Movie review: Iron Man 2

The Invincible Iron Man is back. With a vengeance.

After defeating his father’s old business partner turned evil rogue, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is now focusing his energy on preserving world peace, essentially by using his armoured suit as the individual equivalent of a nuclear deterrent. The authorities, however, led by an obnoxious senator (Garry Shandling), seem to think that this powerful weapon belongs to the American people (i.e. the US military), not to one man or his private corporation. Stark, naturally, disagrees – as it later turns out, both because of a sense of ownership and – primarily – for more personal reasons.

This is not Starks’ only concern, though. Rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) is also a growing concern for Stark Industries – and as if that wasn’t enough: While he is busy fighting both the government, the competition, and his personal issues, Stark’s past once again comes back to haunt him, this time in the form of the son of a former colleague of his father’s.

The first Iron Man movie was my favourite among the ‘new bunch’ of film versions made by Marvel and Paramount. It brought a refreshingly self-ironic approach to the superhero genre, managing to find the perfect blend of a relatively dark storyline and even darker humour. I am glad to say that the sequel also delivers and all those accounts – even more so than its predecessor.

Downey is perfect as the brilliant and brilliantly narcissistic billionaire, but the whole cast around him is what makes this movie so enjoyable: Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, the pithy PA with more balls than most of the men in the movie put together; Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko, the deranged evil genius; Don Cheadle as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, long-time friend and the Jiminy Cricket to Stark’s Pinocchio. A part he took over from Terrence Howard and – no offence to Howard – adds a lot more substance to.

To me, though, the most enjoyable performance, – apart from Downey himself – was Rockwell as Justin Hammer. He manages to switch effortlessly between complete deadpan and an almost Tom Cruise-like creepy craziness, and steals every single scene he is in.

A word of praise for director Jon Favreau: Not only has he proven – twice now – that he can put together a thoroughly entertaining big budget blockbuster action flick; he also manages to deliver an enjoyable performance as Stark’s chauffeur sidekick Happy Hogan.

Not much to say about the special effects: they are as good as could be expected from a movie of this calibre and budget size – which is to say, very good.

Like two of the previous Marvel movies (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk), this movie also has the double function of building up to the announced Avengers movie. There are two more movies to come before that – Captain America and Thor, both scheduled for release in the summer of 2011 – to complete the cast. Watch out for the nice little easter eggs in this movie (and of course for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo). Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his organizsation S.H.I.E.L.D. also feature much more heavily in this movie than in the previous two, and we get more of the background story for the organization. Hopefully, even more is to come next year.

Finally, in both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, there was an extra scene inserted at the end of the credits. This is the case again with Iron Man 2. Do yourself a favour and stay in your seat those 6-7 minutes. It is definitely worth it.

Iron Man 2 (2010) Starring Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Favreau. Written by Justin Theroux. Directed by Jon Favreau. Rated PG-13. 2 h 04 min.

Futurama – back after a short absence

Matt Groening is by far best known for creating The Simpsons, one of the best – and most popular – animated TV shows of all time. He also created another TV show which is at least as good but not nearly as popular – at least not with the general public.

Futurama features pizza delivery boy and chronic ne’er-do-well Philip J. Fry who, on New Year’s Eve 1999, accidentially stumbles into a cryogenic freezer and is thawed again in the year 3000, where he gets a job as – a delivery boy, basically. Needless to say, the world has changed immensely in the last thousand years – or has it?

The characters are just as crazy and funny as Homer & Co.: Leela, the one-eyed amazon; Bender, the misanthropic, ego-centric robot; Hermes Conrad, possibly the only rastafarian accountant in the known universe; Zapp Brannigan, the starship captain with more testosterone than Shatner himself; and of course Dr Zoidberg, the incompetent but lovable lobster physician.

Just like The Simpsons, Groening uses the animated world of Futurama to comment on the real world. The satire and social commentary is just as poignant and the pop culture references are just as numerous – albeit more specifically aimed at a sci-fi audience, which might explain why the show never achieved the same broad popular appeal as its sister show. The Simpsons have celebrated their 20th anniversary as America’s – and the world’s – favourite dysfunctional family, and they are still going strong. Some might argue that they are past their prime, but every now and then they still churn out a really good episode.

The story of Futurama is – or, at least, used to be – somewhat shorter: the show proper only lasted four seasons and 72 episodes from 1999-2003, after which it was cancelled by Fox (who else?) due to low ratings. This was seven years ago and may seem like old news by now. However, in 2008-09 four straight-to-DVD films were produced and later aired as 16 half-hour episodes, comprising the official “fifth season” of the show on Comedy Central. These were generally well-recieved, mostly of high quality and definitely in the vein of the original show. The success of these movies/episodes prompted Fox do to something quite extraordinary: they decided to revive the show after a seven year hiatus.

Whereas British and other European TV shows regularly have longer gaps between seasons, it is practically unheard of in America. Remaking old shows or creating new shows within an existing franchise? Yes. All too often. Simply continuing an existing show as if it had never been off the air? – now that’s a different matter altogether. Fox have been known in the past to screw up several brilliant and promising shows, more than one of them in the science-fiction genre. What they are doing with Futurama is a first for them. Also, the show will only be produced by Fox (featuring all of the old cast and most of the old crew) but broadcast on Comedy Central. All in all, there is plenty of reason for us fans of the show to be hopeful that this is the beginning of a new era of greatness. I for one am eagerly awaiting the first of the new episodes, scheduled to air on 24 June.

Futurama (1999-?) Voices: Billy West, Katey Segal, John DiMaggio, Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, Frank Welker. Created by Matt Groening. Rated TV-PG. Approx. runtime: 30 min incl. commercials.

Book review: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

If you like books that combine comedy with biting political satire, look no further. If you like books that challenge you intellectually and actually make you think, Jasper Fforde is your man. His Thursday Next series is filled with literary as well as pop culture references and presents an alternate reality Britain that would be both awesomely fascinating and kind of scary to live in. His Nursery Crime books take elements from stories and fairy tales known to every child in at least the English-speaking world and use them in ways that are thought-provoking, entertaining, and at least PG rated.

With Shades of Grey, Fforde once again demonstrates his ability to create worlds that engross you completely while reading about them – and fill them with identifiable and three- (sometimes even four-!) dimensional characters. The story takes place in a post-post-apocalyptic future Britain with traces of both 1984 and Brave New World. All we know is that a big ‘Something’ happened centuries ago and now the entire social order is based on a book written by some mysterious semi-historical figure (just imagine!). Society has become a ‘colourtocracy’: people are born only able to see a certain amount of certain colours. The more colour you can see, the higher you are ranked within your group, and some colours are ‘better’ than others. At the top of society are the pompous Yellow elite and at the bottom the drone-like Greys, performing all the menial jobs nobody else wants. Order is maintained by a complex, public school-like system of Monitors and Prefects, merits and demerits.

The protagonist is Eddie Russett, a young Red who has never really questioned the existing social order: his whole life so far has revolved around building up enough of a dowry to marry up. When he has to follow his father to his new job in the village of East Carmine, however, he meets an intriguing Grey girl named Jane who teaches him to ask questions that the powers-that-be would rather leave unanswered – and his life changes forever.

Despite the obvious similarities to fatalist authors like Orwell and Huxley, Ffordes stories are actually anything but grim. His prose is wonderfully consistent and upbeat, despite the big and serious issues he tackles. You might not laugh out loud along the way, but you are sure to chuckle a whole lot. Like his other books, the world in Shades of Grey is populated with a huge supporting cast of almost Dickensian characters that the author seems to have put in purely for his own – and our – enjoyment: most of don’t really need to be there to help the story along – but they sure a a lot of fun. Like the other fictional worlds Fforde has created, this one is eerily weird and strangely recognisable, scary and oddly compelling at the same time – and it is guaranteed to draw you in completely. This is one dystopia I wouldn’t mind living in – at least for a short while. Fforde is simply the most refreshingly readable English-language author since Terry Pratchett. If you have read any of his other books, you are sure to enjoy this one just as much. If not – don’t deprive yourself of the experience.

N.B. The book is subtitled ‘The Road to High Saffron’, and at the end the titles of a further two volumes are revealed, in the best James Bond tradition. I for one can’t wait!

Shades of Grey (2010) by Jasper Fforde. 436 pp. paperback. Listed for € 14.49 on play.com

Book review: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Unseen Academicals is the 37th and latest installment in Terry Pratchett’s massively successful Discworld series. Having read all the previous books and watched them get better and better I naturally had great expectations of this book. Following the news of Sir Terry being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s I was also, unavoidably, afraid that this book might signal the beginning decline of the series. I’m glad to say that I was quickly proven wrong about the latter. The series is still going stronger than ever.

If you’re unfamiliar with Discworld, I have two things to say to you: 1) Don’t start here! Start from the beginning and read the books in the order they were published. 2) I’m so envious of all the wonderful experiences you have ahead of you. If you know the series already, read on!

Unseen Academicals centres on the game of football and its transformation from a type of primitive mass fight in the streets of Ankh-Morpork to the regulated and (relatively) civilised game that we Roundworlders know and love. Due to the discovery of an ancient and long forgotten statute, the wizards of Unseen University have to form a football team and play a game. When the city’s tyrant, the delightfully Machiavellian Lord Vetinari, intervenes the game is changed for ever.

The story is made up from three interlinked plot lines. One follows the wizards trying to create a new version of the game, all the while dealing with both internal faculty politics, city politics, and old colleagues-cum-competitors. Another plot line focuses on some of the “downstairs” staff at the university, how the game influences their lives and vice versa. The third plot line deals with a specific new character who rises to prominence as coach of the university football team. Suffice to say that this character belongs to a classic fantasy race, but one not previously dealt with by Pratchett.

As for weak points, this book, like all of Pratchett’s work, has precious few. If I have to point something out, it would be the romance in the second plot line. To me, male-female interaction has always been Pratchett’s Achilles’ heel as a writer. It seems to me he puts them in his books because they “ought to be there”. Then again, it might just be that I as a reader am bored by romances – or that the wizards were so well-written that the other characters paled in comparison. Either way, I found myself wanting to skip ahead to those parts of the story.

The strong points of Unseen Academicals are the same that make all the Discworld novels so great: Pratchett’s grasp of satire and his ability to use subtle yet dark comedy to comment on current events and issues fits perfectly into the British comedic tradition. To quote the author himself: “It [Discworld] is a world and a mirror of worlds”.

The social complexity has increased with each book and continues to do so: new characters are introduced, keeping the series fresh and interesting, while at the same time we see new sides of familiar characters: for instance, we get to see the Patrician drunk for the first time(!).

That, combined with the numerous allusions as well as literary and cultural references – of which I am sure I only caught a fraction the first time around – makes all the Discworld books ideally suited for second (and third, etc.) readings. Pratchett probably won’t be as prolific in the future as he used to be, but luckily we have all of his previous work to re-read. I for one look forward to picking up Unseen Academicals again and discovering even more delightful details while waiting for the next book…

Unseen Academicals (2009) by Terry Pratchett. 400 pp. hardcover. Listed for € 12.49 on play.com