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Thor: The Dark World (2013)
First Was Okay, This One Was Meh
This film was just okay. Maybe my expectations were too high for Thor 2. I was really hoping it would improve on the first one (which was good but had so much more potential.) I saw some good reviews for this one and some bad ones, so I tried not to have my expectations up TOO high whenever I saw it on my own.
Don't get me wrong--it was an enjoyable movie. It had its funny moments, many of them involving Tom Hiddleston. There was also more time spent on Asgard, and Jane finally got some more screen time. But overall, the film was average. Perhaps I was expecting more from it, but it fell down from my expectations (only slightly, as I did not love the first film but thought it was just decent). I really, really wanted to love it, but I didn't. So I guess I was disappointed in it.
SPOILER ALERT
The plot of the story was mediocre. We're given a back story about the main antagonist, Malekith, and a little about Asgard and his connection to it, but it's a little incoherent. Which isn't totally bad, I guess, but Malekith's reasons for wanting to destroy Asgard just seem flat to me. He feels like your atypical I-Wanna-Destroy-Your-World type of villain, which has been done many times before.
The way they make Jane get possessed by the evil source or whatever that Malekith needs felt like a forced way to have her in Asgard. She spends a lot of time passing out or cowering behind as battles wage on. It gets a little better near the end, where Jane helps Thor defeat Malekith, but overall she isn't given much to do. I don't expect her to be superman or whatever, given that she has no powers, but I wished she had been given more to do as opposed to being the victim of an evil entity. She also doesn't have enough chemistry with Thor to make me feel like they really love each other.
Darcy was funny in the first film, and still was to an extent in this one, but there was times when she was annoying. She got too much screen time, and I believe that a comic relief needs less so that they remain funny and not get annoying. Her sidekick, or intern, also feels useless and is used to temporally replace Eric Selvig, who, thanks to Loki, has gone insane and does crazy antics for comic relief.
As I mentioned earlier, Loki was fabulous in this film, having very funny one-lines and making smart remarks. However, his motives get a little messy in this film. It makes since that he would be a sort of shades of gray character, but when (and there's a HUGE spoiler coming up here) he is supposedly killed to sacrifice himself for Thor and then appears to be alive and wanting the throne is Asgard as Thor leaves to Earth, I'm left confused. What was the point of Loki "sacrificing" himself if he wanted the throne? Was he pretending to die so that no one would suspect he'd become king? Maybe that's just apart of the mystery of his plot, and I'll have to watch the next film to see. But, as a stand-alone, it's confusing.
Odin is reduced to being a jerk for the sake of the plot. He shows little to no concern for Jane when Thor brings her to Asgard until he discovers what she is possessed with. He also basically tells Thor that the only difference between him and Malekith is that he "will win" the battle. This seems a little out of character from the Odin we met in the first film, who wanted to be a fair and strong ruler. I know why they did it-- to give Thor a reason to want to stay on Earth--but by making Odin do something that seems so rude kind of turns the audience off from his behavior.
Once again, Thor's friends (Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun) receive little screen time or anything character development in general. Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun say little to no words in this film; a possible love triangle between Sif, Thor, and Jane is implied and then quickly gotten rid of. These characters are fun, and I really wish I got to see more of them.
Some of the comic relief felt odd. For instance, Selvig is glad when Thor tells him that Loki dies but quickly offers Thor some very awkward condolences. I completely understand why he would want Loki dead--this IS the man that possessed/made Selvig go crazy, after all-but the audience is led to believe that Loki really has died. Maybe they expected us to know that he hadn't? I know that I didn't believe his death, so maybe that's why. But there were other places where the comic relief felt odd, too, mostly exchanges taking place during the battle scenes. At least they were funny.
And finally, the film feels entirely too short. I get that they might not want to make it longer for budget reasons, but if that's the case then they shouldn't try and throw in character development. Some things just felt rushed, and some characters feel underdeveloped. Admittedly the length is not as bad as it was in the first film, but this is mostly because we've already gotten to know the characters and they are now being expanded on.
SPOILER END
So that's pretty much how I feel about Thor: The Dark World. I guess it sounds like I disliked it more than I liked it, and maybe I do, but it wasn't a bad film. I'd watch it again if someone asked me to, and I'd laugh at the comical parts and still enjoy the movie. It's just one of those instances where a film is okay, or even good, but could have been better.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013)
A Decent Series
"Agents of Shield" was a show I had been anticipating for quite some time. I'm a big fan of "The Avengers" and watch every film dealing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Basically, what I'm saying is that I had high standards for the show.
When I saw the first episode, I was left feeling satisfied but not mind blown. The show was good but could have been better. It's not something I excitedly look forward to but is entertaining enough and a way to kill an hour or so.
The problem with the show lies in the characters. They seem interesting enough: You have Coulson, whom everyone assumed was dead after the events of The Avengers; Ward, the new guy who has to learn to get along with his new coworkers; Melinda, a highly-skilled combatant spy who doesn't want to be in the field anymore; Fitz and Simmons, the two scientists experts; and Skye, the newest member who got in only after the agents discovered that she had been capable enough to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.
All of these characters have their own personality, so it would seem as if they would all stand out from their own. But the problem is that the show spends so little focus on these characters that you don't really get to see their personality, or get to know them in general. If there is an episode about someone, it will be Skye or Coulson, or maybe even Ward--but none of the other characters really get their own centric episodes.
The plot themselves are so-so, with your standard Stop-The-Monster-Of-The-Week premise. Some are admittedly intriguing (the Graviton guy and the people working with Extremis, for example), but for the most part they're mostly predictable and don't offer anything new.
A so-so plot could work with great characters, but--as I have said earlier--the show isn't doing much with them. I prefer a great plot and great characters (ala Harry Potter), but you can go one or the other and still entertain me. However, AOS doesn't really do either intriguing enough for me.
That's not to say that the show's all bad, though. There is some fun, quick-witted humor sprinkled in every now and then. The show contains smart little references to the MCU films (i.e. the events of The Avengers). And they have moments when they do well with character development--I'm mostly talking about Skye, but it's still better than nothing.
So overall this is a decent show. Once again it's not my favorite, and there is definitely room for improvement, but it's still a show I enjoy. If anything, it's a way for me to unwind and kill off a few extra hours on my evenings.
The Nine Lives of Chloe King (2011)
Should't Have Been Cancelled
"The Nine Lives Of Chloe King" is a sort of fantasy/science-fiction series that was based off the book of the same name. Chloe King turns 16 and wishes her life were more exciting; however, she gets more than she bargained for when she discovers that she's gained catlike abilities. It turns out that Chloe is apart of the Mai race, a species of half-human, half-feline descendants of the Egyptian goddess, Bastet. Not only that, but Chloe is the Uniter who must bring peace between Mai and the Order, an organization that is out to kill the Mai.
I can't tell you how upset I was when this show was cancelled (and on a cliffhanger!) It was very good; the acting was great (Skyler Sammuels is surprisingly good and likable as Chloe), the story lines about the Mai and the Order were intriguing, and the fight scenes were awesome.
One thing I will say, though, is that there was too much focus on the romance. The Alek/Chloe/Brian love triangle was overplayed for a show that I thought was about a girl's cool catlike powers and the Order. I wished they had focused more on that storyline instead because it was so much more interesting.
Overall, though, the series was very good. I know it didn't get enough viewership, but ABC Family should have at least resolved the cliffhanger, or don't show it at all because I want to know what happened next.
StarStruck (2010)
Okay Movie, Bad Main Character
Starstruck is a pretty average Disney film. To be honest I wasn't extremely hyped when I first say the trailer back in 2010, but I decided to watch it anyway because it was on a Friday night and I had nothing else to do.
The script itself was so-so; an average girl (Jessica Olsen) ends up running into the famous teen popstar Christopher Wilde. However, she isn't like most girls Christopher knows-she's not infatuated with him and even admits that she doesn't like him because he comes across as fake. But throughout the movie they start to understand each other and start to fall in love. Just your average DCOM.
However, I will say that, although I liked the film alright, I did not like the main character, Jessica Olsen. I, like other reviewers have been saying, found Jessica to be a very unlikable character, which is strange as she is the protagonist (or one of them, as Christopher is also a main character).
At the very beginning of the film (and throughout much of it later on), Jessica acts very hostile towards Christopher. She seems to hate him for no reason other than that he's a famous celebrity and assumes he's a jerk for this reason. Where this assumption/animosity comes from is never explained, which further frustrated me because it was just downright confusing. She seriously drove me up a wall, and I would like to rant about her more if IMDb let me put more words into my review.
The rest of the story is so-so, but-like I said earlier-it was entertaining enough. I just wish Jessica wasn't so unlikable.