In which the author eases back into the swing of things and brings the reader along for the ride.
Blogging has not been coming easily to me lately, which I don't really like. I would really like to push myself to write more, but it hasn't been happening. Hopefully I can use this post to get back in the swing of things, we will see how it goes.
I've talked about summer movies before. If you didn't read it last year, or you don't like clicking links, I can catch you up. There are lots of movies in the summer, some are good, most are not so much good.
Pretty simple premise right?
This summer, for me, has been a little different than most. Don't worry, I'm still job searching so it isn't that different. But I have seen more movies in the theater than I normally do. So I thought I'd review them for you.
Thor- This movie marked the official start of the summer movie season. It also marked the start of a cavalcade of summer comic movies1. When I first heard about this movie I wasn't that interested. I never knew much about Thor other than the fact that he had hammer with a weird name (Mjölnir) and that he was a Norse god sent to Earth who became a superhero. This would mean the movie would have to balance scenes on Earth with scenes in Asgard, what director can manage that?
Which brings us my interest in the film. It started when I heard that Kenneth Branaugh would be directing, he is best known for directing in several movies based on Shakespeare's plays. It seemed to me that someone with a grasp of Shakespeare may be able to handle the balance. Seeing the trailers locked me in so I went to see it one afternoon.
What worked: Branaugh found a good pace for the movie, it never seemed to drag and did manage a balance between the supernatural and the superhero. Chris Hemsworth was great as Thor, he looked the part, and had the smarmy, egotistical thing down. The connection to the larger movie world that will be found in The Avengers next summer was much smoother than in Iron Man 2. Idris Elba (aka Stringer Bell), always Idris Elba.
What was best: Tom Hiddleston's turn as Loki was incredible. A movie like this is only as good as it's villain and this was a great villain.
What could have been better: Natalie Portman was just kind of hanging around and the love story felt forced. Thor's running crew were talked up as bad asses, and had the look, but didn't do much.
Overall: I really enjoyed this movie. It was a lot of fun, it had action and an appropriate amount of cheesy comedy you'd expect for a comic movie. Totally worth checking out. Also, I finally learned how to pronounce Mjölnir.
X-Men: First Class - I have a conflicted history with X-Men movies. I grew up reading X-Men and watching the cartoon, I thought the first movie was great and the second is, in my opinion, one of the best comic book movies ever made. The third one was a frustrating mess the felt like a cheap cash grab by Fox2, and Wolverine was one of the worst movies I've seen. So to say that I was worried when I heard that Fox was making a prequel/reboot of the X-Men franchise is an understatement. As a result I didn't pay much attention. Until, once again, the attached director was announced.
Matthew Vaughn, director of Stardust and Kick-Ass, has earned a lot of credit with me which meant my apprehension was lessened. However, I was still concerned with Fox's history of interfering with filming and a short production schedule (10 months as opposed to Thor's 15). Which lasted until I saw the first official trailer, which blew me away. It seemed to have all the heart of the first two movies and the actors all looked and sounded great. To say I was excited going into the screening was an understatement, this had quickly one of the movies I was most looking forward to.
What worked: A lot of things, really. There was a lot happening in the movie but it never felt overly long, it was able to move a quick clip and hold your attention. Kevin Bacon was fantastic in his role as the villain Sebastian Shaw. The kids in the movie did a good job for the screen time they had. The visuals were fantastic, the movie takes place in the 60's and Vaughn was able to make that seem real with the costume choices and set decorations. An unexpected scene in the middle of the movie that I don't want to ruin but worked on every level.
What worked best: James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto were incredible. Most people agree that Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan were perfectly cast in the first three movies. McAvoy and Fassbender were able to match these performances while making the roles their own. Watching these characters interact with one another was worth the price of admission alone.
What could have been better: This story is ultimately about Xavier and Magneto, so take this with a grain of salt, but most of the support characters were underutilized, especially the villains (but a least they got away from the generic jumping super power found all over X-Men 3). January Jones did not impress me as Emma Frost. Only one black character. I'm pretty much over Mystique as a character, I don't know why these film makers keep going back to this character, there are way more interesting females out there to bring into these movies.
Overall: It's still pretty early in the summer, but so far this is the movie to beat for me. It was incredible, I loved every minute of it, even with the issues that I mentioned before. There are one or two other movies this summer that may surpass X-Men: First Class, but they will have to be pretty amazing.
Super 8 - I was all about the marketing for this flick. Movie trailers these days show way too much of the films they are advertising, Super 8 did not have this problem. It left a lot of the film to be discovered. Also, J.J. Abrams, the director, did a great job with Mission Impossible 3 and Star Trek, so that was a positive. I wasn't sure if I was going to see this in the theaters or not, but my mom was in town and we had talked about going to see a movie and I thought this would be a good one.
What worked: The kids. The kids were amazing in this film, they were funny and felt like real kids, not old people pretending to be kids. The story at the heart of the movie, it was moving and well done, it would have worked even without all the other mystery/monster type stuff. The setting and costumes, the movie is set in 1980 and the set design and costume really made that feel real.
What worked best: Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning, the two main characters. They were totally amazing.
What could of been better: Umm....less lens flairs please. The dad character either needed to be in the movie more or in it less, he just kind of floated. This is going to sound weird but there needed to be less of the monster, the movie worked at it's best when it was just the kids and their story or people reacting to weirdness going on around them. The times you see the monster, especially early on, felt unnecessary and, I think, would have heightened the tension if you just saw the outcome of those scenes.
Overall: A very fun movie, that, as promised, managed to feel like an early eighties Amblin Entertainment movie. Worth checking out for sure, but don't feel like you will miss anything by waiting for DVD.
What other movies will I see in theaters? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Captain America, and Attack the Block3. Movies I am interested in seeing but will weight to hear some initial reviewing: Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Cowboys & Aliens. What can you expect to read about next week4? It will be a blast from the past.
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1 Thor, X-Men, Green Lantern, Transformers, Captain America, Cowboys & Aliens, Conan the Barbarian.
2 X-Men: The Last Stand was rushed into production when Bryan Singer chose to direct Superman Returns and was given a very short production schedule to beat Singer's Superman to theaters. Additionally, Fox executives may have been very insistent on making changes to the film (such as killing off Cyclops since James Marsden was also going to be in Superman).
3 Assuming it releases near here, I would probably drive to Indy to watch it.
4 Seriously, I will write a new post next week.
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