#32: THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER

 

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Taika Waititi and loads others, look them up. Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Directed by Taika Waititi. Budget $250 million. Running time 119 minutes. Thor created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack 'The King' Kirby.

Welcome to the 29th Marvel Cinematic Universe Cash Grab starring Thor (You're thor? I'm so thor I can't thit down) in his fourth leading role reuniting Thor with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, Taika Waititi's Krog and Natalie Portman's Doctor Jane Foster.

The film, presented as broad comedy, sees love-sick surfer-dude and hammer lover, Thor sloping round the galaxy with those fun-lovin' wackos The Guardians of the Galaxy having shits and giggles, that is before the God Butcher comes calling and starts slaughtering gods, cos you know, his name is God Butcher and besides his sword made him do it. Actually, come to think of it there's a lot of inanimate objects with anger management issues in this film, it's almost like it's not people who kill people with weapons, it's the weapons themselves that are responsible. 

ANYWAY. Thor is moping, Jane is dying of the big 'C', lesser gods are dying from having swords jammed in their gubbins, and the God Butcher's only gone and kidnapped all the kids from New Asgard to goad Thor into facing him so it's time for Thor to put the gang back together and enlist of the other gods to stop GB from doing his butchering thang. So it's a quick trip to Ominpotent City where all the gods go and everyone knows their names to get Zeus to help, but will he (geddit?). 

With wacky Waititi at the helm you can be sure of one thing, it's going to be a wacky, crazy, fun-filled ride to stupid town with everyone's favourite blond silly superhero, Thor and his funny hammer. Actually talking of the hammers, both Mjolnir and Stormbringer are hilarious in this film, crazy to say, but there are several occasions when Strombringer brings the house down (not physically) with his shenanigans.

Except for the origin story of GB, and the climatic showdown, blessedly devoid of a vortex of doom, the rest of this ridiculous silly slap-stick comedy is played for pure laughs. Wacky Waititi has learned the magic rule that if something isn't working in the script, just stick in a joke and everything's fixed!

With no real jeopardy, or drama, beyond the big 'C' and GB's tragic origin story, to bother our hero with we the audience are left with no illusions that nothing but total success is assured and that the status quo will be returned to normal at the end. 

This is the fourth superhero movie of the year so far, and I remember when you might have to wait a whole year for the next one, but since they're now coming more frequently than London buses there's no real worry if you don't like the one you're watching the next one will wash the memory of last away for you.

Whereas I thought Thor Ragnarok played the laughs too much, with this I think he's double downed on the humour. Seriously less is more and if you make something as broad comedy as this and remove all the threat you're just left with silliness and bum shots, there's no drama, even with the cancer subplot. It feels like Wacky Waititi has fallen into the usual Hollywood hype-trap and now thinks his shit don't stink and as a result there's no one around to tell him when he's wrong.

It's a lovely cinematic box of sweet yummy eye candy! The effects are great, the humour is dialled up to 11, there's enough LGBTQ+ references and considerations to keep everybody happy and un-cancelling, and Chris Hemsworth is easy on eye. Just remember it's only a movie so you know it's not going to cure cancer or anything. 

Two post credit stings if you're interested the second is at the very very end. 

Infinitely better than Morbius, not as good as Strange or Spiderman. It's a fun, silly, daft, laff-riot of a flick cos you know, it's a comic movie! 

7/10

#31: BRIAN AND CHARLES

 

Written and starring David Earl and Chris Hayward. Co-starring Louise Brealey and Jamie Michie. Directed by Jim Archer. Running time 90 minutes.

There appear to be three types of British comedy films. 
1. Films based on successful sit-coms.
2. Ealing style comedies.
3. Strange and quirky.

This falls safely into the third category, following as it does lonely eccentric failed Welsh inventor Brian (David Earl) who one day creates a robot out of a washing machine and a mannequin head, called Charles Petrescu (Chris Hayward).

The Pinocchio-like story, presented as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, another staple of British comedies, follows inventor and 'his creation' as their relationship develops, Charles growing from child-like wonder to angry and rebellious teenager in very short order, made worse as Brian begins a gentle romance with another eccentric and lonely inhabitant of the unnamed Welsh village, Hazel (Louise Brealey). As Charles develops, he yearns to explore the world beyond Brian's farm house, which brings conflict and leads to the introduction of the final player in this little saga, nasty bully Eddie (Jamie Michie).

David Earl's Brian comes across as comedian Joe Wilkingson's older more sensitive brother is the focus of this film and its his off-the-wall inventions, Pinecone Bag (a bag covered in pinecones), his man-powered flying grandfather clock, invented so that the local inhabitants of the village will always know what the time is, and his shoe trawl nets for 'you know, shoes', is hilarious. Sadly, we only see a few of these fabulous inventions before we meet Charles and we're left with many unanswered questions, which because this is presented as a documentary, need answering, like how does he finance his life, where has all that electricity gone, what happened to his family, and why is there no authority in his world?

Sadly, this is a film that feels padded, which considering is only 90 minutes long is very disappointing. Too many scenes seem to go on just that little bit too long, establishing shots linger, and questions are left hanging. Similarly, the introduction of an antagonist, bully Eddie also feels like a mistake, he is jarring and unbelievable, an odd thing to say about a film featuring a robot made out of a washing machine, who loves to eat cabbage. But Eddie is a comic book villain, big, mean and violent with an unhinged family who bully the whole village and kidnap Charles giving the film its third act dramatic drive. The film feels too empty, you want more things to happen, small incidents, more of Brian and Charles's life, more colour, more events.

I so wanted to love this film to bits, honestly you could watch Charles dancing, or exploring his world and the gentle burgeoning of love between Brian and Hazel all day and the payoff is worth the trip. I just wish it had more faith in itself and being okay with being a film where nothing happened beyond the relationships of the main characters. 

Charles is an inspired creation, one of the best robots ever to have graced the silver screen and it's an impressive feat that Chris Hayward manages to invest so much emotion into a staggering short range of movements and a single blue eye light.

All that said, this is a charming, good-natured and sweet little film that makes a nice change from the rest of this summer's haul of mega-budget blockbusters. Plus it's a truly British film, Film 4, Lotto funding and the BFI and we should support these films! 

8/10