‘The Talented Mr Ripley’

A borrowed Princeton jacket changes the life of Tom Ripley in this slick Italy-set thriller as the amorality of Ripley is confronted by privilege and envy.

Filling in as a piano accompanist at a New York penthouse party in the 1950s, Ripley (Matt Damon) claims to know the Princeton-educated son of the host, wealthy shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn). Turns out Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) is, according to dad, wasting his life away in Italy – and promptly hires Tom to bring him back to the States. So begins a twisting, engrossing narrative as, like a leech, Ripley attaches himself to Dickie and Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) and soaks in the luxury offered. When this is threatened, extreme measures are needed.

The edge to Patricia Highsmith’s source novel may be missing in Anthony Minghella’s adaptation, but the luxuriant indulgence of life in Italy for the Americans is voyeuristically appealing, creating an engaging gloss of a story.

Nominated for 5 Oscars in 2000 including best supporting actor (Law), adapted screenplay, soundtrack (Gabriel Yared)

Rating: 73%

Director: Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain, The English Patient)

Writer: Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain, The English Patient)

Main cast: Matt Damon (The Martian, The Last Duel), Jude Law (Cold Mountain, A Rainy Day in New York), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love, She Said)

‘Iron Man 3’ (Marvel #8)

Stark’s world is torn apart by the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a terrorist who, responding to the challenge of public arrogance of Stark, destroys the billionaire’s home and laboratory. But it’s not all that it seems as a rejected scientist from the past (Guy Pearce) reappears in his life.

Bombast and tedium reunite as a potentially interesting narrative is given the MCU OTT treatment. But at least it is the best of the three Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr) movies – although that’s not saying a great deal.

Nominated for visual effects Oscar in 2014.

Rating: 46%

Director: Shane Black (The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

Writer: Drew Pearce (Hotel Artemis, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Shane Black (The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

Main cast: Robert Downey Jnr (Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Sexy Beast), Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, The King’s Speech)

‘The Avengers’ (Marvel #6)

Renamed Avengers Assemble, the new title essentially provides the plot line of director Joss Whedon’s 2012 Marvel Comic Universe feature.

Having set in motion Project Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) needs to convince the superheroes to come together and learn to fight as a team. If they fail, Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) will have enslaved humanity with a little help from the alien Chitauri Army. But with egos the size of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr), that’s not going to be easy.

Character development and all round introductions come first – lots of banter and strutting, looked on by a bemused Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen). But sadly, whilst wry humour abounds, The Avengers degenerates into a boring, overlong destruction of New York battle scene as the Chitauri invaders find a hole in the ozone.

Nominated for best visual effects Oscar in 2013.

Rating: 56%

Director: Joss Whedon (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Much Ado About Nothing)

Writer: Joss Whedon (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Much Ado About Nothing)

Main cast: Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Banker), Tom Hiddleston (High-Rise, War Horse), Robert Downey Jnr (Dolittle, The Soloist)

‘Iron Man 2’ (Marvel #4)

Having revealed his identity at the end of Iron Man, the narcissist billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr.) finds himself at the centre of the world’s attention – but not all is welcome.

Aggrieved by the treatment of his father by Stark Senior, brilliant but crazed Russian physicist Ivan Venko (Mickey Rourke) looks for revenge. But it’s all bad timing as Stark Jnr. is fending off the American military demanding access to his suits with annoying arms manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) aggressively waiting in the wings. If that’s not enough, there’s a more pressing point of his own health and reaction to the very mechanism that is keeping him alive.

Iron Man 2 is all bombast and bluster (when is an MCU feature not?) as director Jon Favreau simply builds on the bombast and bluster of its prequel. But in it’s narrative, particularly through the introduction of Scarlett Johansson, we take a step closer to The Avengers.

Nominated for best visual affects Oscar in 2011.

Rating: 40%

Director: Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Chef)

Writer: Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder, Rock of Ages)

Main cast: Robert Downey Jnr. (Sherlock, The Judge), Micky Rourke (The Wrestler, Sin City), Sam Rockwell (Moon, Seven Psychopaths)

‘Iron Man’ (Marvel #3)

Released in 2008, Iron Man, directed by Jon Favreau, is the first feature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A $600 million global hit, it paved the way for the series that has redefined the American (and worldwide) box-office.

Multi-billionaire engineer, arms manufacturer and playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr) finds himself held hostage in an Afghan cave. A crude (but effective) magnetic contraption created by Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub) keeps Stark alive. Ordered by his captives to build a weapon, Stark instead creates a suit of armour the facilitate his escape. On reaching New York, the scientist is determined to use a finessed suit to fight for world peace – putting him at odds with the CEO (Jeff Bridges) of Stark Industries and best mate Lt. Col. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes (Terrence Howard).

Much-lauded at the time of release, Iron Man has surprisingly dated, highlighting subtle (and not so subtle) casual sexism and racism within its narrative. As the arrogant Stark, Downey is pitch-perfect in his irreverence. The rest of the ham that is Iron Man less so.

Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2009 (visual effects & sound editing).

Rating: 42%

Director: Jon Favreau (Chef, The Jungle Book)

Writer: Mark Fergus (Children of Men, Cowboys & Aliens), Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Cowboys & Aliens), Art Marcum (Uncharted, Transformers: The Last Knight), Matt Holloway (Uncharted, Transformers: The Last Knight)

Main cast: Robert Downey Jnr. (Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers), Shaun Toub (The Kite Runner, Crash), Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water, Crazy Heart)

‘Infamous’

A superb central performance by Toby Jones among a cast of luminaries provides a strong foundation for the based-on-truth story of writer Truman Capote researching and writing his classic In Cold Blood.

The murder of a family of four at an isolated Kansas farm sends shock waves through the country. Persuading fellow-scribe Harper Lee (Sandra Bullock) to accompany him, the effeminate, high camp New York socialite descends on 1950s rural America determined to write the story – and rewrite the rule book of how a true crime story is written. The arrest of the two suspects and Capote’s access to Perry Smith (Daniel Craig) in particular provides him with the perfect material: the psychological insight. Only Capote gets emotionally too close.

Infamous was sadly eclipsed by Capote with Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the Oscar-winning role and which came out a few months earlier. The latter was more academic, Infamous certainly ‘gayer’, both in terms of Jones’ performance and the central premise of the relationship between the.writer and the prisoner. Capote took years to have the book published – and he never wrote anything of significance again. Director Douglas McGrath implies that the execution of Smith was a major contributory factor.

Rating: 68%

Director: Douglas McGrath (Emma, Nicholas Nickleby)

Writer: Douglas McGrath (Emma, Bullets Over Broadway) – based on the book by George Plimpton

Main cast: Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger, Happy End), Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side, Gravity), Daniel Craig (Skyfall, Knives Out)

‘Avengers: Endgame'(Marvel #21)

Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, it’s a welcome sombre note to the Marvel proceedings, particularly after the wall-to-wall battles of last year’s Avengers: Infinity War.

After the defeat by Thanos (Josh Brolin) and destruction of half the world’s population, the surviving Avengers are (mostly) unsurprisingly resigned and introspective – even Iron Man himself (Robert Downey Jnr) has settled into an idyllic familial rural lifestyle. But the sudden ‘spitting out’ of Ant Man (a very funny Paul Rudd) from the quantum realm changes everything.

It’s a fittingly gargantuan and fabulously grandiose conclusion of 21 Marvel films – but with its humour, pathos and not too much reliance on excessive battles, the result is Avengers: Endgame is suitably one of the best.

Nominated or 1 Oscar in 2020 (visual effects).

Rating: 62%

Director: Anthony Russo (Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier)), Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

Writer: Christopher Markus (Captain America: Civil War, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), Stephen McFeely (Captain America: Civil War, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)

Main cast: Robert Downey Jnr (Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man, The Catcher Was a Spy), Chris Evans (Captain America: Civil War, Gifted)

‘The Avengers: Infinity War’ (Marvel #20)

The behemoth that is Marvel Comics continues unabated with the next instalment of its superhero comic characters. Yet, in spite of new blood attached to The Avengers in the guise of The Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers: Infinity War is more of the same same and not really very different. Result is that, whilst occasionally funny and occasionally exciting, it all gets monotonously boring.

Thanos (Josh Brolin) is looking to collect all six Infinity Stones to cull the universe: The Avengers needless to say are out to stop him. Problem is they’re spread all over the universe. And that’s how it predominantly stays with various superheroes separately in battle with Thanos or his sidekicks. The fractured nature of physical presence (were they all ever on the set at the same time?) is reflected in a fractured narrative that is repetitive and ultimately dull.

Nominated for 1 Oscar in 2019 – special effects.

Rating: 44%

Director: Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, You, Me and Dupree), Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, You, Me and Dupree)

Writer: Christopher Markus (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pain & Gain), Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pain & Gain)

Main cast: Josh Brolin (Milk, Sicario), Chris Evans (Gifted, Captain America: Civil War), Robert Downey Jnr. (Iron Man 3, The Judge)

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

An adolescent superhero within an adolescent storyline. The cheeky charm of Tom Holland, introduced as Peter Parker in a cameo in last year’s Captain America: Civil War wears thin over the length of Jon Watts’ first foray into the Marvel canon.

A predictable storyline (youth ignored by adults who therefore relies on his own wits to save the day) as Michael Keaton as the Vulture emerges when his nose is put out of joint as a waste recycler. It’s a flat, uninvolving telling with little real excitement and only the occasional flashes of humour. That’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Rating: 32%

Director: Jon Watts (Cop Car, Clown)

Writer: Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses, Vacation), John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses, Vacation), Jon Watts (Cop Car, Clown), Christopher Ford (Cop Car, Clown), Chris McKenna (The Lego Batman Movie, Igor), Erik Sommers (The Lego Batman Movie, TV’s Crank Yankers)

Main cast: Tom Holland (The Impossible, How I Live Now), Michael Keaton (Spotlight, The Founder), Zendaya