THOR: RAGNAROK Review

You know those ideas that are better in conception that they ever turn out to be in actuality? The ones where the pairing of two things, like Vince Vaughn and True Detective, sound fantastic, but when the reality of it comes into being it only serves to prove that some mediums and personalities just weren't meant to be meshed? Well, for the first twenty or so minutes of the third solo Thor film I thought that might be what was happening. The idea of taking darling indie comedy director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and pairing him with the massive machine that is Marvel to bring their most self-serious and most dour hero into the new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that might bridge the Shakespearian those ideas that almost felt too good to be true, you know, like Edgar Wright making a Marvel Studios film (which, it turned out, was in fact just that). It was an idea that seemed it might produce something truly singular for the long-standing MCU, but would it be too weird for Kevin Feige and the gang to really let slide? Honestly, I was waiting for the moment over the last two years when the news would break that Marvel and Waititi had to break over "creative differences" but to my pleasant surprise that day never came and today we sit here with Thor: Ragnarok, the best solo Thor movie that has been made to date, the first Thor movie that truly seems to utilize the full spectrum of the character and the world he inhabits and the never ending reaches of the cosmos he can inhabit while also upending many of the story conventions we've come to expect from our super hero epics. That is all, of course, after the rather nerve-wracking twenty or so minutes at the beginning of the film where it looked as if Waititi had bitten off more than he could chew in terms of managing a production the size of Ragnarok while also in the simple splicing together of jokes and story, of tender moments and CGI-filled natural environments where it was apparent that maybe the best choices had not been made. It's a rough start, but this only makes all that follows that much more assuring in its competency. Thor: Ragnarok is slight to be sure, but it is a ton of fun and serves up just enough freshness for the title character and his present situations that it's impossible not to throw your hands in the air and just enjoy the cheeky ride this take on the super hero genre offers.

SDCC: New Trailer for THOR: RAGNAROK Starring Chris Hemsworth

I can't say that I've necessarily ever been excited for one of the Thor movies. Curious, sure, but more than anything I've always been a bit concerned that Thor is where the Marvel universe would surely lose its vanilla footing and their time-tested formula would finally fail them. And to a certain extent this is true; I don't know that I could find anyone who might not agree Thor: The Dark World is one of the lesser if not the least of the Marvel properties released thus far (though Doctor Strange and Iron Man 2 puts up a good fight). Thor has seemingly always received the short end of the hammer when it comes to either scope or director, but Ragnarok is making up for both as not only does the subtitle hint at the time in Norse mythology when the cosmos are destroyed, but Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige have brought in filmmaker Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) who, given the previous teaser and now this fantastic trailer, has brought what seems to be a fresh start to the doomed Asgardian world. It may seem a little contradictory that the film dealing in the end of our titular characters world is also the one with the brightest color scheme and best sense of humor, but that's the main takeaway here. The trailer wastes no time in getting down to business and providing a quick synopsis of the story Ragnarok will offer as one of the first images we see is new villain Hela (Cate Blanchett) destroying the all powerful Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, along with his home world-forcing the Avenger across the universe into unknown worlds and to be imprisoned by unspecified beings that force him to participate in gladiator matches where he comes up against none other than Mark Ruffalo's Incredible Hulk. Needless to say, this things looks like it will easily take the cake for beingt he best Thor film we've ever seen as not only does the whole of the movie look good, but some of these visuals are genuinely stunning and I'm hoping that music is a sample from the score as it's not only unique, but pretty freakin' awesome. I was always slightly concerned we might get an Edgar Wright situation with Waititi, but it seems Marvel has learned a good lesson and I'm really excited and really hopeful that what we'll see on screen will be Waititi's unfiltered vision. Thor: Ragnarok also stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jef Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Karl Urban, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Sam Neill, and opens on November 3, 2017.

Teaser Trailer for THOR: RAGNAROK

I can't say that I've necessarily ever been excited for one of the Thor movies. Curious, sure, but more than anything I've always been a bit concerned that Thor is where the Marvel universe would surely lose its vanilla footing and their time-tested formula would finally fail them. And to a certain extent this is true; I don't know that I could find anyone who might not agree Thor: The Dark World is one of the lesser if not the least of the Marvel properties released thus far (though Iron Man 2 puts up a good fight). Thor has seemingly always received the short end of the hammer when it comes to either scope or director, but Ragnarok is seemingly making up for both as not only does the subtitle hint at the time in Norse mythology when the cosmos are destroyed, but Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige have brought in filmmaker Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) who, given the barrage of production stills we saw and now with this teaser, has brought what seems to be an air of fresh starts to the doomed Asgardian world. It may seem a little contradictory that the film dealing in the end of our titular characters world is also the one with the brightest color scheme and best sense of humor, but that's the main takeaway here. The trailer wastes no time in getting down to business and providing a quick synopsis of the story Ragnarok will offer as one of the first images we see is new villain Hela (Cate Blanchett) destroying the all powerful Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, along with his home world-forcing the Avenger across the universe into unknown worlds and to be imprisoned by unspecified beings that force him to participate in gladiator matches where he comes up against none other than Mark Ruffalo's Incredible Hulk. Needless to say, this is the first Thor film I've ever actively anticipated based on the credentials alone and this first look at actual footage does nothing but create more excitement and more hope that what we'll see on screen will be Waititi's unfiltered vision. Thor: Ragnarok also stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jef Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Karl Urban, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Sam Neill, and opens on November 3, 2017.

ALLEGIANT Review

I tried. I really did. I even read the first two books, but I knew it was a bad sign when it took me two tries to make it through the second novel in author Veronica Roth's dystopian young adult series, Insurgent. I didn't even bother to try and read the third and final novel in the series if that tells you anything about how much I cared about what happened to these characters and their overly complicated world. If nothing else, I thought not reading the source material might make the third film (which of course is part one of a two part finale that splits the final book in half-the second of which doesn't arrive until next summer) more intriguing given I didn't know exactly where the story would be heading, but as with the two previous films while there is always stuff happening, the story doesn't necessarily move forward. This is the problem with the series as a whole never mind the individual films. There is even the idea there is too much going on as each character's dialogue is plagued by large portions consisting of pure exposition, but if we don't know what we need to know about this world by the third film there's simply too much and Allegiant suffers greatly from too much talking and not enough actually happening. The film seems a pristine example of taking two steps forward only to take three steps back. At the very least, we expect story tropes of the YA genre to be pushing the audience forward to some type of inevitable showdown between the exceptional protagonist and the jaded authority figure who doesn't believe in them, but the Divergent Series has repeated this so many times at this point that there is no tension left and worse, we can see where things are going given they've been telegraphed a handful of scenes prior. I'm sure Roth had interesting ideas she wanted to explore going into writing this franchise and some even start to peek through in certain moments here, but it seems like the filmmakers and crew are as tired of making these movies as audiences are of watching them and thus the cohesiveness of the actual story is the last thing on their minds making Allegiant go straight to the back of ours as soon as the credits begin to roll.

New Trailer for THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT

As the Hunger Games franchise comes to a close next week it also feels, culturally, like the age of the YA literary adaptation is coming to an end as well. So, where does that leave the lesser adaptations of such young adult fare like Divergent and the Maze Runner films? With only steady to dwindling box office returns on both second installments it's hard to know if there is really any excitement left for these franchises. The produces of the Divergent films, however, seem to think so as not only do they have another chapter for audiences this year, but they're extending Veronica Roth's final book in the series into the two-parter that will be categorized under Allegiant and Ascendant. Why they're doing this, I have no idea. Insurgent, the second film in the series, made almost $300 million worldwide on a budget of $110m, while Divergent, the initial chapter, did about $9m less, but was also $25m cheaper. While they may not be losing money, they certainly don't seem to be making much on these things. Why not finish off the trilogy with one more film and cut your losses (I can't imagine Allegiant doing any better given the horrible word of mouth around Insurgent)? I guess we'll find out what the master plan is when the film arrives and expands the world of Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) past it's Chicago borders this spring. The Divergent Series: Allegiant also stars Ansel Elgort, Jeff Daniels, Octavia Spencer, Miles Teller, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Daniel Dae Kim, Naomi Watts and opens March 18, 2016.

INSURGENT Review

It is odd to come to the realization that you are no longer within the target audience for a certain genre of film. Sure, I may not have enjoyed Insurgent, the second film in the Divergent series, but the makers of the film don't care if I like it or not. This is a film catered to the junior high audiences that eat up these young adult novels in spades and move on to the next one in order to satisfy their angst-ridden school days. This isn't a bad thing, especially with the recent wave of strong leading female characters no doubt making young women feel more able than ever and alleviating the need to conform. That may sound rather banal in terms of themes, but they are ideas every generation needs to learn and it just so happens the current generation is picking up on such ideas by way of brave heroine's in dystopian futures. While I rather enjoyed author Veronica Roth's initial trip into a futuristic Chicago where society has been divided into five factions according to individual personalities, I found it difficult to make it through the second book in her trilogy. Insurgent always felt more like a trudge than Divergent when it should have been an opportunity to go a step further than it's exposition-filled predecessor. Insurgent, the book and the film, want so bad to open up this world that Roth has created, but instead this middle chapter is hindered by not having the structure of a clear beginning or end. I had to force myself to begin reading the source material again after a previous false start. I made it through in my second attempt, but it was more of a chore than anything and I've yet to pick up Allegiant, the third and final book in the series that will of course be split into two movies, and honestly have no desire to do so. While Insurgent is certainly a competent film and has flashes of real creativity and strong performances, it stalls early in it's storytelling prowess and never recovers. By the end of the film I felt like almost nothing had happened and the ball had been pushed only a few yards down the field from where we started two hours before. It's hard to know who to blame-Roth's overly layered source material or the multiple screenwriters tasked with adapting the it that have streamlined it to the point it all feels pointless, but someone should be held accountable.

Full Trailer for THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

The problem with The Divergent Series (as it has been dubbed by its studio) is a question of quality. The first film didn't receive great reviews and a lot of that honestly had to do with the complicated world building that was necessary. This will not only cause trouble in initiating new viewers as the series goes on, but the books seem to get progressively worse as well. I made it quite briskly through the first book in the series, but it took me forever to get through Insurgent and I've yet to even crack open Allegiant which I honestly have no desire to read. That said, this more in-depth trailer for the second film looks visually promising if not all over the place with its narrative. It has been a couple of months since I finished the book on which this film is based and as I watched the trailer I couldn't remember any of the context for what I was seeing. Taking over for Neil Burger from the first film is director Robert Schwentke who could really send this series in either direction. He has produced fun, action filled adventures before with the likes of RED and even the subliminally enjoyable Flightplan while also being at the helm of junk such as The Time Traveler's Wife and R.I.P.D.  I'll of course give this second film a shot as I'm eager to see if Schwentke's visual stylings make for a more interesting film than read, but don't know how to gauge my expectations which inherently causes a fair amount of hesitation. The Divergent Series: Insurgent stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Zoe Kravitz, Daniel Dae Kim, Suki Waterhouse and opens on March 20, 2015.

Teaser Trailer for THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

It is difficult to even remember what exactly occurred and what the ultimate goal was in last springs Divergent, a film based on another young adult dystopian trilogy with a female heroine. As much as I was anticipating the film because I generally enjoyed the first novel, the further I get away from it and now having battled through the second book I can't seem to muster much excitement for the film adaptation. Naturally, Summit has decided to extend the final book in the series, Allegiant, into a two-parter, but the big question right now is if Insurgent will even do big enough business to justify continuing the series. On a budget of $85 million Divergent brought in $288 million worldwide so there is clearly a fanbase here, but the $54 million opening weekend number and almost half of that worldwide total coming from overseas doesn't leave a lot of confidence for room to grow. Comparatively, the first Hunger Games film made more in its first day of release than Divergent did in that opening weekend. In lieu of this foresight Summit has already announced that Insurgent will be brought to us in 3D which will certainly add some type of boost. The problem with The Divergent Series (as it has been dubbed by its studio) though is a question of quality. The first film didn't receive great reviews and a lot of that honestly had to do with the complicated world building that was necessary. This will not only cause trouble for initiating new viewers as the series goes on, but the books seem to get progressively worse as well. I'll of course give the second film a shot as I'm eager to see if it makes a more interesting film than read, but at least this first teaser offers something intriguing in its minimal approach. The Divergent Series: Insurgent stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Zoe Kravitz, Daniel Dae Kim, Suki Waterhouse and opens on March 20, 2015.

DIVERGENT Review

If Divergent is anything it is competent. Everything about it screams ambition, what it wants to be and the actual product itself shows it has the ability and the right amount of reverence for the source material to be successful in conveying the spirit of Veronica Roth's novel to the screen. The drawback is that while it is indeed capable and is able to make a suitable enough film for fans of the novel to more or less enjoy and pick apart, nothing about the execution of bringing this story to life screams exceptional or even, for lack of a better term in this case, divergent. I finished the first book in Roth's trilogy a few months back and have since moved on to the next one, but while I was suspicious of this new dystopian franchise with a young female heroine for the lead I was eventually able to look past the similarities between it and The Hunger Games and at least understand the merit people were finding in these books. It might be too much (or too early for me as I'm in the middle of Insurgent) to say that Roth's series is the better written of the two from a creative standpoint, but it is already clear that Suzanne Collins series lends itself well to the cinematic world even if people were weary of it at first given the titular event included the slaughtering of children. I, personally, thought Divergent would be the easier story to tell onscreen, but it becomes obvious within the first hour or so of the film that this may not be so as things and events begin to collapse in on themselves and it is only with the promise of another chapter and the idea that these plot strands with less attention paid to them this time around may rise to become more relevant in the future. It is an odd feeling because as the film unfolded and I was referencing the book in my head wondering when or if they would include certain scenes it became apparent the writers and the filmmakers weren't quite sure how to structure things. The film plays out well enough and we understand the point of why everything is happening, but we don't necessarily feel the tension or the growing fear that should be mounting in our protagonist until it is too late and we feel the film has gone on for too long without ever feeling whole.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD Review

In episode two of the Marvel adventures this year we are given the extended look at what was easily the riskiest piece of completing The Avengers. Thor is by and large a fantasy character with a fair amount of fun to offer and fortunately director Kenneth Branagh was able to elicit those shining qualities the first time around to assemble a Thor film that while not necessarily overly impressive offered a fine enough preliminary set-up for the Norse God that was able to find just the right tone to make him credible rather than the goofy, over-indulgent mess it could have easily turned into. I credited much of the success of things being done the best way they could on 2011's Thor to director Branagh and a cast that was more than capable of delivering lines about bifrösts and frost giants with Shakespearean prestige. All of this is still in tact in the much grander, more expensive and thankfully more ambitious sequel, but Branagh has been replaced by Game of Thrones-helmer Alan Taylor and there is a new threat in the world that will of course make cause for our titular hero to jump back into action. While I am completely enthralled with seeing films overlap and build on one another we have now reached a point in our culture where we are taking in these films with such rapid consumption that we don't give them the individual focus they sometimes deserve. We are excited to see Iron Man or Thor back on screen again, but more than that we are looking forward to what will come next that the current film might hint at. I touched on this briefly in my Ender's Game review, but it is all the more relevant in the Marvel universe. The reason this has become a problem is that while these are still trying to be individual stories there isn't enough of a connection from film to film besides short mentions or familiar character pop-ups here and there. That and the fact these films aren't willing to commit to any tragedy they allow the audience to assume has occurred. Director Taylor and his film are not to blame for this issue as Thor: The Dark World is a more than worthy sequel and is generally a lot of fun to watch, but it also doesn't do much more than add evidence to the pile that Marvel is content with quantity over quality.

First Trailer for DIVERGENT

I've yet to read the Veronica Roth novels on which this latest cinematic attempt to capitalize on the "wildly popular" young adult book series is based. Though I can tell there is a difference between Divergent and the likes of those attempts that have failed to capitalize on that wave of pop culture this year such as Beautiful Creatures, The Host, and most recently, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. My wife is a ninth grade English teacher and it is easy to pick up on which books are actually connecting with a majority of the students and which are more brought about by false hype trying to convince audiences they are in fact popular. Divergent seems to be in that category where there is a genuine interest in the material and the eventual movie version which we gained our first look at yesterday. As I said, I haven't read the novels so I don't know the details of the plot or the motivations of these characters. The first trailer certainly gives off a Hunger Games vibe as it positions a teenage girl at the center of circumstances she doesn't believe she can overcome and offers an overseeing government that forces her to act against her will. In this case, Kate Winslet is literally forcing the act of free will out of the citizens she commands. Beyond this, all I know is that our protagonist portrayed by the lovely and talented Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) doesn't fit into any of the factions her society divides people into based on their personality. As a result, Tris (Woodley) faces certain consequences that will no doubt put her in harms way. The film also stars Theo James, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Ashley Judd, Tony Goldwyn, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Ansel Elgort, Christian Madsen, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Ben Lamb, and Amy Newbold. Divergent opens in traditional theaters and IMAX on March 21, 2014. Hit the jump to check out the first teaser trailer.

G.I.JOE: RETALIATION Review

Back in 2009 I was somewhat excited to see what the studios had decided to do with the G.I. Joe brand as they'd just come off a lackluster sequel to the film that proved making toys into movies could be successful. I am of course referring to Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen which was a masterpiece in my eyes compared to what G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra turned out to be. In my original review for the first G.I. Joe film I stated that, "As the subtitle may lead you to believe, this film is the set-up to be a franchise, one that I hope doesn't exactly happen, unless they completely start over." Well, after being delayed almost a year for what was said to 3D post conversion, which they did do, but also seems to be code for: Channing Tatum blew up last year so lets take some time and add in a few more Tatum scenes! If you are a Tatum fan and you are seeing this film simply to see him on the big screen, don't show up late; that's all I'm saying. On the other hand if they were going to continue this franchise they did at least go the route I hoped they might. With no mention of General Hawk or Ripcord the sequel seems to be able to continue the story of the first with Tatum's Duke leading a new team of Joe's (that still makes me laugh) and expertly wiping the slate clean so as to introduce us to a few new characters and get the ball rolling in a whole new light so as this might actually turn into a profitable series of films the producers can keep on pumping out. The fact of the matter though is that despite G.I. Joe: Retaliation being a better movie than its predecessor (it would have been hard not to be) it is still fairly cheesy and goofy and something only tween age boys will likely have a lot of fun with. If you are a day over thirteen though you will likely see through the goofiness of it all, but still try to enjoy the fun it only periodically provides.