Theatrical Review: Thor- The Dark World

Day: Thursday, November 14
 Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 1:25pm
Party: 3 (my mom & my movie-going/book series lovin' aunt)

Director: Alan Taylor
Type: Marvel comic action/adventure

Length: 112 minutes (+6 trailers)

Cast:
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Jane Foster- Natalie Portman
Loki- Tom Hiddleston
Malekith- Christopher Eccelston
Darcy- Kat Dennings
Ian- Jonathan Howard
Sif- Jaimie Alexander
Heimdall- Idris Elba
Dr. Eric Selvig- Stellan Skarsgard
Odin- Anthony Hopkins
Frigga- Rene Russo
Richard- Chris O'Dowd

Program Notes:

Coincidentally, the next movie on my countdown is "Avengers." Stay tuned for when I go up the wall with that one 8-)
We've also made plans to see the next "Hunger Games," not this Sunday, but the following one.

Previews:

It's been a long time since I'd seen so many previews before a movie. While thrilling, after a while, it ran a little too long. Lots of great stuff, though.

1. the sequel to "Captain America"

The first few seconds, I saw what looked like a red-headed Scarlet Johannson and before I could manually connect the dots, there was Captain America.
The scale of this movie looks enormous and with the two of them together... just WOW, cannot wait for this one.

2. "Delivery Man"

It's common knowledge that when a studio isn't promoting its own brand, the accompanying trailers are up & coming. The trailers make this Vince Vaughn movie look really good... and part of me secretly hopes that's not a farce

3. a remake of "Robo-Cop"

I saw the original very briefly years ago. Everyone will take a remake as they do. I likely won't invest unless I hear good things or there's nothing on on HBO.

4. Jack Ryan- Shadow Recruiter

I saw the movie poster on IMDB. After Chris Pine came on screen, the pieces fell into place really easy. Looks like an exciting movie... which reminds me... I have yet to see any of the on-screen incarnations of this Tom Clancy character.

5. The Hobbit- Desolation of Smaug

Obviously we're going to see this in December. My mom went nuts when Legolas (Orlando Bloom) appeared on screen, but I'm in the same boat.

6. Hunger Games- Catching Fire

Another amazing trailer for the movie... makes me hope they haven't given all the visuals away by this point with the amount of promotion.

Write-up:

Considering this was a weekday and the movie had been out for quite a while, I was surprised how many people showed up. At least 100. Not a lively audience, though there was a few rare moments of universal hilarity.

Plot
and yes there are spoilers attached...

I'm not the best with Marvel terminology, so I won't go into a ridiculous amount of detail.

We begin with a flashback. A race of beings known as Dark Elves, led by Malekith, wanted to destroy the life and re-envelope the world in darkness. At their disposal was a mysterious dark element known as Aether (pronounced "ether").
They almost got away with it, if it hadn't been for Odin's father, who stealed the casket of Aether away with help of his troops. Meanwhile, Malekith allowed most of his people to die in battle, insisting their sacrifice was necessary for him and his second-in-command to one day exact revenge.

Simple enough, right?

Fast-forward to the present.

Loki is given a life sentence in prison for his actions in "The Avengers." If it wasn't for Odin's wife, Frigga, he would have been executed for treason.

Thor and his comrades are restoring peace to the other realms, perhaps in an attempt to undo what damage Loki had caused. All the while, he is missing Jane and wants to be with her, but Odin more or less puts his foot down because she's just another mortal in his view.

When we finally get to Jane, we see her on possibly the most awkward date imaginable. Her date also happens to be that Irish dude from "Bridesmaids." (For me, it means my second "helping" of Chris O'Dowd at the movies this year, though providing a voice in "Epic" doesn't count for quite as much).
Lucky for her, her intern, Darcy shows up to bring new findings to her attention.

We also find out that Dr. Selvig kinda lost his mind after the there-after dubbed "battle of New York." He looked perfectly sane when Loki's trance was broken, but... well, Tony Stark suffered from PSTD after "Avengers" so I guess it's not too hard to believe.
Between this movie and "Mamma Mia," it seems that Stellan Skarsgard has an issue with wearing pants in his movies. He was found streaking at Stone Hedge, raving his new theories like a lunatic and was promptly thrown into the loony bin.

Through the course of the movie, the characters keep referring to a universal event known as "The Convergence" where the 9 realms will come into alignment. This is happening for the first time since Thor's grandfather's time.

Jane, Darcy, and Darcy's new intern, Ian, come to a site in London where there's unusual phenomena taking place. Particularly at the center of staircases in a building where you throw some things down and they reappear at the top of the shaft... some things don't come back, for whatever reason.

Going on her own, Jane gets sucked into a wormhole and somehow comes in contact with Aether that'd been buried underground for centuries.
You can say "curiosity killed the cat" and you'd almost be right... me, I'm watching this, thinking that Jane Foster was just an idiot for getting herself in this situation in the first place. As if she's nothing more than a damsel in distress, as most superheroes' girlfriends typically are.

After going to a few parties, Thor spends his time moping in the company of Heimdall, Asgard's gate-keeper. When Jane disappears into the Aether, Heimdall is astonished that he'd lost track of her, seeing as Thor's come to him periodically to watch her from above.

By the time Jane returns, the authorities had arrived and Thor is there as well.
For a fine "how do you do," she slap him twice. Once to make sure he's real and twice for not seeing her during "The Avengers".
(My response: "sorry, dude, but Tony Stark was the only dude who had on-screen time with his girlfriend in that movie"... unless you count Black Widow & Hawkeye as a "couple").

So apparently, the Aether got into Jane and when people try to touch her at times of stress, they get thrown away from her with excessive force. Thor takes it upon himself to take her to Asgard to remedy the situation.
Odin is not pleased and Asgard falls under siege of "invisible" invaders Heimdall was unable to see.

Malekith turned his second-in-command into a stone creature who went into the dungeon to free all the prisoners.... except Loki :-P
And sadly, Frigga is killed while protecting Jane from capture. For whatever reason, the Dark Elves decide to take their leave at this point, deciding not to rip the place apart to find her. There's a great funeral ritual for her and the fallen of the invasion. Loki is given word of her death and despite how he wanted nothing to do with Odin or Thor, he didn't take that well at all. (Aww, he does have a heart after all).

Thor and his comrades soon concoct a plan to get Jane out of Asgard to protect the realm from any further damage... quite the elaborate plan, but somehow, it all works out just as imagined.

1. The Bi-Frost was destroyed in "Thor," so they need another route out of Asgard. Because Loki is the only one who knows it, Thor needs to let him out of jail.

2. Thor and Loki have to navigate the corridors undetected to find Jane. (A lot of great laughs here as Loki tries on different disguises, one of them being a great spoof/cameo of Captain America)

3. Thor, Loki and Jane must take one of the fallen Dark Elves' spaceships to make their escape... and it isn't without resistance.

When in the Dark Elves' realm, they hatch a plan for the Aether to taken back from Jane and they destroy it.
The second part of that doesn't go well... let's just say I could have sworn I heard all the Loki fangirls crying out at once...

Somehow, Thor and Jane find a wormhole (where she gets excellent cell reception with Chris O'Dowd... and we find where all the missing items went) back to earth.
Dr. Selvig was busted out of the psych ward (Stan Lee makes a great cameo in one of those scenes) by Darcy and Ian. So all of them put their heads together to come up with a plan for when the Dark Elves come to Greenwich for the Convergence.

The final battle comes and goes, lasts for a substantial length of time, Thor and Malekith battle one another through all the realms... and obviously, the good guys win.

Thor has a chat with Odin, which sounds like him abdicating his birthright to the throne... and we might not have seen the last of Loki (fan girls rejoice!)

Character Highlights and So On

I'm getting more versed with the Marvel universe all the time and I doubt I'll ever be able to wrap my head around it completely.

My mom and aunt were interested in seeing the movie just for the eye candy that is Chris Hemsworth. There was only one shirtless scene, but they didn't seem to mind.
His degree of maturity greatly surpasses that of "Thor," although he might not be as exacting or calculating as Loki. (See the "escape" scene for that debate).

For me personally... maybe it's because "2 Broke Girls" is one of my favorite shows right now and I only just saw it a few days ago... what can I say? Kat Dennings was a scene-stealer whenever she was on screen. Her dialogue is just so naturally hilarious, as if she wasn't even acting.
It's also kinda cool she bags a potential love interest by the finale.

To her credit, Natalie Portman did the level of scientific ass-kicking she brought to the original and the "damsel in distress" archetype went out the window after a while.

She didn't get a lot of screen time, but Jaimie Alexander as Sif gets to show off how tough she is when the situation calls for it. Yeah, girl power!

Then there's the conundrum of Loki.
It's strange. The first movie where we get to know him, we see him as a master manipulator. He reminded me of a character from "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," Wormtongue, who manipulated the King of Rohan to commit acts very much unlike him.
Then in "Avengers," he was equally as annoying, but at the same time, you knew you couldn't take him seriously and that he was no HUGE threat (unlike his alien allies).

Here, I don't know why, but I found myself gravitating towards him, wanting more screen-time and curious to see how things would play out. Maybe it's because I figured he'd be the least of Thor's problems, considering all the stuff happening, there'd be room to see him be a good ally. If only temporarily.

The Marvel Universe

However big it might be, I'm loving how all the little pieces seem to fit together perfectly. The movies keep on building upon one another, keeping us entertaining while keeping us wanting more.

The first post-credits scene (I did not stick around for the second, but based on the synopsis, I didn't miss too much) shows Sif and one of Thor's comrades returning the Aether to someone who calls himself "The Collector" and says after they leave "one down, five to go." The way he moved around... he was not of this world... to me, he looked like a cross between a magician and a rock star like David Bowie. IMDB says he's in "Guardians of the Galaxy," the next big release from Marvel.
Let's just say that the nerdgasm taking place in my brain was so big, it exploded before it could begin to comprehend anything.

As far as this movie's execution goes, taking into account all the Marvel films so far, it's among the best I'd seen. I came out of the theater, thinking "oh shoot... I think this might have been better than the latest 'Iron-Man' film.'

Let me put it this way (opposed to a crazy-long thesis comparing the two movies):
I find Tony Stark (with & without the suit) more engaging as a character than Thor.
But when it comes to the big picture, this movie was stronger and more consistent from one scene to the next, and better executed.
As a sequel, "Thor- The Dark World" succeeded because there was a natural progression. They upped the ante, but it wasn't so chaotic that it collapsed on itself. You got see more character development that was organic and natural. And of course, the most important part is leaving just enough room for further sequels that the audience would welcome with open arms.

Grade: A

58. Charlie Bartlett (2007)

Code-name: Frosh NRVS
(translation: Ferris Bueller: freshman year)

Director: Jon Poll
Type: Off-Beat High School Dramedy
Written by Gustin Nash (only other known credit- Youth in Revolt)
Great musical score by Christophe Beck
Prominently featured song: "If you want to sing out"- by Cat Stevens

Release details:
premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 3 months before theatrical release

Cast:
Charlie Bartlett- Anton Yelchin (RIP 6/19/16)
Mrs. Marilyn Bartlett- Hope Davis
Susan Gardner- Kat Dennings
Principal Nathan Gardner- Robert Downey Jr.
Murphy Bivens -Tyler Hilton
Dr. Weathers- Stephen Young
Kip Cromwell- Mark Rendall
Superintendent Sedgewick- Derek McGarth
Dustin Lauderback- Jake Epstein

Write-up:

Program Notes

Be warned that I DO go long with this entry, but if you bear with me, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Thank You, RDJ and Thank You, YouTube

"Robert Downey Jr. freak-out scene" was among the suggested pages on my YouTube feedback after a night of watching his interviews on YouTube. I was so blown away that I did more research... and ultimately found the entire movie was uploaded there.

And for the record, I bought the DVD after watching it a couple times online.

Unexpected Pleasure

...Tread cautiously, there be spoilers afoot...

That was my initial reaction to this movie. Going strictly from my research into RDJ's resume, I didn't plan on "Charlie Bartlett" on the grounds that he played the antagonist. But after seeing that clip and hearing it being compared to "Ferris Bueller," my curiosity piqued.
2010 was a year full of great movies. Often times, those with the cleverest writing stayed with me the longest.

For me, "Charlie Bartlett" was a triumph both in writing and in the acting. Believe me, being as big a RDJ fangirl as I am, it says a lot that Anton Yelchin garnered just as much, if not more, of my attention. I came away believing Charlie Bartlett was one of those memorable, original characters I'd watched in a movie in a long time.

Let's get it straight from the get-go.
Charlie isn't perfect, beginning with his education.
We begin with him getting kicked out of, yet another, private school... for making fake ID's for the other students.

You have your private school stereotypes, pretentious young men who believe the world lives to serve them. Charlie is anything but that. His biggest goal in life, as is the case with the majority of teenagers, is achieving popularity. A recurring theme (or running joke, depending how you look at it) is him stating this and the adults in his life telling him there are more important things.
What I find most engaging about this guy is that he owns this role. His dialogue is quick-witted and lengthy, yet he breezes through it as if he'd been doing this for decades. While he has his flaws, he makes you root for him every time.

Something I noticed after seeing this a couple times:
There is an interesting contrast between how Charlie's character is developed compared to the story's antagonist, Nathan Gardner, who was recently promoted from history teacher to principal. Nathan's issues are more concrete and obvious whereas with Charlie, you have to pay attention or wait until later in the movie when the truth comes out in full.
Personally, it was an added bonus that their screen time was almost 50/50, so there wasn't a huge gap of time between scenes featuring either one of them.

In his first scene, we learn that Nathan (Robert Downey Jr.) is single father of teenage daughter, Susan (Kat Dennings). After setting himself up with a glass of alcohol (I have no idea if it's rum, scotch or something else), he checks his messages. One is from his estranged ex-wife, who believes he's not allowing Susan to contact her. The other is from the superintendent who insists being at the upcoming assembly tasked with introducing security cameras, seemingly under the impression the newbie principal can't handle a potential riot on his own.
Clearly the dude has stuff to be stressed about.

Charlie's first day goes as well as could be expected for the new kid.
The lows: getting a swirly and, later, beat up by the resident bully, Murphy Bivens... who I thought for sure was the guy who played Puck on "Glee"... the similarity was ridiculous!
The high: watch his audition for "Henry the V"... I won't spoil it, but I'll say he read for a role of the opposite sex and it is hilarious!

After coming home with the black eye (made me think of that scene from "The Karate Kid," without all the drama, lol), his mom calls Dr. Weathers. Supposedly the Bartletts have a psychiatrist on call. He talks about being bullied and also brings up the fact he's having trouble concentrating in class.
The solution: a prescription for Ritalin.
Charlie's reaction to the medication becomes extreme and, most likely, inaccurate... but nonetheless it's hilarious while raising some eyebrows..

Then Charlie has a "lightbulb" moment... to sell the remaining doses of his pills to the students while bringing in Murphy as a business partner. Let's just say it wouldn't be the last of Charlie's hair-brained schemes. Where his intentions are good, but he doesn't always think things through.

On the other side of things, Principal Gardner has to sift through his shenanigans, but he isn't exactly Ed Rooney, who made it his life's mission to bring Ferris Bueller to justice. He keeps things reasonable and level-headed for most of the picture. If punishments are handed out, it's after prodding from the superintendent..

The main plot kicks into high gear when Charlie befriends outcast Kip Crombwell, who asks if he can get hold of medication to help him.
This quickly blossoms into Charlie and Murphy's most profitable business. Charlie researches the symptoms, tells a host of psychiatrists he's experiencing them and he transfers the medication to his fellow students. Additionally, he holds "office hours" in the boys' bathroom where he gives advice.

If that didn't catch Principal Gardner's attention, Charlie's relationship with his daughter Susan would. Immediately after catching wind of it, he confronts Susan (unsuccessfully, I might add) and copes by drinking heavily. This is one of the most memorable scenes for me because of the song playing in the background... I don't know the name of it, but it really helps define how unhinged he is here.
But after he calms down a bit, he brings Charlie into his office at his next opportunity and gives him fair warning.

But the biggest controversy Charlie gets involved in is the additional of security cameras to the student center. One of Susan's friends, Henry Freemont, spends most of the movie campaigning for their removal. He insists on getting Charlie involved so they'll more likely to be heard.
Obviously, the superintendent sees this as a threat and pleads with Nathan to do something.
Personally, I think he takes it a little over the top. I mean, Charlie is the face of the movement, but it's not like he's personally working to make it happen. While the student strike ensues over this, Charlie doesn't actively participate and even says to Susan that he can understand where both sides are coming from.

Eventually, all hell does break loose.
Charlie and Nathan get into a confrontation. The scene is available on YouTube titled "what's in that pharmacy bag?"
Nathan is on edge, obviously, seeing Charlie give Susan this pharmacy bag and demands answers. One of two great intense scenes from Robert. The 2nd comes after the fall-out. Again, something else I recommend seeing because what is IN the bag isn't at all what he expected.

Then there's a riot at the school. Nathan loses his job and Charlie gets arrested on an assault charge (occurs in the previous scene mentioned above). Again, another great moment between Charlie and Nathan. Even as he's being hauled in cop car, Nathan locks eyes with Susan and Charlie... as if processing that his daughter chose her boyfriend over him.

The final part of the story arc happens on the premiere of the school play. Susan was cast as one of the leads and, hoping to do her a favor, Charlie goes to her house to convince her [now "disgraced"] dad to come.
Ultimately, the "freak-out" scene is Nathan "venting" (his latest "word of the day") while drunk and welding a fire arm.

Considering some of the crap that occurs in this movie, it's almost a miracle that none of the characters died or got severely injured.
Is it a little over the top in some places? Yes. But it wouldn't be the same movie without that little extra something, that adrenaline rush... especially that final climax.

Everything does work out and it would seem Charlie might make a living out of giving people advice... here's hoping he's learned how NOT to do it.

Notable Mentions

First, a few cameos from familiar faces:

Drake plays one of the students Charlie advises. His father is physically and verbally abuse.

Jake Epstein (who I knew from "The Zack Files" and others know from "Degrassi") plays the quarterback of the football team.

Six Degrees of Separation...Kevin Bacon... RDJ

On a number of occasions, I've felt compelled to follow up with certain actors on the basis they starred alongside Robert Downey Jr.
I know it sounds totally ridiculous, but every now and then, it works out AMAZINGLY.

To a lesser degree, I've sought out a few Anton Yelchin films since this. He was great in the "Fright Night" remake (it helped that his character was also called Charlie so I didn't lose the allusion that he IS this character). He was also good in "The Beaver" (Robert's connection to Mel Gibson was also behind that decision), and I'm still waiting to see the indie film "Like Crazy."

But... the biggest thing I got out of "Charlie Bartlett" was Kat Dennings.
I had seen her in "Raise Your Voice" with Hilary Duff, but she had a minor role as a reclusive pianist.
She played a small part in me wanting to see "Thor" (the larger part was he would be featured in "The Avengers").
Ultimately, if it wasn't for RDJ or this movie, I don't think I would have given "2 Broke Girls" a shot.

I saw the first 5 or so episodes online... now I just think Kat Dennings is freaking awesome in her own right. Her character, Max Black, is the type of girl I'd love to have as my best friend... but she does remind me a lot of my friend, Sam.
Coincidentally, Sam is a huge fan of "Charlie Bartlett" and when she befriended me in college, she dramatically changed my campus life almost the same way Max changed the life of Caroline Channing... a former rich girl who became broke because her dad was behind a Ponzi scheme.
But what I love most about Max is her dark sense of humor. Minus "the 7 words you can't say on television" and nudity, it comes off like a well-written R-rated movie. I was SHOCKED multiple times over those first episodes, how much she pushed the envelope... and I just couldn't get enough of it. To that day, that's still the case 8-)

Final Notes

Robert did this movie just before "Iron-Man" and is part of the reason I sometimes prefer his indie work to the blockbusters. Knowing me, there'll come a point when I'll address that in greater detail.:-P
It also is one of those rare occasions he plays a dad on screen, which is a nice personal touch, I think... even if Nathan Gardner isn't actually "dad of the year" material. When I heard he and his wife Susan were expecting their first baby together, I was hoping he'd have a girl because I wanted to see how he'd deal with a teenage daughter in real life.
Alas, that was not the case.

Updates

Robert and Susan had a daughter, Avri, a year or so after their son, Exton. So I still stand by my conviction- it'll be interesting to see him as a dad to a teenage daughter :P He'll probably be a push-over and Susan will be the stoic disciplinarian.

And I'm releasing and sending this post around at the news of Anton Yelchin's passing. I got a text from my friend Dave and found he'd died in a car accident.
2016 has been such a BAD year for passings. I'm still not completely over losing Prince. And Christina Grimmie (YouTube sensation and 3rd place finisher on Season 5 "The Voice") sent shockwaves through the music community with her death.

But this is just sad. Anton had a lot of talent and for it to be snuffed out so easily... the next "Star Trek" movie might see some additional revenue because it'll be his last role.

What I do know is that I'll be waiting this movie tomorrow to remember him.
The last time I saw it was New Year's Eve and I was seeing it by myself. The previous time, it was my first sick day in a couple years and it made me feel better. The time before, I saw it with my friends when I visited them on campus. Lots of good memories with that movie and half of them have just as much to do with Anton as RDJ.