Verily Tis Time To See "Thor: Ragnarok"

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins,

Directed by Taika Waititi

The Story:

Ragnarok, the prophesied end of Asgard is at hand. Hela (Blanchett), the Goddess of Death seeks to destroy all that remains of Asgard and take her place on the throne. The only one who has any hope of stopping her is Thor (Hemsworth), and he's going to have to travel across the entire cosmos to get their in time. 

You've seen the trailer, and if that didn't get you psyched to go see this one, then there's not much I can write to convince you.

Waititi delivers the best of the 3 Thor sagas on the silver screen, and yes there's a lot of humor in it...

But I don't think at any point is the humor too distracting, or not in character for any of the characters.

Hemsworth has always been fun in the role of Thor, and they finally tapped into that and let the God of Thunder be the humorous, full of bravado son of Odin that makes the character shine.

He's complemented with the return of Hiddleston as Loki, and once more the brothers find themselves allied and at odds, sometimes both in the same scene.

Many more surprises, returns and losses for this final film from Marvel in 2017.

Is it their best of the year or best ever?

That will be debatable and vary from person to person.

I'm leaning at still giving that edge for this year to Spider-Man: Homecoming, but that may just be because after 5 attempts, I felt they finally got it right.

With Thor, they never really got it wrong, so much as they didn't deliver on everything that it could be.

So go, see the movie and have a good time.

Laugh it up, because things are about to get a lot darker next year with the arrival of Infinity War.

Final Grade: A

The "Knight Of Cups" Was A Pretentious Bore

Knight of Cups (2015)

Rated R

Starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy, Antonio Banderas, Imogen Poots,

Written and Directed by Terence Malick

The Story:

A writer (Bale) goes on a journey of discovery in Los Angeles through Las Vegas. These are his tales.

The movie opens with narration by Bale as the camera pans around and around to various scenery and other scenes that may or may not have anything to do with what is happening on screen.

I know I normally give movies 20 minutes, but I was ready to bail by the 10th minute, and I think I let if play into the first full chapter break at around the 13 minute mark.

I had no interest in the character, or whatever story was going to take place at this point.

If that means I have no appreciation for art-house films, so be it.

I come to see a movie to be entertained.

I don't mind thinking when I watch a film.

What I don't want to be thinking, is,  "why am I wasting my time watching this?"

There's a difference.

Final Grade: F

Ashes To Ashes..."Cinderella"

Cinderella (2015)

Rated PG

Starring Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Sophie McShera, Holliday Grainger, Richard Madden

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

The Story:

Ella (James) loses her mom at an early age, and when her father remarries, she tries to please her stepmother (Blanchett) and two step-sisters (Grainger & McShera). Ah, but tragedy strikes again, and soon their disdain and contempt shine through and Cinderella earns her name as she is ground under the boot of her family. If only a Prince Charming (Madden) would come to the rescue...

Ultimately, disappointing.

Where Disney struck gold with Maleficent doing a live action version of Sleeping Beauty, but presenting a different take on the tale, Cinderella becomes a boring paint by numbers retelling of the story with little left to the imagination.

Clearly the animated classic was better, and for that matter, so was the far superior Ever After which told this story, and much better, back in 1998.

I must say though, I will give Blanchett credit for being an exceptionally cruel stepmother. There was no real reason for her behavior, and she dialed it up to 11. Thoroughly detestable.

But it's Disney, and their hype machine is in full swing, and all the little girls out there will no doubt wish to see this version.

Meh.

So be it, but this makes me nervous about all the remaining live-action reboots that Disney is churning out at an alarming rate.

I will proceed with caution.

And so should you if you're looking for a version of Cinderella to watch with the family.

Final Grade: C

One Of Last Year's Best..."How To Train Your Dragon 2"

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Rated PG for violence and dragons!

Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Honsou

Directed by Dean DeBlois

The Story:

It's been several years since we last met the Vikings of Berk on the big screen, and as the film opens, it turns out they have adjusted to life quite well being dragon-riders.  Stoik (Butler) has designs on Hiccup (Baruchel) taking over as Chieftan of Berk, but Hiccup is too busy trying to find his way in the world and deciding what he really wants to be.  He's having too much fun exploring the world with Toothless and discovering all of the new lands.  It's on one of these adventures when he discovers two very important things:  there is an evil army collecting dragons in preparation for war; there is a mysterious dragon-rider who has ties to Berk and could help Hiccup unlock more dragon secrets than he ever imagined.

Dreamworks Animation has done it again.

If it sounds familiar, that means you read this review when I saw it in theaters last year.

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and it found its way under the tree.

That should come as no shock to anyone either, Dreamworks has been on a roll that the other studios haven't been able to match.

At least at our house, if not the box office.

I gave the nod to the original for my Top 10 of 2014 simply because I hadn't seen it before, so it was eligible.

Take it off the table, and Part 2 easily makes the Top 10 films of last year.

It's simply breathtakingly gorgeous, and the scope of the film grew tremendously since the first part.  Time has passed, the characters have aged and grown.

There will be a shift in the dynamics of the film by the time the credits roll.

Whether that's good... we'll find out in Part 3!

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: We own it, and are looking forward, sadly, to the final installment.

How To Enjoy The Weekend Part 2: "How To Train Your Dragon 2"

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Rated PG for violence and dragons!

Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Honsou

Directed by Dean DeBlois

The Story:

It's been several years since we last met the Vikings of Berk on the big screen, and as the film opens, it turns out they have adjusted to life quite well being dragon-riders.  Stoik (Butler) has designs on Hiccup (Baruchel) taking over as Chieftan of Berk, but Hiccup is too busy trying to find his way in the world and deciding what he really wants to be.  He's having too much fun exploring the world with Toothless and discovering all of the new lands.  It's on one of these adventures when he discovers two very important things:  there is an evil army collecting dragons in preparation for war; there is a mysterious dragon-rider who has ties to Berk and could help Hiccup unlock more dragon secrets than he ever imagined.

Dreamworks Animation has done it again.

That's pretty much your spoiler-free review right there!

:)

If you loved the first one, and just about everyone who has ever seen it, does... well, you're going to love this one.

If you've missed the first one, I don't think you'd be too terribly lost.  The narration provides you everything you need to get caught up, but it doesn't feel like a horrid rehash of what has gone one before.

The animation is mesmerizing.  Such beautiful landscapes, it's absolutely breathtaking.

The voice work is top-notch, with several new characters being introduced alongside all of your favorites from the first film.

What can be said about Toothless?  Perhaps the cutest animal ever to appear on film.  Half cat... half dog...

All dragon.

The only piece of advice I might offer...

Don't be surprised if like over half of my viewing companions last night...

Tears might be shed.

You've been warned.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: It's a purchase...no question.  Only a few of the family will see it in theaters, the rest are waiting for DVD. 

Will there be a 3rd outing?  Hard to say, but if they choose to, we'll be back!

The Race To Recover History..."The Monuments Men"

The Monuments Men (2014)
Rated PG-13 for language and violence

Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Bob Balaban

Directed by George Clooney

The Story:

Frank Stokes (Clooney) convinces FDR that finding all of the stolen art that the Nazis have made disappear across Europe is a noble pursuit.  Allowing him to assemble his own team, Frank recruits some of the finest art historians of the time and asks them to go in harm's way in search of thousands of years worth of world history.  They will mostly succeed, but there will be casualties along the way.

But of course, it is based on a true story.

This is an odd duck of a story.

The truth behind the assignment should have been more than enough to make this movie work.

And yet...

As noted by the trailer, much humor is attempted to be infused into the situations.

Some of the jokes work better than others.

Essentially, the team splinters into 1 or 2 man teams in search of clues to the whereabouts of thousands of missing paintinings, sculptures and other works of art.

As the war draws to a close, the team reunites to get to the large cache of art before the Nazis can destroy it all.

For the most part, the team succeeds.

They also recount the more famous finding: the millions of gold bars also hidden in the mines.

Everyone in the cast does a fine job.  Some characters seem less fleshed out than others.  You can probably figure out which characters are more likely to not survive the war than their counterparts.

It was good.

It should have been better.

Final Grade: Going with a B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I wanted to like this one more than I did, and add it to the World War II library of films.  Maybe someday, but no real hurry.

At Least She's Learning a Trade..."Hanna"

Girl gone wild...

The Story:

Genetically enhanced teenage assassin Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) has been living out in the wild with her father Erik (Eric Bana) and he's taught her everything he knows...and then some.  The goal?  To raise the ultimate assassin, and to kill the woman (Cate Blanchett) that killed Hanna's mother. 

Sounds exciting?

That's what I was hoping for...

Yet it really wasn't.

It was watchable, but it just mostly happened. 

I never got too invested in the characters, and aside from a few cool set pieces, my overall impression of the movie was "meh".

Final Grade: C-

Would I Own It: Nah... stick with the 3 minute trailer for the movie, it pretty much sums up the whole thing.