You know you're going to get a different kind of superhero when you cast Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. And Iron Man is different, in welcome ways. Cleverly updated from Marvel Comics' longstanding series, Iron Man puts billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (that's Downey) in the path of some Middle Eastern terrorists; in a brilliantly paced section, Stark invents an indestructible suit that allows him to escape.
Neil Jordan's somber The Brave One is a lot of things. A reflective movie about a crime victim's sense of dislocation and isolation from her own life following a harrowing trauma, the film will strike a chord with a lot of people who have known violence. The Brave One is also a provocative drama about the nature of justice, a theme explored endlessly in American movies that typically find law enforcement wanting. In Jordan's film, however, the conflict between instinctive vigilantism and legal protocols is approached with more deliberateness and complexity than usual.
Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing.
Disguise the limit in this hilarious heavyweight hit that's "bigger than Mrs. Doubtfire, and badder than Tootsie"! (Mike Cidoni, ABC-TV) "Martin Lawrence brings down the house!" (E! Online) as crafty FBI agent Malcolm Turner -- he's willing to go through thick and thin in order to catch an escaped federal prisoner. "Nia Long is captivating" (Checkout.com) as Sherry, the con's sexy former flame -- she might have the skinny on millions in stolen bank loot, and she's headed for Georgia to lay low for a while.
