Non-Stop Trailer

The trailer for Liam Neeson’s next thriller…which actually looks pretty good.

REVIEW – THOR: THE DARK WORLD

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Director: Alan Taylor

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christopher Ecclestone, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddlestone, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Stellan Skarsgard

Apparently it was inevitable. At some point Marvel would produce a stinker to thwart the progress made by their excellent work so far. So if it really was inevitable then why was Thor: The Dark World so enjoyable.

The film picks up where The Avengers left off. Loki (Tom Hiddlestone) is imprisoned on Asgard and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is roaming The Nine Realms, keeping the peace. But that peace is disturbed when Thor’s human  sweetheart Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) awakens an ancient force, The Aether, and consequently the villainous Malekith (Former Doctor Who star Christopher Ecclestone) who wishes to harness its power. With the universe under threat Thor is forced to free Loki in a desperate attempt to save everything he loves.

The problem with Thor has always been the believability of his character within the Marvel Universe and once again the studio succeed in drawing attention away from these sorts of plot holes to focus on an enjoyable story.

The storyline is dynamic and far superior to the original Thor (2011), revelling in the glorious contrast between Thor and his twisted brother Loki, a relationship which dominates the whole film. Tom Hiddlestone is delightfully greasy as Loki and in my not so humble opinion the best on-screen super-villain (the Joker doesn’t count). The character really makes a case for not just killing off villains between films, Loki is brilliant as a constant worry to Thor, whether as more of an entertaining side-plot as he is in this film, or as the main event as he was in The Avengers.

Loki: After all this time, now you come to visit me, brother? Why? To mock?

Thor: I need your help. And I wish I could trust you…

Loki: If you did, you’d be the fool I always took you for

The film starts slowly but quickly picks up the pace with some neat action and special effects sequences. Bringing on the creative team from The Game of Thrones was a masterstroke as they know what the fan boys (and fan girls for equalities sake). Minus the XXX content of Thrones, the all out action and traditional combat make for an entertaining sci-fi.

Kudos to Marvel for showing that they can bring the superhero action into space ahead of the release of Guardians of the Galaxy next year. Asgard is beautifully done and ‘The Dark World’ appropriately desolate. The battle scenes on Asgard, hell the whole movie,  should be a example to JJ Abrams and the Star Wars Episode VII team, it blending sci-fi with fun, not taking itself to seriously.

Thor himself is well played by Chris Hemsworth who has done well to portray the increasing maturity of the prince. I do have a few gripes about Natalie Portman’s character Jane…she’s annoying. In the style of Margot Kidder as Lois Lane she is genuinely frustrating and her character lacks depth. I for one am on Team Sif (Jaimie Alexander), who seems positively badass, although I seemed to get a hint of a Sif-Loki thing. But hell, I even liked Kat Dennings as the super dumb science prodigy better than Portman’s  empty eye candy.

Malekith does his job and goes about his universe-destroying duties without really being memorable but is used to introduce many plot points for future films.

I’ll write another article discussing the direction Marvel has used Thor to steer its universe into to avoid spoilers. Lets just say there are plenty of Easter Eggs in there for those eagle-eyed enough to spot them.

So now the onus on poor old Captain America to keep up the Marvel magic. Bring It!!!!!!

Related articles

• ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Review: Laughs and Character Make for One of Marvel’s Best (slashfilm.com)
• Review: Thor The Dark World (valleyofthedeer.wordpress.com)
• ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Cast Talk New Story, Darker Villains, More Action & Better Humor (screenrant.com)

TOP 40 – Bad Grandpa Finally Sinks Gravity

Bad Grandpa, a Johnny Knoxville prank-fest, finally knocked Gravity from the top of both our guide2film listings and the box office peak.

It managed to bring in an outstanding $30m and avoid negative reviews to grab the No.1 position. Gravity had been top for three weeks and seems far from done, moving down only to 2nd place. DVD The Conjuring moved up two to be a surprising 3rd, mainly due to critical and commercial success which has made it the hottest horror of 2013. Captain Phillips went down to 4th after a less lucrative box office weekend while Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 bounced back into the Top 10 at 5th. Star Trek: Into Darkness also made a comeback of sorts from 14th to 6th after taking the Best Movie prize at the Hollywood Awards. Animated film The Croods marked its BluRay/DVD release with a place at 7th. Iron Man 3 plummeted from its 3rd place down to 8th although its remarkable run of popularity continues long after its release to home media. In its second week out on DVD Pacific Rim sits at 9 and in 10th is Despicable Me 2 due to the pre-sales for its general release.

Debutant The Counselor scored a disappointing 18th after poor box office and critical results despite being an awards season favourite. Interestingly, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, the original film, is enjoying an upswing in popularity after the release of its sequel and rose to 12th. 12 Years A Slave, a supposed awards juggernaut rose to 20th on just a limited release and could go higher on its general release this weekend.

The complete list is below

1. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
2. Gravity
3. The Conjuring
4. Captain Phillips
5. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2
6. Star Trek: Into Darkness
7. The Croods
8. Iron Man 3
9. Pacific Rim
10. Despicable Me 2
11. World War Z
12. Carrie
13. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
14. The Great Gatsby
15. This Is The End
16. The Heat
17. Turbo
18. The Counselor
19. The Hangover Part III
20. 12 Years A Slave
21. Rush
22. Insidious: Chapter 2
23. Now You See Me
24. Enough Said
25. Prisoners
26. The Way, Way Back
27. Escape Plan
28. Don Jon
29. The Internship
30. The Purge
31. We’re The Millers
32. All Is Lost
33. After Earth
34. White House Down
35. R.I.P.D
36. The Fifth Estate
37. Girl Most Likely
38. Runner Runner
39. Baggage Claim
40. I’m In Love With A Church Girl

Related articles

• ‘Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa’ Finally Topples ‘Gravity’ From The Top Of The US Box Office (contactmusic.com)
• Bad Grandpa Enjoys Great Box Office Showing, Defeats Gravity (thehollywoodgossip.com)

Hollywood Awards

It may be very early in the awards season but our first preview of the big players in this years awards roulette have been revealed at the Hollywood Awards.

Sandra Bullock was rewarded for a stellar performance in Gravity with the Hollywood Actress award and the performance of Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club saw him snag the Actor award. Harrison Ford received a well deserved Hollywood Career Achievement Award after a career spanning decades which influenced generations. The Supporting role gongs went to Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners  and Julia Roberts in August: Osage Country. Lee Daniels was honoured for his success in directing The Butler and surprisingly Star Trek: Into Darkness received the Hollywood Movie Award….does that give it an outside Oscar chance????

The reality is there are many more films to come before the BIG awards around February but it was a stage for some early stakes at a golden figurine.

Full awards list below and gallery

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Hollywood Movie Award: Star Trek: Into Darkness

Hollywood Career Achievement: Harrison Ford

Hollywood Legend Award: Jerry Weintraub

Hollywood Director Award: Lee Daniels Lee Daniel’s The Butler

Hollywood Actor Award: Matthew McConaughey Dallas Buyers Club

Hollywood Actress Award: Sandra Bullock Gravity

Hollywood Supporting Actor Award: Jake Gyllenhaal Prisoners

Hollywood Supporting Actress Award: Julia Roberts August: Osage County

Hollywood Visual Effects Award: John Knoll Pacific Rim

Hollywood Animation Award: Dan Scanlon Monsters University

Hollywood Screenwriter Award: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater Before Midnight

Hollywood Spotlight Awards: Michael B. Jordan Fruitvale Station, Sophie Nelisse The Book Thief, and David Oyelowo Lee Daniel’s The Butler

Hollywood Producer Award: Michael De Luca

Hollywood Song Award: Chris Martin Hunger Games

Hollywood Costume and Production Design Award: Michal Wilkinson and Judy Becker American Hustle

Hollywood Ensemble Cast Award: Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson and Misty Upham. August: Osage County

Hollywood Breakout Performance Award: Jared Leto Dallas Buyers Club

Hollywood Breakout Director Award: Steve McQueen 12 Years a Slave

Hollywood New Hollywood Award: Lupita Nyong’o 12 Years a Slave

guide2film 10 TO WATCH – 8/10/13 – Gravity Flies High

The 10 To watch has been updated to figure in the latest DVD stats

The guide2film 10 TO WATCH is a list of the top 10 films available for viewing on DVD or in the cinema. The list is similar to the Top100 but ranks films currently being hyped and aggregates box office takings, audience, and critical response. The 10 TO Watch is meant to be a guide to the best films currently available for your entertainment and while it is designed to favour films on their cinematic run will also suggest BluRay/DVD releases if they provide a better alternative to cinematic viewing.

1. Gravity – Alfonso Cuaron’s space thriller has broken box office records on its debut weekend earning critical praise and awards whispers. It’s mega weekend guaranteed it topped the inaugural guide2film 10 To Watch

2. Rush – Rush has had a reasonable box office run to go with positive critical reviews but was blown out of the water by Gravity. The fall in World War Z’s DVD sales this week has put it up to second.

3. Prisoners – Featuring strong performances, Prisoners may be coming to the close of its big money run but its critical praise keeps it high and it too passes World War Z.

4. Cloudy with A Chance Of Meatballs – Probably the only survivor of Gravity’s mega opening, Cloudy is hampered by mixed critical responses which places it behind more well received flicks. But never underestimate a film kids love.

5. World War Z – Brad Pitt’s zombie film enjoyed a successful DVD release but has dropped from 2nd to 5th due to being ousted from the top-selling DVD spot.

6. This Is The End – Just released to DVD This Is The End was are rare critically successful comedy and its place at the top of the DVD Rentals chart has rocketed the apocalyptic farce into the Top10 at the expense of Epic.

7. The Great Gatsby – Gatsby is another recent DVD release which makes the list due to its popularity outside of the cinemas and could be higher if not for mixed critical reviews. Passes Iron Man due to a drop in audience ratings for the superhero.

8. Iron Man 3 – The Marvel hero recently made his way onto BluRay/DVD and is a deserved 7th and was only just surpassed by online support for Gatsby.

9. Don Jon – Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s edgy rom-com is still on its theatrical run and after critical praise only its small box office takings put it down the list.

10. Insidious: Chapter 2 – The reasonably well received horror profits from popularity among casual moviegoers to surprisingly oust Star Trek from the 10.

Top 100 – Updated 05/10/2013

The following is a Top 100 ranking of blockbusters by guide2film which uses a rankings system to rate films. The list is at the moment incomplete with up to 200 films still to be rated.

Six films have entered the Top100 out of 30 rated since the last update.

• Jurassic Park is at 39 due to its enduring popularity, commercial and critical success, and revolutionary special effects. 
• Star Trek has come in at 46 due to being successful in almost every respect critically and commercially.
• Uprising was a shock Top100 at 70, especially as it was a TV Movie and had no box office product. It’s place is due to a fantastic critical response as well as quality dialogue and action.
• Taken starring Liam Neeson was a hit action film at the box office and this drove it to 75 on the list despite mixed critic responses.
• Superman, the Christopher Reeve version, managed to overcome its age to place at 84.
• Defiance, a WWII film, is the final entry at 91 due to its gritty action and suspense.

We will soon introduce Live25, the hottest 25 films of the week.

Feel free to discuss your opinion in the comments…

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2. The Dark Knight

3. The Avengers

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

7. The Dark Knight Rises

8. Avatar

9. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

10. Skyfall

11. Inception

12. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

13. The Hunger Games

14. Iron Man

15. Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

16. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

17. Gladiator

18. Batman Begins

19. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

20. Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest

21. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

22. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1

23. The Amazing Spider-Man

24. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

25. Slumdog Millionaire

26. Spider-Man 2

27. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones

28. Spider-Man

29. Man of Steel

30. X-Men: First Class

31. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

32. Sherlock Holmes

33. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

34. Casino Royale

35. King Kong

36. Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows

37. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

37. Thor

39. Jurassic Park

40. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

41. The Bourne Ultimatum

42. Captain America: The First Avenger

43. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

44. Prometheus

45. I Am Legend

46. Star Trek

47. Iron Man 2

48. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back

49. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

50. Toy Story 3

51. Chronicle

52. Troy

53. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

54. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

55. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

56. The Incredibles

57. True Grit

58. The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn

59. Alice in Wonderland

60. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

61. V for Vendetta

62. Superman Returns

63. Shutter Island

64. X-Men 2: X-Men United

65. The Bourne Supremacy

66. X-Men

67. 2012

68. Spider-Man 3

76. The Bourne Identity

70. Uprising

71. X-Men: The Last Stand

72. Kung Fu Panda

73. John Carter

74. Oblivion

75. Taken

76. Let Me In

77. Monsters Inc.

78. The Spiderwick Chronicles

79. Toy Story

80. Wreck-It Ralph

81. Home Alone

82. Up

83. The Bourne Legacy

84. Superman

85. The Lincoln Lawyer

86. Valkyrie

87. Snow White and the Huntsman

88. Letters to Iwo Jima

89. Wanted

90. National Treasure

91. Defiance

92. United 93

93. Shrek 2

94. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

95. Enchanted

96. Bridge to Terabithia

97. Robin Hood

98. Get Smart

99. Toy Story 2

100. Wrath of the Titans

THE BOOK THIEF

The Book Thief is an adaption of the award winning novel by Markus Zusak set for release on November 15, 2013. It will star Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, and Emily Watson and is directed by Brian Percival. The film is already generating an awards season buzz.