Theatrical Review- Thor: Ragnorak

Date: Sunday, November 5th 2017
Location: Cinempolis in Roxbury Township, New Jersey
Time: 1:40 pm
Party: 3 (my mom, aunt and myself)

Director- Taika Waititi (his most significant credit is directing some episodes of Flight of the Conchords)
Writers- Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Composer- Mark Mothersbaugh (I think he was originally in an 80's band, but I know him best as the composer of the Rugrats music)

Cast:
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Loki- Tom Hiddlestone
Odin- Anthony Hopkins
The Hulk/Bruce Banner- Mark Ruffalo
Hela, goddess of Death- Cate Blanchett
Heimdell- Idris Elba
Grandmaster- Jeff Goldblum
Valkyrie- Tessa Thompson
Skurge- Karl Urban
Doctor Strange- Bendict Cumberbatch

Write-up:

Opening Comments and Coming Attractions

Gotta start off in saying the amount of commercials was so annoying! It's bad enough we get them at home and now YouTube is making you sit through 2 ads for videos... as if they're trying to kill us inside until we crack and invest in a YouTube Red subscription. It was just overkill.
It was a good sized crowd, but we wound up being in a row where people kept having to get up and use the rest room or buy more popcorn. And they'd do it during action scenes- guys, if you're doing stuff you'd be doing while watching movies at home, maybe you should have waited for this movie come on DVD.  

This got glowing reviews, but I read a few that said that this movie is lighter in humor like "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Deadpool"... but that it also didn't take itself too seriously. The latter part of that is what helps the movie from becoming self-parody. And many of the jokes were funny. At times, there were maybe too many and some tried too hard, but most were genuinely laughable in the best way.

I don't think I'd seen any of the trailers before, but there were 6 of them. Which is a lot, plus all the other commercials, PLUS the ad for the Cinemapolis chain.

Jumanji- this goes way beyond the original version with Robin Williams and the Caldecott Award winning book (yeah, all these years later, I remember the Caldecott. That was a big deal- when a children's book would win every year for outstanding illustration). It stars Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, but they are actually avatars in a video game. Four kids are playing this video game and they get sucked into the game and they're put inside these avatars that look completely different from them in real life. So it gives the actors a chance to act against type, which I find kinda interesting.
I don't know whether this movie is going to bomb or be hilarious, but it's an interesting prospect. It's kinda funny how all the avatars in the game have different strengths and weaknesses and apparently, Kevin Hart's weakness is cake and the trailer shows him eating cake and potentially exploding.

Downsizing- it stars Matt Damon and Jason Sudekis. The idea of downsizing is an irreversible procedure where people are "downsized" and get put into an made-up community for tiny people. Matt Damon and his wife were going to do it, but she (I think she was Kristen Wiig) calls him after he has the procedure done and says she can't go through with it.
Yeah, between Jumanji and this, and the next trailer, I had a hard time comprehending reality at this point. I believe the term, sorry for the profanity, is mindfuck.

The Disaster Artist-
apparently starring the Franco brothers, it's about this weird British actor who kinda reminds me of Russell Brand who doesn't get a role in a movie he fought for. And then he decides with his friends to make a movie. It was just a very off-beat sense of humor and weirded me out big time.
I don't think James Franco has done any movies I've really liked. And in the case of the Spider-Man movies, he wasn't the reason I liked that movie.

then we got to some really good ones...

The Last Jedi-
This was maybe the first full trailer I saw of this and of course we're excited for it. But there was so much going on that I couldn't process it all. What stood out was Luke saying how this isn't going to end how you think, Raye being in pain and maybe her and Kylo Ren joining forces.

The Justice League-
yeah, we're crossing the line to DC here, but this is a pretty big deal because a lot of people (myself included) never thought that this movie was going to happen. I mean, it's a tall order getting Batman and Superman in the same movie. But then again, they did that and it had mixed reviews despite all the money it made.
I think we might wind up seeing this one because it's the next big blockbuster to come out this year and it's coming soon.

Black Panther-
Not sure what to expect with this movie, but the character in Captain America: Civil War was really good.

The Main Event

Ragnorak is the Norse equivalent of “the end of days”- this is addressed at a couple points in the movie (in the beginning and the end to tie it all in a nice little bow). This isn’t quite a spoiler because it’s in the title and the way it comes about isn’t what you’d immediately expect. An interesting twist on Armageddon, I guess you could say.

After an obligatory opening battle scene set to music (Thor has a new theme song apparently and they kick ass together-- "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin- that song starts with the two "ah-ah-ah!" lines before actual lyrics), Thor and Loki locate Odin (who is M.I.A) with the help of a Doctor Strange cameo.
Interesting new touch on this- usually, the after-credits scenes are stand alone to tease about the next movie in the marvel story arc. The one from the end of Doctor Strange is the actual scene in this movie. Some might say Doctor Strange is just showing off with his teleportation powers, but it’s pretty funny what happens to Thor and Loki in these scenes.
Finally, they find Odin who is departing from existence (what’s with these superhero movie killing off Gods lately?) cuz it’s just “his time”. But his absence is quickly filled by Hela- the goddess of death and his firstborn. Cate Blanchett is in fine form and quite a bad ass in this role, which would be great if she wasn’t so evil and hard to kill. She actually knocks Thor and Loki out of the rainbow bridge on the way to Asgard- who does that?

Thor turns up on another planet where he is forced to fight in an arena. And if you saw any of the trailers, you know he’s up against the Hulk- who’s apparently got a following. Kinda nuts. Of course, it’s a great fight (at one point, Loki- who of course befriended Jeff Goldblum The Grandmaster in charge of all this- celebrates, bringing us back to one of the most memorable Avengers scenes) and how it ends was frustrating- putting it mildly and spoiler-free.
While we do meet some cool characters like the other gladiators and a former Valkyrie (who is in charge of Thor and has him in her power) this part of the movie where Thor plots his and the Hulk’s escape just takes too damn long. It’s bad enough Hela is unbeatable, but throw in another impossible scenario, hopelessness is exhausting.
Together with Loki, all four of them do manage to get away, but it’s an uphill battle. But along the way, we have killer chase and battle scenes and occasional comic relief with Thor and Loki. Gotta love Loki even if he is an opportunistic weasel. And Valkyrie is another bad ass chick. She’s been called this movie’s equivalent of Han Solo.

There’s also a couple of funny Hulk/Bruce Banner scenes, including one where he does his best Tony Stark impression. I mean, I’m kinda sick of Robert in that role cuz it’s not going to win him an Oscar, but that scene (I won’t elaborate) made me badly wish he was in this movie right now. But that’s mainly cuz I haven’t seen him in a while- nothing against this movie. It’s its own unique brand of fun through most of it. The rest- you can decide for yourself

Grade: B+

Theatrical Review: The Lego Ninjago Movie

Date: Saturday September 23 2017
Location: Cinemark at Stroud Mall
Time: 11am
Party: 3 (my mom sister and I)

Directors: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan
Writers: (too many to list)
Composer: (too many to list)

Notable Cast:
Master Wu- Jackie Chan
Lloyd- Dave Franco
Garmadon- Justin Theroux


Duration: 141 minutes (+6 trailers)

Opening comments

Yeah I’m posting this a little late but with this movie I figured there wasn’t a big hurry.
Like with Lego Batman this was another movie my sister wanted to see but she was also a fan of the Lego Ninjago series. I’d seen very little of it myself but any excuse to go to the movies these days (when there aren’t as many I want to see for whatever reason- I hope it’s just an off year) I’ll take.
The theater had a good crowd, a lot of kids but none that distracted too much from the movie. They laughed at most of the right parts- although I can’t remember which drew the most laughter.

Coming attractions

 A bunch repeated from the previous movie, Leap!
Daddy’s home 2, my little pony (my mom told us there’s no way she’s taking us to that one and we didn’t argue lol), coco and paddington 2 (the one trailer I forgot from the last one- hey, I’m used to only having to remember 3 trailers per movie, give me a break).

Then there was another rendition of Peter Rabbit. (Nick Jr had a series a few years ago with Peter Benjamin Squirrel Nutkin and a new female bunny named Lily- Peter has three sisters and they had to come up with another female protagonist? I don’t get it. Also have no idea if that series is still on but what little I saw of it I enjoyed).
This time it’s about the origin of Peter rabbit and how he became what he is... except it showed him hosting a party at mr mcgregors house and James Corden is doing his voice. Uh... I mean I like James Corden and Peter Rabbit but together? I’m kinda concerned- this is my child hood I’m talking about and I hope they didn’t ruin it by having this be a more PG version.
Then there was the curious “Isle of Dogs” which looks like Wes Anderson’s attempt at recapturing the success of Fantastic Mr. Fox (but with dogs and it takes place in Japan- and is likely to catch flack from the PC crowd cuz no lead roles are done by Japanese actors). The sense of humor feels very similar so I think this movie could be good. Just gotta see what the critics have to say.

The Main Event

 Maybe this is a Japanese thing but the methodology of our main characters seems extremely similar to Power Rangers. They even have their own Zords (although I think they’re just called Mechas in this case). But these 6 characters are high schoolers that will make an excuse to leave at the same time when the main villain attacks their town. And nobody seems to have a clue.
The other interesting coincidence is that the green one seems like the odd man out while poised to become the leader of the group. They even have an old dude as their master- except he’s in the flesh and he can hold his own in battle easily. I think the similarities end there (I guess between the ill advised peter rabbit and power ranger reboots I’m feeling nostalgic)

But here’s a couple of twists that make things interesting and set them apart-
The green ninja Lloyd is the least popular kid in school (unlike Tommy the green ranger)... because the villain Garmadon who is always attacking the town is his father. Yeah- how’s that for awkward?
Plus- all his friends have elemental powers like fire lightning ice earth and water. He’s just... green. (Funny enough I was thinking why he is the only one without an elemental power minutes before this conversation takes place)

Things boil up to a point where Lloyd decides the only way to defeat his father for good is to use the ultimate weapon. Which of course backfires or we wouldn’t have much of a movie.
This “weapon” (not saying what cuz it’s kinda hilarious how badly this turns out) summons Catzilla who proceeds to destroy the city.

Adding more to predictability- the ninjas need to go into the jungle to get the ultimate ultimate weapon and they need a true ninja to lead them. Their master is temporarily lost to them so, yeah, they gotta take Garmadon with them. By this point Lloyd had already revealed his secret identity to him (“and now we got bad blood, hey!”— sorry, couldn’t resist) so it makes the journey awkward at times but things happen and.. I’ll just leave the rest to the imagination.

Kinda hard to believe what a funny villain Garmadon is. I mean yeah he is kind of an idiot and kinda predictable but well written and acted. Justin Theroux isn’t very big in Hollywood and I know him better for co-writing Tropic Thunder and Iron-Man 2 (I think one led to the other and may be why Iron-Man 2 fell short of the original... but that could also be Sam Rockwell’s fault- his character is such a tool in that movie). But yeah he was great.
The funniest gag is him “firing” his generals when they say something he doesn’t like or they just have no ideas... but unlike with Dr. Evil in Austin Powers, this comes back to get him in hilarious fashion.

One nice difference about this movie is that it begins and ends in reality with Jackie Chan telling a kid the entirety of the movie and we get to see the story unfold without interruption. I thought to myself- I’m going to forget that the movie was being done this way by the time it ends. And sure enough I did.
And it’s worth sticking through part of the credits cuz we don’t just see the characters sing and dance but also Jackie Chan outtakes.

As for the movie itself, it was funny, had great characters and killer action scenes (although maybe a little too fast paced at some points). But even though it wasn’t a terribly long movie I found some scenes ran too long and I was asking myself when they’d be over. But my sister enjoyed it and that’s the important thing.
As far as Lego movies go, I liked how it was different from the others where they didn’t go too over the top with humor or pop culture references. And of course everything is better with ninjas- or for me some Asian influences just to set things apart.
It was kinda funny how it made fun of the formula of your typical “bad guy regularly tries to take over the town” story. We have GMA’s Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts hosting the morning show and asking themselves what % chance is there of an attack. Not to mention someone posing the question how effective the ninjas are because they defeat Garmadon but he always gets away. I kinda like it when cartoons ask the deep questions but the seriousness of said question doesn’t kill the fun tone of the movie or genre being presented.

Grade: B