guy pearce is jack irish

Guy Pearce (Memento, L.A. Confidential) plays a down and out private investigator in Acorn Media's Blu-ray release, Jack Irish, Series 1. The Blu-ray/DVD combo set includes two feature-length movies, adapted from the crime novels by Australian Peter Temple.

Linda (Marta Dusseldorp) and Jack (Guy Pearce)

The first film, "Bad Debts," starts off happily enough, with successful Melbourne criminal defense lawyer Jack Irish enjoying the morning with his beautiful wife. Devotees of the hard-boiled detective genre will suss out immediately that life for Jack will quickly be turned upside down. His wife Isabel (Emma Booth) is murdered and Jack falls into a black hole, eventually making ends meet by becoming a part-time detective and debt collector. One of his former clients calls him for help and Jack avoids his voicemails — but he can't avoid his past anymore when the man turns up dead. He pulls himself together enough to investigate his death and maybe rejoin the world, at least a little. he is able to accomplish the latter with the help of reporter Linda Hillier (Marta Dusseldorp), who soon becomes his love interest — at least for a while.

In "Black Tide," the second episode, we find Jack once again down in the dumps, as Linda has left Melbourne (and Jack) for a brighter future in Sydney. An old friend of his family, Des Connors (Ron Jacobson), asks for his help in locating his son Gary (Nicholas Coghlan) who's gone missing — with all of his dad's money. As Jack searches for the man he talks with his wife, and the girlfriend of an elusive blogger, Lyall, (Diana Glenn, who soon tries to get Jack to take up the slack left by her missing boyfriend), and a variety of seedy characters who may or may not be able to lead him to the truth.

When the going gets tough, Jack and his friends Harry (Roy Billing) and Cam (Aaron Pedersen) head for the track

The two movies in Series 1 were directed by Jeffrey Walker and originally broadcast in Australia in 2012. The Blu-ray has an aspect ratio of 1.77:1, in widescreen format, and a total running time of 202 minutes. There is a bonus behind-the-scenes feature included on both the Blu-ray and the DVD. The sound is crisp and clear (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), with English subtitles available. The moody title song, "Red Right Hand," is performed by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

The mood of Jack Irish is dark, and viewers should be aware that both films contain strong language, violence, graphic images, nudity, and sexual situations. But that shouldn't deter anyone from these entertaining and absorbing dramas. Pearce is brooding, intelligent, and sexy as Jack Irish. As much as the viewer can empathize with his personal losses, it is clear that Jack works best on the dark side of town. A third Jack Irish film, "Dead Point," has been completed, and plans are in the works for two more films, which is good news indeed.

Originally published on Blogcritics: Blu-ray Review: ‘Jack Irish, Series 1′

iron man 3 — more talk, less action, please

Iron Man 3 is quite entertaining. It is also over-bloated, poorly plotted and scripted, and  in fact, a mess. But what makes it entertaining, not unsurprisingly, is its cast, especially Robert Downey Jr., who is back as Tony Stark, the brilliant motor-mouthed inventor and creator of all those cool yet heavy metal suits. While onscreen Downey never stops talking, which in some other actor's case might be annoying, but with him is a blessing. Downey even gets to explore a side of Tony Stark that we don't usually get to see — all-out panic.

Stark, "I'm Tony Stark. I build neat stuff, got a great girl, occasionally save the world. So why can't I sleep?"

Apparently since his last adventure with The Avengers, Stark has had trouble sleeping. And coping, especially whenever any mention is made of The Big Apple. He has one or two full-fledged anxiety attacks in the course of the film. It was an interesting twist on the cockiest of characters, which was suddenly dropped, and then never referred to again about two-thirds into Iron Man 3. That sort of schizophrenic, kitchen-sink approach to the script plagues the movie and the audience's patience. If it weren't for some great chemistry between Downey and his fellow actors the film might be more of a chore to sit through.

An Iron Man and his girl

Tony Stark taking a moment

Don Cheadle in his "War Machine Roxx" gear

What didn't work: the endless blowing up of buildings and other heavy objects, creating an anxiety in the viewer similar to the one Tony Stark was experiencing. The "burning man" subplot had some interesting special effects, but made no sense whatsoever. The terrorist subplot was also unconvincing. I have to admit that I saw one of the major plot twists coming from miles away.

While Stark is battling his way out of the bad guy's lair, one of the henchmen surrenders and gets a chance to get a laugh, too. Guard, "Don't shoot! Seriously, I don't even wanna work for them. They are so weird!"

What worked: Most of the action scenes were a snore, but there were two memorable sequences — one featuring a daring in-flight rescue, and the other incorporating multiple Iron Man suits. Downey's interactions with Gwyneth Paltrow as his girlfriend, Pepper Potts, and with his best friend Rhodes, played by Don Cheadle (criminally underused, as always) were also always fun to watch. Ben Kingsley was impressive in his cameo, and Guy Pearce had a blast is the in-house villain, Aldrich Killian. The usual bonus Marvel universe after-the-credits scene was also fun. Downey seemed to be having a lot of fun in his scenes mid-film with a kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins). Harley's character is proof that the film-makers were of two minds about what sort of movie they were making and what sort of audience to attract. Iron Man 3 is rated PG-13, but the character of Iron Man has definitely appeal (and is heavily marketed) to a younger crowd.

Quibbles aside, I still had fun. I saw it in 3D, which didn't really seem to be necessary or add much to the already loud and fast-moving experience. The Iron Man series may be done (for now), but Tony Stark and his wise-cracking sense of humor are sure to be back in future Avengers movies. Things are bound to blow up in those movies, too, but hopefully Downey will get just as much of a chance to talk as ever.

forget about Mildred, it's Guy Pearce for me

I just watched the last two episodes of Mildred Pierce. It was ... O.K. I 'm afraid that's how I usually feel about Todd Haynes's work. The set design and costumes were meticulous, but the rest was ... ho hum. Especially the too-long segments of Veda singing, or I should say, Evan Rachel Wood lip-synching (real coloratura is opera singer Sumi Jo).

I love Kate Winslet, and I applaud her characterization, but the bottom line is that Mildred is just as big a drip as her awful daughter Veda says she is — I don't care how long-suffering Mildred is. She's pathetic, not sympathetic. Veda is the monster that she helped create. They are two sides of a very bad coin. I'm convinced that no matter how many times they tell each other to "go to hell," ten minutes later Mildred will be full of regret and wanting Veda back. When Veda tires of Monty and dumps him and needs some cash, she'll just worm her way back into Mildred's life — for as long as it suits her.

But enough about the Pierce women. Let's get to Monty, who was truly the only bright point in the washed-out 5-part miniseries affair. Monty Beragon was played by Aussie actor Guy Pearce. He was the only person in the whole production who didn't seem to be playing 1930s-40s dress-up. He really, authentically, seemed to be part of the era, from the way he walked and talked to the way he lounged on the furniture. Someone needs to sign him up to play Errol Flynn's life story immediately, like yesterday, because he perfectly embodied the sexy 30s rake to a T. Wait a minute — apparently he already has played Flynn in a movie, about his early pre-Hollywood years. I'll have to track it down.

Pearce has been on my list of mad crushes for years — hell, I sat through The Time Machine in the theater. I even find him incredibly sexy in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Of course he's insufferable in L.A. Confidential, but in a good way. And Memento is just classic. But he's also been in some unexpected roles, big and small. Two Brothers is an interesting little movie about two tiger cubs that are separated and what becomes of them. He's played Andy Warhol, Houdini and Edward VIII.

I still think Pearce is the perfect age and actor to be doing Flynn's autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways — that 80s TV movie version doesn't count. He does have an upcoming movie, The Wettest County in the World , in which he is co-starring with Gary Oldman, set in the 1930s, Depression-era. That's a start.