Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Indiana Jones vs Iron Man
I caught up with my Hollywood blockbusters this past weekend and saw Ironman and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Not on the same day mind you. Ironman is so much better--and its not because the special effects were more impressive or the budget was bigger or the story was more engaging. Ironman is superior due to acting. Robert Downey Jr. as the hero/antihero was riveting, believable, yet unpredictable. He looked wizened at times and full of youthful bravado at others. A bald Jeff Bridges as the villain revealed his duplicitiousness and depravity measure by measure until by the end he was believably evil just as Downey had been redeemed. Blanchett was fantastic as the evil Russian domantrix in Indiana Jones but she revealed all in the first five munutes. And let's face it when it comes to a Hollywood blockbuster, you are as only good as your villain. And sometimes acting trumps computer generated imagery.
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I haven't seen "Ironman" yet (I'm waiting for it to be on my cable movie list) but it doesn't surprise me that Robert Downey Jr. is riveting in the role. If you haven't already (and you probably have), see "Fur" an imagined tale of how Diane Arbus became the photographer we know. Robert Downey, Jr. plays a circus (freak show?) performer who happens to be entirely covered in thick fur, including his entire face. With only his eyes, his body movements and his voice, Downey portrays this mesmerizing character as a man of intellectual sophistication, Old World politeness and luscious sexual-sensualness. The inevitable desire to see him without his fur is finally granted through a tragedy of illness, and when Arbus clips off all his hair and shaves his skin down to its vulnerable nakedness...well, let's just say it is an amazing moment.
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