Review - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Like the return of the swallows to Capistrano or the swarming of the Monarchs from Mexico, the arrival of spring each year is announced with almost natural periodicity by the flocking of moviegoers to the new episode of Marvel Studios' comic book superhero spectacular! Studio head Kevin Feige could probably set his own watch to the volume of ticket receipts pouring in, having masterminded the most lucrative business model in the industry; An interconnected series of lean, lighthearted action films that play to the people's love of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and an ever growing cast of other costumed do-gooders.

All signs would suggest that the fandom's appetite to see Earth's mightiest heroes teaming up again would be as insatiable as it was the first time they hit the big screen together in 2012's box office champ The Avengers. Writer-director Joss Whedon returns for this hotly anticipated sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and wastes no time in giving the public what it wants, kicking off the super-squad's newest adventure with that 'money shot' you've already seen a hundred times in the trailers and TV ads:

Review - Rush

The 'sports movie' tends to be a troubled genre; one usually marred by predictability and all too willing to eschew the human spirit behind the sport. Such is not the case in Ron Howard's Rush, which takes us inside the world of 1970s Forumla One racing for a look at a legendary rivalry bewteen two champion motorists. The film is less interested in impressing us with their achievements, as it is in discovering what drives the drivers.

One is James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth); with his roguish good looks, cocky charm and playboy antics, he seems the spitting tabloid image of a stereotypical racing superstar. It helps that he has the God-given skill and renegade aggression behind the wheel to back up his boasts in front of a microphone. The other is Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl); more prickly and misanthropic, but with a sharply analytical mind that serves him remarkably well in the garage and on the pavement.

Review - A Snow White double feature

A pair of Costume Design nominees which bowed earlier in the year forced me to go back and play a bit of catch-up.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the most superfluous Snow White recreation of them all? Trick question. Turns out it's both of them. With fairy tale revisionism dominating studio slates recently – either because audiences are really clamouring for it or because it's cheaper than paying licensing fees for anything written in the last hundred years – 2012 ended up yielding not one, but two new takes on the girl with skin as white as snow and hair as black as night. Occupying opposite ends of the tonal spectrum, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman make a peculiar, if not a high quality, double feature.

Mirror Mirror is the incarnation that tries to preserve the lightheartedness we often associate with fairy tales. Lily Collins plays the raven-haired beauty who joins up with a septet of pint-sized bandits after her vampish diva of a step mother (Julia Roberts) had ordered her be taken to the woods and slain. From thence on, they both compete for the love of a dashing but comically inept prince (Armie Hammer).

Review - The Avengers

The summer movie season officially kicks off with The Avengers, Marvel's grand culmination of its last four years of superhero movies, skillfully assembled by fanboy idol Joss Whedon from four distinct Marvel franchises into one fantastic whole.

We – that is to say, those of us who've been keeping up with Marvel's steady output of summer superhero spectacles since 2008 – already know the cast: Robert Downey Jr. as ego-maniacal billionaire Tony Stark (Iron Man), Chris Evans as quintessential soldier Steve Rogers (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth as hammer-wielding Norse god Thor, Jeremy Renner as enigmatic archer extraordinaire Clint Barton Hawkeye, Scarlet Johansson as expatriate Russian super spy Natasha Romanov (Black Widow), and Samuel L. Jackson as cycloptic S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury. Replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner is Mark Ruffalo, whose ease with playing “laid back” makes a smart juxtaposition with the green ball of rage that it The Hulk.

Review - Thor

It's hammer time! Marvel's latest cinematic installment of their extensive comic book canon stars the fabled Norse god of thunder as the superhero of the month, kicking off a summer movie season that literally features a new superhero every month. Hopefully they can match the boisterous fun of this one. The mighty Thor is a mighty good time.

Chris Hemsworth brings the thunder in the title role of Thor, doing a terrific job of selling the Asgardian prince's vain pride, and an even better job of evenly transitioning to the selfless nobility that makes him the hero on Earth we recognize from Marvel's lore. His compelling star turn is playful but not farcical, and plays a big part in defining the film's appropriately unembarrassed B-movie tone, although as much credit should go to director Kenneth Branagh. A veteran of Shakespearean stage and cinema, Branagh may not have been the intuitive choice to helm one of Paramount's precious special effect extravaganzas, but what he might lack in action savviness he makes up for in theatricality, one of Thor's winning qualities. His way with actors is a benefit for the whole cast, which includes Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, and Colm Feore, barely recognizable beneath a fantastic makeup job that disguises him as the menacing king of the Frost Giants.

Not everything in the picture works. It stalls whenever the romantic subplot becomes the focus of the otherwise fluent screenplay, and the glossy CG-rendered realm of Asgard seems a tad overproduced sometimes, but like a good popcorn pick should, it remains enjoyable underneath all those layers of butter.

*** out of ****