Tar: Electric... exceptional... gorgeous

Movie Review: Tar (2022) on Peacock

I'm grateful some of the Academy Award-nominated films this year are available to stream online or through cable TV systems. Tar is one of them, with six Oscar nominations. 

Tar stars Cate Blanchett, brilliant as Lydia Tar, one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the first female director of a major German orchestra. She dominates the screen with her performance as a domineering force of nature in the world of Western classical music. The story focuses on her professional life, but it also veers through the controversies of her personal life, in which she is accused of favoring young women whom it is rumored she romances with advances in their professional careers. This threatens to plunge her own career into chaos, just at the height of her success. 

There is much to love in the film, with its focus on musical theory and technique. Likely you will learn a lot about how composers and conductors and major orchestras work. But the music is electric and the cinematography is exceptional and the settings in New York City and Berlin and elsewhere are gorgeous. But the magic on the screen is in Blanchett's performance. It's no wonder she is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

If I have any problems with the film, it is with the opening. There is a brief scene with Blanchette that goes no where, some texting, then black screen with opening credits that lasts way too long. And then there's the ending that isn't really an ending. Every story needs a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and while this film has a magnificent middle, it definitely lacks viable open and close (beginning and ending). 

Tar is also nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. I hope it earns multiple awards.

For these reasons, I would rate Tar a B++ for Blanchett, Screenplay, and Cinematography. 

Thor: Ragnarok: If You Love the Marvel Universe, Likely You'll Love This

Movie Review: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Although I'm not a continuing fan of Thor stories, but my wife and my daughter loved Thor: Ragnorok, the latest installment in the film franchise. In it, Chris Hemsworth reprises the leading role with the same cheeky pluck, making it another fun film. Tom Hiddleston returns as troublesome brother Loki, although not so menacingly. Anthony Hopkins is again their father Odin, although he is looking a might old and retiring. Idris Elba is also back as Heimdall, the guardian to the entrance of Asgard who has left the guardhouse for other missions.

New to Thor: Ragnorok are some other characters from the Marvel universe: Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk), played by Mark Ruffalo, and Doctor Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch). Also joining the cast are Karl Urban as Skurge, who becomes the servile assistant to Hela (played by Cate Blanchett), Thor's older sister and chief antagonist in the story. Jeff Goldblum appears as the Grandmaster of Sakaar, who controls the bizarre world centered around ancient-Rome-like competitions for profit.

In this film, Thor is imprisoned on Sakaar while Odin has retired to some quiet retreat on Earth, as Hela returns from excile to claim Odin's throne. Thor must escape Sakaar and return to Asgard in time to save Asgard from Ragnarok, which is their word for destruction of their homeworld. Loki has disguised himself as Odin and subjected the people of Asgard to imagining all is the right in their world while doting on his very pleasure, so when Thor returns to ask for Loki's help, he's a bit resistant at first. Yet, they are finally reunited in purpose, and they battle the more powerful Hela for the survival of Asgard.

There isn't a whole lot new to this universe of stories, except the arrival of Hela. I was really bored. You have to come to this film because you love the characters. Really, they are the story.

If you are into the whole Thor and Asgard thing, you will likely love this world and the fun. If you are into the whole superheroes thing, then you will equally enjoy the interplay between the various characters from the Marvel universe uniting behind Thor and Loki. A fun time may be had be all. If.

I guess the word to the wise is, if you love Marvel-universe sequels, see it -- you'll love it. If you don't, see something else.