Getting ready for Thor's Day

I’ve been thinking about this summer’s big comic book movies, and Thor is far and away the one I’m looking forward to the most.

Be it the predicted tease introduction of Hawkeye, Anthony Hopkins thesping it up as Odin or the needlessly controversial appearance of Idris Elba (its 2011, surely we’ve moved beyond caring about the colour of a character’s skin?), there’s lots to look forward to. Speaking of Idris Elba, I can’t defend him enough. He was the biggest revelation in the wholly amazing “The Wire” and has recently been excellent flexing his deadpan chops in The US Office.

So for me, bring on next week.

I’ll happily watch the other three, with Captain America being the neat companion film to Thor to set up Joss Whedon’s 2012 “Avengers” movie, which I could not possibly be more excited about. Especially now it’s got How I met Your Mother’s Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill – really glad to see they’re bringing in another strong female character. Plus I do wonder if Alyson Hannigan introduced her and Joss, as she seems to be the missing link in their six-degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

Captain America’s also got some excellent looking CGI (skinny Chris Evans looks great on the trailer) and Hugo Weaving is always a top choice for a bad guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the film ends with Captain America saving the day but in the process falling to his “death” in the frozen artic, only for the post credit sequence to be Samuel L Jackson / Robert Downey thawing him out in the present day.

X-Men: First Class is a bit of a weird one for me, as I love the X-men comics, but have yet to see a film that has properly reached it’s full potential. It’s either too much about Wolverine, or there’s too many needless characters running around (and not enough Gambit). I’m not convinced about James McAvoy as Xavier either, but am happy to be proven wrong. Michael Fassbender should be a good Magneto, and January Jones is inspired casting as Emma Frost. If any actress screamed “cold beauty” it’s her. And it’s always nice to see Kevin Bacon again.

Finally we’ve got Green Lantern, which I’m most dubious about. Partly because of the ropey trailer and partly because of the needless “complete CGI” effect when Ryan Reynolds becomes Green Lantern. I get that they want him to appear fantastical, but surely he could just have a costume! I just think it seems a bit pointless, which is exasperating as the character / Green Lantern corps have great potential for future films, and I think DC will probably red light / green light Wonder Woman and The Flash based on it’s success. And that’s a shame, as DC have got some great heroes that are worthy of their own franchises, and they need to start doing something other than Batman and Superman reboots if they’re going to keep up with Marvel, who are steaming ahead with three blockbuster films a year at the moment.

But that’s all speculation at the moment. We’ll see what Thor is like and go from there. And there’s less than a week to go until that.

Ultimately I wonder if I’ve been over-thinking all this? I say thee nay...

From Eighties With Love

Last night I watched "From Paris with love", which for my sins I really enjoyed. I think that this was largely due to my fondness for ‘stupid action’ movies, of the ilk that they rarely seem to make any more.

Everybody wants to see the gritty realism of Bourne or Daniel Craig era James Bond, but being a child of the eighties I miss the Arnie/Sly/Bruce school of action. Give me "Tango and Cash" or "Red Heat" any day.

Perhaps this is why I was so vehemently defending "Welcome to the Jungle" at work recently. I’m not saying it’s "Citizen Kane" but I do think it’s one of the best action comedies produced in the last decade. 2010, saw some excellent ones, see: "The A-Team", "The Losers" and "The Expendables", but before that, there was a bit of a dry spell.

"Welcome to the Jungle" (or "The Rundown" in the US), embodies everything I loved about the genre: Self-concerned muscle-bound hero who gradually realises he needs to look out for others, annoying sidekick solely there for comic relief, panto bad guy in the form of the impeccable Christopher Walken and the entertaining sub-plot of The Rock refusing to use guns.. Throw in a female lead that actually has some substance and you’ve got all the ingredients of a film I love. Plus bonus points for this being The Rock’s breakthrough film, including the memorable ‘passing the torch scene’ between him and Arnie.

Like I say, I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for an eighties action comedy fan like me, it does everything right.

The original is not still the best

With the sheer volume of sequels, prequels, remakes and adaptations that seem to be hitting our screens lately, there doesn’t seem to be much room in Hollywood for original ideas. With the notable exception of “Inception”, it’s difficult to think of a mainstream “big” movie that came out last year that wasn’t a sequel, an adaptation or based on factual historical events.

But is it due to a stunning lack of original thought in Hollywood, or is it just because an adaptation or sequel already has a built in audience so studios see it as less risky?

It’s not to say that these types of films can’t be excellent. Discounting “The King’s Speech” (as it was based on actual historical events), look at some of this year’s biggest films: “The Social Network” (based on a book), “Toy Story 3” (a sequel, or threequel if you’re an idiot) and “True Grit” (based on a film or a book depending on who you ask). Some of my personal favourites from last year included “Shutter Island” (based on a book), “Scott Pilgrim vs the World” (based on a comic) and the excellent “Kick Ass” (based on a comic).

This year we’ve got a whole heap of unnecessary sequels – “Fast and Furious 5” (or “Fast Five” if you think it’s cooler), “Scream 4” and “The 5nal Destination” (yes, that’s right, they’ve put a five at the front, how clever. Just be glad they didn’t do that with the last one, or it would have attracted a whole different audience…think about it). There’s also four big comic book movies (which is great for a geek like me), in the form of “The Green Lantern”, “Thor”, “X-men: First Class” and “Captain America”. But where’s the next big original idea?

I think that it’s because of this market place that’s so saturated with recycled ideas, that when something as original as “Inception” comes along it really stands out. We’ve reached the point where a series as popular as the hateful Twilight saga or the outstanding Millennium trilogy comes along, studios pounce on the idea of adapting them for the screen. The Millennium trilogy has been made in it’s original language as well as the coming US remake. Studios are so keen to cash in on the ongoing success of the Harry Potter franchise that they’ll jump on anything remotely resembling family friendly book to film adaptations. See the woeful “The Golden Compass”, “Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief” and “I am Number Four” (which the studio gobbled up on the promise of a six-book series, even though only one has been written).

It’s a sad state of affairs, because I truly believe it stifles the creativity of filmmakers. Surely the film going public is smart enough not to discount a film from the start just because they haven’t read the book/seen the first one? The only good thing (arguably) that comes out of this onslaught of adaptations is that it puts books in front of people who wouldn’t normally read them.

I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but the best film I saw at the cinema last year was “Back to the Future” on it’s 25^th anniversary release. Obviously I’m not entirely subjective as that was a childhood favourite, but they just don’t seem to make them like that anymore, and I think the fact studios are so hesitant to produce original films in more than partly to blame.

You never know, perhaps in 25 years, I’ll watch the re-release of “Fast and Furious 5” and I’ll complain that they ‘don’t make them like that anymore’.

But I doubt it.