Sam Rockwell

Iron Man 2

Last Friday I went to see a much anticipated movie – “Iron Man 2“. I really enjoyed the first “Iron Man” and the trailer for “Iron Man 2” looked really promising.

The film left me with mixed feelings. On one hand – there was plenty of action and fantastic cast. On the other – this part is much dumber than the first one and the ending is horrible. Sorry, not the ending, but the epic battle between good and evil, the part of the film where the villain is defeated. That sucked really bad. The good thing though that it’s a small part of the film and it only happens towards the end, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the visual effects and such.

I still think that the first part was way better, but this one does count for a good Friday evening entertainment. See it on the big screen, if you are planning to watch it at all. I’ll rate it as a weak 4 out of 5. It barely made it.

Frost / Nixon

A few days ago I went to see “Frost / Nixon“. A movie with the one of the USA presidents in the title? Just a few days since the whole world has watched the most hyped up inauguration of the USA president in history? And just a few days since I’ve watched another political movie about yet another predisent of the USA – “W.“? Yes, of course. Plus there was a surprisingly high rating over at IMDB.

And it happens to be a really good movie. I’m a total loser when it comes to history, so I can’t really say how accurate the film is, but from the movies point of view it was excellent. I really liked the simplicity of the overall setup – it felt like everything happened in the single room, even though it is not true. It also felt like there were only two people in the film, even though that wasn’t true either. It felt like there was nothing else, even though that again wasn’t true. It’s just that type of a movie which has a lot of tiny details which are unnoticable on their own, but which build up the film to be what it is.

Another thing which I thought was done really well, was the drama. A big man with the weight of his mistakes and, seemingly, the whole country pointing fingers at him – yet resistent to accept his guilt, finding ways to see everything from other perspective, however feeling the burden deep inside. And then another man, much smaller one, but with his head high due to all the publicity and success around him. And like they say in the film, there is this moment in the ring where a challenger receives the first punch from the title holder and suddenly, in split second, understands the seriousness of the situation. This was built up and shown very well.

As noted above – tonnes of work went into making of this film and the result is great. Because of all the acting, camera work, light, make-up, sound work, etc, etc, etc this film is one of those fresh breezes even though it has an “oldish” touch to it.

5 stars. Recommended, even if you are not into politics.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Olga and I went to the cinema today to see a long awaited “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“.

Directed by: Garth Jennings
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Cast: Bill Bailey, Anna Chancellor, Warwick Davis, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Su Elliot, Martin Freeman, Stephen Fry, Richard Griffiths, Dominique Jackson, Simon Jones, Thomas Lennon, Mark Longhurst, Kelly Macdonald, John Malkovich
IMDB raintg: 6.8
My rating: 8.0 [rate 8.0]

I really liked the film. It was much better than I expected. Actually, it was kind of difficult to expect anything, because the book seemed to me very unscreenable, so to speak. The book is one of those that I consider very hard to base a movie on. So, I was rather suspecious. But the film turned out to be great.

I don’t know though how difficult it was to find any sense for those who didn’t read the book.

First of all the Vogons. They were absolutely fantastic. They were even more disgusting than described in the book. Both Olga and I exclaimed a loud “Ewww, yuck!” when we saw the first one. That’s a compliment, by the way.

Secondly, I thought that the solution to the “second head” of Zaphod was great. It’d be kind of tough following a two headed guy with all the articulation and random stuff that he was supposed to do, but not having a second head would be unbooky. The way they went about it was creative, original and entertaining.

Thirdly, the whole planet building factory was unbelievable. It rocked. It was my favourite scene by far.

Fourthly, Marvin was something. Using the voice of Alan Rickman was the absolute genious thought.

Overall – the film was great. It is one of those film that keeps the audience glued to the screen. Mostly because the said audience has no slightest idea of what’s going to happen next. Even those few who read the original book. Not many movies do it these days. Eh, Hollywood…

Strongly recommended.