Actors: Chris
Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston,
Idris Elba
Rating: 9 out of 10, It
is exactly what you expect/hope for from a Marvel superhero flick. Non-stop action as the forces of Asgard
assisted by some plucky humans battle against some really coolly conceived dark
elves trying to plunge the universe into eternal darkness. Hemsworth is a really capable actor and had
the wife oooing and ahhing every time he found the need to remove his shirt. For those of us with a Y chromosome, the
action, almost all CGI, was the routinely jaw dropping quality this series of
films has produced. Natalie Portman is a
real reach as the braniac human love interest but the best lines and part in
the movie belong to Loki. Tom Hiddleston
steals every scene he’s in and keeps you guessing right up to the end which
side he’s on. A true trickster. You know going in what you’re going to get
with a Thor movie and that sets a film up for disappointment. It takes those expectations, runs with them,
and delivers. I don’t think there’ll be
any Oscar noms coming out of it but it is what it is and that is entertaining –
pure escapism. Right down my alley.
MVP: Hiddleston
continues to rule as Loki – what a great character
Actors: Sandra
Bullock, George Clooney
Rating: 10 out of 10,
This movie just blew me away with its simple, stark, unrelenting tension. The
plot has Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts struggling to survive
after a disaster in the unforgiving cold vacuum of space. The effects are so
real that suspending disbelief is automatic. This movie belongs to Bullock who
plays lead not as a superwoman type but on a simple human level that made it so
easy to relate to. This is one of those rare movie experiences where you
realize the full power of the medium. My wife and I looked at each other when
it was over and voiced a simultaneous “Wow!”. Do whatever you can to see this
movie on the big screen. It’s a taut individual human drama played out on a
massive canvas.
MVP: Bullock rules as
Astronaut Rian
Actors: Todd
Armstrong, Nancy Kovac, Gary Raymond, Laurence Naismith, Niall MacGinnis, Honor
Blackman, Nigel Green
Rating: 8 out of 10, the
signature Harryhousen movie for my generation.
There’s not a single boy who grew up in the 1960’s who didn’t marvel at
this movie. Seeing the giant brass man
Talos, the seven headed hydra, and most especially the army of skeleton
warriors was like seeing old friends.
The movie takes serious liberties with the Jason legend but there’s some
serious fun in this pure escapist fare.
While Harryhousen’s effects cannot compete with today’s CGI this was jaw
dropping stuff back in the 1960s and completely charmed an eight year old
version of myself.
MVP: Armstrong as
Jason, kind of strange he never amounted to much because he was really good in
this
Actors: William
Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia, John Zaremba
Rating: 7 out of 10, stilted black and white sci fi tale
that has a 1950s rocket ship crashing off Sicily upon returning from Venus. A young Italian boy scavenges a glob from the
beach that grows into one of Ray Harryhousen’s creatures that ends up terrorizing
Rome and having
a knock down drag out fight with an elephant.
Plant your tongue firmly in your cheek at the cringe worthy dialogue and
enjoy some of Harrryhousen’s early work
MVP: Taylor as a strong woman in the chauvinistic fifties
Actors: Hugh Marlowe,
Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum, John Zaremba, Gordon Rhodes
Rating: 8 out of 10, One of my longest held fascinations
from early film going. Harryhousen destroys
Washington in
this epic black and white sci fi classic that actually stands up pretty
well. Marlowe and Taylor as the lead couple
have a lot of chemistry and can actually act.
You can see the seed this movie planted bloom in many of the alien
invasion movies that have followed since. So funny to see the 1950s versions of
ourselves and so many familiar places.
MVP: Marlowe as the
heroic Doctor Russ Marvin
Actors: Kenneth
Tobey, Faith Domerge, Donald Curtis, Ian Keith, Dean Maddox Jr.
Rating: 7 out of 10, those dastardly Pacific
Ocean hydrogen bomb tests create yet another monster in this black
and white Harryhousen classic. In this
case it’s a huge octopus (with only six legs if you look closely). This is the slowest moving monster in cinema
history so it’s lucky the victims stop and scream long enough to be eaten or
the poor thing would have starved to death before it could take down the Golden Gate bridge.
Pure 1950’s schlock, I loved it.
MVP: Tobey as the
horny sub commander in hot pursuit of Domerge and the monster that tried to eat
his sub
Actors: Harrison Ford,
Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfield, Abigail Breslin, Viola DavisRating: 8 out of 10, This
is a long anticipated movie version of the classic sci fi novel that I loved
from my youth. Since it was such a good
book I was leery of expecting too much.
The cinema doesn’t allow the depth a book can explore and there were a
lot of (to me) important details glossed over.
That being said the movie is astounding in the realistic sets and
seamless CGI backgrounds. The viewer is
truly transported into deep space with Ender.
Hugo vets, Asa Butterfield and Ben Kingsley, reunite with Butterfield
dominating as Ender. A much more serious
Han Solo plays a critical role in molding Ender into the war winning strategist
and they handle the big twist at the end moderately well. They spend so much time in the training
leading up to the simulated battles that it seemed kind of rushed near the series
of battles at the end and through what was the meat of the message. Like I said, when you love a book it’s hard
to be fair when you see it on the big screen. Finally, someone should really teach Harrison Ford how to wear a military beret.
MVP: Butterfield
nails the complex character of Ender Wiggin
