Movie Review: Thor

I’ve been delaying this movie review for as long as possible, because it’s been hard to process my feelings about the film. When I left the theater, I was convinced I didn’t like the movie. In retrospect, I think my complaints are a bit more specific than an overall dislike.

The movie opens with Odin waging war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim to prevent them from conquering the nine realms, including Earth. The Asgardians seize their source of power and the Frost Giants attempt to retrieve it just before Thor (Odin’s son) is about to ascend to the throne. When Thor travels to Jotunheim to confront their leader, an all-out war erupts, and Odin is forced to intervene. Because Thor is unapologetic and arrogant about his actions, Odin exiles him to earth, in hopes that he’ll learn his lesson.

Before I continue, I’d like to confess that I ripped that entire plot off from Wikipedia, because I had absolutely no idea what was going on for the first twenty minutes of the film. That’s either because I have a pea-sized brain, or because I was not familiar with the story before entering the film, and it wasn’t properly executed for comic-book novices such as myself. Regardless, that opening scene was simply too long. The real fun of the film begins when Thor is banished to earth, and he becomes a fish out of water.
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THOR Press Conference — Recap and Review

When Chris Hemsworth entered the room for the Thor press conference last weekend, I was quickly told by a fellow journalist to “stop drooling,” at which point I told him not to “blow my cover.” The truth is — I was drooling. Hemsworth is certainly dreamy, and judging by his answers during the conference, he’s also a very nice guy. When asked how it feels to be the new summer hunk, Hemsworth humbly brushed it off, saying that he’s just happy to be a working actor.

Kat Dennings did not disappoint, serving as the comic relief on film and in person. Because she started off quiet, I thought she might have an attitude problem — but my feelings quickly changed when she was asked her first question. Before responding, she commented on the “phallic” shape of the microphone, which created quite the laugh. She also admitted that she thought no one would ask her anything, and she’d therefore have no choice but to “wing” her answers.
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What Happened to the Smart Superheroes? — Is ‘Good Will Hunting’ the End?

I watched Good Will Hunting for the fiftieth time last night, and something occurred to me. Matt Damon’s character was an intellectual superhero. He didn’t have a batsuit, and he certainly couldn’t stop a train with his bare hands. His likability was based solely on smarts. There’s a scene in a bar where Ben Affleck hits on a girl, and a Harvard graduate makes him feel stupid. Damon comes to the rescue on his best friend’s behalf, but instead of punching the guy in the face in a well-choreographed fist-fight, he intellectually belittles him, and says “you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda’ got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.” So here’s my question — would you rather date Will Hunting or Spiderman, and have there been any intelligent superheros since? If you take that rubber suit off, do you think Batman even knows how to multiply?