By Odin's Beard (Out this week - 29/04/11)

Summer's Here!!! We know this not because certain birds are singing, or flowers budding, or even the increasing temperature, but becuase the cinema schedules tell us so. The first of the tentpole movies has been unleased onto the unsuspecting movie public today (although actually it's been on at UK cinemas since Monday) and what with the positive reviews, and the fact that it's the one comic book adaptation this year that interests me, I'm going to say the movie of the week is Thor.



Thor

Marvel have cornered this end of the blockbuster season, with the Norse God taking over the spot from Iron Man last year, even the marketing here in the UK has emphasised this is from the same studio. Chris Hemsworth is the headline but quality supporting turns from Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins should be expected.

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Cedar Rapids

Indie comedy starring Ed Helms ("The Office", Hangover) as a naive insurance salesman sent to the annual insurance convention. Unfortunately he meets up with other, less strait-laced colleagues - including John C. Reilly - who slowly begin to push him towards an inevitable breakdown. Sigourney Weaver also stars.

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Farewell

True life spy story about the eponymously codenamed Russian who slipped secrets to his CIA counterparts in 1981. Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica plays our anti-hero with Guillame Canet, Willem Dafoe and Fred Ward among those using his info to good use. Solid looking movie that highlights a lesser-known element of the closing of the cold war.

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I Saw the Devil

Kim Jee-woon flips genre's agian with this Korean revenge movie to end all Korean revenge movies. The plot essentially involves a cop who repeated captures and tortures a killer before letting him go and starting the process again. Expect lots of gore.

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Insidious

Original Saw director James Wan has teamed up with Paranormal Activity producer for a derivative horror that's still managed to make back something like 30 times it's budget in US cinemas alone. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne have a haunted son, Barbara Hershey comes along for the ride.

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Chalo Dilli

A Bollywood version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles with a cool headed female protagonist finding herself travelling with the ladies man from hell. Akshay Kumar has a supporting role which should guarantee a crowd.

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Shadow

Italian horror movie, that's taken a couple of years to secure a UK release. Concerns a young soldier on a biking expedition running into some unsavoury locals who like nothing more than chopping up strangers. You have to wonder if there really are weidos like that in every rural space?

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Tracker

Ray Winston is a Boer (who does this casting?) paid to find Maori murder suspect Temeura Morrison in this UK/New Zealand co-production. That's a great combo of actors and the film hints at British war atrocities during the empire's heyday however there's a definite sense of familiarity over the whole project.

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The Veteran

Messy looking british movie about an Afganistan vet (Toby Kebbell) finding it difficult to adjust to life in the council estates following his repatriation. It all ends in mass gunfights with marauding hoodies and Brian Cox. Unlikely to be a subtle investigation into the struggles our troops face.

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Naturally I missed a couple out from last week:

Island

Janet McTeer, Colin Morgan and Natalie Press are the torn apart family rediscovering each other and working through their differences in this drama set on a lonely Scottish island.

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Ko

Tamil movie that opens with a bank heist and from then on proverbial really hits the fan. Frankly Tamil releases are even harder to find a synopsis for than other Bollywood entries and the trailers bonkers crazy so that's all I can give you.

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