2017 Films: #27. Thor: Ragnarok

Viewed on Friday November 3rd in Chicago, IL. The God of Thunder get his 3rd installment and based on the trailer, you know that Thor's hammer is destroyed, Thor fights the Hulk, Thor and Hulk team up, Thor gets a haircut, it looks like a city (perhaps Asgard), is consumed by fire and Hela is the villain because she's the one who crushes Mjolnir and wears a tremendous amount of eye make-up.

The film opens with Thor, who explains that he's been searching for the infinity stones, chained up in the clutches of the fire demon Surtur. Surtur monologues about how Odin is no longer on Asgard and that he will bring about the destruction of Asgard (foreshadowing). Once he reveals his one weakness, Thor pulls the old, "I allowed myself to be captured to learn the villain's plan" cliche and vanquishes Surtur. Thor returns to Asgard and almost immediately uncovers Odin to be his mischievous brother Loki. Thor and Loki travel to Earth to find Odin but the rest home where Loki stashed him is being demolished. While standing on the corner, Loki and Thor are brought to Doctor Strange's pad. This meeting is really just an extended scene of the Doctor Strange mid-credit scene from 2016.

Strange sends Thor and Loki to Norway to reunite with their dad. Odin then gives some much needed exposition about their sister, Hela that they never knew existed. Seems she was the 1st born and rightful heir to the Asgardian throne.

Capes are big in the underworld.

On a "take you daughter to work day", Odin and Hela conquer the nine realms. When Hela appears to be a bit more bloodthirsty than Odin would like, he banishes her to the underworld and erases her from history. He also mentioned that she will remain imprisoned until he dies. So what happens now in order to move the plot along? You guessed it. Hela is released, she battles Thor and Loki and makes her way to Asgard via the Bifrost Bridge while Thor and Loki are cast off into space.

Meanwhile, Thor ends up landing on Sakaar and is captured by Scrapper 142, a quick on the draw bounty hunter with a penchant for drinking. Kind of like the Waco Kid.

Scrapper 142 takes Thor to the Grandmaster so that he can put him in the arena to battle his champion. While in custody Thor runs into Loki who also crash landed on Sakaar but in a different time frame because he got kicked out of the Bifrost portal before Thor did (I am not really sure about the science on this but it moves the plot). Before Thor's big match with the champion he sees Scrapper 142 getting drunk at the bar and Thor notices that she has the tattoos of the Valkyrior, a group of elite female Asgardian warriors. Thor pleads with her to help him but she wants no part of it, despite the fact that the Valkyrior were sent by Odin to defeat Hela in the underworld and 142 was the only survivor.

So this leads to the big duke-a-roo between Thor and Hulk as seen in every trailer. After the fight, Thor eventually escapes with the Hulk, who turns back into Banner after seeing a video of Natasha Romanoff. Valkyrie, formerly Scrapper 142, shows up to help Thor escape and they all get back to Asgard for the final showdown with Hela (this backstory makes little sense. Sure it gives a reason for Scrapper 142 to reclaim the mantel of Valkyrie but it's not logical. Odin banishes Hela, he later decides to send his most elite unit down to the underworld to vanquish his daughter once and for all, despite the fact that she can only be freed by his death, the Valkyrior lose and that's the last of it. Odin never even tries to reform the Valkyrior).

Presently, this picture has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes rating, making it the highest rated Thor stand alone film, and has cleared over $154 million domestically at the box office since being released on November 3rd. To me this is by far the best Thor stand alone. It has a lot of the same plot elements that made the first installment successful, added humor and colorful characters. It's a fun movie even without the connections to the overall MCU.

The film is directed by Taika Waititi. I felt he did a real nice job putting scenes together and giving the cast the opportunity to make each character their own. Speaking of the cast; Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Hopkins, Elba and Stevenson reprise their roles (though Elba's role as Heimdall has been shrinking and Stevenson's Volstagg is on screen for barely a minute). Mark Ruffalo is the Hulk's alter-ego Bruce Banner, Tessa Thompson is Valkyrie (she's great and it's a shame that there are people out there who are up in arms because she's not the Valkryie from the comics), Karl Urban is Hela's lackey Skurge (Urban doesn't do much in the film, so it's a bit of letdown but that's the story's fault, not his), Jeff Goldblum is the Grandmaster (nicely played by Jeff) and of course Cate Blanchette as Hela. Blanchette's Hela is a bit like Galadriel when Frodo offers her the one ring ad she looks a bit like Siouxsie Sioux.

There's clearly a resemblance. Though one uses Aquanet more than the other.

Blanchette chews up the scenery as Hela. She appeared to have fun with the character, although she had to wear a motion capture suite instead of costume.

This is a really fun film. Sure there are some plot devices that make so sense that I mentioned earlier but it's to be expected. The film has a run time of 130 minutes but the pacing is quick and you're never bored. There's a lot going on but you never get caught up in anything as it all leads back to Thor and his mission.  Check out some of the youtube videos that delve into the Easter eggs and what not. That's fun too.

2017 Films: #26. What Happened to Monday

I viewed this picture as a Netflix download on my flight back from Phoenix on October 28th. As sucker for dystopian sci-fi films, I tok a chance on this title after watching the trailer. The film is directed by Norwegian Tommy Wirkola with a cast consisting of  Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe.

The film is set in the not too distant dystopian future where the world stands along the edge of a knife, as usual. The world is overcrowded and food is scarce. In order to deal with this problem the government puts in place the Child Allocation Bureau headed by Nicolette Cayman (Close). With sweeping law enforcement powers the CAB makes sure that families have only one child and one child only. Any siblings caught are put into "cryogenic freeze" until all the problems can be fixed.

Enter the Settman family. Karen Settman gives birth to identical septuplet sisters in and dies during birth. The grandfather, Terrence (Dafoe), takes custody (the father's whereabouts are never mentioned) and names each child after a day of the week (so you can see where the plot goes). Terrence trains the girls to live in each other's particular day and to act as one personality in public. The training is brutal but necessary in order for them all to survive. They collectively take the identity of Karen Settman.

We fast forward to the women living together, with very distinct individual personalities but managed to get a successful career in banking. Then one day, Monday doesn't come home and the sisters need to figure what happened and also try to find their sister. Things go from bad to worse as the sisters pick up more knowledge about Monday's movements. The CAB eventually gets on to the sisters and sends hit teams after them. Without giving too much away, the CAB is surprisingly up to no good, Monday may not have been the goody-goody sister she appeared to be, Cayman has plans to tighten her grip on the CAB and the lid gets blown off their society.

The film received a 58% Rotten Tomatoes rating, which is not awful but not that good, and it's well deserved. To me the plot borrowed too heavily from films like The Matrix, Children of Men, Minority Report, V for Vendetta, Soylent Green and a bit of Run Lola Run to name a few. It just seemed like there was not a lot originality in the plot. The film was well acted and the action sequences, though derivative at times, were good. This film fails as a sci-fi but is an  ok action film.

The message of the film is a bit hard to grasp, for me anyway. Is it a shot at China's One-Child Policy that ran from 1979-2015, which would be weird considering how much the film industry relies on China as a market? To me it seemed to simultaneously take shots at both the pro-life and pro-choice side. Perhaps, it's just another film about a dystopia run by an oppressive regime. Anyway, the film is just not that good. 

2017 Films: #25. I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

I watched this Netflix original film on a flight from Chicago to Phoenix on October 24th. This is a film that kept showing up in my "Suggestions for You" category on Netflix. I watched the trailer and the film looked interesting. I put the film in my and a few months later I got around to watching it. The picture is written and directed by Macon Blair. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and put into wide release by Netflix on February 24th.

The film stars the crazy neighbor from Two and a Half Men as Ruth, a single woman with a mundane job and a relatively unfulfilling life. One day she comes home from work to find her home has been broken into and some personal items stolen. Her feelings of violation turn to helplessness as she feels the police will do nothing to help, which they pretty much don't. Ruth decides to take matters in her own hands and starts questioning neighbors. During this time she runs into Tony (Elijah Wood) a heavy metal, martial arts aficionado who decides to help Ruth in her investigation.

Ruth and Tony actually begin to get results in the investigation. Ruth and Tony even locate the stolen laptop and manage to get the location of the fence. Ruth gets more and more empowered along the way. They even manage to discover the identity of the burglar and confront his parents. I do not wish to giveaway too much so let's just say that Ruth start to get a little more than she bargained for and eventually people die.

The film received an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is very nicely done. The pace sometimes slows down too much and it would have been better served to have a run time closer to 95 minutes than 107 minutes in my opinion. The actors did a real nice job of making the characters interesting. Ruth's arc takes her from a bit player in her own life to the driver's seat, which at times can be scary as she finds out the hard way. The interesting thing to see would be how Ruth lives her life after all of the events of the film. Does she go back to her mundane life or try to do something different? My problems with the film lean toward the legal issues Ruth would have after everything goes down. It didn't seem based in reality to me. But in the celluloid world, who cares about that stuff anyway,

This a good start for first time director Blair. It may not be for everyone but it is a nice change of pace and worth watching. 

2017 Films: #24. Gerald's Game

A Netflix original film viewed on October 6th in Chicago. When this film became available on Netflix and I spotted during an extended period of looking for something to watch with my wife, I said something along the lines of, "a sexy thriller with Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwod , that could be interesting." It sat in the queue for a week or so until my wife got around to choosing it after looking for something to watch on a Friday. Suffice to say she informed me that it may not be the sexy thriller I thought. Apparently, the film is based on a Stephen King novel. Veteran horror film director Mike Flanagan, who also helped adapt the film to the screen, helms this picture.

Gugino and Greenwood go to an isolated home in the woods (Mistake Number One!) for some alone time to spice up their lackluster marriage. So Gerald seems to think that a little bondage will get things off to a nice start but Jessie isn't all that into it. While arguing on the bed, Gerald suffers a heart attack brought on by the viagra, perhaps if they were at a Marriott and not an isolated house in the woods. Oh and a stray dog enters the house and starts to get some good eats off of Gerald's corpse and naturally waits for Jessie to expire so he can gorge himself.

Jessie doesn't so much descend into madness as she jumps off a cliff into it. She hallucinates and has conversations with her dead husband. She even begins to hallucinate herself walking around freely and has three way conversations with herself and dead husband. These conversations eventually jogs her memory about some forgettable actions that help her survive the night. Jessie has flashbacks to her childhood that were discomforting for me to see. Jessie hallucinates/dreams about a disfigured man being in the room but Gerald points to a bloody footprint and says it's death coming for her.

A flashback of her cutting her hand gives her an idea of getting out of the cuffs. Jessie does the hold cut your hand to shred with broken glass to slip through a pair of cuffs. She manages to free herself and and bandage the wound but she passes out. She comes to and drives away but crashes the car as she's in no shape to drive. Fast forward to six months later and her life is almost back to normal, her had will never completely heal. There isn't too much commotion over how Gerald died. Research shows that the man that Jessie dreamed of in the room is actually a serial killer. Jessie visits the killer at his arraignment in Alabama and he of course recognizes her. This acts as closure.

This was a pretty interesting film. The pacing was fine but leaned a little toward the slow side, it was also about 8-10 minutes too long, but the plot was interesting enough that I didn't get bored. There would have been some parts that would have been weird but since it's based on a Stephen King novel, it makes sense. Gugino's performance was very good. I liked how she jumped into madness early but managed to get herself out. Freeing herself from not so much oppression but putting herself in bad situations.

The picture received an 89% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Flanagan does a very nice job with the tension and keeps things moving nicely. Bruce Greenwood gives another standout performance and even Henry Thomas gives a good performance as Jessie's creepy dad. The film is not for everyone but it's something worth watching. If you're a horror fan, keep an eye out for more of Flanagan's stuff. He does nice work. He creates good content and doesn't rely on gore or jump scares.

2017 Films: #21. Berlin Syndrome

Streamed via Netflix on September 4th. The picture is directed by Cate Shortland and based on a novel by Melanie Joosten. The premise of the film is simple enough, Clare is an Australian backpacking through Berlin. She ends up meeting up with Andi, a good looking guy who seems so nice she decides to spend the night as his place. When Andi goes to work and locks Clare in the apartment, she just shrugs it off as an honest mistake. When it happens again and she gives him the "what's the deal" speech, it becomes clear that she's not going anywhere and that Andi's apartment is built specifically for having guest over against their will.

Clare gets "pacified" by routinely being tied to the bed while Andi is out leading a regular life as a teacher and visiting his father, a retired professor (where its revealed that Clare is not his first "guest"). Clare kind of accepts her fate to a degree. One of Andi's students follows him home and she spots Clare in the apartment but Clare is unable to capitalize on the situation because Andi threatens to harm Franka. When Andi's father dies and he's gone for a few days, Clare is relieved when he returns.

Andi takes Clare for a drive in the woods, never a good spot, but is unable to chop her up when a little kid shows up. Clare tried to get the kid's help but he doesn't understand English. Time passes and Clare spots a flashlight in an apartment across the alley and manages to get the guy's attention. Unfortunately, Andi shows up and dispatches him.

Andi sees an article related to Clare's disappearance and decides its time to get rid of Clare. Andi tells Clare that the place is going to be fumigated. He gets rid of all the food and shuts off the water with the intention of starving Clare to death. However, Clare manages to place a photo in Franka's workbook that Andi is grading. Franka finds the photo and runs out of school but the photo falls out of the workbook in her haste and Andi then chases after her. Franka and Clare manage to outsmart Andi and escape.

This a good film that received 72% Rotten Tomatoes rating. It's knid of a combination of The Collector and Misery the ending is much more subtle than I expected from a film of this type. I was expecting a big showdown between Clare and Andi where someone dies and the Shortland goes in another direction. My only real problem with the film is that it has a 116 minute run time. It could have been cut to around 100 minutes and not lost any of the tension. At nearly two hours the film tends to grind along slowly. Otherwise it's a solid thriller. 

2017 Films: #22. Devil's Candy

A Netflix viewing on September 10th. This film was made in 2015 but wasn't released until March 2017. Usually there's a reason for such a lengthy delay, the film stinks. However this is not the case for this picture written and directed by Sean Byrne. This is only the 2nd film that Byrne has helmed and it's pretty darn good.

The film opens with Ray (Pruitt Taylor Vince) having an argument with his mother about his guitar playing being too loud. When Ray's mom threatens to send him back to the hospital, some rather severe misfortune befalls her. The house ends up being sold to the Hellman family, they can't afford it but it just so happens to be priced in their range but they never bother to ask why. Jesse, Ethan Embry as a discount Viggo Mortensen, is a struggling painter who is the quintessential cool heavy metal dad to his Motorhead loving daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco) and Astrid (Shiri Appleby), the bread winner.

The Hellmans are getting acclimated when Jesse starts getting weird visions. Meanwhile Ray is in a motel playing his guitar and is told by the cops to keep it down. Ray ends up going back home and has a brief conversation with Zooey who takes a liking to Ray's Flying V guitar. Before Ray can enter, Jesse finally shows up and turns him away. Ray leaves the guitar as a gift for Zooey but Jesse insists that she can't keep it.

Jesse's visions start getting worse, he starts to black out and it causes him to be late picking up Zooey after school and to even take his commissioned painting and change it to reflect his visions, suffice to say the bank that commissioned the work will not like the new version.

It doesn't exactly say "we appreciate your business."

While this is going on, Ray kidnaps a young boy, chops him up, places the body in a suitcase and buries it on the property of his old home. There we see that there are several suitcases in the hole. Ray sneaks into Zooey's room and attempts to kidnap her but she screams and Ray flees. The next day, Jesse has a meeting with an art dealer who had previously told him to get lost but likes the darkness of the new work. Of course this makes Jesse lat to pick up Zooey at school. Again. By the time Jesse gets to the school, Zooey is nowhere to be found. In fact Zooey is in Ray's clutches about to be chopped. As Ray prepares to kill her by going through his ritual, all psychos have rituals, Zooey manages to free herself and escape.

The Hellmans are back at the house with the police about to be taking into protective custody when Ray shows up. Ray kills the two cops, shoots Ray and Astrid, takes Zooey upstairs and sets a fire. Jesse, with a bullet wound in the torso, manages pull himself and Astrid to safety, get a ladder from the barn, climb into Zooey's room, bludgeon Ray with his guitar and climb back out the window and down the ladder with Zooey in tow. Jesse manages to not only get the title of "cool dad" back but he even finds the spot where the suitcases were buried.

This is a good film but a  92% Rotten Tomatoes rating is a bit high. The story is very good and there are some solid performances. Byrne builds up the tension nicely throughout the film. Now since this was low budget film the visual affects were not good but I won't harp too much on that. I found it a little hard to believe that Ray could just snatch Zooey from school so easily, especially after an attempted kidnapping the night before. Hell! Why was she even in school? The film takes place in Texas so I am sure there was someone at the school with a gun who would have been more than happy to keep an eye on Zooey until Jesse showed up (to be fair, Jesse got a flat tire en route to the school and he had no cell coverage, given). Then there's the feats Jesse is able to accomplish with loss of blood and a bullet lodged in his torso.

Overall this is a good film that's worth watching if you like horror. 

2017 Films: #23. It Comes at Night

An OnDemand viewing on September 23rd. This picture was released back in June and had a limited run on a limited number of screens nationwide. It got a really good Rotten Tomatoes rating and looked interesting to me but it just didn't stick around long enough for me to get my butt to the cineplex.

The film has grossed around $14 million against a budget of $5 million. Trey Edward Shults, a relative newcomer who worked on three Terrence Malick films, wrote the screenplay and directed this dystopic, psychological  horror film about what could happen when a viral outbreak strikes.

The film opens with Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) having to dispose of the body of Sarah's father who contracted the disease.

Gross.

And by dispose I mean burn. We're talking bubonic plague type grossness. The smoke from the funeral pyre attracts some unwanted attention. Paul manages to subdue the intruder and keeps him quarantined.  Will (Christopher Abbott) tells Paul that he was out foraging for his family when he found the house. Sarah convinces Paul that it might be a good idea to let Will and his family move in as they have livestock. Paul and Will are ambushed when they leave the house but eventually get Will's family and bring them back safely.

Paul lays out the rules and everything seems to go well. Though Travis, being a teenage boy, develops a bit of a thing for Will's wife Kim (Riley Keough).

Young. Cute and fresh as a daisy considering the circumstances.

Travis peeps in on Will and Kim and starts to has fantasies about Kim but they end like this...

Gross drool does not make for a very sexy dream.

Eventually, Will and Kim's son develops a symptom of the disease and Paul decides that everyone should isolate themselves. Travis' eavesdropping comes in handy when he overhears Will and Kim talking about leaving. Will and Kim try to leave the next morning but there's a bit of an armed standoff and it goes badly. I don't want to spoil the ending but it's not a happy one.

This was a really good film. Strong performances by the cast. A really good story and nice pacing for a 91 minute run time. Shults does a nice job with the tension and paranoia of the characters. His story doesn't spends any time on exposition. It's a nice character study about how regular people will try to survive when society breaks down (hint: it's not good). Shults leaves a lot to the imagination. There's a scene when Paul's dog runs away and comes back a few days later badly injured. Is it a monster? We don't know and it's discomforting. This film is worth a view if you're into this type of film.