By Kimberly Lowenthal

Summer blockbuster season comes early this year with the much-anticipated Iron Man 2. Tony Stark is back, and this time with more cool robots, fancy cars, and special effects.

Iron Man 2 is ultimately a good sequel.  Sequel, being the operative word,  meaning don’t expect it to be as good as the first Iron Man, and you might just enjoy it.  Everything is bigger in the second Iron Man: the explosions, the robots, the star power; but bigger isn’t always better.

Iron Man 2 predictably looses a little steam because the concept is not new this time around; and some of the pleasant surprises found in the first film, an action movie that actually had a good cast, clever writing, and an interesting plot, are expected from the sequel.

The enhanced cast was actually great.  Robert Downey Jr. is again perfectly cast for his role as the egotistical superhero, and Don Cheadle fills in well for Terrence Howard as a rougher, more militant version of James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Iron Man’s right hand man.

The girls, Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow, do their roles justice, but the real standouts of Iron Man 2 are the bad guys.  Sam Rockwell as the businessman behind the bad guy is perfectly snaky, slimy and otherwise dislikable.  Mickey Rourke is terrifically terrifying and menacing as Whiplash, bringing some real darkness to the film—in a good way.

The action sequel has its share of cheesy lines, but with a cast this good, they are delivered tongue-in-cheek and only mildly offensive.  And of course, Iron Man 2 is packed with enough “cool” technology and cars to make the grown men in the audience squeal like little girls.

Overall, I would say if you liked the first Iron Man, you will probably like the second, as long as you keep your expectations in check (as in, not outrageously high.)  If you didn’t enjoy the first, you won’t like this one either.  The sequel is more of the same, just bigger and less surprising.

Lunafest Festival

LUNAFEST FILM FESTIVAL

SUNDAY MARCH 14, 2010

3 PM

AWARD WINNING SHORT FILMS

BY…FOR…ABOUT

WOMEN

BLUE LIGHT CINEMA 5, CUPERTINO OAKS

21275 STEVENS CREEK BLVD

CUPERTINO  95014

Tickets:  $15.00

(available at the door)

This Event is a Benefit for:

BREAST CANCER FUND and THE FAMILY OF WOMEN

For info call Alice McCarter 408-203-9222

By The C Team

YES, my children, there is a Cinema God; and she is smiling down on Cupertino. I can’t even count the times longtime Cupertino residents, including our own Movie Reviewer, Kimberly Lowenthal, have lamented the abrupt closure of their fave—the movie theaters at The Oaks.

So, now—after a few years without them, a wonderful Cupertino family has rectified that terrible mistake in judgment and taken a huge leap of faith by remodeling, renaming and reopening “our” collective and iconic movie house. Yaaaaay.

BlueLight Cinemas is our very own Cupertino movie theater. They are back and gorgeous. And, the price is right—just $3.75 per person all the time. What could be better??

And, for all the transplanted New Yorkers out there  (we’ve heard whine incessantly about New York Hot Dogs) BlueLight Cinemas serves—you won’t believe it–Tah Dah—none other than Nathan’s Famous Coney-Island Hot Dogs.

Top that one, run-of-the-mill cookie-cutter movie theaters whose owners don’t even live in Cupertino. To all our friends, readers, boosters, etc. now that we have the movie theaters in The Oaks back, get off your seats, back away from the t.v. and computers and get yourselves, your friends and your families over there and support Cupertino’s own home grown movie house we’ve heard you wish would return. We’ll see you at in the movies: Stevens Creek at the 85;  Be there or be square.

Cinema

By Kimberly Lowenthal

Based on the beloved children’s novel, written by  the fabulous Dave Eggers, directed by the legendary Spike Jonze, and anticipated for far too long, Where the Wild Things Are was doomed to be overhyped.  I went to see the film, keeping my mind as open as possible.

Where the Wild Things Are follows little Max who, in a fit of wild rage, runs away from home and finds himself deep into his imagination in the land of the wild things.  The movie is stunningly beautiful with sweeping cinematography and imaginative set design.

The acting was equally stunning, particularly Max himself (sharing his real name with his character,) as a sensitive boy with a wild imagination to express his very real emotions.  In this case, the young actor, Max Records’ inexperience plays to his advantage, as the boy’s raw, childlike naïveté is what makes his performance so moving.  Catherine Keener is great as always as Max’s mother who, in a near wordless scene towards the end of the film, can make your heart break with all the pain, anger, and love of a mother just by the expression on her face.

Where the film is lacking is in story content.  As a fan of Dave Eggers, this was a disappointment for me, though not entirely unexpected, as the original material it is based on is a simple, short children’s book.  In place of a storyline the film explores some very heavy emotional content and metaphors.  I spent the entire film trying to catch up with which wild thing was representing which emotion in which human character.  While this was both a brilliant and fascinating way of exploring human emotions, it unfortunately was also inconsistent and exhausting to keep up with.

Though it’s based on a children’s book, the film is aimed at the generation who cherished the original work, now grown-ups themselves.  The film would not be enjoyable to most children, though I do think it does a good job of expressing the inner contents of a child’s mind—much darker and more profound than most adults care to acknowledge.

Where the Wild Things Are plays very much like the contents of a young boy’s imagination might.  It is a beautiful, creative world that also works through confusing and sometimes very scary emotions like: love, loss, and aggression.   The film is beautiful and interesting, and though the story lacks some cohesion and direction, overall I enjoyed it.

Monsters vs. Aliens 3D (2009)
By Kimberly Lowenthal

A fun movie for kids and adults alike!  Monsters vs. Aliens has a surprisingly star studded cast, featuring Reese Witherspoon as Susan aka Ginormica.  Even the more minor roles are played by some of today’s best comedic actors from shows like “The Office.”  Continue reading Lights. Camera. Action!!