The discipline of director Kenneth Branagh is missed this time around as all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put this kingdom back together for the sequel again. Director Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World (D+) reunites Chris Hemsworth as Thor Tom Hiddleston as Loki for more interplanetary highjinks, although this time none of it makes sense. Worse, Natalie Portman, who was charming in the first film, is a hot mess in the sequel. Except for a clever effect in the final reel involving a wormhole between worlds that keeps dumping characters into the middle of awkward battle sequences, this film misses most marks. It can’t even get the film stock or color choices consistent from scene to scene. It’s unfocused, poorly written, drably filmed and a bit of a missed opportunity. What’s the opposite of a Marvel?
Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 (B-), the documentary about eccentric conspiracy theories around Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, is an intriguing dissection of one puzzling, polarizing movie. Despite the crazy rabbit holes ranging from the film being a subliminal meditation on genocide or a cover-up for the director’s alleged involvement in a fake lunar landing, the proceedings and format are all a bit silly. Movie buffs may still get a kick out of it.
Director Zack Snyder completely reboots the Superman legend with an otherworldly alien quality to the superhero’s power and backstory in Man of Steel (B-). Henry Cavill was effective as the outsider, and Snyder enjoyably shakes up the formula with flashbacks and a story told out of order. Amy Adams plays a plucky Lois Lane (Daily Planet as blog) and Michael Shannon is decent in an underwritten role as villainous General Zod. The Smallville sequences were nicely done, and the themes of pleasing one’s father (Jor-El/Superman has earthly father played by Kevin Costner and Krypton father played by Russell Crowe) were strong throughout. Some of the action sequences are tedious with too high a body count. But ultimately the reinvention afoot here is fascinating and helps the franchise fly with renewed purpose.
A single father/boxer and an aquatic animal trainer reveal physical and emotional wounds and forge an unlikely bond in Jacques Audiard’s French language film Rust & Bone (A-). Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard hit all the right notes in an unsentimental drama that could have veered to all sorts of conventional places. Cotillard in particular is riveting as a woman so complex that losing her legs in a killer whale attack is only a small element defining her character. It’s a rewarding and romantic film discovery.
There are two incredible tales of survival in Director Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (A), and whether you’re a person of faith, a stalwart for science and logic or a vessel of varying belief systems, there will be soul stirring in store – and fodder for endless discussion. Actor Suraj Sharma is magnificent as an Indian castaway, often opposite a CGI tiger (at least it’s not a volleyball) in this mash-up of Noah’s Ark, Rudyard Kipling and Disney’s Fantasia. Touches of magical realism tinge the corners of this imaginative tableaux with some of the most gorgeous imagery committed to film. Punctuated with humor, horror and headiness, it is a silver screen wonder to behold.
As a movie musical, Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables (A) gets nearly every sonic and emotional note right. Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne and Anne Hathaway are the standout performers in this silver scall-singing spectacular that toggles between moments both intimate and epic. Fans of the theatrical show will have a lot to love, and the modest revisions nearly all serve to clarify the story in its cinematic translation. Themes of rebellion and redemption ring true through the urchins, anthems, baritones and barricades of a gangbuster movie musical.
Rich Moore’s Wreck-It Ralph (B+) is a highly creative and charming CGI fantasy about an 8-bit ’80s arcade game character who must become a hero of a different kind in today’s virtual age. Waves of nostalgia, knowing in-jokes and clever hazards help this sometimes overlong film please audiences of all ages.