The Film

I remember the anticipation of seeing Hannibal for the first time in theaters back in 2001. It had been ten years since seeing man-eating psychologist Hannibal Lecter escaped from FBI agent Clarice Starling and the authorities in Silence of the Lambs. So I was elated, going in to see Hannibal…but then left the theater 2+ hours later, feeling equally unfulfilled. Upon a second viewing ten years later on Blu Ray, I have a better idea of why.

The fun begins when the attendant from Lecter’s sanitarium, Barney (Frankie Faison), visits the extravagant mansion of Mason Verger (Gary Oldman) and sells him the iconic Hannibal mask. We then go to a heart-stopping action scene with Clarice Starling (now played by Julianne Moore) as she and a band of police rescue a baby held by a drug gang. Soon we find Hannibal hiding out as a curator in the picturesque library in Rome with inspector Renaldo Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini) in contact with Starling and hot on his trail. Director Ridley Scott gives us what feels like a “bigger” film.  In addition to enormous sets, we also get a more stylized look than Silence. A lot of slow motion, strobe effects, iconic shots, etc. There’s also a well-edited opening credit sequence that stands on its own as a creepy surreal, surveillance video, but has little to do with the story.

Anthony Hopkins plays Lecter a little more for laughs this time, a far cry from his creepy performance from behind the glass in Silence. Julianne Moore is solid as Starling, but a lack of screen time with Hopkins in this sequel contributes to a lack of chemistry between Starling and Lecter.  Ray Liotta is Starling’s nemesis, Justice Department agent Paul Krendler. Gary Oldman is unrecognizable as the deformed, cartoonish Mason Verger who pulls the strings from his wheelchair. Giancarlo Giannini is the highlight of the film as Inspector Pazzi, whose selfish greed in collecting the bounty on Lecter’s head results in his own horrible demise.

The ingredients were in place for cinematic greatness, but Hannibal winds up being a beautiful shell with no emotional core. All in all, when I watch Silence, I feel like I’m right there with Starling, experiencing her terror. With Hannibal, I feel equally disconnected, on the outside, being constantly reminded that I’m watching a movie.

The Blu-Ray:

Audio/Video: Looks flawless and DTS-HD 5.1 sounds crisp

Special Features: not so special. All we get here are trailers for The Silence of the Lambs, The Usual Suspects, and Bulletproof Monk.

The Flick: Rating: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu Ray: Rating: Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Better off, huh? Well, that script is getting reworked and it’s now called Solace, which will star Anthony Hopkins as a detective in this serial killer genre film. No director has been attached yet, but sources say Peter Morgan wrote the most recent draft. Morgan wrote the Oscar-nominated The Queen and Frost/Nixon.

So no Se7en 2, but are you interested in a serial killer thriller in which Hopkins isn’t the villain?

Source: MovieHole

The Film:

Based on a 2009 book called The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio, The Rite tackles exorcism in the least theatrical of ways. As Fr. Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) says during an exorcism: “What were you expecting? Spinning heads and pea soup?” But that’s The Rite‘s downfall. It’s fairly average in these terms of cinematic boos we’ve now been accustomed too, in thanks to The Exorcist and its zillion clones.

Mikael Håfström tries to make the most out of a film that’s idea is more interesting theologically than cinematic. The Rite is moody and well-acted, even if Hopkins overshadows the film’s lead, newcomer Colin O’Donoghue. Doubt is religion’s old friend. Without doubt, we wouldn’t seek the truth, either spiritually or logically, which makes for an interesting if not well-worn angle for an exorcism film. It’s no wonder Christian websites are praising the film. The film opens strongly, in terms of narrative conflict and interest. What if the Devil is real? What would we do with this knowledge? Well, if the film’s tag line is to be believed the Catholic Pope has order a new seminar for a select group of priests to re-learn the rites of exorcism.

In the recent years, it seems as if the Catholic Church wouldn’t be handling such hokum as demons and possessions, since The Church seems to be going about such things logically (well, within their own doctrine and beliefs). So this sets up The Rite for a foundation of some good old fashion battles of Good/Evil, Faith/Doubt, yet the film never fully grasp its premise, but instead falters back to the same ‘ol, same ‘ol of exorcism films.

Håfström suffers from conventionality again. In his over-praised 1408, he was close to making a great ghost film, but much like here in The Rite, by the end of the film, both become typical of their sub-genres. Most will be bored into confession, if it wasn’t for Anthony Hopkins chewing scenery and making the mundane interesting – to a point. Just as it picks up steam, The Rite loses it, although it might be the more realistic look at the long, drawn-out nature of recorded exorcisms. If you believe that stuff…

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Warner does a superb job here, especially since the picture was intended to be drab, with shadows oozing everywhere. Details are high, as is clarity. The DTS track is rather thumping surprisingly, given the dramatic nature of most of the film. Moody, atmospheric, bass heavy, everything needed to be immersive and spooky.

The Rite: Solider of God: This could’ve been neat. It runs 7 minutes in HD and features mandated exorcist Father Gary Thomas, who talks about his first-hand exorcism experiences, yet it’s rather fluffy and is nothing more than PR.

Don’t get too excited for the Deleted Scenes and Alternative Ending, since they’re nothing special. The DVD and Digital Copy round out the extras of this combo set.

The Film: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The film’s aim is to introduce the audience to Thor, for those who are fans of the comics and to those who haven’t read a comic book. It goes for the widest appeal, and it manages to fit a lot in for its running time while not over loading on us. We quickly get introduced to our characters, we see Jane first up and we find who she is and what she’s doing. Thor shows up and soon enough we find out who he is and how he got there. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) gives some voice over narration and explains what Asgard is (one of nine realms), and how he as King stopped the frost giants from turning Earth into a giant ice planet. He has two sons Thor and Loki (Tom Hiddlestone), they both want to become King one day but only one will be able to lift the Mjolnir (the hammer). The time comes and Thor proves to be the successor, but before that can happen the frost giants invade Asgard in an attempt to steal a relic. Their attempt is stopped, but Thor is hot headed and he defies his father. His actions force Odin to banish Thor to Earth, removing all of his powers. The Mjolnir is also taken away from Thor and it can only be lifted by a worthy warrior. So Thor and the hammer land, he meets Jane and crew as he tries to work out how he can get back. At the same time his loyal friends plan to get Thor back, while Loki has his own plans to become King. Add S.H.I.E.L.D. into the mix and you’ve got yourself an action packed film.

I hope I have not revealed too much, but it is hard to review this film without revealing a bit of the plot. The film, as I said, uses both Earth and Asgard, so we have simultaneous stories happening. Everything though is connected, and as the film progresses the stakes are raised. Firstly, I have to say that the film looked outstanding, Asgard looked just beautiful.  The Earth setting was great as well, it had an ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ feel to it. The effects are top notch. The film delivered on the action and adventure, if you want to see Thor fight with the Mjolnir you won’t be disappointed. I was quite surprised at how much action was actually included, so this is a feast for the eyes and ears, and I believe this is going to set a new standard.

Chris Hemsworth was a great choice for Thor. He was charismatic and charming, as well as being quite bad-ass. Natalie Portman made for a great Jane, she was believable in the role. Portman and Hemsworth shared a very natural chemistry together, it was cute without being annoying or out of place. Kat Dennings was there to be some comedy relief, and she worked for the most part, although I could have done without her character. Stellan Skarsgård is good, he is there to keep Jane grounded and it works. The scene between his character and Thor at a bar is very memorable. Clark Gregg reprises his role as Agent Coulson, you can see he loves playing this role.

Over to Asgard, the stand out for me was Tom Hiddlestone as Loki. It is a role that could have easily have become cheesy and hammy, yet he managed to avoid that. He made Loki a very sympathetic character, instead of just being a cardboard cut out character there was some depth there. Anthohy Hopkins as Odin is what you’d expect, he chews the scenery but he does a great job doing it. I loved him as Odin, he suited it perfectly.

Kenneth Branagh seemed like a very odd choice of director given his past films. Thor has an epic feel to it, and it really needed to as well. Considering all the elements at play, would you really want anything less? He managed to balance action with drama, and adventure with humor in just the right amounts that nothing wears out its welcome. This film is a fantastic addition to the comic book adaptation world, and there is just enough set up there to get excited for The Avengers. Thor is definitely on par with the first Iron Man.

A note on the 3D: This film did not need to be in 3D, there is no reason for it to be. The 3D experience really took away from what a great film this is. The problem being, this was not shot for 3D and while this conversion looks pretty good, it still suffers from blurs during the action and can possibly be headache-inducing. My recommendation is to see this in 2D where possible, the 3D is nothing more than an excuse to inflate ticket prices.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

You can check out the rest of the gallery at Comic Book Movies.

Thor opens on May 6th.

* Alternate ending (BD-exclusive)

* The Rite: Soldier of God – meet Father Gary Thomas, the Vatican-ordained exorcist whose life story inspired the film (BD-exclusive)

* Additional scenes

Source: Blu-ray

“The only stumbling block seems to be the number of films he is signing up for. There is a chance the character they want him to play could become a regular feature, like Blofeld back in the day,” according to the tabloid’s source.

Blofeld was a reoccurring villain for Bond, played by numerous actors by Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray and Max von Sydow, among others. It was initially a convention of the films not to show Blofeld’s face, only a closeup of him stroking his white Persian cat. This lead to spoofs like Austin Powers‘ Dr. Evil.

With Javier Bardem and possibly Ralph Fiennes in roles (here and here), could this be shaping up to be the best Bond yet? Yes.

Thor opens on May 6th.

Mikael Håfström tries to make the most out of a film that’s idea is more interesting theologically than cinematic. The Rite is moody and well-acted, even if Hopkins overshadows the film’s lead, newcomer Colin O’Donoghue. Doubt is religion’s old friend. Without doubt, we wouldn’t seek the truth, either spiritually or logically, which makes for an interesting if not well-worn angle for an exorcism film. It’s no wonder Christian websites are praising the film. The film opens strongly, in terms of narrative conflict and interest. What if the Devil is real? What would we do with this knowledge? Well, if the film’s tag line is to be believed the Catholic Pope has order a new seminar for a select group of priests to re-learn the rites of exorcism.

In the recent years, it seems as if the Catholic Church wouldn’t be handling such hokum as demons and possessions, since The Church seems to be going about such things logically (well, within their own doctrine and beliefs). So this sets up The Rite for a foundation of some good old fashion battles of Good/Evil, Faith/Doubt, yet the film never fully grasp its premise, but instead falters back to the same ‘ol, same ‘ol of exorcism films.

Håfström suffers from conventionality again. In his over-praised 1408, he was close to making a great ghost film, but much like here in The Rite, by the end of the film, both become typical of their sub-genres. Most will be bored into confession, if it wasn’t Anthony Hopkins chewing scenery and making the mundane interesting – to a point. Just as it picks up steam, The Rite loses it, although it might be the more realistic look at the long, drawn-out nature of recorded exorcisms. If you believe that stuff…

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The book details all the aspects of the creation of Psycho, and the script which has been written by John McLaughlin will focus on Hitchcock’s relationship with his wife Alma Reville. We will keep you updated on the progress of this film, and soon enough we will find out if Hopkins and Gervasi ink a deal.

Source: THR

Source: Warner Bros Pictures YouTube

Source: STYD

Official Synopsis: Inspired by true events, “The Rite” follows skeptical seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue), who reluctantly attends exorcism school at the Vatican. While in Rome, he meets an unorthodox priest, Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who introduces him to the darker side of his faith. Directed by Mikael Hafstroem (“1408″), “The Rite” is a supernatural thriller that uncovers the devil’s reach to even one of the holiest places on Earth.

Click the picture below to view the trailer, once an embeddable video is available we’ll add it for you.

Source: Apple Trailers