I am way behind on posting, so once again, you all must suffer me to post many times in a short time span. But since about 3 people actually read this blog, I'm not too worried about the consequences.
So... "Thor"...
I'll just put this out there: I love me a damned superhero movie. Give me some hot guy who kicks ass and gets the girl, and I am chomping at the bit. It's a bonus when the movie is actually GOOD on top of that. And that is what "Thor" is, much to my surprise.
"Thor" centers around - you guessed it - a guy named Thor (Chris Hemsworth), whose part of a supernatural race of beings who live on Asgard, and act as protectors of the entire universe. They are legends in Norse mythology, who swooped in and saved the Norse people from the Frost Giants back in the day. The king, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), was the one who eventually brokered peace with the Frost Giants, and took their main weapon so that they couldn't harm other realms.
Fast forward to the present day, where Thor is about to take over for Odin, while Loki, (Tom Hiddleston), his brother, watches from the sidelines with a suspicious look on his face. Through a series of events, Thor isn't crowned king, and instead does something incredibly reckless. You see, the Frost Giants broke in to Asgard to try and steal back their beloved weapon, interrupting the crowning ceremony. So Thor decides to get revenge by invading the Frost Giants home and killing as many as possible. Naturally Odin's pissed, and when he finds out, decides to take away Thor's hammer (tee-hee), and casts him down to Earth.
But luckily for Thor, the moment he lands on Earth's soil, he runs in to Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a physicist who is researching all of the weird aurora-type happenings in the sky. Jane and her team, Erik (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy (Kat Dennings), take Thor under their wings, so to speak, especially once they find out that Thor actually came from one of those strange events in the sky.
It goes on from there, and is actually quite complex. I applaud the director, Kenneth Branagh (I know, I know, THAT Kenneth Branagh), for integrating so much of the legend of Thor into the plot, and for trusting the audience to be smart enough to keep up. I loved how he went so easily between the drama of what was happening on Asgard to what was taking place on Earth.
This movie makes me hungry for "The Avengers" for several reasons, and it was a great way to introduce the character of Thor. I almost peed when I saw Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) for a few moments during one of the scenes, and the casual mention of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner just got me all a-twitter.
Yes, I know. I'm a nerd. Get over it.
So on the CWeave scale, I give this movie a solid 8.5. I am serious here - great special effects, a decent show on the acting front, some electric chemistry between the two stars (Chris and Natalie), and a solid story to boot. You can't ask for much more in a superhero flick!
Showing posts with label Jeremy Renner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeremy Renner. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
"The Town" - in theaters
Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly), I found that I really enjoyed Ben Affleck's first foray into direction, "Gone Baby Gone". I thought it was gritty and suspenseful and very wonderfully acted. So I was eager to see his latest effort, "The Town", and was pleasantly surprised when my roommate decided that we should go on opening night.
"The Town" revolves around a group of bank robbers in the neighborhood of Charlestown in Boston. This group includes both Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, who grew up together in the neighborhood and have pulled off many heists.
The opening scene is taut and intense, as it starts off with a bank robbery where the four guys wear Skeletor masks and hold AK-47s to the poor bank employees' heads. The bank manager, played by Rebecca Hall, is forced at gunpoint to open the safe, and then is taken as a hostage. They blindfold her and leave her at the edge of the ocean, physically unharmed, but psychologically damaged.
The story revolves around the fear that this bank manager saw something that she shouldn't have. So Ben Affleck's job is to check to make sure. Instead, he ends up falling in love and starting a relationship with this woman, while at the same time, still robbing banks but desperate to get out of Boston.
And did I mention that the FBI is on their tail? Jon Hamm, who really plays a giant prick for the most part, is the head of the FBI task force responsible for bringing these criminals to justice. And he'll do it by any means necessary.
You find yourself really rooting for Affleck here. I mean, I really didn't want him to get caught, because I felt like he's trapped in this situation that's out of his hands and he just wants to take control of his life. And he can only do that by NOT getting arrested and leaving Boston.
The performances here were fantastic. Affleck was great, putting on his native Boston accent and playing someone reminiscent of his "Good Will Hunting" character. Jeremy Renner was terrifying and at points, really funny. Just the way that he looks at you makes you feel as if he's going to explode at any second and blow your head off. Blake Lively was also great as Renner's younger sister and Affleck's ex, who's so high on coke and Oxycontin for most of the movie that she can't really tell what's going on. Rebecca Hall was solid as the new girlfriend, and was great at conveying a little bit of uneasiness around law enforcement, almost as if she was rooting for the robbers. But clearly, she wasn't. The performance was just THAT complex.
It's just so good.
So on the CWeave scale, I give this movie a 9. It's full of action, blood, f-bombs, and a little romance as well. I think that Affleck has really proven himself both behind the camera and in front of it, so much so that we're all asking ourselves, "'Gigli' who?"
"The Town" revolves around a group of bank robbers in the neighborhood of Charlestown in Boston. This group includes both Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, who grew up together in the neighborhood and have pulled off many heists.
The opening scene is taut and intense, as it starts off with a bank robbery where the four guys wear Skeletor masks and hold AK-47s to the poor bank employees' heads. The bank manager, played by Rebecca Hall, is forced at gunpoint to open the safe, and then is taken as a hostage. They blindfold her and leave her at the edge of the ocean, physically unharmed, but psychologically damaged.
The story revolves around the fear that this bank manager saw something that she shouldn't have. So Ben Affleck's job is to check to make sure. Instead, he ends up falling in love and starting a relationship with this woman, while at the same time, still robbing banks but desperate to get out of Boston.
And did I mention that the FBI is on their tail? Jon Hamm, who really plays a giant prick for the most part, is the head of the FBI task force responsible for bringing these criminals to justice. And he'll do it by any means necessary.
You find yourself really rooting for Affleck here. I mean, I really didn't want him to get caught, because I felt like he's trapped in this situation that's out of his hands and he just wants to take control of his life. And he can only do that by NOT getting arrested and leaving Boston.
The performances here were fantastic. Affleck was great, putting on his native Boston accent and playing someone reminiscent of his "Good Will Hunting" character. Jeremy Renner was terrifying and at points, really funny. Just the way that he looks at you makes you feel as if he's going to explode at any second and blow your head off. Blake Lively was also great as Renner's younger sister and Affleck's ex, who's so high on coke and Oxycontin for most of the movie that she can't really tell what's going on. Rebecca Hall was solid as the new girlfriend, and was great at conveying a little bit of uneasiness around law enforcement, almost as if she was rooting for the robbers. But clearly, she wasn't. The performance was just THAT complex.
It's just so good.
So on the CWeave scale, I give this movie a 9. It's full of action, blood, f-bombs, and a little romance as well. I think that Affleck has really proven himself both behind the camera and in front of it, so much so that we're all asking ourselves, "'Gigli' who?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
