The Rover

David Michôd is an extremely visual director. Rather than the narrow suburban streets of Melbourne in Animal Kingdom, we get the sweeping plains of South Australia. Set a decade after a presumed economic collapse that affected only Australia, we follow Eric (Guy Pearce), a former soldier and farmer, who is trying to recover his stolen car.

Guy Pearce is a force of nature in this film. His character Eric is unrelenting in his goal and will stop at nothing. He kills whoever gets in his way and though extremely brutal these scenes can be rather light, even funny, in this increasingly bleak film. Pearce is mostly silent and speaks when only absolutely necessary.

This is probably Robert Pattinson's best performance, but I've only seen him in two movies including this one (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire being the other). He plays Rey, a young American, who once you figure out is a little slow becomes rather endearing. Like Eric he struggles to get used to the fact that you have to kill people to survive in this world.

The film handles it's subject matter with a pretty blunt approach. Michôd is unapologetic in his depiction of the violence and brutality. Nor does he skirt around the issues of a country selling it's own resources offshore. I viewed it almost as a cautionary tale of what would come if Australia kept selling it's resources and land the way it is now.

Michôd also explores the ideas of knowledge. Pearce delivers an incredible speech about what we truly know as opposed to what we are just told to accept as the truth. This permeates throughout the film in it's imagery. The film is also extremely bleak and we are shown that we just have to accept life as it comes.

On top of everything this is a beautifully cinematic film. The countryside is amazing to look at and we get some fantastic cinematography. There are endless shots of Pearce driving but you never get tired of looking at them.

Verdict: An extremely bleak film that endlessly rolls throughout the country. At the end it you'll understand that it all makes sense.

Iron Man 3

It's taken three movies but I think I finally see the appeal of Tony Stark. His abrasiveness and bluntness add to his charm. Over the course of the last two Iron Man movies (and that massive Avengers flick), I have to come to love the man in the Iron mask.

In this first post-Avengers movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering from PTSD caused by the events that happened in New York. He spends most of his days tinkering with his many Iron Man suits with the help of his robotic assistant Jarvis (Paul Bettany). Stark's girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is running Stark Industries. And Stark's best friend Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), AKA War Machine AKA Iron Patriot, is working for the US Government.

In recent weeks, attacks by a shadowy terrorist known as the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) have been ramping up in their intensity. Pepper Potts is in talks with Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a scientist who was once ignored by Tony, about some new biotechnology he has engineered.

The shit hits the fan when an attack by the Mandarin hits Tony's old bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Tony reacts to this attack by saying that he is going to take revenge on the Mandarin and even goes so far as to give him his home address (via the means of good old fashioned media). The Mandarin responds in turn by attacking Stark's cliffside mansion.

Tony's suit breaks down and decides to fly across the country. He wakes up in Tennessee and finds refuge with a young boy who helps repair his suit. Once this is done, he teams up with Rhodey to take the Mandarin out.

I think what I enjoyed so much about this film is the fact that it wasn't directed by Jon Favreau (not that he's a bad director). Shane Black brings some fresh ideas and they definitely show through his directorial style.

Ever since I saw 2002's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I have always had faith in RDJ. He brings lightness to roles that would otherwise be quite depressing (because let's face it, Tony Stark is Bruce Wayne or vice versa). As I said earlier, Tony Stark is quite blunt and has no qualms about driving off and leaving a kid in the cold snow.

I have found that putting Ben Kingsley in a movie is great marketing (that this film doesn't really need), but he has only ever played a handful of dramatic roles. This is one of those borderline roles and once you see the film, you will agree that he is a fantastic actor. I have always been a fan of Guy Pearce (one of the first films I ever saw being made had him in it). In this movie, his devious Aldrich does whatever he wants to get his way.

Of course the most important element of these Marvel films is the stunning visuals. The seen where Tony's mansion is falling into the see is fantastic to look at and the climax of the film is even better.

Verdict: A fantastically entertaining superhero romp that is better than the last two Iron Man films combined. Lots of hilarious dialogue between RDJ and Paul Bettany.