2013: The Year in Film: "Thor: The Dark World" Review

Of all of the "first generation" Marvel films, "Thor" was maybe the biggest surprise. Not because it was particularly good, because among the Marvel films it's among the weaker entries (and seems to take place in a one-block town that appears to have been built for purposes of the movie), but rather because it's even slightly good or watchable. The character of Thor in the Marvel Comics universe is, let's be honest, completely nonsensical. He's the literal Norse god of myth, an immortal Asgardian who is revealed to be a cosmic alien rather than an actual deity. Silly and nonsensical, right? Even in a universe where being bitten by a radioactive spider gives one the relative strength and dexterity of a spider.  But relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth really sold his portrayal, making the character believable and likable while a powerhouse cast (Anthony Hopkins and Tom Hiddleston in particular) fleshes out the world. Thor wasn't given a TON to do in "The Avengers", but Loki got a huge boost as the main villain, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand with Thor's second solo film.

Following the events of the first Thor film and the Avengers, Thor and his loyal warriors find themselves putting down rebellions across several worlds. Save all discussions of the virtues of absolute monarchy for other places, as this one is working JUST FINE, thank you. Thor is being groomed to take over the throne of Asgard from his father/the Allfather but continues to dream of earth and Jane Foster/Natalie Portman, who he met for approximately 48 hours in the first Thor movie, but whatever. After an ancient evil that threatens the survival of all of the worlds is discovered, earth and Asgard find their fates intertwined yet again.

The Good: Marvel made the decision following "The Avengers" to branch out its other properties into differing genres. Here, this works to perfection. The first 'Thor' film was a more straightforward superhero origin story, but for round two we're given a fantasy/sci-fi romp with much more humor and a fun approach to what could have otherwise been dense and confusing nonsense. Director Alan Taylor, after honing his fantasy chops on "Game of Thrones" proves to have been a perfect choice to take over the Thor franchise. The powerhouse cast, led by Hemsworth as Thor, Portman as the love interest, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Tom Hiddleston as Thor's adopted brother and Avengers villain Loki lend gravitas to the proceedings.  Every scene with Loki is a treat, as Hiddleston really brings a smarmy humanity and depth to a character who could have easily been a one-note villain. The effects are great and the plot serves to advance Thor as a character and provide an explanation for why he finds himself so interested in Earth. But the main draw here is the tone. Quite simply, this film is a ton of fun to watch. Comic relief is around every corner, but it successfully manages to toe that line between "silly" and "fun".. and that's no easy feat. The supporting characters, especially Kat Dennings, make it clear that everyone involved knows just how silly everything is, but it's still a lot of fun and never feels cheap.


The Bad: the plot feels a bit empty, due primarily to a lack of development of the villains. I get the impression that Malekith was intended to be a counterpoint to Asgard and Odin, but that many of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor. As a result, the villains wind up being a sort of mysterious menace that wants merely to destroy everything out of spite. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with a one-dimensional villain, but in a film that otherwise does a great job with its characters it feels like something's missing.

All in all, if you had concerns about the Marvel stand alone films following the Avengers... you shouldn't. The decision to treat stand-alone films as just that has allowed the characters to veer off in new and interesting directions and really enriched the cinematic universe as a result. Plus, is there a character in film who's more fun to watch right now than Hiddleston's Loki? He's just chewing up scenery here, and the fact that Hemsworth doesn't feel like an afterthought is a credit to just how good he is at giving Thor some humanity. Alan Taylor is a director to keep your eyes on, folks, he's attached to the reboot of the Terminator franchise.

8/10.

2012: The Year in Film: "Snow White and the Huntsman" Review

So I'm back. I apologize for being crappy at writing lately but I've been busy seeing Avengers not enough times, getting excited for Prometheus and the Dark Knight Rises, nerding out over Game of Thrones and generally not blogging things. In addition, the new blogger format is utter shit. I loathe it and it's generally made blogging here significantly less enjoyable. I used to write everything in word and then copy and paste it over, inserting any media, but this new system keeps screwing up the formatting. Argh. If you're one of the loyal few.. my apologies, as it's been a healthy month. At any rate, we're here today to discuss "Snow White and the Huntsman", which by virtue of the subject matter and very title, wouldn't seem to be something that myself or anyone other than 10 year old girls would have any interest in. But a funny thing happened on the way to princess-land, a dark, reimagined script got greenlit with an impressive FX budget and a star studded cast.. and I think I speak for many when I say that the first trailer made me exhale a Keanu-esque "whoa..". So I've been cautiously optimistic about this one for a while and kept a close eye on the reviews as they slowly trickled out. They've been mixed, to say the least, but Drew McWeeney and Roger Ebert (2 of the 5 or so movie critics I tend to trust) both gave it high marks, so I figured, what the hell.. worth checking out.

Kristen Stewart stars as Snow White, the princess long imprisoned in her father's castle by the evil Queen, played by Charlize Theron, who has brought darkness to the land with her evil powers. After she escapes to the dark forest, the Queen's forces recruit a huntsman with a drinking problem (Chris Hemsworth) to help them hunt her down. There is much more to Snow White than meets the eye, and the Huntsman and some other friends join her against the Queen. Fundamentally, it's the same story as the classic Grimm fairy tale, with an evil Queen with dark powers obsessed with keeping her physical beauty while a young princess threatens her reign. There are dwarves, a magic apple, a magic mirror, all that fun, classic, cornball stuff. It's just been ramped up and grown up, to include armies and soldiers and monsters and magic galore.

First, what the film does well: visually, it's stunning. This is a fleshed-out world that feels rich and magical.  Snow White and her companions encounter a variety of locales on their quest, all of which look amazing. It's like someone watched Pan's Labyrinth/Hellboy and Lord of the Rings and took away all the visual positives.. that's definitely a good thing. The castle is imposing and impressive-looking, the battle scenes are more than adequate and the film really takes pleasure in depicting nature. The magic forest that Snow White and her companions find themselves in is particularly stunning. There are some great performances here too.. Charlize Theron takes what could have been a stock villainess role and fleshes it out into something menacing but also sad. Chris Hemsworth is well on his way to becoming a legitimate actor, doing MUCH more with the Huntsman than would be expected. There are some familiar faces among the dwarves, as well.. with Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Nick Frost, Toby Jones and others having their faces rendered via CGI onto actual little people. In addition, the plot was refreshing, unique and strangely effective.

At the other side of the coin lies some uneven plotting, unconvincing performances and wooden dialogue. The film feels like it's 20 minutes too long, and sags during a long middle portion where I wasn't quite sure where we're going with all of this. In addition, Hemsworth and Theron simply act circles around Kristen Stewart.. who feels out of place, like it's not really happening to her. Her transformation happens too quickly, and she seems anachronistic in this medieval setting. Some supporting characters exist so far in the background as to hardly have personalities, and the character of "Will", the handsome Prince, seems like an utter waste of time.
Long story short, this movie is good, if not great, but well worth a watch. Hemsworth and Theron alone are worth the price of admission, and the visuals are great bordering on amazing. An all-around solid time at the movies. 7/10.

2012: The Year in Film: "The Cabin in the Woods" Review

This is Joss Whedon's coming out party in the movies. First, this flick, that has been delayed several times, which Whedon co-wrote with protege Drew Goddard (who got his start writing on Buffy and has been involved in many nerd-tastic JJ Abrams projects since..), who also directs. Of course, Whedon also wrote and directed "The Avengers" which comes out in a couple of weeks. Good for him. Now I know I don't do much horror around here.. it's just not my genre. I find horror to be contrived, cliched, predictable and often unnecessarily gruesome simply for gore's sake. I have a rule, and that's that generally I don't watch things that I can completely figure out from a one minute trailer. That covers horror, romantic comedies, the type of action movies that Jason Statham stars in and shitty Adam Sandler-style comedies. In addition, I'm not frightened by the supernatural and/or things that are impossible. A lot of movie horror consists of atmospheric creepiness (tense music and things popping out at you) and preposterous, unbelievable situations. But horror can be great when done well and avoiding tropes.. "The Exorcist", "Silence of the Lambs" and "Alien" all come to mind, but many would argue that the latter to are more thriller and sci-fi than straight horror. But anyway, Whedon's involvement immediately piqued my interest, and then I started seeing that the flick was getting rave reviews (currently at 92% on RT), so I decided to check out this flick that's been getting so much buzz in the fanboy community.

First, this movie turns the horror genre on its head. It uses its premise to directly attack/mock typical horror movie tropes and situations, and really is quite funny, quite often. Despite how the trailer may appear, this is far from your typical slasher flick. There are layers and twists that make this much more than even a knowing horror attempt. It is at once quite meta and self aware, and at the same time making a legitimate attempt at constructing a story despite its acknowledgment of the problems of the genre. I am going to avoid spoilers in this review, because I avoided them myself prior to seeing it and really think it added to my enjoyment.



Using the traditional tropes of horror films (the jock, the slut, the brainy one, the stoner/goofball, the "good girl") allows for effective horror on one level while simultaneously making a mockery of the genre on another AND creating a cohesive narrative at the same time. The chutzpah of these guys, I'll tell you. The cast is strong, despite being limited by the constructs of the narrative.. particularly Kristen Connolly (Dana, the "good girl"). Of interesting note is that this flick sat for 3 years due to MGM's bankruptcy, so Chris "Thor" Hemsworth appears here in a supporting role. There are many extremely funny parts, which is to be expected with Whedon, but I laughed hard several times, and was legitimately frightened several times.. so good for this movie. This movie tries to do a lot of things and be a lot of things and doesn't necessarily knock each of these efforts out of the park.. but I applaud the hell out of them for even swinging. (too much baseball?) This sort of filmmaking is to be applauded.

I apologize for being quite vague with this review.. but I really don't want to spoil what's going on.. it will take a lot of the fun out of it. But it works as a horror movie, as a send-up of horror movies, as a simply fun movie, and as an overarching narrative of its own. My complaints are, simply, that at time it's a little TOO knowing and tries a bit TOO hard, and that I kind of sort of hated the ending.. rather strongly. In addition, and maybe this isn't entirely fair to hold against the flick.. but when you're making a smart, knowing movie, the dumb plot holes seem especially glaring. There are several that make no sense. Despite these criticisms, all in all, this a fun time at the movies. I had a blast.

7.5/10. If the ending was different, I'd be giving it an 8.5. It's good, a lot of fun, and well worth a watch. Check it out, you won't regret it.. as long as you know this isn't your typical horror flick.