Movie Junction

“Thor: Tales of Asgard” (2011) is a direct-to-video release, closely following on the heels of the much-anticipated blockbuster, “Thor.” Based on a popular character by Marvel Comics, this animated title presents an interesting tale occurring during Thor’s youthful days. Marketing itself with a tag line, “Before the hammer…came the sword,” the film can be perceived as a prequel or as an extension to Thor’s character. Needless to say, “Tales of Asgard” has an interesting mix of action, magic, drama, and technology marvel to keep us mildly interested in Thor’s journey. The story revolves around Thor embarking on a mission to retrieve a powerful weapon popularly known as the Sword of Sutur. Thor is joined by his loyal brother Loki, along with other warriors. Together they sail on stormy seas, travel on horses through dangerous terrain, and meet powerful enemies along the way. We meet several characters: the King of Odin, Thor, Loki, Algrin, the Frost Giants, and Brunhilde. A big battl...

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu should be crowned the undisputed King of Pain. I am not talking about a WWF champion who derives pleasure from inflicting pain on his opponents, but a director whose every movie is about representing pain through characters caught in hopeless, intertwining situations. For instance, Iñárritu’s last two movies, “21 Grams” (2003) and “Babel” (2006), have been about interconnecting stories; obviously, not happy ones. Nothing in his movies is joyful, and his characters hardly laugh, let alone smile. OK, I lied about the last part, since “Biutiful” has one happy sequence in which all the characters laugh, although momentarily. Using multiple story lines and characters, Iñárritu’s films are always loaded with sappy drama, melodramatic moments, and manipulative emotional situations--ultimately making the films utterly depressive. These fundimental elements worked in his last two movies, although I am not too wild about “Babel.” Integrating similar themes ...

Following in the footsteps of the two most-successful documentaries in the BBC’s history, “Planet Earth” and “Life”, “Human Planet” is an eight-part series that explores the relationship between human beings and nature. Aired originally in January 2011, “Human Planet” is an ambitious project and a daredevil filmmaking exercise. The filmmakers have gone above and beyond to cover every aspect of Mankind’s interaction with nature. They travelled to remote, dusty, barren lands; climbed far-off, snowcapped mountains; sailed on violent seas; and filmed near deadly volcanic eruptions. In the process, they risked their lives. Clearly, their hard work--in spite of several challenges along the way--makes this series a unique experience that merits its own place among other successful nature documentaries. The series is based on capturing moments of humans hunting for food, braving stormy weathers, and surviving in hard climatic conditions. In addition, each episode is a collection of eight-t...

The “Fast and the Furious” series continues its amazing run with the latest offering, 2011’s “Fast Five.” Among the five films released so far, the series has accumulated over $830 million at the box office. The series has an average fresh rating of 50% assigned by the Rotten Tomatoes reviewers, and each movie released in the series is worse than its predecessor. So far, critics have been favorable to “Fast Five,” and as a result, it has mustered a healthy rating of 81% at Rotten Tomatoes. As always, moviegoers looking for fun and entertainment don’t pay much attention to critics. Looking at the box-office numbers, no one will argue about the huge fan base this series has created in the last decade. There are two things that make the series fairly entertaining: Vin Diesel and cars. “Fast Five” is a crossover movie that mixes themes from “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968), “Bullit” (1968), “The Italian Job” (1969), and “The Getaway” (1972). This makes “Fast Five” a derivative action m...

“Cougars, Inc” (2010) is a straight-to-Blu-ray release, directly bypassing an official theatrical release.  Well, this might be a good thing. There is no reason to watch this movie except for the inclusion of two popular actors: James Belushi and Denise Richards. Some people might argue about Richards’s acting credentials, but there is no doubt she still has the power to draw audiences. She became famous--of course, for all the wrong reasons--following the cult success of “Wild Things.” And anyone who has ever watched “According to Jim” or early “Saturday Night Live” pretty much knows James Belushi.  The movie was produced with a million-dollar budget, owing to the presence of these two stars. It’s an unusually high budget, considering the film’s quality and that the film was only released for home consumption. First, we meet Sam (Kyle Gallner), who has been kicked out of every high school in the country. Running short of cash, Sam cannot afford to pay his tuition fees ...