Out to own today:
THOR: THE DARK WORLD
“We are not gods,” Odin (Anthony Hopkins) to Loki (Tom Hiddleston)
The audience is now well into phase two of the Marvel movie universe. After THE AVENGERS, Tony Stark had to come to terms with post-traumatic stress disorder in IRON MAN 3. Here we see what has happened to Loki, the mastermind behind the mayhem in the ensemble smackdown. He is locked away in a dungeon below the kingdom of Asgard, not though until receiving a scolding by adopted father Odin. But before we get to witness his fate, the audience is treated to some history. As with the original THOR, there is some LORD OF THE RINGS-style mythology prologue to feast on/get past (depending on your fantasy leaning). Odin’s father Bor (Tony Curran) 5000 years earlier led an Asgardian force to prevent the Dark Elves, headed by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), from unleashing an extraordinary power that would destroy the nine realms and bring darkness back to the universe. As Odin eventually explains, as the universe had a dawn, so must it have a dusk. This power, known as the “Aether”, unable to be destroyed, was taken from Malekith and hidden. The Dark Elf chief managed to escape. [To read more, click here.]
The audience is now well into phase two of the Marvel movie universe. After THE AVENGERS, Tony Stark had to come to terms with post-traumatic stress disorder in IRON MAN 3. Here we see what has happened to Loki, the mastermind behind the mayhem in the ensemble smackdown. He is locked away in a dungeon below the kingdom of Asgard, not though until receiving a scolding by adopted father Odin. But before we get to witness his fate, the audience is treated to some history. As with the original THOR, there is some LORD OF THE RINGS-style mythology prologue to feast on/get past (depending on your fantasy leaning). Odin’s father Bor (Tony Curran) 5000 years earlier led an Asgardian force to prevent the Dark Elves, headed by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), from unleashing an extraordinary power that would destroy the nine realms and bring darkness back to the universe. As Odin eventually explains, as the universe had a dawn, so must it have a dusk. This power, known as the “Aether”, unable to be destroyed, was taken from Malekith and hidden. The Dark Elf chief managed to escape. [To read more, click here.]
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
“I hope it’s nothing messy,” Ryota Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama)
Anyone who caught writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda’s previous project, I WISH – a magnificent film about childhood, must have been anticipating his next. Broadening his scope, LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON is a moving exploration of two disparate families finding themselves inextricably entwined. The situation is unusual to say the least, but is used to consider the nature versus nurture debate, and who we might be as parents. [To read more, click here.]
Anyone who caught writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda’s previous project, I WISH – a magnificent film about childhood, must have been anticipating his next. Broadening his scope, LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON is a moving exploration of two disparate families finding themselves inextricably entwined. The situation is unusual to say the least, but is used to consider the nature versus nurture debate, and who we might be as parents. [To read more, click here.]
MISTER JOHN
“Don’t be surprised if you’re not fully yourself,” Doctor (Maryanne Ng) to Gerry Devine (Aidan Gillen)
Grandiose, ominous music greets us. A lake in a beautiful Singaporean landscape. The camera skims the water. A flip-flop floats, leading to a man laying face down. It is John Devine, an ex-pat who has made a life for himself in Asia. His brother Gerry flies out from London at the news. MISTER JOHN might have been a travelogue of revenge à la GET CARTER or THE LIMEY, or Westerners causing mayhem in the vein of ONLY GOD FORGIVES. Instead this film is a gently paced look at family, and various kinds of grief. [To read more, click here.]
Grandiose, ominous music greets us. A lake in a beautiful Singaporean landscape. The camera skims the water. A flip-flop floats, leading to a man laying face down. It is John Devine, an ex-pat who has made a life for himself in Asia. His brother Gerry flies out from London at the news. MISTER JOHN might have been a travelogue of revenge à la GET CARTER or THE LIMEY, or Westerners causing mayhem in the vein of ONLY GOD FORGIVES. Instead this film is a gently paced look at family, and various kinds of grief. [To read more, click here.]
BOOMERANG FAMILY
“Don’t be a burden to others,” written on a wall
When you think of quality modern family dramedies, what springs to mind? Perhaps:
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
JUNEBUG
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS
WIN WIN
ABOUT SCHMIDT
JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME
TINY FURNITURE
BOOMERANG FAMILY joins the above eccentric gang, and weirdly, and not uninterestingly, veers from the crass gag to the downright bleak and back again. This ship, captained by writer-director Song Hae-sung, charts the stormy seas of tone sans capsizing. In less assured hands, we might have been witness to a disaster. [To read more, click here.]
When you think of quality modern family dramedies, what springs to mind? Perhaps:
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
JUNEBUG
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS
WIN WIN
ABOUT SCHMIDT
JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME
TINY FURNITURE
BOOMERANG FAMILY joins the above eccentric gang, and weirdly, and not uninterestingly, veers from the crass gag to the downright bleak and back again. This ship, captained by writer-director Song Hae-sung, charts the stormy seas of tone sans capsizing. In less assured hands, we might have been witness to a disaster. [To read more, click here.]
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