Real Steel

See ‘Real Steel,’ flee ‘Restless’

By Joseph J. Airdo

The competition may be stiff in Phoenix movie theaters this weekend but the contender that most deserves your dough is “Real Steel,” a family-friendly special effects extravaganza in which Hugh Jackman plays a boxing promoter who builds a championship contender for the robot ring. Featuring some surprisingly genuine emotion, the flick may very well compel you to stand up and cheer at the culmination of the final fight.

The weekend’s other wide release “The Ides of March,” a political drama about a campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) who becomes involved in a scandal that threatens to smash his candidate’s (George Clooney) bid for the presidency, may begin loquaciously but a dramatic second half more than makes up for that. Unfortunately, the motion picture is not exactly hard-hitting in either the intensity of its story and the weight of its issues.

Of course, the arthouse crowd also has several films from which to choose. Their best bet is “Margaret,” a movie playing exclusively at Harkins Camelview 5 that clocks in at nearly 2-and-a-half hours. The self-aware drama, in which Anna Paquin plays a high school student who, feeling responsible for a fatal traffic accident, lashes out when her attempts to make amends meet with opposition, is filled with incredible insights and deeply-felt emotions.

However, whatever you do, steer clear of “Restless,” director Gus Van Sant’s romantic drama about a gravely ill teen (Mia Wasikowska) and a guy (Henry Hopper) who talks to ghosts. Playing exclusively at AMC Desert Ridge 18 and Harkins Shea 14, the movie is a morbidly mundane melodrama. With each passing moment, the flick develops a depressing demeanor with self-pity seeping from the seems of each and every scene.

Joseph J. Airdo, 27, is a Walter Cronkite School of Journalism graduate with a bachelor’s degree in media analysis and criticism. In addition to Phoenix.org, Joseph is a film columnist for several outlets throughout the Valley, including Examiner.com/Phoenix and AZ Weekly Entertainment Magazine. Listen to Joseph’s “Movie Maverick” radio segment, every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. during “The Daily Blender with Jeffry O’Brien” on KBSZ – NBC 1260 AM and 96.1 FM.

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