Harry Perfect and the Deathly Hallows

I am a huge Harry Potter nerd, and I just got back from watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 for the second time.  I wanted to hold off on writing my review until I saw the film for a second time.  I wanted to let what happened settle in, give myself some time to think about the book, and really see if my feelings held true after a second viewing.  While I thought the book by JK Rowling was a perfect end to the series, I think this movie was the perfect and most satisfying film to end the film franchise.

I found the book a little boring and long around the middle, especially during the portion entitled Harry Potter and the long camping trip.  When I went into Deathly Hallows Part 1, I was expecting a pretty slow and not so exciting film.  While I really liked part 1, it definitely had that frustrating we don’t know what we are doing feel.  I was also not sure how I felt about ending the first film right before the battle of Hogwarts, as it did not feel like a full film could be made out of that segment.  Well, I was definitely wrong in that respect, the films were split at the perfect location, and the final film was an exciting rush to the end.  If you have never read the book, then why are you here, and if you don’t want to be spoiled, turn back now!

I liked how the movie started; we got a short recap of Voldemort stealing Dumbledore’s wand and then we were right into the rest of the story.  Gringotts was just as I had expected, and even better.  I really enjoyed the scene with the dragon tied up and all white from being out of the sun.  Not how I imagined it, but so perfect for the things happening there.  Very quickly after that moment we were off to Hogwarts and the battle was primed and ready to go. 

I think it’s very important in this moment to discuss how the canvas we paint a book and a movie on are very different.  A book is personal to the reader, we read it by ourselves, and the world created is only limited by our imagination.  In a book there is a longer time to add more details, and the action can be even bigger.  To make a movie successful there needs to be bigger and grander action, but the amount of time, details, and world need to be a bit more limited.  A movie needs to succeed in different levels on a screen, where we watch together.  In a book we can create a world; in a movie we are presented a finite experience.  If you go into this film with this perspective, you will really enjoy it.

As a whole I loved the film, but there were several things that blew me away.  The first one was Helena Bonham Carter who played Bellatrix Lestrange.  The scene where she was playing Hermione playing her character was just perfect.  Carter did an amazing job embodying another character playing inside of her character, something I imagine to be very difficult to accomplish.  Also being the number two bad guy in Voldemort’s gang, we got to see a lot of Bellatrix in the periphery being her usual awesome self.  One of my favorite scenes in the book played out perfectly on screen, and that is when Mrs. Weasley killed Bellatrix, it was just right and got a round of applause both times I was in the theater!

Professor McGonagall Poster

One of my favorite characters in the book series was Professor McGonagall, and I loved how she got played up in this film.  She had all the best lines from, “Potter, it’s good to see you,” to “I always wanted to use that spell.”  She also had a great duel with Snape, showing her triumphant ascension to the headmastership!  Speaking of characters, it was fun to see all of the characters from Harry’s world come back to the screen, just as in the book.  I especially loved seeing all of these characters who we haven’t seen for several films.  My top choice was Miriam Margolyes who played Professor Sprout in the second film, I was always so sad she was not in the subsequent films, it was so great to see her back on the screen.

In the relationships department I think all of the love played out really well.  We got a big kiss between Ron and Hermione, and we saw their love grow over the film and play out perfectly in the end.  I enjoyed the brief Harry Ginny embrace in the middle of the battle.  A brief moment to show their love, just right as Harry was off to end the fight.  The other prefect moment happened immediately after Neville killed Nagini the snake, which was the last horocrux.  Harry and Voldemort looked at each other for just the right amount of time to acknowledge the moment had come, he was vulnerable, and then the fight ignited!

In the end there were a few things I was unhappy with, and they all came very close to the end.  In the final battle, I was sad Harry and Voldemort’s fight didn’t play out in front of everyone.  Outside of Hogwarts was much more of an epic location than the Great Hall, but it should have happened in everyone’s view.  I also was sad in how Voldemort’s death eventually happened.  In the book they had a battle and Voldemort shouted the killing curse and Harry shouted the blocking spell, in that moment the rebound is what killed Voldemort.  On screen, I inferred those things happened in their characters minds instead of being said, and the death was not as dramatic as I wanted.

That leads in to the second thing I was sad about.  Once Voldemort died, we had these really great moments where everyone had a celebration, and then Harry went up to Dumbeldore’s office repaired his wand and left the elder wand behind.  We have been watching these movies for 10 years, and reading the books for even longer.  I wanted the death to be more dramatic, and the moment after the battle to be more euphoric.  I could have sat and watched that scene for a bit longer.  But then we got the Harry, Ron, Hermione ending scene and the epilogue, which were just a beautiful and simple ending.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was just about perfect.  All of the elements were there, and as a huge fan of the series, I felt very satisfied in the end.  Even though the characters were facing an epic battle, we had some laughter, we had a classic Ron moment when the trio arrives at Hogwarts and Ginny only runs to Harry.  Then we got the best action sequences in the Potter series.  The war was epic and even better then I pictured it.  We saw a battle on screen, dead bodies and all.  This epic 7 year journey to vanquish the dark lord was complete, and it left me wanting more but satisfied in everything I had just watched.  (4 ½ stars out of 5)

Midnight in Paris

I went into Midnight In Paris expecting more of a romantic comedy.  After seeing it, I am not sure if I would generally characterize it as that.  While there were funny moments, especially at the beginning, the film seemed to lose that fun throughout.  I also do not think all of the characters especially the ones in the present were that fun.  While that gave it a different feel from romantic comedy, it put themes of this film on a higher level.

One of the most fun things about this film was how it played on famous artists to push the story forward.  Throughout the film, Owen Wilson kept finding himself going back in history to meet these famous people.  As Owen felt very nostalgic about days gone by, his escape was through time travel, while he was working on his first novel.  It was very fun to meet Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Gertrude Stine, and Pablo Picasso.  It was also fun to see how his escapes in history at night, came back to influence his day time adventures.  One of my ultimate favorite moments was when he met up with a pack of surrealists and explained his time traveling dilemma, which they did not think was out of the ordinary at all.  While this was the fun piece of play in the story, at points it did go beyond my scope of the arts, which if I had more knowledge on who all of the people he encountered were, it probably would have been more fun at parts.

While the time spent in history was fun, the time Owen Wilson’s character spent in the present was not as much fun.  I was really sad about Rachel McAdams character which was really flat and mean.  Along with her family who were very annoying “tea party republican” characters, but as the movie played out this characterization was fully explained.  While I found some portions of the story very frustrating, it was interesting to see how certain unexpected character were placed into the antagonist roles, and in such an unintellectual way, which makes sense after seeing the whole film.

This film did drag a bit in the middle third.  Once we figured out the game was traveling back in time, and how that moved the main character forward, I was ready to get to the resolution.  We did get a bit more time to play in the past world, which was really fun, but once it got a bit more esoteric the fun was lost on me.  Maybe I was prepared for a more fast paced film, which we received once we got into the last twenty minutes.  This is where we saw that other people could travel back in time, and we very quickly saw that play out in multiple levels.  We also got to see how Wilson’s character back in time was really affecting his current life situation, and then we got some fun resolution which was very satisfying.

Overall, I liked Midnight in Paris; it showed me how beautiful of a city Paris is, and made me want to go there.  The film felt almost like a travel documentary at points.  The story surrounded a fascinating concept, which was well put together, and visually I loved the look and feel of the juxtaposition of present day Paris to Paris of the 1920’s.  I enjoyed the idea at the end about how people in the current day believe the good old days or those golden years have passed the current generation by.  For me, the most interesting part of this film was watching how everyone reacted to that central theme.  (3 out of 5 stars)

Not Transformed

The first Transformers movie was so good.  I think that happened because it had a simple story where we got invested in the characters involved.  In the first movie we really saw strong relationships develop between the human characters and the Autobots.  It was also cool to see our childhood toys become such badass machines on the big screen.  That first movie also had the perfect match between an action movie and comedy.  Since then, Michael Bay has certainly steered this franchise off course.

This is going to be a weird statement, but in these fantastic action movies I want things to feel real.  I know that does not make sense, but I think the best action, super hero, fantasy movies, feel real.  It does not take too much for my imagination to believe batman could be real, or that these space aliens could exist.  In The Dark Knight we get this real world action with fantastic characters who have a deep and interesting story, and maybe that is too high of a standard to request.  I think the realism comes from the acting, and sadly Transformers: Dark of the Moon provides the most annoying unrealistic characters!

Not to hate on Shia LeBeouf, but he might be the most annoying action hero in a generation.  Sam Witwicky is not really funny, just annoying with his constant complaints and tirades.  It felt like he was trying to play the rants Vince Vaughn plays so well, and Shia can’t pull it off.  Witwicky also constantly finds himself in unrealistic, fantastic situations, where he believes he should be revered.  Then to top it off the Secretary of Defense decides out of all the people in the world this unemployed kid is the genius link to all of our problems.  Also, Shia or Sam should not be able to keep getting super model girlfriends, but the new one in this film, while good to look at, also is a terrible actress who does not add much to the film.  Overall, I was just hoping that eventually one of the decepticons would kill Shia, as he has basically been in the midst of their battles several times now and really, they should just be able to help us out and finish him off!

Now that I got that off my chest, on to the cool fun stuff!  It was awesome to see these robot creatures in new and different worlds.  The sequences on the moon were very fun to watch, and I really enjoyed the fun twist on the space race and Chernobyl.  It was also so much fun to see the decepticons destroy Chicago.  Who doesn’t want to see famous landmarks just get destroyed, and an epic battle to take place in the cities we love.  The special effects in these scenes were awesome, and make this movie worthwhile.

Overall, I left Transformers: Dark of the Moon feeling a little empty.  I remember how awesome I felt after the first movie, and the difference I was feeling right now.  This film is traditional Michael Bay, big explosions on an epic scale, funny moments sprinkled in, and crazy stunts.  So head at and enjoy those parts of the film, but don’t expect the first Transformers, and the magic that happened the first time these great characters were brought to the big screen! (1 ½ out of 5 stars)

Cars 2 Bad

The reviews have been pretty negative, and I find it very interesting that Pixar choose to make a sequel based on their least popular movie, albeit still wildly popular.  Pixar is my favorite studio in Hollywood, as I think they are currently the group making the most unique and interesting stories.  They also have a high standard of quality for what they release, especially if they are going to make a sequel.  Since the announcement of the fill I have been pondering why Cars?  Maybe it’s because it seems to be the most popular film for kids, it has the highest merchandising value, and I give in with the idea that a world of Cars is the most interesting one to play with, especially in a spy spoof.  Either way, we now have Cars 2, and while it may not have been the best choice, it certainly is not a horrible one.

One of the pivotal questions of creating an improv scene is, “if this, then what?”  This is the format used to heighten and continue playing with the fun thing in the scene.  With Cars, it is a lot of fun to think about what the rest of the world would look like if it were inhabited by Cars.  We get these great visuals of Japan, Italy, and England.  My favorite gags were seeing the Pope and the Queen in car form, seeing famous world icons turned into car landmarks, as the final scene happening in Big Bentley instead of Big Ben was a nice touch!  Some of my favorite moments of the original film were the car gags, especially the Volkswagen bugs, being actual small bugs.  While I did not catch as much minutia in the details during my first viewing, it was fun to watch them blow up the world of Cars to cover the whole world.

While doing the world press tour for the original Cars, John Lassiter was quoted in saying, “I kept looking out thinking, ‘What would Mater do in this situation, you know?’ I could imagine him driving around on the wrong side of the road in the UK, going around in big, giant traveling circles in Paris, on the autobahn in Germany, dealing with the motor scooters in Italy, trying to figure out road signs in Japan.”  While Mater is an interesting character, I am not sure if he is the person I would put the focal point of a movie around.  I especially would not put him in the middle of an international spy ring.  While these are all really interesting choices I do not think Pixar should have built a whole movie around this topic.  This also led the plot into a simple repetitive story for the first half of the film, which got boing for me, “simple plot, Mater gets into a funny situation, car chase through a new city.”

I really enjoyed the last half of the film.  This is where we were introduced to the actual villains of the film.  I think this was the most genius moment, the antagonists were “lemon” cars, the ones no one likes and always leaves behind, who were out to get their revenge.  Once that piece came into focus, and the story rushed to an exciting final conclusion, the last race and chase scene was awesome and exciting to watch.  I also was a big fan of the gushy self-esteem booster for the kids at the end.  Always a nice feel good way to wrap up the movie. While the end was awesome, this was sadly the first Pixar film where I found myself a little bored in the middle. 

Overall, I did not hate Cars 2, but let me be clear I did not love it.  I will definitely add it to my Pixar collection, and I really want to go back and rewatch it to catch all of the Easter eggs and small car details I missed.  While Pixar may have missed the mark, this certainly is not the end of an era, or the start of Pixar in making shoddy films.  As always the animation and action were really well done, and we were taken to new worlds and blown away by their scope and feel.  The story, for me, just did not live up to traditional Pixar standards. (3 out of 5 stars)

Super Great

Monster movie thrillers scare me, I am really jumpy and I don’t like when that happens.  Yet I am drawn to these types of movies, it’s the feeling of facing your fear.  I am a big fan of J.J. Abrams, and the second I saw the trailer for Super 8 I was excited and nervous all at the same time.  While Cloverfield was an ok movie in my opinion, I was worried about this one basically being the same type of deal, but in Ohio!  Thankfully this movie does not go down that path, and for me it delivered something much deeper.

Sometimes I get nostalgic for a simpler time.  Don’t get me wrong I love my iPhone, but I think there is a danger in being super connected all the time like we tend to be today.  That was the first thing that drew me in about this film.  While it was set a few years before I was born, this movie felt like the eighties to me, a time I don’t remember too much, but am drawn too.  One of the opening scenes shows the boys of the film jamming out to My Sharona, and I could feel myself being a part of that moment when I was a kid.  We do not really get as many recent period pieces in pop culture, and this one felt very natural, classic while modern at the same time.

One of the most fun things about this movie was how the kids stole the show.  Most of the actors in the film were unknowns, and it was really fun to see inexperienced actors react to things for the first time.  On screen, they were appearing in a supernatural other worldly experience, and I imagine shooting their first major feature film was quite the same experience.  I felt very little depth or connection to the characters in Cloverfield where the movie was mainly about a monster terrorizing New York City, I felt a really strong connection to all of the characters in this film.  Abrams did an excellent job capturing the innocence of youth, a real life love story, and the quips of young friends trying to shoot a short film together.  To me Super 8 is not about a monster, it’s about the relationships of these characters, which makes the film so much stronger.

This film was also very fun from the first to the last frame.  Whatever what happening I was laughing.  It felt like I was hanging around with good friends having a good time joking with each other.  The action also had a good ebb and flow to it.  Not too much action or too much story, just the right connection of both.  Improv scenes have the most success when you can ride the wave of emotional highs and lows, heighten, crest, then flow down so you can reheighten.  Super 8 had all the right flow in this category for me.  When it got to the end, I did not even realize so much time had passed, and I really wanted to know what came next for these characters.

Super 8 is one of my favorite movies thus far during summer 2011.  As I was sitting down to write this post and I was thinking about what to write, I just kept thinking, “I really liked that movie.”  Good job J.J. Abrams on a film well done.  Check out Super 8 this summer, you won’t be disappointed!  (4 out of 5 stars)

Green Lantern Burns Out

I walked into the Green Lantern with very little knowledge of the character and the annals of the story.  The small bits and pieces I knew were this guy has a ring which allows him to create anything he can imagine.  That is a pretty cool concept, and I was excited to see how this was going to work.  I got to see Green Lantern a little late, and had already heard some of the bad press on the film.  I went in excited, and hoping to prove that press wrong.

In my summer movie reviews one of my ultimate goals is to talk about the fun or unique things that I liked about the film.  Maybe make a connection to improv, and the world is a better place.  I keep trying to think about topics that I want to highlight or talk about, and I just cannot come up with any.  It’s not that the movie was terrible, and I want that time in my life back.  It’s just that it didn’t really blow me away or excite me; the movie just seemed to happen.

In my mind, this movie seems really similar to Thor, which I really enjoyed!  Maybe that is why this one does not stack up.  We go on an adventure to this exciting alien world, but I never feel like I really got to discover the characters there, or the cool things there which would not exist on Earth.  I also felt at some point there should have been an epic space battle, while we did get some lanterns fighting in space, I was left wanting more.  To me this was like a regular old improv scene with no tag outs or edits to truly explore the world and make it fun.

I did enjoy Ryan Reynolds, he definitely has the physique to play a super hero, and we definitely got to see more of his acting then when he played Deadpool in X-Men.  I enjoyed the soft voice he brought to the character; most super heroes have these rough or angry voices while Reynolds seemed to play it more chill, which seemed to really fit the character.  My main problem was the writing was not up to par, there were a few moments where I was laughing at the cheesiness of the lines being said.  It was like need a love scene, need a conflict with the female character, need an I am hero hear me roar speech, sprinkle that together and we will have movie magic, or not.  But the suit they created for him is pretty awesome, and the effects for the character were cool, which did save some of the cheesiness.

The best thing this movie did was let me wanting more.  The villain seemed to be a throw away character, as most of his story seemed to be a set up for a sequel.  I walked out of the theather thinking about what you could create with a lantern ring, and all of the different places and action it would be great to see Hal Jordan in.  We all know this whole thing is the ramp up to a Justice League movie, but I really want to see these characters exist in their own worlds before we see them collide.  This movie sets up perfectly for a sequel, and that is what I want.  This time let’s bring a little more depth to this awesome world!  (2 out of 5 stars)

X-cellent Return to Quality

I went into X-Men: First Class with pretty high expectations. I feel in love with the X-Men series after the second movie.  In my analysis the first movie was good, number 2 was great, number 3 jumped the shark, number four AKA the spinoff for Wolverine was meh, so my peak came three films ago.  With the blow up of the restarted Batman franchise, I think Hollywood has realized people want comic book movies to hold more depth.  I mean it has always been cool to see Batman on the big screen, but now it is so much cooler because of the amazing world Christopher Nolan has weaved.  With this kind of restart kind of prequel to the X-Men series, I was getting the same vibe, so I put it was up on a high pedestal.

While this is no The Dark Knight, I did really enjoy X-Men: First Class.  It was long, but it was one of those movies where you get to the end and you’re so interested that you don’t recognize you were sitting for such a distance of time.  There is a lot of set up, as you would guess in an origins film, but maybe the nerdy half of me was really excited to learn where all of these mutants came from, especially Charles Xavier.  It’s not very often we get to meet intelligent people in comic book films, and Charles is probably at the top of the intelligence list, and I really enjoyed hearing his story.

One of my favorite things about this film was how there was so much space to play.  In improv, the ultimate goal is to feel like you are playing, and that is where the best improv is born.  This movie had tons of X-Men movie universe to pull from, which they did.  We got to see a young Stryker in a cameo role, and we also got to see some alums from the former films pop up in random cameos.  Spoiler alert* It was so fun to see Hugh Jackman make the Wolverine appearance, which made the whole theater laugh.  I also think they did an excellent job playing with that scene; the film portrayed a great, “ehh were doing this” moment, and then it had this instant where it felt like it played out a bit too long, and then when it was over the scene just felt perfect.  I also loved the quick glance of Rebecca Romijn Stamos during the Mystique scene.  *End Spoilers*

I also love a movie with great characters, they are the most fun to play with in improv land.  The X-men universe provides a huge number of characters, and the best part is they already have fun quirks and twists built into them.  We get to learn their powers, history, and flaws in just seconds.  This film mainly focused on Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr’s journey to becoming Professor X and Magneto, and what a great story they have, all of the classic elements of an enthralling story.  Now I want to go deeper into their world, and really learn about all of the supporting characters!  Who are these new X-Men and new members of the Brotherhood.

Overall X-Men: First Class was a lot of fun, and the action flowed pretty quickly, the two main things I want in summer movies.  After watching First Class, I am really excited for the next sequel.  This one had such a great set up, and we got a brief glimpse into their characters, and it will be exciting to see where the producers take them.  There is a perfect set up to make an NEW X-2 and really blow it up!  Now that is the movie I am ready for!  4 out of 5 stars!

Bridesmaid Me Laugh!

In typical top tier SNL cast member fashion Kristen Wiig stepped out into the world of Hollywood to shoot a film.  Sometimes we get priceless gems, sometimes we get a run of the mill movie, and sometimes you get a box office clunker based off of a 3 minute SNL skit.  Kristen Wiig is a talented performer, and now we know she is a talented writer also!  Bridesmaids is a funny movie definitely worth your money this summer season!

What struck me about this film was how much fun it must have been to act in.  It felt ike a string of improv scenes on top of a storyline.  As I was watching I just kept marveling at the fact that these women were getting to play, and were getting paid to do it.  There were several bits that would just be a hilarious good time to play in, I really wanted to join in and follow the fun!  The scene on the airplane was priceless, who doesn’t want to fight with a snotty flight attendant and then start making their own announcement on the intercom.  The dance scene to Wilson Philips’ “Hold On,” had to be a ball of fun to film.  While the movie swirled around some pretty downtrodden themes and awkward moments, almost The Officesque, the games were so much fun.

I think the best review I can give this film is there were two moments when I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt.  I do not remember laughing so hard at a movie in such a long time.  The film really was hilarious, and it seemed like the whole theater agreed.  There is a moment in the middle of the movie where everyone gets food poisoning, spoiler alert not for those with a queasy stomach, but the button of that scene was just perfect, heightened to the right point with a memorable end point.

I was recently processing the movie with a friend, and was talking about my only down fall came with the ending.  I was not happy with the way they wrapped up all of the characters.  I felt they came to some shallow endings, and the rebound was two quick.  As I talked about that longer I described how those story arcs might actually be how real like played out, as I could name multiple examples from my world.  So I take that one back, Kristen Wiig you win!  While I felt the ending was too short while I was watching the movie, I did feel good how the ending wrapped up nicely and quickly.

I enjoyed every moment of Bridesmaids, from beginning to end!  It had a great pacing, and moved along at just the right beats.  It did feel like the plot was based on a loose story with improv scenes plopped on the top; not a complaint for me, but I can see where others might be frustrated.  I also think this film connects to something Tina Fey talked about in her book.  Bridesmaids showed females doing comedy that was not cute.  The story was based around the epic decline of the main characters life, which can make people feel uncomfortable, but I thought it was genius.  A shining example of women being funny and I loved it, the five main characters were hilarious.  4 out of 5 stars, mainly for all of the vomiting, haha!

Not So Stranger Tides

The facebook and twitter reviews were on both ends of the spectrum.  Pirates 4 was amazing, and they went back to see it twice.  On the other end, people were vowing to not see another Pirates movie and wishing for those two and a half hours of their lives back.  With such a spread I was excited to get in there and make my own opinion.  To give a bit of context, I am not a pirate head!  I saw the first three movies, and enjoyed them.  The first one the most, and the third one had a cool way of bringing the most convoluted story full circle.  I do enjoy the look and feel of the storytelling, along with the interesting characters, but I am not stuck on it.  This allows me to be objective as there are some movie franchises where it is tougher for me to do that, argghh.

After watching Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, I still feel very much the same way.  I loved the look and feel of the movie, and the interesting characters involved.  While Johnny Depp turned in a good performance as Jack Sparrow, and a good bit of the old characters were back for the latest romp on the high seas, those characters felt a bit played out to me.  I was actually more interested in the peripheral characters we did not really get to find out about.  Why was there a thirteen year old kid on this pirate ship, and how did he become such a good fighter.  Why was this missionary stuck on the ship, and strung up in the air.  I wish we got to learn a bit more about these characters instead of traveling down the same old path.  Stranger Tides also featured some fun cameos with Dame Judy Dench making a short appearance, and Richard Griffiths playing a hilarious King George.

One saving grace was how quickly the producers got to the story, and how the film took an interesting twist.  Usually with these later sequels it takes a while to get going as we need to get the familiar characters left in ‘happily ever after’ into a new conflict and story.  Tides did not have that problem, similar and new battle lines were drawn quickly and naturally which led right into the story.  I love the idea of the world in a time when everyone believed in the supernatural lurking around the corner, then seeing it actually exist.

The killer for me in this film was the ending.  Everything seemed to magically fall in line to bring Jack Sparrow to a happy conclusion.  Once the film arrived at the final scene, it all seemed very predictable.  Which made me kind of sad, but with the Pirates films being extremely convoluted and nonsensical could be a direct response at its most recent critiques.  Everything just seemed a little to cliché to me, especially the cheesy call back to the Disney song, A Pirates Life for me.  While I did not like Johnny’s line there, I did very much appreciate his shout out to improvisation!

If you are going into the film expecting to love it, you most likely will.  If you are on the edge, you might want to stay home.  If you are looking for a fun summer blockbuster to eat popcorn to, and just recognize it as an over the top not so serious ride, then this film is it.  While the story seemed a bit played out, there were some really cool features which reeled me right back in: the pirate ships in bottles, Blackbeard’s ability to control his ship, and the way they got into the fountain of youth, even if it resembled the secret cavern from movie one.  AKA there were several moments when I leaned to my friend and said, “that was cool.”  While I enjoyed the movie, I probably won’t watch it when it comes to Netflix!  2 ½ stars out of 5

Thorific

Summer Movie Review 2011: Thor

Ever since I can remember I was always obsessed with the summer blockbuster movie season.  All through high school the whole crew would go see all the big releases.  Since that time I started a tradition of rating summer movies, and I am going to expand that into short reviews for Justimprov.  This will not be a typical movie review, as I hope to keep them pretty short.  I do not want to commentate on the same old typical review fodder, and plan to pick out some fun little themes and hopefully do some relating back to improv.  I will end with a short wrap up and a rating out of five stars!  I hope you enjoy!

The first blockbuster of the summer was the movie adaptation of the comic book Thor.  Marvel is currently working on creating a movie universe where the Avengers can come together to fight crime on the big screen.  As they press forward with the individual character films to introduce each superhero Thor was the next edition.  Thor is an interesting movie as it is based off of the Germanic mythology, many of us are familiar with the Greek and Roman gods, this runs along a similar idea.  Thor is a god who comes to Earth to protect the human race, and uses a mythical hammer as his power source.

First off, the mythology and world Thor exists in is very fascinating and interesting, albeit it could be a bit complicated for the novice.  I got a brief rundown of the mythology before going to see the movie from a friend.  I would recommend a quick glance at Wikipedia to get a grasp of the story line or talking with someone who has some knowledge.  With that brief bit of information, I could very easily follow the movie from the first scene, without it I can see the general movie goer getting a bit confused!

One thing I loved about this movie was the comic relief.  This was a bit different from other comic book movie humor, and really hit home with the audience.  Every bit that was laid out there got a response from the crowd in the theater.  I loved the character Darcy Lewis, the side kick to Jane the main love interest.  I read that the role really expanded through the rehearsals as there wasn’t much written in the original script for the character.  She provided the perfect moody, lost puppy, sarcastic humor to make the movie funny.  I bet a whole bunch of her lines came out of improvisation during the table reads and filming process, and you can tell.  I really enjoyed the element she added.

Overall, I loved Thor.  It was a lot of fun, and the cinematic style was beautiful.  The characters were dynamic and different from what we typical get in the popcorn munching blockbusters.  When I was talking to my friend, he was worried about how they would transfer the mythology heavy story to the big screen.  I think the filmmakers did an excellent job converting a pretty dense story and world into a simple to grasp fast paced script.  I know Thor’s next stop will be in the world of The Avengers, but I would love to see another Thor movie, and see the film take the next steps of all the unfinished story lines.  It would be fascinating to see more of Thor’s world without all of the set up that was needed in this film.  Great job Marvel, 4 stars out of 5!