I guess the summer movie season has officially kicked off (or did so last week, depending where you live) with the release of Kenneth Branagh’s take on Marvel’s “Thor.” For my money, it’s a pretty respectable start — an uneven but refreshingly uncynical popcorn adventure that announces a major star in the shape of Chris Hemsworth. You can read my full take on the film (seconded by Kris) here, but we want to know what you think. Have at it in the comments.
As superheroes go—and go they do, with alarming frequency, at the cape-wearers’ convention that the multiplex has become in recent years—Thor, or at least the Marvel-authored Artist Formerly Known As Norse God Thor, is more super than most. Where most beloved superheroes are humans (at least ostensibly so) who grow into their superhuman powers as a kind of parallel puberty, Thor needn’t waste time on any such learning curve.
He is, to reappropriate a quote from “Almost Famous,” a Golden God—quite literally golden as played by aggressively blond Australian up-and-comer Chris Hemsworth—and as such, preternatural strength and ability are things to which he feels entitled, not enslaved. Marvel’s Thor may be as boyish as the gangly Peter Parker or the gizmo-rapt Bruce Wayne, but it’s a boyishness of lifelong petulance rather than golly-gee self-awe; he may be better than his superhero brethren, but he’s also harder to know.
That obstacle of relatability is both a debit and a distinguishing asset in Kenneth Branagh’s poppy, spirited addition to the Marvel adaptation gallery, and something that ultimately cleaves the film in two. An odd couple of films jostles for space in Branagh’s surprisingly trim 114-minute package: one a dourly earnest celestial battle epic set in Thor’s mythical, CGI-built home realm of Asgard, the other a sweetly goofy alien comedy set in the decidedly unmagical realm of New Mexico.
Hall H was humming by the time Marvel Entertainment honcho Kevin Feige took the stage for the highly anticipated “Captain America” and “Thor” panels this afternoon. And for the comic book masses waiting with bated breath for any sliver of info, it was ecstasy. For me…not so much.
Director Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans and Hugo Weaving were on hand to talk all things Cap. Johnston had a quick preview reel full of graphics that ended with a few shots of Evans in the test costume, which frankly looked like a Halloween get-up. But hopefully it’ll all come out in the wash.
Later there was a scene featuring Weaving (who plays villain Red Skull). It was largely important to the audience for its revelation of the Cosmic Cube being in the film. (Read up on that more here and here.) Naturally, there were geeky gasps throughout the hall, but the scene itself had a nice atmosphere. I’m cautiously optimistic for this one.
1996 was an odd year, a year when the independent cinema dominated the weak product emerging out of Hollywood. I am going to confess right off the top of this article (as I have numerous times before) that I was not a fan of “The English Patient,” which for me remains one of the most vastly over-appreciated films ever made. I couldn’t stand Kristin Scott Thomas’s work, though I did enjoy the Dafoe/Binoche storyline.
So with that out of the way, and firmly in mind, let’s go…
The Best Actress race was clouded with the notion that Madonna was hell-bent on being nominated for her performance in “Evita,” which finally made it to the screen after years of starts and stops. Her performance split critics, but for me lacked the depth and edge that it was given on stage by Patti Lupone, and that Meryl Streep or Michelle Pfeiffer would have given the role. Her performance proved that Madonna should stop acting as she has little or no acting talent, and should stop making movies and trying to conquer Hollywood as she did the music industry.
Honestly, the performance rarely rises above a really good community theater performance. Mercifully she was not nominated, but she did win the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical over the eventual Oscar winner, Frances McDormand in “Fargo.” The nominees for Best Actress included, McDormand, Kristin Scott-Thomas for the aforementionend “The English Patient,” Diane Keaton for “Marvin’s Room,” Brenda Blythyn in “Secrets and Lies,” and best of all, perhaps, Emily Watson in “Breaking the Waves.”
I’ll dig into individual film reviews in due time. It’s been a slow start up here in Santa Barbara but the first two nights have been charming enough.
Rod Lurie’s “Nothing But the Truth” gets better and better each time I see it, particularly where Lurie’s work as a writer is concerned. Some beats are on the nose, perhaps too much for some people’s tastes, but I think he’s really developing as a filmmaker. And the flick went over like gangbusters with the crowd at the packed Arlington Theatre opening night gala yesterday. All the clever jokes found a home. The performances caught their stride with the viewers, it seemed, and everyone seemed to be in tune with the film’s tight rhythm. Most of all, the message seemed to settle (not surprising in a town this left of center), and that’s encouraging.
Jeff Bridges and James Cromwell were among the A-listers who came out to celebrate the film, which has been all but smothered by an untimely Yari Film Group bankruptcy. And the after-party at Paseo Nuevo up the street was slammed — too slammed. But, as always, upstairs in a V.I.P. setting is the place to be, and that’s where Lurie and his sharp college-bound son yukked it up with Bridges and “Truth” star Noah Wyle, among others.
Here’s my brief one-off on the film from back in September when it was playing Toronto.
Tonight, Kate Winslet was in town to accept the Montecito award, becoming the first person in the history of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival to be awarded twice. With that in mind, festival director Roger Durling took playful umbrage on stage with her remarks at the Golden Globe ceremony a week ago when she claimed she never wins anything.
Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin sat down with Winslet for a two-hour conversation through her career that I frankly expected to be a bore, but it was a lively and candid chat. Clips from her wide ranging portfolio were peppered in here and there, but the cutest moment came when the actress couldn’t stop chuckling at the “Titanic” clip. “It’s so funny because I don’t see me and Leo playing Jack and Rose,” she said. “It’s just me and Leo. What are we doing there? It’s so funny to me that we were in ‘Titanic,’ I don’t know how to explain it.”
I have to admit, I was looking forward to “Valkyrie,” Bryan Singer’s film about the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Yes, I’m aware that the film stars Tom Cruise, but the remaining cast, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Wilkinson was intriguing. The film also re-united Singer with Christopher McQuarrie, his screenwriter from “The Usual Suspects.”
The Sunday Times now reports that the film has been pushed to 2009. Originally scheduled for a summer 2008 release, the film received its first push-back to the fall earlier this year. The paper cites a senior executive at one of Britain’s leading cinema chains who says, “I know there have been all sorts of problems with this production and we will not be screening it at all this year.” The article also notes, ” The quality of Cruise’s German accent was widely commented on. The film has also had to have reshoots after footage was damaged in labs.”