The Valet

Businessman Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) finds himself in deep shit when he is caught on candid cam with his supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni). When confronted by his ice maiden wife (Kristin Scott Thomas), who also happens to have a majority stake hold in his business, he blurts that the girl is really with a passer by who happens to be in the picture too. Poor Francois (Gad Elmaleh) who has just been rejected by his girl friend now finds himself magically sleeping next to a supermodel in return for money. A spicy comedy that only the French could come up with and execute with nonchalance.

Rating: * * +

Everything Gone's Green

Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) wakes up and finds that his life has changed. He is dumped by his girlfriend, fired from his job and dear Dad almost wins the lottery. Ironically he is offered a new job at the lottery agency. En route to the interview he meets  the girl (Steph Song) of his dreams, who shows up next to a dead whale. To top it off his folks start growing God's greatest plant in the basement. Welcome to Ryan's life. It is kind of a fun ride...

Rating: * * +

Agnisakshi

Thangam (Srividya) plunges the ashes of her foster brother Unni (Rajit Kapoor) in the Ganga and finds herself awash with memories. Memories of growing up as a child born out of a Sambandham in a Namboodari illam. Thangam is enthralled with Devaki (Shobana), Unni's wife through whose eyes she realizes the suffering of Namboodari women. The community still holding on to the arcane traditions of yester year as the world around it changes. The film is set during the twilight of India's dependence on the British and when the caste system still reared its ugly hood. A film drenched in melancholy that only a Malayali of the ilk of Shyamaprasad could have directed and one only the Kerala pysche would have appreciated.

Rating: * * *

The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai

Sachiko Hanai (Emi Kuroda) is a prostitute and a good one at that. Her life takes an amazing turn when she is shot between the eyes and survives. She becomes a genius overnight, starts having visions and experiences feelings and sensations with a delay. The cloned finger of George W. Bush that is in her possession only complicates matters. A porno comedy from Japan with a perverse and twisted sense of humor.

Rating: * +

Lonely Hearts

Ray Fernandez (Jared Leto) is a conman who sluices windows and lonely women of their life savings. But it is when beautiful Martha (Salma Hayek) enters his life that murder enters equation of the con jobs. This is when New York detective Elmer Robinson (John Travolta) starts to sniff their trail with help from his ample able partner, Charles (James Gandolfini). A chilling crime drama based on the true life of the "Lonely Heart Killers" who walked this Earth in the late 40s.

Rating: * * *

Los Muertos

Vargas (Argentino Vargas) is released from prison. Every detail of his life after release is shown i.e. walking, talking, eating and having sex. Then he sets out to find his daughter. Watch the film if you are interested in seeing an ugly man row a boat gently down a dirty stream.

Rating: +

Red Road

Jackie (Kate Dickie) watches people for a living as a closed circuit TV operator for City Eye, a web of networked cameras that keep a watchful eye on the well being of its citizens. When she finds someone from her past staring back at her, she find herself inadvertently tracking him. You are kept in the dark for most of the film while director reveals the plot slowly to you as if untying an intricate knot with great patience.

Rating: * * +

The Hunted

Aaron Hallman (Benicio Del Toro) is a US government trained assasin who has lost the plot. LT Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones) is the man who taught him how to kill and the one sent to reign him in. An unlikely duo in an action flick that involves a lot of close quarter knife fights. Both actors should have stuck to character roles and leave such films to Steven Seagal.

Rating: *

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight continues the fine tradition started by Batman Begins. Akin to how Frank Miller made Batman relevant again in the graphic novel arena, Christopher Nolan has given the brooding hero a breath of fresh intense air on the big screen. In print sometimes a certain character takes over the whole book and somehow enthralls the reader holding him in a vice like grip. Heath Ledger does exactly that in his role of the Joker. The film heralds the arrival of the laughing madman in the life of Batman and shows us the tip of the titanic struggle that will enshroud the rest of their existence. But with the passing of Ledger, one wonders who can replicate his panache and screen presence as the Joker...

Rating: * * *

Crazy Stone

A precious jade stone is found at the site of a struggling factory. The owner decides to exhibit it and then sell it for millions to save the factory and its workers. The security for the exhibition is in the hands of the trusted security guard, Bao (Tao Guo) who is forced to use urinal sensors as a motion detector thanks to his tight budget. Stone attracts thieves of many sizes and shapes and only Bao stands in their way. A Chinese heist flick that is a cross between Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Ocean's Eleven, is funny in bits but a tad dragging as a whole.

Rating: * +

Halla Bol

Sameer Khan (Ajay Devgan) is an arrogant actor with nary a scruple. But seeing a girl being murdered causes him to magically remember the conscience he once had. After an hour, I realized that even the presence of Pankaj Kapur and Vidya Balan couldn't save this cliche filled sorry excuse of a film.



Rating: +

After the Wedding

Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) found his calling in life running an orphanage in India. But when it runs out of money he is forced to fly to Copenhagen to schmooze with a rich donor. Unfortunately the donation comes with strange appendages with tendrils from the past that puts his future in question. A film that is swollen with promise but is it just a Bollywood one?

Rating: * *

Adam's Apple

Adam Pederson (Ulrich Thomsen) is a neo-Nazi for whom being evil is a job description. He is sentenced to community service at a Danish countryside church where he meets Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen). Ivan can only see good in the world and fanatically blocks out the bad by blaming the Devil. Adam is tasked with looking after an apple tree to bake a pie at the end of his sentence. But the task he undertakes is to show Ivan that evil is in man and the Devil has no part in it. A dark comedy that will strangely have you in splits during moments of grave sadness and utmost gravity.

Rating: * * +

The Lookout

Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is on a joyride with his girlfriend and friends, trying to catch fireflies on a dark country road. But what catches him is the jaw of death in the form of a stationary trailer. Death unfortunately only nips him, so he goes from being the local jock with a promising life, to a washed up broken man recovering from a brain injury, working as a janitor at a bank. Hardly able to hold a thought, he lives with the blind Lewis (Jeff Daniels) who helps him get through his day. This is when Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) befriends him and talks him into helping with a bank robbery. Needless to say, rest of the film was very predictable.

Rating: * *

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is back and he snarls even more in this installment. His lover Liz (Selma Blair) is at her fiery best and Abe (Doug Jones) continues to be the bumbling nerd. This time around rather than battling the forces of darkness, it is a war against the faeiry folk and their army who have broken their truce with humanity. It is very obvious that del Toro has allowed the world of Pan's Labyrinth to sneak in here. The visuals are phantasmagorical and the fight sequences are stunning. But in spite of all that you are left with a vague sense of dissatisfaction at the end of the film.

Rating: * *

A World Without Thieves

Sha Gen (Baoqiang Wang) believes that world is filled with kind souls who wouldn't dream of lightening him of his hard earned money. He meets Wang Bo (Andy Lau) and Wang Li (Rene Liu) who are master con artists, on the train ride back to his village. Strangely moved by his over the top honest nature, Li decides to adopt him as her little brother. The train is teeming with a gang of thieves led by Uncle Li (You Ge), out to relieve the passenger of their precious burdens. Soon a cat and mouse game ensues with Bo and Li acting as Sha's guardians. A very craftily made film with some deadly cinematography but if only it was a tad grittier sans the slow motion melodrama, a masterpiece could have been well at hand.



Rating: * * +

Private Fears in Public Places

The film opens with a realtor being berated by his client on his poor choice of the apartment that he is showing her.The camera the effectively flits through their lives and bringing in more characters each with a few degrees of separation from the others. Some of them lonely and aching for human contact while the others wanting a touch of a different kind. In spite of its promising layout, this flick directed by highly acclaimed French legend, Alain Resnais, had the effect of a mild sedative.



Rating: *

Journey from the Fall

1975, the Communist have taken over Vietnam and the people are fleeing its shores. Long (Long Nguyen) unable to see his country suffer, convinces his family to escape to the US and stays behind to find for the Nationalists. But rather than finding freedom for his country he ends up in a re-education camp. His struggle for survival is juxtaposed beautifully with what his family go through on the ocean to freedom. As the film winds around it just shows that in war, freedom is usually just a point of view and hope sometimes is a dangerous but powerful thing.

Rating: * * *

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

The early 20th century sees the citizen's of Ireland in an upheaval against the ruling British empire. This struggle is shown through Damian (Cillian Murphy), who gives up a budding career in medicine to join in his brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney) in the fight against the Irish oppressors. The events careen towards a peace treaty that only implodes the country into a bloody civil war and the IRA we know of today is born. The film tries to put a human spin to its birth though it is rather unclear if the director was a tad too sympathetic or realistic.

Rating: * * +

The Taste of Tea

The Katsuhito Ishii film captures the the Haruno family at a time where all its members are at the peak of their quirkiness. In fact calling them quirky is an understatement. Young Hajime (Takahiro Sato) is in grips of teenage love and angst. Adolescent Sachiko (Maya Banno) can't seem to get rid of her giant self that keeps watching over her. Mother Yoshiko (Satomi Tezuka) is trying to get her anime career back on track with help from crazy Grandpa (Tatsuya Gashuin) who is a master of strange poses. Uncle Tayano (Tadanobu Asano), a famous DJ and music mixer, wanders around lost in his own world. The slightly normal member seems to be the hypnotist father (Tomokazu Miura). A Japanese film which has a very Wes Anderson like feel to it.



Rating: * * * +

Mithya

The age old story of a down and out actor (Ranvir Shorey) who bares an unearthly likeness to an underworld don and under duress is forced to take the don's place. The presence of Naseeruddin Shah and Vinay Pathak does add some panache to this often repeated plot but they unfortunately are not enough to allow this film to be seen in a new light with a fresh perspective.

Rating: * *

Blind Shaft

The illegal mines that dot China's countryside send thousands to an early death. The only grace is that the family of the deceased receives a minor compensation for it. Song (Qiang Li) and Tang (Shuangbao Wang) are hardened con men who use this unwritten law to their advantage until one of them decides to grow a conscience. A gritty crime thriller from director Yang Li that shows the skewed nature of today's economic condition in China



Rating: * * *

Offside

The eve of the qualifying football game between Iran and Bahrain for World Cup 2006 sees all of Tehran trying to wedge their way into the stadium. Except the women of course thanks to a law that prohibits from entering the stadium. But a group of football crazy girls decide to buck the law and go where their hearts are. Jafar Panahi's film that is part political statement / satire and part hilarious comedy is a must of for all football fans and people who care for woman rights the world around.

Rating: * * * +

Bamako

The forefront of the film is a mock trial featuring the people of Mali vs western oppressors disguised as well wishers. The witnesses rant and rave albeit in a cogent fashion against the World Bank, IMF and colonization. The backdrop is the sordid life of the locals and in particular a couple struggling to keep their marriage afloat. A well meaning but poor executed film which also featured a western soap opera that locals tuned into featuring Danny Glover as cowboy. At that point I decided to use the stop button and call Wenerd to abuse him for no reason.



Rating: *

Avenue Montaigne

Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is a pianist who is tired of the concert circuit and wants to play just for his love of music. Catherine (Valérie Lemercier) has had enough of her role in a weekly soap and yearns for a meaningful role. Jacques (Claude Brasseur) who has spent every waking moment collecting art, has decided to sell his entire collection as he has no desire to play his last inning as a museum guard. Jessica (Cécile De France) is a waitress who serves these collage of characters their drinks. A noisy, conversation filled film that has a magical calming effect that one feels when sinking into a book where you love all the characters.

Rating: * * * +

Dam Street

The film opens in a small town in China in the 80s. Yun (Yi Liu), a young beautiful girl in her teens, finds herself pregnant. Her moral decadance is announced on the school's speakers, much to chagrin of her mother who is a teacher at the school. So in spite of everyone knowing, the baby is spirited away for the family to save face. Yun is in fact told that her baby's spirit now floats in heaven.

As the film drifts into the 90s, Yun finds herself stuck as a singer in a pop troupe catering to the masses. It is at this time that a young boy, Xiao-yong (Xingrao Huang), befriends her and is infatuated by her. The film floats around the realtionship between the two unlikely characters.

Through the life of Yun, directory Yu Li also looks at Chinese society that seems to be stuck in between the Mao era and modernisation. A singing troupe with dancing girls but any hint of promiscuity from the women causes them to be labeled as sluts. The scenery and sorroundings are grim and gritty with some brilliant scenes from every day life. Like that of a couple of men trying to throw half alive fish back into their overturned truck. Yet another fascinating look at changing China.

Rating: * * *

Unknown Pleasures

The turn of the century finds China opening it's doors to the world. At this juncture the director focuses his lenses on the lives of Bin Bin (Wei Wei Zhao) and Xiao Ji (Qiong Wu), two dispirited youths who live in a remote Chinese city near the Mongolian border. Even in this dead end city, western infleunce slowly creeps into their lives. A dollar bill here, a Coke there, westernized Chinese pop music and references to the Monkey King are juxtaposed with talk of Pulp Fiction. As the world around them changes, the lads find everything leaving them behind including their love interests (Tao Zhao, Qing Feng Zhou). Another well constructed film from Jia Zhang Ke.

Rating: * * +

The Groomsmen

Paulie (Edward Burns) is about to get married and he has all his old buddies lined up as groomsmen. The only issue being that all of them seem to be having issues with friendship, marriage and family life. A succinct coming of age story for grown men.

Rating: * * +

Khoya Khoya Chand

Nikhat (Soha Ali Khan) and Zafar (Shiney Ahuja) are rising stars in the Bombay film industry in a time it was not known as Bollywood. She a blossoming actress and he a budding script writer, cause sparks to fly when they meet. Intoxicated they carry on, without a care for whom they burn with their passion. Set in the 50s and 60s, the film casts an introspective eye at the life in the industry showing the back biting that goes on and the dog eat dog world it is.

Shiney Ahuja has eerily crept into the skin of the character but the same cannot be said of the daughter of Sharmila Tagore. After the initial half hour, she looks out of her depth failing to portray the changing phases in the actress's life. In fact Sonya Jehan who plays a rival actress could have done better in her role. But the actor who steals the limelight is Vinay Pathak who plays Nikhat friend.

The film looks lush and the saturated colors can fool you into believing Chris Doyle was behind the lens. The script too is craftily written with Urdu laced Hindi dialogs. But director Sudhir Mishra does not take advantage of this palette and fails to stitch it all together. Allowing the film to run a tad too long did not help either. A poor follow up to Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi.

Rating: * *

Paruthiveeran

Paruthiveeran's (Karthik Sivakumar) only ambition in life is to visit the Madras jail after a lifetime of wandering around village prisons with his doting uncle, Chevvazhai (Saravanan). His childhood sweetheart Muththazhagu (Priyamani) has other plans for him as she doggedly pursues him. A simple village tale set in the outskirts of Madurai, that shines as a love story hiding behind a well written script. Excellent acting by the debutants all around and it sure looks like Karthik has come a long way from Crescent Engineering College.

Rating: * * +

Inland Empire

Nikki Grace (Laura Dern), a married actress lands a plumb role in a mystery film which has a checkered history. She soon finds herself attracted to her co-star. Devon Berk (Justin Theroux), in spite of her dangerous husband. But it is unclear if the attraction is fact or fiction. As the movie proceeds, the lines between the actors and the film within they are acting in begin to blur. Jeremy Irons is the director of the mystery film and he too seems to be left in the dark. The real force behind both films is of course David Lynch who seems to have imbibed way too many exotic substances when writing and directing this mindless, convoluted and obtuse piece of krap.

Rating: *

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

The film opens in Kuala Lumpuer with a street wizard handing out winning lottery numbers for money. The ever silent Hsiao-kang has a number but no money. He proceeds to get beaten by the street performer and his cronies. Left to die on the street, he is picked by a group of Bangladeshi's migrant workers. One of the workers, Rawang (Norman Atun), nurses him back to health and slowly finds himself making space in his life for Hsiao-kang. Hsiao meanwhile finds himself attracted to a Chinese waitress (Shiang-chyi Chen) in the neighbourhood. As the film winds down, smog envelopes the city, its citizen and the viewer.

Rating: +

10 Items or less

Morgan Freeman being out of the acting limelight, finds himself looking into a sleeper role of a store manager to get things back on track. The "production" company drops him off / abandons him at a seedy joint at the edge of town. Here he runs into Scarlet (Paz Vega), a feisty grocery store worker, who takes pity on him and agrees to give him a ride. Freeman find himself drawn towards the cashier who is also trying to get her life back on track. A strange friendship ensues and most of the film is about the easy bond that forms between the two.

Freeman has taken a page out of Taste of Cherry. His character is curious almost to the point of annoyance. But the no BS presence of Paz Vega cancels things out leaving the viewer in a better frame of mind to appreciate the film.

Rating: * *
PS: Paz Vega is HOT!!!

Dance Party, USA

If you are interested in watching teenagers having awkward and boring conversations about life, sex, booze and partying, then do not miss this film.

Rating: *

Bheema

Small time crook Chinna (Prakash Raj) finds his fortunes rising against his arch rival, Periyavar (Raghuvaran) when Shekar (Vikram) magically joins his gang. Sprinkled with many sightings of the very hot Trisha, who inexplicably falls in love with Chinna , this gangster flick too tries to show that violence only begets more violence.

Rating: * +

Cimates

Nuri Bilge Ceylan instead of calling this film Climates could have named it Distant II. For this one he acts, writes and directs. To top it off he drags his wife (Ebru Ceylan) in to play his lover.

Isa, a college professor and Bahar, a TV producer are in a relationship where you can easily feel the distance between the two. On a seaside vacation this chasm becomes insurmountable and Bahar returns alone to Istanbul. One really cannot blame Bahar as there is a touch of Abbas Kiarostami like annoyance to Isa. He finds himself wandering this sudden desolate landscape of his life finding himself still reaching for Bahar. A film that highlights the need for connectedness that we crave and will search endlessly for.

Rating: * *

Linda Linda Linda

A few days before the school fair, Kei (Yu Kashii), Kyoko (Aki Maeda) and Nozomi's (Shiori Sekine) rock band lose their lead singer to artistic differences. Left clutching at straws, the one that comes up short is a Korean exchange student, Son (Du-na Bae), who is coxed into filling in even though she hardly speaks any Japanese. As the band perseveres through late night practices, this quirky comedy also touches on the romantic fringes of the band members. But just when it starts to sniff greatness, it loses it viewer and meanders.

Rating: * +

The Wild Blue Yonder

A sci-fi movie experiment created by splicing together NASA footage and underwater film of the Antarctic Ocean glued together by an over the top narrator. The experiment failed in my book.

Rating: +

Distant

Mahmut (Muzaffer Özdemir) is a solitary photographer living comfortably in Istanbul. He finds himself forced to divorce his loneliness when a cousin, Yusuf (Emin Toprak), from his village starts living with him on the pretext of looking for a job. Soon Yusuf's presence starts to irritate Mahmut which will easily resonates with anyone living alone. Every small mistake the cousin makes is magnified in the eyes of Mahmut. A long film that portrays obvious discontentment wherein a short film would have sufficed instead.

Rating: * +

Massai: The Rain Warriors

The Massai are faced with their greatest drought. Their only hope is to find Vitchua, a legendary lion, and return with its mane to pay tribute to the Red God. But when Tilipti, their greatest warrior disappears to the sound of mighty roars, the future looks bleak for the tribe. The burden of this hunting expedition ends up falling on their young, inexperienced and hot headed warriors. So they head out into the vast dry unforgiving Savannah, hoping to turn it green and save their village.

Rating: * * +

Shortbus

The movie opens with a man filming himself playing with his penis in a tub and gets into a "bizarre" yoga pose. The camera then shifts to a sex therapist having sex but apparently she has never had an orgasm. Soon you are introduced to a underground NYC phantasorgasmic carnal nightclub. A film that makes you fall in love with the forward button.

Rating: *

Little Children

The suburban lives of a stay at home dad, a bored housewife, a disgraced cop and a just released sex offender clash in this movie based on Tom Perrotta's book. Like most films that have been transliterated from a novel, something is left by the wayside. But yet the feeling of disconnectedness and hankering for change that pulses through the veins of the book's characters somehow makes it way onto the screen. A good part of that is due to the fine acting by Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and especially Jackie Earle Haley in his role of the pedophile. A film that will resonate with most suburbanites even if they have nothing in common with the characters.

Rating: * * +

Solo Con Tu Pareja

Tomás Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho) screws anything that moves and resembles a woman. But even his vast experience has not taught him never to mess around with a nurse who has your HIV test results. So after screwing over the foxy Silvia (Dobrina Liubomirova), Tomás finds himself diagnosed with AIDS. It is at this moment he ends up falling helplessly in love with his neighbor, the beautiful Clarisa (Claudia Ramírez). One of Alfonso Cuarón's earlier films, this one is all about a man slut and the confusion that ensues over his irate love life.

Rating: * +

Train Man

Densha Otoko (Takayuki Yamada) is prototypical nerd in his 20s who has lived his life without even receiving a thank you from a girl let alone go out on a date with one. All this changes when he rescues a pretty girl (Miki Nakatani) from a drunk in the subway. Not knowing how to proceed, he confides in his only friends, the faceless profiles in a chat room. Soon he is out to woo her with the power of the chat room behind him. The film could have had more dimension and depth if more attention was paid to the lives of the characters in the chat room. Sans that it is just a cute and cloyingly sweet chick flick that winds down to its inevitable end.

Rating: * +

Renaissance

The year is 2054 and every body speaks English in Paris. Everything is recorded and no one is ever alone. But not even the ever present camera can show where Ilona Tasuiev, a young promising scientist, has disappeared. Her employers, Avalon, a giant conglomerate that peddles eternal beauty wants her found no matter the cost. Karas, a cynical and jaded captain among Paris's finest finds himself in hot seat. The only clues he has are a trail of dead bodies.

A beautifully etched anime where the artist has done some brilliant work in pure black and white. Thankfully the film was not just eye candy but had excellent voice overs by Daniel Craig and Ian Holm and a cunning plot.

Rating: * * *

The Science of Sleep

Stephane (Gael García Bernal) with his vivid dreams is fooled into moving to Paris by his mother with a promise of a plum creative design job. The job turns out to be mundane and the only interesting bit in his new life is his neighbor, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Soon Stephan's phantasmagoric dreams start to revolve around Stephanie. But when the dreams start to invade his reality, it puts a strain on the relationship with the woman of his dreams. The colorful dreams seem quite cool up front but its magic starts to wear thin even on a k**a imbibed viewer. A romantic comedy that is funny in parts but as a whole is a write off against wasted time.

Rating: * +

Old Joy

Two pals head to the woods for a night of camping and dip in a secluded sprint. Watching the film is akin to eavesdropping on a very private bonding and soul searching occasion for the friends. But the way it hangs together ends up alienating the viewer and concentrating more on the background score by Yo La Tengo.

Rating: * +

Man Push Cart

For a while all that this film shows you is a man pushing his cart around New York city. The daily drudgery of a coffee stall worker in downtown Manhattan is shown through Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi) giving you a feeling that he is alone in a sea of humanity. But no man is an island and slowly, like peeling the layers of an onion his character is revealed. His past is then very artfully exposed by the interactions with his customers and the budding friendships that develop. Rest of the film shows his braves strokes to swim to safety.

One would be tempted to say that Razvi's acting is single dimensional. He looks jaded and numb as his expression never changes for most part. But then watch for that scene which will change your mind.

Rating: * * +

Le Petit Lieutenant

Antoine (Jalil Lespert) is a young rookie lieutenant (French for detective :) ) who chooses a homicide division in Paris as his first posting. His boss is super cop Caroline (Nathalie Baye) who is recovering from alcohol addiction. It does not take long for things to heat up as Antoine is welcomed to his job with a couple of canal drownings. You soon find yourself engrossed in a very involving crime drama that sheds equal light on both the investigation and the investigators. The acting is very subdued but yet powerful and the coupled with a very realistic unhurried pace, the film casually plops itself on the top shelf of crime thrillers.

Rating: * * *

Iron Man

Marvel comic's Iron Man came to life on the screen over weekend. Robert Downey Jr. plays the suave genius Tony Starks, who creates / becomes the Iron Man under some stressful conditions in remote Afghanistan, goes from being a millionaire tomboy selling weapons to a robotic superhero with a conscience. It does sound rather cheesy but it works.

The slick action sequences does help in making it work, but it is the fringe characters like Stark's assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and evil Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) that lace the icing on the cake with cyanide. The heavy metal soundtrack was brilliant. It could have been even better if the birth of the iron superhero was fueled by the opening lines of Black Sabbath's Iron Man. And if the script writer had gone easy on the cloying orey funny lines, this could have been a perfect graphic novel film. But that would be asking for too much...

Rating: * * +