Despite the fact that dozens of directors have helmed Marvel films, the MCU has retained a relatively consistent look and feel. That said, we’re beginning to wonder if Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok is ready to break the mold in a major way.
With a penchant for comedy and a habit of appearing in his own films, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople helmer seemed an intriguing-yet-curious choice from the start. While some wondered how the director would handle a major Hollywood franchise, most of those folks’ fears were allayed by the awesome teaser and then the even awesome-er Comic-Con trailer. Colorful, fun, and epically retro, both spots piqued our interest by teasing a fresh, fearless approach to a genre that may just be getting the slightest bit stale.
As excited as we are for Waititi’s film, however, we can’t help but be a bit concerned about what he told MTV about its use of improv, not typically a convention of superhero films. The director admitted that “about 80 percent” of the film was off-the-cuff and expressed surprise at the amount of latitude he was given to innovate.
“Mark Ruffalo would be finished shooting for the day,” said the director, “and he’d come up to me and he’d be like, ‘Why have we not been fired yet? We are doing the most insane stuff in this film, so where’s the phone call?'”
The director went on to detail his irreverent, shoot-from-the-hip style, saying, “I’ll often be behind the camera, or right next to the camera yelling words at people, like, ‘Say this, say this! Say it this way!’ I’ll straight-up give Anthony Hopkins a line reading. I don’t care.’”
For the uninitiated, a line reading is when an actor or actresses is directed to deliver a line in a specific way. While it’s relatively rare for legends like Sir Anthony Hopkins to be micro-managed to that degree, it sounds like Waititi sought to establish an informal, anything-goes environment in which such a move wouldn’t be a sign of disrespect.
There’s a thin line between off-the-wall (often a good thing) and off-the-rails (almost always a bad thing), but everything we’ve seen so far suggests that Waititi will stay on the right side of it.
We’ll find out for sure on November 3, 2017, when Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett, and Mark Ruffalo, among others.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.