THE LADY IS HIRED, PATTY JENKINS DIRECTING THOR 2

I'd really be interested to learn what it is Marvel sees in a non-action indie director like her. A weird & fascinating choice.

Yeah, I'm down with this. Monster's a pretty great movie, and she must have some impressive ideas for the franchise for Marvel to pick her. Really is the most left-field choice yet for a Marvel movie, but the unexpectedness of it will probably yield a more interesting film. And with her indie roots, particularly with such difficult material, I don't believe she'll be easily bullied by them either.

I have not seen MONSTER, but I find myself quite distressed to see THOR director Kenneth Branagh chucked overboard. Marvel has a pretty crummy track record of treating their directors with respect behind the scenes, and after I listened to Branagh's passionate, open and fascinating commentary track on the THOR disc, I have a greater appreciation for what he brought to the film. He will be sorely missed, and it looks like Patty Jenkins will have her work cut out for her trying to fill his shoes

Maybe Branagh isn't the type of director who does sequels.

But is she Scandanavian?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saitou Hajime 

Maybe Branagh isn't the type of director who does sequels.

On the THOR track he says he would love to do more work in the THOR universe and hopes he can work with MARVEL again. He also basically implies he wouldn't mind a crack at AVENGERS

So glad Branagh's not returning. I found his overuse of Dutch angles in "Thor" visually exhausting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saitou Hajime 

Maybe Branagh isn't the type of director who does sequels.

I didn't even notice it, and when I did, it felt appropriate to the material (just MHO). Compare that to something like HBO's JOHN ADAMS which was plagued with horrible off kilter angles in virtually every frame of the miniseries, and I think Branagh brought an excellent visual style to the story (when his ambitions were not being hemmed in by Marvel's penny pinching). Reminded me of his operatic approach to MARY SHELLY'S FRANKENSTEIN

Different strokes and all that though

EDIT And beyond the angles, when you listen to the track you see how so much of what you see on screen was crafted by Branagh at every turn. He really helped shape the film, including everything that works about the characters and their interplay 

Look i'm all for females doing movies. I appreciated Punisher War Zone and really like Kathryn Bigelow.

That said the director of Monster? Doesn't interest me in any way 0% interest in this now.

Branagh actually did phenomenal work all told. There was a glaring hole in the action department though and the director of Monster I don't expect to fill that.

I'll be glad to be proven wrong in 2013. Good luck Marvel and Ms Jenkins.

Here's hoping a woman at the helm means that Portman will get to do more than act like Thor's cheerleader.  I'm down with this choice.

Monster was great. The visual vocabulary that she set for that shitshow was great although grossly misused as the season went on. This is interesting. Very interesting. But no Portman. The world demands more Sif.

HarleyQuinn22, It is too bad that Natalie Portman won her Oscar for the...Overrated Black Swan!  She was much more appealing in...THOR!  THOR was...Awesome!  I am looking forward to THOR 2, and I hope Patty Jenkins is up to the challenge of  a...Journey Into Mystery with...THOR, Jane, The Warriors Three, and Lady Sif!

Whoa, I just found out that Jenkins directed the Tom Jane/house building episode of Arrested Development!

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarleyQuinn22 

Here's hoping a woman at the helm means that Portman will get to do more than act like Thor's cheerleader.  I'm down with this choice.

Indeed. Since Monster was one of the only films I've seen in the last ten years that actually deals with gender seriously and with an incredibly adept critical eye, I would be disappointed if we don't get some kind of gender-based dimension in Thor 2. I mean, surely Jenkins picked up on all the bordering-on-absurd phallic imagery of Thor's hammer and the ways in which it is the "ultimate" symbol of masculinity for these characters. I mean, it's positioned as Thor's mojo, and the fact that his father-figure Odin is basically the arbiter of his manhood, capable of withholding it or delivering it at will, is incredibly Oedipal. And, it becomes even more incestuous and Freudian when you hear Branagh talk about the deliberately flirtatious dimension he sought to add to the Thor-Frigga relationship, most of which ended up on the cutting-room floor...

Basically, a gender-conscious director could have a field day with these characters and this mythology. If anybody seems like they could deliver on that, it would probably be Jenkins.

Edit to add: On the subject of Thor getting his hammer back, it's amazing how quickly his relationship with Portman goes from completely chaste (lying on separate lawn chairs, looking at the stars together, no kissing except politely and courteously on the hand) although w/ some tension, to being aggressively sexualized immediately after he gets Mjolnir/his mojo back. He gets it back and only then does the physical aspect come into it, complete with him grabbing her by the waist and literally pulling her to him in a complete expression of what is arguably dominance. It's as if the hammer itself is complicit in the sexual consummation of their relationship and in reinstating a gender hierarchy -- without it, he is impotent and incapable of functioning as a sexualized masculine figure.

That is a damn great post, JMulder.

As for Jenkins, she's a brave choice. I don't get how her previous work qualifies her to direct a 100m+ fantasy action movie, but following that will be more interesting than say... Pierre Morel or Len Wiseman.

When I first saw Thor, I actually thought that Portman brought the dominance once Thor got his mojo back.  Thor, aside from the trappings of getting his powers back, still operated in a chivalrous manner.  It seemed that Portman was the one who just forcefully pulled Thor into a kiss.  Thor was for the romance.  Portman was hot to trot.

But aside from that, great post, JMulder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

When I first saw Thor, I actually thought that Portman brought the dominance once Thor got his mojo back.  Thor, aside from the trappings of getting his powers back, still operated in a chivalrous manner.  It seemed that Portman was the one who just forcefully pulled Thor into a kiss.  Thor was for the romance.  Portman was hot to trot.

 

But aside from that, great post, JMulder.

Jane is hot to trot once she sees the size of his hammer.