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Weekend Movie Forecast: Thor Vs. The People Vs. George Lucas

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With this weekend's release of Thor, that other patron saint of carpenters, the gates of the summer movie season hell have officially swung open. Thor is the latest humongoid Marvel superhero film, an hors d'oeuvres for next summers blockbuster The Avengers movie; it's also the first of several other comic book movies (X-Men: First Class, Captain America, Green Lantern) that are sure to dominate the box office. But does Thor the movie have as much magic as the Norse God's special hammer, Mjolnir? Thor is already seemingly a cut above the average popcorn flick, since it's directed by Shakespearean enthusiast Kenneth Branagh, and includes Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman. The movie tells the origin story of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the prince of Asgard and God of thunder, who is thrown out of his world by his father Odin (Hopkins) and sent to Earth as a punishment, wherein hijinks, love stories, and epic battles of course ensue. If you're a fan of superhero movies, or just want something fun and huge in 3-D to see on the screen, you really can't go wrong here. But the movie, which has a 58 cumulative score <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/movie/thor/critic-reviews">on metacritic</a>, has already raised the ire of several critics. Dana Stevens of Slate <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2293125/">slammed it</a>: "I experienced three brief bursts of pleasure during Thor...The screen time taken up by these three surprises must have totaled about six seconds. All the rest of Thor's 113 minutes felt so synthetic and overfamiliar that those brief flashes of spontaneity stood out like Morse code messages from another, better movie." Keith Phipps of The AV Club was <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/thor,55632/">more forgiving</a> and praised Hemsworth: "Hemsworth plays Thor as an uncomplicated man of action with the moral clarity and love of derring-do of a â40s swashbuckler and the toned physique of a 21st-century underwear model. Heâs also the embodiment of the big, loud, relentlessly entertaining film around him, the sort that should remind moviegoers why they used to get so excited about comic-book movies in the first place." But AO Scott, who was "dazed" after his viewing, gets the <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/movies/thor-with-chris-hemsworth-review.html?ref=movies">KO punch in</a>: "The thing is, though, that the kind-of-O.K. aspects of Thor have the effect of making it more depressing, rather than less. The movie cannot be an interesting, appalling train wreck because it lacks the spoiled grandeur of ambition gone off the rails...On the contrary, the absolute and unbroken mediocrity of Thor is evidence of its success. This movie is not distinctively bad, it is axiomatically bad."

Gothamist

It's possible that no other cinematic event has made possible the immense devotion and fanaticism that the Stars Wars trilogy, even thirty-four years after its inception, has been capable of inspiring. Sure, we have James Bond, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones, but the legacy of this epic space opera has woven its way into America's cultural history in fascinating, baffling ways. This much is revealed in Alexandre O. Phillippe's film The People vs. George Lucas, released in theaters this weekend. The movie grapples with the question of whether or not George Lucas should have tampered with the franchise by updating the originals, and then adding less-than-mindblowing prequels. Marshall Fine of The Huffington Post writes, "Fast, witty and imaginative, The People vs. George Lucas is not for the uninitiated. On the other hand, who among us hasn't seen these films and had opinions about themâeven if those opinions don't rise to the life-and-death level to which some of these geeks take it?"

Gothamist

Jessica Alba stars as Mona Gray, a 20 something-year-old who becomes obsessive compulsive with numbers as a child as a way to bring order to the world after her father's mental health declines beyond her control. The movie focuses on the older Mona, who is kicked out of her parent's house and into a job as an elementary school math teacher, eventually helping her students solve their life crises with numbers much like she did in her youth. In the midst of this story is a budding romance between Mona and science teacher Ben Smith (Chris Messina), showcasing Mona's resistance into losing herself in the throws of amour. One critic finds the movie <a href="http://www.ology.com/movie-reviews/invisible-sign">disturbing</a> and picks at the most unreal aspects of the movie. "What elementary school hires a teacher without an interview, without any background check? Why would they keep employed a science teacher who encourages his students to pretend they have fatal diseases in the name of his 'health unit'? It is never addressed how Mona's character has an intense mental disease, and the problem is fixed easily by the schmultzy ending." And the New York Times <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/movies/an-invisible-sign-from-marilyn-agrelo-review.html">finds</a> similar problems, including Alba's acting skills: "a smorgasbord of animation, twee narration and juvenile relationship metaphors, 'An Invisible Sign' dances as fast as it can to distract us from Ms. Albaâs inability to deliver a line."

Gothamist

Jumping the Broom, which takes its title from the African-American wedding tradition, features the culture clash with a woman (Paula Patton) and her rich family, headed by a matriarch played by Angela Bassett, gathers with her fiance (Laz Alonso) and much less privileged family, headed by a matriarch played by Loretta Devine. Entertainment Weekly's <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20486941,00.html">Owen Gleiberman thinks</a>, "Yes, there really is a way to make a boisterous, dramatic comedy about African-American life better than Tyler Perry does," but the <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2011/05/06/broom_gently_brushes_race_issues/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Movie+news&_r=true">Boston Globe's Wesley Morris complains</a>, "Everyone here is trapped in the movieâs limited ideas of blackness.

Gothamist

The "historical epic" <a href="http://dragonsresources.com/">There Be Dragons</a> takes place during the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War, when two young men who were childhood friends in pre-war Spain find themselves on opposite sides as war erupts. Choosing peace, Josemaria becomes a priest and struggles to spread reconciliation by founding the movement Opus Dei. Directed by two-time Oscar-nominated British writer-director Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields and The Mission), the movie is in limited release but has opened to mixed reviews. "There Be Dragons is like fine wine, served in a Big Gulp cup," <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/there-be-dragons,1180514/critic-review.html#reviewNum1">writes Michael O'Sullivan</a> at the Washington Post. "A little is very nice. A lot is way too much. How big is big? The movie, which clocks in at two hours and two minutes, is big enough for not one but two aphoristic definitions of life. On the one hand, weâre told, early on and vaguely Forrest Gump-like, life is like the humble cocoa bean: With patience, skill, hard work and love, one can 'unleash the divine flavors hidden within.' On the other hand, as someone else tells us, near the end, life is also like a thread in an embroidery: 'Wound together in place and time, difficult to see the pattern until itâs all finished â if it ever is finished.' "

Gothamist

The pillowy-lipped Kat Dennings is the moody heroine in Daydream Nation, about a 17-year-old girl who moves to a new town with her widowed father and subsequently eviscerates the sheep at school, seduces her teacher, and dates an age-appropriate boy named Thurston (yes). And there's a serial killer on the loose.The NY Times' <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/movies/daydream-nation-with-kat-dennings-review.html">Stephen Holden enthuses</a>, "'Daydream Nation' rolls elements of 'Juno,' 'American Beauty,' 'Donnie Darko' and 'Twin Peaks' into a potent blunt. When inhaled, it offers a harsh satirical whiff of the end of the world as imagined by a precocious teenage upstart with a bad attitude." However, in Time Out, <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1302023/daydream-nation">Nick Schager writes</a>, "Worse than those woe-is-teendom symbolic dangers, however, is the raft of romanticized affectations (characters staring mournfully into the distance, cutesy chapter-title cards, quirky fantasy sequences about churning butter and chopping wood) that truly push these proceedings to the brink of apocalyptic awfulness. Sonic Youth should sue."

Gothamist

This weekend's Pick-Me-Up award absolutely does not go to Caterpillar, a Japanese film that tells the story of a horrifically maimed soldier who, upon returning home from the Sino-Japanese War (in which he was hailed a hero), has been reduced to a deaf-mute torso. The film traces the brutal reality of postwar life through the lens of a marriage between an abusive, embittered husband and his abused, devastated wife. It opens tonight, and will be showing at the IFC until May 12th. Andrew O'Heir at Salon offers a positive review, writing, "Caterpillar is a challenging viewing experience, and defiantly not for everyone. But it exemplifies Philip Roth's dictum that an artist's principal task is to attack whatever is held sacred in his own society, and as an exploration of the shadowy boundaries between eroticism and violence, between individual insanity and collective madness, it belongs on the shelf alongside Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses (which Wakamatsu produced), Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter and AgustÃ Villaronga's In a Glass Cage."

Gothamist

It's the story of girl is girl's best friend but then falls in love with best friend's fiance. Based on the bestselling book by Emily Giffin, Something Borrowed feature a drab (but still cute) responsible lawyer named Rachel, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, and her more glamorous and outgoing best friend Darcy (Kate Hudson). Things get wacky and complicated when Rachel sleeps with Darcy's fiance Dex (Colin Egglefield)âbut you're supposed to root for Rachel because she's patient and puts up with Darcy's crap, plus she met Dex firstâespecially as Rachel has to plan Darcy and Dex's wedding.Giffin's book is actually a more thoughtful entry in the chick lit oeuvre, but the movie falls very flat with reviewers. Movieline's <a href="http://www.movieline.com/2011/05/review-something-borrowed.php">Stephanie Zacharek writes</a>, "Masochism, bitchiness, adorable nose-crinkling and speeches along the lines of âI need to be who I amâ abound in Something Borrowed," while <a href="http://www.emanuellevy.com/review/something-borrowed/">Emanuel Levy says</a>, "Goodwin and Egglesfield are cute but not that interesting to watch, especially not for a couple hours. Neither has the charisma or chops to carry a rom comâand when it comes down it, what is it but charisma, chops, and a decent script that can make a rom com sing? To balance out the unlikable leads, we have Hudson in an extremely unlikable supporting role. Who would want to be with any of these three losers, even for a couple hours?"

Gothamist

In the world of competitive gaming documentaries there is Word Wars about Scrabble, Wordplay about crossword puzzles, and now there is Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story. The film chronicles the 2009 Monopoly World Championships in Las Vegas, the history of the game, and most enjoyablyâ the eccentric fanatics that follow the championships around like the Grateful Dead, paying homage to the world's most popular, capitalist-loving board game by donning tattoos, building replicas of the game, and remodeling their homes to the game's likeness. Profiling the fans proves to be the most interesting aspect of the movie, but unlike The King of Kong in which the documentary's suspense escalates as two rival Donkey Kong record holders prepare to meet and face-off, the actual championship in Boardwalk is where the movie sets into a lull. The New York Times<a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/movies/crazy-for-thimbles.html?ref=todayspaper"> writes</a>, "Monopoly, slow-moving and dependent largely on chance, is no spectator sport." But most reviews are lukewarm if not positive, as director Kevin Tostado creates an interplay with the game's players using the theme of unbridled capitalism to defeat one's opponents. Chuck Bowen <a href="http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/under-the-boardwalk-the-monopoly-story/5494">writes that</a> Tostado "is clearly hip to this irony, just as he clearly understands that it says something amusing about the human race that a game allowing you to pretend to destroy your friends and family's livelihood is easily the most popular game of all time." It may seem that capitalism in the gaming form is much more palatable to movie-goers than the other optionâin Atlas Shrugged.

Gothamist

Little is left to the imagination in the title of Hobo with a Shotgun, in which a vigilante homeless man is pushed over the edge after witnessing the horrors and corruption of urban life around him. Originally premiering as a fake trailer that ran between the double feature that is 2007's Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's modern ode to the exploitation movie genre, Hobo with a Shotgun mixes the misguided crazy savior aspects of Taxi Driver with the pent-up rage from Falling Down, and showcases it in the gruesome, over-the-top B-movie horror style. Most reviews argue that the idea was better left as the curious trailer that it once was, and that it is unable to sustain itself as a full-length feature, with Marshall Fine from the Huffington Post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/huffpost-review-ihobo-wit_b_857399.html">saying</a> that the movie, "feels less like a movie than a joke about a movie -- to which you need to buy a ticket to see the punchline." And critic Scott Sawitz puts it bluntly when <a href="http://insidepulse.com/2011/05/06/hobo-with-a-shotgun-review/">he says</a>, "you shouldn't expect brilliance from a film like Hobo with a Shotgun, obviously, but you should expect it to do be fun to watch. The whole point of the Grindhouse experience was to look back at this era of American cinema with a wink and a nudge, having fun with some horribly made films that were meant to be serious endeavors, and Hobo is a rather boring view."

Gothamist

The Landmark Sunshine's midnight movie is The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, actress Asia Argento's directorial effort based on writer "<a href="http://gothamist.com/2007/06/16/trial_reveals_j.php">JT Leroy</a>"'s book that details the harrowing experiences of a young boy whose mother and her boyfriends use and abuse him. In other words, don't see if for a pick-me-up.

Gothamist

At the IFC Center, the <a href="http://www.ifccenter.com/films/blue-steel/">midnight movie</a> is Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's breakthrough 1989 film, Blue Steel, about a rookie NYPD cop played by Jamie Lee Curtis who finds herself in a bizarre relationship with a commodities trader-serial killer.

Gothamist

Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Thor</em> Vs.<em> The People Vs. George Lucas</em>