Road to Infinity War - Phase 3 - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Coming off the back of Phase 2, the one main Avenger that people were not probably crying out for a threequel for, it was Thor.
He had made a promising debut in the original film in 2011 but lost his way in The Dark World, becoming rather dour and dull.
He had more success as part of the ensemble in the Avengers films, provided some excellent moments by Whedon who knew how to use him effectively e.g. "He's of Asgard and my brother.", "He killed 90 people", "He's adopted".
What Thor Ragnarok does so well is reinvent the character of Thor and take him in new directions but also remain grounded in the history of the MCU. For example, the moment that Loki leaps up in delight when Hulk grabs Thor and tosses him around, harking back to The Avengers.
Hemsworth had proved his comedic chops with a scene-stealing turn in the Ghostbusters remake/reboot/reimagining/sequel/whatever it technically was, so it was great to see Waititi harness this superpower for the purposes of good and Hemsworth delivered.
Not only is the character different but the entire film feels worlds (or realms) away from where Thor started his journey. When the first film was announced, there was a danger it could have been a bit too Flash Gordon-y but Kenneth Branagh gave the story a Shakespearean feel by focusing on the family drama side of things.
Director Taika Waititi captures the Eighties, fun, funky space adventure vibe perfectly and delivers Marvel first out-and-out comedy. Avengers has many funny, quotable lines, Ant-Man is very funny but this is a comic adventure through and through.
As already discussed, Hemsworth delivers on his comic promise and he is backed up by Waititi's hilarious revolutionary rock Korg, Mark Ruffalo is a great straight man and comic foil to Thor and then there is the cinematic treasure that is Jeff Goldblum as The Grandmaster, uh, Jeff Goldblum going full Goldblum.
Similar to What We Do In The Shadows, there was a lot of improvisation on set but the final film flows beautifully and there is never a sense of there were lots of scenes left on the cutting room floor.
While the comedy is at the forefront, it would not be a Thor movie without a family squabble for the throne and after a brief reconciliation with their father Odin, Thor and Loki are faced with a psychotic sister they did not know they had played with camp, crazy relish by Cate Blanchett. *Sounds very similar to the plot of the finale of Sherlock season 4*
In terms of the continuing build to Infinity War, it cleverly retcons a moment from the earlier Thor films which featured the Infinity Gauntlet, now in Thanos's possession, by having Hela knock it over and call it a "fake". It is also hinted that Loki, picks up the Tesseract before escaping Asgard which is what leads Thanos to their ship in the post-credit sting.
One suspects that things might not work out so well for the remaining Asgardians and we may have to say goodbye to some well-loved characters but only time will tell.
Until then, we still have a Hulking great slice of Ragnarok and Roll to enjoy.

Infinity Stone counter = 5

Annihilation (Netflix Originals) - review

Annihilation is a film about a team of scientists who enter "the Shimmer", an environmental disaster area of unknown origin, unsure if they will emerge from the other side.
Writer-Director Alex Garland must have felt a bit like that during the post-production process, wondering if the finished film would ever see the light of day.
The much publicised studio stories claim executives at Paramount felt the film was "too intellectual" and wanted Garland to make changes.
He refused and this resulted in them giving it a small, short theatrical run in America but giving Netflix the international rights.
Now this once again opens up the argument over the audience benefits of a non-theatrical release. 

Some are outraged that they cannot watch it on a cinema screen as the director intended. Others claim that by releasing on the streaming service, more people will watch it there than ever would in a cinematic environment.
Who is right? Well, in this particular case, both are right in some ways.
Following his Oscar-winning Ex_Machina, Garland has moved up in terms of scale from a theatrical three-way chamber piece on what it means to be human, to a much grander (wo)men on a mission story where a group of people (possibly literally) meet their maker.
Natalie Portman plays Lena, a biologist who's soldier husband (Oscar Isaac) has been missing in action for over a year. Consumed by grief, she is all but lost when one day he returns to her dazed and confused. Falling ill he is taking to a military base where she learns he is the only person to have returned from "the Shimmer". Wanting to know what happened to her husband, Lena volunteers to join a team heading in to find the source of the Phenomenon.
Inside the all-female team find plant and animal life that should not exist in nature, along with very real and dangerous threats to their existence, including each other. For the deeper they venture in to the area, the more their connection to reality starts to slip.
Annihilation is a film that was shot to be experienced on the big screen. It has some of the most stunning and visually arresting images you will see all year and some of the impact will understandably be lost if watching it on a laptop or iPhone for example. But its power is in no way diminished and the film's imagery and story will stay with audiences days after watching it.
It is certainly not a film that everyone will appreciate on an initial viewing. The trailer entices audiences in with a brief set up of the story and focuses on certain moments of action and horror but in reality the film has much more in common with films like Arrival and Under The Skin, with a hint of Event Horizon.
That is music to the ears of some film fans to be sure. Arrival and Under The Skin are both five star classics (even if Skin took a few viewings to truly appreciate) and Event Horizon is now a cult classic. However these are not instantly accessible films that found big audiences at the cinema. For Event Horizon in particular, it was the home video market where it truly came alive and that is where Annihilation has the opportunity to grow its potential fanbase.
While there will be some people who just don't get it, there will be some who find it akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey in its themes and messages about humanity. They will spread the word and build up its cult status for years to come. Potentially even organising underground guerilla screenings.
It's legacy on the science fiction genre certainly won't be annihilated. If anything, this is just the beginning!

5 stars