Moroni's Review of "Thor: The Dark World"

Thor: The Dark World

Two months ago, I made an arrangement with my son, Alex, that I would take him and his sister, Siobhan, to the movies for his birthday.  So earlier this month, I made good on my promise and took them to see "Thor: The Dark World", the second movie in the franchise.  So what do I think?  This is a movie that will please both kids and adults.  This movie is better than the first one, and I really liked the first one.

The film starts when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to Earth when his former love interest, Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), becomes infected with a primeval dark substance called Aether.  To heal her, Thor is forced to take her into the dimension he inhabits, Asgard.  This substance causes an ancient enemy of Asgard, the Dark Elves, to awaken ad lay siege to the ancient city.

Like the first film, this story takes us to many fantastical, dream-like landscapes - the aspect of the film that I actually like the most.  It introduces us to several mystical creatures, cool weapons, and superhuman battles.  It is the characters that make us invest in the fantastical.  Chris Hemsworth bears the hammer of Thor with dignity.  Natalie Portman is just exquisite.  Stellan Skarsgard plays his best role, reprising his portrayal of Dr. Erik Selvig, the events of "Avengers" unhinging his mind.  It is always great to see Sir Anthony Hopkins on the big screen, wearing the mantle of Odin for this endeavor; who know how many more movies he will do?  But again, it is Tom Hiddleston as Loki who steals the show.  He plays the villain with such panache that it is impossible to hate him.

Obviously the franchise will go on.  There are references to "Avengers" and "Captain America" in the film, tying each of these stories into one solid narrative.  I enjoyed it.  My kids loved it.  Our consensus is that it would not be such a bad thing if this became a trilogy.  At least.

Hint:  Stay in the theater until the credits end for a view of what's to come in the Marvel World.

Moroni's Review of "Ender's Game"

Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford in "Ender's Game"

 "Ender's Game" was a movie I was looking forward to, because I had read the novel the film is based on nineteen years ago.  Granted, I am not a huge fan of Orson Scott Card, the author of the novel.  He is a Mormon, like me.  But over the years, I have disliked some of his political views - and he has expressed quite a few.  In addition to that, I find his writing bloated and pretentious.  (He plagiarized the Book of Mormon in one of his series.)  And yet I liked "Ender's Game" quite a bit.  Not enough to read the other books in the series.  But it is a good book.  I was pleased to see that a film version was coming out.

Then the controversy started.  Certain LGBT groups were calling for boycotts of this movie because of some of Orson Scott Card's statements previously against gay marriage.  At first this annoyed me,  I have always made it known that I am decidedly pro-gay marriage.  But I always hate it when people try to mix politics with art.  Especially when it is turned into propaganda.  But then I remembered that I do the same thing.  I boycott organizations and groups that are anti-polygamy; for instance, my boycott of Ben & Jerry's for their contribution to Tapestry Against Polygamy around eight years ago.  Sure, it was a long time ago, and Tapestry Against Polygamy has luckily gone the way of the dodo.  But I still don't eat Ben & Jerry's.  Any group that would support hate does not get my support.

Suddenly, I realized that I was being a hypocrite.  I felt the same way about my cause that the LGBT community feels about theirs.  I think the source of my conflict was that I really liked the story.  Eventually, I realized that I was going to go see this movie, in spite of my feelings.  To rationalize this, I had to divorce Orson Scott Card from his story.  It was the story I liked, not the author.  Plus, the studio announced that people could see this movie guilt free, because Card had no involvement with the film and was receiving no monetary compensation for it.

And really, the story is relevant in our day and age in its depiction of our society, the " good guys", justifying and lying to people about a war that, when you boil it down, doesn't need to happen.

It may have been nineteen years since I read the novel, but, from what I remember, the film sticks pretty close to the book.  It tells the story of a boy genius, Ender Wiggins, who is selected by the government to take part in a secret project to train kids to think outside of the box, as it were, as a means of fighting an alien force called the Formic that invaded Earth in the past.  The training pits his wits against his fellow students in some complex war games in a zero g environment.  Asa Butterfield does a great job playing the solemn, intense Ender opposite Harrison Ford who plays the gruff Colonel Graff.  Ben Kingsley plays Mazer Racham, a Maori soldier of legendary proportions.  His portrayal was kind of sketchy, and I feel like the director (Gavid Hood) did not use Kingsley's talents to their full potential.  The same goes for Abigail Breslin's performance as Ender's sister, Valentine.  She was not given a chance for a full performance.

The strength of the performances give zest to the visual aspect of this film, which is sweeping.  The exercises in the Battle Room are epic, and the physics in zero g are flawless.  In these scenes, Ender gets to show his ability at strategy.  The best parts of this movie take place while Ender is training.  But the visual effects kind of detract from the space battles against the alien Formic.  There is way too much going on the screen, and it is vaguely video game-ish, like I am watching "The Last Starfighter" all over again.  But perhaps that is relevant to the plot twist, which I will not reveal here.

All in all, it is a good movie, my apologies to the LGBT community.  But for what it's worth, I didn't pay a cent.  I had free movie passes...

Moroni's Review of "Gravity"

Sandra Bullock in "Gravity"

This film will speak to almost everyone on a primal level.  I can scarcely think of a kid that has not wanted to be an astronaut.  I was no exception.  But I cannot think of anyone who does not have an innate fear of drifting weightless, in the cold of space, high above the earth, and unable to return to your ship.

This is the premise of "Gravity" - directed by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron and starring Sandra Bullock.  Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a mission specialist onboard a space shuttle mission high in orbit above the earth.  The movie starts out with the team EVA, working on a satellite.  A cloud of debris suddenly pelts the shuttle, destroying the shuttle, sending her spinning into the blackness of space.  She teams up with another survivor, Lt. Matt Kowalski (played flawlessly by George Clooney), whose cheery demeanor in spite of their hopeless odds is enough to rally the doctor.  With their oxygen running low, they head for their only chance of survival - a Chinese space station.

This movie is riveting and will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Visually, the film is stunning with its dazzling panoramas of space, the stars, and Earth.  Usually, I am fairly ambivalent about watching movies in 3D, but I have to admit that 3D augmented my viewing pleasure, gave you the depth that created illusion that you were floating in the darkness with her.  It also had you flinching at space debris careening off the screen.  The zero g physics were flawless, which was refreshing to see in an industry known for ignoring realistic scientific principles.  Some of the scenes were intense and reminded me of "Mission to Mars", a movie already thirteen years old, but one I love.

There times when the camera spinning from the point of view was a little disconcerting and nauseating, but the story soon made you forget that.  The movie starts at a quick pace and does not slack for the duration, but gives enough back-story in flashing glimpses that gives the characters a sense of dimension.  But characters are dwarfed by the immensity of the backdrop and the sense of suffocation and empathy for the characters.  I loved that the cast was small.  A huge ensemble would have ruined this movie.  Mainly it was just Sandra Bullock, adding to the sense of isolation.

If you have not seen this movie yet, go see it.  It will keep you in free fall from start to finish.