Iron Man (2008)

 ★ ★ ★ ★

Pretty much as good as an origin-story based Iron Man movie could be. The tone captures Marvel's hyper-reality better than most superhero movies of the last 15 years, and the action remains clear and uncluttered, side-stepping the blurry jump-cuts of most modern action-cinema. Great cast, great effects, nicely paced, funny... I suspect Favreau could have knocked the Transformers franchise into good shape.

Up (2009)

★ ★ ★ ★

Heart-wrenching and hilarious. I cried three times.

Barton Fink (1991)

★ ★ ★ ★

Crawling with indeterminate symbolism and Lynchian horror, 'Barton Fink' flits between halucinatory art-film and 'Bullets Over Broadway' style period brain-comedy. What it all means remains a mystery to all, including the creators, but the ride is oddly satisfying despite the many questions it leaves unanswered. The cast are wonderful, but Steve Buscemi seems under-used.

Avatar (2010)

★ ★ ★ ★

'Avatar' looks stunning in 3D on a large screen, but story-wise it relies on a well trodden plot and broadly drawn charicatures. Yes, it strongly resembles both 'Dances With Wolves' and 'FernGully', but James Cameron never patronises his audience by overly sign-posting its stock plot devices, and the films clunky exposition is rattled out in the first 20 minutes, allowing us to kick back and drift into its enchanting world. Some have called it preachy - I think that depends whether you sympathise with the film's anti-corporate, anti-military stance or not. Certainly, the Na'vi are obviously Native Americans painted blue, and the hunt for Unobtainium is arguably a metaphor for Western military interests in the Midlle East. These themes are handled with the subtlety of a T-800, but it is at least welcome to see a mainstream film with the guts to express a "controversial" opinion. When special-effects of this quality are common-place, 'Avatar' may no longer seem so impressive, but right now, it lives up to its "game-changing" hype. The 'Star Wars' of its geneartion.