THOR: Ragnarok, mini movie review

Rating: B+

When it was announced that the third Thor movie would be about Ragnarok I scratched my head.  What is Ragnarok?  Just searching the term seemed to spoil stuff.  Death! Destruction! The fall of . . . yeah, can't write that without spoiling something.  The question then became who was going to survive the film?  And after all this, as advertising started rolling out, it seemed Thor: Ragnarok was going to be a comedy.  A comedy??!!  Hmmmm.  Curiouser and curiouser.

And, yes, this movie turned out to be quite funny in parts, which made me think Guardians of the Galaxy was being channeled more than what Ragnarok originally meant in both Norse mythology and the comics.  Maybe Marvel felt a darker tone wouldn't serve the movie right?

Now, I love a good comedy.  I honestly laughed quite a bit during Thor: Ragnarok, which was a surprise, making this a great popcorn movie.  Sometimes going to the movies needs to be an escape, and this is a great escape movie.

Thor: Ragnarok, though fun, does seem to be all over the place.  Off on Earth, that Grandmaster world with Hulk, some place with that fire monster, Asgard.  This is probably our last full foray into the World of Thor; I just wish we would have stayed in the world of Thor a little longer.  We don't really get to see a lot of Asgard, and this movie is about the battle over Asgard.

Though, after saying all this, my favorite section in the film was the Dr. Strange segment.  That was great.  Actually, fantastic.  But that's my point!  This is a Thor movie!  Now, I do love seeing all the Marvel crossovers.  This is a large interconnected playing field.  Seeing Iron Man in Spider-Man was fun.  The last Captain American movie felt more like a bonus Avengers movie.  Though I like seeing the extended characters weave in and out, for a stand alone film I feel the focus should be more on the characters in those individual franchises.

I recommend Thor: Ragnarok.  It's really fun for a movie all about death and destruction.  

MPAA: PG-13

Nerd Tuesday! The Ultimate DC vs Marvel Battle!

 Okay, I probably made this sound a whole lot more Epic then it really is, but when I went to Sensuous Sandwich for lunch today with my Dad and brother Steven, they had this Marcel vs DC fighting brackets on the giant chalkboard.  It's going to play out over 12 weeks, as voting is done while paying tips.  (It's a good way to make a little extra tip money.)  So, for fun, I pulled out a pen and we cast our own votes on a napkin.

Voting had already started for the first bracket, and Wolverine had already won, but I would have chosen his win as well.  I'm honestly not a huge Hulk fan, and the Wolverine is hard to kill.

Jean Grey vs Black Widow.  This was a tough one.  I personally chose Jean Grey, because she's crazy powerful, but I think, in the restaurant, Black Widow will win thanks to popularity.  But regardless if it's Black Widow or Jean Grey going against Wolverine, Wolvie will win.  He would kick Black Widow's ... and we already know Jean Grey asked him to kill her, though if she fought all out and didn't want to die, Jean Grey would win.  Her loss is due to a mental/emotional breakdown.

Loki vs Bucky.  Yeah, I don't even need to think this over.  Loki.

Ironman VS Captain America.  I personally would want the Cap to win, but thanks to the comics (and potential spoilers for the future of the Marvel Movie Universe) Iron Man wins.   Didn't mean to spoil anything there.  We'll know when the movie come out, but I'm thinking of the comics and Sebastian Stan's Marvel movie contract.

Now Loki against Iron Man?  I'm giving it to Loki again.  It did take, what, how many Avengers to beat him?  Yeah . . . and Iron Man is going solo.

And the final Marvel clash, Wolverine against Loki.  I'm giving it to Loki.  They're both super popular characters, super popular, but I just like Loki, and he's got skill.

Okay, now DC.

Aquaman vs the Green Lantern . . .

Yeah . . . not a fan of both.  On this my Dad and brother had a small debate.

Steven: Aquaman needs water to fight.  All Green Lantern has to do is throw him into space and he's beat.

Dad: If Green Lantern finds Aquaman in a bathtub, he's toast.

Okay, disturbing visuals aside, I'm giving it to Aquaman because, in the case of this fighting scenario, Green Lantern stumbles upon Aquaman swimming in an Olympic sized pool.  Case close.  And I really didn't like that movie.

The Joker vs Catwoman.  I personally think Joker would win, but my Dad said she's hot, so go with her.  (That spurred a "which version of Catwoman do you find hot?" discussion, but I won't get into that here.)

Batman vs Wonder Woman.  Batman.  Not going to think this one through.

Superman vs Sinestro.  Superman.  Another one I don't need to think through.

Back to the top!  Aquaman vs Catwoman.  I'm saying Catwoman, because this battle was fought in a desert.

Batman vs Superman!!  The great debate!!!  Technically, if Superman wasn't all small town moral and all that, Superman would pulverize Batman from miles away.  Kryptonite would have no effect.  Laser eyes.  But since the comics always paint Batman like a genius, and Superman as an idiot, Batman always seems to win in the comics.  And Batman wins here, too, though if Superman didn't hold back, he would win faster than a speeding bullet.

Now Loki vs Batman.  Honestly, unlike Superman (who has a weakness against magic and deception, proven by Wonder Woman), Batman would stand a fighting chance.  He's smart and knows how to exploit an opponents weakness, yet Joker is not nearly as powerful as Loki, and Batman has yet to defeat him, so in this battle . . . 

Loki Wins!

Now the real question . . . where was Thor during all this madness?

Thor: The Dark World, Movie Review

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

. . . now that I've seen Thor: The Dark World twice, IMAX 3D and regular 3D, I can now write a proper review . . .

When the first Thor movie came out I was concerned the Ice Giants were going to be Power Ranger style villains, but what could have come across corny ended up sophisticated and interesting.  I was impressed.  In this movie we have the Dark Elves, wearing masks that remind me of the jabbawockeez dance group . . . that's not a bad thing.  The masks are affective, and those who don't wear the masks fearsome.  A few thousand or so years ago the dark elves had a weapon called the Aether, trying to send darkness to the nine realms (in which Earth is apart) when all the realms align, creating epic space anomalies of the astrophysics variety.  They failed then, when Thor's grandfather won the battle, and the Aether was sent to Earth . . . because we're that kind of planet.

And then there's Loki . . . LOKI!!!  The God of mischief and mayhem.  And a character that is, hands down, the greatest villain of all time, is back and more interesting then ever, played by the talented Tom Hiddleston.

I personally prefer the second Thor movie to the first, which is quite the achievement, since I saw the first three times opening week.  The humor remains, the CGI impressive, star-scapes more Hubble like, great battle scenes, etc, etc, all in the first movie improved in the second.

Thor: The Dark World is a great, fun romp.

Most of the original cast is back: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) brooding, Loki scheming, Jane (Natalie Portman) searching, Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) crazy, Darcy (Kat Dennings) silly, Frigga and Odin (Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins) protective, and the threesome Sif, Volstagg, and Fandral (Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson , and newly recast (and honestly better (no offense Josh Dallas, because you were great, too) Zachary Levi) gallivanting . . . though Sif's a bit more jealous.

I loved the second viewing of this new Thor movie more then the first viewing . . . and if I see it again on Monday with my Grandmother, who loved the original, I think I'll love it even more.  It's a gift that keeps on giving.  All my friends who have seen it love Thor: The Dark World.
     

I wasn't going to see this movie again today, but my Mom really wanted to, even with my Grandma postponing.  I asked her if she could see this movie three times this week, and my Mom said she could see it everyday, easy, she loved it that much.     

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some suggestive content.

As a note, when the character Eric is crazy like, he runs around naked in a news telecast, blurred in the right places.  This newscast is shown twice in the movie, and it shocking.   

Avengers: Statistical Awesomeness. My review.

 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (Because it's awesome!)

So the question is, at this point, who hasn't seen this movie?  And, after answering that question, was there anyone who didn't end up loving the movie after watching the Avengers?  That would be the anomaly.  

The simple fact that I saw the movie twice proves how much I'm a fan.  My brother, Steven, has now seen it at least four times, and with how much the movie has grossed financially it proves that many others are repeat costumers as well.

To give you an idea, this is how the three Marvels, and one DC, movies performed in 2011.  Thor made $65,723,338 opening weekend, $181,030,624 domestic, and $449,326,618 worldwide.  Captain America made $65,058,524 opening weekend,  $176,654,505  domestic, and $368,608,363 worldwide.  X-Men: First Class made  $55,101,604 opening, $146,408,305 domestic, and $353,624,124 worldwide.  While the Green Lantern, the lone DC movie release last year, made $53,174,303 opening, $116,601,172 domestic, and $219,851,172 worldwide.

Clearly the opening for Green Lantern was on par with X-Men, only word of mouth was not as strong, resulting in an overall poor gross.  Now the Dark Knight, a DC Universe film, which had the strongest overall superhero gross up till now made $158,411,483 opening weekend, $533,345,358 domestically, and $1,001,921,825 worldwide.

How did The Avengers compare?  So far, with only three weeks into the domestic (U.S.A) release the movie has broken all sorts of records. (Worldwide territories opened in Australia, France, the Philippines, and New Zealand two weeks before the US; and in England, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and India a week before the US release, which helped contribute to the buzz).  The movies opening domestic gross was $207,438,708, $468,271,215 overall domestic, and $1,191,571,215 worldwide.  And the movie is far from leaving theaters.

Sorry, movie stats make me geeky excited.  Further proof that I'm a cinephile.

So what did I think of the movie?  I thought it was brilliant.  Sure, it's not a super intense intellectual fare, but a masterfully crafted Summer flick filled with humor, great characters, action, and excitement.  I was worried that the movie would fill too crowded, with all the superheros and villains needing screen time, but the writing, direction, and editing was so perfect that every plot was nicely balanced. I really enjoyed the scenes that involved Iron Man and Pepper Potts.  Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't have a lot of screen time, but her character was memorable.  And the movie also explored Black Widows past and character a little more; she's interesting and deserves her own movie.  Joss Whedon, of Serenity/Firefly fame, sure knows how to work with strong female characters.

And I hope that everyone who saw the film took the time to stay till the very, very end.  With both showings I attended, I was amazed how many people got up and left!  They missed the best part.

The summer isn't over.  The Spider Man reboot is scheduled for July 3.  And the Dark Knight Rises is opening July 20th.  Every cinema geek will be watching the stats on this one.  With the amazing financial success The Avengers has been, and the records The Dark Knight broke when it came out, is there a chance that the final Batman movie in Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy will outstrip the Avengers?  It will be exciting.

With the success of The Avengers, Iron Man 3, coming out next year, just got a $60 million production boost, bringing the total costs to around $200 million.  Also coming out next year is the second Thor movie.  Oh, you want to hear an exciting movie season?  2013, Thanksgiving/Christmas, you have Thor 2, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hobbit: Part 2 all being released.  That's going to be fun.  Captain America 2 is coming out Spring 2014.

The Avengers is coming out on DVD/Blu-ray September 25th, and is packed with extra features including director commentary, blooper reel, and deleted scenes.   

Ah!  Now that I've geeked you all out,
Have a great day!
Sarah