The Nice Guys

Shane Black is a big name in the screenwriting world, heck he is a big name in Hollywood in general, and although not everything he has made has been a hit with me, he is still one of the more unique and original voices out there. This is one of the main reasons I went to see The Nice Guys, this and because I love Ryan Gosling…

The Nice Guys follows a pair of mismatched Private Eyes as they investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970’s Los Angeles. First let me commend whoever thought to cast Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as the two leads in this film, because although they may not scream buddy cop comedy gold, they actually provide some of the best laughs in film this year. The chemistry between the two is riveting and even if the story was rubbish (which it’s not!), I could have watched these two guys do anything together and enjoyed the hell out of it. The whole cast is great and there are some really cool characters that join the duo in the fun that I would never have guessed to have worked so well, considering the age of some of those said characters! I’m not spoiling anything for you here, go out and watch this film!

I was worried that this film may have just been Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (in my opinion, Shane Black’s best film) set in the 70’s, and although it shares some similarities, it is not. The idea of this dirty, downtrodden and sex ridden Hollywood works really well and looks great on film. It was great to be watching a film with a contemporary noir aesthetic that was constantly on the move, the film rarely takes a moment to slow down! I was caught from the get go and as you learn more about the characters you get more and more invested in them. It plays out really nicely and I walked out of the cinema with a big smile on my face.

 

It's a very solid film and it looks great too. You can tell that everyone involved was having a great time on set, the comedy really flows and there are only a few moments that feel slightly forced. It was great but it didn’t wow me like the first time I saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, that however that is a very tough film to top. As a comedy though, this is still the best one we have seen this year and although we are only halfway through I can’t see any films topping it in the near future.

Need something fun to go see at the cinema this weekend, go watch the The Nice Guys, you won’t regret it! I’m giving the film a rating of 4/5.

What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Iron Man 3

So yet again I am sorry it has been quite slow recently here on my blog but I am back and ready to review Iron Man 3, you didn't think I'd miss this one out did you? And as always the review is spoiler free! The Avengers made a tonne of money so Marvel can now put more into their solo films making this the biggest Iron Man film to date, but was it the  best? The start of Marvel Phase 2 is here and it kicks off with a bang! After a lacklustre sequel is Iron Man 3 the best film of series so far?

In this instalment we see Tony Stark at his lowest after the event of The Avengers have taken their tole on his mental state and unluckily for him The Mandarin is at large. After series of attacks on America and one that hits too close to home, Tony must go after the worlds biggest terrorist. The story takes some elements of the Extremis story arc in the comics however new director and writer Shane Black only takes elements of this storyline and a few others to make his own piece.

As you may have already guessed Robert Downey Jr once again kicks ass as Tony Stark as does Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and surprisingly Don Cheadle, who is less annoying this time round as War Machine/Iron Patriot, much better than Iron Man 2 as he was given a bit more to do this time round. New additions to the cast include Ben Kingsley who plays the brilliant role of The Mandarin but a different type of villain to the one you may have seen in the comics. We also get to see Rebecca Hall as scientist Maya Hansen and Guy Pearce playing Aldrich Killian, both great in their roles also.

After a not so great sequel, Iron Man 3 returns to the original by stripping Tony away of everything, no Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D to help him, allowing us to see the man we saw in a cave in Afghanistan creating the Mark 1 suit. However the threequel does also feel very different to it's predecessors, sometimes this is not always a good thing with the film dipping it's feet in many different genres such as comedy, action, thriller and even at one point it felt like a family movie with the introduction of a child who stays at Stark's side for a short period of the film. Not as annoying as it initially may sound.

There is a lot of cool action in this film and the best of it is not when Tony is suited up, instead it is when

he only has parts of his suit on him or none at all. The full suit action was just as fun, though it does seem that they are a lot more breakable than the other films. The effects as always are pretty awesome and are at their best during a scene where Iron Man must save a bunch of civilians falling out of a plane. The look of the new suits are awesome as well and I am very happy that they decided on revamping War Machine to The Iron Patriot suit.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this film which is great and some really bold moves by Marvel. One twist however will leave the audience in two minds,

you will be either be happily surprised or disappointed  I am yet to make my mind up.

The writing from Shane Black is great and Tony Stark continues his funny streak from The Avengers some jokes may fall flat with some people but I had a blast. My criticisms of the film would be that some sequences were quite predictable and the ending seemed a bit rushed. The soundtrack also lacked the awesome ACDC tracks that I feel really complemented Iron Man in the first two films. The film as whole though is a lot of fun, it was a lot better than Iron Man 2 but failed to blow me away the way the original did. A lot of critics are saying it is better than The Avengers however I do disagree with this, either way this was a very good start to Marvel Phase 2 and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the films have in store and what Joss Whedon has up his sleeve for The Avengers 2! I am giving Iron Man 3 a rating of 4/5.

Remember to stick around after the credits and look out for yet another great cameo from Stan 'The Man' Lee.

Thanks for reading! What did you think of Iron Man 3? Please comment below.