Not as good as the original, but a vast improvement over the second installment, Iron Man 3 is well made and eager to make you laugh at almost every turn.
The film frequently resorts to comedy - and Robert Downey Jr. has some of the best lines in the entire movie - to mostly cover up the dark thematic material that revolves around a ruthless psychotic terrorist known as the Mandarin. The Mandarin is played brilliantly by Ben Kingsley. His army of minions give Tony Stark a real run for his money since they all seem to be made out of fire.
Plot holes aside (ie: how exactly do you kill these minions?), the story is engaging and entertaining. The action scenes are nicely edited together with more than enough explosions that would impress even Michael Bay. The performances, particularly by Guy Pearce and Gwyneth Paltrow, are well done, even if some actors (Rebecca Hall and Don Cheadle) are incredibly underused.
I can't imagine a 4th film in this series, since I can't see any reasonable excuse to continue the Iron Man saga. Hopefully, director Shane Black and Marvel will quit while they're ahead, as this is a sequel that's definitely worthy of concluding the series.

Schnectady, New York: A town filled with people desperate to get out, corrupt officials, and kids with troubled pasts. It's the kind of town that you would never visit or even pass through unless you had to. The Place Beyond the Pines is a film about this town over a fifteen year span. It is an emotionally draining experience, but not necessarily a fulfilling one. The story's twists and turns are more predictable than director Derek Cianfrance seems to think they are. And just like Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines moves along with a kind of self-importance that often crosses the line from art to pretentiousness. All in all, a watchable film but not one that really requires more than one viewing.

Pain & Gain doesn't work, and that's not in the least because of its starring cast. Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie really try hard to make this movie as entertaining as possible. The problem is that they're let down by a weak script and director Michael Bay.
This film marks Bay's first departure from large scale action pictures, and it shows. In the past, he has frequently been able to make up for ill conceived jokes and poor storytelling with eye popping visuals and fast paced action scenes. Not so in the case of this crime drama. He has no handle on setting the tone for the film. It sometimes tries to be lighthearted, while other times it's overly serious. Bay also frequently resorts to his "action film" tactics that feel out of place.
In the hands of more capable filmmakers like the Coen Brothers or Wes Anderson, this would have been a great film with a story that proves truth is stranger than fiction. But under Michael Bay's helm, the film is a misguided attempt at a caper that exists for the audience to ridicule the protagonists rather than sympathize with them.

It would have been better if they had just left Indiana Jones as a trilogy. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a colossal disappointment, not least because it doesn't feel at all like an Indiana Jones film. Where the other three films had Indy chasing down ancient religious artifacts that possessed mystical abilities, Crystal Skull is about aliens. Aliens? Yes, you heard me right, alien crash landing. We've gone from the Ark of the Covenant to outer space. Why why why why why?
All of the Indiana Jones films required a suspension of disbelief, but the things that Indiana Jones and his companions manage to escape unharmed from in this film are so ludicrous it takes all the fun out of the film. Indy survives a nuclear blast by hiding himself in a fridge, emerging from it in one piece? Shia Labeouf and Cate Blanchett swordfighting while standing in two different moving cars? Indy and his crew surviving three drops down waterfalls the size of Niagara? Forgive me, but how could any director, not least one as seasoned in the craft as Steven Spielberg remotely think these were good ideas?
Let's hope Lucas, Spielberg and Co leave this franchise alone before they desecrate it like the prequels did to the original Star Wars saga.

The most interesting aspect of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is, surprisingly enough, the relationship between Indiana Jones and his father Henry (played by non-other than Sean Connery). While the two certainly joke and fight evil together, the underlying tension between them is always apparent. Henry was never really there for his son, but, as he puts it, that lack of presence actually made Indy the great man that he has grown up to be.
The rest of the film is great. Steven Spielberg has still managed to find creative ways to test Indy's fear of snakes, and his ability to face impossibly odds to retrieve mystical artifacts that prove to have direly terrifying consequences. This time around, he's on a quest to find the Holy Grail, and no doubt some strangely sinister people are after it as well. As always, Last Crusade continues the franchise's ability to provide unique and incredibly fun adventures.