Thor

PG-13 (2011)
Intense sci-fi action and violence
 
On Asgard, Thor, son of Odin, is arrogant and foolhardy. On the day he is to be made King, Asgard is invaded. Thor leads a counter attack even after being commanded not to. For this, he is cast down to Earth and stripped of his powers. Not until he is worthy will he regain what he has lost.

4 out of 5

I have absolutely no prior knowledge of the comic book lore related to Thor, and only a minimal knowledge of the mythology. As such I went into this movie with a clean slate.
The bleached eyebrows were a bit much for me, but on the whole I really liked this movie.
Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, and of course, Stan Lee, were all great additions to the movie.

*I need to watch this movie a second time, I waited to long to finish my review and can't remember the details.  I do plan on updating this entry again later, but I wanted to get this posted.*

The Incredible Hulk

PG-13 (2008)
Intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images, and brief suggestive content

Bruce Banner is hiding from the government in the slums of South America. Thinking he may have found someone who can help him find a cure, he exposes himself. Meanwhile the officer after him tries to duplicate the experiment that created The Hulk, and creates something much, much worse.
 
2.5 out of 5

Edward Norton may be a great actor, but he is not a great (or even good) Bruce Banner. I have never, in any version of "The Hulk" know Bruce to not be a sweet guy (lets face it, the whole Jekyll and Hyde style dichotomy is based on the fact that they are polar opposites) and Norton just doesn't quite pull of the boy next door.
Now I will admit that not all of the fault of this movie being crap was lies with Norton. Writers, director, Liv Tyler.... yeah... bad news. When you have a Banner who transforms in The Hulk based on heart rate rather than anger it changes the game completely, and not in a good way. Now not only can he not get angry or be afraid, he can't go for a run, can't enjoy anticipation, and can't, well, get excited...
Overall, this is my least favorite of the movies in the Avengers Saga, and not really a good movie at all.

Captain America: The First Avenger

PG-13 (2012)
Intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence
 
In the middle of World War II, Steve Rogers is desperate to join the war effort and do his part for his country. He tries to enlist multiple times with no luck. Too small, frail and sickly for active duty, he is recruited by a scientist for the supersoldier program that will turn him into Captain America.

4.5 out of 5

Captain America is probably my favorite superhero after seeing this movie. Steve Rogers is a hero in his heart long before he has the physicality to be heroic. Better than that though, is that even after the experiment, he was willing to do what was needed, rather than do what he wanted to be doing.
After seeing the movie I was really curious what method was used for the shots of "skimpy" Steve, so I looked around to find out. From IMDB "The filmmakers had originally planned to hire a body double and superimpose Evans' face onto the double's body, but ultimately scrapped the idea since director Joe Johnston claimed that Evans moved in a unique way and that no body double could replicate his movements." I think this was definitely the best possible choice regardless of the actor chosen because they didn't have to try and train a body double to copy his style of movement.
Overall I found this to be a great movie. Good clean fun. While there is violence, it should be expected (and is often necessary) in a superhero movie.

Iron Man 2

PG-13 (2010)
Sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language

Iron man is fast becoming a national icon, Stark Enterprises is successful as ever, and Tony Stark is never wrong (just ask him). However the government believes that for the sake of national security the Iron Man Suit and all of the research involved must be turned over to the military. Then a new enemy arrives and changes everything.

4 out of 5



Robert Downey Jr. has won his way onto my favorites list with his recent string of movies. His characters of Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes have displayed a quirky sense of humor in his acting, if not in himself, that I find delightful. Tony Stark/Iron Man in particular is a fun guy to watch on the big screen or small.
While I felt that most of the "good guys" were well thought out and multidimensional characters, both Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko were predictable. Vanko at least had some brains to go with all that brawn, but was still very much a comic book villain. That lack of a strong villain (story-wise... not physically) causes things to not mesh as well as in the first film.

Making the run on The Avengers

As part of a plan (yes, I do make plans based on viewing movies) to prepare for going to see The Avengers this past Monday, I did a mini marathon of the movies that lead up to it. So over the past week I have watched Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 2 (I haven't come across a copy of the first yet) and The Incredible Hulk. I had already seen both Iron Man movies, but it was a first watching for me on all of the others. Within the next couple days (hopefully) I will have all of the reviews up for your reading pleasure.

The Hunger Games

PG-13 (2012)
Intense violence and thematic material - all involving teens.
 
In a post war distopian future, 24 teenagers are chosen to fight to the death in the annual Hunger Games.

4.5 out of 5
(In this instance I think that it is very important to read the book before seeing the movie. There are elements involved in the storyline that aren't as fully developed in the movie, and are important to understanding what is really going on.)

I already had the intention of reading the Hunger Games books, but as the release of the movie began to loom over me, I new I was running out of time. I was lucky enough to receive the books for Christmas, and finished them in about a day each.

The movie was both more than I expected and less than I had hoped. When I go into a movie already knowing the storyline and attached to the characters as I interpret them it is harder to enjoy another person's interpretation of the same story. However the film stayed very true to the book, only departing from it when it wasn't practical to follow the book. A few of the less important characters have been cut and some of the scenes and exposition removed for obvious length and flow reasons.
I loved the casting choice made for Katniss. I don't think there is any other young actress out right now who would have fit my mold better than Jennifer Lawrence.  However I was somewhat leery of a few of the other casting choices, Peeta in particular. Now having seen the movie I don't think they made a single wrong choice.

The Lincoln Lawyer

R (2011)
Some violence, sexual content and language

Defense lawyer Mick Haller thinks he has it made when he is asked to represent a the heir to a real estate company. His client claims he is being framed by a woman who is only trying to get rich off of the civil suit that will surely follow this trial. But the further he gets into the case, the more things just don't add up to Haller.

4.5 out of 5

Twists and turns, ups and downs. Just when you think you know which way this movie is going, it isn't. While it isn't the most surprising movie ever (not by a long shot) there were still a couple of things I just didn't quite see coming. Matthew McConaughey was great in a role that felt real, and it was good to see him in more serious role after the string of romantic comedies and comedies he had done just before this movie (don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of most of the aforementioned movies).