson. Maybe studios are wasting their time casting him as the lead in movies like “Repo Men.” As a second fiddle he’s quite compelling, a reminder of his brilliant turn in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”

The film’s set design is a consistent triumph, as is a musical score chock full of whimsy and wonder.

Yet the story sludges forward at times, lacking the whipsmart attention to detail found elsewhere.

The biggest shock in “Sherlock Holmes” involves the man behind the camera. Ritchie burst onto the movie scene with his bristling gangster dramas, but it soon became clear he gave little thought to characters and story.

It was all about bravado, the signature camera tics and tough guy posturing that took the place of narrative cohesion in his films.

Here, Ritchie summons skills he never displayed before to tell this story, and the glorious Blu-ray presentation only magnifies his achievement. It’s nothing less than glorious on a 1080p set.

So it’s even more of a shame to see a misused, miscast Rachel McAdams playing Holmes’ love interest. An older, savvier actress might have given some depth to the underweight role.

The Blu-ray package bristles with tasty extras, from the unique martial arts in the film came to be – a combination of several techniques guided by Doyle’s test – to how Downey, Jr. captured the essential Holmes accent.

Other goodies include “Reinventing Sherlock Holmes,” a look at creating a world of the past and a feature allowing Ritchie to pop in and out to detail key elements in the movie.

‘Tropic Thunder’ – ‘Full Metal’ hilarity

cftoto — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:24:54 +0000

Ben Stiller gets plenty of props for being a box office draw, but few people cut him much slack for his directorial efforts.

That’s a shame since “The Cable Guy” got a bum rap, and Stiller’s “Zoolander” has emerged as a minor comic classic.

Now’s he’s dropped himself into the very big leagues with “Tropic Thunder,” a big-budget, bigger cast comedy which he directed, co-wrote and stars in.

He plays Tugg Speedman, a vain actor (redundant?) who’s shooting a Vietnam War film on location. Tugg and the cast think it’s all a glorified Hollywood set, but the film’s desperate director (Steve Coogan) deposits the cast in an actual hot spot to keep the actors in line.

Calamity follows, and the actors (Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. among them) must fend for themselves if they ever want to return home in one piece.

Hollywood loves insider parodies, but this is one comic tale that people who don’t live and die by the next issue of Variety can appreciate. The cheeky cameos help. Matthew McConaughey keeps his shirt on but otherwise feels right at home as Tugg’s morally challenged agent. And Tom Cruise’s well reported appearance is nearly as good as presold. Cruise plays a maniacal studio executive who barrels over anything in his path. It’s precisely the kind of role he needs to restore his good name.

Or at least kick start the process.

“Thunder’s” humor takes the kitchen sink approach, wallowing in silliness in between fits of inspiration. The latter mostly comes courtesy of Downey, Jr. He plays an Aussie Oscar winner who artificially darkens his skin to play a black soldier. It’s the ultimate acting challenge, he figures.

The role would crumble in lesser hands, but the erstwhile “Iron Man” is fully in character – and uniformly hilarious – without ever stepping over the stereotype line. He’s the butt of his own joke.

So, too, is Tugg thanks to a movie within a movie named “Simple Jack,” even if it’s not executed as smoothly as Downey, Jr.’s storyline.

“Tropic Thunder” is drawing fire from special interest groups for the latter and its frequent use of the word “retard,” but discerning audiences will know where the humor is targeted. And they’ll be laughing too hard to take offense.

Relates Posts:

Robert Downey, Jr. fires back – gently

“Tropic Thunder’s” PR blitz

The pre-emptive strike on the easily offended

(Photo: “Tropic Thunder” finds Ben Stiller, far left, leading a group of actors into enemy territory to shoot a movie. Photo credit: Merie Weismiller Wallace)

‘Thunder’s preemptive strike on race sensitivity

cftoto — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:33:19 +0000

When news leaked that Robert Downey, Jr. would be playing in modern blackface for the comedy “Tropic Thunder” a few talking heads and bloggers squawked about the move’s inherent racism.

Hard to take a chance like this in our uber-sensitive times and not expect some blowback.

So it’ll be interesting to see how the public – and the pundits – react to the actual movie when it opens on Wednesday (Aug. 13).

Saw “Tropic Thunder” last night, and I suspect sensitive types won’t like some of what they see. Downey, Jr.’s performance may be terrific, but it could play poorly in Punditland, a place where citizens live to be offended.

I’m guessing there won’t be much strife about it. For starters, the PC Police already assaulted star/director Ben Stiller for how the film portrays a movie-in-a-movie about mental retardation. And much of the “it’s racist!” charge got played out when the casting news was first announced.

(Photo: Robert Downey, Jr., center, plays an Oscar winning actor who alters his skin pigmentatin to play a black soldier in “Tropic Thunder.” Ben Stiller, left, and Jack Black, right, co-star.)

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