Review: Thor

Thor is arguably in the running for the best Marvel movies yet and is a pretty much non-stop blast of action, fun, and humor from start to finish; lead by star making turns by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.

Thor is a god, and the future king of Asgard, that wields a powerful hammer that only elevates his abilities to being the greatest warrior in the Realm.  As Thor’s anointment ceremony is about to be carried out Asgard’s ancient enemies, the Frost Giants, attempt a sneak attack to recapture an ancient weapon that King Odin took from them a millennium ago.  Thor, Loki (Thor’s brother), The Warriors Three (Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun) and Sif head off to the Frost Giants home of Jotunheim to confront their leader Laufey, hoping to set the Frost King straight. After the inevitable battle on Jotunheim, Odin has to step in with Thor being banished in the aftermath of the battle.  On Earth, stripped of his powers and hammer, Thor finds himself wrapped up in the lives of a team of scientists who hesitantly help to find him to find his way again.

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Review: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

A film with hits and misses, Michael Cera continues his awkward guy shtick to good effect but there is little else to really suck you into this picture.
Nick is a down on his luck high school kid who is still trying to get over his ex-girlfriend, Tris, by constantly sending her mix tapes only to be tossed aside as she drags him along for the sake of her own vanity. What Nick and Tris don’t know is that Tris’ classmate Norah has been grabbing Nick’s mix tapes from the trash and quietly been falling for him simply through his mix tape music selections. All of their worlds collide as they all are on the hunt for a mysterious band, Where’s Fluffy?, that plants clues around town as to where they are going to play that night. Norah is out with her friend Caroline, who happens to also be friends with Tris, and Nick heads out with Thom and Dev, his gay band mates who are desperately trying to get Nick over the “evil” Tris and find a new girl for him. As they head out on the town, Nick, who was not easy to get out in the first place, almost immediately wants to go home after seeing Tris with a new guy at his bands show. Thom and Dev get him to stay out by pairing him up with Norah, who they randomly met up with and approve of, to find, Where’s Fluffy?, as they take Caroline, who is already a drunken mess, home. As the search for, Where’s Fluffy?, begins, Nick and Norah have some awkward bonding and begin on a one night adventure where they may or may not find love. [Read more...]

Review: Charlie Bartlett

Jon Poll’s look at the high schooler’s psyche is an intermittently successful attempt at creating a fresh high school comedy.
Charlie Bartlett is a private school kid who is forced to go to public school where Charlie Bartlett hopes to live up to the greatest dream in his life, to be popular! He does this by getting himself prescribed countless prescriptions by visiting his rich psychiatrists of the family with the symptoms of his fellow classmates so he can help them out and give them the drugs that might help them. Charlie also looks for love in the Principals daughter while her father deals with depression and alcoholism. The movie is a bit of a stretch, to say the least. [Read more...]