Marvel’s The Avengers

Marvel Studios present’s “Marvel’s The Avengers” – the superhero team-up of a lifetime., featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Remmer and Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, from a story by Zach Penn and Joss Whedon and screenplay by Joss Whedon, Marvel’s The Avengers is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel’s The Avengers” assembles in summer 2012.

Opens in theaters Friday, May 4, 2012.

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) has always been the smartest man in the room…until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by one Professor Moriarty. Mixing business with pleasure, Holmes tracks the clues to an underground gentlemen’s club, where he and his brother, Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) are toasting Dr. Watson (Jude Law) on his last night of bachelorhood. It is there that Holmes encounters Sim (Noomi Rapace), a Gypsy fortune teller, who sees more than she is telling and whose unwitting involvement in the prince’s murder makes her the killer’s next target. Holmes barely manages to save her life and, in return, she reluctantly agrees to help him. The investigation becomes ever more dangerous as it leads Holmes, Watson and Sim across the continent, from England to France to Germany and finally to Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead as he spins a web of death and destruction—all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history.

Opens Friday, December 16, 2011.

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Review – Due Date

Due Date is not a good film. It is gimmicky, predictable and full of one unfunny “joke” after another. This is definitely an opportunity missed, as both Downey Jr. and Galifianakis are very talented comedic actors. But sadly the situations are forced, improbable, unbelievable and worst of all, not funny.

The basic plot is that Robert Downey Jr.’s character is trying to get from Atlanta to L.A. on time for the birth of his first child, the wacky loser, wannabe actor (Zach Galifianakis) who he is forced to travel cross country with and the trouble they get into along the way. From the very beginning when Downey, Jr. and Galifianakis’ characters get kicked off a plane and put on a no-fly list, the film goes from one improbable situation to another. If it is that easy to get kicked off of a plane, watch out and don’t ever raise your voice on a plane or you’ll be in trouble. From that point on each shenanigan the characters got into, I found myself asking, “That wasn’t even remotely amusing, so what was the point?”

The biggest issue is that the filmmakers were not able to achieve the balance between the comic and dramatic moments that they were looking for. Occasionally, when the film slows down, stops being forced and lets Downey, Jr. and Galifianakis just interact with each other there are flashes of what a good version of this movie might have looked like. I wish they’d just stuck with just the “serious” side of this film with occasional comic interludes because those are the best bits in the movie and are the moments when Downey, Jr. and Galifianakis really shine.

Ironically, Due Date is the unfunny, cringe worthy train wreck I expected The Hangover to be. The ads may say “from the makers of The Hangover” but you’d never know the same people were behind that hilarious film and this one. What made The Hangover surprisingly entertaining was that it wasn’t just about the juvenile jokes (although it had those) but that there was some substance behind all of the nonsense. There are attempts at substance in Due Date but it is too much of a mess for those scenes to make a difference.

Fans of these two actors are advised that rather than seeing this film they can better spend their time watching Iron Man and Bored to Death where they can enjoy Downey, Jr. and Galifianakis at their best.

Due Date

From director Todd Phillips, “Due Date” stars Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis as two unlikely companions who are thrown together on a road trip that turns out to be as life-changing as it is outrageous. Downey plays Peter Highman, an expectant first-time father whose wife’s due date is a mere five days away. As Peter hurries to catch a flight home from Atlanta to be at her side for the birth, his best intentions go completely awry when a chance encounter with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) forces Peter to hitch a ride with Ethan on what turns out to be a cross-country road trip that will ultimately destroy several cars, numerous friendships and Peter’s last nerve.

The film will be released on November 5, 2010.

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Iron Man 2

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film based on the legendary Marvel Superhero “Iron Man,” reuniting director Jon Favreau and Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. In “Iron Man 2″ the world is aware that billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, he forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.

Opens May 7th.

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Review in 100 Words – Sherlock Holmes

You’ve already detected with your superior intellect that this is not your father’s Sherlock Holmes. Director Guy Ritchie has brought the staid tweed wearing, pipe smoking crime solver into the 21st century with his trademark camera work and gritty set pieces. Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes is neurotic, brilliant and a sociopath. The stalwart Watson (Jude Law) is a man of action, an ex-soldier with a heart. There is terrific chemistry between the two actors, which helps through the too-long middle act. The production design is top notch. Sherlock Holmes is a great holiday film.

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