Thor

The truth is, Thor is kind of a silly premise for a movie, and it's a bit difficult to reconcile it with the rest of the Avengers project. Marvel characters in general, at least the most famous ones, all have fantastical origins, but at least they're based in some sort of scientific premise. Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four were all hit by some sort of radiation. The X-Men mutated. Iron Man uses amazingly advanced technology. But Thor is literally a god or god-like being from another dimension. He's part of the grander, weirder, more out-there side of the Marvel tapestry, a side that has gone mostly ignored in major films to this point. I liked the few Thor comics I've read and have high hopes for The Avengers next year, so I was hoping Kenneth Branagh and his cast could pull off some pretty difficult material reasonably well, and I was satisfied by the results. Thor isn't exactly great, but it's a lot of fun, and considering the degree of difficulty one of the most successful comic book super hero adaptations to date.

The key to Thor's success is that it's funny. With the figures of an ancient mythology transformed into extradimensional aliens who wear science fiction plate armor and ride rainbow bridge lightning bolts to other worlds, the whole thing could have failed just by being too silly. But there's a lot of humor intentionally injected into the story, which allows a lot of the goofier moments to slide on by and just be part of the fun. If the movie took itself too seriously, it could have been a disaster, but the tone is just right to get away with it. Most of the significant characters get a chance to tell a joke or two, and while a few moments still come off as funny without trying, they don't do much to harm the story.

The film jumps back and forth between two locations: Asgard, where Thor's allies try to unravel Loki's plot to overthrow him, and a small town in New Mexico where Thor meets a trio of scientists and tries to recover his lost powers. I enjoyed the New Mexico side of the movie more, because that's where most of the fun was, including a lot of solid fish-out-of-water humor and an exciting confrontation with the intimidating and well-executed Destroyer. Chris Hemsworth is surprisingly outstanding as Thor, pulling off his entitled arrogance without making himself unlikable, and gradually realizing what it takes to truly be noble. It's obvious he wasn't cast only because of his looks. The scientists are played by Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, and Kat Dennings, and the group dynamic between all four is pretty fun. The romance angle seems a bit forced because of the short time scale the story is operating on, but it works out okay because Portman and Hemsworth make a good team. Thor struggling to understand human society is probably the best part of the movie, and I could have sat through a lot more of that.

On Asgard, the movie is more like a slightly stranger version of The Lord of the Rings. There's a power struggle between Thor and Tom Hiddleston's Loki, as they both wish to prove to Odin, played with enthusiasm by Anthony Hopkins, that they are fit for rule once he steps down. Thor fights a bunch of frost giants with Sif and the Warriors Three, Idris Elba's Heimdall is a complete bad-ass, and the movie's version of Loki's plotting and realization of his past is fairly interesting. The two sides of the movie come together near the end as the action climaxes and Thor ends up back where he was, but of course with a tease that he'll return next year. There's a decent amount of legwork done to continue the set up for The Avengers, both as part of the central plot as SHIELD sets up camp around Thor's immovable hammer and in the requisite tease after the credits. Nick Fury and Hawkeye make cameos, and we learn what classic doohicky will prove important down the road. I thought the movie integrated the overarching stuff with its own plot better than say, Iron Man 2 did, and while the visual effects and action weren't amazing, they were adequate enough. The real strength here is the cast, and the film worked best when the focus was on the actors instead of the more fantastical stuff, which was okay but got in the way just a bit. And now we're only a couple months away from the next step in this crazy journey.

The Elephant Man

David Lynch is best known for making bizarre films, and that sneaks into The Elephant Man just a bit, with some dreamlike imagery involving the death of the titular character's mother. But for the most part he plays things straight, telling the simple human story of an extremely deformed man who grew up in Victorian England. You can see why Lynch would be attracted to the project, though he doesn't go too wild with it; the appearance of John Merrick is close to but actually slightly less grotesque than that of the real Joseph Merrick, partially due to the limits of what makeup can do. Still, it's an accurate enough depiction of his story, not intended to disturb but more to inspire. Merrick's story is ultimately a sad one, but it's told with grace and skill that seems honest without being exploitative.

Anthony Hopkins is a doctor who discovers Merrick being shown as the elephant man in a carnival freak show and brings him back to his hospital for study. At first he seems only interested in the scientific advancements and attention that can be gotten from such an unheard of collection of deformities, but he soon learns that Merrick is more intelligent than initially assumed and develops a friendship with him. There are a couple barriers that get thrown in their way - others at the hospital are not keen on having an incurable case taking up a room, and other people aren't quite so kind to someone with such an appearance. There's ultimately a peaceful resolution for the characters, and the film ends with a particularly beautiful and well-considered sequence. The black and white works well for the story, making it easier to buy Merrick's appearance and generally the cinematography sells the setting smartly. Hopkins is very good, and John Hurt does an excellent job of humanizing Merrick despite working in pretty difficult conditions. There are only a few glimpses of what makes Lynch a unique filmmaker, but the movie doesn't really need his brand of weirdness to be good.

The Silence of the Lambs

One of three films to ever win Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress. If you can't tell, I'm starting a thing where I'm trying to watch all the best movies I haven't seen yet. Although it's impressive the film won all those awards, and it happened to be an extremely well-done and interesting movie, I'd say Anthony Hopkins qualifying for the Best Actor nomination in the first place is quite a stretch. His portrayal of Hannibal Lecter is brilliant and terrifying, but he has less than twenty minutes of screen time. Not exactly a lead role. Otherwise, I'd say it's the best movie from 1991 I've seen. Jodie Foster is great, both vulnerable and stoic as required, and despite knowing a lot of the most famous scenes from pop culture osmosis, it was still an effectively creepy and disturbing film, so well made that its impact was not robbed by imitation and parody.

The movie has sort of an unusual story structure that warrants mentioning. Lecter is one of the best villains of the 90s at least, but he's not the principle antagonist of the story - he even helps Foster and the FBI in their attempt to stop another serial killer, even if he's less than totally forthcoming. That doesn't prevent him from being a bad guy though, as he has some evil things to do of his own. I wouldn't exactly call it a horror film, but it's certainly the most horrific one I've seen to receive so much acclaim, and it's well deserved to. It's not just people getting brutally murdered; there's an interesting mystery at work, and some examination of deep psychological issues. The fact that Lecter used to be a psychiatrist makes him that much scarier, as he always knows exactly how to twist the knife. And while Buffalo Bill is a bit less sophisticated, Ted Levine still puts on a clinic of being a messed up son of a bitch. Excellent movie.