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

To Remake Or Not To Remake..."Pete's Dragon"

Pete's Dragon (2016)

Rated PG

Starring Oakes Fegley, Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban,

Directed by David Lowery

The Story:

Pete (Fegley) becomes orphaned and is raised in the wild Pacific Northwest by a dragon he calls Elliot. As the years pass, he is discovered by a girl (Laurence) and her mom (Howard), the local forest ranger. The only real problem, Gavin (Urban) has learned that the forest has a dragon in it, and he's decided it would fetch him a fortune.

Well, Disney swung for the fences with this one, making a live action adaptation of a late 70s hybrid live action/animated feature.

The good thing, it's better than the original, unless you happen to adore that movie, then it's quite likely you might hate this one.

Hard to say, I've seen differing opinions all over the internet.

One lady was reduced to tears because of the changes between films.

Yikes.

Some people need to get out more.

:)

Personally, I was pleased that the musical numbers were gone, and so too the abusive foster parents that Pete had to endure growing up.

The problem, for me, that has plagued most of these live action remakes, is that they're still just average at the end.

Disney has taken beloved animated classics, or in this case, an older movie (heheheh...) and just put a new coat of paint on it and pushed it out the door.

Maleficent at least had the decency to tell an entirely new story, and it remains the benchmark of quality for these films.

The rest have come across as average, which for other studios might be okay, but when this is Disney putting out a Disney movie, it seems like we should expect a little bit more, and I'm still just not seeing it.

Again, there's nothing wrong with the film on its own merits, it simply exists.

Plus, like most movies, they severely underutilized Karl Urban and so his villainous turn is half-hearted, at best.

Perhaps I'm jaded because How To Train Your Dragon has already taken the story of a boy and his dragon and raised the bar so well, this one just didn't have a chance.

Final Grade:  C

The Trek And The Furious..."Star Trek Beyond"

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

PG-13

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Sofia Boutella, John Cho, Anton Yelchin,

Directed by Justin Lin

The Story:

The crew of the Enterprise lands on an alien planet where their latest enemy (Elba) vows to destroy the Federation. With help from an alien (Boutella) and the Beastie Boys, perhaps Kirk (Pine) and his crew can save the galaxy.

Again.

So at this point, you either love (or at least tolerate) the rebooted franchise, or you hate it.

I'm not sure there's a middle ground.

I've enjoyed both the original series and the reboot for what they are: entertainment.

I enjoyed this installment of the series more than Into Darkness, mostly because I wish they would create new storylines for this crew versus rehashing old storylines.

Though this plot seems vaguely reminiscent of some previously seen episode, or movie...

maybe GalaxyQuest?

:)

Justin Lin moves from the Fast & Furious franchise to take over the Trek franchise, at least for one film.

If he does stick around, expect The Rock to show up in another sequel, soon, but that's about the time the quality of the franchise gets even better.

My biggest complaints for the film:

Karl Urban is woefully underused, as usual, and is still the best character the franchise has.

Star Trek: Beyond.  Star Trek-Beyond.

It's killing me to not have some type of punctuation in the movie title.

Otherwise, I need to know Star Trek Beyond...What?

What have they gone beyond?!?

;)

Final Grade: B-

The World Gets A Bit Dangerous "Walking With Dinosaurs"

Walking With Dinosaurs (2013)

Rated PG for scary dinosaurs

Starring Charlie Rowe, Karl Urban, Angourie Rice, John Leguizamo, Justin Long, Skyler Stone, Tiya Sircar

Directed by Barry Cook & Neil Nightingale

The Story:

In Alaska, an archaeologist (Urban) is driving his niece (Rice) and nephew (Rowe) to a site where he had found a dinosaur tooth.  Unimpressed, the nephew decides to sit at the truck and pout, when a bird named Alex (Leguizamo) comes along to tell the kid about the story about how that tooth came to be found where it was.  Cue the flashbacks and the story of a little dinosaur (Long) who grows up to be the leader of his herd though unlikely odds.

So apparently the brains behind this thought, let's take the BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs , and cross it with The Land Before Time...

Yes, these dinosaurs talk, though they don't do mouth movements, so it's not nearly as cutesy or annoying as you might think.

I don't know what to think...

The movie itself is nice to look at.  Using actual scenery with CGI, the landscapes and backgrounds are lush and beautiful.

However, I'm not sure how impressed I was overall with the dinosaurs.

Maybe it was the inclusion of humans in Jurassic Park, but I almost think those dinosaurs looked more realistic.

Anyway, the story itself isn't that terrible, and it's a film that the whole family can sit and enjoy/tolerate for 90 minutes, then it's done.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No, I think I'm okay.

Further Proof That Sequels Are Rarely As Good As The Original..."RED 2"

So close...

The Story:

Frank (Bruce Willis) is enjoying a quiet life with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) when Marvin (John Malkovich) comes calling.  He tries to warn them that danger is heading their way, but Frank wants to lay low and keep Sarah safe.  Oddly enough, Sarah is actually itching to see some action again, even though she is ill-prepared for it.  Then before you know it, trouble hits and the guys are on the run again, trying to figure out how to save the world and clear their names before they are killed.  This time however, it looks like Victoria (Helen Mirren) has been  hired by the British to make sure that Frank doesn't succeed.

Uh-oh!

I loved the first film.

One of my Best of the Year films, and one that I can watch at just about any time.

Was it the Morgan Freeman factor?  Hard to say.

They also had a much better 'bad guy' who was just doing his job, Karl Urban.

Here...

Not so much.

It's a muddled mess as they jaunt to Europe trying to evade nearly every government and assassin that is trying to take them down.

Including Frank's old flame, Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

Here's a piece of advice for successful movies that want to franchise:

Don't hire Catherine Zeta-Jones for your sequel.

Ocean's Eleven rocked.
Ocean's Twelve...not so much.
Ocean's Thirteen thankfully regained much of the original swagger.

So I guess, that bodes well for Red 3!

:)

Instead, you've got Neal McDonough tracking the team, and he's great, but no Karl Urban.  Then you throw in an Asian assassin (Byung-hun Lee) plus everyone else after Frank...

And now you have to find time to squeeze in "The Package" (Anthony Hopkins).

They went with an "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" approach when they should have tried to dial it back a few notches.

Ah well, it wasn't a complete waste, but it was unable to capture the lightning in a  bottle of the first film.

Better luck next go round.

Final Grade: B- / C+ range.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Like I said, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as the first one.  I'm sure I'll get it though. : )

Blockbuster Weekend Part One: "Star Trek: Into Darkness"

To boldly go where we've already gone before...

For the first time!

The Story:

Kirk (Chris Pine) and the rest of his crew are in trouble for not following standard protocol.  Kirk is removed from his captaincy, just as a Star Fleet officer (Benedict Cumberbatch) goes rogue, causing a terrorist attack.  Kirk demands to hunt this traitor to the far reaches of the galaxy and is reinstated as the Enterprise's commander.  He reassembles his crew and prepares to bring vengeance to the villain.  Ah, but not everything is as it seems, and there are still some twists coming for the members of the Enterprise.

I'm sure everyone has seen this film by now that wanted to, so I won't spoil anything else.

As for me? 

I enjoyed this film.

I've seen/heard all the negativity, but come on folks, it's just a movie.

Spoken like a true non-Trekkie.

Yes, I grew up watching reruns of Star Trek in syndication, but otherwise, never bothered with most of the movies or the various television series that followed.

I've had no problems with the reboot/relaunch of an alternate universe Star Trek.

It was the smartest thing they could've done.

If you want to keep the franchise going into the 21st Century, why not reboot everything?  And they did it in such a clever way, it seemed that you could have the best of both worlds.  Everything that had come before was still there... and now a new crew with some old names was being given their chance to shine.

And they took to their parts really well.

Zachary Quinto continues to grow nicely into his role as Spock, but for me the scene stealer is Karl Urban as Bones McCoy.  He's not around a lot, which is a shame, but everytime he delivered his cranky lines, I laughed.

The guy fills the role perfectly.  I hope to see more of him the next go round.

Hopefully, and assuming there is a next film, the storyline might be original, and concentrate on the main portion of the crew.

Let's see how this 5 year journey works out for the new crew.

I'm game for a return if they are.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'd watch it again, and wouldn't mind adding it to the collection with the first one.  Making 2 Star Trek movies in my library as the sum total  of my Trekkiness.

I Am The Law 2.0 ~ "Dredd"

Will this make you forget the Stallone classic?

The Story:

In the future, what's left of America is protected by The Judges: Judge/Jury and Executioner, all rolled into one.  The best of the best?  Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), hands down.  He's so good, he's given the task of training a rookie (Olivia Thirlby) who didn't pass the aptitude test, but is a psychic, a skill that could be used to help the Judges turn the stemming tide of violence, drugs and rampant.  The problem is, most rookies don't survive their first day, and when these two judges stumble into a high-rise that happens to house one of the worst crime-lords in the area, even Dredd himself may not make it out alive.


Hats off, figuratively, to Karl Urban for tackling Dredd.  First, the guy wears his helmet through the whole film.  I don't think we ever actually saw his face without the helmet.  In the age of comic book movies where the hero has to lose the mask for over half the movie so we can see who they are... Urban bucks the trend and just growls under the helmet the entire film.

For the film though, it works, and works perfectly.

Dredd growls and snarls throughout, and every once in awhile throws out a verbal zinger that just sounds awesome coming from the gruff lawman.

The action is violent, and over-the-top.  In other words: Awesome!

The futuristic look of the movie and sets is also very well done.

I have no background at all with the comic, so I cannot judge on whether the adaptation is faithful or not.

I would have to say that compared to the adaptation that Stallone did, which admittedly I have not seen since 1995 or 1996.  If I remember correctly, it was campy fun, but nothing like this.


Sadly, it appears that Dredd underwhelmed at the box office.  That's a shame, because this is a good reboot for the series, and I would happily sign on to the see the further adventures of this Dredd.


Final Grade: B+

Would I add it to my "I Own This Movie" catalog: Yes!