A Week of Movies: All Three Are Worthy

I immersed myself in movies this week. I've been battling a cold and not really feeling up to hitting things very hard on the work front. I did manage to crank out a couple of assignments, but jumped at the chance to kick another one down the road by postponing the deadline to some unnamed future date.

I am feeling somewhat better; thank-you very much. Sadly my slacker attitude lingers on.

In any event, I sprang for the 11 bucks to see "Iron Man 3" in 3D. These days I usually only see movies at the theater that are in 3D. Otherwise, I'd just as soon watch them on my home entertainment system.

I typically go to matinees, not because they are cheaper, which they are, but because the audiences tend to be much smaller with less opportunity for some boorish dim-bulb to disturb the theater by talking -- either to friends or on his cell phone -- throughout the film.

Location apparently has some impact on the civility of movie audiences. The audiences I've experienced in SC are much more considerate than those in South Fla. On one trip to Fla. last year, I arrived around noon. With nothing to do, I headed to the Cineplex at the Boynton Beach Mall. The matinee audience numbered perhaps 10. The racket was almost deafening: People talking, cell phones ringing and so forth. Unbelievable.

If I time my attendance with some degree of precision, I catch the movie just before it leaves the theater. I managed to do this with "Iron Man."  I was one of three people in the theater for the showing I attended. Perfect!



Pepper receives her own super power in IM3.

Of the Avengers group, I like Iron Man the best. Robert Downey, Jr. does a great job with a character that is interesting to say the least. Well, okay, I like Gwyneth Paltrow, too.

It was fun, exciting and I felt I got my money's worth.

My other movie experiences of the week were Red Box rentals. Because of travel and out-of-town company, it was the first Saturday in a month that I was able to have Italian Night with all the trappings, which include a couple of movies.

If you read this blog with some regularity, you may be aware that I didn't have much good to say about producer Tom Cruise hiring himself to play the lead in his movie "Jack Reacher." It was a colossal example of ego that diminutive Cruise felt he could somehow pull off assuming the rule of a 6'5" (or some such height) brawler. Anyone who has read the Lee Child series of novels will find Cruise in the role a bit hard to swallow.



Cruise and Duval reunited.

Once I got over that, though, I enjoyed the film. It follows one of Child's novels -- One Shot -- rather closely. The action is nonstop. And Robert Duval has a supporting role. Sweet! My verdict: well worth Red Box's $1.59 Blu-ray rental.

My other Saturday night rental was a crap shoot. I hadn't heard of it, but because it stars Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin, I thought "Stand Up Guys" worth taking a chance on the buck-and-a- half investment.

I'm not sure if this is a comedy, a drama or an action film. It contained some of each, but not enough of any of them to be categorized as one or the other. Basically it's a reunion film where three old crooks, who pulled capers 30 years earlier, get back together for one last hurrah. I found it highly entertaining. I laughed out loud a few times.

I love Walken and wish he would have played his character a little more over the top, but all three actors were pretty spot on. Arkin played his usual befuddled self and Pacino was, well, Pacino.

I'm glad I took the chance. My verdict: a bargain at $1.50.

Next week it's the latest Star Trek film in 3D!