Thor (2011) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

These days have to be a pretty exciting time for Marvel... I mean with the mega success of, The Avengers (2012), and their equally successful individual movies based on the Heroes that make up, 'The Avengers'... And with the slow resurrection of the series that helped Marvel really catapult in to the world of movies permanently... You just have to be impressed!

Now before I go on I should be honest and say that growing up I was a comic book fan... But the truth is, is if I had to choose between, 'The Avengers' or, 'The X-Men', I would have to say that, 'The X-Men' were always my favorite... But I will say that, 'The Avengers' were always pretty bad ass as well, (with, 'Thor' and, 'The Hulk' being 2 of my favorite characters...)

And that is why I was surprised the first time I saw, Thor (2011)... I don't know, I mean maybe it was because the movie took a decidedly different turn then the comic, I'm not really sure, but for whatever reason I just have to admit that I was very... 'meh', about the whole thing, that was until I saw the movie for the second time!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] 'Thor' (Chris Hemsworth) with his father, 'Odin' (Anthony Hopkins) in, 'Asgard'![/caption]

You see this movie, which was written by: Ashley Edward Miller (X-Men: First Class),  Zack Stentz (Agent Cody Banks), Don Payne (Thor: The Dark World) & Directed by: Kenneth Brannaugh (Hamlet), Joss Whedon (Angel). Starring: Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers), Natalie Portman (Star Wars: - Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace), Tom Hiddleston (Crimson Peak), Anthony Hopkins (Silence Of The Lambs), Stellan Skarsgård (The Glass House), Kat Dennings (Day One), Clark Gregg (Marvel's: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Colm Feore (The Chronicles Of Riddick) & Idris Elba (Prometheus), tells the story of how a young and some what arrogant, 'Thor' (Chris Hemsworth), ends up going on a quest to the, 'Frost Giant' planet of, 'Jotunheim' after the Frost Giants attempt to breach, 'Asgard' and steal back the, 'Casket Of Ancient Winters' (an artifact of great power and importance to the Frost Giants...)

Well after the massive defeat that Thor and his soldiers suffered there, Thor and his soldiers end up going back to Asgard only after, 'Odin' comes to their rescue... Because of this, Odin ends up banishing Thor out of Asgard and down to Earth along with his hammer... (But powerless.) While he is there of course, he is seriously out of place... That is until he meets, 'Jane Foster' (Natalie Portman), and her research staff... And starts to learn how to fit in...

[caption id="attachment_2012" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Thor as he is trying to get his hammer away from the, 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' agents that are studying it![/caption]

During this time though, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) decides to seize the throne of, 'Asgard' when Odin goes in to his sleep, and when he learns that he is actually the son of the King of the Frost Giants and not Odin's son, Loki adopts a plan that will not only destroy his true home world, but would also destroy the brother he was so envious of, and hopefully gain the love and affection that he always wanted from, 'Odin'.

I mentioned earlier that this movie for me was better the second time, well the truth is, is if you are like me, then you like special effects movies, but are not a fan of movies that are just butchered with to much CGI.  The truth is, is when I first saw this movie I couldn't see past that, but when I saw this for the second time, I found that in truth that this movie truly was a fun one, and well worth it, and in all honesty I guess really my main critique on this movie is just how much they changed the story between the movie and the comics!

In the end though, if you haven't already checked this movie out yet, then I would say, 'give it a try', you may end up having a better experience then I did the first and the second time!

http://youtu.be/JOddp-nlNvQ

Audrey Rose (1977) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

The seventies saw a major change in horror movies… An interesting change… What’s that change you might ask, well that change saw the sudden rise in possession movies!

Now before you go asking what I mean by a possession movie… A possession movie (a term I guess you might say that I made up) is a movie having to do with an entity or a spirit possessing the body of living breathing person (In the case of the movies I am talking about, more specifically demons/the devil/or some other form of spirit inhabiting a humans body!)

Now of course we have all heard of, The Exorcist (1973), a story about a little girl that was possessed by an ancient evil demon, and the people that are trying to get rid of that demon and save the girl…

Well this movie I do believe helped popularize this particular type of movie, despite the fact that there have been other possession movies before and after The Exorcist… Such movies as, The Amityville Horror (1979), a movie about the possession of a house (and the man of the family being possessed by the demon as well, and another more modern/contemporary example would of course be the paranormal movies!

If you are wondering why I am mentioning this, the reason being is that there is another possession movie that I thought that I would mention here, and that movie is Audrey Rose (1977).

Written by: Frank De Fetta (The Entity), and Directed by: Robert Wise (The Day The Earth Stood Still). Starring: Susan Swift (Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers), Marsha Mason (Drop Dead Fred), Anthony Hopkins (Silence Of The Lambs), John Beck (Rollerball) and John Hillerman (Magnum P.I.)

I first heard about this movie, (which was based on the novel by Frank De Fetta), from … You guessed it, the original master of horror in my family, ‘my father’! Well since a lot of the horror movies that he had turned me on to in the horror genre had panned out real nicely over the years, I ended up sitting down to this movie about 15 years ago or so, and I gotta say that, ‘I FREAKIN LOVED IT’!

Now before I dive to deeply in to the awesomeness of this movie, I thought that I should tell you a little bit about the story:

You see, Audrey Rose tells the story of how in the 60s a little girl by the name of, ‘Audrey Rose’ and her mother are driving in a heavy storm in Pennsylvania, and during this time, the mother gets in to a car accident that ultimately kills both the mother and little Audrey Rose…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="411"] The new, 'Audrey Rose' (Susan Swift) still want her old, 'Daddy'! (Anthony Hopkins)![/caption]

Well that seemed to be the end of little Audrey Rose’s story (or so you would think!) You see over the course of about 11 years, Audrey Rose’s father, (through various mystical, spiritual and more down to Earth means) comes to believe that Audrey Rose’s spirit has settled in to the body of an 11 year old girl by the name of, ‘Ivy Templeton’ (Swift), who happened to be born on the exact same day and only two minutes after the death of little Audrey Rose, and who every year around her birthday has particularly, (albeit unintentionally so), violent episodes!

Now of course Ivy’s parents are quite skeptical, and rather scared of this man, but as he becomes more and more a part of their lives, it begins to look like Audrey Rose really may have settled in to this body to early, and it will be up to this seemingly, ‘crazy’ intruder to try and put his daughter to rest before, the Templeton’s end up loosing their daughter as well!

All in all definitely one of the more interesting ones!

http://youtu.be/Gr-iri3B11E