Movie reviews

[seriousfic]

Thor

Okay, so my chief complaint, and this is a good thing, is that I was left wanting more. Not in a bad "I'm just getting the Cliff Notes version" way, but in the "I would like to spend more time with these characters in these situations." It clocks in at a respectable two hours, but I wouldn't have minded it going on another half-hour, just breathing. There is a lot of ground to cover, especially in terms of characters (I've heard some complaints about Baldur the Brave not making it in, but I think most of his role went to the more interesting Sif anyway. I mean, Baldur the Brave, what's his deal? He's brave? It's a movie about superheroes and Viking god-warriors! It's not like he's hanging out with 'Steve the Pussy' and 'Adrian the Guy Who Will Totally Back Down If It Doesn't Make Him Look Like Too Much of a Douche').

I guess they were worried about spending too much time on the "boring Superman 2 stuff" of Thor losing his powers, which I read some people being worried about before it was released, but it runs into the opposite problem, which is that the character work is actually so interesting you wish they'd spend more time on it.

I also love the little reverse twist when it comes to Loki. Because, you know that shifty-looking motherfucker is up to no good, and they even have someone say "We've got a traitor!", but then it turns out he's not so much a Big Bad as just kind of a prick, albeit one who then turns into a Big Bad. I'm glad to see he didn't turn out to be the Movieverse!Dr. Doom to Obadiah Stane's Green Goblin (if you got that, MAN, are you a nerd). And while before I was a bit ambivalent about him (maybe) being the villain in The Avengers, since he's a known quantity, now I'm looking forward to seeing where Whedon takes him just in terms of character, much more so than I would be to see the Abomination or Justin Hammer pop up again.

And really, slashers, even though Thor and Loki aren't biological brothers, they still grew up together. This isn't a Supernatural situation where they're the only two hot guys in the cast. You can't ship Thor and Dr. Selvig? They got drunk together, that's clearly yaoi fangirl for hooking up (as is everything else). And Fandral? Can't tell me that guy isn't bisexual. And Volstagg and Hogun? They'd die for Thor, you're telling me they wouldn't give him a hummer?

But no, you folks ship Thor/Loki. But don't come crying to me when the Avengers rolls around and he's a girl and you're covered in icky het cooties. You're going to get Jossed, it's inevitable. Right there in the director's name. Joss Whedon.

I've also seen a few complaints about Natalie Portman's character. Which I don't get, really. I think people wanted her to be the stock-standard Female Lead (because feminist characters only work one way, ya know), like Sigourney Weaver or someone, and just blow off Thor and give him sass, and basically be Tony Stark and Pepper Potts all over again, and knowing kung-fu and being able to hack computers because that's what a strong female character does, but the movie goes in the direction of her being this nerdy scientist who wants to get herself some of the beefy honorbound warrior. Which I don't mind, because it's the movie doing something we haven't seen in a while, and there've been a lot of movies with a nerdy male hero who was charmed and befuddled by a hot girl. Zombieland, Spider-Man, Transformers, like 50% of teen movies... even Captain America and Green Lantern both seem to be going in a 'hot chick is initially unimpressed with the hero, but then by the end she wants his boner' direction. You can argue with the casting of Natalie Portman as a nerdy scientist (what's that, maybe three out of five Christmas Joneses?), but... she is being compared to Kat Dennings.


Thor, I'm not going to tell you your business, but... you're really sure about the Jane Foster thing? I mean, really REALLY sure?

Bridesmaids

I'm not going to lie to you, it's a Judd Apatow film with women. I'm pretty sure that's the tagline: "What if The Hangover was about women?" They probably should've hung a lampshade on that by doing their own Mike Tyson cameo.

Wait... yeah, you probably shouldn't have Mike Tyson around a bunch of women. Just in case.

Note: This movie is hilarious if you assume that Rose Bryne is playing her character from Damages. She's completely competitive and resourceful, just about coordinating a wedding instead of kicking Ted Danson's ass in court.

ETA: I wonder what to make of, and this is reading a lot into things, the fact that a lot of heroines "put up a fight" to their attraction to the hero before getting with him, while Jane Foster is almost immediately besmitten with Thor, with the chief sticking point being that she thinks he's crazy (for a while), and how Jane Foster and any given "take no crap" female lead are accepted.

Comments

[mcity.livejournal.com]

>Natalie Portman as a nerdy scientist

Especially because she is one. Neuroscience, specifically.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/science/01angier.html

Thor: Thor the Parody points out that whatever university Jane works for has men who would turn down lots of time in the desert alone with Kat Dennings and Natalie Portman. In other words, it must be the gayest college in America.

PS

[mcity.livejournal.com]

It's also very subtly implied that Sif has a thing for Thor. Look at the way she watches him when he goes to talk to Odin in the ending, and the look on her face when she says she want's to die a warrior's death.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Maybe Kat Dennings was the one saying yes to lots of time in the desert alone with Natalie Portman.

[mcity.livejournal.com]

I kinda saw that coming.

Though I was thinking Sif.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Sif was who Darcy turned to when Jane Foster turned out to be hetero to the bone.

[mcity.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was thinking about writing a fic wherein Sif and Darcy talk and be friends and bond in a vaguely slashy way, yet nothing ever happens, leaving readers inexplicably frustrated.

Then I remembered that I generally write friendship and romance basically the same anyway.

Then I remembered that I have about a half-dozen unfinished fanfics already.

[doclinus.livejournal.com]

I think fic is a good direction for you to go in this case.

I did love Thor, for pretty much all the reasons you've already said. I also liked the 'magic is just unexplained science' thing, which I wish they'd thrown about in Lost a little more.

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I could have stood for it to be a bit longer too.

The after-credits scene is easily the best one the Marvel films have done so far. And it explains why the Dr. Selvig character exists (I mean, I liked his scenes in the film, but until the end I was wondering why they'd bothered creating him and casting a fairly well-known character actor in the part).

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

Kat Dennings is why Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist failed to work for me at all. Because the script is trying to sell the notion that the universe, via Michael Cera, should be pining after/interested in Alexis Dzenia's character when Kat Dennings is right there. Good lord. *facepalm*

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

(Yes, I realize that as romantic comedies go, we know he's supposed to see see the light eventually, but the initial premise is just too absurd for me to buy into regardless)

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Judging by The Social Network fandom, Jesse Eisenberg is pretty fuckable.