Dark mediocrity

Thor (Chris Helmsworth) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) re-unite to fight the forces of the dark world. The latter are the forces released on a once-in-a-millenium planetary alignment that opens up a portal somewhere in London. Thor: The Dark World Pure entertainment, largely mindless and unmemorable, reminiscent of Star Wars more than Norse fable, and set for much commercial success

11.5/20

Chris Helmsworth

Natalie Portman

Tom Hiddleston

Anthony Hopkins

Christopher Eccleston

Jaimie Alexander

Rene Russo

Stellan Skarsgard

Norse Gods – An Approachable Bunch

Scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) and mentor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) are confronted with a strange weather phenomenon – an unexpectedly intense storm - and crash their vehicle into a man in its midst. The man turns out to be the god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) – banished from Asgard by father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) on account of needlessly waging war upon the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Thor needs to confront his scheming brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), get back to his ailing father and end his banishment, and deal with his growing fondness for Jane. While the movie begins with much promise, it concludes squarely as light entertainment. The casual banter of Thor and the gods with humans, and the easy transformation of Thor from arrogance to an empathetic self, are but a few pointers to the fact that this movie will be one of the really light interpretations of the Norse Gods and totally in line with the Marvel Comics character. Worth noting in passing that even the Gods seem to fall in love with Natalie Portman these days

11.5/20

Spectacular.

I watch hundreds of movies a year. Most rate a bit above 10, simply because all the movies pass through some degree of pre-selection. A rare movie makes it past 15. Only occasionally there comes a movie that reminds us of all that is great about movies per se – so brilliant is the theme, so perfect the execution, and so absorbed and perfect the key characters in their roles. It is in this vein that I shall desist from a lengthy review of Black Swan. It is Nina Sayers’ (Natalie Portman’s) role of a lifetime, but only because she has the canvas for the same in this surreal movie. So, a brief. Nina is the quintessential White Swan in “Swan Lake” her New York ballet troupe, but can she make a Black Swan too? Enter Lily (Mila Kunis), the natural Black Swan – a night of debauchery and hallucinations ensues – and Nina finds herself teetering at the edge of being the Swan Queen. Further hallucinations and a magnificent and tragic performance round off this spectacle. Like many great movies, this one is hard to put into words. Darren Aronofsky uses elements of melodrama, split personalities, and incredibly difficult character portraits to put together this once-in-a-lifetime movie

18/20