Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Director: Taika Waititi
Writers: Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Stan Lee
DOP: Javier Aguirresarobe
Cast: Chris Helmsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson

Thor is imprisoned in a random planet, ruled by a Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), and he has to engage with the Hulk in a gladiatorial fight there. His sister, the Goddess of death, Hela (Cate Blanchett) has taken over Asgard and Thor must race against time to prevent her from destroying Asgard and all his people.

I'm so proudly ignorant about these superheroes and their backstories that the superhero films that I enjoy tend to be origin stories (Batman Begins, Deadpool, Kick-Ass). The only exception I could think of is 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' which was more like a time travel film that worked pretty well as a standalone entity. I only decided to check this one out because of the good reviews it got and it is directed by Taika Waititi. I was quite underwhelmed by it till about one-third into it, only silverlining being the use of Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song'. I'm so well versed with these Norse Gods that I thought Ragnarok was like second name of Thor. Things began to pickup with the introduction of Jeff Goldblum's character and the film is at its best after Mark Ruffalo version of Hulk makes its introduction. I didn't recognize it was Cate Blanchett who was chewing up the scenery as Hela.

Overall, it is a pretty good watch even if you don't give a rat's arse about Marvel Cinematic Universe or its characters. Taika Waititi doesn't take things seriously at all and it is good fun. They've supposedly improvised a lot of lines while shooting and that is quite surprising. Apart from Immigrant Song, some of the music reminded me of the Matrix series.

Rating: 3.25/5

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Directors: Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Writers:    Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Cast:        Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh

Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jermaine Clement)- three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life's obstacles-like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood in Wellington, New Zealand. 

It can be called a horror comedy mockumentary film with minimal involvement from the ones wielding camera. At the start of the film, the centuries old vampires are little out of touch with the 21st century. Since they cannot see themselves in the mirror they have to rely on drawings while dressing up. When they inadvertently converts one of their victims into a vampire, the recent vampire with the help of his computer expert human friend introduces them into the cutting edge technologies like camera, phones, Skype and internet (to do their dark bidding on eBay) . The initial good feeling is replaced by disillusionment as the  amateurishness of the recent vampire leads them into some trouble. The plot is  wafer thin but the humor works well for it to make it a great watch. It also helps that over the course of the film they explain various aspects in which vampires differ from us humans and this would serve us very well when we watch other vampire films. I am not a huge fan of the genre but we are at a stage where the big shitty Twilight franchise is over and we are getting some very good vampire films from very good directors. 'Only Lovers Left Alive' from Jim Jarmusch is among my favorites of this year and 'Let the right one in' is another good one from yesteryear's. All three represent three takes on the genre and all of them are great.

Jermaine Clement of the director duo was involved with the TV series 'Flight of the Conchords' which I have not seen. I think this is the first film I have seen set in New Zealand (LoTR does not count). Andrew Dominik is from New Zealand and is a favorite director of mine but i don't think any of the films that I have seen from him is set there (Chopper is the only real candidate but that was set in Australia). 

Rating: 4/5