Posts tagged talk
“Thor” Deus ex Machina to the Max
Jun 9th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“Deus ex Machina to the Max”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Thor is from the Marvel Studios, which is an obvious indication that it is based on a comic book, even though its roots go all the way back to Norse mythology, in which the title character was the Norse god of thunder, might, and war and who had a magical hammer that returned to him.
So, if you are not a teenager, don’t care for comic books, and not all that interested in Norse mythology, you can skip this one even though it was directed by acclaimed actor-director Kenneth Branagh and stars Sir Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman.
No, Hopkins doesn’t play Thor. He plays Odin, the supreme god and the father of Thor.
So, if you do see this movie, don’t be surprised if you recognize elements of Norse mythology, Christian mythology, Shakespearean stories, the legend of King Arthur, and every cliche in the book from bad government agents to the use of “bad cop, good cop” in the form of “bad god, good god.”
Oh, yes, the story switches back and forth between the realm of the gods and here on earth, where Thor becomes banished for his bad behavior.
In other words, he has to redeem himself and learn not to be so obnoxious.
And once that Thor lands in New Mexico, he runs into Dr. Jane Foster and her team of astrophysicists. Or, rather, she runs into him. Twice.
Jane is played by Natalie Portman, and if you think that this role is beneath her after winning an Academy Award, you would be right.
Thor’s hammer lands in the desert, too, and so the story cuts back and forth between the treachery up in the realm of the gods and Thor’s trials down on earth, not to mention a budding and implausible romance with Jane.
For an action movie, there is way too much talk, too, from the narration at the beginning to set up the story to the exposition in the middle that makes you just want to say, “Blah blah blah, already!”
And the title gives critics the chance to say the movie is “Thilly, thorry, thtupid, thuperfithial, and thimplithtic.”
Thor even has an ending that would embarrass the gods, because it is one of deus ex machina to the max, assuming that anyone in this simplistic day and age gets that.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” Pirates Be for You
May 28th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“Pirates Be for You ‘n’ Me”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Arrrghhh! Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides be the fourth movie about pirates in the Caribbean Ocean, an’ if ye be askin’ yourself how can it be better than the first three, the answer is it’s not, but it be just as good as the third one, which be better than the second one, which be better than the first one, goin’ all the way back to 2003.
Arrrghhh! An’ as sure as there be fish in the ocean and stars in the sky, there already be talk of a fifth movie in the works starring Johnny Depp as the lovable rap-scal-lion Cap’n Jack Sparrow.
Arrrghhh! Surely ye be hearin’ that some re-cur-ring characters in the first three movies be gone, but others be remaining, such as Geoffrey Rush as Cap’n Hector Barbossa, an’ there be good-as-gold-tooth new characters, such as Ian McShane as Cap’n Blackbeard an’ Penelope Cruz as Blackbeard’s daughter, Angelica, easy on the eyes and who can buckle her swash, fight with a sword, an’ do a double-cross with the best of ’em.
Arrrghhh! Now, the main story be about a race to be the first to find the fabled Fountain o’ Youth, but the beginning o’ the movie has a dramatic, comical, and prolonged sequence in London of an escape that doesn’t advance the story any, an’ seems to exist only to introduce Jack’s father, Cap’n Teague, as played once again by Keith Richards in a brief cameo.
Arrrghhh! But once we get onto the high seas, Cap’n Jack finds hi’self shanghaied on the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship of Cap’n Blackbeard, whom Jack at one time calls “Mr. Beard.”
Arrrghhh! An’ the first mate o’ the ship be Angelica herself, who has a history wi’ Cap’n Jack, an’ I don’t mean just when she was im-per-son-a-tin’ him to get a crew together.
Arrrghhh! They be searchin’ for the Fountain o’ Youth, the British be searchin’ under the command o’ ol’ Cap’n Barbossa, and the Spanish also be havin’ an army in the race.
Arrrghhh! An’ one par-ti-cu-lar aspect o’ the story be the presence of beautiful mermaids, whose tears are needed to activate the Fountain, as it were.
Arrrghhh! Pirates of the Cribbean: On Stranger Tides proves that pirates be for you and me.
As sure as my name be Dan Culberson and as sure as this be “Hotshots.”
“Barney’s Version” One Man’s Marriages
Mar 17th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“One Man’s Marriages”
BARNEY’S VERSION tells the story of Barney Panofsky and covers 36 years in the life of this hard-drinking, cigar-smoking, hockey-loving Canadian TV producer and especially of his three marriages.
Barney is played by Paul Giamatti, and we can assume from the film’s title that what we see are Barney’s version of everything, in particular one event that resulted in the death of his best friend, who played a major part in the ending of Barney’s second marriage, which got off to a very bad start on the day of the wedding.
The film begins in the present, and we see Barney make a phone call at 3:30 a.m. supposedly to talk to Miriam, who was his third wife.
However, when a man answers the phone, he tells Barney that he isn’t going to wake up Miriam in the middle of the night just to talk to Barney.
So, Barney says, “Just ask her what she wants me to do with all these nude photos I have of her.”
Now, we never see those photos, and given what we will eventually learn about Barney, they might not even exist, but either that statement or possibly just the late-night phone call itself might have caused something serious to have happened to the man who answered the telephone.
Then we learn that a retired police detective has just published a book that claims that Barney got away with murder over an incident that happened in Barney’s past.
The movie then has its first of many flashbacks, and we are back in 1974 in Rome, Italy, where we see Barney living it up with all his friends.
Barney is the only one with a real job, and when the woman he is dating gets pregnant, Barney decides to do the decent thing and marry her.
However, Clara reveals information about herself that all comes up as a surprise to Barney, and when the baby is born, Barney learns that he isn’t even the father.
Then we switch to 1975 and Montreal, where Barney is working for his uncle, who introduces Barney to a nice Jewish girl from a wealthy family, who becomes Barney’s second wife.
We also meet Barney’s father, played by Dustin Hoffman, who is a retired policeman.
BARNEY’S VERSION is 36 years of one man’s very interesting marriages.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”