★★★
Claiming the honour of being the best Thor film to date isn’t exactly high praise but, in the case of Thor: Ragnarok, it does at least herald the incoming of a pleasingly fresher take on the Norse god’s super-sub-franchise. With the surprisingly tangible vision of Hunt of Wilderpeople’s Taika Waititi, part-three Thor makes for a fun addition to Marvel’s tiresomely sprawling universe and blessed relief for Chris Hemsworth’s erstwhile little used funny bones.
★★
When a film is as breathtakingly dim as Geostorm, the question must always arise as to whether its makers know quite how stupid their final product is. Thankfully, in this case, they do. They must. Winks and nudges pepper Dean Devlin and Paul Guyot’s script just enough to allow for moments of sheer dumb fun, amid the swerving tornados of boredom that see climate change threaten the extras of planet Earth.
★★★★
Perhaps it’s the promise of a ‘brawl’ in the film’s title? Or maybe it’s the sheer, immediately iconic, presence of a head-shaven and cruciform-tattooed Vince Vaughn in the barren wastelands of suburban America? Whatever the root, there’s something about the opening to S. Craig Zahler”s latest work that brims with the tension of suppressed fury from the off. With this broiling tone established, a glacial pace proves the perfect foil to one deeply grisly plot in an exploitation feature of consistently surprising empathy.
Continue reading Brawl in Cell Block 99 | Review
The Film Blog 