Another quick dive through several films I've watched recently...
Dreamworks’ How
to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) –- clunky title aside -– smartly carries the
story of a boy warrior (Jay Berchanal) and his pet dragon, the former coming of
age and discovering a family secret even his own father did not know. If
“Dragon” 1 was a wondrous adventure for the young set, this chapter is for
pre-teens mature enough to know adventure often brings crushing hurt along with
glory. B+
Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is the classically warped film noir with detective Mike Hammer tracking
the ID of a woman he meets in the road, hours before she dies. This Hammer (Ralph
Meeker) is too GQ clean -– I get it, Hayes Code -– but he can play cruel, within
the Hayes Code. The famous leftward climactic turn is one of the great WTF movie
moments, inspiring even “Pulp
Fiction.” Quite a “Twilight Zone” trip. A-
Wrath of the Titans
(2013) is a massive
step-up from its predecessor, 2010’s “Clash of the Titans.” I gave that
miserable CGI bore a C+, and was generous to do so. Somehow it begat a sequel,
but -– shocker -– this chapter improves as Perseus (Sam Worthington) heads Down
Under to the Underworld to save dad Zeus (Liam Neeson) from death. It’s still a
CGI overload, dumb as hell (good guys fight demons with... fire?!!?), but it’s
got a more humorous wink-wink vibe, and Neeson and Ralph Fiennes (as Hades) ham it up wonderfully. B
