Directed by Jon Favreau
"Iron Man 2" has a bad case of sequelitis. It's not a mess on the scale, say, of "Batman and Robin" or even "Batman Returns" but nor is it "The Empire Strikes Back" or "The Godfather, Part II". All the novelty and most of the charm of the first film are gone. In their place there's pedestrian pacing, over plotting, and some additional star power. Mickey Rourke, cast whilst he was "Wrestler" hot, is ugly enough to pull off the part of a vengeful Ruskie keen for payback for wrongs committed by the superhero's pappy, Sam Rockwell gets to do what he does best - talk a lot and busy himself with facial ticks - as Iron Man's commercial nemesis, and Scarlett Johansson is, well, Scarlett Johansson, looking fabulous in leather whilst dispatching untold hoards of baddies without mussing her hair.
Returning in the leading roles are Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. Not returning is Terrence Howard, the role of faithful black sidekick being assumed by fellow African American thespian Don Cheadle. All three performers look a bit tired and embarrassed, though Gwynnie does sustain a kind of cougar appeal for those straight men in the audience for whom Scarlett would be too much of a handful (I just might fall into that category myself).
Far more edifying fare has screened lately at Village. A very pleasing trend in classic reissues reached its zenith with "Breakfast at Tiffany's", the 1961 adaptation of Truman Capote's novel that gave Audrey Hepburn one of the defining roles of her career as Holly Golightly, a New York socialite-cum-prostitute.
The stunning new print incorporates a scene in a strip club that doesn't feature on standard DVD copies. However, there's much more than that to recommend "Tiffany's". A sparkling supporting cast includes a pre-"Beverley Hillbillies" Buddy Ebsen, Patricia Neal as an ultra-sophisticated fortysomething not afraid to pay for sex, and Mickey Rooney, as a buck-toothed Japanese hot-head, the choicest piece of politically incorrect casting ever perpetrated by Hollywood.
Though Capote would have preferred that his drinking crony Marilyn Monroe play Holly, it is hard to imagine anyone but the pencil thin Hepburn in the part. She's so beautiful and touching that the woodenness of that latter day "A Team" actor George Peppard can be forgiven. "Moon River", the theme song, is also one of the greats.