As weapons genius and playboy, Tony Stark, sets out into the desert to display his latest achievement. An unfortunate series of circumstances place him in the hands of ruthless people who are holding him in captivity. Through his technological genius, Stark manages to escape with a newly invented super suit, a breakthrough that in the wrong hands could mean disaster to the world. Stark spends the rest of the movie fighting off those who want to use this technology for evil and perfecting it for his own use.

A visually stunning masterpiece is all I can say after watching this movie. It's a combination of Transformers and Tom Clancy's books. Combining the in-depth plot from the Jack Ryan stories and the visual mastery and CGI from Transformers, Iron Man keeps the action coming with a very good score produced by Hans Zimmer.

All that I can say is that this movie is amazing. The cast is well chosen and it gives insight into the future of weapons technology. Tony, the weapon's genius billionaire, creates hope out of dismal circumstances and finds the truth behind his products. Epic battle scenes play throughout the movie along with subtle comedy. Unlike most action movies that have sub-par cheesy comedy, Iron Man includes comedy that is well placed and does not overtake the plot of the movie but adds to it in a very positive way.

I would highly recommend Iron Man to all moviegoers. Keep in mind it is rated PG-13 and may not be suitable for younger audiences.

“All assassins live beyond the law… only one follows the code”: this is the tagline of Jim Jarmusch's samurai assassin film. It's difficult to describe the plot of this movie without making it sound like a joke. Forest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog, a man living on a rooftop in an American city who follows the code of the ancient Japanese samurai. Ghost dog sees himself as a retainer (vassal) to Louie, an Italian mob member, who once saved Ghost Dog's life. Louie is well rewarded, however, as Ghost Dog, communicating with Louie through carrier pigeons, becomes Louie's ideal, “untraceable”, loyal assassin. When problems call for a hit within the mob, Ghost dog is used for the job. Complications with the hit lead to a chain of violence between Ghost Dog, the Italians, and anyone who gets in the way. This movie is incredibly good at balancing violence, comedy, and deeper observations about the lives and cultures of Americans. What makes the film incredible, however, is the excellence and insight with which it shows all of these themes. A particular relationship in the story makes a good example of how comedy and insights are woven together. This is the friendship between Ghost Dog and a French-African ice cream vender. Neither of the friends can speak the others language but they always get the others meaning. Doing this they exchange some understandings that transcend normal conversation.

The Italian mobsters are, essentially, the villains of the story, but the film keeps the mobsters from becoming overly simple and thus it never becomes a predictable battle of good and evil. The mob members, from the lowest muscle man to the highest levels, are simultaneously ridiculously strange, stupid, careless, and bad-@$$. When the mob starts looking for Ghost Dog, with the intent to kill him and no other description than “a big black guy”, predictable miss-hits follow. Ghost Dog, on the other hand, works with precision. He uses tools that look like garage built versions of old James Bond gadgets. He exists to others only as a mystery. Ghost Dog's shootouts are not anything like the explosive blockbuster style with lots of bullets explosions and none fatal wounds. Instead they are fast and deadly, which seems more real to me. These gunfights are more like a western shootout, with a quick draw and a definite end to one of the parties.

This film has some excellent music which carefully adds to the peculiar moods of every scene. Forest Whitaker is, of course, excellent at portraying the strange hero-samurai-assassin. The cinematography is excellent at showing the details of the story and characters but also suggesting the larger context of an urban American city. All around this movie would have to be one of my favorites. If anyone who reads this decides to watch it I'll be happy.