Verily Tis Time To See "Thor: Ragnarok"

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins,

Directed by Taika Waititi

The Story:

Ragnarok, the prophesied end of Asgard is at hand. Hela (Blanchett), the Goddess of Death seeks to destroy all that remains of Asgard and take her place on the throne. The only one who has any hope of stopping her is Thor (Hemsworth), and he's going to have to travel across the entire cosmos to get their in time. 

You've seen the trailer, and if that didn't get you psyched to go see this one, then there's not much I can write to convince you.

Waititi delivers the best of the 3 Thor sagas on the silver screen, and yes there's a lot of humor in it...

But I don't think at any point is the humor too distracting, or not in character for any of the characters.

Hemsworth has always been fun in the role of Thor, and they finally tapped into that and let the God of Thunder be the humorous, full of bravado son of Odin that makes the character shine.

He's complemented with the return of Hiddleston as Loki, and once more the brothers find themselves allied and at odds, sometimes both in the same scene.

Many more surprises, returns and losses for this final film from Marvel in 2017.

Is it their best of the year or best ever?

That will be debatable and vary from person to person.

I'm leaning at still giving that edge for this year to Spider-Man: Homecoming, but that may just be because after 5 attempts, I felt they finally got it right.

With Thor, they never really got it wrong, so much as they didn't deliver on everything that it could be.

So go, see the movie and have a good time.

Laugh it up, because things are about to get a lot darker next year with the arrival of Infinity War.

Final Grade: A

Join The "Hunt For The Wilderpeople" !

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Rated PG-13


Starring Sam Neill,  Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House,

Directed by Taika Waititi

The Story:

Ricky (Dennison) is a foster kid who has bounced from home to home throughout New Zealand. He's pretty much facing his last chance when he arrives at the farm of Bella (Wiata) and Hec (Neill). Over time, he begins to think of the place as home, but then, tragedy strikes and rather than facing being taken away again, he decides to make his way through the bush and survive on his own. Soon the subject of a manhunt, Ricky and Hec must stay ahead of the law to keep their names clear.

This is an offbeat buddy road movie meets coming of age story mashed up into the beautiful New Zealand countryside.

It's fun, it's touching, it's definitely worth watching.

Sam Neill is his usual gruff persona, think of him as an older, maybe less wise, Dr. Grant from Jurassic Park.

Dennison is such a likeable character, and while this may not be his first role, it is likely the one that will help propel his career forward.

Finally, the director is once again hitting me with an end of the year contender for most entertaining films of the year.

He scored last year with What We Do In The Shadows, and he's been tapped for Thor: Ragnarok next year.

If he brings his light touch to the Marvel Universe, I think fans will find the third Thor outing to be the best one yet, and Waititi will hit this list 3 years in a row.

Final Grade: B+

How To Reboot A Franchise: Step 1: Hire Chris Pine ... "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit"

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

Rated PG-13 for language and violence

Starring Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

The Story:

This is the story of how Jack Ryan (Pine) becomes an analyst for the CIA.  We will meet his mentor (Costner), his wife (Knightley) and even some pesky Russian villain (Branagh).  In short, this is the origin of America's James Bond.

So the question:

Is it worth it?

In a word: Yes.

While this is not The Hunt For Red October, this is clearly the best Jack Ryan we've been treated to in a generation. 

Honestly, I remember very little about the Ben Affleck version of the franchise, but perhaps that is for the best?

Branagh spins a tight tale behin the camera, while portraying the bad guy in front of it.  With Thor and now Jack Ryan under his belt, his days of being just a Shakespearean director are long gone.

Chris Pine steps in to the role of Jack Ryan, and does a nice job of making anyone that remembers the old movies forget Baldwin, Ford and Affleck.

Of course, this is a lot easier than stepping into the role of Kirk in Star Trek, but just like that franchise, a fresh coat of 21st century paint shows there are a lot of miles left in these franchises.

The only real problem...

Will audiences tire of seeing Chris Pine in everything?

Adding Costner as Ryan's mentor works nicely.  They now have a character that could be spun into his own movies if the mood strikes, either prequels or sequels with or without Ryan as the partner.

Anyway, a good first effort, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not a bad reboot to the franchise.  I'd be willing to own/watch it again.

Prelude To Pan... "The Pirate Fairy"

The Pirate Fairy (2014)

Rated G

Starring the voices of:  Mae Whitman, Christina Hendricks, Tom Hiddleston, Lucy Liu, Raven-Symone

Directed by Peggy Holmes

The Story:

Zarina (Hendricks) is the newest fairy in Pixie Hollow.  She is responsible for the dust that the fairies use.  But she yearns for so much more.  She spends her off time trying to create new colors of dust.  When one of her mistakes goes awry, she leaves, heartbroken.  A year later, she returns, with a crew of Pirates in tow and they steal the dust from Pixie Hollow.  Tinker Bell (Whitman) and her pals go after them, but due to one of Zarina's experiments, all of the fairies have different powers than they are used to.  Will they be able to adapt and get the dust back before it's too late?

Much like my review for Barbie, having daughters will expose you to many movies and shows that a dad might otherwise get through life without ever having seen.

The fun part, is when these shows are actually rather entertaining, even though as a dad you should really groan and fuss to let the girls know your displeasure with watching it again, for the umpteenth time.

The Pirate Fairy does an interesting job of beginning to close the timeline of Tinker Bell movies to Peter Pan.

This is the 5th Tinker Bell film in the franchise, and the one most closely associated with the future for Tink.  We've glimpsed a young Wendy in an earlier installment, and this movie takes the next step:

A young pirate named James (Hiddleston).

Yep, the once and future Captain Hook!

And yes, Hiddleston voices James with all the sweet sincerity like his turn as Loki in the Thor franchise.

Oh, and the crocodile also makes his appearance... and he's absolutely adorable!

Strangely, I'm looking forward to seeing where the tales of Pixie Hollow take us next.

Darn those girls.


:)

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: We own it, and I don't want to tell you how many times I've already seen it, either whole or in part. :)

The Number One Movie in All of the Nine Worlds? "Thor: The Dark World"

By the bristling beard of Odin!

The Story:

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been busy restoring order to the 9 Worlds since the events of New York (see: The Avengers.  No really, you should really see that movie!)  But dark forces are gathering to eliminate the 9 worlds from existence!

Can Thor stop them?

Not without a little help from...

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) !!

That's all you're going to get from me during the opening weekend.

: )

I will say that like most Phase One movies, Phase Two doesn't miss a beat by replacing directors.  Alan Taylor takes the helm, and brings the Norse Legends to life, all the while taking a "comic book" movie and embracing the science fiction aspects of it.

And it works!

I liked the first Thor.

I liked this Thor even more.

To quote VeggieTales in summing up this movie:

"I laughed. I cried. It moved me, Bob."

Just about all of the original cast returns, to varying degrees of use within the film.  Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Natalie Portman, Idris Elba...

Good stuff.

If the ending is any indication, I am looking forward to seeing what Thor 3 has to offer.

Final Grade: A-... it will probably upgrade to a pure A when I review it again on DVD. :)

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: When does it come out on Blu-Ray already???!!!

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 47 ~ Thor

Never.

That's when I thought a movie starring the Marvel Comics version of Thor would be released on the Silver Screen in my lifetime.

Remember, I'm a child of the 70s that grew up with the cheesy Spider-Man show, and about the only thing that Marvel could hang its hat on was the pretty darn cool Hulk television show.

Fast forward to the 90s/00s, and Marvel properties began hitting the screen to impressive showings (Spider-Man and the X-Men), but there were a few clunkers along the way (Daredevil & Ghost Rider, I'm looking at you).

And then...

Marvel said, enough of this, we're doing it ourselves.

Oh boy.  It's either sink or swim at this point, and Marvel literally cannonballed into the deep end when they released Iron Man.

Grand Slam (oh my, another baseball reference!) the first time out, and the future of which all remaining Marvel movies would be judged.

Now, as it just so happens, Iron Man, belonging to the Avengers, falls into the category of my favorite characters, ever.  Trust me, I've been giddy with excitement and nervousness knowing that it's the true heroes of Marvel that are getting the Marvel Studios treatment.  Yes, I get that everyone knows Spider-Man and the X-Men, but truthfully, my day begins and ends with the heroes that call Avengers Mansion...

Home.

So when it was announced that Thor was coming next...and it would be directed by Kenneth Branaugh and star Anthony Hopkins as Odin...

Well, needless to say, I was both awed and nervous as well.  Anything less than Iron Man could be seen as a failure.

Starring Chris Hemsworth...who?...as Thor.  And Tom Hiddleston .... who?...as Loki.

That's a whole lotta no-name brand going into the story of the God of Thunder.

The story is straight up from the comics:  Odin must teach his son a lesson in humility so he strips him of his powers and sends him to Earth.  Granted, much of the story gets fiddled with to condense it to movie storytelling, but that's the basic premise of the story.

But they did it, and it worked!

No, it didn't light the box office on fire, but it didn't arrive with a thundering dud, either.

No, instead, the 3rd Branch of the Avengers Tree was revealed.  That left only Captain America to come, and complete the founding of the Avengers.

And Marvel would hope that the audiences would respond accordingly.

I think that worked out okay as well.

If memory serves, the biggest complaint about Thor was the casting of "gods of color" in the film.

Trust me, if they can change the color and origin of Nick Fury, I've got no issues with some minor characters in the Thor mythos.

Sometimes, the comic nerds need to just let it go.

Be impressed that something that NEVER should have EVER existed in our lifetime is here, to see, and to share, with our children.

Assuming you are the comic nerds that are married and well adjusted, and not the stereotypes that live in your Mom's basement...

Then I'm barking up the wrong tree completely!