Sunday 28 April 2013

A little ostentatious, don't you think?

In accordance with tradition, my opening monologue here is going to deal with themes of dusting off the cobwebs and brushing out the tumbleweed. Once again, it's been a while, Life is to blame not me (yeah, that one's getting old fast) but we're here now so let's just get on with the show. On today's agenda - Iron Man 3.

For the preface of this, I'm going to delve into a theory on trilogies. Put a gaggle of geeks in a room and mention trilogies, diverse opinions will fly around and it could very well lead to bat'leths at dawn, depending on which trilogies are discussed in what context. Leaving these rash generalisations behind, let's move to the theory. Trilogies are tricky things and rarely, if ever, are the third installments better than the first or second. In fact, in the case of some trilogies, the existence of certain installments are denied in their entrity - most notably, I have encountered, X-Men III: The Last Stand. Many a friend of mine revile the film so much they refuse to acknowledge it. I hold that to be a shame, mostly because of Ellen Page and Kelsey Grammar's performance as Hank McCoy. In fact, in defiance of this, I've put it on while I'm writing. Good thing I have a replica of Malcolm Reynolds' pistol handy in my room...

Now before I digress too much from the point at hand, as I am one to do, I'm going to make it plain. Some people say the third film is never as good as the other two. Iron Man 3 means to disagree with some people there.

The jury is still out for me, I'm still processing everything I feel about the movie, but I think the prevailing majority is leaning towards a "Yay" vote on Iron Man 3 thoroughly outperforming it's predecessors. So, let's set the scene a little.

For Iron Man 3 there's been a change in director from Jon Favreau (who also portrays Tony Stark's long-standing bodyguard, Happy Hogan) to Shane Black. When news first reached me of the change in director, I was worried. When I heard it was Shane Black, who I know from Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (incidentally, starring Robert Downey, Jr) I became less worried. Upon watching it last night...well, let's delve into why the jury is out.

It's pretty obvious to say that given the change in director, Iron Man 3 has a distinctly different feel to the previous films. This is why my personal jury is out. It's still processing the vibe. Take that out of the equation and by gods, Iron Man 3 was incredible. Just...wow...I won't say much more than that really. The things I would want to say don't just stray towards the realm of spoilers, they jump in the frakking pool and splash around.

I will take a moment, however, to squeal about how amazing Robert Downey, Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce and Sir Ben Kingsley are in this movie. In fact, every actor in that movie was fantastic. It was...okay, I think the jury's in now, folks. Ladies and menfolk, the verdict is AWESOME. I was also very happy with Rebecca Hall's appearance as I've been a teeny bit fond of her ever since I first saw her in Starter for 10.

Now I would like to go on an entirely new tangent and talk about Fringe. I tend to come by TV shows long after they've started or finished. I did it with The X-Files, though that's because when it was on TV I was tiny and terrified of everything. Fringe, as I understand it, has just recently come to a close. As of yet, I don't know if I'm sad about that, given that I've only seen one season, but from what little I know, it sounds like it gets a decent, wrap-up-loose-ends finale. So I'm hopeful. As for my thoughts on Fringe season one...well, here goes.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. John Noble, famous for his performance as Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, is on outstanding form as mad scientist Doctor Walter Bishop. He is followed in a close second by Joshua Jackson, portraying his son, Peter Bishop. In terms of the lead though...Anna Torv has her moments. Quite a fair few and she's a good lead character, but there are moments when...well, I just want her to level the hell up. I don't know how it'll play out in future seasons, but we'll see. Nonetheless, John Noble's Walter Bishop is definitely enough to keep me watching.

Well, I think that about wraps it up for today. As is tradition, I will express hope that I will be a little more prolific and consistent with my updating of this blog, but I get the feeling that people won't be holding their breath. Until next time, go forth and watch Iron Man 3. Go on. Get on with it.