Reel News: Week of Nov. 4 — Thor: The Dark World, Grown Ups 2, White House Down

Upcoming Theatrical Releases

Thor: The Dark World
Director: Alan Taylor
PG-13; 112 mins.
Trailer

Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embarkon his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all. (Synopsis by Disney)

A mediocre mess of a film, but it’s at least enjoyable. The second installment does nothing to move the franchise forward and will be lost in the shuffle of “Avenger’s” spin-offs. Yet there is enough CGI carnage and humor to get by. The biggest crime might be not having a series starring Loki: Tom Hiddleston steals every scene he is in. See it.

Upcoming DVD Releases

Grown Ups 2
Director: Dennis Dugan
PG-13; 101 mins.
Trailer

The all-star comedy cast from Grown Ups returns (with some exciting new additions) for more summertime laughs. Lenny (Adam Sandler) has relocated his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up. This time around, the grown ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises: the last day of school. (Synopsis by Sony)

Farce. (noun) 1. A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. 2. A pathetic attempt at a script that replaces actual humor with unrelenting crassness without any attempt at continuity. Even the poster makes you sad that this got made. Skip it.

White House Down
Director: Roland Emmerich
PG-13; 137 mins.
Trailer

While on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, a Capitol policeman springs into action to save his child and protect the president from a heavily armed group of paramilitary invaders. (Synopsis by IMDB)

Initial reaction: they needed more than two hours to mash up “Die Hard” and “Independence Day?” As by-the-book an action movie as you’ll ever see. Most of the film is so dangerously close to a parody of itself, one wonders if it would have been better just jumping over that line altogether. Skip it.