Reel Talk: Comic Marvels

Two marvellous comedies are released in April: Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre (6 Apr) and Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress (27 Apr). Film was honoured to speak to both directors for this issue. As tends to be the case with movie gems, you’ll have to seek these out as they won’t be playing many screens here in Scotland, but they’re definitely worth the effort.

Unavoidable over the next few weeks, however, is the less marvellous Marvel studios, which this month consolidates its musclebound assets – Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hulk – into one manageable event movie called Avengers Assemble. The reason the Marvel universe is so disappointing is that unlike, say, the Batman trilogy, Marvel has preferred the workmanlike graft of directors for hire (Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh, Joe Johnston) over cinematic visionaries. As a result the comic book giant has sacrificed spectacle and cohesion for malleable filmmakers who’ll crowbar any spurious old plot point or character into their films to help set up its forthcoming superhero team-up extravaganza.

But the Marvel movies do have something going for then: the comedic chops of their leading men. Particularly fun was Chris Hemsworth as Thor, whose performance in last year's movie suggested Brian Blessed trapped in the body of Dolph Lundgren circa 1987. Also working in Avengers' favour is the presence of Buffy creator Joss Whedon at the reigns, which means there's a chance of some thrills to match the laughs.

But if you’re after guaranteed shits and giggles, look no further than Whedon's other project released this month. It's called The Cabin in the Woods (13 Apr; Whedon co-wrote and produced), it also stars Hemsworth, and, like the Marvel movies, it’s a comedy disguised as another genre – in this case horror. To reveal more would be cruel – like eating a doner kebab or attending a Glaswegian orgy, it’s better if you go in blind – other than to say that as horror comedies go, it’s right up there with Evil Dead II and Stuart Gordon’s gooey riot Re-Animator (which, coincidentally, is being screened at GFT 25-26 Apr by those beautiful cults Psychotronic Cinema).

Enjoy laughing your disembodied heads off this April.