More Celluloid Anticipation

In upcoming months several movies are on their way to theaters.  Given my financial state, it is most likely I'll be seeing most of these on DVD.  But here are some that I'm looking forward to.

Dark Shadows.  Surely this comes as no surprise!  Apart from the fact this is indeed a vampire movie, its basis remains a t.v. show from my childhood I recall with great fondness.  Plus I enjoy the vast majority of Tim Burton films, as well as feeling great admiration for the entire cast!  This poster shows Chloe Grace Moretz, whom I became a fan of after seeing first Kick-Ass and then Let Me In.  She portrays Carolyn Stoddard, one of my favorite characters from the original series.  Danny Elfman composed the music, and samples of it indicates a nice homage to the score from the show.  Colleen Atwood did the costumes, and that is always a good thing.  Much controversy surround this flick among die-hard fans, but here is my take:  Tim Burton always makes the sad, often tragic stories he tells more palatable with humor.  I expected as much and have no objection to same.

The Hobbit.  Again, no surprise!  Each of Peter Jackson's previous Tolkien films came out near enough to my birthday I decided to treat them as gifts!  And I've hopes this one--which seems to have a stellar cast--will lack the ever-so-slightly rushed quality I felt eroded the second and third films of the trilogy.  Not that I didn't think they were good!  Far from it!  But methinks none of them were quite as good as the first, and frankly the third fell short of the second.  Got terribly excited to see who was cast as Bilbo (huge Sherlock fan here) and my only real disappointment remains that the wonderful Guillermo del Toro ended up not directing.  How I would have loved to see his take on this world, this story!  Here's a little secret--the Rankin Bass animated version seemed to me to have worked in many ways.  It captured some of the emotional resonance of the tale.  Now Jackson's trailer seemed to do the same.

The Avengers.  Joss Whedon does superheroes!  Woo hoo!  Like many, I'm generally enjoying very much the films Marvel Comics decided to do of their own major characters.  Methinks there's something more realistic, more cinematic about their superheroes--which is one reason methinks their film adaptations tend to be a bit better, simply because they are easier to translate.  When it became clear this film loomed on the horizon (way back when the first Iron Man came out) I very much hoped a female hero would end up on the roster.  Honestly, the Wasp seemed difficult to realize.  The Scarlet Witch had this elaborate back story.  Yet they went with Black Widow!  Which excites me for among other reasons she's a hero in the same way Batman is--by skill and willpower rather than accident of raw power.  Besides, this is Joss Whedon folks!  JOSS WHEDON!  'Nuff said.

Styria.  You probably haven't heard of this one.  An independent film version of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire classic Carmilla, it is currently in post-production.  I was honored to have interviewed one of the writer-directors for vampires.com, which left me tremendously excited about this flick.  Set in Hungary in the late 1980s (still in the Cold War, before the internet took off, etc.) this is the first serious cinematic attempt to do Le Fanu's tale justice in over twenty years!  The images he showed me and some of the details he shared (some of which I remain not-at-liberty-to-reveal) excited me very much!  Frankly, I feel most versions err on the side of trying to make this story something it is not--a thriller akin to Bram Stoker's more famous vampire novel, instead of the almost surreal erotic nightmare of the book.  Not this time!

Snow White and the Huntsman.  We seem to live in the midst of a renaissance of our fairy stories!  We now have three (count'em!...THREE) versions of Snow White to check out, re-imagined along different lines.  Me, I love television's Once Upon A Time.  But this new film with Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart offers promise of being another fascinating interpretation.  Good to see these old folktales taken away from Disney and given more life!  Little Red Riding Hood didn't fare quite so well, but I look forward to seeing what happens next with this trend.  A live action, dreamy and even disturbing version of Beauty and the Beast is my hope (and there are some fascinating versions of that tale if you read the right sources).  In particular, I like the tendency by some to treat these stories as something much more than parables. 

THOR! (Review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Last night I took advantage of living in Los Angeles to see a sneak preview of the latest superhero flick Thor.  If you are enough of a geek to be following these things (and I am) then perhaps you already know that Marvel Comics is trying something rather cool.  Their superhero universe is a complex, interlocked place more grounded in the (so-called) real world than their chief rival, DC.  With the success of such films as Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk,  they began setting up a future project--a film about Marvel's premier superhero team, the Avengers.

Said Avengers movie should start filming any day now, with Joss Whedon at the helm.  Squee with me if you like.

Continued effort went into this film, making it part of a greater continuity.  We once again see SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) agent Coulson, as well as a shout-out to the Hulk and a funny quip referencing Tony Stark.  More, we see another SHIELD operative named Barton whose weapon of choice is a compound bow and arrow.  There's also a fun little coda at the end, after the credits.

But how is the film itself?  First of all, it is fun.  Overdone action sequences are all too common in movies, lacking any balance with genuine peril and emotional connection to those involved (without which we don't care about any outcome).  Thor strikes an almost perfect balance--testimony to the directing skills of Kenneth Branaugh (whose Henry V remains one of my favorite Shakespeare films of all time).  The look stuns with its gorgeousness, especially an actual translation into physicality the often-outlandish designs iconic to the comic book's Asgard.  Loki (Tom Hiddleston) traditionally wears a particularly impressive and unrealistic outfit, with horns extending almost a yard in front of him--yet in the film this looks is recreated just enough.  We recognize it.  Yet it looks realistic.  No small feat.  Ditto the regal armor of Odin Allfather, Heimdall, the Destroyer and others.

Very importantly, good actors play all these roles.  Relative newcommer Chris Hemsworth plays the lead, and if he seems less accomplished or mature than Tony Stark or Bruce Banner--he is supposed to be.  Indeed that makes up much of the story.  As a great fighter and heir to the King, he behaves far too much like the star quarterback in high school.  Genuine qualities of courage and leadership mix with arrogance, impatience and a certain amount of greed.  He needs to grow up, and his father (played splendidly by Sir Anthony Hopkins) forces matters after his son almost single-handedly starts a war.  Stripped of his powers, and his enchanted weapon, Thor falls to Earth.  He soon hears his hammer fell not far away, but learns the hard way the truth of what his father said before hurling it after him--only one who is worthy may wield the hammer.  Unlike Excaliber, having the right genetics means nothing.  It all depends upon your character.

Thor himself is found by a scientist named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), which makes for a nice updating.  In the comics she was a nurse.  Her function in the tale is as a guide to this stranger in a strange land, as well as a friend/love interest as he realizes how his own folly has led to this personal disaster.

Here frankly is also the film's greatest weakness.  For the whole middle of the story, Thor is supposed to be growing up--a lot--as well as falling in love.  One doesn't quite believe it.  Almost.  But not quite.  No complaints about the acting.  Hemsworth (looking rather like a more boyish, far less sinister Eric from True Blood) conveys a lot of personal shock, sometimes by doing nothing.  Not the easiest thing to pull off.  The pain in his eyes seems real.  But--the film seems to need a few more emotional beats to let that aspect of the story sink in.  Ditto the love story.  One senses an attraction, but we don't really believe these two have fallen in love (although the idea that they might do so feels totally right).

Please note, these are nuances.  What we see remains a riveting tale, with surprising twists throughout.  Again, very fine actors in all the roles, including the splendid Colm Feore as King of the Frost Giants (he's also now a regular on the cable series The Borgias).  Idris Elba does his usual wonderful job, in this case getting to play a character of great dignity.

But the real revelation is Loki--Thom Hiddleston's take on the God of Mischief proves refreshing beyond words.  One can safely say he steals the movie, mostly by successfully concealing his real intentions from virtually everyone--including the audience.  He makes for one of the most interesting and compelling "villains" in any superhero film yet--on par with (but nowhere near identical to)Heath Ledger's take on The Joker.

My bottom line--not quite as good as the first Iron Man.  Very close, though.