Thor Review

Thor

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, and Natalie Portman

Grab your hammers and helmets for this comic tale of about the God of Thunder! A powerful but arrogant warrior who is cast out of his world of Asgard by his father and banished to earth. While on earth, he learns what takes to be a true leader, and hero.

Okay, so Thor isn’t one of the most believable superhero tales that Marvel has created but every fan takes it for what it is. Knowing this, you have to go into the theatre with your taste for realism on a vacation. Thor doesn’t possess much of it. However, that doesn’t stop it from delivering a +1 on the right side for Marvel movie adaptations. Daredevil was crap, the first Hulk was crap, the second Hulk was reasonably good, but besides X-Men and Iron Man, that was it…until now.

Thor needed to be quality, otherwise the Avenger Movie coming out next summer wouldn’t be worth a matinee ticket (and still may not, I have my doubts). So how did Thor do? Very well actually. Marvel is beginning to find their formula for success and it consists of the right balance of humor, plot, and action much like that of Iron Man. Several times during the movie I found myself smirking at witty dialogue or choking on a funny situation. Not to mention how great Chris Hemsworth does as the mighty Thor, son of Oden. Natalie Portman plays a safe but enjoyable role as the muse of Thor who offers to help him because of the mystery that lies behind him. Anthony Hopkins is an honorable and wise, Oden. In this movie we also get a nice cameo of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye who is tempted to almost take out our hammer wielding hero in one part of the movie not too long after Thor arrives on earth.

Throughout the movie, action is a constant, and at times it got a little busy but it always seemed to remain true to an underlying plot, and direction. For comic book fans, much of Thor almost seems like a large preview for the Avengers movie, constantly connecting the dots that intertwine the heroes in the graphic novels. Yet in the end, you don’t leave confused, but satisfied that the Avengers Movie is one step closer to be the epic movie that its suppose to be.

7 out of 10

Black Swan Review

Black Swan (2010)

Black Swan (2010)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, and Winona Ryder

Possibly the best psychological thriller of 2010, Black Swan delivers along every edge of reality that it reaches. Black Swan is undoubtedly the best work that Natalie Portman has delivered thus far, and I’m a huge fan of her role in the movie adaption of V for Vendetta. Backed by a stellar cast, Portman finds a way to progressively distort your view of reality down to last minutes of the film.

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a professional ballet dancer that wins the lead in the famous “Swan Lake”. Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) is absolutely convinced that Nina can perform the role of the White Swan, but feels that her role as the Black Swan won’t deliver. While pushing her emotional and mental limits, Nina begins to lose her mind in the hopes of perfecting her performance. Reality becomes hallucination, and hallucination become reality as Nina fails to separate the two in her quest to master the role of the Black Swan. Inevitably, like the White Swan’s fate in the final act, Nina manages to kill herself as well in her obsession to finish with perfection.

Performances are strong from Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Max Payne) who plays a rival dancer Lily, who befriends Natalie Portman’s character and delivers an intense sexual scene in one of the film’s major highlights. Also a strong performance from Winona Ryder, who plays famous dancer Beth Macintyre that is replaced by Natalie Portman’s character and falls to a destructive demise. All in all the movie exceeded my expectations, and it left me dumbfounded when I left the theater. If you have the chance, don’t miss the opportunity to see Natalie Portman at her best.

Rating: 9 out 10

Purchase V for Vendetta with Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving