Thor, Bridesmaids, and Kung Fu Panda 2

First off hello strange readers, or readers who are strangers, the strangers that read this, anyways, the anonymous group of individuals who decipher the words on this blog, i'm back.  I'm going to rant a little bit, not in any angry tone, but in a more just talking way too much but through my fingertips kind of way, the internet way.  The way of the future.


Seen a few movies since i've seen you last, well more than a few, but for the sake of time and space i'm only going to focus on the ones that i've seen in movie theaters, starting with Thor.

Roger Ebert wrote a rather bitter and angry review of the film, attacking it kind of, but in his defense when Kenneth Branagh is behind the camera you expect a little more than what you get, and what you get is pretty simple, simple in plot, simple in character, but all of that I kind of expected.  The performances stood out however as the highlight of the film, from Chris Hemsworths hot headed Thor, and Tom Hiddlestons secretly bitter Loki, to veteran Anthony Hopkins booming out from his lips lines that could have been written by a ten year old, but no matter, my point is all of the actors, not to short change Natalie Portman, in a rather wasted role, or Stellan Skarsgard in an equally wasted role, however the latter will be in The Avengers so maybe he'll have a chance to shine more, and its always great to see Portmans shining face, just there characters lacked much of anything, I digress.  As I was saying the players all handed in great acting jobs for a silly summer movie, and before I go on no I'm not a fan of the character of Thor but I had fun at this movie, yes the plot is lacking, the fight sequences edited kind of horribly, you don't real feel any of the punches, or really see them either, but are instead given over the top sound effects in replace of them.    What i coudl make out in terms of fight sequences was well done, the film looked great, the special facts were sufficient, and while Ebert remarked that the film seemed  a little childish, and took of points for its lack of substance, I was personally surprised they pulled off a watchable film, or a semi-enjoyable one, its beyond semi-enjoyable though, it is a fun movie to go see, and as far as childish goes thats fine I take my younger brother with me, sometimes simplstic fun is better to the brooding trials of say The Dark Knight (which I love).

Also saw Bridesmaids.  Kristin Wiig is my hero, well okay, she's not my hero but she's a great heroine for...comedy...?  nah.  My point is, she's a joy to watch and she proves like Tina Fey that women are a force to be reckoned with in comedy.  And she's rather subdued here, though still let lose, like the scene on the plane where she has some rather naughty behavior that had my cracking up laughing.  Her sort of restraint allows the supporting players to go all out in their ridiculousness, and these supporting women were cast to perfection, each one of them says a line or does something physical that just can't be resisted by your funny bone.  Jon Hamm whose proben on his regular season hosting gig on SNL that he's a great comedic actor, here he plays a sleazy douche bag of a kind of sort of not boyfriend to Wiigs depressed and lonely, loveable chaotic character.  And Jon Hamm eats up time everytime he's on screen but left me with a lasting impression, I hope he does more and more comedy, even the opening scene sex scene had my laughing because of his ridiculousness, you love him because you hate him so much.  The actor who plays the police officer, the love interst, whose name I do not know right now, and since i'm to lazy to go to IMDB i'll just call him the guy who plays the cop, he's a very good foil to the chaos that surrounds the rest of the movie, he brings the whole film, and Kristin Wiig back to sanity, and he too was perfect casting as the eventual love interest of Wiig.
also would like to add that i hope Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader do a movie together, even a predictable con-man comedy, where they can be different characters would be ideal, just something they both can dominate the screen with, love them both, by far the best cast members on SNL.

Finally, went and saw Kung Fu Panda 2.  Action all the way in this one, it was like Ice Age 3 but with Kung Fu, meaning the plot is simply there to get us into roller coaster esque fun fight scenes.  The animation was superb of course, and while its more entertaining because it moves faster than the first Kung Fu Panda, I feel like it may be inferior to the first one.  At least in the first one they tried to tell a good story, but strike that I'm wrong.  I could go back and delete what I just said, and say what i'm going to say next, but I won't, because this way my thought pattern can be seen sort of.  Kung Fu Panda in general is a pointless fun movie anyway, and if the aim of its sequel was to be pointless fun too, why not just make it fast paced and filled with action, and simply filler moments for a simple plot which includes a rather funny but evil and superior villain in the Peacock voiced by a great Gary Oldman.  Pixar is still the champion of animation, and no matter how much people may claim Shrek is a classic, its aged and lame, and annoying, its sequels more so, I can't think of one Pixar movie I can say that about even the 3 Toy Story's that have come out have proven as fresh and fascinating as the original.   Dreamworks seems quick to cash in, and while How to Train Your Dragon ill admit is a superior animated movie on par with some of Pixar's Kung Fu Panda is not, as a movie, I can say it didn't really leave me with anything, and by that I don't mean something intellectual, I just mean something I can get nerdy about, something particular cool, as I watched it I laughed, I thought some of the action was cool, but i can't put my finger on a single moment that stands out in my mind, it seemed like as soon as I left the theater I knew I'd seen a fun movie but I wasn't very impressed.  That sounds like a really horrible critique of the film, but its not, i know it was batter than monsters vs. aliens, and the shrek films, and i think Dreamworks is getting better, but i'm gonna wait to see what they have in store next to see if something impresses me.