Trailer Time!!! Thor: The Dark World

Time for another Marvel trailer! Since launching the Iron Man franchise back in 2008, Marvel has been a force to be reckoned with in the comic book movie genre. And for good reason, they continually make great flicks, that are just as fun for Marvel fanboys (or fangirls) as they are for the rest of the moviegoing public. Thor: The Dark World looks to be no different. Where Kenneth Branagh may have directed the first one a bit slapsticky, it looks like new director Alan Taylor has brought us action, action and some more action.

 

Yay! More Thor/Loki bickering, always entertaining! Also, I don't know if my fellow Whovians noticed, but the baddy of the tale is none other than the Ninth Doctor himself! Christopher Eccleston!
Are you pumped for this new Marvel movie? Let me know in the comments!

Snow White vs Snow White PART II!!!

I was going to write two separate posts for Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, but after seeing the latter I've come to the conclusion that the posts need to be combined into one giant Snow White extravaganza! Why, you may ask? With the movies having almost identical plots and so many compare and contrast points it just makes way more sense to do it this way.

In both flicks the titular heroine has to rescue her kingdom from the clutches of her evil stepmother (one's definitely more evil than the other, but more on that in a minute). In Mirror, Mirror it's Lily Collins, while Kristen Stewart is Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman . To be quite honest, Lily Collins wins this one. Granted, Stewart did try, I just don't think she quite has the chops to carry this movie, there was something missing there, although to be fair there actually were a lot of things missing in this movie (it was all over the place). Collins lucked out here, Mirror, Mirror is a charming family-type fairy tale, and it didn't try to be anything more than that. It let her go from naive shut-in to kinda kick-ass princess. And she didn't have to put on chain mail to prove that point.

What's the Snow White story without the Evil Stepmother? Nothing! Julia Roberts in Mirror, Mirror really had no chance to win this one out against Charlize Theron's Ravenna in Huntsman. While Roberts' Evil Queen is a terrible person who taxes her kingdom into poverty, verbally and emotionally abuses her stepdaughter and turns poor Nathan Lane into a cockroach, she's just not that evil. She's past her prime and refuses to admit it, like the ladies on all those Housewives of... (or at least I that's an apt analogy, I've never watched any of those shows) Theron's Ravenna on the other hand has that whole 'terrible beauty' thing going on and makes no qualms about her outright evilness. I mean she literally sucks the youth from the girls in the kingdom. Her castle is all obsidian and spiky, she also wears a spiky crown and necklaces made of crow skulls, clear signs of evil folks. You know, I wonder if they had dressed Julia Roberts in spikes and black and stuff instead of peacock outfits...nope, not even then. Both actresses were over the top in their performances, it worked for Theron, not so much for Roberts.

Next up are the dwarves. Something extremely interesting that I noticed between the two flicks is that in Mirror, Mirror they cast little actors to play the dwarves. The characters then wore this crazy springy stilt things to be bandits in the woods, aaaand make themselves taller. In Huntsman they cast regular sized actors as the dwarves and then used technology to shrink them down. It was just one of those 'huh' moments for me. To each their own I guess. Anyways, the dwarves in Mirror, Mirror are more classic Snow White dwarves, they take Snow White in, let her stay etc. Then they teach her to fight and steal (they're bandits, it's what they know) and all that jazz. In Huntsman the dwarves lead Snow White and the Huntsman into a magical forest where she meets a stag, for some reason (seriously, this movie was all over the place). 

Let me just say this, I'm a Chris Hemsworth fan. He's Australian, he's handsome aaaaand he's Thor. But in Snow White and The Huntsman, meh. He's supposed to kill her, he ends up falling for her, awfully convenient considering at the beginning his find is full of his dear dead wife. I don't know, I guess it just speaks to the general plot disconnect in the movie. Armie Hammer in Mirror, Mirror on the other hand. Wow. You may know him as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, but did you know this dude is hilarious? He stole the whole movie for me.

These days every movie with any hint of romance requires a triangular plot apparently. Mirror, Mirror has one that I've seen before in Snow White: Snow, The Prince and the Queen. Here Snow and the Prince fall for each other, but the Queen wants to prove her youthfulness and maybe get some cash from a rich kingdom and tricks the Prince into falling for her, then everything works out in the end, like a fairy tale should. In Snow White and the Huntsman the triangle seemed awfully contrived. Snow and her childhood friend William have held candles for each other, even though they've been separated by time and distance. Then the Huntsman spends some time with Snow and falls for her, of course.

Soooo, by now I've made it fairly clear that I preferred Mirror, Mirror far above Snow White and the Huntsman. It's not just that I preferred all elements, save Charlize Theron's Queen, it's also that Huntsman was trying far to hard to be a movie that it really wasn't. You could practically hear some scenes scream 'LOOK HOW EPIC I AM!' There were even some blatant LOTR (sorry, that's Lord of the Rings for the non-nerds reading this) ripoffs where Snow, the Huntsman, William and the dwarves are walking over Middle Earth-like hills and dales. I couldn't help but shake my head. Perhaps if they had focussed the story a tad instead of trying to be something else it would have worked better. Mirror, Mirror certainly isn't perfect, but I found it a more enjoyable film. It knew it was funny take on a fairy tale and went with that, and pulled it off pretty well.

AVENGERS!

Assemble up, true believers! It's time for another Marvel movie, and let me tell you know, they've seriously outdone themselves this time! If you've seen the five 2-hour trailers [Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: First Avenger and to a lesser extent the Edward Norton Hulk movie] leading up to this epic event you might have an idea of the awesomeness in store. So, on Sunday, around 20 of my Browncoat friends [for you muggles, that's fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly and Joss in general] met up at the theatre to revel in Joss' big budget feature. So, if you were at the 6:10 show at Metrotown on Sunday, I apologise, you honestly can't take us out in public, but you have to admit, we were having a good time, right?!
In all honesty it's been a very long time since I've had such a good time at a movie. The theatre was full of people who were ready to be entertained, and entertained we were. We laughed, we clapped, we outright cheered, it's just that type of flick. The action starts right at the beginning and that pace doesn't really let up for the rest of the 142 minutes. By now, I'm sure you know the basic premise of Avengers, Loki [Tom Hiddleston] has assembled a space army to take over the Earth and the only people who can stop it are a band of misfit would-be heroes, Captain America [Chris Evans], Iron Man [Robert Downey Jr.] , Thor [Chris Hemsworth], the Hulk [Mark Ruffalo], Black Widow [Scarlett Johansen] and Hawkeye [Jeremy Renner]. As a huge comic fangirl there were so many moments that just made me so happy. When Cap and Hulk first arrive at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, a massive aircraft carrier, I leaned to my neighbour and whispered, "It would be so much better if that was the heli-carrier" Mere moments later I was clapping with joy as it transformed and rose into the sky! Well played Mr. Whedon, well played.
What Joss has done so well, [that's right, not only did he direct this movie, he co-wrote it as well] as he often does, is mix snappy, funny dialogue with some serious character building and throw a whole bunch of action on top. Despite the fact that all of these characters have featured in their own movie or had cameos in those movies they still have a lot of growing to do to become The Avengers.
There's poor, disillusioned Steve Rogers [Captain America]. In his own movie he was so young and idealistic, but now, pulled into a new century, away from everything he knows and loves, he's a bit lost. He needs to find something new to fight for.
Bruce Banner [The Hulk] is still fighting 'the other guy' for control of his own body and consciousness. Let me tell you, Hulk is SO much better in small doses. I enjoyed his character SO much in this film, more than his other two flicks put together. I think we can all only take so much, "oh woe is me and my gamma radiation poisoning". That being said he gets some of the best lines in this movie.
Thor is still Thor. He's far less arrogant than in his movie, but he is still a freaking God, and a powerful one at that. He's still trying to come to terms with the brother he grew up with to this new treacherous and dangerous Loki that's taken his little brother's place.

Tony Stark [Iron Man] actually has the biggest character arc in this flick. The thing about Tony that we love is also the thing that makes it hard for him to be a member of a team; his outrageous and  narcissistic intelligence. Inside he is a good guy, I mean, you don't don't become a hero if you're bad news, you become a villain. However, over the course of the movie he starts to realise that he needs trust other people's intelligence, like Dr. Banner's and other people's leadership, like Cap's. Don't worry though, he doesn't lose any of that awesome Stark cockiness. 

Black Widow and Hawkeye kind of get the short end of the character growth in this movie. We still don't know that much about them, and not a whole lot is revealed in the movie either. Especially with Hawkeye spending half the movie not being himself. That being said they still show that they can hold their own in the big battle for Earth.
Speaking of that battle, thank goodness for CGI. Poor New York took an absolute BEATING in the final battle sequence of this movie, buildings toppled, rubble EVERYWHERE. It's all kinds of amazing. And even during this all-out battle to end all battles there are still a bunch of laugh out loud lines. It really is the type of action movie I would like to watch every time.
Marvel, I must doff my imaginary hat to you, I think after some mishaps a little while ago with some other characters movies, you've really come into your own. Also, I'm all kinds of impressed that you were able to find time when all of these busy actors were available AT THE SAME TIME to film this movie. Seriously, these are not nobody actors who have nothing better to do than be that character, they're all in pretty high demand!
So, to end this very long and probably overly favourable review, GO SEE THE AVENGERS! And if you've already seen it, go again! Nothing makes us Browncoats happier than seeing our beloved leader succeed, go Joss go! And for the LOVE OF GOD, don't leave before the end of the credits! This is a Marvel movie people, there is ALWAYS something after the credits.

Snow White VS Snow White

So, as you have probably noticed, Hollywood is re-embracing the fairytale. Not that fairytales have ever really fallen out of popularity, they're retold and repurposed often, actually this reminds me...*runs away from the computer*

Aaaand I'm back! I just had to go put on my all-time favourite fairytale retelling, The 10th Kingdom, for a little background entertainment while I write. In 2000 Hallmark released this amazing miniseries that combined all the classic fairytales in an epic journey that reminded me how much I really loved all them. That being said, it probably won't surprise you that I have most definitely been following ABC's Once Upon a Time although Grimm just hasn't captured my attention. And it isn't just TV that's getting into that old fairytale feeling, they're making a come back on the big screen too! YAY! With Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror, Mirror coming to a theatre near you this summer! Wait, hold on a second...I think...let's watch the trailers.

So, it would seem, for some reason, with alllll the options out there two movies about Snow White are going to be coming out in the same summer. I mean, sure, she's the fairest of them all, and all that jazz, and I know Hollywood generally has a hard time being original, but seriously? Don't these people talk to each other? Maybe they figured we all love fairytales so much that we wouldn't notice they were making movies with the same characters that will surely come out within weeks of each other. Sadly, what I'm sure what it will come down to is who makes the most money, as it always does in Tinseltown.

As previously mentioned, I do love fairytales, so it's more than likely that I will see both these movies. So let's see what the trailers are telling me...
Snow White and the Huntsman: Charlize "The Evil Queen" Theron rules a kingdom with her beauty ['beauty is my power'] and when her cool liquid mirror tells her there's another that might eventually rival her beauty and she should 'consume her heart' to 'live forever'. Just so happens that this 'other' is Kristen Stewart...who kind of drives me crazy, but that's only because of how godawful the character of Bella Swan is [Yes, I've watched the Twilight "Saga", yes, I know I should know better]. So, I suppose I should give her the chance to redeem herself, I'm openminded that way. Plus we have the handsome Chris Hemsworth with what sounds like a Scottish accent, so that might've sold me right there. And there look to be some good ol' fashioned battles happening in there...Let's call this movie a fairytale epic, 'cause that seems to be what it thinks it is.
Mirror Mirror: Let's be honest folks, the movie looks WAY more fun than the last one! I love a little humour from my Evil Queens, especially when they are Julia Roberts! Plus we've got Nathan Lane and Armie Hammer in there. Dancing, exquisite costumes, looks like good times to me! Plus Lily Collins seems much more Snow White-y to me than Stewart. But what really seals this movie [that I will dub a fairytale adventure, which is MUCH different from a fairytale epic] as the winner for me, even though you don't see him, is Sean Bean as the King. What can I say I love me some Eddard Stark! [Winter is Coming]
What do you think? Going to see either of these fairytale flicks when they hit theatres this summer?

Thor

Oh Marvel! You've done it again! I know this probably won't come as a surprise to most you, dear readers, but on top of being an ardent movie fan, I'm also a comic fangirl, so Mighty Marvel Matinee Monday was a pretty exciting one for me. That being said I have to admit I was starting to have my qualms about movies being made out Marvel comics. Sure, the recent franchises got off to pretty good starts, 'X-Men', 'Spider-Man', but then the sequels came along...and 'Fantastic Four.' However, those were all co-productions with Marvel Films and other studios. When Marvel Films switched over to Marvel Studios and brought us 'Iron Man' I was ecstatic, think about how awesome that movie was. Pretty awesome, right? I thought we'd put the not so great Marvel movies behind us, and then came 'Wolverine'. I try not to think about it too much, it still hurts my insides with what they did to my favourite character in the Marvel Universe. Then I had to remind myself that this was another co-production. I don't know what it is, but when they have to work with others the movies just aren't as awesome. When Marvel announced 'Thor' along with all the other movies leading up to the 'Avengers' I sincerely hoped it would be more 'Iron Man' than 'Wolverine', and thank the Gods of Asgard it was!

The movie itself is a lot like its' hero namesake, big, brash, heroic and a little bit silly. I think the real coup for the brass at Marvel HQ was getting Kenneth Branagh to direct this movie. Getting a director who is well versed in the ways of the Bard is perfect for a story that has the types of elements that Shakespeare was so fond of; honour, exile, revenge, mixed with a touch of magic. They did a similar thing with 'Iron Man', having Jon Favreau direct. Both men are great directors because not only can they tell a story, they can tell a story that's driven by characters, not the action around those characters. And that's what these movies are all about, introducing us to our comic book heroes.

Speaking of heroes, how about that Chris Hemsworth? When we last saw him on the big screen he was sacrificing himself aboard the USS Kelvin so James Tiberius Kirk could grow up to captain the Enterprise. At the time I thought he would be a good Captain America, but after seeing this movie, I have to say, he makes a damn fine Thor. He's able to play the arrogant God very well, someone so sure of his power and place in life. Up in Asgard his arrogance helps make him into a great warrior, but it's also his downfall Once exiled to Earth that same character flaw makes him hilarious, nothing like seeing someone who thinks they're all powerful get taken out by a Dr with a needle. Hemsworth somehow manages to make Thor both a warrior and goofball, and also pulls off a transition from prideful fool to hero somewhere in there. There are many little intentionally funny moments when Thor first arrives on Earth and he pulls them off beautifully. To be quite honest, he kind of looks like he's having the time of his life, I can imagine it's not everyday you get to fight Frost Giants with an all-powerful hammer, and then ask a curly haired pet store owner for a lizard large enough to ride. Also, I would like to put in a special thank you to his trainer, wow. That's some impressive work my friend, keep it up, and thank you, seriously. Thank. You.

Ahem, moving right along...the rest of the cast was also very good, except for one misstep I'll talk about in a minute. Tom Hiddleston is just fantastic as Loki, the trickster and traitor. Loki's calm demeanor is the polar opposite of Thor's. Where Chris Hemsworth brings us a loud, headstrong warrior in Thor, Hiddleston is quiet, calm and calculating as Loki. After sticking around after the credits I have to say I'm pretty sure we'll get to see Loki again and I'm certainly looking forward to it.

Then we have our supporting characters:

Kat Dennings may be type cast as the quirky sarcastic Darcy, and that would be a shame if she wasn't so damn good at it. Her little moments throughout the movie are some of the best and definitely some of the funniest.

I've always been a Stellan Skarsgard fan, even if his movie choices are sometimes a little odd. ['Mamma Mia'? with that "singing" voice? Really?] However, he pulls off the vaguely paternal and mostly skeptical, Erik Selvig very nicely.

I also really enjoyed Idris Elba as the enigmatic gatekeeper of Asgard, Heimdall. He may not have a lot of screen time, but whenever he was there he commanded every moment of it.

I love Anthony Hopkins, who doesn't? And I really am glad that he's getting some work in this ever evolving industry. But I hope I'm not the only one that felt he maybe phoned in his performance of Odin justalittlebit...

Now for the one casting misstep of the movie: Natalie Portman. I'm a huge fan of hers and there's no doubting her acting prowess. That 'Black Swan' performance and the Oscar that accompanied it are proof of that, and she has previous experience bringing a comic book character to life as Evie in 'V for Vendetta', but she just felt wrong to me as scientist and love interest, Jane Foster. I couldn't quite put my finger on the problem until the second time I saw the movie, she isn't nerdy enough. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I really think that was the issue. She does a fine job acting the part, but I really don't think she was the right choice for the role. I would have liked maybe to see an unknown in the role, or maybe even promoting Kat Dennings from sarcastic sidekick to leading lady.

One last thing before I wrap up. I absolutely LOVE the way Marvel is building up to 'The Avengers'. With Agent Coulson, not-quite-so-mild-mannered S.H.I.E.L.D. agent reappearing and taking a little bit larger role, we see a bit more of what the mysterious organization's all about. There were also references to both Tony Stark [Iron Man] and Bruce Banner [Hulk]. However, my absolute favourite thing, the thing that caused me to have a tiny fangirl freakout in the theatre, was the introduction of Clint Barton. 'Iron Man' might have had Black Widow, but 'Thor' got Hawkeye, and Hawkeye is awesome. 'The Avengers' is just looking better and better.

Welllll, that was certainly a long one, but let's just pretend I'm making up for some short posts in the past couple of weeks, okay? Not rambling on like an crazed fangirl...Until next time, as Stan Lee says, 'Excelsior!'