Thor (2011)

“Thor” is a blockbuster comic book movie. I was hesitant about this film early on -- I loved the books as a child/teen, but Thor’s whole Norse god history, blue costume and red cape, the hammer, and long hair? It spelled disaster. Enter Kenneth Branagh, director of several Shakespeare adaptations and the A-grade thriller “Dead Again.” He perfectly balances this superhero fantasy: Massive special effects, action, fluffy back-stabbing drama, and prerequisite heroic self-sacrifice. The plot spans a thousand years and multiple galaxies: God of Thunder Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is banished to Earth after he starts an intergalactic war (oops) thus irking poppa Odin (Anthony Hopkins). As Thor cools his heels on Earth, brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) does very bad things back home. Hemsworth – he played poppa Kirk in 2009’s “Star Trek” – is charismatic, tough as concrete, a bit foolish, but fully heroic. A sly Natalie Portman plays a scientist who Thor happens to luck into – these things happen in comic books. “Thor” could have been a disaster. We have villains named Frost Giants for crying out loud. But Branagh treats it as vital as anything written by the Bard. Near-constant jokes and asides welcome. B

Restrepo and Wasteland (both 2010)

Documentaries are fast becoming the sole way to open the eyes of filmgoers to the world not just around us, but on the other side of the planet.

“Restrepo” perfectly fits the bill. Directed with journalistic just-the-facts terseness by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, it follows a U.S. Army combat unit in Afghanistan’s infamous Korengal Valley. With boots fresh on the ground, the unit’s most popular member is killed: Juan Restrepo, a Columbian native who made the United States his home. The surviving men dedicate themselves afterward to his honor.

Filmed on location with follow-up interviews later, the viewer is shown every aspect of these men’s existence: Days of boredom, and then sudden, constant attacks by snipers. The stress is immense: Who can you trust? What happens when you frack an enemy hideout and kill a child? This is riveting, heart-breaking and heroic material, about American men putting their lives on the line, half a world away. The interviews pack devastating emotional punch. A late-in-the-film gun battle is nearly too much to bear, and thankfully, nothing too graphic is shown. This is a must-watch for any and all adult Americans, no matter the political stripe, and lands high on my favorites films of 2010. It’s simply just unshakable. Shockingly, Hetherington was killed in combat in 2011, filming in Libya. A

There is no violence in “Wasteland,” unless you count the economic destitution that can suck the breath out of a viewer. This documentary follows modern artist Vik Muniz – he does wild stuff with a camera – as he spearheads a project involving dozens of people who (barely) make a living by scavenging recyclable material from mountains of fetid garbage at a massive landfill in Rio de Janeiro. Muniz’s idea: Form large, intricate images with found trash, and photograph the image as art. The subjects are the scavengers themselves: A young mother, an elderly man and a young father attempting to form a union for his fellow scavengers, to protect their rights and lives. The scavengers suffer from diseases and fungi, and have seen dead bodies thrown in the trash, but they are glad for any employment. (Heartbreaking.)

Muniz, a Brazilian, knows he is walking a fine line: Exploiting the workers, or lifting them up. A couple scenes (Muniz and his wife argue) feel a bit stilted (reenacted?) for the camera, and the subtitles fly by too fast, but these are small complaints against a story that, like the best of art., should be shared with all. A-

Jane Eyre (2011)

I’ve not read Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel “Jane Eyre,” nor have I ever paid attention to the dozens of film/TV versions that came before this adaptation starring Mia Wasikowska of Oscar-hopeful “The Kids Are All Right” as the titular character. Blame my lifelong manly ignorance.

The story is pure 1800s English drama: A castaway child is thrown into the meat grinder existence of a church-run boarding school-cum-orphanage, and suffers greatly. When Jane hits 18, she bolts for sunlight and a job as a head mistress at the estate of a singularly disagreeable man named Rochester (Inglourious Basterd Michael Fassbender). From there, it’s a romantic drama.

Director Cary Fukunaga creates an amazing world, going from vast open landscapes to moody interiors where you can feel the … history. (That is, the suffocating standards of Old England.) The romance might not boil to epic melodrama, but I dug Jane, a young woman who has experienced much woe but never bows or weeps like a beaten puppy.

Because it’s strongly evident on screen, I’m sure Bronte probably held a blade to the throat of her then-theocratic English government, one that upheld wealth and class above all, and used religion as a weapon of oppression in the name of greed and power. With much our of country heading fast to a right-wing church state that will boot stomp the poor, the weak, the gay, it’s timely as ever. (That Jane holds onto her faith throughout this film version is a miracle in itself, talk about self-preservation.)

I downloaded the book to my iPad, and will read it next. I wonder if Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann has ever read ... Na, not a chance. A-

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Walt Disney Studios broke ground with “The Princess and the Frog” – a fantasy tale focused on an African-American girl with the big Disney Dreams™ and the handsome guy to go with them. It felt about damn time, after how many decades. Seven? Eight? Alas, this hand-drawn animated tale never took off in theaters. Racism? No. It’s the film's plot and tone. Our not-a-princess princess (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) wants to open a restaurant of her own, and running after her dream, gets mixed up with a young prince who’s now literally a frog (that’s Bruno Campos) and a local New Orleans con man/master of dark arts (Keith David.) I’m not quite sure any child dreams of opening a restaurant, so there’s that, and some of the animation involving “The Shadow Man” is quite spooky – skulls and wicked ghost shadows, etc. Not for the babes. All that said, this is one great-looking flick with some clever side characters and surprises along the way. It’s not Disney’s best, but even off-center Disney can be wonderful entertainment. B+

Fierce Creatures (1997)

From the makers of wickedly-dark British crime satire “A Fish Called Wanda” – one of my favorites – comes “Fierce Creatures,” a surprisingly tame comedy despite the title. The entire cast of “Wanda” returns for this not-quite sequel, behind and in front of the camera. John Cleese plays the button-down ex-cop suddenly put in charge of a financially strapped zoo, purchased by a Murdoch-type corporate clown (Kevin Kline) with an obnoxious sex-obsessed son (Kline, again). As Wanda, sorry Willa, Jamie Lee Curtis is the smart, go-getter stuck in the middle, falling for Cleese, but tied to Kline’s weasel. It’s all the same, with gags repeated from not just “Wanda,” but Monty Python as well. (“It’s just a flesh wound!”) I constantly felt reminded of a far-better film I could easily re-watch, and a comedy troupe that will never be topped. Fierce? No. C+

Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

In “Mad Dog and Glory,” Robert De Niro plays a detective so meek and insecure his co-workers call him “Mad Dog” out of ironic jaunting. One night investigating a murder, Sad Puppy Wayne stumbles into a store robbery. Almost by accident he saves the life of a low-level gangster named Frank (Bill Murray). Not a little amused, Frank – who moonlights as a standup comic who might send thugs to kill you for not laughing -- thanks Wayne by loaning him a “present,” Gloria (a young Uma Thurman). Here’s where “Dog” shits. I get that this comedy gets its spark from the anti-type-casting, De Niro as a doormat, and Murray as the heavy, but did Thurman have to play a cup of sugar in high heels? Much ink was spilled about reshoots and script changes. Apparently Gloria was interesting at one point. Not here. She’s the fantasy girl of all loser-loners – she’ll fuck you blue just for being smart enough to wipe your shoes after coming home. Cruelly sexist, I hated this film with righteous, liberal, progressive anger. It is Murray who saves it from a lesser grade. C-

Source Code (2011)

Duncan Jones’ “Source Code” is a wild take on “Strangers on a Train” – except two men don’t meet and conspire, one guy goes inside another’s mind – literally -- to stop a massive Armageddon massacre on a commuter train in Chicago. Jake Gyllenhaal is the soldier who keeps finding himself, “Groundhog Day” style, placed inside the noggin of a school teacher who is now deceased, a victim of a train explosion. The dire mission given to Gyllenhaal’s soldier: Stop the bomber. His handlers are Jeffrey Wright, all wiggly, whacky mad scientist, and Vera Farmiga, all stiff as a month-old pretzel. Will Jake stop the killer? Will he fall in love with the young woman (Michelle Monahan) in the next seat? For 75 minutes of this sci-fi time-travel twister, I was stoked to find out. I loved Jones’ instant-cult-classic “Moon,” and this flick also follows a loner hero. But then just at the climax, the film doesn’t just go off the rails, it commits suicide in a jaw-dropper immolation of Hollywood hokum and nonsense. As the end credits rolled, I sat stunned wondering if Jones really intended to dis teachers so, and if he is a one-hit wonder. A huge let down. C+

Unstoppable (2010)

“Unstoppable” describes the runaway freight train, stacked with toxins and untold gallons of fuel, at the heart of this nail-bitter thriller from Tony “Top Gun” Scott. It is wildly entertaining, flat out fun, and focuses on regular guys. Men you would find at the diner at 5 a.m., wolfing down breakfast before work. The two leads are Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. For once, Scott’s roving, bouncing camera serves a purpose as the out-of-control train barrels down rail tracks, smashing through horse trailers and the egos of the know-it-all execs at the freight company. Enter Washington’s engineer, thisclose to forced retirement, and Pine, a young conductor out on his – naturally – maiden voyage. Washington reels in his charisma, yet owns the film. Pine still plays the smart ass hero card he did in 2009’s “Star Trek” reboot. Wildly smart editing, a sound design to die for, and spot-on special effects keep this film on track. I hated the constant Fox News corporate synergy, but I’d gladly take this ride again. B+

The Karate Kid (2010)

“The Karate Kid” is a remake in name and theme of the 1984 Ralph Macchio flick about a picked-upon teen who takes up karate to defend himself. Here, the sport is kung-fu, and the hero’s age is dropped, the races changed, and the location taken halfway around the world. Jaden Smith (son of Will) gets dragged to China by his mother because of her job. By the end of his first day, Trey has made a friend, met a girl, and made some serious enemies. When Trey is quite nearly killed, the local handyman saves him. That’s Jackie Chan, never-better. You know the rest… Yeah, it’s simple plotting, and many characters are flat, but there’s plenty of heart here, and lovely details. Early on, the camera pans up a corner wall in Trey’s Detroit bedroom. Marked on the drywall are highlights of his young life: Kindergarten, lost teeth, his daddy dying, and he marks off – with a pencil – “Moved to China.” Smith – his eyes always testing, watching, studying, absorbing – will be a bigger star than his father. At the climax, I became as jolted at 37 as I did at 10 back in 1984. B+

Madea’s Family Reunion (2006)

Having finally watched Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Family Reunion,” I’m left uncomfortably squirmy, as if I’ve read a popular novel, and just can’t grasp it. Correction: I grasp it alright, and I just want to forget it.

“Madea” follows a large African-American family from Atlanta, each person undergoing a challenge of some sort. I was fully game. But Perry – writer, director, producer and multi-star – has left me stone cold. He jumps from a scene where a rich banker (Blair Underwood) beats the shit out of his fiancée (Rochelle Ayets) to a hap-hap-happy scene with Perry himself in cheap granny drag, hamming it up as the matriarch Madea. It’s an ugly, mocking performance of women, and I could barely stomach this toxic mix of drama and comedy – I take the beating of women a bit more serious, I suppose. Perry? Hell if I know.

Perry then proceeds to fumble his way to a condescending grade-school church sermon, and then lands at a gaudy wedding that makes “The Phantom of the Opera” seem mundane. The acting is good, I adore Lynn Whitfield when she’s wicked, and Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou are glorious angels on Earth. But, thanks, I’ll skip the next cook out with Madea. C-

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

I deeply love the “Wallace & Gromit” half-hour shorts. The claymation gems star an oblivious English inventor (Wallace, voiced by Peter Sallis) and his faithful dog (Gromit, who does not speak). In the full-length “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” our heroes are hired protectors of vegetable gardens, grabbing up thieving bunnies and … keeping them safe. It’s best not to explain too much, but soon a giant rabbit – taller than any man – is grabbing up cabbages, carrots and zucchini. The plot and numerous puns are preschool simple. We get zero cynicism. It features dozens of winks at monster classics such as “The Wolfman.” This is just a film to look at and just love, watching for trademark thumbprints, the sign of joy, art and storytelling -- all from master/co-director Nick Park. Big name talents join the fun, with Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes on voice duty. A

Little Fockers (2010)

I cannot bear to repeat the title. Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro are back in a third “Meet the Parents,” a sequel to a sequel no one asked for, and from the looks on the casts' bored faces, no one wanted to star in. Stiller again is the idiot man-child under the thumb of daddy-in-law De Niro. Fifteen minutes in, we witness De Niro's soul die when he chokes on the pun “Godfocker,” and -- Ah, you know? I cannot do this. Fock this movie, its cast and the suggestion of a fourth focking flick. F

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

In the opening seconds of Sonny Wortzik’s daring daylight robbery of a Brooklyn bank, it all goes wrong. Sonny – played by Al Pacino, when his legend was unbeatable – can’t even get his rifle out of a flower box correctly. He fumbles. Then one of his two accomplices flees, and then Sonny finds out the truck already picked up the money. Dude is left looking at less than $1,500. This is the start of Sidney Lumet’s classic drama-thriller “Dog Day Afternoon,” a film about a damned lost soul, so desperate to change, for a chance, that he destroys the thin string he hangs by. Based on an incredible true story, “Dog” is Pacino’s acting showcase -- a maladjusted Vietnam vet in a sexual pickle too riotous to explain. Just watch. His Sonny seems closer to real criminals, as we call them, than 99 percent of the flicks out there. (I covered enough crime at newspapers to know.) Lumet’s clockwork precision plays well, the movie seems to spin out in real time, in a throbbing, sweating, raging New York City long gone. John Cazale plays Sonny’s hard-case accomplice, an unhinged guy not afraid to kill or be killed. One of the best films from the 1970s. A+

The Wicker Man (1973 and 2006)

A police officer arrives at a remote island, searching for a missing tween girl and finds himself a bit lost and well out-numbered amongst pagan followers of an isolated, almost deranged cult. Nothing goes well, at least for the noble policeman.

The 1973 original is a true cult film – insanely weird and scratchy, especially during a musical scene where actress Britt Ekland sings a seductive tune while throwing herself against walls of a bedroom, whilst naked, as the chaste, self-proclaimed Christian police officer Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) practically flagellates himself in the next room. Seriously demented stuff. Howie huffs and puffs, and tears the small Scottish isle apart, looking for the lost girl, and screaming phlegm at the sexually provocative, Earth-worshipping cultists, saving his deepest ire for the group’s kilt-wearing leader, played by Christopher Lee. As Howie digs into his investigation, he digs his own grave: The man never seems to recognize that he essentially is alone on the island. With no help. The ending is horrific, ironic and strangely – against the grain of the rest of the movie – heroic. It’s a shame this “Wicker Man” seems to have been slashed in the editing room, as we know nothing about Howie’s mainland life. Director Robin Hardy has made a doozey of a film, for sure, where even the cherub-faced grade school girls and smiling old ladies can’t be trusted. A wonderfully offensive trip of a film. A-

What can we say about the remake? It stars Nicolas Cage as the policeman, this time on a hunt for the missing daughter of his ex-fiancée (Kate Beahan) who returned to the cultish island where she was born. This is filmmaking made on a dare: How dumb can we go? The answer is deep. Let’s skip over how inept Cage’s cop is -- the man seems not to know where babies come from -- and how ineptly Cage plays him. No, the real brain killer here is how director Neil Labute (“In the Company of Men”) miraculously makes a cinematic island of all-powerful women and enslaved, tongue-less men a place of utter sexless boredom. How hard does one work to pull off such a feat of … limp drama? As well, religion isn't even mentioned here. So no sex, no teeth. Zero reason to exist. If you’ve never seen Cage running around in a bear suit sucker-punching women in the face, then … count yourself lucky. Ellen Burstn's smirk is nice to watch. D-

Rocky IV (1985)

I’m biased on any “Rocky” film. Back in Philly during the 1980s, when a “Rocky” movie was released, work, school, transportation, and pretzel-eating stopped. It was our civic duty in the City of Brotherly Love to watch the latest pounding and last-minute triumph of Rocky Balboa, patron saint of boxing, American flag boxers and Sylvester Stallone’s enduring career. Here, Rocky fights Russian behemoth Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) who towers over our hero like a father to his toddler son. There is death (so long Apollo), there is Survivor (“Eye of the Tiger” never gets old) and training montages galore, before the grand finale. Stallone, also writing and directing, serves up the best storyline since the First Chapter, I mean the 1976 and Genesis, and a kick-ass rock-hard Cold War flick that seems genius now. Lundgren by sheer force takes the film, starting when he throws Carl Weathers across the ring as if he were a grocery sack. A true jaw-dropper scene even now. The fight scenes are bloody fantastic. Stallone was a god of my youth, I cannot criticize him. Everyone together: “Aaaddrriaaan!” A-

Skyline (2010)

In the event of a massive alien invasion resulting in millions of deaths and the devastation of your entire city, including 99.9 percent of your best pals, please do not take the elevator. Use the stairs. That’s one of many lessons you can take away from “Skyline,” a low-budget sci-fi thriller that plays like a bad Saturday Night Sci-Fi (now Sy-Fy) Channel movie that wormed its way into theaters. The special effects are gee-whiz neat, naturally. The directors/co-writers are SFX champs and brothers Greg and Colin Strause. They did CGI work on such flicks as “300” and “Titanic,” according to IMDB. But storytellers they are not. As each too hot gal and guy gets their brain sucked out – yes, the aliens are after human brains! –“Skyline” gets more outrageously silly. By the end, I was laughing at myself, watching my brain leak out. C-

Yogi Bear (2010)

Confession: I had a Yogi Bear lunchbox as a child. I loved that tie-wearing bear and his little depressed pal, Boo-Boo. So I’m pleased to say the live-action/CGI hybrid that is the “Yogi Bear” movie is better than any most recent talking cartoon animal movie has a right to be. Of course, these are low standards. “Marmaduke” hurt. I hated “Garfield.” This is cornball fun. Here, pic-a-nic basket thieving Yogi and Boo-Boo must help Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh in the flesh) save Jellystone Park from a self-serving mayor (Ayn Rand-follower perhaps?) with his eyes on higher office. The plot is lame. The CGI solid. Dan Aykroyd (Yogi) and Justin Timberlake (Boo-Boo) nail the characters’ voices. Timberlake has great one liners on the First Grade Scale of Humor. The jokes are scatological, but most are of the pie-in-the-face variety. Not bad. C+