Good To Be Back: IRON MAN 3

After a group outing in last year The Avengers (Avengers Assemble to some), Tony Stark dons his armour for another solo outing. This year's mission is to stop a crazy terrorist leader, The Mandarin from destroying the world.

Set one year after The Avengers, Tony Stark is dealing with the trauma following the attack on Manhattan by Loki and the Chitauri

Stresses and anxiety attacks aside, his life is pretty stable and hunky dory, he's got a girlfriend (Pepper Potts) and he has tons of cool new armours at his disposal (and new method of suiting up).  However, after a terrorist attack, led by the Mandarin, on every aspect of his personal life, which left him powerless, Tony must once again save this day, but this time with less reliance on his suits.

Directed by Shane Black who replaced Jon Favreu as the helmer of the series, Iron Man 3 is without doubt a much better sequel than Iron Man 2 and even better than The Avengers.

Robert Downey is as charismatic, witty, and badass as usual.  Ben Kingsley is truly menacing as The Mandarin and the action sequences are spectacular (the air force one rescue and the attack on the mansion in particular).

The script is surprisingly very, very funny in contrast to the The Dark Knight Rises vibe the trailers were giving. I absolutely loved the opening which is very different than its predecessors, and the post credits sequence.

After two composers (Ramin Djawadi & John Debney), Iron Man finally gets his own (long overdue) heroic theme from Composer Brian Tyler. I have always found the music of Iron Man (AC/DC aside) to be the weakest in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (with Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk being personal favourites), so it is great that Brian Tyler finally gives Iron Man the music he deserves whilst balancing the rock and orchestral elements better than Iron Man 2.

Overall, a very entertaining entry in the series, and I sincerely hope that this is the last Iron Man film, for the ending is just perfect (but looking forward to more of Tony Stark in future Avengers sequels).

4/5

The Circle is Complete : The Place Beyond The Pines

When the first still of the film came out last year, I thought this film would be Drive on two wheels and naturally I was super excited for this film. But The Place Beyond The Pines turned out to be a completely different kind of a beast.

Directed by Derek Cianfrance known for the bleak romance in 2010's Blue Valentine (in which Gosling also starred), Pines also shares much of its realistic grittiness and again a rather unique structure (The Courting & The Parting). 

Pines tells its story in a three act (or chapters?) structure, and each chapters introduce new protagonists.

The first chapter, follows Stuntman Luke Glanton (Gosling), who works at a fair, performing death defying stunts on a motorbike across the country, and he never stays long  in one place, always on the move, never settling down. Everything changes when an old flame, Wilhelmina (Eva Mendes) returns to the picture with an infant son (Jason) from their relationship when he was last in town. Determined to be a part of his son's life, in order to not repeat his own Father's non-presence, Luke decides to settle down, and takes up a low paying job. But, wanting to provide for his son and win Wilhelmina back, Luke decides to turn to bank robbing after a friend, Robin (Ben Mendelhson) (an occasional back robber himself) advised him to do so.

The second chapter, follows the story of Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a rookie cop turned hero after being injured in the line of duty and putting an end to Luke's bank robbing's career. Avery as we learned later on, is overqualified for his job, and is being constantly pushed into politics by his Politician's Father.  With his injury preventing him from working in the field, Avery is reassigned into evidence and discovered a corruption within the Police Department. 

The third chapter is set 15 Years after the first and second and follow Avery and Luke's teenage sons (A.J & Jason played by Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan respectively), as they deal with their own respective father issues. 

The only drawback to this film is only that the second and last chapter are not as gripping as the first.  With chapter two being the weakest of the three. The last chapter is particularly brilliant at drawing parallels between the two sons and their respective fathers, and bringing the story to a complete circle.  There is nothing fancy or heavily stylised about the look of the film, it looks natural, real, bleak yet dreamy. The haunting score composed by Mike Patton is also very well done. Every single actors gave great performances in their respective roles (especially Gosling, Ben Mendelhson, and Emory Cohen). 

Overall, a truly great piece of cinema and I am sure this film will remain in my top three by the end of the year, as of right now, this is my favourite film of the year. 

4.5/5