How dare you attack the son of Odin!

Thor is the fourth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films. Kenneth Branagh's film starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and that titan of character actors, Stellan Skarsgård is a decently entertaining film. Also, isn't it weird that this is a Kenneth Branagh film?

For those unfamiliar with Norse mythology, Thor is one of the Norse gods and the son of Odin (played in typical intense fashion by Anthony Hopkins) the head honcho Norse god. In the movie Thor falls out of Odin's favor, and proceeds to engage in shenanigans down on Earth. On Earth Thor encounters Natalie Portman, and Stellan Skarsgård. You see Portman and Skarsgård's character are scientists, and they are ahh researching stuff, about like the sky or something? It doesn't really matter. This movie is not to be taken seriously, and it doesn't take itself seriously. Agent Colson (played with characteristic deadpan by Clark Gregg) from S.H.E.I.L.D. is a main character in the movie. Thor isn't the same on Earth as he is on Asgard. This movie is classic fish out of water. Blah, blah, blah.

If you catch this movie on a lazy day it is worth leaving it on. The acting is serviceable, the story mostly makes sense, and if you are a fan of the Marvel movies you should probably watch it. There isn't a lot to the movie, but it is fun.

6/10, but really more like 6.5. This is no Iron Man, but it is definitely consumable comic book fare.

WELCOME TO THE ROCK!!

Michael Bay's The Rock may be the quintessential 90's action movie. It has all the absurdity that you would expect from the pre-911 action genre. In fact, I think the only other movie that comes close to competing with it would probably be True Lies. Now before this post devolves into a one-man love fest of the Governator I should get back to The Rock.

The Rock is a reference to Alcatraz Island and accordingly, the movie is aptly named, because it is where the action in the movie takes place. You have people breaking into Alcatraz, people that broke out of Alcatraz, and people that just wanted a picture of them behind bars at Alcatraz before they went back to their hotel. The acting in this movie is actually really pretty good. Ed Harris's portrayal of the misguided general is believable in nearly every way. Sean Connery basically plays a retired James Bond, and there is nothing wrong with that. Nicholas Cage. Well, Nicholas Cage plays Nicholas Cage. He isn't losing it the whole time, but he is very Cagey.

Here's the deal. The Rock is a good movie. People don't want to accept that because of Nicholas Cage, and because it is a Michael Bay movie. However, if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe what the late Roger Ebert had to say about the film. The movie is a fun no frills action movie. It doesn't go over the top with special effects, and it delivers equal parts suspense and absurdity in a delightful manner. If you like action movies, The Rock is for you.

8/10, own it, will watch again, and again, favorite Michael Bay movie, that's a short list

I like the way you die boy.

Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino. Jamie Foxx. Christoph Waltz. Do I really need to keep typing things? Kerry Washington. Leonardo DiCaprio. Samuel L. Jackson.

This Tarantino offering, like many of his other films, is packed full of quality performances by the actors. Additionally, it's not just the actors performances that are quality. As you have no doubt come to expect, the story, cinematography, music selections, and overall feel of the movie are also of the highest quality. I can only speculate that Tarantino has the most voluminous movie mind out there. Every shot that he does seems to have meaning and is a homage to some other famous movie. For example, Waltz's character being a dentist is apparently a reference to an old Bob Hope movie, The Paleface.

The movie is in the style of an old Spaghetti Western revenge flick. Since this is Quentin Tarantino we're talking about the movie is gory. In fact, this movie has one of Tarantino's highest death tolls. The carnage is not really the central focus though. The movie is much more about Django's odyssey to find his wife Broomhilda.

The great thing about a Tarantino movie, and really all well done movies, is the level of detail in each shot. For example, there is a scene where Django and Christoph Waltz's character Dr. Schultz go into a bar. Dr. Schultz goes and pours a beer for himself and Django and you are treated to a closeup of Dr. Schultz wiping off the top of the head from the beer. I don't know why, but I just thought that was such a cool little detail to add. That little closeup probably isn't even important to the story in anyway, but you'll appreciate it when you see it.

9/10 will watch again, gory, but great revenge/rescue epic

P.S. There was buzz about DiCaprio and Jackson being snubbed, and truth be told they were fantastic in the movie, but I've come to expect such superb performances from them every movie so just how fantastic they are seems self-evident to me.

Wielding Neptune's Spear

The operation that killed Osama bin Laden is not without controversy. Anything surrounding terrorism is, and always will be, a loaded subject. Some people even accuse Kathryn Bigelow's movie Zero Dark Thirty of being a propaganda piece. I have no comment on all of that, because I just write about movies as movies.

As an aside, apparently, 2012 was the year of the CIA movie since Zero Dark Thirty lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to Argo. Yeah, yeah, but what about this movie?

This movie is all about Jessica Chastain, and she rightfully earned a Best Actress nomination for her role as Maya. More to the point, this movie is all about Maya's obsession. It shouldn't come as a surprise that she is obsessed with finding Osama bin Laden. With each event Maya believes she is getting closer to finding bin Laden, but that isn't really the case.

The supporting actors are all quite solid, such as Kyle Chandler and Jennifer Ehle, but the two that really stick out for me were Reda Kateb (as the detainee Ammar) and Jason Clarke (as the CIA officer Dan). The interaction between Ammar and Dan is uncomfortable on many levels, but it would be hard to say it isn't convincing. There is also a considerable amount of torture in the film. You've been warned.

This movie could easily fall into the category of "not needing to see again," not because it is a bad movie, but because it hits a little too close to home. You already know the story, and yet the tension is there. So many emotions surrounding the subject matter are evoked by the film that it could be the kind of thing you don't want to revisit.

9/10, although I reserve the right to roll it back to 8/10 if I ever watch it again. I thought it was a great movie, but there's something about it I can't put my finger on.

Tin man gets a heart

Writing this review of Iron Man 3 was difficult in that I didn't want to reveal too many spoilers. Ultimately, this is the worst of the Iron Man movies. That doesn't mean that the movie is bad, but that the other two are pretty good. If I had to rank the movies from best to worst I would do so in the order that they came out.

Robert Downey Jr. is so familiar with the character at this point that it looks almost too easy for him to pull off Tony Stark. Somewhat surprising to myself in this one is how much screen time is devoted to Gwyneth Paltrow's character Pepper Potts. However, upon reflection, it does make sense, because the events center almost entirely around Pepper and Tony's relationship.

From the trailers I was expecting a very epic clash between a worthy mad genius foil for Tony Stark, ie The Mandarin. I will say this, Ben Kingsley can do no wrong. Spoiler alert, do not click this link about why comic book fans didn't like the Mandarin in this movie.

Apart from the aforementioned controversy this movie actually has the most tension of all the Iron Man movies. Iron Man might not make it through this time. The enemy is substantial, and the fight is larger than before. You've got all the necessary Iron Man whiz bang, and snarkiness. Don Cheadle is there to help out. And you know what, that is enough. Definitely a movie you wouldn't mind watching if it happened to be on, and you'd probably deem it a worthy waste of time.

7/10 Good cap to the series......so far, I mean they are going to make another, no way they don't

P.S. Guy Pearce is in this movie, and he is almost as scuzzy as he was in Lawless. All I've got to say about that.

AS YOU WISH!!!

At its core, The Princess Bride really is a love story. Sure, there is a ton of comedic gold, and the narrator can be jarring, but ultimately this is about Westley and Buttercup. This movie is as witty as they come, and equally memorable, but at the end of the day it is all about "Toooooo bllllluuuuuuuuuffffffff."

True love is the motivation for our principal actors, Cary Elwes and Robin Wright, respectively Westley and Buttercup. Speaking of actors who never became as big as they probably should have, this was hands down André René Roussimoff's greatest film role. Yes, he was only in five films, but so what? The guy was great in this particular movie, and how dare you denigrate his memory.

Now that I think about it, the narrator, aka Grandpa, (played masterfully by Peter Falk) really adds a lot to the film. Initially, you are kind of like "come on," but later in the movie he adds an element of suspense. In reality, all of the pieces in this narrative play a useful and enjoyable role. Miracle Max played by Billy Crystal and his wife Valerie played by Carol Kane, are such a welcome addition, and really when you think about how little they occupy the screen it is a rather outsized addition. Of course there is also Fezzik and Inigo's boss Vizzini deftly portrayed by Wallace Shawn. Full disclosure, I had to look up his character's name, because I'm pretty sure it is never mentioned in the movie. Maybe during the game of wits.

This movie belongs in the definitive collection of American films. The film has a little bit of everything for everyone. You can't go wrong watching this. Even if you aren't in a movie mood I guarantee if you force yourself to start watching it you will be happy with your decision.

10/10 will watch an innumerable amount of times in my life

Fake Movie, Real Acting

Argo is a very good movie. Ben Affleck manages to continue directing engaging, and gripping films. I would have never guessed that from the guy in the southie tuxedo in Good Will Hunting, but it is the current reality.

For those that don't know, Argo is based on the Iran Hostage Crisis, and specifically the Canadian Caper. This isn't required knowledge to enjoy the movie, but it helps you with context. I went into the movie knowing a little about these historical events and it didn't ruin my movie experience.

I think that John Goodman's performance in this movie sticks out above all the others. For some reason I totally bought him as the Hollywood insider, injected enough into the industry, but detached enough that he would have the freedom to indulge his inner patriot and help the CIA. Also, I really liked the main revolutionary guard that holds them up at the airport, I think the actor is Bahram Khosraviani. It was a small role, but I thought he nailed it.

It's kind of odd to try to analyze the movie, because it is based on actual events, so I can't really complain about a bunch of plot points. However, not all of the facts are known about the event, and as such I do think that the way that they portrayed things was well done. I didn't feel like they made the scenes too Hollywood. I guess you could quibble about the bazaar scene, or the escape from the embassy, but that seems a little extreme to me. The ending was for sure a little dramatic, and I read that the former Canadian ambassador was a bit miffed that Canada's role was not played up to its actual level, but other than that I think the movie was pretty compelling.

Solid movie which was an easy choice for Best Picture, 8/10, will see again