Movie of the Month – November to December 2020 & May to July 2021

Soon after starting this blog back in 2009 I started a movie of the month segment.  The first post of every month, usually on the first of the month I would name the best movie I had seen in the previous month.  I started by naming the top few contenders before crowning on the Movie of the Month.  I soon changed to writing a short paragraph review of each film I had seen at the cinema. Then cinemas closed as we went into lockdown following a global pandemic, you may have heard it mentioned once or twice in the past 18 months!  I last posted a movie of the month in August of last year when made two trips to the cinema after the first lockdown.  I managed three movies in November and December between lockdowns two and three but didn’t post about them at the time, so that’s where I will start. 

November and December 2020

Pixie – The titular Pixie sets out to on a mission to avenge her mother’s death, and escape her small time life by way of a heist, obviously things don’t go to plan. Somewhat derivative, but always fun, and Olivia Cooke is excellent as always.

Wonder Woman 1984 – Sequel to the best of the DCEU, by the standards of the franchise it’s a solid middling entry to the series.  Given how good the great the first movie was, it has to be considered as disappointment.  Gal Gadot remain perfectly cast, Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal are good in supporting roles, but everyone is let down by the story.

Dreamland – It’s impossible to make a dustland-fairytale of 30’s depression outlaws without invoking Bonnie and Clyde. Dreamland also has a hint of Malick’s Badlands at its core. To invoke such films you are always going to fall short, but the movie is engaging thanks to strong performances from Finn Cole and Margot Robbie.

This brings us onto 2021 and the reopening of cinemas in May.

May

Those Who Wish Me Dead – Actor tuned writer, Taylor Sheridan’s second film as a director (he doesn’t count 2011’s Vile) following Wind River (2017).  A rung below Wind River and not in the same ballpark as his masterpiece (as writer) Sicario (2015).  A nice blend of disaster movie and crime thriller, Angelina Jolie is agreat as you would expect, Sheridan regular Jon Bernthal mprovides excellent suport, as do Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult.  The best supporting character is superbly portrayed by Medina Senghore.

Godzilla vs. Kong – I missed Godzilla: King of the Monsters at the cinema in 2017, but caught it on streaming during lockdown, it was really poor!  This new entry to the franchise is better, but that isn’t saying much given the seriously low bar.

Cruella – Emma Stone is fantastic as the young Cruella de Vil, she even manages to outshine Emma Thompson, who as the films villain you would expect to be the more showy part.  The only issue, the film cannot decide if it’s a retelling, or a prequel to 101 Dalmatians.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Mr Do It – Based on a true story is something of a stretch.  The weakest of The Conjuring Movies but still good fun.  Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are both great as ever.

June

Nomadland – Chloé Zhao’s third feature following the sublime The Rider won her the best director Oscar (only the second woman to win), it also won Best Picture and Frances McDormand’s second Best Actress award.  I originally saw the movie via streaming, but thought it deserved a big screen viewing.  It did! 

A Quiet Place Part II – The title tells you what you need to know, this isn’t A Quiet Place 2, this is part 2 of the story.  Picking up directly after the events of the first movie, along with a perfectly judged flashback, it is exactly the film it needed to be. 

Nobody – Writer Derek Kolstad is best known for John Wick, he hasn’t moved far from that premise with this movie.  What if John Wick was played by an ordinary person? That’s pretty much what this is with Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk in the lead.  For some inexplicable reason, it really works, the movie is great fun!

The Farther – Another Oscar winner in the shape of Anthony Hopkins as best actor.  A directorial debut from Florian Zeller based on his own play.  The acting and staging always feels a little stagey, but the structure of the movie outweighs this.  Best to watch without reading too much about it.

Monster Hunter – Video game adaptation from the husband/wife, director/star frequent collaborators Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich.  Far from a masterpiece, but filled with sufficient action and fun to make it worth watching. 

In The Earth – Ben Wheatley’s lockdown take on a folk horror is a tough film to get a handle on.  Not as inaccessible as  A Field in England but falling short of his best work, Kill List, Sightseers and High-Rise.  The performances from the small cast are all excellent.  

Fast & Furious 9 – The Fast & Furious franchise evolved from a retelling of Point Break to Mission Impossible.  The quality of the films varies greatly, but they were never dull, until now.  The bigger the stunts get, the less interesting the film becomes. At least Charlize Theron is having fun!

July

Freaky – What if the director of Happy Death Day remade Freaky Friday as a high school slasher horror? That is exactly what Freaky is, and it is so much fun!  Vince Vaughn is really good (yes, really) but is totally overshadowed by Kathryn Newton who is excellent. 

Black Widow – Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow was never the biggest star in the MCU, but in many ways she was the most interesting.  There is no way of reconciling the fact it took so long for her or any other female character to get her own movie within the biggest franchise in movie history.  Scarlett Johansson is excellent as you would expect, as are co-stars Rachel Weisz and David Harbour, but the MVP by a mile is Florence Pugh who has  genuine chemistry with Johansson.

Another Round – In 2012 Thomas Vinterberg made an outstanding film called The Hunt starring Mads Mikkelsen.  The pair are back with another stunning movie.  Exploring men’s relationship with alcohol, and each other it asks a lot of questions of its characters and audience, to its credit it doesn’t try to answer them.  The winner of the best foreign language movie at the Oscars this year, I think it’s a better film than the (six out of eight that I have seen) nominations for best picture. 

The Suicide Squad – Not to be confused with the 2016 film with a very similar title.   Notably better than that film, but then the bar wasn’t that high!  As before, Harley Quinn remains the most interesting character, although she was the best moments of the film she isn’t as well served, or the film as good as Birds of Prey. The performances are all spot on, but the plot is somewhat thin especially for the 132 minute runtime. 

To name a movie of the month from just two or three choices doesn’t really work, for this reason I will just name one movie of the month(s), and hopefully return to naming a movie each month moving forward. My movie of the Months is:

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Black Widow – Too Late, or Worth the Wait?

Black Widow has a problem, a big problem, timing! The issue is twofold, firstly it has been hugely delayed due cinemas being largely closed throughout last year and the start of this year.  The second more serious problem is that it is set before the previous two movies removing any real jeopardy for the main character.  Whether it can overcome these hurdles depends on different factors, on a critical level, the film is good; financially, we may never know!  It has received the strongest opening numbers since the start of the pandemic, but this is still way down on other movies in the franchise.  It is also available as a premium offering on Disney+ that may help with the ultimate bottom line but not the published box-office.  I would normally advocate watching movies in the order they were made.  However, in this case, I would suggest if you are new to the MCU that you slot this one on in somewhere between Captain America: Civil War from and Avengers: Infinity War. 

Following a prologue set in 1995 the movie kicks off with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) on the run from the authorities aka Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) for breaching The Sokovia Accords (see Captain America: Civil War).  A MacGuffin and an attempt on her life later she finds her way to the often mentioned Budapest and on the hunt for a ghost from her past in the shape of General Dreykov (Ray Winstone).

Before I star anything that resembles a review, I have to admit I was predisposed to like this movie.  I have always felt that Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are the heart of the MCU, the franchises most interesting character, but they have never been given the screen time they deserve.  I am also a huge fan of a couple of Cate Shortland’s earlier movies. To add to this, the film most resembles, even echoes a lot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a film that is both one of my favourites in the franchise and also the film that prior to getting her own film gave Scarlett Johansson the most screen time in the MCU.  Interestingly the final act (the MCU’s Achilles heel) is similar to, and has the same issues as the winter soldier. 

There are three big and several small action set pieces. As you would expect for a Marvel movie the action is well shot, and well choreographed, but this isn’t the films greatest strength.  The titular Black Widow is surrounded by great characters in the shape of her “family”  Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh),  Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz).  Both the performances and the dialogue are excellent.  The bickering and piss-taking all feels very real and natural as you only see with family or close friends.  Weisz has a level of calm and superiority that perfectly bounces off Harbour’s comic relief, but Pugh is comfortably the MVP.  She plays the part with a perfect combination of childlike sincerity and amazement with a certain grit and cynicism.  There have been suggestions that if this truly is Johansson’s Marvel swansong that Pugh will take on the mantle of Black Window within the Avengers.  While it would be a shame to lose Johansson, Pugh would make an excellent addition, it appears she has already been confirmed to reprise her role in the Hawkeye TV series due to hit Disney+ later this year. 

Like the aforementioned Winter Solider the villains are more grounded than many in other MCU movies, this isn’t a bad thing.  When a story is well told, personal tragedy and  grounded adversaries are just as significant as those that threaten worlds or universes! The plot is slim taking a central idea from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (although a different Bond movie is reverenced and another invoked!).  The accents drift in and out of Russian, often for no real reason.  But these and any other issues spring to mind after the film has finished, because while you watch it, you just go with it! This is testament to the taught direction and  great performances.  What could have been a paper thin narrative used to string together the action set pieces actually comes across as a fun hang-out movie.  The characters are so strong that you may want the action to stop so they could spend more time hanging out and arguing with each other, fortunately this never happens, because the bickering continues  during the big action scenes. 

Marvel have made 24 movies in a decade and half, a similar number to what James Bond Managed in nearly fifty years and around double the Star Wars output in around forty-five years. when you get to this point, you cannot just judge an MCU movie on how good it is, you have to look at in relation to the rest of the franchise, the greater world of comic book movies, and its competitors from the DCEU.  It’s far from the best MCU movie as it doesn’t move the narrative forward, it actually has little to no impact on the franchise as a whole, and you would not miss anything by skipping it, but that would be a shame, and a mistake.  It does something that a lot of the other movies in it stable cannot, it stands on its own.  You could watch and enjoy the movie without having seen any other MCU movie.  And for the record, it’s better than most of the output of the DCEU. Go see it support your local cinema and have some fun!

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The Golden Age Avengers

A few months ago I had the idea imaging the casting of an Avengers film, had it been made in the 80’s.  Having never finished or posted my list, Screenrant beat me to it! With three of their choices being the same as mine, there didn’t seem much reason to finish.  I read this around the same time as I was writing about The Paramount Decree, this gave me the idea to go a slightly different way; taking the same characters they chose, and casting them from the Golden Age of Cinema, as if the film had been made around 1940.

Clarke Gable as Tony Stark / Iron Man – Stark is charming and wisecracking;  chances are he is both the funniest and the cleverest person in the room, but he is also a self obsessed dick!  Who could play that better than Gable?

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Burt Lancaster as Steve Rogers / Captain America Cap needs youthful good looks, a certain sense of innocence, but also needs to convey a certain melancholy.  On top of all that he needs to be big and athletic.  Sounds like Lancaster to me.   

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 James Stewart as Bruce Banner / The Hulk – Banner is an awkward neurotic genius, but deep down he is good to the core.  Has to be Stewart.

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Johnny Weissmuller as Thor – The Austro-Hungarian-born Weissmulle doesn’t have the Norse looks that would be ideal for the part, but he certainly has the stature. 

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Vivien Leigh as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow – Romanoff needs to look sweet and innocent, but be far from it, this is something Leigh did many times. 

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 Errol Flynn as Clint Barton / Hawkeye – I don’t even need to explain this one, it has to be Flynn!

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James Mason as Loki – Screenrant talk about “charming arrogance and wicked bravado” Mason has this in spades.

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Gary Cooper as Phil Coulson – Coulson was the hardest character to cast because there is so much going on for so little screen time.  Untimely the character is defined by his honesty and boy scout optimism, Cooper fits the bill.    

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Spencer Tracy as Nick Fury – The temptation is to go for a black actor to emulate Samuel L Jackson, but there simply weren’t that many prominent in that era.   But Tracy certainly has the gravity and whit. 

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Katherine Hepburn (Maria Hill) Tall and athletic, she certainly looks the part, but she also has the whit needed.  On top off all this, she has Tracy to bounce off!

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Such an amazing era of cinema, there are so many great actors who didn’t make the list. 

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Avengers 2.0

The beginning of the end is near.  The next movie in the MCU, Avengers: Infinity War is less than a month away.  That will just leave Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel (a prequel to existing films rather than a continuation), and then an as yet untitled Avengers film, with it Phase Three will be over.  And with the end of Phase Three we will potentially see the end of some of the characters.  It has been reported that the following actors intend to hang-up their super hero costumes next year: Chris Evans (Steve Rogers aka Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark aka Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor). 

This will leave just Tom Holland (Peter Parker aka Spider-Man), and Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa aka Black Panther) as the only remaining Avengers deemed significant enough to have their own films.  They will be joined by any surviving cast.  They can’t simply recast, this will be conspicuous at best, disastrous at worst.  There is another answer within the existing cast: Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier aka White Wolf), Don Cheadle (Lieutenant James Rhodes aka War Machine).

In the comic books on which the MCU is based, these characters have all taken on the part of other heroes: Bucky Barnes – Captain America, James Rhodes – Iron Man, Jane Foster – Thor. 

There have been many other incarnations of the comic books where existing characters have taken on the mantle of other heroes, they include Sam Wilson aka Falcon as Captain America and Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow as Thor. 

You may remember the scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron when the Avengers take it in turns to try and lift Mjolnir, all except  Black Widow, should this tell us something?

Having said all this, they could just introduce some new characters! 

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Captain Marvel

Warner Bros./DC recently announced a list of random projects centred around the Justice League  that should keep them busy for the next 100 years.  Not to be outdone Marvel Studios have recently announced their Phase Three schedule covering films up to 2019. The films are:

• Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
• Ant-Man (2015)
• Doctor Strange (2016)
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017)
• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
• Black Panther (2017)
• Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (2018)
• Captain Marvel (2018)
• Inhumans (2018)
• Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 (2019)

When I first read the announcement it promised the a movie with a female lead as fans have been demanding.  I had to go back to see what I had missed, a Black Widow movie?  It appears not.  Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige assures us we will be seeing a lot more of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)  “Her part in Avengers: Age Of Ultron is very, very big and further develops her character”.  But she is not the leading lady in question, that honour goes to Captain Marvel (2018), aka Carol Danvers. I skipped past the 2018 list assuming Captain Marvel was a man.  It turns out he was, now she isn’t.  Showing my ignorance of the Avengers comic book movies I had to look her/him/them up.

It appears the first Captain Marvel, created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan in 1967, was Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree Imperial Militia.  Suggestions are that the Captain Marvel we are going to see will be the seventh incarnation of the character, Carol Danvers.  First introduced as a US Air Force Security Chief, she gained super powers when her genes were fused with those of the Kree.  She then became Ms. Marvel.  More recently she took the title Captain Marvel.  It is unlikely that Marvel will undertake such a convoluted origin story in the last twelve months of phase three suggesting she will join as an established character.  Or more likely there will be a simplified origin that will take place in other films before she gets her own movie.  Given the alien part of the story she could easily fit into Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017) or Thor: Ragnarok (2017).  As an affiliate of US Air Force and S.H.I.E.L.D. she could fit into an Avengers story but it is unlikely that she will be in Age of Ultron unless they have kept it very quiet but may be Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (2018).

The weight on the film is immense, not only does it need to succeed to prove Marvel can handle a female character, but it must also outdo Wonder Woman.  The DC movie has a twelve month head start and a more recognisable character.  This conversely could work in Marvels favour, it gives a slight release of pressure, in the same way that Guardians of the Galaxy had low expectations.  Casting and direction are essential to make it work, there is no word on either yet, this doesn’t stop fan speculation or expectation.  I don’t know anything about the character so would struggle to suggest who should play her, however as always I would like to see someone interesting and talented.  The three names that spring to mind are: Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain and Brit Marling. We will find out 2018.

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The Slow Race: When Will We Get A Female Comic Book Movie?

Ever since the explosion of comic book/superhero movies there has been calls for a female led movie.  At times it has looked like no studio would take the chance on such a project, but there could now be a race to see who gets there first.  There are three major players in comic book movies, the Disney owned Marvel Studios, DC/Warner Bros. and Sony who own the rights to Spider-Man (and many associated characters) thanks to license agreement between Marvel and Columbia (a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment).

Sony could be first out the blocks,  it appears Amazing Spider-Man 3 has been pushed back and will follow a Sinister Six movie in 2016 and an female led spin-off possibly in 2017.  Lisa Joy Nolan (Pushing Daisies, Burn Notice and the forthcoming  Westworld) has been hired to write but no announcement has been made about who the main character will be.  The most obvious options are Spider-Woman and Black Cat,  the latter being the frontrunner as her alter ego, Felicia Hardy (Felicity Jones) was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  I know nothing about the character, a little research tells me she was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man No. 194 (1979) and has been both an adversary and love interest of Peter Parker/Spider-Man.  I know about as much (or little) about Spider-Woman.  It appears several woman took the name, most notably Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter and Mattie Franklin. originally introduced in Marvel Spotlight #32 (Feb. 1977) she went on to have her own self-titled series (1978 – 1983).

DC have two options, Wonder Woman or Catwoman.  A Catwoman movie is unlikely at this time thanks to the last attempt, Catwoman (2004).  This leavers Wonder Woman.  First appearing in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941, Wonder Woman is an Amazon warrior princess, known in her homeland as Princess Diana of Themyscira, she uses the pseudonym Diana Prince.  She has a range of superhuman powers and an array of weapons as you would expect for a comic book hero.  Gal Gadot has been cast to play the part in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (set for release March 2016) with a possible  Wonder Woman and Justice League movie to follow, no dates announced.

Marvel already have their character but don’t seem to know what to do with her:  Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow made her first comic book appearance in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964).  She was introduced into the current Marvel film universe in Iron Man 2 (2010) played by Scarlett Johansson, also appearing in Avengers Assemble (2012) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and will appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).  Little more than window dressing in Iron Man 2, she and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) were the most interesting characters in Avengers Assemble and added a further dimension to the character in Captain America: The Winter Soldier this year.  Anyone concerned about the star power of Scarlett Johansson should take a look at the numbers for Luc Besson’s Lucy.

Is it a question of who gets there first, or who gets it right?  The success of the rubbish Transformers: Age of Extinction and the failure of the excellent Edge of Tomorrow there is more to success than quality.  With budgets of up to $250million studios are more interested in fanatical success than art or critical acclaim. With this in mind, it isn’t a case of who has the best character, script or idea, but the one who thinks he can turn a profit.  It might be a case of wait and see what the competition do.

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Thoughts on Captain America The Winter Soldier

After reviewing every film I saw for a year back in 2010 I tend not to write many reviews especially for big movies where everyone including far more eloquent writers than me have their say. This doesn’t stop my own occasional musings. WARNING to anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, there are spoilers ahead.

The Marvel movie has suddenly grown up. Captain America: The Winter Soldier plays like a 1970s political thriller, a theme that is fuelled by the presence of Robert Redford. The great thing about the movie is how it has done this without losing the fun of other movies within the franchise. This 70’s style has been well publicised and discussed but it goes deeper than that. 70’s thrillers were all about uncertainty and paranoia and that is what we get here, but its a different type of paranoia. Where in the past we looked outwards, these days it is all about looking inwards. Can we trust our own governments? This is a post 9-11 paranoia, a surveillance state paranoia. This makes the film a powerful allegory for a time and therefore a historical document that it will be interesting to look back on many years from now.

It would be very easy to film about the fish out of water as Steve Rogers adapts to the modern world. As well as avoiding this, the movie actually makes a joke of it with Rogers making a list of things he has missed that people recommend to him. It appears that there may be regional differences. The version I saw included the 1966 World Cup final and Sean Connery, I have heard of a version that includes Oldboy. Instead of letting this idea overpower the plot it is kept constantly there but in the background. Through the involvement of Captain America the modern world is constantly held up against “The Greatest Generation”, this is where the idea of doing what is right rather than what is easy or what is expected comes from.

In the spirit of leaving an audience wanting more, there are at least five characters in the movie I would like to see get a more prominent role in a future film or even their own film:

• Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)
• Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson)
• Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell)
• Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders)
• Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp)

Who is Sharon Carter / Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp)? Steve Rogers’ neighbour “Kate” unsurprisingly turns out to be an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent assigned to protect Rogers. A little online research tells me that in the comic books (I have never read any Captain America) the character was originally the younger sister of Peggy Carter but a change in continuity turned her into Peggy’s niece.

Throughout the movie Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: (Scarlett Johansson) is seen wearing a necklace with an arrow on it. A possible reference to the archer Clint Barton/ Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) who she was clearly close to in The Avengers. I guess we will find out more in Avengers: Age of Ultron and the announced Black Widow movie.

Did everyone spot the Pulp Fiction joke? If you didn’t take a look at Nick Fury’s gravestone “The path of the righteous man. Ezekiel 25:17.”

The mid credit stinger is an interesting one. it introduces two character referred to as The Twins. They are clearly Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who have already been for : Age of Ultron. The interesting thing about the characters is how they will fit into the Avengers universe. As mentioned above, I haven’t ready any Captain America but have read some X Men. In the original comic books Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are the children of Magneto. As such a different version of Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver is set appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past played by Evan Peters. With the mutant part of the Marvel universe under license to Fox it was only a matter of time before they both lay claim to a character.

The conclusion of the film sees what is effectively the end of S.H.I.E.L.D. as we know it. I am sure a future film we see a rebirth, however until that time, how will it affect Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team in the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? The continuity of the show appears to run alongside the movies, episode 8 The Well is set in the aftermath of the events of Thor: The Dark World. Clearly the show can exist outside the continuity of t.he movies, however to make such an effort to run them alongside each other they are clearly going to remain that way. This leaves some interesting plot possibilities. 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier represents the mid point of Marvels Phase Two. Iron Man 2 was the only misstep in Marvels “Phase One”, with this in mind I am looking forward to the the next two instalments: Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug 2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 2015).

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Thor v The Hulk

Thor and The Hulk are difficult characters within the Marvel universe. They are big brash characters that should be cinematic, and in some ways they are, but in others they are just a little dull and limited. The great success of Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 3 (2013) is that we see more of Tony Stark than of Iron Man. The biggest failure of Iron Man 2 (2010) is its reliance on Iron Man and not Tony Stark. And that is possibly why The Hulk has never really worked in his own movie, the various filmmakers have never found a balance between Banner and The Hulk.

When the first Thor film came out two years ago I wasn’t really interested. I have never read any Thor comic books and knew nothing of the character. I was also sceptical of how a fantasy character would fit into the Marvel universe as seen in Iron Man. I went to see it out of curiosity and to see what Kenneth Branagh was doing with a film so far from what you would expect for him. The result was a total surprise. It fulfilled every expectation for an action adventure movie, but I never expected it to be so funny and such good fun. Tom Hiddleston who I had never heard of at the time was brilliant. Natalie Portman is sensational in everything she does. Stellan Skarsgård was surprisingly funny. Kat Dennings isn’t the best actress in the world but she is always adorable and her character is always hilarious. All the same is true of Thor: The Dark World, it also gives Idris Elba and Rene Russo a little more to do. All things considered it isn’t as good as the first movie, but it is still great fun and ticks all the boxes you expect it to tick.

The Hulk had the most memorable moment of The Avengers but until that point he had never really made his mark in movies. Despite its reputation, the Ang Lee movie from 2003 wasn’t bad. Eric Bana wasn’t a bad Bruce Banner. But it was just that, not bad, no better. The next movie, The Incredible Hulk (2008) was better and Edward Norton was actually really good. But the character never truly worked until The Avengers (2012). Mark Ruffalo is the perfect Bruce Banner, his banter with Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark was brilliant, but more importantly the plot actually found a way to use The Hulk including the movies aforementioned best moment with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.

The success of The Hulk in The Avengers is partly down to the time constraints of an ensemble movie, but Thor has hade it work Twice. As mentioned at the top, there is no getting away from the fact Thor is a limited character. In the first movie he was a fish out of water, in the avengers he was one of a collective, in the second Thor movie a lot of the plot is developed without Thor (Chris Hemsworth). This is a brave move, but one that pays of thanks to such a strong supporting cast. This is what The Hulk needs, if he is going to have his own movie again. That, however looks unlikely at the moment. While I am sure Marvel haven’t given up on the big green fella he doesn’t appear to be in Marvels plans at the moment beyond The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Other forthcoming Marvels movies are: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Ant-Man (2015) and possibly a Nick Fury movie after that. While I wouldn’t mind seing another Hulk movie I would be more interested in seeing move of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

Ultimately they are two characters that have a lot to offer but with limited cinematic appeal, one has been perfectly handled and scripted to overcome the limitations, the other that is yet to live up to its potential. As the first phase of The Avengers got under way, I don’t think anyone expected the immediate future of the franchise to be dominated by Iron Man/Tony Stark, but that is what happened. This is all down to great scripts and the charisma of Robert Downey Jr. In Mark Ruffalo, they have the perfect actor, if they are going to give the hulk another go they just need to find a great script.

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Iron Man 3, The First Steppingstone From The Avengers to The Avengers 2

I am not going to review Iron Man 3, why bother there are probably already three hundred reviews online, most of them by better reviewers than me and some of them who actually got paid for the privilege! However I couldn’t let the movie come and go without passing comment, after all, it is a significant movie in the history of Marvel and given the significance of Marvel in recent movie history that makes it a significant movie full stop!

When it was announced that Jon Favreau would not direct the third Iron Man movie no one would expect the chosen a director to be one whose only other movie was flop nearly a decade ago. However anyone who has seen the fantastic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang will know that Shane Black was the perfect choice. Possibly the first step in the resurrection and reinvention of Robert Downey Jr.s career. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was smart, funny and dark, the perfect movie of Downey Jr. just like Iron Man. Better known as a writer, Black is responsible for the Lethal Weapon movies, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight as well as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It therefore comes as no surprise that he brings a lot of dark comedy to the charter, possibly even more than in the first two movies. This really works taking the movie to a different level, making it equally as good as, if not better than the first movie and certainly righting the wrongs of the second movie. It is also filled with other Black trade marks: kidnapping as a plot device, black comedy, set at Christmastime. But these are little more than window dressing and comfort blankets for the director. The real flair is the self awareness he brings to a character trying to rebuild himself.

I started writing something a few years ago (I don’t think I ever finished it) about how the characters in films (if they were real people in the real world) would go back to their daily lives after a significant event. For example, John McClane may be good at taking down a group of terrorists, but what’s he like as a detective doing a day to day job? This was touched upon in the third Die Hard movie but never explored. I didn’t expect to see it explored in a superhero movie through the eyes of the hero character, a brave and risky plot with a character that is seminal to the future of The Avengers franchise as well as the hugely profitable Iron Man movies. This is achieved through Stark’s inability to deal with the aftermath of the events of The Avengers. This along with a plot device that I won’t spoil, results in Stark spending a lot of time out of the Iron Man suit, this is a good thing and a brave choice. The film is at its best at these times. Without straying into reviews or risking plot spoilers, the villains are perfectly conceived and portrayed, there are also seamlessly intertwined with the stark/Iron Man plot. This is a movie written as a movie, a complete and integrated story and not one where a committee has listed all the elements and plot points that have to be shoehorned in.

Back to the significance of the movie. The first Iron Man existed as a sci-fi movie set on the edge of reality, this places the character closer to The Dark Knight than Thor (leading to the question how will Batman fit into DC’s hero collective, The Justice League?), whose introduction, along with the rest of the Avengers marked a movement more towards total fantasy. Where the Avengers dropped the characters, if not the audience into this new world without warning, Iron Man 3, drags us back, takes a look at what happened then lets us move on. This is an important step for the franchise to take to give it a future, it creates a neat bridge between the world of the first Iron Man and the future of the franchise. And that is the important thing. A film has to exist in a believable world that obeys its own rules or it risks alienating or distracting its audience by taking them out of the story.

So what next? The Avengers 2 is set for release in two years time and little is know about it yet. Before that Thor: The Dark World is in the can and will be in cinema’s towards the end of this year, early synopsis’ suggest a plot surrounding protecting Jane Foster from “the denizens of the dark world of Svartalfheim”. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is out next spring and is set to feature a prominent role for Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. There is no sign of a further Hulk movie. This makes me wonder, where will the Avengers villain come from? Loki from the first Avengers movie had been introduced in the first Thor movie. Will the primary villain of the next movie be introduced in a similar way, in either Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Thor: The Dark World? I would suggest Captain America the more likely of the two simply for balance, and the balance of power in the collective. But then you have the curveball, Guardians of the Galaxy is set to go into production shortly and scheduled for release next year. It is being made by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (owners of Marvel) and not a co production, will it exist in the same universe or cross over with The Avengers? In comic books the Guardians of the Galaxy originally existed in an alternate universe within the Marvel Comics continuity but now exists in the mainstream Marvel Universe with Tony Stark/Iron Man as a member. Only time will tell, but based on what I have seen so far I am looking forward to finding out.

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The Avengers

Already the most talked about movie of the year so far, the one thing we don’t need is another review of The Avengers. Therefore I am going to try and avoid reviewing the movie other than to say I have seen it, and I loved it. So what follows are just a ramblings and thoughts on the franchise and where it is going. To begin with, lets get one thing straight, the new UK title Marvel Avengers Assemble is a bit of a mouthful and is frankly crap so from this moment on I will refer to the movie as The Avengers.

Making a movie of The Avengers must have seemed like a good idea, but how do you bring together a disparate group of characters in a coherent story? By starting with a series of movies involving the individual characters gives a strong base and also solves the problem of protracted introductions of multiple characters. The problem, it builds expectations of the fans and risks alienating the uninitiated. The greatest challenge is probably containing Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark / Iron Man who could run away with the whole movie, but there is even more to it than that. How do you use Bruce Banner and The Hulk within the team? To add to this problem Mark Ruffalo is the third Bruce Banner in less than a decade, do you introduce him again or go with an assumed back story? Then you have Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) who have made fleeting appearances but have not had their own movies, they also seem to lack any supper abilities. Slotting the two fish out of water character, Steve Rogers / Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) into the mix also has its challenges. If you can solve all these problems you then need a suitable villain. The X-Men movies accomplish this by using multiple villains to pair off against the heroes, this works for them but The Avengers are a very different group to The X-Men. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was a great choice, having already been introduced in Thor we already know his back story. He is also an interesting villain with a typically comic book agenda.

Where do you start a project like this? The director. It would have been easy to pick one of the successful directors of the earlier films: Jon Favreau (Iron Man), Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger), Kenneth Branagh (Thor), but the avengers needs to be its own movie not an Iron Man or Thor sequel. My interest certainly increased when Joss Whedon’s name was attached to the project. To put it simply, Whedon just gets it. Treating the group as a dysfunctional family whose personalities get in the way whenever they are put in a room together. This clash is what makes the movie funny, but it is also the basis that makes the team work as just that, a team. The key to the success is the relationships, as a group of individuals they are defined by the way they interact. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are like bickering siblings, but Iron Man and Captain America are a proficient team. The biggest beneficiary of the Whedon effect is Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow who is promoted from little more than eye candy in Iron Man 2. She is funny and sexy and is a surprisingly deep character. There has to be some mileage in giving Black Widow an origin movie of her own or possible one shared with Hawkeye. Given his background of ass kicking female characters (Buffy/River/Echo), Joss Whedon would be the perfect director to take it on.

One of the first things I noticed about the film was the unusually narrow aspect ratio (1.85:1), the fact that I completely forgot this within a few minutes suggests it wasn’t important and the chosen format worked. I have read that Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey chose the ratio to help frame the unusually tall characters like The Hulk along side normal and short characters. It has also been mentioned that Joss Whedon favoured this ratio of the more normal wider ratios with his climatic Manhattan, sequence in mind.

Given the least back-story I wondered where Clint Barton / Hawkeye would fit in to the story. He is actually really important to the plot and along with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow give the team and the movie a grounding. It all helps in the meteoric rise of Jeremy Renner, I had little idea who he was a few years ago, I vaguely remember him in 28 Weeks Later and S.W.A.T. and have no recollection of him in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. His breakthrough performance came in The Hurt Locker where he received a much deserved Oscar nomination. Clearly Hollywood was just as impressed as I was, he has found his way into three big franchises. As well as Hawkeye in The Avengers he also landed a part in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol that is rumoured as a future replacement for Tom Cruise as the main star of the franchise. Later this year he will appear in The Bourne Legacy, possibly the first part of a new trilogy.

With a positive response from critics and a strong box-office this will not be the only time we see the Avengers assemble, but here dose the franchise go from here? Avengers 2, Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 2, The Hulk 3 (or rebooted)? Probably all of the above. As mentioned above I would also like to see a Black Widow and/or a Hawkeye prequel/origin. There is also space for a Nick Fury stand alone movie. Not to mention all the other Marvel Characters who could appear. The most obvious would be Spider-Man, this probably isn’t possible at them moment as Sony currently own the rights (along with Ghost Rider). A similar problem exists with Fox who hold: The X-Men, Daredevil and The Fantastic Four. This isn’t a bad thing as I am happy to see the Avengers and X-Men universes kept apart.

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