Studiocanal
MOVIE REVIEW
High-Rise (2016)
J. G. Ballard’s 1975 novel “High-Rise” famously cold-opens with a hot sentence about a dead dog; Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump‘s film adaptation opts to cut directly from the urbane sophisticate Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) glancing at the animal to the spit-roasting aftermath. The elision makes for a decent cinematic effect, showing not telling; but also sounds a warning shot about conventionality, a distilling down of Ballard’s haunted prose into nothing more adventurous than good old black humor. Mr. Wheatley’s taste for unsympathetic British grotesques also starts to crop up early before running rampant across the narrative by the end, joining a handful of Ballard’s dots about the inhabitants of the island without getting much of a grip on his social science.
Continue reading “Penthouse and Pavement” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Jay Maidment/Walt Disney Studios
Phase two of Marvel's cinematic takeover is well under way; and after a lackluster affair with "Iron Man 3," the burden to lift the series back up into the starry sky falls on the shoulders of the hammer-wielding Asgardian.
The film sets its stall out early in its "The Lord of the Rings"-style prologue — punchy, big and as glossy as Chris Hemsworth's well-oiled pectorals. There is definitely something for the ladies in this movie. The action keeps up this crunching pace, with big, brutish enemies for Thor to smash, and lots of bad guys trashing familiar landmarks. Asgard gets a bit battered; a little bit of London gets knocked all over the shop; and all the realms come under attack from Christopher Eccleston's cold-as-the-back-of-a-fridge Malekith.
Continue reading “Lightning Nearly Strikes Twice” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Marvel's The Avengers/Marvel Avengers Assemble (2012)
Zade Rosenthal/Marvel
Comic-book fans have eagerly awaited a cinematic outing for superhero troupe, the Avengers, ever since Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced in 2005 that Marvel would effectively take ownership of their universe and begin producing its own films. Five films later — two installments of “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Thor” — and the time has finally come for our heroic misfits to join forces and fight a common enemy in Joss Whedon’s “Marvel’s The Avengers” (released in Britain as “Marvel Avengers Assemble”).
Continue reading “Revenge Is a Party Platter Best Served Cold” »