Movie Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)

This review contains minor spoilers. Readers who wish to avoid any kind of plot related details/information are recommended to skip this review.

The planet saving heroics of Avengers has left Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) a broken man. Tortured and paranoid, Tony is hell bent on building the best possible weapons and suit. Jarvis (voiced by Paul Bettany) advises Tony to allocate more time for Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian 

Pepper finds herself the object of attention of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Aldrich has been working on Extremis technology and is trying to strike a deal with Stark Industries, now that Pepper is the CEO. Previously, Tony had rejected his proposal.

The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is issuing terrorist threats to the US President Ellis (William Sadler) and masterminding some deadly explosions. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is left seriously injured in one such incident. This makes things personal for Tony and he issues a direct challenge to the Mandarin.

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin

Tony's Malibu residence comes under heavy attack by Mandarin's henchmen. Jarvis pilots Tony out of the scene of action to Tennessee. Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) becomes Iron Patriot and is on the Mandarin's trail.

Tony befriends a youngster, Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) and starts his campaign against the Mandarin. The enemy is not slagging off either. Couple of Mandarin's agents, Savin (James Badge Dale) and Brandt (Stephanie Szostak) attack Tony. Separated from his Iron Man armor, Tony turns to his brains and outsmarts his pursuers.

Tony tracks down the Mandarin and is in for a major surprise. Revealing any more details will be spoiling the fun.

Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes/Iron Patriot

Pepper gets kidnapped and the Mandarin is gunning for the President's life. Tony has to save his girl and the President and teams up with his buddy, Rhodes for an all-out climactic confrontation.

Robert Downey Jr. returns in the role that turned around his acting career and made him a bonafide movie star. RDJ spends a considerable amount of time in the movie outside the Iron Man suit. Interestingly, RDJ looked bored and his zingers lacked the usual verve. Doing the same role in 4 movies in 5 years (5 movies, if his cameo in The Incredible Hulk is also considered) seems to have sapped his passion. I am curious to see his performance in the Avengers sequel slated to be released in 2015.

Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce walk away with the acting honors. Both of them have a blast playing the baddies.

Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen

Rebecca Hall is criminally underused as Maya Hansen, Tony's old flame and presently working for Aldrich. With minor changes to the script, her character could have been totally written out and the movie would not have been impacted in the least.

Don Cheadle, Stephanie Szostak and James Badge Dale make good use of their screentime. I have never taken to Gwyneth's performance as Pepper and this movie does not help her case either.

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There are a number of action sequences in the movie and almost all of them deliver the goods. I especially enjoyed the helicopter attack on Tony Stark's residence and an indoor action sequence with Tony acquiring the Iron Man armor in bits and pieces as the fight goes along. 

Iron Man confronts Mandarin's henchmen

Shane Black has done a solid job with the writing. There are a number of twists and turns that will delight the audience. Dialogues are his forte and Iron Man 3 is no exception.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

Recommended to Marvel and RDJ fans, who will undoubtedly enjoy this movie.

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Image Sources: Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures, Screencrush

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TV Review: Elementary Episode # 21 - A Landmark Story

The episode starts with a brief flasback to episode # 12 "M" as a kind of quick refresher to Moran's character for new viewers.

Cut to the present. Two people related to the same establishment die in seemingly normal circumstances. The first death is due to a heart attack (a severe one though by any criteria) and second victim is killed by a falling air conditioner.

Sebastian Moran (Vinnie Jones) is out of his solitary confinement in Newgate. He requests a meeting with Sherlock and infroms his that the aforementioned first victim was on his hit list.

Sherlock and Joan quickly zero in on a probable third victim and are able to stop the killer. Holmes apprehends the killer, Daniel Gottlieb (F. Murray Abraham) and interrogates him in his brownstone apartment. Holmes send a message to Moriarty from Gottlieb's phone. This leads Holmes to track down yet another of Moriarty's agents, John Douglas (Roger Aaron Brown). But John is killed by an unseen assassin, before Holmes can elicit any information.

Moriarty sends a new message to Gottlieb on his phone. Gottlieb informs Holmes that this is not the usual code. To save time, Holmes tries to get Moran to decipher the information. Moran however refuses to help and it is up to Holmes to crack the code. 

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Canonical References

1. When Joan asks Sherlock if he has broken into a mortuary before, Sherlock refers to "a certain problem of Thor Bridge" - In the Canon, Holmes and Watson enter a crypt in The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place. In The Problem of Thor Bridge, there is no mention of mortuary or a crypt.
2. The second victim is killed by a falling air conditioner - In The Final Problem, a similar attempt is made on Holmes' life by one of Professor Moriarty's agents: "I kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses and was shattered to fragments at my feet. I called the police and had the place examined. There were slates and bricks piled up on the roof preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the wind had toppled over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I could prove nothing."
3. One of Moriarty's agents is named John Douglas - In The Valley of Fear, Sherock Holmes sets out to solve the murder of John Douglas.
4. Both John Douglas and Sebastian Moran refer to Moriarty as "him" - In The Valley of Fear, Holmes states about Moriarty: "When any of that party talk about "He" you know whom they mean. There is one predominant "He" for all of them."
5. Moran refers to Moriarty: "He's got ears and eyes everywhere in here" - In The Final Problem, Sherlock Holmes mentions about Professor Moriarty: "But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized."
6. Miller's Holmes refers to Daniel Gottlieb  as "a man after my own heart" - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes remarks about Dr Mortimer: "This is a colleague, Watson, after our own heart."
7. Miller's Holmes works on the case without a  sleep - The Canonical Holmes is known for skipping food and sleep when working hard on a case.
8. Miller's Holmes deciphers the system of coded messages sent by Moriarty - In The Adventure of the Dancing Men, Sherlock Holmes solves the case by decrypting similarly coded messages
9. Miller's Holmes is too late to prevent the outcome of the coded messages, that he deciphers. - In The Adventure of the Dancing Men, Holmes is unable to prevent tragedy and redeems himself by capturing the murderer.
10. Miller's Holmes compliments Joan by stating that "some people without possessing genius have a remarkable knack for stimulating it" - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes remarks about Watson: "It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it."
11. Joan Watson is delighted by Holmes' comments about the improvement in his life due to their connection - This is not a direct reference, but still reminded me of Watson's reaction (to Holmes' praise of his deductions from Dr Mortimer's walking stick) in The Hound of the Baskervilles: "He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods."

The best part of this episode was the Oscar Winner F. Murray Abraham's scenes as Gottlieb. He is the "scalpel" to Moran's "sledgehammer", as Holmes put it. Murray has superb acting chops and would easily make a remarkable "Napolean of Crime".  Coincidentally, I have been enjoying his work as a narrator on many PBS Nature videos. I am going to check out Amadeus for which he won the Academy award for best actor in a leading role.

He is easily the best casting choice so far and easily surpasses that of Miller and Liu as Holmes and Watson. Here's hoping he indeed turns out to be Moriarty.

Speaking of Holmes and Joan, there are some aspects of "character development" that I will be discussing in a separate post. Suffice to say, it was a big letdown.

Still, there were some enjoyable aspects - Miller's Holmes using Joan's legos to stuff his bag for his meeting with John Douglas. We also see Miller's Holmes trying out his skills as an escape artist. 

Joan's reply to Holmes thanking her for helping him decrypt the coded message was hilarious: "Oh, an insult and a boast".

Vinnie Jones continues his good work as Sebastian Moran. He has an intense screen presence. We also learn that this version of Moran has a sister.

The episode was more of a setup for the season finale. To give an analogy, this episode is like the individual Marvel movies (Iron Man movies, Thor and Captain America) that built the audience expectations for Avengers, the box office phenomenon. Let's hope the season finale does indeed live up to the hype!

Trivia

• Miller's Holmes is listening to the song "Singin' the Blues" by Bix Beiderbecke
• The song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" by Countdown Kids is sung by Sebastian Moran

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Image Sources: CBS, ONTD

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TV Review: Elementary Episode # 20 - Dead Man's Switch

For the first time, we have a modern update to one of the original stories - The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.

This week's case is courtesy of Holmes' sponsor Alfredo (Ato Essandoh). Alfredo's own sponsor Ken Whitman (Thomas Jay Ryan), is one of Milverton's blackmail victims. Ken's daughter Eva (Portia Reiners) has been drugged and raped by one Brent Garvey (Tom Guiry).

Milverton (David Mogentale) gets his materials by buying old storage units. In the original story, Milverton paid housemaids/valets to obtain sensitive information.

Holmes breaks into Milverton's house to recover the material(s). Holmes unwittingly becomes a witness to Milverton's murder by an unknown assailant.

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Holmes reports the murder to Captain Gregson and convinces him to keep the murder a secret for the sake of other blackmail victims. Holmes wants to find out the identity of Milverton's associate, who might leak the remaining videos to the world.

One of the other victim's father, Anthony Pistone (Joseph Siravo) has been arrested for trying to bury Milverton's body.

I will leave it to the readers to find out more details for themselves.

Canonical References

1. The character of Charles Augustus Milverton is the antagonist in the story The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
2. Miller's Holmes refers to Milverton as being "more despicable than even murderers" - Reference to this Iine spoken by Holmes about Milverton in the story, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton: "....I would ask you how could one compare the ruffian, who in hot blood bludgeons his mate, with this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?"
3. Miller's Holmes breaks into Milverton's house to recover some materials and becomes an unwitting witness to his murder - In the story, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, the same thing happens except that Holmes is accompanied by Watson.
4. Holmes compliments Eva Whitman on her violin playing skills - Reference to Holmes being a good violin player as mentioned in A Study in Scarlet
5. Holmes wakes Joan from her sleep to discuss about the case - In the Canon, it has happened in many cases – either due to the sudden visit by a client (The Adventure of the Speckled Band) or after Holmes has had a sudden brainwave (The Man with the Twisted Lip)
6. Joan mentions beehives in a discussion about pets with Holmes - Watson mentions that Holmes has taken to bee-farming in The Adventure of the Second Stain. In His Last Bow, Sherlock Holmes has written a book: “Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen.”
7. Holmes is seen listening to a police transmissions scanner- The Canonical Holmes read the agony columns in the papers for potential cases.
8. Holmes makes some deductions based on the paper quality - Holmes makes deductions about paper quality in several stories inclucing A Scandal in Bohemia.
9. Holmes uses handwriting analysis as part of his investigation - The Canonical Holmes used handwriting analysis to solve crimes in A Case of Identity and The Reigate Puzzle. 
10. Miller's Holmes states that he has "no interest in in public celebrations, speeches, encouragements or the bestowing of chips" - Watson mentions in The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot: "...I have continually been faced by difficulties caused by his own aversion to publicity. To his sombre and cynical spirit all popular applause was always abhorrent,..."
11. Holmes recognizes the scent of cat litter at Milverton's house - Holmes mentions in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: "I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent."
12. Holmes refers to his tattoo needle as the "only needle these arms see anymore" - Reference to the Canonical Holmes' use of cocaine injection using needles

I felt that more emphasis was laid on Holmes' drug addiction than on the mystery element. Despite having a number of references to the original stories, the episode was not very interesting.

We learn that Miller's Holmes is

• ambidextrous
• an accomplished tattoo artist

Miller's Holmes describes himself as being as "stealthy as a shadow". The Canonical Holmes has often shown that he has acute senses of sight, hearing and smell. This would be a logical extension of his skill sets.

Miller's Holmes also shows his knowledge of British history. He uses the metric unit "kgs"  - another reference to his British nature. 

Joan Watson does her own detective work by listening to scanners. She makes a deduction about the shoe size of the killer from the boot prints on a corpse. Holmes also refers to both of them as being consultants for the NYPD and even refers to her "former" career as a sober companion.

Alfredo too does some surveillance work.

Gregson and Bell do not have much to do in this episode. We do learn that Captain Gregson has daughters, a fact that Holmes utilizes to his advantage.

Trivia

• The song "Cello Suite No.1 Prelude" by Johann Sebastian Bach is played by the character of Eva Whitman when Holmes interrupts her.
• Joan gifts Holmes lines from the poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
• The song "Two Trains" by Yo La Tengo is played in the aforementioned gifting scene

If this episode is any indication, I think it would be best for the writers to stick to writing original stories. Some of the best episodes so far (Child Predator, M and The Deductionist) are examples to support this theory.

Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Steve Thompson are doing a great job at giving us modern updates of the classic stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Image Source: CBS

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Black Rhinoceros

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Mammalia

Order : Perissodactyla

Suborder : Ceratomorpha
Family : Rhinocerotidae

Genus : Diceros
Species: Diceros bicornis

Protection status : Critically Endangered

Diet : Herbivore 

Habitat : Woodland and scrubland

Black Rhinos are found in Central and Southern Africa. They weigh between 2090 to 2870 lbs. Their height varies from 4.7 to 5.2 ft and live up to 40 years.

Black Rhinos feed on woody plants, herbs and fruits.

The most distinguishing feature of the rhino, the 2 horns are also the leading cause for their current precarious situation. The horns are highly priced by poachers, who acquire them to sell them at exorbitant rates to certain countries/cultures that use them in traditional medicine and/or high status dagger handles.

The simple fact remains that the horns are only made of tightly packed hair-like fibers (called Keratin). There is no scientific proof for the effectiveness of rhino horns to cure illness/disease(s).

Black Rhinos are one of the many critically endangered species on our planet and need active conservation on our part.

To learn more about rhino conservation and how you can contribute to saving these magnificent animals, please visit African Wildlife Foundation and International Rhino Foundation.

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Photos were taken at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.

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Movie Review - Evil Dead (2013)

The opening prologue shows a father setting his possessed daughter on fire and then shooting her in the face at point blank range.

Cut to the present. Mia (Jane Levy) is trying to kick her drug habit and has her friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Olivia (Jessica Lucas) for support. Mia’s estranged brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez) and his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) are here too.

The 5 youngsters have chosen a cabin in the woods, away from human civilization. Of course, this is the same place where the previously mentioned burning and shooting took place.

Shiloh Fernandez as David

They discover a lot of weird stuff in the cellar. Eric is very curious about a book, "Naturom Demonto" covered by barbed wires and has been clearly labeled (in human blood) to be left alone. Eric disregards these warnings. We would not have a horror movie, if Eric did otherwise!

Following the same course of events as in the original movie, Mia faces the same ordeal in the woods (aka being violated by the trees in the woods).

Mia wants to leave the cabin and return to the city. Mia has failed in her previous efforts and her friends (especially Olivia, a registered nurse) are determined to see to it that she succeeds this time.

Lou Taylor Pucci as Eric

Soon, the others start changing one by one into deadites. David is still not convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Only Eric suspects that his chanting of the verses in the book might be the reason.

I am a fan of the original Evil Dead trilogy. Sam Raimi made the first movie on a shoestring budget and that movie is a certifiable classic. The sequels had as much slapstick humor as horror. The Sam Raimi-Bruce Campbell worked wonders.

In the latest movie, there is no successful replacement for Bruce Campbell’s Ash.

Jessica Lucas as Olivia 

The movie lacks the enjoyable humor and fun, that Raimi brought to the earlier movies. The aspects of the movie I enjoyed the most were the references to Raimi’s movies and the nail gun “fight” between a deadite and a character. Gore has become the trend with the horror movie genre these days and Evil Dead is only happy to continue this (unfortunate) case.

To give the movie credit where it’s due, the practical effects are very convincing and executed very well. The music by Roque Baños makes some effective use of sirens. 

The last 15 minutes were genuinely gripping. If only the rest of the movie had been as much fun…

Jane Levy as Mia

Jane Levy is the best of the bunch with an excellent performance. Lou Taylor Pucci and Jessica Lucas fare the next best. Elizabeth Blackmore is adequate.

The biggest disappointment is Shiloh Fernandez as David. He seems to be a student of the wooden faced school of acting. Hope he achieves the same level of success as other (equally unappealing but highly successful) contemporaries like Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

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Recommended to gorehounds only. Readers looking for a genuine horror movie are recommended to check out the original Evil Dead trilogy or the recent releases Sinister or Cabin in the Woods.

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Image Sources: FilmDistrict, Ghost House Pictures and TriStar Pictures

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BBC Sherlock - Season 3 Episode # 2 title revealed!

Dear Readers,

As the Season 3 filming progresses, we are getting more information about the episodes. Today, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have revealed the name of the second episode: The Sign of Three.

The title is a play on the name of the second novel, The Sign of Four. John Watson meets Mary Morstan in this story.

Steve Thompson ("The Blind Banker" and "The Reichenbach Fall") is handling the writing duties for this episode.

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Image Source: Sherlockology

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