You mentioning Thor: TDW as a summer movie made me think -- thematically and stylistically, this is a fall/winter movie. We see snow falling in Asgard, and the feasts are dimly lit with firelight. In Midgard, instead of New Mexico, we're in chilly England this time out. And many of the other realms are desolate and cold, even Vanaheim, which is colored with the dark greens and browns of autumn. And Malakith's plot is to bring darkness, which is normal to associate with the shorter days of winter. I don't disagree with your assessment about the popcorn factor of this movie -- this one was closer to the Iron Man films in that everyone seemed to be having at least some fun -- but it made food for thought! (Side note, no Thor toys at Walmart this morning, so my quest for a Kurse figure continues.) I will say ths Cary -- I am a HUGE fan of Paul Verhoeven's Robocop, ever since I saw it in the theater around my 7th birthday. It has been a huge influence on my tastes since then. The new version has me torn. In one sense, I'm rolling my eyes dramatically over the very concept of remaking Robocop. But on the other hand, this new one does seem to be exploring aspects of the story which were not in the original film -- the trailer shows Murphy's home life, which we only got in flashbacks, and shows Robo interacting with his family, which did not happen until Robocop 2, and then in pretty sad way -- so at least the filmmakers are trying something new. You're probably going to groan at this comparison but I liken it to Rob Zombie's Halloween -- yeah, remaking a seminal classic and a hugely influential personal favorite, but at least exploring the story in a new way and not just rehashing it. Oddly, the new Robo-suit looks a lot better in silver than black. As far as stuff being added to The Hobbit, this is why this story is only one book and not three like LOTR! That having been said I have been champing at the bit to see a proper Smaug on film since Fellowship, so I am excited for this one.
On Tuesday, November 12, 2013 7:32:35 AM UTC-5, cwpreston wrote: > It was a really fun movie, and to me it was easily better than the first > Thor. Felt like it should have been a summer popcorn movie; it would have > been better than a lot of the releases then. > On a side note I’m really looking forward to Robocop; I loved the original > and the trailer for the new version looks fantastic. The trailer for the > Hobbit somewhat less so- why do filmmakers feel that they need to change > source material so much? Do we really *need* a Legolas forbidden love > story? Wasn’t the Aragorn love triangle enough? > On Nov 11, 2013, at 10:22 AM, Luke Jaconetti <[email protected]<javascript:>> > wrote: > > Went to see Thor: The Dark World at a matinee yesterday. > > Overall, really dug it. It's different in a lot of ways than the > original. In many ways this film could have been titled "Thor and Loki." > Which is, I imagine, what most viewers will want. Loki's role is larger > than I thought it would be but it's organic and logical. Still, the focus > of the film is Thor and Jane, what their relationship means and how Thor is > pulled in many direcions by the circumstances of his life. The baddies are > suitably creepy and mysterious. Malakith is about the exact opposite of > Loki as a bad guy; neither charming nor verbose, he is much colder but > still effective. Effects were, as a whole, fantastic, including some great > mixing of man-in-a-suit and CGI, especially on the character Kurse, who is > one of the best evil henchmen characters I have seen in years. > > There's a much lighter touch in a lot of scenes. The returning human > characters who are not Jane Foster (that is, Erik and Darcy) are played > primarily for relief, but it's well done and enjoyable. > > There's a lot of fanstuff in there. SHIELD is mentioned a few times but > does not appear. My friend Tom noticed on a chalkboard explaining the 9 > worlds that Earth/Midgard was labeled as "616." Stan Lee gets a line > during his cameo. We get a quick glimpse back to Yodenheim from the first > film. There is a cameo from a fan-favorite character that no one will see > coming which had the audience roaring. > > As far as stingers, there are two. The one midway through the credits is > the big reveal one. The one at the end of the credits is related directly > to the story of this film. I will spoil them if requested. For reference, > the mid-credits one had myself and my nerd friends screaming various > expletives of disbelief. > > Final verdict, go see this film, it's a fantastic adventure story with a > lot of heart and a ton of fun. I rank the Thor films behind the Iron Man > films just because of my personal pro-Iron Man bias, but this is a > fantastic film. > > Bonus for the ladies: Chris Hemsworth has an extended scene with no shirt > on which had one of my friends say out loud in the theater "I love you > shirtless Thor!" > > Trailers: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Robocop, Delivery Man, Ride > Along, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and > Captain America: The Winter Soldier. (The scene from the Cap trailer where > Winter Soldier catches Cap's shield brought an actual gasp from the > audience.) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Unique Geek" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<javascript:> > . > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
