Anghus Houvouras with a weekly wander through the media making its way across the world wide web, including Thor: The Dark World, X-Men: Days of Future Past, About Time, The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle…
I’m not sure if it’s the bad writing and pedestrian directing, the good actor, or the complete bloodlessness of these Marvel movies, but after brutally killing thousands innocent people, ushering in an alien invasion, and leveling Manhattan, Loki is still the most likable character in a Thor movie. Does that strike anybody else as weird? All these different characters in this universe and the only person with an ounce of charisma is the murdering, would be world conqueror?
As opposed to “The Director of Superman Returns and Jack the Giant Slayer”, which would have been a more intellectually honest title card. I suppose when you go back to the well, you try to go with the half full bucket as opposed to the half empty one….
I realize Richard Curtis peddles in the most sugary of confections, but even the commercials are capable of sending me into anaflactic shock. That one moment where Rachel McAdams walks down the aisle, and you cut to the geeky British lead doing a little dance on the altar. Sweet merciful Christ does it pain me. It’s the kind of obnoxiously cute moment that makes me wish I had pyrokinetic abilities so I could scorch every print of the film and reduce it to simple syrup. Here in the U.S. they’re pitching the film ‘From the Director of Love Actually’. The fact that I live in a world where Love Actually is used as a benchmark of quality is probably far more likely to generate a laugh from me than anything in About Time…
It was hard enough to take him seriously before being raped by a demon. So let’s just say my expectations for The Wolf of Wall Street have been somewhat tempered by his involvement…
Does anyone else look at the marketing materials for American Hustle and think it looks like a Max Fischer proudced high school version of any crime film from the 1970s? I realize the pedigree of everyone involved, but it looks like kids playing dress up after raiding Grandma and Grandpa’s disco-era wardrobe. The trailer is full of so many cringe-worthy moments. With David O. Russell, it’s hard to tell what you’re getting. But based on the trailer and promotional images, I’m kind of wondering whether I’m supposed to be taking any of this seriously.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon.
Originally published November 2, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
