fantasy – Page 18 – Late to the Theater

Attempted Rational vs. Irrational Entry: Thor

In all, see Thor. See Thor run, see Thor fight. It’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen, although I didn’t spring for 3D because I am cheap and because what’s the point of seeing Thor in fake 3D if I cannot reach out and molest him from my theater seat, but at least I have my imagination. Oh yes.

There. A perfectly legitimate and rational theatrical review.

Yup, loved it.

And I already know what you’re going to say, and I promise that YES, this will actually be a film review and not a sweaty, giggly, ‘omghe’ssocuteMUSCLESANDPRETTYHAIR!!!’ entry. I shall be completely objective in my review.

: “Oh no! Your shirt is ruined! TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES RIGHT NOW.”

As a film, I found Thor to be as enjoyable as Iron Man, the film to which it is inevitably being compared, as both characters will be in The Avengers movie coming out next year.

I left the theater having a few questions (or hopes) for the upcoming Avengers film.

1. Will Thor be as big a hit as Iron Man? I think there’s a distinct possibility of this. Granted, Thor’s opening day moneywise wasn’t as big as Iron Man, but the overseas gross is already huge, and Chris Hemsworth himself ~~is made of magic and sinew~~ comes with a LOT less baggage than Robert Downey Jr. Even though RDJ is ~~hot~~ a megastar himself right now, a lot of people didn’t care for the politicized, stylized, look of Iron Man as a film overall, and RDJ’s personal history, weirdly enough, turns a lot of people off. I loved Thor, it was well done and seemed to be a big hit. I don’t know if word of mouth will carry Thor as much as Iron Man did, but I found the movies to be equally good in terms of execution and writing; and I personally liked Thor’s ~~cartoonish muscles and pretty hair~~ character more ~~and would do things to him~~. I do think Iron Man was more accessible as a character, though ~~because he came off as kind of a whore which is also hot~~. Also, Iron Man was informed a great deal by the political situation in the middle east, which of course is going to tug American heartstrings a little more.

1a. If that is the case and Thor is considered as big as Iron Man, will their plot be central to the Avengers movie? I know NOTHING about The Avengers. Marvel was never really my world, because I didn’t read too many comic books as a kid. Anyhoodle, I would dearly like to see a movie where Iron Man and Thor must join forces, possibly after ~~a long bout of making out~~ an ego clash. Think about it, Thor shows up and literally steals Stark’s thunder; for someone intelligent, who has spent years perfecting a design that just about gets him to the level that Thor is at naturally, that would be galling. At the least, I’d like to see ~~a slow motion naked wrestling match~~ a bit of tension between them. It wouldn’t be out of character for them to clash, given their respective backgrounds–after all, even though Thor matured by the end of his story, what you basically have are two Golden Boys in the same room.

I’ve seen little criticism of Thor that seemed genuine, and not sour grapes, being spouted from people who didn’t already have an agenda, or just flat out didnt’ understand the movie. I found the character development compelling; after all, Thor’s a golden boy, he’s never failed or be denied anything. The tantrum he throws when denied the kingship is evidence of this. He also isn’t the brains of Asgard, and is easily manipulated by Loki.

I want to say that Loki came off as much more interesting as a character, but only because ~~I would consider him an appetizer and cover him in cream~~ I recognize the Shakespearean tropes at work. He’s a runty guy with a thin face, a bookish type growing up in a culture that values might. At the very least, his fashion sense is at odds with the rest of Asgard; he favors darker colors to the Asgardians reds and golds. The obvious setup pays off, though, through Hiddleston’s performance. He does not realize his own penchant for duplicity at first, probably only considering himself an opportunist at worst, but once he does, glories in it. And his scheming is born from the worst source of evil: plain old good intentions.

Did I know the good guy was going to win? Certainly. But nobody goes into a James Bond film wondering if this is the one where he finally catches a headshot; we go to see the thrills, stunts, pretty people and places. We don’t care where we’re going, we’re along for the ride, and for a film with as many classic tropes as Thor had going on, it’s a joy to see it succeed. Kenneth Branagh uses a light touch when needed, but also knows exactly when to break out the firehose.

Chris Hemsworth is definitely the right guy for the job; his combination of physicality and easygoing charm carry him through a few scenes that would otherwise have been weak, and his performance as blustery, overconfident Thor feels natural and not forced. He’s a guy who’s been on top ~~see? I can restrain myself~~ for most of his life, so of course he would think he was the cat’s pajamas in every situation. And when it comes to fighting, he really is.

On PZ Myers’s blog, he criticized the film for not spending enough time developing Thor’s character between the ‘I’m a golden boy!’ and ‘I’m humbled!’ points on his character arc. I didn’t see that at all. What I saw was someone who, once they had failed, was almost relieved to be free of responsibility. And it’s not like he didn’t have some bad moments; one minute he’s flying around using Mjolnir as everything from a helicopter to a club and smashing things to bits, and the next he’s tied to a hospital bed with that most nefarious of evil weapons, plastic zip-ties, and getting hit by Natalie Portman’s jeep. Who wouldn’t be freaked and humbled by that? Thor’s not a brains guy, as I said; the whole source of his overconfidence is his ~~CARTOONISH HOT BODY AND PRETTY SMILE~~ strength. Couple that with Mjolnir not recognizing him, and it’s no wonder he can suddenly empathize.

I found that kind of inspiring, the idea that empathy and gentleness are not things that must be learned, but that they are inherent to humanity (or whatever the space vikings are) and sometimes waiting to be expressed in the right moment. Sure, he needs some practice, which he gets in the form of guidance from Stellan Skarsgard. (BTW, **KIND OF SPOILER BUT NOT REALLY** there’s a scene where Skarsgard, playing Erik Solveig, claims he and Thor got drunk and got into a fight; reading between the lines, I’m sure he THOUGHT he was in a fight, and that Thor was kind enough to let him get in a few hits before letting the boilermakers they were drinking end the matter). **END OF NOT REALLY SPOILER** I could also be filling in some blanks myself, and there really was some lazy storytelling, but to be fair, if you’re comparing Thor and Stark’s character ars, well one of those two starts out a MUCH bigger asshole than the other. Just saying.

I also have to say I really liked the fight scenes. When Thor is in Godmode, he’s literally awesome. But when he’s a man, his fighting is useless against a new kind of foe: hospital orderlies and thorazine. I hate in movies when someone goes through psyche ward orderlies like they’re made out of cotton candy– those are the people who do this shit for a living, and don’t mess around. Sure, he fights his way to Mjolnir later, but he’s figured himself out; the old methods he used are just as efficient against humans as they are against frost giants.

In all, see Thor. See Thor run, see Thor fight. It’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen, although I didn’t spring for 3D because I am cheap ~~and because what’s the point of seeing Thor in fake 3D if I cannot reach out and molest him from my theater seat, but at least I have my imagination. Oh yes~~.

There. A perfectly legitimate and rational theatrical review.

Florida Film Festival Entry: The Troll Hunter

I think The Troll Hunter could be this year’s ‘Let the Right One In.’ It’s creative, the effects are great, and it’s got that foreign feel while still being accessible enough to the average filmgoer. If it had more English segments it would be this year’s District 9, but alas, many people still hate readin’ at the movin’ pitchur show.

: Kinda reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus.

Hey y’all!

I don’t have time for a really meticulous, in-depth review today, but I wanted to get these thoughts down while I had time.

Last night, we saw The Troll Hunter at the Florida Film Festival. It’s a Norwegian film, in the style of faux-documentary (it’s NOT a mockumentary, because a mockumentary contains elements of parody, and this is NOT a parody). Sort of like a Blair Witch situation, where there’s a bunch of material and investigators are trying to figure out what happened, etc.

A group of students from Volda College are following a man suspected by hunters of being a bear poacher. The hunters are annoyed because the state carefully maintains the bear population, and so they are angry that someone’s gone rogue and is poaching all the good bears.

The students follow the man, named Hans, into the woods one night after being repeatedly rebuffed by him. When they see what he’s up to, they beg him to allow them to document his work. He’s an agent with the Norwegian Troll Security Service, which is part wildlife conservation effort and part nuisance response. Basically, trolls have always been around, and the government has made concerted efforts to cover them up while keeping them alive.

The premise is pretty simple, and most of what you’d expect to see in this kind of documentary happens; we get a viewpoint of a very complex person who does a dangerous job, there is danger and excitement, and some pretty goddamn boss special effects.

It’s definitely a thrilling ride, but upon reflection, now that I’ve had my troll-heated blood cooled, I can see where some critics gave it a medium-to-positive review. I won’t go into spoilers, but there are definitely some weak spots that you just dont’ notice while all the action is unfolding.

I hope it does really well though, I found it thoroughly entertaining and interesting.

Animazing Amation: The Secret of Kells

12-year-old Brendan is the nephew of the Abbot at the Kells Abbey; his Uncle, Cellach, is obsessed with building a wall around the abbey that will protect the town and people from the Northmen (Vikings) who’ve been rampaging their way across Europe and drawing ever closer. Brendan is a sheltered boy, forbidden from leaving the abbey or handling a quill, and his duties are largely to work onthe wall and assist the other brothers. Though the abbey has a scriptorium, and Cellach himself once a celebrated illuminator (illuminators worked both to beautify the words of the Bible and just make them readable for the illiterate), little work has been done since he became obsessed with building the wall.

Complicating Cellach’s attempts to keep Brendan on-task is the arrival of Brother Aidan, a rock-star level illuminator whose works are legendary, carries the famous work of St.Colomba, and who distracts Brendan from his duties on the wall. Realizing the boy’s curiosity won’t be sated otherwise, Aidan encourages him to begin making his own decision, and even convinces him to leave the abbey and search the forest for an important nut used in the making of green ink.

Aishling and Brendan, sitting in a tree. . . — No matter where the scene is set, everything looks this rich and detailed

The Secret of Kells, like many films, barely registered on the theatrical radar before it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It lost to Up!, but the fact that it rose through the arthouse ranks at all to be nominated, since it’s a story about a young boy who lives in an abbey in the 9th century, is entirely due to the beauty of the artwork and the fascinating story. It really should have won, since in an age of CG movies it holds its own among them while being largely-hand drawn, with some CG embellishments.

Although an understanding of the importance of medieval illumination is helpful, it is not necessary to enjoy the story.

Basically, without places like the abbey, we wouldn’t have many of the classical works of history; scriptoriums acted like libraries and publishing houses, both keeping books safe in their vast collections and copying them for transport to other abbeys, or just reproducing books that were on the verge of crumbling away. They might have been working from a manuscript written by Julius Caesar or Plato, and that was 800 years old. Without that one dude sitting on his chair and working, we wouldn’t have the writings of Marcus Aurelius, Solon, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Heron. And that’s just the Western stuff; they had books from Arabic theosophers and historians, too. Abbeys were literally the last bastion between intellectual chaos and order. If you’re interested in learning more about medieval abbeys and what they did, you might read (or just watch the movie) Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose; it’s the consummate film of the last 40 years dealing with medieval life.

When Brendan ventures into the forest he meets Ashling, a faery, who watches over the forest and basically lives alone. Wild and untrusting of adults, she takes a liking to Aidan and shows him the wonders of her forest. His talk of the book excites and fascinates her.

The book itself is just awesome, when you finally get to see it. The real Book of Kells was an illuminated Gospel manuscript that contained the four gospels, and is considered one of Ireland’s great treasures. When people joke about how the Irish saved civilization, one of the things they’re talking about is the preservation of the book from the raids of the vikings. No one knows how it survived, and the film explores a fanciful possibility. Beyond the importance it represented to Christianity, its preservation at all costs by the people who believe in it is a moving and inspiring tale, which shows the dedication and courage of humans in the face of a rapacious foe. Think about it: this is a time period where few people had enough to eat, or even clothes to keep them warm, yet they’re willing to sacrifice their lives for something they may not have even been able to read.

The only thing about the movie, I thought, was that Ashling didn’t feel as well-written as some of the other characters. She is non-human, part of the older world of Ireland, and yet she helps Brendan and puts herself in danger to do so. Why would she do that? What has he done to earn her trust? I am totally reading more into this than I should, but since the movie has no other female characters I can’t help but wonder what little girls watching the film (it’s pretty safe for kids, there’s some scary imagery from the Vikings but it’s a lot less creepy than say, Coraline) might take away from it. Again, the little boy’s agency is more important than anything that the little girl might have going on. She does control the wolves of the forest, a badass pack who are stylized in red and black, but otherwise she doesn’t seem to connect the dots between the advent of Christianity and the extinction of her own people. I am totally reading too much into this and am the first to say so.

Here’s the trailer; everything the critics say is true.

If you’re looking for something for your kids to watch, and you’re a cool parent who wants to broaden your child’s worldview a little, you cannot go wrong with Kells. It might not be too good for very small children, since it’s dialogue-heavy at times, but you know your child’s attention span better than anyone.

The Secret of Kells is available on Instant Watch.

East Meets Western Review: The Warrior’s Way; The Good, The Bad, and the Weird

The conflict is multilayered – there’s the immediate threat posed by The Colonel and his gang of murderous cowboys, the impending threat posed by the Sad Flutes as they pursue Yang, and the more subtle character conflicts of Yang attempting to leave his violent life behind, and Lynne avenging her family’s murder. If you’ve been watching a lot of Asian import movies in the past ten years, you’ll see a lot of familiar territory explored, but against the Western backdrop everything feels like a fresh new take.

Note: Since The Warrior’s Way is currently in theaters, I’ll try to avoid spoilers. I really do recommend this movie though, you can’t ask for a better time!

Let me just say that already, The Warrior’s Way is fast approaching the list of My Favorite Movies–a list that has many entries, some changing constantly, but which I will always come back to, again and again. I was really surprised by the vitriolic comments directed at it on the IMDB user board, and I’m not really convinced we saw the same movie, or went into it with the same expectations.

Written and Directed by Sngmoo Lee,

Warrior’s Way is the story of Yang, the world’s greatest assassin and member of the Sad Flutes gang. It’s never explicitly stated where he originates from, but given that the movie involves ninjas, you might surmise it takes place in Japan, despite the fact that Yang is played by Jang Dong Gun, a Korean actor. When tasked to kill the last member of a rival clan, thus ending a centuries-old war, he finds he can’t–because the target is a baby. Rather than kill the baby (although there is a a picture of him in the dictionary under the entry for ‘Murder’) he flees. The rest of the Sad Flutes come after him, including their leader, the Saddest Flute, and so he flees to America with the baby.

The movie is a mix of practical sets and green screen, which lends a charming, nostalgic feel to the precedings. After all, this is NOT a historical movie by any means, and you’ll either suspend your disbelief with the first fight scene, or you won’t, which is probably what happened with all those negative comments. I went in expecting to have fun, and I did, as well as nearly crying at the end.

In the US, Yang finds a crummy town of shanties and shacks, half-digested by the desert, and populated by rustics and–weirdly–the members of a now-defunct circus troupe. The head of the whole shebang is 8-ball, an African-American dwarf (Tony Cox, best known from his role as the larcenous Marcus in Bad Santa) who used to be the circus’s ringmaster. Accompanying him are the various freaks and clowns and bearded ladies you’d expect of a circus troupe. Towering over everything are the skeletal remains of a Ferris wheel, silhouetted against the perpetually-sunset hued sky. He also meets Lynne (Kate Bosworth), whose entire family was murdered by local psycho gangleader The Colonel (Danny Houston, at his greasy, frightening best) and who desperately attempts to train herself with knives, despite being really, really inept at it.

As with more traditional Westerns before it, Warrior’s Way depicts Yang as a sort of Man with No Name trope; he comes to the town and begins to make a place for himself and the child, taking over his dead friend’s laundry and teaching Lynne how to be a better knife-thrower. I do have to say, at first when he took over the laundry house I kind of cringed, but it was also an interesting character and story move–here’s a man who has killed hundreds and could rule this town like a tyrant-king, but instead chooses to take up almost the lowest rung on the social ladder of the town. Not because he can’t do anything else, but because he is inflicting a self-punishment by washing other people’s drawers.

Jang Dong Gun — Not just a pretty face, he's also socially conscious! With cute anime shirts!

There has been much criticism about the stoic, almost monosyllabic performance by Jang in the film, compared to Geoffrey Rush’s over the top town drunk, or Kate Bosworth’s rootin-tootin performance as Lynne. I think it’s just a problem of perspective — having watched a lot of Asian and specifically Korean movies, I had no trouble connecting with Yang. The man was trained from a young age to be an emotionless murder machine, so as he attempts to cultivate gentleness within himself he also learns how to express himself without, you know, killing people.

Even a slight shift of his brows is for him like writing pages and pages of long slobby poetry about his feelings. Also, it’s not like Clint Eastwood was a fount of emotion in his Westerns–he got angry. He yelled. That’s about it. Unless we’re talking about Paint Your Wagon, which we’re not. Ever.

I also wanted to say that I was happy Lynne and Yang sort of almost start a relationship–too often in movies the minority mentor winds up a sexless monk, all teachy and supporty without any exploration of more complex feelings that would develop in such a relationship.

So the long and short of it is see the movie, it’s worth it. At the least, it’s definitely worth a rent on a Saturday night, best viewed with friends.

Warrior’s Way is in theaters right now. GO! GO SEE IT!

Great Moments in Humanism Entry: Groundhog Day

A movie like this is bittersweet, because while it enriches the viewer, I can think of countless people who would benefit from the kind of psychological ‘time out’ that Phil experiences. Because that’s what it is – someone basically said ‘You sit in this corner and think about what you’ve done,’ except on a cosmic scale.

Phil Connors: What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?

Ralph: That about sums it up for me.

How many people have been turned off by this corny box art? — Seriously. This is amazing.

Groundhog Day.

You’ve seen it or, or you haven’t, or you’ve seen it, and wondered what all the fuss was about.

Or you’ve seen it, and you know exactly where I’m going.

Harold Ramis’s 1993 film Groundhog Day stars Bill Murray as egocentric megabastard Phil Connors, a cynical weather man with disdain for only the whole of creation, who is trapped in a strange time flux and relives the same day over and over again.

The premise sounds corny, and when I first saw the movie at age 12 or so I wondered what the hell was going on with it. But it stuck with me. It’s like bookmarking a page that has a word you don’t understand and mean to look up, and then years later you either understand the word or have enough experience under your belt that you can figure out what it means. I love things like that. . . that you need to mature in order to understand.

Newsman Phil has to go to Punxatawney Pennsylvania to report on the verdict of Punxatawney Phil, the most famous groundhog in the US, on whether or not to expect more spring or winter. Each day is begun with the alarm clock playing Sonny and Cher’s ‘I got you, babe,’ and at first Phil makes the most of his situation–since everything happens the same way every day, through observation he is able to later manipulate situations to his own advantage, and uses this knowledge to rob banks, romance women, eat horribly, and generally sate his most base appetites. When he realizes the one thing he wants that he can’t have is Rita, he embarks on a journey of never-ending self-destruction: despondent about being trapped forever in a small town with no consequences to his actions, he throws himself off buildings and crashes cars or steps in front of trucks in the hopes of killing himself and escaping the hell that is a never-ending Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day was incredibly underrated when it came out–which is a shame, because it’s much smarter than the average crappy romance comedy/fantasy. There’s a key line that ties the whole movie perfectly together.

While attempting to romance the unwilling object of his affection, Rita, played by Andie MacDowell, Phil screws up and draws her ire. She slaps him and asks if the whole day has been some some big ploy to get her to love him. He responds with the incredibly apt: ‘But I don’t even like myself.’

That’s the key part of the whole movie–Phil’s cynicism and misery springs from the fact that he really, truly hates himself, and therefore everything and everyone else in the world.

Here’s the interesting part, where the movie goes from a goofy romance-comedy to a brilliant character study; we get to see Phil really grow and change as a person. He starts out a childish, selfish douchebag, belittling anyone who shows him kindness and dismissing kind people as weak. As he begins to manipulate situations to his advantage, thus getting anything he wants, he realizes that this is boring. He attempts to woo Rita, meticulously researching her likes and dislikes and trying desperately to synthesize a personality that she finds attractive: studying French poetry, memorizing her favorite things, and asking her endless questions to get to know her better. Alas, she sees through his attempts for what they are: a facile attempt to fool her into liking him.

Piano Man — He really does play in real life, I think.

After she drops him, his despondence leads to the aforementioned many suicide attempts. He is truly, truly miserable now, in a hell of his own making.

Since being a selfish bastard didn’t make him happy, he decides to try going in the opposite direction: he becomes the town’s worker of small miracles, changing tires for old ladies, helping the helpless, etc. His crusade of selflessness includes trying to save an elderly homeless man from death, and here he really begins to evince the change: unable to save the man, he finally begins to understand what caring for others is.

Since he seems to have unlimited time, he learns the piano and reads classical literature, teaches himself too cook and other tasks he might have overlooked or been uninterested in previously. This intellectual banquet leads him to further realize how petty and mean he was before this strange phenomena happened to him, and his bad attitude is tempered and reshaped over the small eternity he spends on Groundhog Day.

It’s only when Connors learns to love himself, and by extension other people, that he is able to escape from Groundhog Day.

I like Groundhog Day because it imagines that even the most cold-hearted bastard is capable of change, given the right amount of time and right circumstances. Murray is the perfect person for this role, since he knows how to portray someone both cynical and warm: after all, cynics are usually people whose soft hearts were broken early in life, and grow callous and cold in an attempt to prevent it from ever happening again. Having been a cynic and grown up around them, I know exactly what I’m talking about. Murray probably knows that or experienced it in some form himself, since he illustrates it so beautifully in his characters. Sure, he doesn’t have the world’s widest range, but he has what he does down to a science.

Groundhog Day is available on Instant Watch.