Frenchy’s Fracas

General Info
Title: Iron Man
Year: 2008

In Short
Billionaire playboy weapon dealer Tony Stark enjoys his life without any moral challenges. When a weapons demonstration in the Middle East goes wrong, our Tony finds himself on the receiving end of his own dubious business. He decides to change all that..

The Movie
Visuals
Nice balance of special effects and widescreen shots, a blend that’s been pulled off quite well: you don’t get overwhelmed by all the tech, people and scenery get their fair amount of attention.

Plot
Hey, easy one, it’s a comic book plot in its most simple form: man rediscovers himself and his purpose and acts accordingly.
What makes it work? The dialogue and some very dry and understated humor mixed with some great slapstick. The main character is a likeable scoundrel, before and after his metamorphosis. Always flawed and those shortcomings keep him very much acceptable to look at and to follow during the story.
Some stuff really had me grinning and laughing, even the inside jokes for the comic book buffs.

Cast
Robert Downey Jr. delivers the goods giving a nice depiction of a witty and driven man, paying for his past sins. He really carries the movie, the supporting cast including the excellently cast Jeff Bridges are acceptable and not too distracting.
Didn’t expect a quality actor like Terrence Howard to go for this role, but hey, it pays and offers him more options for other movies. Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t work for me, a chemistry from yesteryears is being attempted but the Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn legacy isn’t under threat, no sirree.

Conclusion
The (p)reviews were all about the surprise people experienced with this movie: it’s funny and highly enjoyable. If comic book publisher Marvel plays the cards right, we can expect a very successful franchise the next coming years.

Rating: (excellent fun!)

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General Info
Title: Into The Wild
Year: 2008

In Short
When a young man finishes college with top honors, his parents expect him to follow the path to a successful career. Instead, he follows his own path of adventure and anger; aching to get into the wild: Alaska.

The Movie
Visuals
Wow.. Wow..
Did I say ‘Wow’ already?
Wow..

Opening shot tells you all you can expect: widescreen shots of the cold and harsh lands of Alaska with one lonely pickup truck driving onto the scene.. Wow!
The whole movie is a traveling adventure piece, so we get to see incredibly simple and beautiful landscape shots of the US and it’s done with care and admiration.
Other visual stuff: the simple and almost muted use of colors, nothing is emphasized, you just get this sense of color without getting heaps of it in your face, loved that.

Plot
Based on a true story of a young man who decides to leave everything behind to discover himself by way of an adventurous journey across the US to the great and wild Alaskan countryside.
We see a man full of anger and spite turning his back on his parents, his sister and society in general, looking for a life filled with true values and not the materialistic limitations that surround him daily. This need to do away with wealth, gadgets, stuff, etc. means he will undertake his journey without any outside assistance or money: hitchhiking across the country to get to his destination and meeting all sorts of different people along the way. His parents don’t know where he is, or where he’s gone to and slowly suffer the agony of Not Knowing for a long and torturous time.
When our main character arrives at his destination he decides to camp in the wild, using an abandoned old bus as his Winter home. The harsh cold doesn’t break his will to survive and when Spring comes he is ready to leave his shelter. And that’s when all of his real lessons about life, love and the True Values begin.

Cast
One guy has to carry most of this movie and that guy, Emile Hirsch, pulled it off excellently. Hirsch depicts this boyish yet harsh and unforgiving character with flair and determination. The supporting cast has some beautiful royal performances from William Hurt, veteran Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener. Even the almost always irritating Vince Vaughn performed in a way that had me slightly adjust my arrogant dislikes of his work, just a little bit though..

Conclusion
* * * S P O I L E R - A L E R T * * *

Ready?
Here we go..
Like in the real story our hero dies in the end and while I knew this before I went to see the film, I still was emotionally drained and disappointed by his death.

* * * S P O I L E R - A L E R T - E N D S * * *

That in itself was an incredible experience: I chose to really forget what I knew about the story and I really wanted the guy to survive his self-made ordeal.
That makes this an example of some very strong and compelling storytelling. Part of that strength does lie with the fact that the tragedy is a true story, but also the great script and skills of director Sean Penn play a role in my way of experiencing this movie.
Special big ass credit for Forever A Real Musician, Eddie Vedder’s contribution to the score and soundtrack, go buy the soundtrack.

I’m not done with this movie yet, it left me drained afterwards, simply rehashing the story and its characters until my mind just had to have a rest from it all. It’s a coming-of-age movie, but a lot of thirty-somethings (or almost-forty-somethings, like yours truly) will be mentally prodded into contemplation: so if you finally do take The Big Step and Leave Everything Behind To Discover Yourself, is this what you get in return? Kinda reminded me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: to win this crazy game, you need to become a bit crazy and the rewards are a bit crazy too..

Another thing that bothered me about this story, no not bothered, annoyed is a better word: this guy is almost as selfish as a suicide victim. (Maybe an unjust comparison, and no, I don’t have any close experiences with said subject matter to make the comparison, thank you).
His actions are always about what he wants, disregarding other people’s feelings out of some fierce anger, fear and disappointment. The people he meets along the way all bond to him and he enriches their lives by simply being himself.
But his mind is on his plan and nothing or nobody can get in the way, so he leaves these people who really care for him. The fact that he discovers this shortcoming in the end, doesn’t take away my annoyance, but hey, that’s what you get for getting (too?) involved into a great and tragic story

Wonder what I’ll think of this movie in a coupla years time..

Rating:

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General Info
Title: 12 Angry Men ||
Year: 1957

In Short
A court hearing in New York during the 50s is in its most important phase: closing arguments from both parties have been heard and now the jury has to decide over the fate of the accused.
The crime: murder in the first degree; the punishment: the death penalty; the accused: a teenage boy from the bad part of town.
It’s an open and shut case: the boy is as guilty as hell, but is he? That’s for the jury to decide in a small closed off room in the middle of a heatwave, twelve men decide.

The Movie
Visuals
It’s a Classic Black and White movie; these movies have their own visual aesthetic. That combined with tight shots, great lighting and almost fishbowl close-ups give the movie a great sense of atmosphere.
I must mention another important part of movie: the sound and the movie score are minimalist in setup. Love it!
Originally written as a television play, you almost get this sense of claustrophobia, because almost 98 per cent of the movie happens in that one room.

Plot
The genre of courtroom drama is worked out to the max: what will the jury decide?
The difference is that in this movie we actually see twelve jury members debate to reach a verdict with very dire consequences. We see twelve people talk about another person’s actions and wether or not this will lead to a death sentence.
The plot isn’t about the accused, it’s about those twelve men, that’s what’s interesting. We get to see the interaction between these men and how they reach their decision.
Not wanting to give away a lot about the story: just one man believes that the accused, ehrm.. the boy could be innocent.
Just one man believes that there is reasonable doubt, just that. He’s not like a great hero and defender of the downtrodden, he just doesn’t accept that anybody can be 100 per cent sure of the boy’s guilt. Eleven men disagree and that’s where the Drama starts..

Cast
Please, Henry Fonda dominated the whole movie: the lone and highly principled guy with those piercing eyes that made him such a compelling presence in most of his movies.
If you could give an honorary Oscar for All Time Best Supporting Cast then this would be the right occasion. A very young Jack Klugman as the guy who escaped the slums, the brilliant Joseph Sweeney as the elder and bewildered statesman, and the unforgettable and excellent Lee J. Cobb as the frustrated and annoying father who misses his son.

Conclusion
I was lucky to get the chance to see this movie on a large screen in a cinema this week; this movie is in my Top Three Favorite Movies of All Friggin’ Time.
Seriously, I just love the art that’s put into the film: visuals, sound, plot and cast are all incredibly effective in bringing across the pressure cooker atmosphere in which people are put in and how these people have to confront each other over the choice they have to make.
I have seen quite a lot of movies, but there aren’t many that can deliver so much tension, drama and pause for thought. Me like, me love!

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