The View From The Mountain

I have to admit that A Cure For Wellness slipped right under my radar when it was first released earlier this year. Mainly because the movie didn’t do very well, and quickly slinked out of theaters due to the bad box office. When I discovered that it had been directed by Gore Verbinski, I didn’t want to see it because I wasn’t a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean films that he made (granted, the first Pirates film was an enjoyable piece of fluff, but its countless sequels are a real slog to get through). But I was reminded that Verbinski also directed The Lone Ranger reboot, which I really liked (and I’m probably one of five people who do so), and he also helmed the superb remake of The Ring , starring Naomi Watts and a really scary videotape. A Cure For Wellness recalls The Ring in that it’s a horror movie with a burning mystery at its center. Verbinski pulls you in slowly, showing an office worker keeling over from a heart attack while working late one night. It turns out ...

I first saw the original Murder On The Orient Express back in the late seventies, maybe early eighties, on the then nascent cable TV, which was still pretty much unknown and struggling for viewers. My mother was an early subscriber, having been lured in with the idea of watching movies uncut, uninterrupted--and usually very late at night, which was when the cable channels would air the more racy, adult-themed stuff. Watching Murder On The Orient Express back then was my introduction not only to its hero, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but to his creator, Agatha Christie. And the movie imbued in me a deep fascination with the character that led me to seek out the Poirot books. The new film, which stars Kenneth Branagh as Poirot (and was directed by him as well), is extremely faithful to the original story--which meant that I knew going in who the killer would be. But that did not bother me; I was never one of these people who gets overly bent out of shape over spoilers. Because, ...

Thor Ragnarok is the third in the Thor series of superhero movies. Thor, the God of Thunder, was always a strange idea for a superhero. But director Kenneth Branaugh ( Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing ) did a great job at humanizing this character and making him relatable in the first Thor movie, by pumping up the Shakespearean aspects of the character. And while the second Thor film has its detractors (and understandably so) I still enjoyed it--despite the fact that it lacked the charm of the first film. For the third Thor flick, director Taika Waititi ( What We Do In The Shadows ) was brought in to bring a different take to the end film in this trilogy. And he did this in spades. He made a comedy. Thor: Ragnarok refers to the end of the world--namely the legend which refers to the end of the enchanted land of Asgard, Thor’s home, which falls under the domination of Hela, the goddess of death who is very well played by Cate Blanchett. Clad in a creepy/cool outfit that sprouts an...