Marvel Catch-Up: Thor 4; I Am Groot; She-Hulk

Here's some quick takes on recent Marvel Cinematic Universe content:

Thor: Love and Thunder co-written and directed by Taika Waititi

Thor (Christ Hemsworth) realizes there's a certain emptiness in his life...he has no one to love.  Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) gives Thor some advise as Thor leaves the Guardians of the Galaxy to set out on his own. A new threat arises, Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a disgruntled believer whose personal god failed to have any sympathy for Gorr or his daughter who died on the way to get help from that god. Gorr winds up with the Necrosword which he uses to kill his god. Then he travels through the Shadow Realm from world to world, killing their local gods. When he comes to Earth, he kidnaps the children of New Asgard, hoping to draw Thor into the Shadow Realm for a death match. Thor enlists Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (voiced by Taika Waititi), and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who is now wielding a restored Mjolnir and going by the moniker "The Mighty Thor." Jane has stage 4 cancer. Being in the Thor-state keeps her healthy and active. In the long term, it's letting the cancer get worse. Thor is concerned for her even though they broke up a while back. They team up for the children, with a stop to recruit other gods like Zeus (Russell Crowe). 

The story is okay and the visuals are amazing but the overall film has a lot of flaws. Half the time Korg is funny, half the time I find him annoying, which is too high a percentage for a main character. Korg does a lot of narrating during the film, violating the "show don't tell" rule by telling as the filmmakers are showing. More annoying (but happily minor characters) are the shrieking goats Thor is given when he haphazardly saves a planet. The shrieks are clearly meant to be funny but the joke wears quickly. Also annoying (but a minor point) is Russell Crowe's accent--is he trying for a Greek accent? Is he drawing on the skills he used in Robin Hood? Crowe seems to be just taking the paycheck. Hemsworth and Portman still only have minimal chemistry together. It's a lot easier to see why they broke up than why they would get back together. Portman gives the best performance in the film, vacillating between the cancer-striken Jane and the fun-loving Mighty Thor. Bale also does a good job but his character is underwritten. And there's the dopey pseudo-feminism of calling Valkyrie "King" of New Asgard and Jane turning into Thor just by wielding the hammer (why didn't that happen when Captain America held the hammer? Or Hela?).

Not recommended--we're back in Thor: The Dark World territory.

I Am Groot co-written and directed by Kristen Lepore

Channeling the magic of Pixar shorts, this series of five short animated episodes shows various adventures had by Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Deisel). They are charming little vignettes, like Groot learning to walk or Groot discover a tiny civilization in a footprint. He also fights a gelatinous clone of himself, mostly through a dance-off. These episodes pack a lot of fun in two minutes (the end credits for each one is longer than the content) and the whole series can be "binged" in less than fifteen minutes.

Highly recommended for some fun.

She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law created for television by Jessica Gao

Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) is out for a ride with her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) when they are run off the road by a space ship. In the accident, they both receive injuries and she gets some of his blood in her wound. She then gets the Hulk powers. Bruce takes her to a secluded tropical location where he works with her to control the powers and see their extent. She returns to her regular life as a lawyer in Los Angeles, though her life is no longer regular at all. She's hired by a top-level law firm that wants to open a super-human law division with She-Hulk as the main attorney. Jennifer would rather just be Jennifer, but the pay and prestige are too tempting. She also tries to maintain a regular life, working on her dating/social life and dealing with her family who are a lot more blue collar than she is.

The show is mis-titled. It should be called "The Comic Mis-Adventures of She-Hulk." Jennifer has a hard time dealing with how other people (her family, her colleagues, random people on the street and on the internet) deal with her. Some people are only interested in her She-Hulk persona but Jennifer still has full control of her intellect and actions. She's the same person, just in a large, muscled, green body. The show runs through a few legal situations (e.g., she represents Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) who is being paroled from his crimes as The Abomination) but a lot of the episodes are more like standard sitcom fodder. She goes to a wedding; she sets up a dating profile and has to go through a string of losers; she needs to find a tailor who can make clothes for both of her body types. The episodes are also mostly inconsequential and played for laughs. She breaks the fourth wall regularly (which the character did in the comic), again for comic effect. She gets into silly situations but by the end of every episode, her situation resets. The show is also stuffed with cameos of other characters, like Hulk, Abomination, Wong (Benedict Wong), and Daredevil (Charlie Cox). Her main villain, Titania (Jameela Jamil), has super-strength but mostly causes annoyance as an "influencer," using public opinion, the internet, and cheap marketing to cause Jennifer problems. 

Mildly recommended--the show is very entertaining but also very slight.

Movie Review: Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Jojo Rabbit (2019) written and directed by Taika Waititi

Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is a ten-year old boy in Nazi Germany. He wants to fit in and be cool, so he's part of the Hitler Youth and even has Hitler (Taika Waititi) as an imaginary friend. He's camping outdoors with the Hitler Youth when he gets the "Rabbit" moniker. To prove their cruelty and ruthlessness, the camp leaders want the boys to break the neck of a rabbit. Jojo is the first one selected to do it, but he just can't bring himself to kill an innocent bunny. The boys then mock him for his cowardice. Imaginary Hitler comes to comfort the boy. Later, trying to show how brave he is, he throws a live hand grenade which bounce off a tree and blows up right next to him. He's out of contention as a future soldier with his scarred face and barely functioning leg. He still volunteers at the Hitler Youth headquarters in town. His mom (Scarlett Johannson) tries to cheer him up whenever she can. She puts up with his Nazi nonsense and tries in very gentle and subtle ways to show him what is really going on. Those methods are too gentle and subtle for a ten-year old. Jojo's dad is off in Italy, presumably fighting for the Reich though a lot of mixed rumors and opinions are given--Did he die? Is he a deserter? Is he still fighting? Most of those opinion come from his fellow ten-year olds, so they are hardly reliable.

Things change in a big way when Jojo discovers a girl hiding in his deceased sister's room. The girl is a Jew named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie). Jojo's first instinct is to report her but she points out that his mom will be in big trouble for hiding a Jew. Also she steals Jojo's Hitler Youth knife and threatens to cut his head off. So he has a very uneasy relationship with her as he learns more about her and he hides his new knowledge from his mother, who turns out to be more active than just hiding one Jew in her spare room.

The movie starts as a broad satire of Nazi culture and seems like it's just going to be a fun time mocking the stupidity of the Third Reich. Some subtle signs indicate that more is going on and about half-way through the story takes a very rough turn into the reality. It's late in the war and the Nazis are in denial about losing. Jojo's eyes start to open about what's going on and what's really important. By the end, there's more tension than comedy but the film earns the switch with its sincerity. 

A lot of the characters also follow the comic-to-serious arc of the film. Jojo's mom is whimsical and endearing but has a lot more going on underneath. Johannson gives a great performance. Sam Rockwell is also very good as the one-eyed leader of the town's Hitler Youth. His character starts as seeming comic relief--a jaded officer who still thinks he can fight but isn't allowed to. By the end of the film, he's shown more depth and understanding. Jojo himself starts off as a somewhat idiotic kid who is forced to mature through circumstances. The weakest performance is Waititi's imaginary Hitler, who is understandably cartoonish but his accent wavers between German and New Zealand in a very distracting way. As an imaginary friend, he has no character arc.

I'm tempted to compare this to Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, which also has a big switch of tone halfway through. Benigni's film is two separable but connected stories (the romantic comedy and the desperate attempt to survive the concentration camp) set before and during World War II. Jojo Rabbit is one continuous story that changes in tone. Both films successfully navigate the change and are very moving portrayals. Both movies are more honest about the horrors than they seem from their trailers.

Highly recommended--this would make a great double-bill with Life is Beautiful. If you enjoyed that, you'll enjoy this film.

Movie Review: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) directed by Taika Waititi

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is desparate enough to prevent Ragnarok (the Asgardian apocalypse) that he'll do just about anything. He fights fire demons, threatens to behead his brother, and tries to save his father Odin from shuffling off his apparently mortal coil. His evil, imprisoned sister Hela (Cate Blanchett), goddess of death, is released and causes pandemonium on the planet Asgard. Thor gets tossed off the Bifrost (the bridge between Earth and Asgard) and falls to a dump of a planet where unloved things go to be exploited. He's reunited with more than the Hulk as he schemes his return to Asgard and save the day. Because that's what heroes do.

This movie is a classic case of throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. The story ranges all over Asgard and a bit of the universe. The movie is dripping with CGI spectacle. Jokes are ubiquitous and aimed at practically everyone. Visual references and gags aren't limited to the Marvel Cinematic Universe--everything from Willy Wonka to Lord of the Rings gets a nod, homage, or rip-off. The frivolity is only occasionally tempered by dramatic moments, though many of those can't keep a straight face for very long. The tone is very frivolous, almost to a fault. The actors do a great job and keep the movie from becoming too cartoonish. This is not great storytelling but entertainment for entertainment's sake.

Recommended, though it is very light-weight and visually overblown. This movie is possibly the exact opposite of the dreary and self-important DC superhero movies coming out in the past few years.

Movie Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) written and directed by Taika Waititi

Foster child Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) has come to his last opportunity to live in a home--the New Zealand bush farm of Hec (Sam Neil) and Bella (Rima Te Wiata). Bella is very enthusiastic; Hec is there. Ricky is unsure but he's been through a lot of homes and his caseworker is glad to be rid of him. She's supposed to inspect the home to make sure it's appropriate. She gives a quick glance and approves it. She jokingly tells Bella that there are no returns. Ricky moves in and awkwardly gets to know and like his foster parents. Things don't go perfectly smoothly, though, leading to a long trek through the bush. I don't want to give away too much of the plot because the discovery of what's going on and what's happening next is quite delightful.

The film is a warm-hearted and enjoyable comedy. The cast does a great job and the script is smart enough to pull some surprises. Some of the twists and bits are quirky in the best possible way. The New Zealand countryside is also quite beautiful and lovingly photographed.

Highly recommended!

Movie Review: What We Do in the Shadows (2015)

What We Do in the Shadows (2015) written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi

Mockumentaries have been an extremely popular genre since the cult success of This is Spinal Tap. What We Do in the Shadows is a faux documentary following four Wellington, New Zealand, flatmates who are vampires. They have typical roommate problems: Deacon doesn't do the dishes, Vladislav made a mess of Viago's antique couch when he killed a victim, etc. They have trouble going out at night too: their various fashion senses haven't kept up with the times (they range from 150 to 900 years old), they can't even check themselves in the mirror, they can't get in anywhere unless they are specifically invited (makes it hard to go clubbing, or even to fast food joints). They try to help each other out by giving fashion feedback or having each other's backs when they run into a pack of werewolves. The vampires have the interesting, quirky challenges and character traits that documentary film makers love to chronicle. The show builds up to them attending the annual Wellington Unholy Masquerade (a gathering of vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc.).

The movie does a great job mocking vampire mythology, housemate problems, and documentary conventions.  Best of all, the characters come off as real people with likable and unlikable qualities. They have triumphs, set-backs, and tragedies. All are played with good humor. The movie moves quickly too (it's only 85 minutes long) so things stay fresh and fun.

It's a delightful, light comedy about vampires living in and dealing with modern day problems and people.

I heard about this movie at B-Movie Catechism which has yet to steer me wrong (I wouldn't have seen Ex Machina or It Follows with his recommendation-I-'m on the hunt for Bone Tomahawk now).