Film Round Up, Part IV

Another quick dive through several films I've watched recently... 

Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) –- clunky title aside -– smartly carries the story of a boy warrior (Jay Berchanal) and his pet dragon, the former coming of age and discovering a family secret even his own father did not know. If “Dragon” 1 was a wondrous adventure for the young set, this chapter is for pre-teens mature enough to know adventure often brings crushing hurt along with glory. B+

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is the classically warped film noir with detective Mike Hammer tracking the ID of a woman he meets in the road, hours before she dies. This Hammer (Ralph Meeker) is too GQ clean -– I get it, Hayes Code -– but he can play cruel, within the Hayes Code. The famous leftward climactic turn is one of the great WTF movie moments, inspiring even “Pulp Fiction.” Quite a “Twilight Zone” trip. A-

Wrath of the Titans (2013) is a massive step-up from its predecessor, 2010’s “Clash of the Titans.” I gave that miserable CGI bore a C+, and was generous to do so. Somehow it begat a sequel, but -– shocker -– this chapter improves as Perseus (Sam Worthington) heads Down Under to the Underworld to save dad Zeus (Liam Neeson) from death. It’s still a CGI overload, dumb as hell (good guys fight demons with... fire?!!?), but it’s got a more humorous wink-wink vibe, and Neeson and Ralph Fiennes (as Hades) ham it up wonderfully. B

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