Pictureland

The trailer for Ghost Rider:  Spirit of Vengeance had scarcely ended, with it's briskly-edited visions of motorcycles and glowing skulls.  What seemed another trailer followed, a figure and then others bathed in, emerging from a black liquid, all of this occurring to the harsh strains of a razor blade cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."  With the writhing, stylized figures, overtones of S & M and blaring theme, it had the feel of a trailer for some sort of goth James Bond picture, no less so for the appearance of Daniel Craig's name among the credits.  But no, this was the start of David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The cover of the Zeppelin song, with vocals by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's  Karen O (who could pass for the eponymous character's slightly more conventional looking cousin) is the least subtle passage in a soundtrack and score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.  The presence of Reznor and Ross is logical, not only for the...

One divine hammer.   Chris Hemsworth as Thor. God as my witness, I  really thought they were called the Frostchilds.  This, just part of the problem when numerous cast members are called upon to speak in a English accent, whether they happen to hail from England or not.  As it turns out, the enemies of Asgard and their King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) are, in fact, the Frost Giants.   Shame, really.   Instead of sounding like the patricians of a snowy realm, the bad guys find themselves with a label redolent of some forgettable Canadian Football League squad.  There's just not going to be any winning that way.  It's one of many shortcomings of this film version of Thor , feebly helmed by Kenneth Branagh.  What we have here, in addition to a failure to communicate, is some very watered down Norse Mythology. Burdened as they are by a silly na...