Movies

While in the Middle East providing a new-product demonstration to the US Armed Forces, super-genius playboy weaponsmaker Tony Stark is ambushed and kidnapped. To buy his freedom from his captors he must construct the new weapon he was showcasing. He decides, instead, to build a suit made of iron to help him escape, a suit powered by an electromagnet that was installed in his chest to prevent shrapnel from entering his heart. Further design modifications and refinements lead Stark to a truly amazing concept which makes him a bonafide superhero.

The movie follows its hero (pun intended) on a series of personality changes. He goes from chick magnet to humble captive and from cocky fly boy to man on a mission. I am sure you can figure out which traits were more entertaining.

I was impressed at first with how much hype was created for this movie. Those involved took a pretty well-known but certainly less-popular comic book character and made it one of the most highly anticipated films in at least recent history. My hat is off to them all for going beyond that and delivering such a fun and energizing movie. They also followed the story well and included at least two teasers as to what we might see sometime into the future (*cough* War Machine and The Avengers *cough*).

The story gets in the way a few times, and it is cheesy comic book story, but I hope you can get past that. With the volume of comic books being adapted to film, most people should be pretty used to that by now. What that story does is form the environment in which the special effects can really shine.

Tony Stark is a stronger personality (and thus a better lead) than either Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne, and Iron Man and the pace of his movie are also significantly more explosive. Since you're now questioning me, I will say that Iron Man was better than any of the Spider-Man movies. And I liked Iron Man for different reasons than Batman, so that is a hard comparison to make, but I think Batman Begins is still the better movie. And we'll see how Mr. Stark does against The Dark Knight later this summer.

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Stan Lee: You know, I think you ought to get him some help. He seems to be really hung up on super heroes' sex organs.

Introducing the Dwights

Tim (Khan Chittendon) is your average teenager who comes from a very un-average home. His mom, Jean (Brenda Blethyn), is a struggling stand-up comedian trying to burst into the big time with help of her other son, Mark (Richard Wilson), who helps her run through her routines. When Tim starts dating a cute girl (Emma Booth), Jean does her best to bust up the relationship so that the quirky little homelife she's built doesn't fall apart.

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Joe Oramas: It's the librarian fantasy, man. Glasses off, hair down, books flying. Finbar McBride: She doesn't wear glasses. Olivia Harris: Well, buy her some, it's worth it.

Distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend, Zia (Patrick Fugit) decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he discovers that there is no real ending, only a run-down afterlife that is strikingly similar to his old one, just a bit worse. Discovering that his ex-girlfriend has also "offed" herself, he sets out on a road trip, with his Russian rocker friend, to find her. Their journey takes them through an absurd purgatory where they discover that being dead doesn't mean you have to stop livin'!

After what one would assume to be a pretty difficult breakup with his girlfriend, Zia commits suicide. Next thing he knows he is in a world -- not unlike the one he left behind -- where everyone he meets has committed suicide. When Zia runs into someone he knew pre-suicide, he learns that his ex-girlfriend chose the same fate and was thus somewhere in this strange world. This news gives his after-life new meaning and he sets out to find her.

A story of a lonely heart setting out to find its compliment, either in a specific other person or someone unexpected who appears along the way, is nothing revolutionary. Wristcutters, as it followed that template, was in many ways like most romantic comedies you have already seen. That doesn't make this movie any better or worse by comparison, because many people still seek out as many "RomComs" as they can. What this movie did well was expand the limits within which that template may be used.

There is nothing "ordinary" about a story where a young man, who has killed himself, is stuck in a purgatory for people who claimed their own lives searching for his ex-girlfriend, who despite being the reason he killed himself, also killed herself. Will he find her? Will he meet a different girl (or guy?) who killed herself and fall in love with her? Is Wristcutters good enough for you to watch it and find out? Yes, it is.

I liked this movie, but I do think it got by mostly on the quirkiness of its setting and premise. I will admit that I'm a little too conservative to enjoy how they made suicide so matter-of-fact, but I still enjoyed the movie. I think this is more geared for teens and twentysomethings and most other people will be disappointed. Wristcutters is another "good for what it was" movie.

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Dan Burns: Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead, we should tell them to plan to be surprised.

Beowulf

From the Main Menu select "Special Features" and then move the cursor to the top option - "A hero's journey: the making of Beowulf." Move the cursor to the left and a piece of the design which divides the screen will glow white. Press enter/select to watch "A Coffee Break with John Malkovich."

Jenna: Dear Baby, I hope someday somebody wants to hold you for 20 minutes straight and that's all they do. They don't pull away. They don't look at your face. They don't try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms without an ounce of selfishness in it.

They share the same birth month, so the orphanage calls them December Boys. But these teens -- Maps, Spit, Spark and Misty -- have much more in common. With no hopes of ever joining a family, they form their own familial bonds. Then the unexpected news comes that a young couple may adopt one of them, and the long-time pals suddenly share something else: a rivalry to be the chosen one.

December Boys, a poignant memoir of friendship and family, marks Daniel Radcliffe's first major film role outside the Harry Potter series. He plays Maps, a big brother to the group as it stumbles and wavers its way toward manhood. Join the boys for their remarkable journey of the heart called growing up.

An older couple decides that it would be nice to have some youthful energy around and offers four young, orphan boys the opportunity to spend the summer with them on the beach. As the boys get a taste for what life would be like with the family they have always wanted, they begin to understand how much they mean to each other.

December Boys was not the most sophisticated movie. It was actually very simple in most aspects, but that was all it needed to be. It was just a touching story about four boys who, when they had no one else, always had each other. But I will warn you that it might take one giant tug at your heartstrings at the end.

I hope you have one or more people in your life for which you are thankful. If you have that, this movie should remind you somewhat of how fortunate you are. I thought it was comforting in how the movie reinforced the importance of family while encouraging you to look beyond constraints of legal relation when you consider who your family is.

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Finbar McBride: It's funny how people see me and treat me, since I'm really just a simple, boring person.