This Week in Cinema (11/8/13) – Stop…Hammer Time!

The Blockbuster Report

The only wide release film of this weekend is Thor: The Dark World. And of course, me being the Marvel nerd that I am, will choose it as my Film to Catch this weekend.

In limited release, we have an adaptation of The Book Thief, a new version of Charles Dickens’ classic Great Expectations, and a couple interesting documentaries: Birth of the Living Dead, about zombie visionary George Romero, and The Armstrong Lie, a look into the scandal that rocked the cycling world and the life of its most iconic athlete.

Where Do They Come From?

The new Thor film is a sequel…duh.

Original: 43

Adaptation: 30

Sequel/Prequel: 16

Remake: 2

Re-release: 3

Oscarwatch (Not including this weekend’s films)

1) 12 Years a Slave

2) Gravity

3) Before Midnight

4) Captain Phillips

5) Fruitvale Station

6) Blue Jasmine

7) Mud 

8) The Spectacular Now

9) Rush

10) Dallas Buyers Club

Favorite Films of 2012

As I’ve said before, I’m a firm believer that one can differentiate between what you acknowledge as the best things and what you acknowledge as your favorite things. Someone might really like a film with huge flaws (like Twilight). The Dark Knight Rises also falls into this world. There are tons of people out there that list the latest Batman flick as their favorite of the year, and yet, as well as it was made from an atmospheric standpoint, the story just doesn’t hold water, and the Batman here isn’t really Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective. I’ll let you have your favorite film, I will debate you on what films are better made, or more award worthy. You may do the same to me.

My list of the Most Award Worthy Films of 2012 can be found here. Feel free to share yours. My favorite films of 2012 are listed here for your reading pleasure.

#10 – The Innkeepers

Normally, I am not a fan of horror films. There’s not enough story there generally to make me like them. This year was different, with The Innkeepers, Cabin in the Woods, and The Woman in Black. I liked all three, but I have to give it to The Innkeepers by a hair. Genunely creepy and almost entirely set in one location, it makes you think, and wonder what really is going on in the supposedly haunted Yankee Pedlar Inn.

#9 – Chronicle

The first surprise of the year put director Josh Trank on the map. A mesh of “found footage” and super heroes that was well directed and well acted. It came out in the doldrums of February, so for it to still be here says something. One of the best scenes of the year is the three guys movie cars around the parking lot with telekinesis. Funny, emotional, and mysterious with a little bit of breathtaking thrown in for good measure.

#8 – Moonrise Kingdom

This one was on my other list as well. Loved Ed Norton, loved Bruce Willis, even Tilda Swinton, who only shows up a bit at the end, is great. Wes Anderson did a fine job with this one, a genuine work of art.

#7 – Skyfall

This one barely edges Moonrise Kingdom for number seven. What clinched it was the great music (thanks Adele), and great performances by Bardem, Craig, and Dench. I still say Bardem needs to be the next Joker when Batman gets rebooted. My full review is here, that’s right, I’d never seen any previous Bond films when I saw Skyfall.

#6 – Life of Pi

I never got around to reviewing this one, too busy, so I will do a small one here. This is the first time I’ve ever thought the 3D on a live action film was worth it. A surreal experience full of Richard Parker, whales, flying fish, and faith, this is storytelling at its finest, in more ways than one. I read the book, loved the book, so I had to see the film. Loved that too. Great job Ang Lee!

#5 – Wreck-It Ralph

What a blast! As if all the video game nostalgia wasn’t enough, they threw in a great story, gorgeous animation, and even a slick twist at the end. Wonderful voice acting. Once again, my full review.

#4 – Lincoln

Abe Lincoln has always been my favorite actor…I mean president. I honestly couldn’t tell that Daniel Day Lewis was there, he melted so easily into the role. This one will bring home some gold and is a genuine must see film, even though I could have done without some of the swearing.

#3 – Les Miserables

Tom Hooper does it again. A grand musical spectacle that relies on emotion to soar. The whole cast is great, the music is fabulous, and it is all you can do to not stand up and applaud at the finale (cause, you know, they aren’t really there in the theater with you). Full review (paired with Lincoln) here. Also, Samantha Barks, your rendition of “On My Own” was incredible.

#2 – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The return to Middle Earth was fun and remarkable. Peter Jackson treats us to the depths of Tolkien’s myth delightfully. Sure, some reviewers had no idea what was going on, and that led to some unfavorable reviews, but I can’t wait for the next two. Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug…wow.

#1 – The Avengers

Was there ever any doubt? I’m a huge comic book fan and this was incredible, invincible, mighty good fun. Tom Hiddleston stole the show as Loki, and gosh, everything was so great. Joss Whedon did a remarkable job and the world responded and made this film the third highest grossing film of all time. Not too shabby. As I said before, it should change the mentality of how movies are made.

Well, that’s it. I admit I missed out on Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Silver Linings Playbook, which probably would have shuffled things up a bit.

Which is your favorite of what’s listed here?

BONUS MATERIAL: The Top 5 “Worth the Price of Admission Alone” Scenes/Moments

5) The Closing Speech – Lincoln

4) Attack of the Monsters – Cabin in the Woods

3) “Puny God,” Hulk Smashes Loki – The Avengers

2) Riddles in the Dark – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

1) I Dreamed a Dream – Les Miserables

“You Will Always Kneel”

Yes, The Avengers was such a good movie that it is certainly worth more than one blog listing. Although this one is a little more serious than the previous.

Early on in the film, we’ve got Loki causing some serious havoc. He smashes a guy in the face, steals his eye, and then proceeds to generate mass panic in the gathered assembly. He yells to the gathered: “Kneel before me!” He tells them that their race essentially demands to be ruled, that “in the end, you will always kneel.” Of course soon Captain America, Black Widow, and Iron Man arrive on the scene and break up his shenanigans and the day is saved.

After the film finished though, I wondered to myself how Loki just decided that humanity was “made to be ruled.” I mean, this is a loony demigod who has a deal with an alien army to get revenge on his brother and invade Earth, so maybe his credibility isn’t all its cracked up to be, but didn’t he have to see something that justified his claims?

And this is where we have to look from the movie to real life a bit. More and more each day, Americans are handing over their freedom in exchange for government rule. Just this week we have talk about banning texting and walking, and a Utah high school is expected to pay a $15,000 fine for accidentally selling pop during lunch hour. We see more and more frivolity in lawsuits, letting judges decide things we should decide ourselves (don’t forget that the courts are government too).

We’re demanding it more and more each day. We don’t want freedom. We want everything to be about us, but we don’t want to work for it. And governments will give it to us, until one day it gets so bad that everything snaps. George Orwell’s Animal Farm should be mandatory reading these days.

Are we tempted to see things Loki’s way? Just fall in line. Be ruled. Listen to directions. Is it easier? Probably. But it’s not what we’re meant for. We are not meant for comfort. Did Columbus settle for comfort? Ghandi? MLK? Bob Dylan? Steve Jobs?

The disconnect between the upper and lower class will be nothing if we keep going at the rate we are. The true disconnect will be between the people who work for their money and the people who don’t, and the people who know how to think and the people who don’t. It is hard being your own master. You look out for yourself (and a family if you have one), make your own decisions, and make your own mistakes, which you have to take responsibility for and deal with the consequences. It would be easier to be ruled, just listen to the government and do what they say, but that isn’t what we’re called to.

On a day much like today, under the same sun and sky, William Shakespeare decided to write Hamlet, and he didn’t need anyone’s permission. We’re not made to be ruled, we’re made for greatness, we’re made for freedom. And freedom isn’t free.

Assemble! The Avengers and the Cementing of the Superhero in Film

By now I’m sure a lot of you have seen The Avengers. Some more than once. It’s a wonderful, exciting film that has Hulk-Smashed box office records. Comic book/superhero fans everywhere are loving this. The best opening weekend of all time and the first $200 million opening weekend in history belongs to The Avengers and Marvel Studios. Not Marvel Comics and some place like FOX or Sony/Columbia, but Marvel Studios. This has huge implications for not only the superhero genre, but for filmmaking in general.

From the 1950s on, superheroes were generally considered second rate at the movie theater. They may have made for fun movies and solid serials (I’m thinking Batman and The Adventures of Captain Marvel here), but in feature length film, they were nothing to speak of. From 1950 to 1999 we have such works of art as Condorman, Swamp Thing, Supergirl, Captain America, Darkman, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, The Punisher, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spawn, and Steel. There were only two superheroes to have decent films made about them during this time: Batman and Superman. But with Batman, you get the luxury of having a story that is as much crime/mystery/thriller as it is comic book. When that formula was departed from in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, Batman flops along with the rest of them. Superman was good, Superman II solid, but sequels to those were very poor. And four above average comic book films in half a century isn’t a good track record. (I’m counting Superman, Superman II, Batman and Blade).

The success of Blade in 1998 paved the way for the X-Men and Spiderman to have successful big screen debuts. X-Men, Spider-man, X2, and Spider-man 2 were financial and critical successes. Then the money grabbing started. Smelling a get rich quick scheme, Hollywood execs salivated at the chance to bring more comic book characters to life, in return for millions in box office profits. The results? Daredevil, The Punisher, Catwoman, Blade: Trinity, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Superman Returns, Spider-man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Ghost Rider. And before we jump on Marvel for flooding the market with poor efforts, we need to realize that Marvel DID NOT MAKE those films. Separate studios, such as FOX, Columbia/Sony, New Line and more had bought the big screen rights from Marvel Comics hoping to make a quick dime, which they did at the cost of making a good film.

The rescue of the superhero movie came in two phases. The first was when Christopher Nolan and David Goyer penned Batman Begins. Going for realism and not camp, Nolan helmed the first step forward in years in comic book movie land. The Dark Knight followed a few years later, the first true superhero masterpiece. But remember, this is Batman. Batman is believable, Batman is a detective, not a man who can fly.

The second phase was when Marvel Comics finally put their foot down. Enough with other people playing with their toys. Iron Man, the first film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was a hit. It was followed by The Incredible Hulk, the first modern reboot of a superhero franchise, and a definite improvement on Ang Lee’s version. Comic book fans got a look at Nick Fury in Iron Man and Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk and began longing for the grand prize. Was this going to be a world where superheroes co-existed? A sequel to Iron Man was green lit, and in it we see not only Fury, but the Black Widow and nods at the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Namor, and the Black Panther. Thor and Captain America movies followed in 2011, both reasonable successes financially and critically, but neither matched Iron Man’s pizzazz. The critics came out wondering if it was possible to make a superhero movie that was both great and not grounded in ‘reality.’ Both Batman and Iron Man were tech and human based, not magical or alien. Punisher: War Zone, Green Lantern, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a Ghost Rider sequel/reboot, they all came and went, ranging from average to bad.

Then there was the question of diluting the market. With Warner Brothers making DC films, FOX, Colombia, and Marvel Studios making Marvel films and whoever else making other comic book films, people were questioning if there were too many superheroes. That all changed the moment that The Avengers hit the big screen. This was it. This is what Marvel was prepping for for five films and four years. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Loki, and yes…Thanos, all in the same movie. And Joss Whedon kept to the source material. Yes, there was no Antman or Wasp, but Nick Fury’s shadiness, Cap’s leadership, the Hulk’s rage and Loki’s schemes were all brought beautifully to the big screen with fantastic results. And this should send waves through Hollywood.

Look at the two best comic book movies of all time: The Dark Knight and The Avengers. What do they have in common? They were directed by people who read comics as kids, who are comic fans at heart. The actors read comics, the producers read/wrote comics. This goes against what Hollywood does: find things to make money with. Nolan and Marvel Studios are making films about heroes they love, keeping them faithful to their source and making money off them because they love them and want to share them with other fans, who also love them. There’s really no argument anymore that you can’t make money by sticking to the source material. Not only are there over 40-60 years of material to delve from (in Marvel and DC’s cases), but now a film written and directed by a fan and acted out by (mostly) fans is the first film in history to make $200 million in one weekend.

And it goes on from there. Now, all of a sudden, there isn’t enough room in the year for all the movies people want to see. The Dark Knight Rises comes out this year still. Next year we have  Iron Man 3 and Thor 2. In 2014, we have Captain America 2. They already announced there will be an Avengers sequel. There are talks of new Black Widow, Nick Fury and Hulk solo films, and before The Avengers came out, Marvel Studios was already mulling over movies featuring Antman, Black Panther, the Inhumans, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Dr. Strange. Christopher Nolan is co-producing a new Superman film: Man of Steel. This is it. There is no room for poor efforts. The bar has been raised. What comic book fans have been saying all along is proving true. You can make good films by staying true to our favorite characters. No more mute Deadpools. No more skinny Venoms. No more Catwomen not named Selina Kyle. This is it. And this is it for all films. Hollywood, stop meddling with classic stories, stop adding things that don’t make sense. Do it right. Christopher Nolan did it. Marvel Studios has done it through six films ranging from good (Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) to excellent (Iron Man, The Avengers). There can be no more excuses. Either do it right, or fail miserably. That is the ultimatum.