"Iron Man 3 is an ominously exciting, shoot-the-works comic-book spectacular. It keeps throwing things at you, but not with the random, busy franchise indifference that marked the hollow and grandiose Iron Man 2. Iron Man 3 is closer to a vision of the world teetering on the edge. (...) Robert Downey Jr.'s defining trait as an actor — the way he tosses off each line with speedy, nattering insouciance, as though he were talking to himself, which he basically is (...) Goaded by the press, Stark invites the Mandarin to come at him, and come at Stark he does — with rocket launchers that destroy Stark's home in the first of many darkly bedazzling action sequences, all edited with a detonating precision that renders the violence that much more voluptuously threatening. (...) a climax that's a flat-out epic piece of action-fantasy engineering. I can't say I was moved by Iron Man 3, but I was transported."
by Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly
“The lumbering, metal-suited superhero has turned up in four movies since 2008 (three in the title franchise, plus “The Avengers”), and while Robert Downey Jr.’s considerable charms haven’t quite worn thin, they’re getting awfully familiar. Nonetheless, “Iron Man 3” is definitely a big perk-up from the almost-but-not-quite-listless “Iron Man 2”; maybe hanging out with the Avengers was a tonic for him. (...) “Iron Man 3” zips along nicely, and it’s a kick to watch Tony in his lair, working his floating-in-the-air computer screens like the conductor of a virtual symphony. The 3D, as usual, doesn’t contribute much (and, as with many 3D movies, the image looks darker than it should), but the special effects are otherwise impressive, particularly an impromptu skydiving chain and a crash-bang sequence at the end involving construction cranes and a fiery pit. (...) All in all, it’s not quite as much fun as “The Avengers,” but “Iron Man 3” is as good as it needs to be, and maybe even a little better."
by Moira MacDonald in Seattle Times
"The new film's not great, but it's consistently involving because the tonal shifts are so abrupt. (...) Downey is as anti-sentimental and hilarious as ever — he's basically young Bob Hope with biceps -- but from certain angles he looks like a pumped-up Kevin Smith, and I found this distracting and eerie. (...) A couple of days after seeing the film, I can't recall a single beautiful or even memorable shot, though there's a skydiving action sequence two-thirds of the way through that's one of the greatest airborne setpieces in movie history. Given the amiable glop that surrounds it, I can't imagine how it found its way into the movie, though; most of the action isn't so much directed as covered, and its themes are articulated with about as much care. (...) Hollywood alpha-male sleaze was an undercurrent in the first two films, manifesting itself through hot cars, glittering parties, and strip-club style booty shaking; "Iron Man 3" puts those same tendencies in the spotlight."
by Matt Zoller Seitz in Chicago Sun-Times
"Iron Man returns refreshed and ready for action in this spirited third installment of the thus-far $1.2 billion-grossing Marvel franchise. In a way a double-sequel, both to Iron Man 2 and to last year's mega-hit The Avengers, Iron Man 3 benefits immeasurably from the irreverent quicksilver humor of co-writer and director Shane Black, whose obvious rapport with Robert Downey Jr. in his only other directorial outing, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is further manifest here. (...) The latter includes a beautifully rendered free fall sequence in which an Iron Man zooms down to assemble 13 people who have been blown out of Air Force One into an airborne daisy chain and guides them to a safe landing, while the climax takes full nocturnal visual advantage of a giant mechanized shipping port. (...) Cinematographer John Toll and production designer Bill Brzeski add class to the generic proceedings, Brian Tyler's ultra-energetic score doesn't grate the way soundtracks for such films often do and the special and visual effects are tops when they count."
by Todd McCarthy in Hollywood Reporter
OSCAR POTENTIAL CATEGORIES
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Sound Mixing
- Best Visual Effects
BUT...
The Academy doesn't seem to love Marvel movies, no matter how successful they are (The Avengers was the third highest-grossing movie ever and it has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, but it only managed to get a Best Visual Effects nod), so Iron Man 3 may not get more than a Best Visual Effects nod (its best chance) and MAYBE a Best Sound Mixing or a Best Sound Editing nomination. You may argue the other Iron Man movies got previous Oscar recognition, but the same happened with the Batman movies and The Dark Knight Rises was completely snubed, so I'm not very optimist about Iron Man 3 Oscar hopes.
"‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ is a brisk, no-nonsense sci-fi action sequel built around a conflict between the crew of the Starship Enterprise with a slick, slippery new villain, John Harrison (although there’s more to him than meets the eye), who’s played with relish and poise by Benedict Cumberbatch. (...) The result is a stop-gap tale that’s modest, fun and briefly amusing rather than one that breaks new ground or offers hugely memorable set pieces. The most striking scenes come without doubt at the start as Kirk (Chris Pine) struggles to rescue Spock (Zachary Quinto) from a volcano on a distant planet. We witness a primitive race – carefully colour-coded all white, yellow and red – as they first lay eyes on a spaceship. It’s a powerful moment, and nothing later matches up to it, even if two episodes of city-bashing (first London, then San Francisco) offer their fair share of wide-eyed 3D viewing."
by Dave Calhoun in Time Out
"Star Trek Into Darkness," bursting at the seams with enemies, wears its politics, its mettle, its moxie and its heart on its ginormous 3-D sleeve. Director J.J. Abrams and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise try to build a better sequel with action spectacles to get lost in, clever asides to amuse, emotional waves to ride and allusions to terrorism in general and 9/11 specifically. Abrams' first reimagining of the beloved Gene Roddenberry franchise was a stellar surprise in 2009. (...) But before that whither-Star Trek sigh has time to build, the film does something bold, surprisingly pointed in its treatment of terrorism, for one. So many things are done right that even with the bombast, "Into Darkness" is the best of this summer's biggies thus far. It's a great deal of brash fun, and it should satisfy all those basic Trekkie cravings. (...) Indeed, there is virtually no time to breathe until the credits start rolling. (...) So intensely personal does it become, you may find yourself moved in unexpected ways. In this way, "Star Trek Into Darkness" really does boldly go where no man has gone before."
by Betsy Sharkey in Los Angeles Times
"Star Trek Into Darkness doesn't feel like a "Star Trek film" - at least if one defines that term based on the '80s productions. It's much more action/adventure oriented. The space battles unfold with lightning quickness rather than as suspenseful, gradual events. (...) This is a fast-paced production (as befits a would-be summer blockbuster); it doesn't take many breaks for exposition. Nevertheless, it seems to have fewer obvious plot holes than the 2009 Star Trek and is at least equally engaging. (...) The special effects are first rate - not always the case with Star Trek movies, although Abrams has been given a budget the likes of which directors Nicholas Meyer, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner would have salivated over. The 3-D is, thankfully, not an abomination. Compensations have been made for many of the usual problems with the format. On the other hand, it adds little, making the surcharge an unnecessary expense. Michael Giacchino's score is reminiscent of the work he did on the 2009 film. (...) It's an immensely satisfying summer blockbuster but it's not a genre-defining masterpiece."
by James Berardinelli in ReelViews
"Star Trek Into Darkness may be going not so boldly back to the archives, but it serves up an exhilarating spectacle, with noteworthy moments of intimacy. Spectacular special effects, superbly crafted action sequences, plenty of humor and terrific performances render it a cut above most summer blockbusters. (...) Abrams knows just how much to reference and re-boot from the series and previous movies. Yet he also sets an exhilarating new course in this nimbly twisting feature, which pays homage to 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. (...) While the production design is vividly rendered, the characters are the most enthralling aspect. The youthfully attractive and diverse crew members from 2009 return for this tale. (...) But though it's exciting to see the vessel in intergalactic peril, what makes the story surprisingly moving is the bond between Kirk and Spock as they risk their lives to save each other. (...) Balancing the venerated and the inventive, Abrams is bound, determined and likely to make Trekkies of us all."
by Claudia Pui in USA Today
OSCAR POTENTIAL CATEGORIES
- Best Original Score
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Sound Mixing
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Makeup & Hair
BUT...
People liked the first better than this one and while no one can deny the technical quality of Star Trek Into Darkness, the fact is that loving the movie overall matters in Oscar voting! Best Visual Effects seems the stronger field for Into Darkness and since the first Star Trek movie by J.J. Abrams won for Best Makeup & Hair, a nomination seems likely to happen again. Thanks to all the action scenes Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing may happen, but it will depend on this year's competition, while Best Original Score is only a possibility I don't see happening.
"Love it or hate it, take it or leave it, this is unmistakably his “Gatsby” through and through, and as with all such carte-blanche extravaganzas (increasingly rare in this cautious Hollywood age), it exudes an undeniable fascination — at least for a while. In the notes for his unfinished final novel, “The Last Tycoon,” Fitzgerald famously wrote, “action is character,” but for Luhrmann action is production design, hairstyling, Prada gowns and sweeping, swirling, CGI-enhanced camera movements that offer more bird’s-eye views of Long Island (...) Everyone does look the part in this “Gatsby,” not least DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan (as Daisy), though in the years since his innovative, modern-dress “Romeo + Juliet,” where style still sat in something like equal balance with substance, Luhrmann has become less interested in performances than in artful poses. Periodically, as if by accident, something like real emotion pokes up through the film’s well-manicured surface (...) Among the uniformly accomplished technical contributions, Luhrmann’s producer wife, Catherine Martin (already a double Oscar winner for “Moulin Rouge”) once again stands out for her production and costume design."
by Scott Foundas in Variety
"Then there was the fact that Baz Luhrmann, the Australian director of such grand-scale entertainments as Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and Australia, was the one who would be turning Fitzgerald’s economic tone poem of a novel into a big, glitzy 3-D spectacle. (...) At any rate, his Great Gatsby was nowhere near as terrible as I feared. It is, as I suspected, a gargantuan hunk of over-art-directed kitsch, but it makes for a grandiose, colorful, pleasure-drenched night at the movies. (...) Dance-floor playlists aside, this Gatsby unfolds in a fairly conventional period setting (though this is the ’20s as seen through a distorting kaleidoscope, everything a little bigger and louder and lusher than life). (...) Leonardo DiCaprio makes as good a Jay Gatsby as any living actor I can think of—he captures the character’s fixed-in-time boyishness as well as his innocent hucksterism, and he looks like a (dubiously ethical) million bucks in the splendiferous costumes by Catherine Martin, the director's wife (who also designed the dizzyingly lavish, champagne-and-confetti-drenched production—she must have been one tired woman by the time shooting ended)."
by Dana Stevens in Slate
"As is inevitable with the Australian showman, who's never met a scene he didn't think could be improved by more music, costumes, extras and camera tricks, this enormous production begins by being over-the-top and moves on from there. (...) Luhrmann and his ever-essential design collaborator (and co-producer and wife) Catherine Martin always seem extra-stimulated by such scenes, which involve hundreds of ornate costumes, constant movement and music, which here imposes blends as unlikely as hip hop and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Whether you can abide some of the specific musical choices or not, the way Luhrmann and his music editors mix and match wildly disparate source material is ballsy and impressive (...) Opulence defines the production values, led by Martin's sets and costumes. As for the use of 3-D by Luhrmann and cinematographer Simon Duggan, it is probably the most naturalistic aspect of the film"
by Todd McCarthy in The Hollywood Reporter
"Baz Luhrmann’s 3D movie camera swoops and dives through the lavish party The Great Gatsbyscenes of The Great Gatsby, so much so you wonder how he resisted adding the exclamation mark he employed for Moulin Rouge! The Aussie director and showman is in his element whenever the lens turns towards opulence, which this production provides by the golden bucketload: jewelry by Tiffany, clothes by Prada, Miu Miu and Brooks Brothers, cars by Rolls-Royce and Duesenberg, anachronistic hip-hop curated by Jay-Z. (...) DiCaprio is the right man to play Gatsby, possessing the same earnest desire to please and determination to succeed as Fitzgerald’s celebrated striver. It’s a marvel to behold him — lit him from behind with exploding fireworks in one of many great party moments (...) Having done so well with the look of the picture — which is also due in large part to Luhrmann’s wife and collaborator Catherine Martin, the film’s production designer and costumer — he settles for merely filming the book rather than illuminating it. (...) Luhrmann almost gets away with the conjurer’s trick that is his TheGreat Gatsby, because the film looks so damned good, even though the 3D adds nothing of substance."
by Peter Howell in Toronto Star
OSCAR POTENTIAL CATEGORIES
- Best Production Design
- Best Costume Design
- Best Original Song ("Young and Beautiful")
- Best Makeup & Hair
BUT...
Some love it, some hate it and I truly believe it may get some votes for Best Picture and Best Director (and maybe Best Actor) and Golden Globes promise to love this movie, thanks mostly to its box-office success, but I don't see it making the final cut in the "big categories". Best Production Design and Best Costume Design seem to be solid Oscar hopes and there's always the possibility of get recognized for Best Makeup & Hair. Lana Del Rey's ballad "Young and Beautiful" will certainly be a song to have under serious consideration for a Best Original Song and I see the Globes nominating this one, but the AMPAS' Best Original Song choices are always surprising...
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