Gravity

I'm a guy who usually has a lot to say, as my friends and family can attest. It takes a lot to shut me up. Did Gravity succeed is taking my breath away? Well it's funny: I can't think of a movie that I've ever had more to say about and less to say about at the same time.

Is Gravity good? It's mind blowing, damn near perfect. This has to be my favourite movie of the year, I can't imagine anything being better. When I say I don't have much to say, that's a good thing. I just don't have words to describe how great this was. I have no clue how a lot of this movie was shot, and that says a lot. I graduated from Television Broadcasting at a respectable college, read books on filmmaking, watched the behind the scenes features on virtually every DVD I know.... and yet the opening shot had me scratching my head. And by opening shot I mean the first 15 minutes or so. Yeah there's parts where you can see they managed to sneak different shots in there, but it's edited so well and so tightly that you can barely tell.

This was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who is probably best known for his amazing direction on Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban, which is probably the most visually striking of all the Potter films, and arguably the best movie overall. He brings his masterful direction style here. This was a new age of filmmaking, with a different style than anything I've ever seen. Again, I don't know how to describe it, but see the movie and you'll know what I mean. The actors (And by that I mean two) were great. Sandra Bullock gave probably my favourite performance of hers in any movie. She was basically an everywoman, but she was given a pretty tragic backstory. Bullock pulled this off perfectly. You feel for her and cheer for her. It's an amazing performance. As for George Clooney, well.... George is George. Yeah, he's on the most likeable actors around, and he sells his performance on that completely. You really like this guy, which was basically his characters biggest function. Both performers were perfect for their roles.

I don't know what else to say. I've been very vague, and I'll acknowledge this isn't my best review, but I have no idea how to describe it. It's an amazing movie, and I highly recommend it.

Stop.... Hammer Time!

Yeah been offline a while, mostly due to computer troubles. I haven't been able to go to theatre very often recently. I have seen Gravity, but I've been having a hard time writing a review for that movie. It's tough to find the words to express my feelings towards it. I just saw Thor: The Dark World yesterday, proving once again I can't seem to stay away from Marvel Studios movies. Now as some of you may know, I was was somewhat.... skeptical of Iron Man 3 (Actually, I completely hated it) This led to me distrusting Marvel, which is surprising considering how much I loved The Avengers. Marvel debuted a new TV show earlier this year, Agents Of SHIELD. I haven't spoken about it here, but I didn't like it at all. The fact I was watching some much superior televisions shows at the same time (Read: Breaking Bad) probably didn't help, but the fact remains that the characters or setup weren't remotely interesting. Sure it's awesome to see Agent Coulson alive and well, but the show has nothing else going for it. What I'm trying to say is that Marvel's stock is at an all time low to me, but I had high hopes for this one. I liked the first Thor a lot, I was sure this would get Marvel back on track. Did it? Well.....

......Not really, no. There's stuff to like here, more than there was in Iron Man 3, but that doesn't change the fact that Thor: The Dark World is an empty, bland movie. First I'll talk about the good. Once again, Chris Hemsworth completely owns Thor. He's a lot less arrogant and much more likeable, which was a good thing. Once again, Tom Hiddleston is magnificent as Loki. I guess I kind of forgot how much I loved Hiddleston in this role, and he didn't disappoint. He isn't in the movie as much as he was in The Avengers, but he does manage to steal the show when he is on screen, even from Hemsworth. I had kind of thought Loki's story was more or less over after The Avengers, but I was wrong. The development between the relationship between him and Thor are easily the best part here. Natalie Portman was fine I guess, although Darcy really annoyed me at times. Even so, she was good for a few laughs. As with most Marvel movies, the action scenes were good, although I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as previous ones. I liked the extended look at Asgard, it's a very well designed place.

Now what didn't work? In a word: the villain. The villain is Malekith the Accursed and the Dark Elves. The Dark Elves reminded me a lot of the Putties from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. You know, these guys:

They were just henchmen, no real personality. Even so, they did look cool, and maybe even a little creepy. But Malekith? Wow did he suck. The look was okay, Christopher Eccleston was fine, but he was about as unthreatening as a villain could be. He wasn't threatening at all: He gets beaten easily several times throughout the movie, he's not a very good fighter, and he doesn't come off as particularly bright. He's less a villain and more an example on how no to write a villain. Outside of him, The movie is very bland, but it's hard to explain. I got bored a number of times, which is a bad sign considering the movie isn't longer than an average movie is these days. The story is isn't engaging or exciting, it almost feels like a story that really didn't need to be told. I loved the first one, and I was hyped to see a direct sequel. It didn't live up to expectations at all, which is too bad. Get your act together, Marvel!