items tagged with Robert Downey Jr.

IRON MAN 3

Iron Man 3 begins with narration by Tony Stark, the superheroic multi-billionaire voiced and eventually embodied, as always, by Robert Downey Jr. His tone is steady and somber as he makes ominous pronouncements about the uncertain state of the world and how we each create our own demons and such, but before long, Stark’s more expectedly breezy, wise-ass nature takes over – he stumbles over his words and realizes his blathering isn’t really going anywhere, and quickly puts a kibosh on the opening address. The whole routine is reminiscent of Woody Allen’s hilariously neurotic “Chapter one ... ” intro at the start of Manhattan, and immediately suggests that this second sequel to 2008’s effects-laden blockbuster will be both deathly serious and happily insouciant. And it is. I’m just not completely convinced, in the case of Iron Man 3, that that’s a good thing.

Seth MacFarlane, I thought, did a fine job hosting the 85th Academy Awards ceremony. He turned out to be a fine choice for the frequently thankless Oscar-emcee position, tossing in some fine jokes in between the generally fine production numbers and mostly fine acceptance speeches ... .

I’m sorry, but I am alone in thinking that last night’s telecast, in the end, was just a little too “fine”?

THE AVENGERS

Prior to its national release, the scuttlebutt on The Avengers seemed to be that the Hulk totally stole the show. Having now seen director Joss Whedon’s long-awaited, cinematic commingling of Marvel superheroes, I’m inclined to agree, because the angry green giant has been granted two fantastically unexpected, legitimately great moments in the film, and that’s at least one more than anyone else has been given.

The first trophy handed out at the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony was for Best Cinematography, a prize that I predicted would go to The Tree of Life but that instead went to Hugo. (Seriously, after his undeserved losses for 2006’s Children of Men and now the Terrence Malick film, exactly whom does Emmanuel Lubezki have to do to win an Oscar?) But that was actually my second incorrect assumption of the evening, because as soon as host Billy Crystal stepped on stage, I said to the others at my viewing party, “Here comes the standing ovation,” and the audience – despite giving the man a warm reception – remained seated. Did the crowd have a collective premonition of just how spectacularly Crystal would bomb last night?

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL

A European nutjob wants to start nuclear apocalypse, and Ethan Hunt and his team want to stop him. That’s my condensation of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’s needlessly complex plot in fewer than 20 words. Here’s a condensation of my feelings toward this third sequel in fewer than five: The movie kicks ass.