THOR : RAGNAROK - Tuesday 31st October 2017.

'THOR : RAGNAROK' which I saw earlier this week, is the third film in the 'Thor' franchise and the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has been much hyped, keenly awaited and highly anticipated since the first trailers were released and New Zealander Taika Waititi was announced for Directing duties. With a production budget of US$180M and filmed largely at Australia's Gold Coast film studios, the film has already received largely positive press, hailing it the best of the three so far, ahead of its US release in early November, and its Australian release last week. The first two films in the series, 2011's 'Thor' and 2013's 'Thor : The Dark World' were made for a combined US$303M and grossed between them close to US$1.1B, so expectations are running high for this instalment. The film has so far taken US$109M.

By way of a lesson into Norse mythology, Ragnarok is a series of future events, including a great battle, foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor and Loki), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Following such a cataclysmic event, the world will resurface afresh, renewed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. This film then, is set four years after the events of 'Thor: The Dark World', and two years following on from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. As the film opens we find Thor wrapped in chains imprisoned on some far away planet by the fire demon Surtur (voiced by Clancy Brown and acted in MoCap by Taika Waititi) having unsuccessfully scoured the four corners of the universe for the Infinity Stones. In a comical opening scene we see Thor dangling by a chain deep within a cavernous cave taunting Surtur who tells him that his father Odin, has abandoned Asgard and that the realm will soon be destroyed in a foretold Ragnarok as soon as he is able to unite himself with The Eternal Flame that burns beneath the city of Asgard. Using his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, Thor is able to defeat Surtur and remove his crown, so preventing the apocalyptic Ragnarok . . . or so he thinks. Thor returns to Asgard.

On Asgard, Thor arrives to find Loki (Tom Hiddleston) posing as Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and therefore ruling over all of Asgard. Thor can see over Loki's ruse, and reveals his true identity to the people of Asgard. He also convinces Loki to help find his father. They travel to Earth and with the help of Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) they locate Odin hanging out in Norway. Odin explains to his sons that he is dying and has little time left. He further explains that with his passing, this will allow his first born daughter Hela, the Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett) to be freed from prison where she was exiled to long long ago. Hela has at one time back in the dim and distant past been the leader of Asgard's almighty armies and with Odin they conquered the Nine Realms, and built Asgard to be the mighty civilisation it now is. But Hela got too big for her boots and became over ambitious, hence her imprisonment and being written out of the family history, to the extent that she was not even known of by Thor or Loki.

Odin dies and almost immediately Hela arrives. Hela commands that Thor and Loki kneel before her, but they refuse. Thor goes into battle mode determined to wipe his older sister from the face of the Earth, but she'll have none of it, for Hela is all powerful and in a show of strength stops Mjolnir at arms length and crushes it as though it were glass. Thor's hammer falls to the floor shattered into several chunks with Thor looking on in disbelief. At this Thor and Loki decide its time to get outta Dodge and summons the Bifrost Bridge to return them to Asgard. Hela pursues them and chases them through the wormhole overpowering them and causing the two brothers into space to supposedly perish and die, while she continues onto Asgard. She quickly asserts her power and single handedly wipes out the Asgardian army, resurrects the ancient dead with whom she once fought and who are buried deep within a secret vault below the castle, and appoints the new sentry of the Bifrost Bridge, Skurge (Karl Urban) as her new executioner. While Hela and Skurge are otherwise pre-occupied stamping their mark on Asgard, Heimdall (Idris Elba) who is in self imposed exile during Loki's reign, scales the mountainside and steals the sword that controls the Bridge, to prevent Hela from using the Bridge for her own empire building gain.

Meanwhile, Thor lands on the garbage planet Sakaar, and is immediately picked up by locals who are then overpowered by a lone mercenary and bounty hunter called Scrapper 142 (Tessa Thompson). She in turn overpowers Thor and drags him off to meet the planets immortal ruler, Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) who runs a gladiator arena for the sport of the local population.

Grandmaster determines that Thor should fight in his Contest of Champions against his so far unbeaten champion prize fighter. After a brief introduction, a lesson in all things Sakaar, getting his golden locks shorn off by a Stan Lee cameo appearance and befriending a stone being named Korg (a laugh out loud Taika Waititi performance rendered in MoCap) as his only ally on the garbage planet, Thor is thrust into the arena to await his fate up against an all conquering foe that he does not yet know. Meanwhile, Loki has emerged too and has ingratiated himself to the Grandmaster and is living the free and easy life, unlike his now captive brother who tries to reason with him so that he can be set free too. But, Loki will have none of it!

As Thor readies himself under the spotlights of the arena, so he comes face to face with old buddy 'from work', Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). The pair clash in a brutal battle with Thor gaining the upper hand and almost defeating his old friend, before Grandmaster fixes the fight to guarantee Hulk's victory and to save face. Still held in captivity at the mercy of Grandmaster, Thor and Hulk, begin to reconcile their differences. Thor needs a plan and a Team to get back to Asgard, before Hela unleashes more death and destruction on Asgard and the Realms.

Thor tries to convince Hulk and Scrapper 142 to join forces and help him save Asgard and defeat Hela. They are not interested, even though he recognises Scrapper 142 as being one of the Valkyrie, a legendary force of female fighters who were all but wiped out trying to defend Asgard from Hela in days long since gone by. So Thor decides to go it alone using the Quinjet that bought Hulk to Sakaar two years previously. He breaks out of the Grandmaster's palace and gets to the Quinjet. Hulk follows behind where a recorded message on a monitor from Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is the catalyst for Hulk turning back into Bruce Banner for the first time since the incidents at Sokovia two years previously.

Grandmaster orders that Scrapper 142 and Loki join forces to hunt down Thor and Banner, but the pair are hardly a match made in Heaven, and ultimately Scrapper 142 has a change of heart, takes Loki prisoner and agrees to join forces with the other two. Loki is however, reluctant to be left behind on the garbage planet now that he is a wanted man, and so he provides the group with the means to commandeer one of Grandmasters ships. They then set free the other gladiators led by Korg who stage a revolution.

Loki, being one not to be trusted, attempts to betray his brother but Thor can see through this, and immobilises him and leaves him behind. However, he is soon picked up by an unsuspecting Korg and the revolutionaries. Thor, Banner and Scrapper 142 escape through a giant wormhole known affectionately as the Devil's Anus, and arrive back on Asgard.

Upon arrival the three are confronted by Heimdall and the citizens of Asgard who are under siege by Hela, Skurge, their undead forces and a giant man eating hound that Hela has at her command. Banner transforms into Hulk again and with Scrapper 142 they fight Skurge and his forces, while Thor is off to see to unfinished business with Hela. Loki, Korg and the gladiators arrive aboard a giant ship having come through the Devil's Anus too. They join in the fight while the fleeing citizens of Asgard board the giant ship that will take them to someplace else, safe!

In his fight with Hela, Thor is overpowered and suffers stabbings, slashing and the loss of an eye. But theses mere scrapes do not deter him from the end game. In a moment of clarity, Thor has a vision of Odin, his father, that makes him see that only Ragnarok can defeat Hela. While Thor, Hulk and Scrapper 142 keep Hela distracted in battle, Loki sets off to retrieve the crown of Surtur and thrust it into the Eternal Flame, so resurrecting the fire demon bringing on Ragnarok to engulf all of Asgard and destroy Hela.

Thor and his crew board the giant ship with the now safe citizens of Asgard. Thor is crowned King, and when asked by Korg where to, he replies Earth, where perhaps he intends to rebuild Asgard. Watch out for the mid-credits scene and if you can wait it out until the final credits have rolled, there is a closing sequence featuring Grandmaster. The film also stars cameo performances from Matt Damon, Sam Neill and Liam Hemsworth (brother of Chris).

It is hardly surprising that Critics have heaped praise upon 'Thor : Ragnarok'. Whilst the film takes the 'Thor' movie franchise off in a new direction, and the MCU for that matter, the film retains many of the Thor touchstones including the action, the spectacle and the characterisation but freshens them up with a deadpan sense of humour, sarcasm, a wild ride and fun that is not out of place. For a hitherto little known New Zealand Director, Writer and Actor, Taika Waititi (whose previous credits include 'Boy', 'What We Do In The Shadows' and 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople'), what he has achieved here in his first big budget epic scale Hollywood picture is reinvigorate the Thor character and those around him, but reenergise the series and reestablish our faith in the MCU. Solid performances (if a little tongue in cheek at times), a good story, epic battles that are always preposterous but entertaining nonetheless, bold Direction and endless fun from start to finish - catch it on the big screen, and you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 26th October 2017.

With the release of 'Thor : Ragnarok' this week, and as Previewed below, this brings to a close the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie releases for 2017 following on from 'Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2' and 'Spider-Man : Homecoming' seen earlier this year. So what Superhero offerings do we have to look forward to in the coming years from the MCU? Shown below, is what we know so far on the cards for release over the next few years or in development either from the direct MCU or the periphery.
* 'Black Panther' - due in February 2018, Directed by Ryan Coogler and staring Patrick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther with Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.
* 'The New Mutants' - due in April 2018, Directed by Josh Boone and starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin/Majik, Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbaine, Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie/Canonball, Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot and Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage.


* 'Avengers : Infinity War, Part 1' - due in May 2018, Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring all the usual Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy suspects and Josh Brolin as Thanos.
* 'Deadpool 2' - due in June 2018, Directed by David Leitch and starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool.

* 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' - due in July 2018, Directed by Peyton Reed, and staring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/Wasp with Bobby Cannavale, Michale Pena, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburn, Walton Goggins and Michelle Pfeiffer.
* 'X-Men : Dark Phoenix' - due in November 2018, Directed by Simon Kinberg and starring Sophie Turner as Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix, with all the usual X-Men suspects returning from the more recent films.
* 'Gambit' - due in February 2019, Directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Channing Tatum as Remy LeBeau/Gambit.
* 'Captain Marvel' - due in March 2019, Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck and starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel.
* 'Avengers : Infinity War, Part 2' - due in May 2019, Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring all the usual Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy suspects and Josh Brolin as Thanos.
* 'Spider-Man : Homecoming 2' - due in July 2019, Directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
* 'Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3' - due in 2020, Directed by James Gunn, and starring all the usual Guardians suspects.
* Also reportedly in the works are 'Inhumans' that has been on again off again and 'Venom' supposedly Directed by Ruben Fleisher and starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom.

This week, with five new release movies to choose from, we kick start with a MCU Superhero offering that sees this particular hero down on his luck and fighting for his survival and that of his lands and his people; then an outwardly quite peaceful community is turned upside down when an inwardly corrupt underbelly of violence and corruption manifests itself; followed up by a WWII drama of the lengths ordinary people will go to to protect the life of an innocent; then a black dramedy about the power of social media and the impact upon two very different lives when they come together; and closing out with a French film of two women who share a connection with the same man and come to rely on each other for different reasons.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are here cordially invited to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and meanwhile, enjoy your big screen Odeon experience during the coming week.

'THOR : RAGNAROK' (Rated M) - this is the third film in the 'Thor' franchise and the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has been much hyped, keenly awaited and highly anticipated since the first trailers were released and New Zealander Taika Waititi was announced for Directing duties. With a production budget of US$180M and filmed largely at Australia's Gold Coast film studios, the film has already received largely positive press, hailing it the best of the three so far, ahead of its US release in early November, and its Australian release this week. The first two films in the series, 2011's 'Thor' and 2013's 'Thor : The Dark World' were made for a combined US$303M and grossed between them close to US$1.1B, so expectations are running high for this instalment. By way of a lesson into Norse mythology, Ragnarok is a series of future events, including a great battle, foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor and Loki), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Following such a cataclysmic event, the world will resurface afresh, renewed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors.

This film then, is set four years after the events of 'Thor: The Dark World', and two years following on from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. Here we find Thor (Chris Hemsworth), held captive on the planet Sakaar without his hammer Mjolnir. He is forced into a gladiatorial duel, which he must win, against an old friend, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in order to return to his home realm of Asgard in time to stop the villainous Hela, Thor's sister and Goddess of Death, who has been inadvertently released from prison where she has been locked away for the past few millennia (Cate Blanchett) and the impending Ragnarok, the end of all Asgardian civilisation. Also reprising their roles from previous films are Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange with Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster (one of the Elders of the Universe), Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Karl Urban as Skurge, Director Taika Waititi plays a MoCap stone creature Korg, and of course Stan Lee has his trademark cameo appearance. Sounds like a whole lotta fun, with Taika Waititi adding his own unique flavour to this film, which has already won over the Critics.

'SUBURBICON' (Rated MA15+) - here we have a crime comedy caper Directed by George Clooney and Co-Produced and Co-Written by him too with his other frequent scribing collaborators Joel and Ethan Coen, and Grant Heslov. The film had its World Premier screening at the Venice Film Festival in early September where it was in main competition, and then it screened too at the more recent Toronto International Film Festival, and is due for release in the US this week too, as it is here in Australia. The film has been in gestation for many years, having been written initially by the Coen brothers with Joel Silver way back in 1986 shortly after the release of their first film 'Blood Simple'. In 2005 it was reported that Clooney would Direct and star in the film, and twelve years later that goal is finally realised. Set in the peaceful, harmonious, sharing, caring community of Suburbicon with its picket fences, affordable housing, lush manicured lawns and clean leafy streets, it is the summer of 1959. The Lodge family - Gardner, and his wife Margaret (Matt Damon and Julianne Moore respectively) and their young family are living the idyllic life until a home invasion on the Lodge household sends the prefect nuclear family into a tailspin, leaving Gardner to navigate the town's dark and hidden core of deceit, violence and betrayal. Also starring Oscar Isaac, the film has so far received lacklustre Reviews.

'ANOTHER MOTHER'S SON' (Rated PG) - this British WWII drama film is based on a true story from the German occupied Channel Islands, and is Directed by Christopher Menaul. The film Premiered in London back in March this year and now gets a limited release in Australia. Telling the story set on the island of Jersey, Louisa Gould (Jenny Seagrove) hides an escaped young Russian PoW, Feodor 'Bill' Burriy (Julian Kostov) by secreting him away from the German forces for the duration of the war. As the war effort increases and it becomes evident that Churchill will not risk an assault on the Channel Islands to recapture the British soil, the island dwellers spirit starts to subside under the pressure of hunger, occupation and oppression. Against these very trying circumstances, Louisa battles to safeguard her family's sense of humanity, and to protect the Russian boy as if he was one of her own children. Also starring John Hannah, Ronan Keating and Susan Hampshire.

'INGRID GOES WEST' (Rated MA15+) - Directed and Co-Written by Matt Spicer this black comedy drama film Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year, had its Australian Premier at this years Sydney Film Festival, was released Stateside back in August and now arrives at selected Australian cinemas having so far grossed US$3M and received generally positive Reviews. The story here centres around young Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza), who after the death of her mother and a series of self-imposed personal setbacks in her life, decides to cut lose of her dead end no hope existence by moving out West to get to know her social media obsession, a Los Angeles social mover and shaker named Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olson). After a quick bond is forged between these unlikely new friends, the facade slowly begins to crack in both their lives with comically malicious results. Also starring O'Shea Jackson, Wyatt Russell and Billy Magnussen.

'THE MIDWIFE' (Rated PG) - here we have a French foreign language offering that Premiered out of competition at this years Berlin Film Festival back in February, was released in France at the end of March and has so far recovered just under US$6M from its US$8M budget outlay. Directed and written for the screen by Martin Provost, this film tells the story of Claire Breton (Catherine Frot) a stressed and up tight midwife who has dramas on going in both her work and her personal lives, who forms an unlikely friendship with Beatrice Sobo dite Sobolevski (Catherine Deneuve), the free-spirited, sensual mistress of her late father. Though complete opposite personalities, the two women come to count on each other after Beatrice reveals that she has brain cancer, and has no one else to turn to. What is Claire to do when confronted with such a predicament and when faced either with rejection or her sense of duty? Starring also Olivier Gourmet and Quentin Dolmaire as Simon, Claire's student aged son.

With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, taking in the third instalment in this popular MCU Superhero franchise, a comedy crime offering, a WWII drama, a commentary on the influence of social media and a foreign language film of a midwife and a mistress.  Remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephiles afterwards here at Odeon Online, and in the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-