‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ is a rancid fairy tale
Ultra-boring with an infuriatingly misleading advertising campaign, ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ will likely be one of the most disappointing action films of the year.
Ultra-boring with an infuriatingly misleading advertising campaign, ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ will likely be one of the most disappointing action films of the year.
A couple of moderately-impressive action scenes can’t save Ron Howard’s ‘In the Heart of the Sea’ from being a complete wreck.
Talk about a left field choice. According to The Wrap, Marvel has tapped Flight of the Conchords and What We Do In The Shadows director Taika Waititi for Thor: Ragnarok, which is set for a 2017 release. The film will bring back Chris Hemsworth with Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston uncertain. The Wrap reports Waititi …
It’s taken almost seven months, but one movie has finally emerged from the dreary pack as the worst of 2015. That film is ‘Vacation,’ and it’s absolutely dreadful.
Avengers: Age of Ultron represents the zenith of Marvel Studios’ Phase 2, the culmination of all the films and television shows that represent the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the last two years. Like the first film, this superhero team up pulls out all the stops to astound, taking the audience on a thrill ride of almost unrelenting action.
The Avengers clicked with both Marvel fans and general audiences because we loved watching these massive egos clash for the first time. It was the perfect blend of action and attitude, and its mastermind, Joss Whedon, was handed the golden ticket to Marvel’s keystone franchise. The long-awaited sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, shows the strain of trying to be bigger-and-better while still indulging the subtle pleasures of its predecessor. It succeeds, just barely, on the strength of a talented cast and our fondness for these characters. Still, it’s a decidedly somber affair that will turn off casual fans, and it stands as the most impersonal, and arguable weakest installment of Marvel’s vaunted “Phase Two.”
While the film won’t make its debut until May 1 (in the United States), some critics in Los Angeles recently had Avengers: Age of Ultron screened for them and they shared their quick thoughts via Twitter and so far the response is very positive. Mike Ryan, Uproxx Just saw AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Soooooooo many …
Chris Hemsworth has played Thor in “four movies: Thor 1, Thor 2, The Avengers, and Gone Girl.” And seeing as how America pretty clearly rejected hacker Hemsworth in Blackhat, the public is going to associate his chiseled looks with the norse deity for the foreseeable future. While that certainly isn’t a bad thing because Hemsworth was more or less tailor made to play Thor, he has a perfect level of movie star charm on display tonight that he hopefully can one day transfer into a post Marvel career.
Blackhat is a cyber-thriller that starts out boring and ends dumb. It’s almost unimaginable that a gifted director like Michael Mann, responsible for, arguably, the best crime-thriller of the last 30 years in Heat, could helm a film so utterly bereft of tension or drama. Not even his signature hyper-stylized aesthetic can disguise what a lackluster film this is. From the unimaginative script to the indifferent editing, Blackhat needs a complete overhaul to escape the basement of Mann’s distinguished filmography.
Sometimes, it’s the small moments in which you find joy. So it goes with Thor: The Dark World, a movie that frequently botches the big-picture details but balances out the messiness on the whole with minute gags, throwaway lines, and offhand glances that are laid-back and assured. The returning cast members have enough built-in chemistry, and the script has enough moments of genuine wit and cleverness, that Thor: The Dark World doesn’t sink despite being weighed down with an enormously, unnecessarily convoluted story.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a movie being just OK. Given the sordid and often embarrassing history of comic book movies, being just OK could be seen as a victory. Of course, given that Thor: The Dark World is a Marvel Studios movie, and is therefore held to a higher standard of quality by fans of the genre, the fact that it is just OK could be seen as a step down, even a disappointment. Either way, The Dark World is a perfectly entertaining bit of sci-fi/fantasy/adventure fare, but it is also the most forgettable Marvel Studios movie to date.
Fitting, perhaps, that Rush has a script so obsessed with speed that it moves right past telling a fully developed story. There’s a lot in Ron Howard’s latest film that feels different, from the young, international dual leading men, to the overtly stylish cinematography. But even if Howard is using Rush as a moment at which to change things up as a director, Peter Morgan’s script is a detriment. Morgan’s writing is the equivalent of an anxious little boy on Christmas morning, waiting impatiently while the rest of his family open their presents, to the point where he rips through the wrapping paper on his own gifts so quickly that he inadvertently breaks what’s inside.
Red Dawn Directed by Dan Bradley Written by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore USA, 2012 It may be fitting for a movie about American teenagers rising up against an evil foreign military to be juvenile, but that doesn’t make Red Dawn any more palatable. This remake of the 1984 film best known now as the …
Red Dawn Directed by Dan Bradley Written by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore USA, 2012 Apparently, the original script for the 2012 remake of John Milius’ 1984 Red Dawn intended the invading forces to be Chinese, but MGM changed it to be North Koreans in post-production so as to not offend the ever-growing Chinese market; …
Snow White and the Huntsman Written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini Directed by Rupert Sanders USA, 2012 The more – pardon the pun – grim of 2012’s two adaptations of the Grimm brothers’ classic tale isn’t quite as dark a revisionist reworking of the Snow White story as some in other …
The Avengers Written and directed by Joss Whedon USA, 2011 Following four years of films establishing the majority of its protagonists, Marvel Studios’ superhero ensemble film finally arrives. The Avengers teams up Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk, all established cinematic leads, as well as some agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., fronted by Samuel L. …
The Cabin in the Woods Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard Directed by Drew Goddard USA, 2012 How to discuss the cabin in the woods? Now there is a million dollar question. A group of college students made up of Chris Hemsworth (pre-Thor), Anna Hutchinson, Fran Kranz, Kristen Connolly and Jesse Williams all decide …
The plot thickens quite literally for the dueling Snow White films reported months ago. There is the Julia Roberts led adaptation versus the Kristen Stewart-Charlize Theron saga. And saga it will be! EW reports that production hasn’t even begun yet on Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as …
Thor Directed by Kenneth Branagh Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz and John Payne 2011, USA In a strange twist of fate, Branagh brings a Shakespearean edge to Thor, perhaps the silliest and consequently, the most difficult of all the Avengers superheroes to bring to the screen. Though he does not entirely overcome the silliness …
This past Saturday, July 24, at the San Diego Comic-Con, shall be marked as one of the most epic gatherings for a film collaboration in geek history. The full major cast of The Avengers appeared on stage at the end of the Marvel Studios panel with confirmation of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo as …
A first official look of Chris Hemsworth suited up in the Thor armor has surfaced thanks to Yahoo! Movies. Looks like they are keeping true to the comic book design while still grounding it to the real world and not so animated. This is surprisingly the first picture we’ve seen from the shooting of Thor …