The Intern

You gawkin' at me?

Grade: B –

Director: Nancy Meyers

Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm, JoJo Kushner, Andrew Rannells, Adam DeVine and Zack Pearlman

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr. 1 min.

The tableau of The Intern unspools like the unofficial sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, with Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs now the ambitious yet affable head of her own e-commerce fashion company, herself forced to balance the demands of work and family. In truth, the two main characters in this latest feathery film from writer-director Nancy Meyers shrewdly project the two actors playing them.

Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is a 70-year-old widower retired from a 40-year career in the phone book production business. Ben wiles away his lonesome days with 7:30 a.m. coffee at Starbucks, tai chi and periodic trips to San Diego to visit his son and grandchildren (none of whom we meet, curiously). He’s used up all his airline miles and, he fears, his usefulness.

A flyer advertising a Senior Internship Program at the Brooklyn-based workplace of About The Fit catches Ben’s eye. A video resume later and Ben milling around the company’s refurbished digs and assigned to Jules Ostin (Hathaway), its founder. Jules is the sort of spunky stereotype who bikes to and inside the office (a quirk that totally vanishes as quickly as it's introduced) and ventures to the shipping warehouse to correct the way they fold the tissue paper. She's also the sort of workaholic whose career detracts from life with her moppet and stay-at-home husband/dad, Matt (Anders Holm, with a performance that’s forgettable in real time).

The hook is that Ben’s snappy charcoal suits, 1973 attaché briefcase and flip phone stand in sharp relief to today’s casual Millennial milieu. Predictably, Ben shows the young'uns a thing or two and proves the deus ex machina for Jules’ home and work woes, including a looming decision whether to hire a CEO (from all male candidates, a gender dynamic never explored) to relieve Jules’ workload and further grow her 18-month-old clothing enterprise.

Jules, like Hathaway, is a female rising star in a male-dominated corporate world whose career success has coincided with dark times in her romantic relationships. Ben, like De Niro, is a former titan of his industry seemingly rendered obsolete by age and changing culture. Neither De Niro nor Hathaway appear at ease here when isolated on camera or with other castmates. However, there’s palpable, platonic chemistry whenever they’re paired off, and the parallels with their characters subtly surface during their byplay.

That said, The Intern is still a treacly, ethnically homogeneous Nancy Meyers joint (see also: Something’s Gotta Give, It’s Complicated, and The Holiday) with missteps massive and minuscule. A mid-film sequence involving an errant e-mail Jules sends her unseen mother devolves into a heist op that undercuts Jules and Ben’s characterizations. Ben’s dalliance with Fiona, the flirty office masseuse (right …) played by Rene Russo, is a needless subplot that begins with a back rub turned De Niro chubby, something I could have gone my whole life without seeing.

And while De Niro and Hathaway are terrific, their amiable characters are ultimately uncomplicated. Jules has professional and personal obstacles, but nothing that time and a few tweaks don’t tidily resolve by film’s end. And Ben’s sage sensei comes sans any background messiness. He’s the embalmed embodiment of a romanticized era, where men were men and women, well, can be men, too.

Thor: The Dark World

Ooooh, Imma tell Anikan

Grade: C

Director: Alan Taylor

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgard

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr.

The delicate balance between independence and exposition that the current Marvel Cinematic Universe has heretofore mastered flies off the rails in Thor: The Dark World. In many ways, the first Thor outing was the key contributor to the spectacularly popular Marvel’s The Avengers, from one of its heroes to its panoply of foes. The same with probably be the case with Thor 2, with lots of yammer about Aether and Infinity Stones and a convergence of interstellar realms. But, the fish-out-of-water charm of the Thor, the Mighty Avenger (which carried over The Avengers) gets lost in the blur of this special effects-laden hodge podge filtered through a production that includes three credited screenwriters plus multiple reshoots and rewrites.

As Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is polishing off some uprisings that temporarily engulf the Nine Realms, his Earth-bound sweetheart Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) gets sucked into a vortex that puts her face-to-face with an energy force called the Aether. The Aether occupies Jane’s body, prompting Thor to transport her to Asgard for treatment.

Unfortunately, the Aether’s release awakens Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and his un-merry band of Dark Elves (see also, Romulan lookalikes), bent on capturing the Aether and reviving their ancient war to destroy the universe, starting with Asgard. When Malekith and company come calling, a desperate Thor enlists the aid of his disgraced brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), springing him from a life prison sentence given for the Big Apple mayhem he wrought in The Avengers.

The Asgardian setting smacks of Middle Earth crossed with Naboo—some of Portman’s garb looks like Amidala hand-me-downs.  But mostly, the interdimensional hopscotching is devoid of charm and reason. Problems arise and are solved without any rational explanation outside of Thor’s omnipotent hammer.

As for the supporting characters on Asgard, Idris Elba is still wasted and Anthony Hopkins is cashing a check. Rene Russo gets a couple of good moments, but mostly I found myself staring at Jaimie Alexander for two reason: her beauty and those rumors that she might be cast as Wonder Woman in the next Superman film. Back on Earth, Kat Dennings plays Jane’s gal pal Darcy like just another annoying Broke Girl, while Stellan Skarsgard spends most of his screentime running around with no pants on (seriously).

The lone levity comes compliments of Hiddleston, who is even more at ease in his third go-around as  Loki (his funniest gag incorporates a cameo from Chris Evans). He alone provides any discernable emotional range, and when a superhero movie has you rooting for its treacherous, murderous villain, you know something’s amiss.

Thor

Hammer Time!

Grade: B –

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, and Kat Dennings

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 1 hr. 54 min.

The post-Iron Man Marvel movies have done a much better job hyping the next film than themselves. Clever cameos and post-credits kickers have gradually paved a path to the inevitable Avengers ensemble, in which Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and the rest of the marvelous clan will join forces to battle evil and, more significantly, send fanboys into a collective frenzy.

In the meantime, Marvel Studios has treated us to a humdrum origin reboot (The Incredible Hulk) and a risible sequel (Iron Man 2). With Captain America opening in July, the summer first kicks off with Thor, a superhero whose (literal) mythology is so abstruse that the film project has languished in Hollywood “development hell” for years.

The kindest – and not altogether inconsequential – thing that can be said about director Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation is that it’s probably the best rendering anyone could have made about a Norse god from another dimension who becomes one of Earth’s protectorates. But, for all Thor’s special effects extravaganza and celestial hop scotching, it’s a loud, flashy assembly-line product.

On the eve of ascending to king of Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has his coronation interrupted by an incursion of marauding Frost Giants, sworn enemies seemingly breaking a longstanding truce. In response, Thor takes his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and four other warrior friends to the frost giants’ home planet intent on wiping them out using his bare hands and his powerful hammer, named Mjolnir.

Angered by Thor’s insolence, his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) banishes both son and mallet down a wormhole to Earth for what amounts to an extended sabbatical to clear the demigod’s head. Thor traipses across the New Mexico desert in search of humility and his precious Mjolnir, accompanied three stargazing scientists – Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Darcy (Kat Dennings) – and pursued by recurring S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). Meanwhile, Loki assumes control of Asgard, bent on carrying out some vague, nefarious plan contingent on making sure his brother never returns home.

Co-written by J. Michael Straczynski, who overhauled the Thor comic franchise several years back, the story strays true the comic book’s mythos. And with his Shakespearian roots, Branagh sinks his teeth into Asgard’s palace intrigue and backstabbing.

But, the repeated interplanetary toggling – divergent not just in setting but also wardrobe, tone, language, and set design – disrupts the development of characters in each realm. Consequently, Thor’s human mates are there just to provide comedic relief, give Thor a ride wherever he needs to go, and – in Jane’s case – a rather unconvincing romantic subplot.

Meantime, Thor’s friends back on Asgard are so frivolous they may as well be playing dress-up on Halloween. While Loki’s machinations are suitably devious, his motives and intentions remain imprecise. The twice-visited subplot of invading and destroying the blue-hued Frost Giants and their home world co-opts the specter of Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy into one tired metaphor. Indeed, guided by expediency, the vacillating storyline eventually casts the Frost Giants as both villains and victims.

With a body-builder’s brawn and devilish grin, Hemsworth strikes the convincing pose of a superhero likely to appeal to men and women alike. While most of his dialogue is guttural King’s English, Hemsworth ably carries off Thor’s many battle scenes, whether hand-to-hand combat or a CG-enhanced scrap with a metallic colossus.

However, Thor is a predictable film – beat the bad guy, get the girl, save the day – decidedly designed to hammer away at the converted. Expect the proverbial Nick Fury cameo, and keep an eye out for an uncredited appearance by Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye). At the screening I attended, a squeal of delight emanated from a group of fellow theatergoers when Asgard’s gatekeeper Heimdall first appeared onscreen. All I kept thinking was, “Is that Idris Elba wearing yellow contact lenses?”

Neil Morris