The Nice Guys

First Hit:  A dark comedy with some very funny bits and a fair amount of violence.

There are definitely some laugh-out-loud moments in this film. The juxtaposition between the personalities of the main characters made it work.

Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) a guy who uses his fists to set things right. He's hired by all sorts of people who want someone to leave them alone. He’s ruff, gruff and no-nonsense in his approach. He hits people and asks questions later.

On the other side of the coin we have Holland March (Ryan Gosling), a former police officer and currently a private detective who tries to take the easy way out most of the time. He gets is PI fees up-front and is not always fair to, or honest with, his clients.

He feels guilty because he lost his wife and house to a fire that he might have prevented had he been able to smell. March has taken to drinking most of the time and, although he has a great relationship with his young daughter Holly (Angourie Rice), he's not being a great example as a father.

Holly has become the strength of their home and most of the time she’s really taking care of him. Some of the funny bits are slapstick falls that March takes along with the physical and conversational interaction between Healy and March.

There are also fond remembrances of comics past, including Gosling’s version of Lou Costello’s attempts at calling for help with nothing coming out of his mouth because he’s in state of paralysis/shock because he finds himself lying next to a dead man. There are laugh out loud scenes (many at the big party) as well as a convoluted crime story they are attempting to resolve.

Crowe is perfect as the no-nonsense physical enforcer of right and wrong, according to him. Gosling was very strong as the confused, in mourning, and trying to find how to get of of his funk father. His ability to be both smart and not-smart in this character and make it work is wonderful. Rice was the star of the film. Her maturity while being able to be a young teenager with a conscious was stunning. We will see much more of her as she develops as an actress. There a number of other character actors in this film that were very strong including: Margaret Qualley (as Amelia), Beau Knapp (as Blueface) and Lance Valentine Butler (as Kid on Bike). Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi wrote an dynamically funny and engaging script. While Black’s direction was strong in bringing out the dynamics of the main three’s relationship.

Overall:  I enjoyed the story and the dark humor.

Iron Man 3 (3D)

First Hit:  Loved and enjoyed moments and was bored silly at what seemed to be a dumb premise – very uneven film.

The opening credits and set-up were interesting and I was hopeful of a witty well done film in the genre of Iron Man 1.

Robert Downey Jr. was perfect in 1 and in that film he set a high mark for the character. He’s always done his best to fulfill the scripts given to him in all these films.

In 3 we see Tony Stark (Iron Man) spend all his time tinkering, having odd flashes of anxiety, and in a deeper relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). The unbecoming part of this story is, someone came up with a drug to increase a person’s strength and would also fix their physical issues (like a cut, missing limb, etc.) – yeah it sounds both interesting and stupid and that is exactly how this film is.

The product has problems, so if you have anger management issues, it is likely you will explode like a small thermonuclear device. The guy who is controlling all this Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who doesn’t want the limelight of being the head terrorist so he hires someone to be the primary public figure and names him “The Mandarin” (Ben Kingsley).

Killian gets people hooked on the drugs properties and uses them as weapons against society in a terrorist fashion. What is he aiming at? Whoa, that is the issue; because control of the USA is unlikely in the way the plot unfolds. There is nothing in the story development that gives you the sense that this end goal would result in anything.

Yes a film with a “not well thought out plot”. All of this “stuff” (and that is what it is – just stuff) is a way for the director to create a pretense for Killian and Stark to have clashes all over the USA – some in California, Tennessee, Washington and NYC. In another piss poor equipment twist (made to be funny); was when a bus runs into one of the many Iron Man suits, it completely breaks apart, while in other scenes the another suit withstands 10 times the punishment of a bus hit and is unscratched. Which is it? Is the suit strong, or is it a plastic mock up?

The kid Stark works with Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) is perfect to bring out other sides of Stark.

Downey Jr. is as always witty. It is unfortunate that the storyline is so poor that his witticisms and incredible acting abilities are wasted. Paltrow, although a key character, has a minor role but does what she can within the confines of the mediocre script. Pearce is ineffective at portraying a character wanting to control the USA. Simpkins is enjoyable and one of the better parts of the film. Kingsley is amusing as The Mandarin. Don Cheadle, reprising his familiar role as Colonel James Rhodes, enjoys his “War Machine” (“Iron Patriot”) suit and it comes across that way. Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen (maker of the juice that screws people up) is OK but lacked believability that she would have created this juice, let alone sold out to Killian. Drew Pearce and Shane Black wrote a very mediocre script with more thoughtless holes than Swiss cheese. Shane Black got caught up with his own story and therefore directed a mediocre film. However, I will say that the 3D effects were very good because it only enhanced the film and didn’t make it the object of the film.

Overall:  This film ranks far below the original Iron Man.