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

Join The "Hunt For The Wilderpeople" !

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Rated PG-13


Starring Sam Neill,  Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House,

Directed by Taika Waititi

The Story:

Ricky (Dennison) is a foster kid who has bounced from home to home throughout New Zealand. He's pretty much facing his last chance when he arrives at the farm of Bella (Wiata) and Hec (Neill). Over time, he begins to think of the place as home, but then, tragedy strikes and rather than facing being taken away again, he decides to make his way through the bush and survive on his own. Soon the subject of a manhunt, Ricky and Hec must stay ahead of the law to keep their names clear.

This is an offbeat buddy road movie meets coming of age story mashed up into the beautiful New Zealand countryside.

It's fun, it's touching, it's definitely worth watching.

Sam Neill is his usual gruff persona, think of him as an older, maybe less wise, Dr. Grant from Jurassic Park.

Dennison is such a likeable character, and while this may not be his first role, it is likely the one that will help propel his career forward.

Finally, the director is once again hitting me with an end of the year contender for most entertaining films of the year.

He scored last year with What We Do In The Shadows, and he's been tapped for Thor: Ragnarok next year.

If he brings his light touch to the Marvel Universe, I think fans will find the third Thor outing to be the best one yet, and Waititi will hit this list 3 years in a row.

Final Grade: B+

Vampires Finally Reveal "What We Do In The Shadows"

What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

Rated R

Starring Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Johnny Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford

Written and Directed by Clement & Waititi

The Story:

Vladislav (Clement), Viago (Waititi) and Deacon (Brugh) are flatmates in New Zealand. They also happen to be vampires. After promising not to harm the camera crew that films them, they agree to let humankind take a peek behind the curtain and see what it's like to be a vampire. Sure, they're immortal, but not having mirrors really wreaks havoc on one's fashion sense. Then there are the endless arguments about chores. Plus, don't get them started on their dislike of werewolves. The dynamic of the group changes when they turn a local (Macuer) and he begins to disrupt the status quo of the group entirely.

This Is Veinal Tap.

A mockumentary that treats the subject both respectfully and with a sense of fun, after all, these are vampires in New Zealand!

The special effects are not bad at all, and it's easy to forget that this film was probably shot on a shoestring budget, compared to just about anything shot in North America.

Where I normally pick on a director and writer who are one and the same because they often don't know when to change something, these two obviously put a lot of effort and time into their film to make sure that there was very little waste or boredom in the film.

I won't go too much more into the plot other than this:

In a nutshell, if you like horror, horror comedy, mockumentaries or movies filmed in New Zealand, this one will be right up your alley.

Plus, the inevitable conflict between vampires and werewolves is ultimately more satisfying than anything you may have seen in Twilight.

Final Grade: B