Iron Man and Forgetting Sarah Marshall - reviews

Iron Man is all it’s cracked up to be. The first Marvel superhero movie made without the help of a big studio has everything you'd expect - action, explosions, humour, romance, villains and a guy in a metal suit. If you've seen any of the trailers, you'll know that the story follows Tony Stark, a weapons dealer who has inherited his dad's arms-dealing empire. After a presentation in Afghanistan leads to his capture, Stark is forced to build a WMD for his captors, something which is against his pro-American beliefs. But he doesn't build the WMD; instead he turns himself into one, a flame-throwing, bullet-proof metal man, in his attempt to escape.

The success of Iron Man (it made £5.4 million in its opening three days in the UK, and took $104.2m (£52m) at the US box office over its three-day opening run) is arguably down to Robert Downey Jr. As Tony Stark he's a charming, arrogant, funny and flawed man. The fact that superhero movies (and their sequels, with Iron Man 2 already pencilled in for 2010) often do well shouldn't detract from his performance.

Villain-wise, Stark must fight his captors from Afghanistan, and someone much closer to home. Action-wise, there is a great sequence of Stark developing his hi-tech suit, tonnes of fight sequences and even Iron Man versus some fighter jets!

The rest of the cast is great, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's Personal Assistant/love interest Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes Stark's Army Liaison and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Stark's mentor and business partner.

As expected, the visual effects are top-notch, as is the soundtrack. It has an open-ended plot, with plenty of scope for the sequels and other Marvel superhero movies already in the pipeline.

If you take nothing else from this review, then take this - stay until after all the credits. There is another scene which is excellent and well worth the wait for all comic-move fans.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a Judd Apatow movie. So if you liked Knocked Up, etc you will probably love this. It stars Jason Segel (who also wrote the script) as Peter, a soundtrack composer who’s in a long-term relationship with a TV star. Or at least he was. After she dumps him, he goes to Hawaii to get away from all the stuff that reminds him of her. Problem is, she’s at the same resort – and she’s with her new boyfriend. If you like the sound of that so far then here’s the bit that might throw you. The new boyfriend is an arrogant British sex-addict & rock star played by, who else? Russell Brand. If that’s lost your interest then please reconsider. FSM is a great laugh, with plenty of feelings stuff too. Boasting a great cast, including – Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up), Paul Rudd (Anchorman, Knocked Up), Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) and Mila Kunis  (That 70s Show, Family Guy’s Meg) Forgetting Sarah Marshall is another cracking comedy, and a welcome break from summer heat and deadlines. It’s a funny date movie, only with unnecessary nudity and puppets. What’s not to love?

As promised, here's the first few reviews of films I picked out before.

Son of Rambow.

Firstly, here's what I sent to Pugwash Magazine (in case it didn't make it) The '80s are back. Everybody’s copying, remaking or referencing something that was popular back then. There’s the recent Die Hard sequel, the Transformers movie and Sly Stallone's resurrected both his Rocky and Rambo characters. Amongst all this, Son of Rambow hit our screens last week.Like 'Be Kind, Rewind', a film still inspiring homemade homages, Son of Rambow follows two friends as they make their own sequel to Rambo: First Blood.
Will Proudfoot, a shy, creative boy held back by his strict religious family, meets Lee Carter, the school's craftiest trouble-maker – and they agree to enter ScreenTest, a BBC kids competition. Together these different kids embark on an adventure to rival Rambo's - there's violence, a cool French exchange kid, space dust and coke-fuelled common room dancing, fun with high pressure water and high voltage electricity and plenty of jumping in lakes and off trees.
Full of don't-try-this-at-home hijinks, Will and Lee run around fighting ninjas and flying dogs as they film Will’s odd script.
Laugh-out-loud family fun, with nostalgia for parents and plenty of drama, comedy and action for everyone. 4 out of 5.

It was better than that heavily self-edited nonsense makes out.

Strange Wilderness. Not on the to-watchlist, but funny/gross nevertheless. I'd have liked it better if there were more/any frat-packers, but Jonah Hill as a patriotic, confused redneck is always funny. It is the story of the makers of a failing wildlife programme who go off in search of Bigfoot. It gives new meaning to the phrase 'turkey gobble'.

21. Card sharp blackjack movie starring Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe) as the new recruit to a card-counting team of MIT students. Kevin Spacey plays their lecturer turned hustler, with Laurence Fishburne as the soon to be obsolete security expert on their tail.

I thought this was great. It has maths to discuss and everything! If that doesn't convince you,and it wasn't my favourite part, then perhaps the prospect of Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns)in a number of sexy outfits (and accents) will sway you.

More movies when I've seen 'em. Wanna see these? I saw them at Vue Portsmouth (there's practically nowhere else).

With the excellent Skins and Shameless finishing this week, and BBC2 teasing us with the new series of Heroes, I thought it was time for a TV Blog.

Skins first. Another great series from the young team, who seem to be able to cast all the funniest comedy actors the UK has to offer. Bill Bailey and Mark Heap were excellent as various dads, shame they never met onscreen.

SKINS NEWS: All the massive group of friends that form the central cast of Skins - Sid, Cassie, Tony etc. - are to be replaced for the next series, with auditions already happening in London. Only Effie (Tony's sister) is staying, and with the auditions asking for 16 & 17 year olds, it looks like we'll be going back to the start of six form/college. Having already been drugged and having nursed her brother back to health following the bus crash of series 1, what on Earth could Effie get up to next?

Shameless. I'd never seen this before and I loved it. Everyone at home did, consistently laugh out loud funny.

Bones. SkyOne's best forensic dramedy (oh yeah I did that!). Back the other week, we've already had the kiss that the Sky magazine was teasing us about, as the team try to catch various evil-doers, especially The Gormogon killer.

Doctor Who & Torchwood. A much improved second series of TW has finished, with the latest series of DW starting a few weeks ago. The first ep of DW was a bit silly, but the second saw some good character development. Roll on the Ood!

Heroes. BBC2's Torchwood-shaped filler (an expensive one mind you) is back on from next Thursday. With reports that the first few eps aren't up to scratch but that it improves soon enough, just give it a little time if it disappoints. It won't though.

MORE NEWS: Charlie Brooker, BBC Four's cranky TV grumpus, is going to write a horror series for digital channel E4. Click here for the BBC's story. Channel Four seems to know less about it than the Beeb, but then they do keep Charlie in a cupboard full of TV's for most of the autumn, so they probably got it out of him through the inhumane use of I'd Do Anything.

And Finally. ITV has some stuff worth watching too. Other than crime drama, which they do quite well, they've got Headcases. A great reason to try out ITV's catch-up service, this is Spitting Image for the digital age. Everyone from Gordon Brown to Katie and Peter get done over (metaphorically). It’s funny 'cos its too close to the truth.

P.S. Feel free to comment on any of my blogs. If I’m not mistaken, there's a few hundred of you out there who read this rubbish, so you must have something to say.

I am officially supporting Harvey Dent in his campaign to become District Attorney of Gotham City.

Of course, I can't vote for him, the whole things American politics and I'm not a citizen, but I couldn't let the events of yesterday go by without comment.

At 3pm EST, a press conference of Dent's was interrupted by a hostage situation at a nearby delicatessan. Risking his own life, Dent apprehended the armed maniac - who was threatening to kill an innocent woman - and convinced him to let her go. This awe-inspiring incident was picked up by nearby microphones - probably from the press conference - and can be heard here. 

Despite the distance, I have been following the events of this campaign and can only describe Harvey Dent as a hero. He's exactly what Gotham needs to fight crime and I'm with him all the way.

In movie news, new promotional material for Speed Racer has been released. You can watchthe excellent new trailer - which adds a new dimension to the plot - over here at firstshowing.net. This has got to be the best racing/anime adaption the world will ever see! Check my summer movies round-up for the link to the official site and to see what else I'm looking forward to seeing.

Three and Out

British indie comedy. Out 25th April. Mackenzie Crook accidentally kills two people whilst driving his train. He finds out that if he kills a third the company will sack him and he'll get a big pay-off. Will he find someone willing to die just so that he can escape his dreary career? Also starring the sexy Gemma Arterton (St. Trinians and next Bond Film Quantum of Solace) as a love interest and featuring celebri-chav Kerry Katona as a 'chav with a heart of gold', this sounds like a barrell of black-comedy laughs.

Smart People

Next film featuring the excellent Ellen Page of 'Juno' fame. US indie dramatic romcom. Out 9th May. Page plays the quick-witted sharp-tongued daughter of a dressed professor (Dennis Quaid, of the excellent Vantage Point). She tries to cheer him up, but the smart money's on local doctor Sarah Jessica Parker. Will dead-beat adopted brother Thomas Haden Church (Sandman in Spiderman 3) spoil everything? Looks fun and uplifting with some quotable quips.

Step Brothers

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play brothers angry at each other, with hilarious consequences. Out 22nd August. The trailer (follow the link) is genuinely funny - in the way you expect any film with these two in it. The whole thing looks like an excuse to get Will and John to shout at each other and fling silly insults - excellent! The fact that they act like kids is sure to lead to comedy gold - like that kid gang attack in the trailer. Bound to cheer up even the prof. from Smart People, Pineapple Express (see previous film blog) finally has some competition.

Couldn't let those gems pass you by!