IRON MAN 2

Written by Justin Theroux

Directed by Jon Favreau

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Dona Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke

Ivan Vanko: If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in him.

When the lights went down at the sold out opening night screening of IRON MAN 2 that I attended, there was a particular energy in the air.  It was that moment when you realize that what you’ve been waiting for for so long is really about to take place.  The hushed anticipation was infectious and, as exciting as it was to feel it build, it was just as disappointing to feel that energy die off as the film unfolded.  Iron Man may have a brand new suit but his heavier armour ultimately just weighed this new adventure down.

I had no knowledge of Iron Man before the first film, other than the fact that he existed anyway.  When director Jon Favreau introduced him as an irresponsible billionaire who learns that his legacy would be essentially ensuring continuous and unnecessary destruction until there was nothing left to blow up, I instantly loved the guy.  Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), as privileged as he was, was still human and still had a soul that he didn’t want to see damned.  Super ego still intact but changed nonetheless at the end of the first film, Stark re-emerges now as narcissistic and oblivious again, almost as if to satisfy what test audiences liked most about him after the first film.  It gives the film itself an air of arrogance that it is difficult to recover from.  The Iron Man people know they did good last time out and like Tony Stark, it seems to have gone to their heads a bit too much.

Justin Theroux, the writer of TROPIC THUNDER, is a new addition to the Iron Man team and, despite his clear ability to be laugh out loud funny, he takes Iron Man and Tony Stark to some pretty dark places.  There is nothing wrong with going to these places in a superhero movie but with Stark coming off more smug and callous from the beginning, there isn’t as much sympathy to go around when Theroux finally reveals why Stark is acting this way.  Downey Jr. still nails Stark but despite having some serious mortality issues to deal with this time, he never seems to get to the core of where Stark is coming from.  And, correct me if I’m wrong, but Iron Man is nothing without his core. 

Other newcomers to the Iron Man world include Mickey Rourke as a sinister Russian physicist bent on revenge, Sam Rockwell as a less successful version of Stark himself, Scarlett Johansson as a sultry new member of Stark’s team and Don Cheadle as a replacement for Terrence Howard in the Rhodey role, Stark’s best buddy.  Rourke is certainly scary but he seems to be trying too hard to redefine evil, much like Heath Ledger did as The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT.  Rockwell is hilarious and stylin’ in the three-piece suits he wears to cover up his inferiority issues.  Meanwhile, Cheadle does nothing with the opportunity that fell in his lap and I would really like to see Johansson do something other than just look sultry for a change.

IRON MAN 2 does get better as it goes on.  I don’t want to make it sound like it’s a bad time.  It’s just easier to focus on what isn’t working when everything worked so well in the past.  Favreau does his best to keep things smooth and fresh; Downey Jr. delivers as expected but ultimately, IRON MAN 2 just isn’t as much fun as the first.  You might say it has an iron deficiency.  You might.

Black Sheep @ The Oscars: BEST ACTOR

This past spring, I caught Thomas McCarthy’s THE VISITOR and found myself unexpectedly taken with Richard Jenkins. I had only known him as the infamous Nathaniel Fisher on “Six Feet Under” and suddenly felt as though I had never seen him before. In October, I caught a press screening of FROST/NIXON and thought Frank Langella had it locked after his pitch perfect incarnation of Richard Nixon. Then I saw Sean Penn in MILK. I’m not a huge Penn fan but, as soon as I was through weeping, I was consumed with how transformative his performance was. I couldn’t imagine it getting any better but then I saw THE WRESTLER. Aside from being completely floored by Mickey Rourke’s comeback performance, I was most excited to know that the Best Actor race at the Oscars would be the most exciting race around. Oh wait, I forgot about Brad. This is probably because I found him and THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON fairly forgettable.

Richard Jenkins in THE VISITOR

For five years, all anyone knew of Richard Jenkins was that he was one of the coolest dead guys around and that he certainly did a number on his adopted television family. In THE VISITOR, Jenkins plays Walter Vale, a widow who hasn’t lived a day since his wife passed. It isn’t until he meets visitors from foreign lands in a home that is supposed to be his own, that he realizes that he is a visitor in his own life.

Jenkins was always a dark horse to get the nomination in this category and this is certainly a case where the nomination will be the ultimate honour. The nod will open plenty of doors though and Jenkins will walk right through them. We may hear his name here again before very long.

Frank Langella in FROST/NIXON

Langella’s Nixon is a tricky one indeed. He is always on top of whatever game is being played. He always has his sights on a grand return to the public eye, one that he never doubts he is fully entitled to. It is the moments where he finds himself alone though that reveal the most surprising aspects of a very guarded personality – fear and uncertainty. Langella makes Nixon human.

Langella originated this role on the stage and has been in Nixon’s skin long enough to make everything look so easy. He was the early favorite this year, with the added sympathy bonus for missing out last year on a nod for STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, but this race comes down to only two horses really.

Sean Penn in MILK

Penn is considered to be one of the most prolific living actors of his generation. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not always sold on this. As Harvey Milk though, he embodies the spirit of progress, equality and life, all of which made the real Harvey Milk so incredibly charismatic and convincing. Penn’s portrayal of the first openly gay man elected to American public office is no caricature; it is tender and human.

Unfortunately, Penn won the Oscar a few years ago for MYSTIC RIVER, a performance I never felt was that impressive in a film that I always felt was horribly overrated. Having one statue already on his mantle or his toilet (I don’t know where he keeps these things), puts him at a disadvantage here as voters might choose to reward someone who has never won before. That said, he just picked up the SAG award and that has a lot of sway.

Brad Pitt in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Pitt is hit or miss most of the time. He definitely hit it in David Fincher’s 13 times nominated epic but was it really him who hit it? Pitt’s facial expressions were captured using CG and subsequently graphed onto a number of other actors’ faces and bodies to show the character’s transition from old and dying to young and new. Personally, I never felt like I truly ever came to know Benjamin Button despite the technical marvel.

Pitt may have gotten swept up in Benjamin Button buzz here because he is way out of his league considering the competition. That’s saying a lot considering the gravitas of this particular superstar. Still, many have argued that Pitt’s performance is a collective collaboration with a handful of other actors, all of which had Pitt’s face pasted on theirs.

Mickey Rourke in THE WRESTLER

It only takes about five minutes of watching Darren Aronofsky’s return to form, THE WRESTLER, before you are amazed by how perfect Rourke is as Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging professional wrestler who still has to play in order to pay for his lackluster life. Rourke’s performance inspires such intense sympathy but remains authentic and realistic. It is no exaggeration when people say Rourke was born to play this part.

After picking up the Golden Globe for this performance, it pretty much comes down, in my opinion, to a final death match between Rourke and Penn. Rourke’s recent announcement that he will be fighting in a legitimate WWE wrestling match a few months from now is a little odd but Rourke still has one major advantage over Penn, the comeback vote. Who doesn’t love a comeback … especially when it is this damn good?

All in all, this a very hard one to call. I’m going to have to flip a coin now and make the big decision at the last second. Heads, it’s Penn; tails, it’s Rourke … And Rourke it is!

THE WRESTLER

Written by Robert D. Siegel
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood

For more information on THE WRESTLER, just click on the title anywhere you see it in this review.


Randy “The Ram” Robinson: I’m an old broken down piece of meat and I deserve to be alone.

I was never a professional wrestling fan as a child. My brother was and so I occasionally caught the weekly shows because I was too lazy to get off the couch when he would watch them. I never understood the appeal. How could grown men rolling around on the floor together in an obviously choreographed battle appeal to the straight male? Is wrestling the straight man’s ballet? And though I never understood why, my brother and legions of other men (and women) would watch religiously to see who would be smashed with a chair while the referee was lying unconscious on the floor. Amidst all of the spectacle though, it is easy to forget that the men in tights put on pants just like the rest of us when the show is done and go home to their lives. Darren Aronofsky is here to remind us of this and to show us the softer or more human side of THE WRESTLER.


From the moment it begins, with an opening credit montage highlighting the career accomplishments of former wrestling superstar, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) over a throwback hair-metal song, you know that you are in for a dirty ride. The Ram has got to be in his sixties at this point. It has been twenty years since he played Madison Square Garden and now he is the main attraction at local wrestling matches that are put up in high school gymnasiums and workout centers. He has no one of significance in his life; he can barely afford his trailer park home; and the steroids and numerous other drugs he has consumed and is still currently consuming have taken their toll on his weathered body. Yet still, he soldiers on. As long as he has his wrestling, he has purpose. Then one day, even that is taken away. Who does a man become when he can no longer be who he has always known himself to be?


THE WRESTLER is Aronofsky’s finest work. It marks the first time in his major filmmaking career where he did not direct a script that he himself wrote. That credit goes to novice writer, Robert D. Siegel. Siegel’s script is bare, honest and frank. It follows The Ram during this hard transitional period of his life and Aronofsky follows behind as though he were filming some trashy reality TV show. After all, this is a dirty story that goes back and forth between wrestling rings, strip clubs and trailer parks. Aronofsky does not sensationalize though. Instead, his newfound simplicity allows the humanity of all on screen to flow freely and freely is exactly how it flows from this immensely talented cast. Marisa Tomei plays The Ram’s love interest, a stripper named Cassidy. Not only does she look incredible working the stage but her off stage persona is a great mix of tender and tired. It is a welcome reminder that Tomei is one of today’s most underrated actresses. And then of course there is the wrestler himself. Rourke is revelatory. He is lonely and broken but still picking himself up and doing whatever needs doing. To watch a man of his age endure what he does in the ring makes you root hard for him but the horrifying violence also inspires intense sympathy.


THE WRESTLER is about purpose. After Aronofsky’s last film, THE FOUNTAIN, failed and fell apart quite publicly, it would stand to reason that he may have been questioning his own purpose. Just like The Ram knows only how to be a wrestler though, Aronofsky has to be a filmmaker. Whatever confidence he may have lost has been forgotten as THE WRESTLER is a brave move away from the visual trickery and style he had become accustomed to. It is the natural simplicity of his new direction that makes THE WRESTLER so relatable, inspires great caring for its characters and solidifies it as Aronofsky’s best work.