Smorgasbord Fantasia

Robert Downey Jr. is to Tony Stark, what Sean Connery meant to James Bond in those heady days. He’s become iconic. With the release of Iron Man-3, where he’s flat out exceeded pretty much any linear yardstick of comparisons thrown at him, Downey Jr. has gone to stratospheric heights of Super-Hero Stardom.  The third movie in the Iron-Man franchise from the Marvel Comics stable, Iron Man-3 is an all-stops pulled out flat-out entertainer executed on an grandiose spectacular scale. There is nothing to complain in the movie ( ahem. Barring a few deus-ex-machina moments, but heck, for the sake of pure unadulterated entertainment, I am willing to suspend my disbelief and let Tony and gang have their way!) A hero who is willing to show his human vulnerability and wears it like a shield in fact through the movie, dread-inducing villians ( you got not one, but two of them!), a romantic tension that crackles between the lead pair and a brilliant explosive climax that is a...

This is something like hot off the press, remember those olden day headlines? I have similar thoughts flashing as I write this. Just dropped back home after having watched Joss Whedon’s summer blockbuster for 2012 – The Avengers.  Initial emotional reaction: a tad bit disappointed, but the last 30 minutes of the movie kinda made up for it. 5 super heroes crammed into one movie, it was bound to be ripping away at the seams. Explosive, by far( we know it was a foregone conclusion. But entertaining? I got my reservations. But let me not see those long faces droop; all is not lost. It’s actually pretty much a fun-filled rollercoaster ride. Three things stood out for me. One, Tony Brilliant Eccentric Genius Mr. Stark, take a bow.   You just cannot help loving the Iron Man character, insouciant swagger, irreverent devil-may-care attitude, crackling dry wit. It’s all there,   vintage Robert Downey Jr. the one guy who alleviates boredom in this movie. Two...