THOR: RAGNAROK: 4 STARS
âDarling, you have no idea what is possible.â So says Hela (Cate Blanchett), Thorâs Goddess of Death sister.
Sheâs a piece of work who thinks nothing of drowning a whole race of people in their own blood to get what she wants, but she has a point. Up until this point no one really knew what was possible with the Thor (Chris Hemsworth) character. Over the course of six movies, weâve seen the crown prince of Asgard as a larger-than-life hero with Shakespearean tendencies and a muscle-bound sex symbol but it took New Zealand director Taika Waititi to fully realize the characterâs potential. Thor has always been quick with a line, but this time around, Waititi puts the comedy upfront.
The plot of âThor Ragnarokâ is less interesting than its tone. In a nutshell Thorâs sister, the hella-deadly Hela is back from exile and with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) out of the way, is first in line for the throne of Asgard. She, equipped with an impressive set of black antlers and ruthless nature, plans to go Ragnarok on the citizens of Asgard to fulfill her appetite for destruction.
After some tomfoolery with giant demon Surtur (Clancy Brown)ââOh, thatâs your crown,â Thor purrs. âI thought it was a big eyebrow.ââThor returns to Asgard, reunites with mischievous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) before literally locking horns with Hela and hurled through space and into the hands of the quirky Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), a colourfully dressed ruler who offs people with his dreaded Melt Stick and pits the Norse god against his old friend Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in a gladiatorial match. With Asgard at stake Thor recruits the giant green world breaker and a warrior Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) to save his planet.
That sounds like it could be the plot from any generic Avengers filmâa world is at stakeâbut there is no other superhero movie that would see their champions escape through an interdimensional portal named The Devilâs Anus. Yes, there is serious subtext about genocide and displaced personsâwe hear Led Zepâs âImmigrant Songâ twiceâbut this is the first Marvel movie to value comedy over spectacle. The trademarked Marvel blockbuster action is still there but the gags carry the show.
Certainly âThor: Ragnarokâ is the polar opposite of rival DCâs dark universe but even in its own house, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, itâs a breath of fresh air. Seventeen movies in, Marvel has taken a chance, handing the reins over to an idiosyncratic helmer. Waititiâs (who also plays a talkative Groot-like gladiator named Korg) first big studio movie after whimsical indies the adventure comedy âHunt for the Wilderpeopleâ feels as close to an auteur film as weâre likely to see in this genre. He brings a zippy sense of fun that showcases Hemsworthâs comedy chops.
Like the rest of the Avengers movies âThor: Ragnarokâ is a tad long and, near the end is overrun by creatures and CGI. Some will complain that the glib tone completely overrides the filmâs serious side but the gags and the home-is-where-the-heart-is message make this one of the most human and humane MCU movies yet.
A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS: 1 STAR
If you are to believe the new Mila Kunis comedy, âA Bad Mom Christmas,â the Yuletide is a time of joy⌠unless you are a mother. âMoms donât enjoy,â weâre told, âthey give joy. Thatâs how being a mom works.â
In 2016âs âBad Momsâ Amy (Mila Kunis) ,Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) were a Coffee Klatch of moms fed up with the burden of having to be perfect. Today not much has changed except for the weather. They are all still overworked and underappreciated as the holidays approach. âI feel like a giant stress ball from November to New Years,â says Amy.
On top of providing a memorable Christmas for their families, the original three moms, in the kind of miracle that only happens in Christmas movies, are ambushed by their own mothers, the primly perfect-in-every-way Ruth (Christine Baranski), the overbearing Sandy (Cheryl Hines) and former REO Speedwagon roadie Isis (Susan Sarandon). Each are as welcome as a bad case of Christmas Itch and all three complicate an already complicated season. âRemember when the holidays were actually fun?â asks Amy. âLetâs take Christmas back.â
Only in the era of climate change would it seem appropriate to release the snowbound âA Bad Moms Christmasâ the day after Halloween. The first âBad Momsâ movie was a hell raising grrrls-gone-wild romp with plenty of gags but this one falls into the sloppy sentimental trap of many holiday movies.
Itâs an hour-and-forty-minutes of dime store psychologyâfamilies arenât perfect but theyâre the only family youâll ever haveâthat makes âGrumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Everâ look like âThe Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Toleranceâ by comparison. It wants to warm the cockles of your heart with its tale of mothers and kids but none of it feels authentic. The heart-tugging stuff doesnât tug because none of it feels authentic and the raunchy humourâthe potty mouth kids, endless vaginal waxing jokes, the twerking on Santa and gingerbread cookies shaped like⌠well, you can guessâfeels wedged in. Imagine a Hallmark Movie with male strippers and you get the idea.
Itâs not the castâs fault the script is drier than Aunt Ethelâs Christmas turkey. All of themâparticularly Baranski and Hahnâare game but cannot turn this lump of coal into a polished diamond. Kenny G earns points as a willing pop-culture punchline and Baranski should win some sort of special prize for squeezing as many laughs out of this material as she does. Her take on âthe most critical human being on the planetâââWhen I was nine I made her a Motherâs Day card,â Amy says, âand she returned it with notesââis worthy of a much better movie.
âA Bad Mom Christmasâ only gets one thing 100% right. âWeâre going to watch âLove, Actually,ââ says Amy. âDumb movie,â sneers Ruth.
THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER: 4 STARS
Director Yorgos Lanthimos makes idiosyncratic films. From the bizarre home schooling fantasy "Dogtoothâ to âThe Lobster,â a film about turning lovesick divorcees into wildlife, he is unafraid to let his freak flag fly. His newest film, âThe Killing Of A Sacred Deerâ starring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, may be his most unapologetically odd film yet.
Farrell is Steven Murphy, an uptight cardiac surgeon married to ophthalmologist Anna (Kidman). Their two kids, Bob (Sunny Suljic) and Kim (Raffey Cassidy) are polite, happy kids. They eat dinner together every night and by all outward appearances lead a disciplined, quiet suburban life. It wasnât always that way. Just three years before Steven was forced to stop drinking when it began to interfere with his work.
Now all is calm. The only strange thing is Stevenâs attachment to Martin (Barry Keoghan), the son of a patient who died unexpectedly. Steven buys him expensive presents and always seems to have time to talk to the boy or take him out for lunch. Shortly after Martin is invited over for dinner, however, things in the Murphy household take a turn for the worse. Little Bobâs legs give out and soon he is paralyzed from the waist down. Heâs given every test known to man and science but no diagnosis is forthcoming. Then Kim takes ill, collapsing at choir practice. Again, there doesnât seem to be a medical reason for her paralysis.
Thereâs more, but there will be no spoilers here. If you want clues look up the Greek myth of Artemisâ demand of atonement from Agamemnon after he killed a sacred deer.
From this point on âThe Killing Of A Sacred Deerâ becomes a horror film about ideas rather than actions. Itâs a study of extreme consequences, atonement and the length to which people will go to save their families. In many ways itâs the kind of story weâve seen many times before but Lanthimos has filtered the domestic drama through his lens, creating an unsettling and absurd film that is as gripping as it is strange.
Lanthimos uses language and tone to bring us into his world. The actors have an eerie, mannered way of speaking as though they are always reading aloud from an Emily Post book. Before anything odd happens the matter-of-fact speech, often about the most trivial or, sometimes, inappropriate things, establishes the filmâs otherworldly tone. It hangs heavy over every second of the movie and when the characterâs veneers begin to crack it is even more disquieting.
âThe Killing Of A Sacred Deerâ does not offer explanations or apologies for anyoneâs behaviour. Instead it is content to wallow in the cruelty and depravity of its story. Strange days indeed.
NOVITIATE: 2½ STARS
âNovitiate,â the new drama from director Margaret Betts, is a story of love, piety, obedience and sacrifice that is as tightly wound as one of Reverend Motherâs (Melissa Leo) Rosaries.
Cathleen (played as a youngster by Eliza Stella Mason) is a just seven years old when she falls in love for the first time. Taken to church for the first time by her non-religious mother Nora (Julianne Nicholson) the little girl becomes attracted to the solemnity of the service. Itâs the polar opposite of her home life where Mom and Dad (Chris Zylka) are constantly at one anotherâs throats. When sheâs offered a chance to attend Catholic school for free, Cathleen jumps at the chance, despite Noraâs misgivings.
At the convent school Cathleen (played by Margaret Qualley from age seventeen on) finds the life she was always unable to enjoy at home. Under the watchful eye of Reverend Mother, the teenager decides to give herself over to the church, become a nun and devote herself to the worship and servitude of God.
âThatâs the craziest thing I have ever heard,â comes Noraâs stunned reaction.
âI was called,â says Cathleen. âI want to become a nun and there is nothing you can do to make me change my mind.â
Her trainingâfrom postulant to the novitiateâcoincides with the introduction of Vatican II, a reaction to changing cultural practises after the Second World War that signalled widespread changes in the church. With change afoot Cathleen determines what it means to embark on a life as a servant of God, as Reverend Mother grapples with what the changes mean to her faith.
âNovitiateâ is a detailed, sombre look at the nature of faith that sometimes feels like two movies in one. Cathleenâs narrative leads the story and is the most compelling part of the film but her story of love and sacrifice is diluted by Reverend Motherâs reaction to the reformist and more-liberal-than-sheâd-like Vatican II dictums. The characters are bookends but even with the two hour run time there isnât quite enough story to dive deep into their lives and make us care about both.
Better stated are Cathleenâs quandaries. She wrangles but rarely waivers with her faith, presenting a complex look at the personal toll that comes with the gruelling novitiate process. Qualley and her supporting cast of âsistersââ Liana Liberato, Eline Powell, Morgan Saylor, Maddie Hasson and Ashley Bellâare a mosaic of characters placed together to show the various reasons the young women chose to become nuns.
Leo humanizes the severe Reverend Mother, turning her from stern mistress to a person caught in the tide of change and unable to swim.
Betts, who also wrote âNovitiateâsâ script, brings nuance and thoughtfulness to most characters but as a whole the meditative mood of the movieâs two storylines never coalesce.
DINA: 3 ½ STARS
You will be amazed at the level of intimacy the filmmakers behind âDinaâ are able to achieve. The story of a middle-aged woman preparing to marry her boyfriend benefits from the level of access awarded to the directors but is deepened by the fact that the bride and groom are on the autism spectrum.
This cinéma vérité doc follows Dina Buno and Scott Levin. She is a 48-year-old widow with Aspergerâs, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, who has lived on her own for decades. He also has Asperger syndrome, and is a security guard at Walmart who loves singing and still lives at home. We witness their courtship as they get to know one another on a day trip to a New Jersey boardwalk and navigate through complicated feelings regarding his disinterest in sexâshe gives him a copy of âThe Joy of Sexâ to help fire his imagination and encourages foot rubsâand their future life together. A revelation regarding Dinaâs traumatic past sheds light on her hypersensitive temperament.
âDinaâ is an up-close-and-personal look at this couple. Co-director Daniel Sickles (with Antonio Santini) is a family friend, which could explain the level of informality we see on screen. Whatever the reason, âDinaâ offers a fascinating character study that looks at romance and how intimacy blossoms for these two.
Sickles and Santini are flies on the wall, uninvolved in the story and as such allow the story to play, warts and all. After the end credits roll there may or may not be a happy ending for Dina and Scott and no effort is made to suggest a fairy tale ending. âDinaâ is simply a heartfelt look at two people facing and hopefully overcoming considerable problems.