thor [2011]
the summer movie season begun! and, man, i'm getting tired of 3-d. every fucking film is either shot, or converted to, 3-d. does it improve the film? maybe yes. maybe no. maybe, but who cares. 3-d hasn't run its course either like it did in the 1950s and '60s, early 1980s, when the movie studios thought they had to compete with television and later the development of the vcr. now the studio execs think they have to compete with every conceivable form and platform of entertainment on god's good earth. perhaps they do. after all, anecdotally, most people when asked say they prefer to watch a movie at home than at the theater.
there shall always be people who love to go to the movies. i'm living proof. so is nicholas. and we decided to see this early summer offering. in 3-d! it took a good chunk of the trailers, also in 3-d, to shake off the feeling of dizziness. normally i have a pretty strong constitution and think that those unfortunate few who barfed during screenings of the blair witch project [1999] because of its hand-held camera work are a bunch of wimps. even with such a strong stomach, and after adjusting my eyes, brain and gullet to 3-d, this flick was not improved with the added visual flair.
what to make of kenneth branagh, he who directed one of the finest film adaptations of henry v [1989] and the very fine noirish thriller dead again [1991], all low-budget indie-type fair, compared to this multi-million dollar spectacle? it was told that on a moonlit night ken walked down to the crossroads and made a bargain. maybe not. all in all, even if branagh sold his soul to the devil he made a decent action pic.
problem is, i was never a fan of thor. when i was a kid i was a religious reader of marvel comics, like spider-man, iron man, powerman & iron fist, et al., but thor was a god and to me a bit boring. at least peter parker was a mortal who also had to rely on his wits and ingenuity. thor has muscles, supernatural powers, and for a father the daddy of all gods, odin. thor was born into it, and parker had to earn his way, so to speak. for me parker was, and is still, THE MAN.
branagh chose his actors well. thor is nicely assayed by a gent with a flair for fighting and the sweets of a rom-com lead. natalie portman is the love interest but certainly no dame in distress. oh, there's anthony hopkins as odin and the wonderful actor stellan skarsgard as, um, i don't know, couldn't figure out why he was in the film. never you mind. the 3-d doesn't not add a lick to the action. however, branagh composes what might be termed the thinking person's action sequences. they somehow add to the development of the characters rather than be mere set pieces.
overall, the movie is, eh. i mean we liked it enough. and the set designs are wonderful. it is getting more and more difficult to tell the difference between cgi and real world things. but it is still a summer action flick and when thor retrieves his mighty hammer there is not a doubt in the world who will win the fight. that was not worth all the popcorn in california.
3 Comments:
from what i hear, werner hertzog has used 3D in his new movie abut cave paintings in france and it is darn good. cant wait for that.
also cant wait for julian schnabals new film about palistine woman. jack it up julian!
saw sophia's cappalos Somewhere and there was a lot i liked, not sure if anyone else did or not. then again i like scenes where 'nothing happens' like watching her camera sit still as a ferriari flies around a track. she is a pretty good filmaker...good genes i guess.
I got a kick out of
the 3D in Avatar for a few minutes,
but in action it just fuzzed things,
and it cut the resolution in stills.
I think my mind subtracted out the
dazzle because of the 'cut-out'
effect.
Sofia is an awesome witness.
I think it's the exposure to the
innards of the film crew more than
even the genes. Roman did a great
job in CQ. I love the quirks, the
obsession with cameras and hokey
personalities. When Sofia did
The Virgin Suicides her detached
witness scared the bejeezus out
of me. Marie Antoinette...meh.
Can't wait to see Somewhere.
i can't wait for the herzog 3d flick too. i was talking to my mother-in-law this evening and she described some of the stills she's seen of the movie. herzog uses 3d because the cave painters utilized the curves of the walls and rocks in to their compositions which really make these images crackle with life, and herzog makes use of 3d to make his images of these miraculous works smack hard into life. my mother-in-law said something interesting, that our human forebears learned to make images fully-formed. there doesn't seem to be a beginning and intermediary stage of development in painting, such as scratches and doodles, but that the artists of the caves were fledged artists with talents on par of artists today.
sofia coppola. . .hmmm. . .i've seen only one of her movies, LOST IN TRANSLATION, that i thought was pretty good, but flawed. i'd have to see the flicks mentioned here to get a better sense of her work. but here genes are solid, and that coppola family includes writers and so on.
Post a Comment
<< Home