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In honor of Chris Hemsworth being chosen for the Annie Potts role in the new Ghostbusters...

Monday Movie Mania - Thor, The Dark World

Oh, don't worry, kids! This is still part of the 26 Days of Christmas!

Why? Because even S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Melinda May says, "Thor is dreamy!"

The gratuitous naked shot of Chris Hemsworth for the ladies aside, this is one rare sequel that I think surpasses the original.

The movie begins with a look back to Odin's father Bor and his battle with the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. Of course, this sets up the Dark Elf king's oath of revenge as we jump to the present. Thor and his buddies are cleaning up the rebellions that broke out thanks to the destruction of the Bifrost at the end of the first Thor movie.

Thor's human love Jane gets infected with floating red crap the dark elf plans to use to destroy Asgard. Big battle starts...

And that's when things get really fun. Loki's in prison due to the events of the Avengers movie. And Thor has no one left to help him save his girlfriend and the Nine Realms except his insanely jealous, power hungry, possibly sociopathic, brother.

PROS
1) Naked Chris Hemsworth. (Really? What did you think #1 was going to be?)

2) The incredible Tom Hiddleston making Loki sympathetic and loveable.

3) Zachary Levi playing Fandral was FUCKING incredible. I knew Joshua Dallas, who played the lothario in the first movie, couldn't do The Dark World because of his commitment to Once Upon a Time. But seeing Levi's name in the credits? My estimate of Levi went up a thousand fold.

4) Stellan Skarsgard is incredible as the comic relief.

CONS
Um...uh...not enough naked Chris?

Seriously though, Chris can act. When I saw Star Trek (2009), I questioned why Abrams didn't cast him as Jim Kirk, instead of George Kirk.

I give Thor, The Dark World 9.5 stars out of 10!

Even better, you can already pre-order it!

Monday Movie Mania - Rush

[As I was writing my post for 03/30/2015, I realized I didn't properly disclose that Studio Movie Grill e-mailed me free tickets to see Rush at a special screening before the movie's general release. I redeemed one ticket for the evening show. Whew! Now I feel better! - Suzan, 03/28/15]

Like Apollo 13, Rush is a Ron Howard biography, which means you take any historical accuracy with a shaker of salt, tequila, and a lime. I wanted to see it because my dad used to race, because we watched a lot of Formula One races, and because I remember Niki Lauda's awful accident in 1976

I can't really say SPOILERS because the bulk of the movie was based on historical fact. But if you are that shy about them, close your browser NOW!

While the bulk of marketing and attention for this movie focuses on Chris Hemsworth (and I will give him his due in a moment), the story is really about Austrian F1 driver Niki Lauda, played by Daniel Bruhl. From a story standpoint, Howard sets the film up nicely to make Niki the villain of the piece and Hemsworth's James Hunt as the hero. He neatly switches the roles of the two drivers midway through the film. The beginning introduces the early racing careers of the two men, but the thrust of their story is their 1976 battle for the F1 World Championship.

Pros:
1) Both Bruhl and Hemsworth capture their respective racers' eccentricities without turning the men into caricatures. They were polar opposites united by their love of the sport.

2) Howard doesn't shy away from Hunt's excesses, including cocaine, pot and alcohol. Those excesses may have contributed to Hunt's early death of a heart attack at age forty-five.

3) Gratuitous Chris Hemsworth butt shots!

Cons:
1) The film paints Niki and James as mortal enemies. In reality, while they were intense rivals, they were actually very good friends.

2) Ron has a bad, bad habit as a director of obviously jerking the audience's emotional chains. I think a lighter touch along with Danial Bruhl's marvelous performance would have worked better with this movie.

One last note: I vote that Chris replaces Daniel Craig as James Bond in 10-15 years. If you go see Rush, you'll understand why in the scene where Hunt meets his future wife for the first time.

Overall, I give this movie 9.5 out of 10.