Thor

 
Thor is rated PG-13 and is 115 minutes long. Thor is one in a "series" done by Marvel Entertainment (now Disney). Marvel, for those of you who don't know, does comic books. Lately (say over the past 3-4 years), they have been putting out superhero movies- Iron Man 1 & 2, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk (not done by the same production company, which is why it's not as good). It's all going to culminate in the ultimate superhero/action movie on May 4: The Avengers. Each movie has introduced us to the characters in the Avengers and given us background. I watched Thor with my dad and Becky (lil sis).

The movie was good- it gave us a lot of background on Thor and is the last movie for Avengers. I liked seeing Thor's home world- it was beautiful, and the detailing was pretty darn awesome. Story was good- it was more of an internal battle than battling a real enemy, although there are bits of that too. I liked how this introduces Thor to the world, since he is not the most "famous" superhero out there. Plus you learn a little Norse mythology, so it's a good story AND educational! :)

I can tell you this-- you can get away without seeing Hulk (either one) or Iron Man 1 and then go see Avengers, but you HAVE to see Thor. I'd say that's the one you have to see before May. Otherwise you will be just plain confused.

And as always with Marvel (except X-Men: First Class) you MUST watch to the end of the credits!!! They leave a little teaser for you, and it's the best bit we got until the full Avengers trailer was released.

Hunger Games

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ok, now that the excited screams are over, here's the summary.

Hunger Games is based off the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins. It's rated PG-13 and 142 minutes long. (Woohoo!) I actually saw this movie twice- on opening night at midnight and then again a week later on the weekend. The book/movie is about this 16 year old girl named Katniss. She lives in the futuristic country of Panem, which is located on what's left of the United States. In Katniss's time, every year the country hosts The Hunger Games. A girl and boy are chosen from each district (there are 12) and put in a giant arena to fight to the death... on live television. The Games are "played" as a punishment to the districts- over 74 years ago, they tried to rise up and defeat the Capitol. They failed, so the Capitol punished them.

Katniss's sister, Prim, a slim little 12 year old, gets reaped and is the District 12 tribute. Katniss can't stand for that, so she volunteers to take her place. She's thrust into a world of politics and hunger and things so much bigger than her little world had ever been before. She's not the most personable of people, and has to work hard to overcome that and somehow try to win The Hunger Games. (I'll let you read the book to find out what else happens.)

So for a book to movie adaptation, this was, by far, one of the best that I've seen. I mean, Twilight was crappily done, Lord of the Rings were quite decent, Harry Potter was pretty good, and so were the newer Narnia movies, but nothing really completely grabbed those reader fan bases and held them dear. And then came Hunger Games. It's a long book- 384 pages to be exact, but Suzanne Collins helped write the screenplay. And that, my dear friends, is probably what made the biggest difference. She got to tell her story in her own way. Yes, of course, there were changes/ deletions/ substitutions, but to get 384 pages into 2 1/2 hours, what do you expect?

I could go on about what was changed, but I don't want to ruin anything for you. As always, when you're going to see a book to movie adaptation, READ THE BOOK FIRST!!! It will make your viewing experience way better!!

All in all, it was amazing, and I would gladly go see it a third time! (Which I probably will, after I force my dad to read the book!) :)

October Baby

I saw this Easter weekend with my mom, dad, and little sister. It's rated PG-13 and is 107 minutes long.

I went into the movie not knowing much about it other than this: A young girl gets hurt somehow, goes to the doctor, and finds out that she was an attempted abortion. (In other words, her mom tried and it didn't work.) That's all you really need to know about it in order to go see it. And from pretty much moment one, it hooks you and drags you in.

Hannah has had health problems her whole life- asthma, various surgeries, epilepsy- and she learns that they are all connected. She goes on a journey with her best friend (Jason) to find her birth mom and to figure out who she is. She meets various people along the way who help her figure out her story. (I mean, who can say no to a girl who says she is the survivor of an abortion.)

I thought the movie was very well done- it was tasteful, and probably only rated PG-13 for the sensitive topics. It's definitely a tear-jerker- the scenes between Hannah and her father got me almost every time. (Kudos to John Schneider for that.) It really makes you think about abortion and life and the whole deal with all of that. Obviously, it's a little preachy, but what else would you expect.

I highly enjoyed it, and my mom was a bucket of tears by the end of the movie (even my dad was sniffling!) My little sister liked it, but I don't think she "got" all of it- but then again, she's 12.

It's only available in a limited release right now- so you might have to drive a bit to go see it- we saw it in Des Peres. (Or just see it on DVD... it's one my mom says she'll want and the woman owns like 3 movies... Literally.)

Cool thing- it's based on a true story!