Magic Review: Street Kings

Street Kings is the new LA cop drama from David Ayer who wrote Training Day (2001) and Harsh Times (2005). It surrounds the life of Tom Ludlow, a corrupt LAPD cop who is caught in the middle of the murder and cover up of his ex partner whilst in the process of trying to deal with death of his wife and being under investigation from Internal Affairs. Street Kings is a film which touches of very familiar themes of the gritty world of police corruption and cover ups. The extrodianary cast including Forest Whitaker (The Last King Of Scotland), Hugh Laurie (House) and rappers The Game and Common saves the film from being totally mediocare, although Keanu Reeves still comes across as Ted Logan (Bill and Teds excellent adventure) on steroids with a badge. Whitaker's performance is awesome as always, portraying the corrupt Captain of police who's manipulation and treachery leaves Ludlow in a hell of a position to deal with. Street Kings is an entertaining flick but one questions whether it would be fair to ask for Ayer to broaden his horizons and lay off police corruption in LA and move into something a little more original.

Magic rating: 6.1/10

Magic Review: Iron Man

What high expectations I had when preparing to see Robert Downey Jr in the Iron Man suit. It's not to say those expectations weren't fulfilled, however one could say that it "Failed to Launch". I found the first half of this film to be highly entertaining and thought it was going to be an amazing journey as it had the grit of a hardcore action movie including terrorism, tools of war and a hero. However from around the half way mark I was trying to figure out if maybe the studio had run out of money and let Disney come on board to finish it off. Iron Man is a decent movie but if one was to remove Robert Downey Jr from the screen, it would quickly fall into the same category as the failed attempt at making Hulk (2003) into a big screen epic. This is a decent movie however for true comic book lovers, if not for Robert Downey Jr, this would be on the shelf next to the Fantastic Four.

Magic Rating: 6.5/10