Review: "Thor: Ragnarok"

by Chris Feil

The hilariously self-absorbed God of Thunder returns for Thor: Ragnarok, a top tier addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to the smart and snappy voice of director Taika Waititi. Even though the film is comedy first and action second in its priorities, it is like getting stuck in the best game in the arcade for two hours.  

This time around, Thor faces the unshackling of his apocalypse-hungry sister Hela, played by a horned and horny Cate Blanchett. Hela aims to make good on her prophecy to destroy Asgard in retribution for her banishment, and presents Thor’s greatest physical threat to date. Once Thor is cast off himself to the technicolor planet Sakaar, he finds a cast of characters that might help him save his home, including lost Avenger Bruce Banner.

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Beauty vs Beast: Look Who's Still Here

Jason from MNPP with our weekly "Beauty vs Beast" fun-time - I'm surprised it didn't occur to me to do this one at the start of this year when we were mourning the epic loss of both Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (I even re-watched this film at that time) but perhaps the pain was too much. Anyway as Nat told you earlier it's Shirley MacLaine's birthday so the right time has revealed itself, and today we'll tackle Mike Nichols' glorious 1990 comedy Postcards From the Edge, starring MacLaine and some Meryl woman, based on Fisher's thinly veiled book about a drug-addict actress and her let's-say-ebuillent actress-mother. Mother-Actress? Actress-Singer-Mother? Well that's the question, isn't it?

PREVIOUSLY I'm shocked and flabbergasted by you people - hasn't Jennifer Garner suffered enough? We wished her a happy birthday last week with some 13 Going on 30 love and y'all rejected her star-making performance for Adorable Mark Ruffalo. I... well he is pretty damn adorable. Said Dave S:

"Ruffalo in this movie is top-tier among underwritten love interests; I think him ceding the stage for the female lead is actually a point in his favor. He gets to fill the somewhat vaguely defined dream guy role in a way we're more used to seeing actresses relegated to. See also: Aidan Quinn as the projectionist in "Desperately Seeking Susan"."

Beauty vs Beast: Age Ain't Nothing But A Couple of Numbers

Jason from MNPP here, wishing Jennifer Garner a happy 45th birthday with this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast." I know Garner's got some fans up in here, and I know that we are all hoping she can pull her career out of this slump its been in - even when she's had a hit movie like Dallas Buyers Club most people found her role superfluous to the plot. Anyone who watched Alias knows she deserves better. I'm hoping for a post-divorce Kidman Bump. I contemplated tackling Juno for this competition since the film's turning 10 this year but there's no solid VS. there so instead we'll go back to her big hit in 2004 - 13 Going on 30, in which she abuses in two timelines a never more adorkable Mark Ruffalo...

PREVIOUSLY Turns out The Film Experience community loves F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby as much as I do and we've got lots of opinions on the movie versions - as for which Daisy we prefer, it was Baz's blonde Carey Mulligan loved those beautiful shirts just a little more, to the tune of 51% over Mia Farrow's 49. Said Aaron:

"Call me crazy, but I thought Carey Mulligan nailed the vocal pitch of Daisy. She was sinewy, a bit aloof, yet girlish and sexy. I thought she reeked of money, as described in the book. It's an incredibly difficult part to nail, since so much of Daisy (in the book) exists through Gatsby's ideals and dreams. I think it's ok if the actress playing her comes off a little empty, cause I think that's the reality of Daisy herself.

There were a lot of things that didn't work in Luhrmann's version, but I thought the casting was solid for the most part (other than Tobey Maguire, whom I'm allergic to in everything). Edgerton and Debicki were especially good in the film as well."

The Link Of...

• THR got the first look at Fences. Photos of Denzel, Viola and Stephen McKinley Henderson
• Awards Daily surveys the rave reviews for Nocturnal Animals 
• Playbill there's another musical about the life of Tennessee Williams on the way. The developmental concert is when I'm away at TIFF argh.

• /Film Riz Ahmed sees his Rogue One action figure for the first time (he's so skinny & British -- it's freaking me out a little post The Night Of...!)
• Coming Soon Tom Holland visits a children's hospital dressed as Spider-Man
• AV Club interviews Rob Reiner about his well loved filmography
• MNPP if you live in NYC please note that there's a Paul Verhoeven retrospective coming in November to celebrate the release of Elle. Naturally Showgirls and the other Hollywood films will be accounted for but so will his Dutch offerings. Can't wait to see Turkish Delight finally with Rutger Hauer!
• EW Tyler Hoechlin talks about becoming Superman for the CW's Supergirl
• Fusion crunched the numbers on the ballots for the BBC 100 greatest of the 21st century list to come up with an all female directors ranking. I'm a little stunned, given that ultra specific scenario that A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is so low on the list (only #59) and Bright Star can't even manage the top 20 (tied for #21)
•... the original list icymi 

Controversy
• Los Angeles Times powerful op ed from Gabrielle Union about sexual consent, rape culture, Nate Parker, and Birth of a Nation. She plays a rape victim in his film
• Variety Mark Ruffalo responds to the criticism of the casting of Matt Bomer as a trans woman in his new project. "Please have a little compassion. We are all learning" oh Jesus. Is Hollywood in so much of a bubble that they're still years behind everyone else? I find this hard to believe especially for the politically actives types like Ruffalo so it's hard to have compassion for people purposefully benefitting from the status quo.

Just For Fun
• Vice analyzes the exact amount of banter in the photo of those Eton schoolboys about to meet Putin. I LOL'ed and LOL'ed. Bloody well done 

Video o' the Day
Check out this neat montage celebrating Stop-Motion in film - it's very short and due to that it gets to our lifetimes way too quickly but it still brought back so many fun movie memories. 

THE EVOLUTION OF STOP-MOTION from Vugar Efendi on Vimeo.

Curio: RUFFAL-O'S

A old friend alerted me to this tasty illustration by Josh Haro. (Love the tagline) 

I'm salivating so answer me these questions three:

1. Doesn't this box cover essentially promote cannibalism? 
2. What does Yearning taste like? 
3. Isn't it frighteningly easy to imagine marketing tie-ins for different movies?

Anyway I giggled and it gave me a smile prompting a flashback to Renée's Extreme Sour Lemon Candy. Remember that? Such a classic.