> Second Hand Wedding
Director: Paul Murphy
Starring: Geraldine Brophy, Tina Regtien, Patrick Wilson, Holly Shanahan, Ryan O'Kane, Tina Cook
Rating: PG
3 1/2 stars (out of 5)
Review by Christine Powley
Second Hand Wedding (Hoyts) is set on the Kapiti Coast, a magical place of heartland New Zealand where the people are kind-hearted but a little dim.
Jill Rose (Geraldine Brophy) is deputy principal at a local school but her real love is chasing around the district in her yellow minivan hunting for gems at garage sales. Husband Brian (Patrick Wilson) is retired and happy as long as the missus is happy, but daughter Cheryl (Holly Shanahan) finds it all extremely embarrassing.
Brophy is firmly etched in my mind from her emotive work on Shortland Street so I would have thought that anyone with Brophy as a mum would have hardened up long before they hit their 20s.
Fear of being shamed by an over-enthusiastic mother has led Cheryl to conceal from her mum the fact she is about to marry her boyfriend, Stew (Ryan O'Kane).
Overlooking the fact that if you're still embarrassed by your parents, you definitely lack the maturity to even think about getting married.
Second Hand Wedding focuses on Cheryl organising her own wedding after Jill discovers her true feelings and promises to butt out of the big day.
The problem with this plot is that Jill, who Brophy has invested with dignity and a sweetness, also has a killer eye for good quality bric-a-brac.
Her home is filled to the gunnels with antiques to make your mouth water.
That Cheryl cannot see the value of the collection her mum has amassed just makes her look stupid financially as well as emotionally backward.
Second Hand Wedding never builds up to being about anything much at all.
Jill is such a delight that for most of the time we are happy enough to follow her around being Jill.
First-time director Paul Murphy has put some recognisable and likeable characters up on the screen.
Now, he just needs to find them a dramatic storyline.
> Iron Man
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey jun, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard, Leslie Blibb, Faran Tahir, Jon Favreau
Rating: (M)
4 stars (out of 5)
Review by Mark Orton
Captured by terrorists in Afghanistan, Tony Stark (Robert Downey jun) is forced into a cave to perfect the type of devastating military weapon from which he has built his fortune.
Stark builds a fictional energy source (arc reactor) to replace the car battery powered electromagnet keeping his shrapnel-riddled body alive.
Realising the potential of his invention, and with MacGyver-like cunning, the charismatic inventor stiches together a few pieces of steel, and Iron Man is born.
Fashioning an escape from his cave prison, Stark returns to the United States full of doubt concerning the use of his weapons.
Like so many superheroes from the '50s and '60s, the present political climate is perfect to adapt fictional stories based around conspiracy and corruption.
Iron Man is certainly pretty blatant in its condemnation of American foreign policy, but, importantly, still remains faithful to the Marvel comics character that spawned it.
Iron Man is a simple enough story, but excels in this format due to two major factors.
Robert Downey jun's approximation of Stark, the genius playboy, and director Jon Favreau's understanding of what makes comic books tick.
There have been plenty of cinematic crimes committed in the search of paint-by-numbers blockbusters, and in the hands of careless producers Iron Man could have been committed to Judge Dredd-land.
Thankfully, this is not the case. There are no two ways about it; Downey jun is an inspired casting decision.
Bringing a sly arrogance to the role, Tony Stark's underlying vulnerability dissolves that imaginary line between character and actor.
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is sweet, sexy and sassy when she needs to be. She is Stark's girl Friday, the perfect romantic complement to his '50s hot-rod fantasy.
Great gadgets, amusing one-liners and some slightly incredible story elements, Iron Man might be the coolest comic-book superhero to successfully make the transition to celluloid.
