THOR in not so 3-D

Another Marvel Comics hero hits the screen and he's burdened with mediocre, dull, dim and even shallow 3-D that seems to be mandatory for blockbusters with ancient warriors with mighty weapons and... Anthony Hopkins. Remember when swashbucklers and comic book movies were made in glorious and underrated 2-D?

THOR is the story partially set in the 900 A.D. era in which the Nordic warrior awaits to be named King by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins, in fine form, aside from the goofy eye patch) But Thor's arrogant and reckless ways lead him to engage his enemies, a race of icy monsters who have the power to turn their victims into human ice sculptures. King Odin is angered by his son's disobedience against his orders not to go looking for confrontation and war. He banishes Thor to another realm to live as a powerless mortal, in modern day New Mexico. When he falls out of the sky, he is lucky enough to be struck by a Hummer driven by Natalie Portman. She's a scientist with a two person team made up by her father figure elder (Stellan Skarsgard) and a plucky teen sidekick (Kat Dennings). The trio first think that the fish out of water warrior is a delusional weirdo. But they wonder why is he so mysterious, noble, skillful at fighting and so...hunky?

The secret government agency S.H.E.I.L.D., usually in charge of keeping tabs on Iron Man, quickly come to town. They set up shop and try to determine why a gigantic hammer is stuck in the middle of the desert and impossible to remove. Meanwhile back in Thor's realm (realm is a word this movie loves to reuse) his scornful and jealous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) discovers he is actually an orphaned child who belongs to the Icy bad guy species. Feeling betrayed, he takes advantage of King Odin's ailing health to assume the throne, cross the icy bridge between worlds (which resembles a Guitar Hero track) and wage war against the modern human race.

Thus CGI galore ensues at rapid fire pace. Director Kenneth Branagh seems love dutch angles too much as well and utilizes them at every possible opportunity. In between special effects sequences there is however, touches of light and dry humour. THOR is a middle of the road, sweet, inoffensive and overall unremarkable fantasy saga that is aided by a very charming performance by Chris Hemsworth as the titular hero. Supporting players include Clark Gregg who reprises his character the head agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. from IRON MAN 1 and 2. Gregg plays his role with a good balance of seriousness and humorous levity. He's so used to seeing Tony Stark fly faster than a Mach 3 jet and destroy major buildings, that the sight of century old, heavily costumed warriors doing battle hardly fazes him.

Middleston is a good actor but his character is too petulant rather than intimidating. What THOR lacks is a really menacing villain. Additional scenes with master thespian Hopkins would have benefited as well. And poor Rene Russo is given nothing to do as Thor's mother. She basically stands around looking either worried or waiting to recite her brief lines of dialogue.

Now that I've given my two cents on the film, let me digress further on my disdain for 3-D. The obvious disadvantages include dim, lifeless projection and super imposed effects that only intermittently appear on screen in a film that was in shot in 2-D originally. But what really struck me as inconvenient was when the movie ended and I exited the theater to walk out into the sunlight. My eyes were overwhelmed as if I had entered stunning daylight after a long exile in a dark cave. The movie going experience is supposed to be an escape and not one with assaulting after effects.

The battle of Scott Pilgrim

Video games, hyper stylized comic book fantasy, hipster attitudes and primitive three cord rock make up the motif of talented director Edgar Wright's new feature Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, based on the popular graphic novels.

Michael Cera, the master of understated geeky awkwardness, is well cast as the titular hero, a Toronto lad, who despite his nerdy appearance, is able to attract cute young girls once they hear the music of his amateur garage band Sex-Ba-Bomb, who are competing in a battle of the bands that consists of only them and a band that seems to flaunt how terrible they are. Scott has been dumped by his latest girlfriend after she has transformed into an arrogant rising rock queen so he rebounds with a naive and cheery high school girl. But he meets the literal girl of his dreams in Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) a sharp tongued punk rock girl with an attitude and a constantly changing hair colour, but basically a sweet center. Once they begin to date, Scott is bombarded by constant duels challenged by her seven evil exes, which include a husky voiced action movie star, a vicious lesbian with quarterback face paint, a himbo vegan, two Asian DJs, and a pretenious young music executive.

This results in late 80s Nintendo inspired video game-fused-into-live action fight set pieces. No explanation or internal logic for the visual mayhem or instant superpower and might of the characters is provided. This is a movie universe in which once you are defeated in battle, you turn into a pile of coins. And since the movie is set in Canada, the remains of the loser are loonies and twonies.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a good natured and energetic comic fantasy that is perhaps too abundant in smart aleck hipsterism, although it does seem to satirize the hipster fashion and attitude in a subtle way. Overall the film really does have an endearing charm. The fight scenes being the center of the film are actually the least interesting aspect as they become way too routine too soon, although they are executed in an expert and rapidly hyperactive visual style resembling something out of Speed Racer and the 60s Batman TV series. The film is really carried by the pithy dialogue and rapid and engaging storytelling. One strong element is how Wright captures Toronto, deep in the winter, as a unique setting, especially in the sparse nighttime scenes in which the kinetic over the top visuals take a break for the scene in which Scott and Ramona click on their first date. The movie also nails how Generation Y make up their homes in tiny one or no bedroom apartments. Scott shares an apartment where as soon you as open the door you see a mattress on the floor that he has to share with his gay roomie (Kieran Culkin). Early in the film, titles appear on screen that inventory everything in the apartment ala the visual satire of Fight Club.

The characters are well drawn and funny and beneath their almost snarky sense of cool are insecure young adults yearning for some self esteem and good old fashioned love. Scott is on a journey that is really an internal battle for his self worth.

Ironically the corny aspects and not the eye candy help Scott Pilgrim work well as a film. Wright's earlier features Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are more clever and inspired but Scott Pilgrim is good fun as a sly visual feast that's amiable and smart.