Thor

Movie: Thor (IMAX 3D)

Genre: super-hero

Synopsis: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) gets carried away in trying to provoke a war and is stripped of his powers and banished to Earth by his father, King Odin (Anthony Hopkins).   This gives his evil borther the chance to try and take control of Asgard.  When he lands on Earth, Thor is found by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a physicist.  His missing hammer is found and ‘captured’ by a government unit headed by Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg).  You may remember Agent Coulson from Iron Man and Iron Man 2.  Jane and her sister and her partner eventually believe in Thor and help him try to reclaim his Hammer and b ecome the man (god?) that his father was hoping for.

My two cents: Wow!  I saw this in IMAX 3D – totally worth it.  Chris Hemsworth is a natural as Thor.  He has a natural cockiness and brashness that is great fun to watch.  There are some really great battles.  When Thor gets wound up, it is a real blast to watch.  I felt it was a toss-up as to whether or not 3D was necessary for  this movie -  but if you get a chance to see it in IMAX,  definitely do it.  I hope to see a lot more of Thor.

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Water for Elephants

Movie: Water for Elephants

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Jacob (Robert Pattinson) is a test away from getting his veterinary degree from Cornell in the middle of the Great Depression.  Then tragedy hits and he flees school and joins a circus – the Benzini Brothers.  He gets a job with them taking care of the animals.  The circus is run by the charismatic and sadistic August (Christopher Waltz).  August’s wife, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) is the star attraction of the circus.  When Jacob falls in love with Marlena, August quickly becomes suspicious.  Jacob must walk a fine line between caring for the animals, placating August and not revealing his love of Marlena.  When August buys an elephant (Rosie) for the circus, Jacob is the key to training the elephant for her a act.

My two cents:  I might have liked the movie a lot more had I not read the book.  I was appalled and disappointed at how much was left out of the movie.  It was interesting to see how a circus was run in the 30’s.  Christopher Waltz was great as August.  Robert Pattinson actually managed to make me forget the annoying Edward Cullen for a while.  They followed the book enough to make it a good  movie,  but left out too much for it to be great.

[84]

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

Movie: Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (3D)

Genre: animated comedy

Synopsis: This is a sequel to the 2005 “Hoodwinked” animated film about the real story of Little Red Riding Hood.  It follows Red Riding Hood (Hayden Panettiere), The Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warbirton) and Twitchy (Cory Edwards) as they try to rescue Granny Puckette (Glenn Close) from the clutches of the evil Verushka the Witch (Joan Cusack).

My two cents: Well, I was a big fan of Hoodwinked! And went into this movie with high hopes.  Alas, I don’t think it lived up to the original.  There were a lot of good lines and a lot of pretty funny gags, but I was still kind of disappointed.

[83]

Soul Surfer

Movie: Soul Surfer

Genre: drama

Synopsis: The true story of Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb), a teenage surfer in Hawaii who lost an arm in a shark attack.  Following the attack, we follow Bethany and her family (father played by Dennis Quaid and mother played by Helen Hunt) as she recovers from the attack and ultimately is able to surf at a championship level.

My two cents: Many parts of this were absolutely gut-wrenching in their emotional impact.  The whole story was pretty amazing.  The courage and determination of Bethany are truly inspiring.  If you can get past the horror of the accident, you will find a lot to like in this movie.

[82]

Potiche

Movie: Potiche

Genre: drama

Synopsis: French movie with English subtitles, takes place in the late 1970’s.  Suzanne Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) is the wife of prominent businessman Robert Pujol (Fabrice Luchini).  Robert’s prominence comes from the umbrella factory he runs and is majority owner of, thanks to Suzanne’s father’s will.  When disgruntled factory workers take Robert hostage, Suzanne steps in to try and patch things up.  Suzanne does an amazing job, but then her husband wants his job back.  The situation is further complicated by her ex-lover, the local union head played by Gérard Depardieu.

My two cents: I was quite disappointed by this movie. The previews were a bit misleading – not unusual, I know.  The whole movie just felt kind of amateurish to me.  I think if it was an American release in English (no subtitles) it would be a flop.

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