Every so often, and usually without warning, you see a film that’s loaded with so much movie magic — such perfect pace, execution, story, and unadulterated spectacle — you immediately want to go back through the turnstiles and take another ride. Thor: Ragnarok, from the wildly hilarious and imaginative mind of filmmaker Taika Waititi, is such a film. Thor 3 raises the bar, not just for Marvel, and not just for action comedies — which it all but redefines — but for blockbusters at large. We’ll be talking about the franchise-reinventing film (spoiler free, of course) on the podcast today, and how it just might be the best Marvel movie ever made.
But of course, there’s much more to the show this week than just gushing over Thor (though we’re sure we could fill the hour easily with that alone). There are actually other films on the theater docket this weekend besides “the best-reviewed Marvel movie ever,” including a so-far 100 percenter on Rotten Tomatoes called Lady Bird. The period piece — if you can call a film set in 2002 a period piece — from director Greta Gerwig is getting rave reviews. It’s the personal story about a mother-daughter relationship that takes a wider look at the country as a whole in a time of shifting ideals as America dove into multiple “wars on terror.” We’d suggest skipping that one and seeing Thor for now, but there’s no doubt it should be a great chunk of storytelling.
Also in theaters this week is Rob Reiner’s LBJ, starring Woody Harrelson as the titular president. The film is getting panned, however, so we’d say it’s another one to save for later — if at all.
Getting back to Waititi, the director’s first movie to hit our radar, What We Do in the Shadows, may be getting the series treatment. The vampire mockumentary, which barely tipped the scales in theaters, is perhaps one of the best of its kind since 1984’s This is Spinal Tap, the genre-defining film from Christopher Guest. After his triumph with Thor, we’re pretty sure Waititi will be getting a blank check from whomever sits in the office of any studio threshold he crosses, so we’re going to go ahead and say this series is a go. We’re hoping it will land at HBO, where the co-director of What We do in the Shadows, one Jemaine Clement, already has a cozy relationship, but that’s yet to be seen.
And of course, we can’t neglect the latest Star Wars: Episode VIII — Last Jedi trailer, which reveals much more, and yet asks more questions at the same time. At this point, we’re just starting to get worried about what this film will mean for the Jedi as a whole, not only in the franchise but in the nostalgia-laden memories from our childhood, and we just want answers. They won’t come until December 15, of course, so we’ll have to just direct our attention elsewhere — patience is a virtue, as they say.
We’ll be talking about much more this week, including a Superman prequel series from FX, The Lion King live-action reboot featuring Beyoncé(why?), Kit Harington’s very British miniseries, American Vandal season 2, and more.
So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top.
