Only Lovers Left Alive

http://www.sonyclassics.com/onlyloversleftalive/

The second film of the double bill I saw on Friday was the dark and moody vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive. I'd heard rumblings about this movie for some time, and despite my love of all things vampiric (books, films, you name it), it was my lack of love for Tom Hiddleston that was putting me off.

Before the Hiddlestoners descend and start throwing things at me, let me elaborate. It's not that I dislike Mr Hiddleston. From the films I have seen him in and the times I have seen him interviewed, I have witnessed a very fine actor indeed and someone who seems like a perfect gentleman (with a bit of a naughty side). He appears to be an absolute delight. And no-one can deny he is a pretty one. But he just doesn't do it for me. At this point you should really be thanking me, because I am one less fangirl you need to fight off for his affections. 

It took a review of the film by fellow blogger yourturnheather to make me change my mind and go and see the film. Her review described the movie as being something akin to the anti-Twilight, and also prepared me that the film went at a snails pace, achieving very little in the end. However, her description of the stylish directing and the superior performances was enough to convince me I should make the effort to see it, if I could. That was easier said than done as the film was not showing in my local area at all, meaning I had to go out of town, and at that point my friend and I decided to make it a double bill evening, to make the most of the journey.

After the disaster of film 1 - A New York Winter's Tale - film 2 had to be better. And it was. But only marginally. I'm not going to give you a synopsis, because much like August: Osage County, there isn't really a plot to give you a synopsis of. Adam (Hiddleston) and Eve (Swinton) are a married couple of vamps who, for reasons unspecified, live on opposite sides of the globe; he in Detroit, her in Tangier. They come together after around half an hour because he's depressed and she's worried about him. After around another half an hour of the two of them not doing very much of anything, but at least doing it together, Eve's sister Ava (Wasikowska) arrives, much to Adam's annoyance. Just when you think this might spice things up, it doesn't. Ava ends up getting thrown out of Adam's pad for doing something naughty, and then Adam and Eve decide to go back to her place in Tangier, where a change of lifestyle for the two of them is imminent. 

It is here where the film would probably start to have a little more life breathed into it, and yet it is here that the credits role. The thing is, despite all of that, I wasn't really disappointed with what I saw. Yourturnheather's review had prepared me for the fact that not much happened, and not much happened. It looked very stylish, there were fangs (which was something I wanted badly after Twilight) and nobody sparkled. But that fact that I wasn't disappointed does not mean that I wouldn't have been happy with something more. 

Hiddlestoners will no doubt love the movie, if just for the amount of shirtless (and in one scene completely naked) Hiddles on display. Oh and for my Tumblr readers, there is a ridiculous amount of hand porn in this movie. For those uninitiated, that does not mean masterbation, just that there are lots of close ups of Tom's very pretty hands and long fingers. He also plays a number of guitars, a violin and the drums (I have a thing for drummers). So hard core Hiddlestoners are going to be very happy indeed, even if they don't particularly enjoy the film overall, there is a LOT for them to like. 

Gratuitous appreciations aside, Tom is also very good at being undead and depressed, and he and Tilda have a lot of chemistry together. The best scenes are undoubtedly when they are sharing screen time, because they fit so well together that you have no difficulty in imagining they have been lovers for centuries. Nothing they do seems forced, which, for a movie about creatures of the night, is something of a victory really. 

The support from John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin, is all top notch, as we have come to expect from these actors. It's just a shame there wasn't more for them to do. Definitely one for fans of Hiddleston or Swinton, or those enamoured with the idea of a more old school vampire movie. 7 out of 10.

 

Viewing Date - 21st February 2014

UK Release Date - 21st February 2014

Cast Overview:
Adam ~ Tom Hiddleston
Eve ~ Tilda Swinton
Ava ~ Mia Wasikowska
Marlowe ~ John Hurt
Ian ~ Anton Yelchin
Dr Watson ~ Jeffrey Wright

Director/Writer ~ Jim Jarmusch

Thor: The Dark World

http://marvel.com/thor

Thanks to the geniuses at Marvel, the detailed teachings of my nephew, and the welcome into the Marvel fandom I have received through my blog, I have become a huge fan of the Marvel movies. As such, when I heard that my local cinema was showing not only a midnight screening of Thor: The Dark World, but also showing Thor beforehand, I had to go and be part of that. However, I then heard that another cinema a little further away was showing Thor AND Avengers Assemble before a midnight screening of Thor: The Dark World, and I knew that was the one for me. I convinced my Avengers midnight screening buddies to come along too and before you can say 'For Asgard', we were on our way to a 7 hour Thor-a-thon. You can read my previous reviews for Thor and Avengers Assemble by clicking the respective links.

Firstly allow me to say how great it was to see Thor in 3D IMAX, which I did not when it first came out. Wow. It looked great, it was funny, Asgard looked more shiny and sumptuous than ever. And then Avengers. You can't top it. Or can you?

Thor: The Dark World opens by telling the tale of the dark elves, lead by Malekith (Eccleston). His goal is to destroy the universe by unleashing a powerful weapon known as the Aether. In the tale, Malekith and the dark elves are faught to extinction by Odin's (Hopkins) father Bor, and the Aether is moved to a safe place, far from the reach of those who might mis-use it's dark power. We move forward to present day London where we find Jane Foster (Portman) and Darcy Lewis (Dennings) discovering strange goings on in an abandoned warehouse; trucks that can be flipped in mid air by the lightest of touches, items disappearing and reappearing when dropped down a stairwell. In the midst of all these strange goings on Jane disappears into one of these voids and finds herself in another dimension, face to face with the Aether. As Heimdall (Elba) is unable to 'see' Jane in the other dimension, Thor (Hemsworth) makes the decision to return to earth to find Jane. But he takes on more than he bargained for when the dark elves return, forcing Thor to join forces with his imprisoned brother Loki (Hiddleston), in order to defeat them and return the Aether to safe hands.

I enjoyed Thor: The Dark World greatly, but sadly, not as much as I liked the first Thor. I wasn't keen on the villain this time around, I just found him to be rather lacking in charisma, and as you never really know his motivation for wanting to destroy the universe, it's hard to ever really see things from his perspective. Plus the name for the race, the dark elves, I'm sorry but I just couldn't take that seriously. I can't find elves something to be feared, no matter how 'dark' they are.

Having said that, I enjoyed the humour of the movie and I particularly enjoyed Loki's scenes this time around. Bearing in mind that this is the third outing for Tom Hiddleston's Loki, this is the first time in three movies that I have had any empathy for him, and this time I found that I was actually rooting for him a lot of the time. You can tell that Hiddleston relishes this role and has a lot of love for the character and I think this really comes across in this movie. The scene in Loki's cell with Frigga was just heart wrenching, while Loki's scenes with Thor are filled with enjoyable banter. 

In terms of the Marvel universe and the continuation of things from Thor and Avengers, Thor: The Dark World does not disappoint. Asgard still looks sumptuous and spectacular, while the scenes on earth have moved to London as the main setting. I for one really enjoyed seeing the UK play such a big part in a movie as mainstream as this, and especially as superhero movies tend to always take place in America, with very little mention of the world outside of that. Little touches such as the digestives on the breakfast table, and the ITV news story made me smile and I hope that the US audiences enjoyed it as much as I did. 

I must also give praise to the artists who's work is featured in the end credits of the film as it really is quite stunning. If you don't want to stay for the mid credits or post credits sequences I would at least recommend staying until the artwork has finished being showcased. Another great edition to the Marvel movie universe, just don't expect it to surpass Thor. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 29th October 2013 (Midnight)

UK Release Date - 30th October 2013

Cast Overview:

Thor ~ Chris Hemsworth

Jane Foster ~ Natalie Portman

Loki ~ Tom Hiddleston

Odin ~ Anthony Hopkins

Malekith ~ Christopher Eccleston

Sif ~ Jaimie Alexander

Fandral ~ Zachary Levi

Volstagg ~ Ray Stevenson

Hogun ~ Tadanobu Asano

Heimdall ~ Idris Elba

Frigga ~ Rene Russo

Darcy ~ Kat Dennings

Erik ~ Stellan Skarsgård

Director ~ Alan Taylor

Writer ~ Christopher Yost (Screenplay), Christopher Markus (Screenplay), Stephen McFeely (Screenplay), Don Payne (Story) and Robert Rodat (Story)

Based on the comic books by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

Thor: The Dark World Premiere

As many of my regular readers will know, I do enjoy going to the occasional film premiere, especially if it's a movie I am interested in, or a movie featuring one of my favourite stars. However, as I already managed to obtain the signature of Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, at the Avengers premiere last year, I almost didn't go to the Thor: The Dark World premiere at all.

My main reason for not going was that my usual premiere companion and cinema buddy, was not able to take the day off work and accompany me. Without his camaraderie, home made sandwiches and photography skills, I just didn't think it would be worth it. But as soon as I got to work on the morning of the premiere I knew I had made a grave mistake. Firstly because it was not raining, as the weather woman (Carol on BBC Breakfast) had predicted. Secondly, as I was present at the Avengers and Iron Man 3 Premiere (and did Iron Man 3 stag), it just felt wrong that I wasn't there.

So I made a snap decision to take the afternoon off work and go to the premiere. I will admit that it was not the best idea I've ever had, because as an experienced premiere goer, I know full well that the best thing to do is go up to London early to get a good spot. I arrived in London at around 3pm, which meant that all of the enclosed pens where the fans are held, were all full. So the queue of people I was with were diverted into the center part of Leicester Square. Regrettably, despite there being poster covered banners and red carpet here, this was not an area the stars walked down as this was where the general public were being ushered in. I did however have a good view of the stage from where I was, just a far away view.

The first part of the premiere involved a vote for the 'Thor with the most Phwoar', a line up of Thor look-a-likes who were all vying for the public to vote for them.

After this we saw a precession of Lookie-Loki's, who were going to be judged by none other than Tom Hiddleston upon his arrival at the premiere. My personal favourite of the Lookie-Loki's was this person, who did a fantastic job on their costume...

I managed to take a video of Mr Hiddleston being interviewed and judging the contest. If you can hear over the fangirls he comes across very well, but I always think this of Mr Hiddleston, having seen him be interviewed a number of times. Apologies for the screaming, it wasn't by me for once!

As I was too far away from the action, with only my iPhone to rely on, I decided it would be better for me to video the main interviews rather than trying to take pictures. The best I did, picture wise, was when I took these images of the main screen as Kat Dennings arrived:

But as you can see, they're not great. The next person to be interviewed was Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth.

Followed by unexpected guest, and head honcho of assembling the Avengers, Joss Whedon. *I love that someone says "oh no" when Joss says he can't say anything about Avengers: Age of Ultron, come on lady, you really thought he would?

That brings me to the end of my premiere adventures. Next time I will make my mind up earlier, be more prepared and hopefully get some signatures. But until then, here is a giant Mjolnir in the middle of Leicester Square...

Avengers Assemble

http://marvel.com/avengers_movie

Allow me to start this review by saying that I have never been a fan of comic books. As a girl who's brother is an extremely talented cartoonist and comic strip creator, this is not a good thing to admit. I have tried to get on board with them. And of course I can appreciate the talent of the writers and artists involved. I just don't enjoy it as a medium.

Film however is another matter entirely. There is a medium I've been on board with for as long as I can remember. And in fact recall that one of my (or possibly THE) first cinematic experiences I had was Bambi. An animated film. So on film I can totally get on board with cartoons, animation, comic book characters etc. This is why, although I've never read a Marvel comic book, I still consider myself a fan of the Marvel universe. And of Stan Lee. Who is of course a legend.

The only problem with having not read the comics is that I don't really KNOW these characters as well as those who have read them. Or as well as my 6 year old nephew who has taught me a thing or two about these characters since I watched Thor with him last year. 

Regardless of my lack of knowledge I was excited to see some of my favourite Marvel heroes, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America alongside some newer characters who have yet to have their own movies, Hawkeye and Black Widow, and even some of my less favourite characters such as The Hulk. 

So how and why does this band of misfits come together? Well to save the world of course! SHIELD head honcho Nick Fury has been running some experiments on a powerful cube of energy called the Tesseract (you may recall seeing it in Captain America: The First Avenger). This cube allows a gateway between worlds, which Loki uses to come to earth with his plan of ruling it. Nick and the team at SHIELD cannot allow this to happen and so call upon Dr Bruce Banner to help them locate the Tesseract, as it omits a low level of gamma radition of which he is the expert. When things at SHIELD's headquarters go from bad to worse it's up to the unlikely group of heroes, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Black Widow to put things right. But can they stop bickering amongst themselves long enough to fight their combined enemy and his army?

The first thing I want to say is that the key word in the title is Assemble. Not Assembled. So if you're expecting the characters you love, teamed together, fighting the big bad from the off, you'll be disappointed. Avengers Assemble is a slow burner, re-introducing the characters one by one, then introducing them to each other. To be honest, I loved this entire part of the film, Agent Romanoff bringing in 'the big guy', the Dr shaking hands with the Capt. Thor holding his own against the Iron suited Stark. And then Stark taking the p*ss out of all of them. The one-liners kept coming and the friction/camraderie really showed.

Whether you love or loathe these build up scenes, the waiting is worth it when they do eventually team up for the grand finale. This is where I was worried that writer/director Whedon would stumble. As a long time fan of his from Buffy (yes even all the way back to the Buffy movie) through to Dollhouse and Cabin In The Woods which he co-wrote and produced, I knew he could do ensemble casts until the cows came home. What I wasn't sure he could do was all out action. But I'm happy to say he pulls it out of the bag with a truly stunning end sequence in which each character has a part to play and a chance to shine.

Character wise, The Hulk was everything. He might have thought they were more of a time bomb than a team but he was undoubtedly the glue that held them together. Think about all his scenes in the movie and how things would have turned out without him. He was pivotal. Hulk also, surprisingly, got both the biggest laughs and the biggest cheers in the showing I was in. And the laughs for once were not for the way he looked on screen. The artists on this film have done a fantastic job of making The Hulk actually look like the man playing him, not just like a big green monster. Ruffalo's facial expressions are evident, which for the first time makes The Hulk feel human. I loved him, and he was my least favourite going in so that was quite a turn-around. I thought Ruffalo was inspired casting as Banner and Hulk and that he played both guys perfectly. 

I also loved the relationship between Banner and Stark and think this was helped immensely by Ruffalo and Downey Jr's on screen chemistry. First forged in their previous on screen collaboration in David Fincher's Zodiac. This lightbulb moment only occurred to me after I saw Avengers Assemble for the second time (on IMAX - HIGHLY recommended!) and was reflecting on how good their scenes were.

Avengers Assemble is not only an action packed spectacle, it's also genuinely laugh out loud funny and has a lot of character driven moments which make it what it is, an all round great film. Go and see it, more than once and definately make one of those screenings an IMAX experience. The sound and picture quality will blow you away. 9.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th April 2012

UK Release Date - 26th April 2012

Cast Overview:

Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark / Iron Man

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Mark Ruffalo ~ Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Scarlett Johansson ~ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner ~ Clint Barton / Hawkeye

Tom Hiddleston ~ Loki

Clark Gregg ~ Agent Phil Coulson

Cobie Smulders ~ Agent Maria Hill

Stellan Skarsgard ~ Professor Erik Selvig

Samuel L Jackson ~ Nick Fury 

Director ~ Joss Whedon

Writer(s) ~ Joss Whedon (Screenplay and Story), Zak Penn (Story) 

and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (Comic Book)

Avengers Assemble European Premiere

Some of my readers will know that I regularly attend Premieres for upcoming films I'm interested in. Not to watch the film, but to see the stars and hopefully come home with the occasional signature to add to my collection - which for the record includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Ralph Fiennes, Megan Fox, Toby Kebbell, Evanna Lynch, Alex Meraz and Booboo Stewart to name but a few.

This concept, of attending the Premiere but not seeing the film, seems to baffle a lot of my friends. So I thought I would take this time to explain the reason why I don't see the film when I go to the Premiere. 


You see I would love to be able to see the film on the day of the Premiere, but to do this you have to be one of three things. 1) A movie star or D list celebrity, 2) A very wealthy person who can afford to buy a ticket or 3) A competition winner. I do of course enter the competitions to win tickets, but as yet have not been lucky enough to win. And at the present moment I'm not one of the other two options. I hope this helps to clarify when I next say I'm going to a Premiere.

Now onto the good stuff. My band of superheroes - which for the purpose of the Premiere were known as the Mighty Blair (my usual Premiere companion and cinema buddy) and Iron Hayley (our friend and comic book expert) - and myself aka Captain Kath, set out for London on a rainy Thursday morning and reached the Westfield shopping centre just before midday. We found our spot for the Premiere and settled down to our picnic prepared by the Mighty Blair. We chatted to the fellow Avengers fans surrounding us, prepared our cameras, pens, items for signing etc and ourselves and eventually it was time for the stars to arrive.

Each star was individually announced and came out onto a stage in front of a sea of photographers and fans. They made their way around the atrium and greeted and signed for fans until they were needed for interviews and official photographs and such. The event host, Jonathan Ross, took each of the stars back onto the stage for screened interviews - which I did record but you can barely hear over the screaming fans. Instead I have included some photo's taken by the Mighty Blair.

Robert Downey Jr who plays
Tony Stark aka Iron Man

Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor

Mark Ruffalo who plays
Bruce Banner aka The Hulk

Scarlett Johansson who plays
Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow

Clark Gregg who plays
SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson

These fantastic photos aside, the Mighty Blair also took some amazing shots of the cast members on stage when they were talking to Jonathan Ross. This means we were also able to capture Jeremy Renner who plays Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, Tom Hiddleston who plays Loki and Cobie Smulders who plays SHIELD Agent Maria Hill, but who most will recognise as Robin in How I Met Your Mother. Unfortunately Chris Evans who plays Captain America Steve Rogers and Samuel L Jackson who plays Nick Fury weren't at the European premiere so we didn't see them at all. :0(

But I think my favourite photo of the day has to be this one of Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson, where Jeremy is clearly thinking what every other man in the room was thinking (and probably some of the women too)...

So there you have it folks. Our fun day out at Westfield with some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Oh and I did manage to get one signature...

You can't see it that well but in the white THOR writing is Chris Hemsworth's signature.
And a very happy looking Captain Kath. :0)

It must have been my Avengers nails he couldn't resist.

 

**Special thanks to Iron Hayley for her expertise and being a wonderful Premiere companion and of course extra special thanks to the Mighty Blair for his always amazing picnic and the use of his awesome photographs.**


Tune in soon for my Avengers Assemble review!!!

War Horse

*OSCAR SPECIAL*

NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE 

http://www.warhorsemovie.co.uk/

As you will see from the date I saw War Horse, this is a review I wasn't planning on doing, but I felt like maybe I should review all of the nominees for Best Picture, or at least review the nominees for Best Picture that I have seen.

From the first trailer I saw for War Horse nothing about it grabbed me. I'm not a particular fan of horses or Spielberg or any of the actors involved and I haven't seen the play on which it's based. It was only when I started to see longer clips of the film on TV shows and when I heard the actors and director talk about making the film that I started to have any sort of interest in seeing it.

On the weekend that War Horse was released my friends and I decided to go see a film one Sunday afternoon. It was a choice of War Horse, Shame or The Darkest Hour. As there was one vote to not see Shame we tossed a coin to choose between the other two films on offer. War horse won the toss 3 times.

War Horse is a story told using lots of different people's points of view, but everyone who has a hand in the narrative, has a connection to the horse of the title, who's name is Joey. The first person we encounter is Albert (Jeremy Irvine), who's father Ted (Peter Mullan) buys Joey at auction, intending to use him to plow a particularly tough field on his farm. Albert trains Joey and they overcome many obstacles together. Albert is therefore distraught when he learns that Joey is to be sold at another auction and this time goes to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) who is fighting in the First World War. Through a series of events in the war, Joey ends up in the care of a french girl and her grandfather before eventually finding his way back to the front lines where Albert, who is now a soldier, is desperately trying to find Joey so they can be re-united.

I am pleased to report that War Horse was much better than the trailers implied and I really enjoyed it. It had humor, emotion and a courageous heart beating under that horses mane. Yes it is long but it would be hard to cut much more out of War Horse without it affecting the narrative. 

The acting is all top notch as you would expect from a Spielberg film, but most surprising was how amazing the horse was, especially as I am not an equine fan. Finder, the horse who plays Joey is amazing. Prior to seeing the film I learned that Finder has not only played Zorro's horse but also played Seabiscuit in the film of the same name (if you have not seen Seabiscuit I highly recommend it and so does my brother http://tinyurl.com/7c9mh9x). I must admit that this endeared me to him a little more than I would normally be endeared to a horse. But that doesn't take away from the fact that he is a truly magnificent creature and deserves an Oscar of his own. The scene on the front line involving Joey, Colin (the Geordie Soldier) and a member of the opposing side will move you to tears I guarantee.

Spielberg back to what he does best, a heart warming family film. 9 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 15th January 2012

UK Release Date - 13th January 2012

Cast Overview:

Jeremy Irvine ~ Albert Narracott

Peter Mullan ~ Ted Narracott

Emily Watson ~ Rose Narracott

Niels Arestrup ~ Grandfather

David Thewlis ~ Lyons

Tom Hiddleston ~ Captain Nicholls

Benedict Cumberbatch ~ Major Jamie Stewart

Celine Buckens ~ Emilie

Toby Kebbell ~ Colin (the Geordie Soldier)

Finder ~ Joey

Director ~ Steven Spielberg

Writer(s) ~ Lee Hall (Screenplay), Richard Curtis (Screenplay) and Michael Morpurgo (Novel)

Thor

http://thor.marvel.com/

I am rather ashamed to admit that I had little to no knowledge of Thor when Iron Man 2 came out last summer and featured the end clip of a hammer in the middle of the desert. I remember turning to my cinema buddy at the time and saying "huh?"

I was further shamed when my brother told me that my 5 year old nephew's reaction to the same clip was "THOR!" shouted very excitedly. It turns out that my nephew has quite an extensive knowledge of the marvel heroes, and as such, maybe I should sit down with him for a lesson some time?! It turns out that even without the history lesson, I was actually quite looking forward to seeing Thor. The trailers looked good, it had Natalie Portman who I'm a big fan of and Chris Hemsworth - who made a big impression on me in his 5 minute role in 2009's Star Trek - had been cast as Thor. I was starting to think this could be good.

So it was with great honor that I accepted an invitation to go and see Thor with my two nephews, my brother and my sister in law during my recent trip home. I'd planned to watch it when I came back to Brighton but I couldn't turn down the chance to see it with my young nephew as he's such a huge Thor fan! This also meant I would be present for my youngest nephews first ever 3D cinema experience. So I'm sure you can imagine that I was doubly honored to have been invited to join my family for this treasured moment.

So with 3D glasses on and my nephews fingers in his ears (coz it's just a little too loud for the sensitive hearing of a 5 year old), we sat down as a family to watch the mighty Thor.

The film opens with Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) arrival on Earth. His father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) has cast him out of the kingdom and his home planet of Asgard, for re-starting a war between Asgard and the ice planet Jotunheim which is the home of the Frost Giants. Upon his arrival he is hit by a car being driven by scientist, Jane (Natalie Portman). He's quickly up and about and searching for his hammer which is the source of his power. Anyone who's seen the end of Iron Man 2 will know that the hammer has been found by the members of S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) and is planted quite soldly in the ground. At the same time we follow Thor's brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who may or may not be trustworthy in his quest to become the new king of Asgard.

I don't know if it's because I was with my family, and in particular my young nephew, who was so excited to see Thor, but I loved it. I found this to be one of the most enjoyable comic book/superhero movies I've seen in a long time. It had the humor that made Iron Man stand out from previous comic book adaptations (as well as a funny reference to Tony Stark), but for me, the human element is what gave Thor its heart. Natalie Portman was so perfectly cast as Jane, continuing the theme of more lighthearted performances which I love seeing her in. She was brilliantly accompanied by Stellan Skarsgaard and Kat Dennings, who I loved in Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (and who I've been dying to see in another good film since I saw her in Nick and Nora). As much as I praise the humans, the Norse Gods were also perfectly cast. Chris Hemsworth has a star making performance as Thor and if I may also add, is very easy on the eye. Loki is cunningly played by Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins is imposing yet warm hearted as Odin.

The other thing that really impressed me were the sets and effects used to create the worlds of Asgard and Jotunheim. Both planets looked so real and so different from each other (and different from the New Mexico setting on Earth) that you forgot you were watching a set or a green screen. I particularly loved the Bifröst bridge and the way it was lit. Really stunning. This was a big job for any director to take on, the fact that it was Kenneth Brannagh who took the challenge - someone you would never normally associate with this type of film - makes the end result even more incredible.

I was relieved that the film not only got 2 thumbs up from my nephew but that he loved it so much he also awarded it a score of 20 out of 10. A recommendation I am happy to endorse if you're taking a child to see this epic tale. For the adults, my verdict is an enjoyable, awe inspiring addition to the marvel movies. Thor receives a respectable 8.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 1st May 2011

UK Release Date - 27th April 2011

Cast Overview:

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Natalie Portman ~ Jane Foster

Tom Hiddleston ~ Loki

Anthony Hopkins ~ Odin

Stellan Skarsgard ~ Erik Selvig

Kat Dennings ~ Darcy Lewis

Clark Gregg ~ Agent Coulson (S.H.I.E.L.D)

Idris Elba ~ Heimdall

Colm Feore ~ King Laufey

Rene Russo ~ Frigga

Director ~ Kenneth Branagh

Writer(s) ~ Ashley Miller (Screenplay), Zack Stentz (Screenplay), Don Payne (Screenplay), J. Michael Straczynski (Story), Mark Protosevich (Story), Stan Lee (Comic Book), Larry Lieber (Comic Book) & Jack Kirby (Comic Book)