Playlist

Thor (2011): A big-budget superhero movie directed by an artsy foreign director? What could go wrong? Okay, that, but this is not that. This isn't some random geek-baiting project. This is Shakespeare whore Kenneth Branagh's entry into Marvel's well-oiled, corporate-controlled build-up to their epic Avengers project that hopefully won't epically fail. Whatever happens with The Avengers, Marvel and Paramount deserve credit for having a plan and sticking to it, something that just about never happens in Hollywood. And this is a pretty good film on its own. Chris Hemsworth brings his acting chops to the title role, Natalie Portman is her usual Natalie Portman self, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki is the love-to-hate supervillian previous Marvel films have been missing. (Anthony Hopkins is here, too, as Odin, but he's been in so many movies that I don't even register him anymore.) Speaking of geekbait, there's a bonus cameo by Jeremy Renner as future Avenger Hawkeye.  PLUS

Hanna (2011): Genetically-enhanced killer little girl on the run from CIA mastermind Cate Blanchett and her southern accent. Sounds fun, right? And, after a bit of a slow start, it is. And then it becomes an actual good movie, no doubt thanks to the guiding hand of director Joe Wright, best known for inaction films Atonement and Pride & Prejudice. It's very well shot with some fantastic visuals and shot and location choices. Definitely worth a watch and I'd be interested to hear what you thought of the ending. PLUS

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010): A lot of foreign films are really just American films in a different language, so it's interesting to come across one that is truly reflective of its native culture. Unfortunately, as in the case here, I think an unfamiliarity with Thai culture and history prevented me from ultimately appreciating this film. I have to give it the benefit of the doubt since director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (suck it, spellcheck)  won the 2010 Palme d'Or, and while I understand it, I was not able to enjoy it. In short, it's slow. Or as critic Sukhdev Sandhu described it while awarding it a perfect score, "It’s barely a film; more a floating world. To watch it is to feel many things – balmed, seduced, amused, mystified." That's a good review? No mention of the woman who has sex with a catfish?* Seriously, movie critics are such pricks. MINUS

*Yes, that happens.