Thor: The Dark World - Mjölnir Kicks Asgard!

You can put the hammer down - Thor: The Dark World continues Marvel Studios’ conquest of the known universe and delivers a satisfying sequel that surpasses the original. Some fans tend to pooh-pooh poor old Thor, quick to dismiss his somewhat frothier canvas of adventures. Thor has always lived in a much more far-flung and cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe, which this sequel makes good use of. Director Alan Taylor is a veteran of HBO and AMC, with credits on everything from The Sopranos to Game of Thrones. He brings a great sensibility to Thor and marshals a look to the film that’s dark but never dreary. Thor and his pals are trying to save the nine realms from the evil Dark Elves, who would fit right in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. If Angry Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) gets a hold of an ancient weapon known as The Aether, darkness will descend across all that is known.


Thor: The Dark World is ridiculously entertaining – far lighter and much more pure fun than either Iron Man 3 or The Wolverine. As the plot moves forward, things only get better. Tom Hiddleston steals the film as Cain to Thor’s Abel. He’s dynamite and really keeps things interesting. Of course Natalie Portman’s astrophysicist is a goofy conceit, but you can’t help but root for the mortal in love with a God of the astral plane – and that mythos gives the story freedom to creatively wreak havoc with a far-flung sense of jeopardy – Portman and Hemsworth have a nice chemistry and directory Taylor makes sure that she and all of the other minor characters from the first Thor enjoy more opportunities to shine as individuals here. Sif, Frigga and Heimdall all get their turn in the spotlight in fun and engaging ways.

The effects are pretty spectacular and we’re given a rip-roaring pulp story with plenty of laughs and a lot of heart. Thor: The Dark World is just the ticket for a satisfying pre-holiday romp through the cosmos. If you haven’t already heard, there are two extra scenes in the credits, so be sure to stay until the very end. Great stuff!

The Conjuring - maybe buy the new house...

The Conjuring is without a doubt one of the best horror films in a long while - it's also one of the most familiar. If you didn't know better, you could be excused for thinking you'd caught a remake of Poltergeist. Director James Wan (Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious) knows the genre inside and out. With The Conjuring, he's found the real-life story of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga) and delivers a period picture of the Warren's most infamous case at a Rhode Island farm house in 1971.

The great Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston are the family with five daughters (now that's scary...) who move into the farm house and quickly realize they are in way over their heads. This is the kind of horror film about a dark presence and the Warrens have had so much experience with demons and ghosts that they treat it as just a different kind of science. Until they get to this house.

The seventies mood is pulpy, but really fits and Wan does a sensational job of making you really feel for the characters - for the Warrens, for the Perron family - you're always on their side, terrified that something awful will happen to one of them.

There's a very effective and refreshing simplicity to The Conjuring, which probably helps explain why it connected so well with audiences. The cinematography by John R. Leonetti employs lots of close-quarters atmosphere and a wide range of shadows.

Wan shows no restraint when it comes to referencing predecessors. The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, The Haunting, The Birds and Poltergeist all make telling references here. Wan turns the screws on the audience to strong effect - and he's not shy about tossing in the genre kitchen sink. The family dog, the evil doll, the creepy music box, the derelict cellar - if The Conjuring has a weakness, it's that much of it is very familiar.

That said, it's so lean and effective you're not likely to care. The freshest elements of the film are the Warrens - these two earnest and committed night stalkers hint at a rich mythology - and plenty of franchise potential. I'd love to read up on them and learn more about what they've dealt with. If you're looking for a great modern descendant to the films mentioned above, definitely make a date with The Conjuring - but not if you're moving into a new house...

Love Letter to the late great Don LaFontaine

Do yourself a favor and start your day to this sensational mashup of Don LaFontaine expressions you'll be using whenever possible - hilarious! Volume definitely required...

Sunday, Bloody Sunday: The Walking Dead: Season 4

Grab your shovels and crossbows and watch your back, because this Sunday the dead return!

Season 4 of AMC's ratings juggernaut The Walking Dead has us wondering just what to expect - and the unknown is always scary, right? We had quite the body count last season that's bound to find our surviving characters in a shattered state of recovery.

The series has another new showrunner - Scott Gimple, who's written some of the show's strongest episodes, a good sign. We don't have a clearly recognizable setting initially that compares with the farm of season 2 or Woodbury of season 3 - though it looks like we're going to be returning to the prison as season 4 begins. Michonne appears to have a horse, which gives her a nifty Samurai vibe!

There are bound to me new characters and new threats this year, and potentially more casualties, as The Walking Dead has come to rival Game of Thrones or Sons of Anarchy as a series where cast members read their scripts nervously. But one thing's for sure, The Walking Dead has always put character front and center, never letting us forget that the survivors of this horrific outbreak are people - good, bad and ugly - all the while serving up extreme doses of suspense and terror. When someone is lost it moves us - we care. The Walking Dead is a show that refuses to play it safe, and that unpredictable depiction of society's aftermath has struck a nerve with viewers in a major way.

At my house, we're more than ready for Sunday, whatever it may bring...

Hanging by a thread: the awe of Gravity

Once in great while a film captures the imagination of the public and ascends to the lofty sphere of a bona fide phenomenon – films like Titanic, Avatar or The Exorcist, to name a few. Gravity now joins that list of particularly rare films that don’t just serve up entertainment, they give the audience an experience like they’ve never had before. At turns both epic and intimate, Gravity is an incredible breath of fresh air. Director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men) has given us something new and utterly compelling – yes, something new.

When I first heard the plot of Gravity, I was a little underwhelmed. Sandra Bullock, floating for her life, just her? Isn’t there a Thor sequel about to come out? I could not have been more wrong. Gravity begins with a 17 minute uninterrupted shot. I went in knowing this, but was never conscious of it. After about ten minutes, it suddenly occurred to me: Oh, my God – they haven’t cut yet! – because I was completely spellbound. When that part of my brain began trying to process how what I was seeing had been achieved, it basically short-circuited. The camera placement, the movement of the characters around the orbiting structure, Clooney in his jet pack, circling the shuttle, the overwhelming sense of reality, of hanging miles above the Earth – the feeling of each point of existence being a complete precipice – everything looked so completely real and convincing with no sense of artifice. These must be visual effects – but how the heck did they do it? You feel completely immersed and there. Then you immediately stop trying to analyze because the movie pulls you back into the moment – into “reality” – as things begin to unwind.

There isn’t just one catastrophe in Gravity – things go horribly wrong more than once. There are sequences in the film where my heart was in my throat and the anxiety level was uncomfortably high. Highest possible praise must to go to Sandra Bullock here, who’s a revelation. She anchors the emotional reality of this film with phenomenal heart. When disaster strikes, her character isn't just adrift in space – she’s struggled to just continue existing in life after coping with horrible grief – she’s also adrift psychologically, and that feeling of hanging by a literal and figurative thread connect her to the audience in a powerfully compelling way. Gravity is full of awe and terror – but it never loses sight of emotion – despite the icy cruelty of the environment, and I suspect that this, combined with the novelty of a “being there” experience is why this picture is resonating so strongly. Despite the fact that you’re seeing a whole new level of what’s possible with effects technology, it never feels like visual effects – and perhaps that’s the real breakthrough.

Lately I’ve avoided most 3D presentations as gimmicks – not here. Gravity was designed to make maximum use of the format in ways the serve to further immerse you, evoke the grandeur of scale and the terror of simple physics. If you can find IMAX 3D, all the better.

Space has always been a source of inspiration – a canvas of awe and fear. Gravity gives us that same sense of wonder we had in the Apollo era – of men and machines – of the engineer as superhero – but puts us there in a way we've never experienced before. Gravity unflinchingly shows us how exploration can quickly turn to survival – but never lets us forget that the same spark ignites both impulses. A new era of filmmaking possibilities appears to have arrived – Cuarón has taken his own giant leap here. Highest possible recommendation.

Thor hits the shelves!

First (and supposedly rarest) of Hasbro's new figures from Thor: The Dark World - a Dark Elf, formidable enemies of Asgard!

Getting ready for season four...

Finally installing my Walking Dead figures. New wave with Carl should be arriving any day!