Thor 3D

Saw this film last night as a last minute decision really. It's been out for weeks and it was never a priority to be seen but it was seen anyway for various reasons.
Anyway, we have Thor! God of Thunder! I didn't really know much about Thor going into it really, never read the comics (never touched a comic really) so this new Marvel film was completely knew to me and you know what...

I enjoyed it.

And that is what is important. How can I judge this film for being anything more than it's meant to be except entertaining? I don't know what the comic fans think, but this film certainly looked cool.

The story plays out a little like this, we have two sons of the great King of Asgard (played wonderfully by Anthony Hopkins), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston). When the Frost Giants (the enemies) mysteriously manage to enter Asgard and attempt to steal back their power, Thor is enraged and travels to Jotenheim to confront and battle the Frost Giant leader, damaging the fragile truce between them and his father. Angry, Thor's father takes away Thor's powers and banishes him to Earth. There he meets Jane (Natalie Portman), a scientist and her friends. How does he get back to Earth? ....watch and find out...
So the film's effects are really good. All the costumes are great and it's very humorous, to be expected as it's directed by Kenneth Brannagh. I read somewhere that they did a really good job of translating this to film becuase the dialogue from the comic could seem pretty laughable if executed poorly. But it was perfect from what I could see. All kudos go to Brannagh, after all, he is the shakespeare guy and he knows probably how to handle a bit of Thor dialogue.
Now, Chris Hemsworth was excellant. He was so bloody charming! He had all the women in the cinema weak in the knees, butterflies in the stomach whenever he smiled.  He was so charismatic and you could just sense his enjoyment as he played the role.
British actor Tom Hiddleston was very good as the quiet, mysterious, sneeky little brother. Sometimes however, I could sense a little over acting a little towards the end but that might just be me being picky.
A few complaints was that the movie feeled a bit too rushed for me. Despite having quite a straight forward plot, there was a lot of background and exposition to get through and the introducing of the characters that are important for the film. Another complaint would be Natalie Portman's character. We all know how much of a wonderful actress she is but her role seemed pretty uneccessary for this film except to provide a bit of fluff. I'd say the 3D was average, it wasn't really needed to be honest. But I'd give it credit for the fact that it wasn't tacky, in-your-face 3D.

Overall, worth seeing for a bit of fun and Hollywood entertainment. Don't bother splashing out the extra ten quid for 3D glasses if you bring your family along though.

***

Exam Week

Just why? Why? Why? Why?

The exams sure don't feel to to daunting (yet) but I know time is rolling fast and they will be. I'm revising hard and this weekend I hope to get myself organised and make my revision timetable for the half term week to come. But, good news, on Tuesday during exam week, I've managed to qualify for Middlesex Athletics competition where I'm representing Harrow for Long Jump.  I know I won't qualify any further but it's worth a try and it's quite an achievement that I've got this far anyway.

Anyway, the school does everything to get you in the mindset of exams. It's quite annoying to be honest and we've had three assemblies this week on stress and exam tactics and when it's repeated again and again it just feels all to much to the point where you head could explode and you've just had enough and it just doesn't help anymore.

Good luck to all exam students, GCSE and A-Level students... Just think, by the end of this term in a few weeks it's going to all be over and on that Friday in two weeks my friends are making our way to Indulge, a great new desert lounge which has just opened in Pinner.

There are so many things I want to do after the exams, just relax and relax and go to the cinema and pretty much relax and hope that my grades aren't bad enough for my parents to loose complete faith in me. Good luck, everyone.

Hanna

Saw this film two weeks ago, I know its really late but I've been busy lately with school...stuff...*grumbles*.
Okay, so this film is pretty much my fantasy personality on screen. Hanna is everything any teenage girl would dream of being. She's smart, fiesty and best of all, knows how to tackle and put down groups of testerone heavy men. She's played by the incredibly talented Saoirse Ronan whose name I only recently learned to pronouce; (ser-sha) Ronan!
The film starts out with Hanna and her father (Erik Bana) living a low profile in the middle of a snowy landscape in Germany. In the first few minutes we are given an insight into Hanna's way of life and the intense training that went into making her what she is now. She's designed to be less human than others for reasons you find out later...(oops). Then Cate Blanchett comes in playing the bad woman who is of course after her aided by a bunch of camp hitmen.
There isn't really much of a story but what makes it great is the character piece it is. Hanna just really wants to be a normal girl and to tell the truth, I think we all would if we were being persued day and night by people that want nothing good to do with you. Further into the film she comes across a British family on a holiday and eventually befriends the spunky teenage daughter. The family was a perfect way of illustrating exactly what Hanna desires, a normal family and to experience the pleasures of the world for once in her life.
It's very original in the way it was translated onto screen. The film is incredibly stylish and beautiful to look at, especially Ronan who has one of the most fascinating faces currently on the silver screen. She's beautiful, not in that conventional way, but she emotes so well and manages to keep it relatively understated which is remarkable.
Now, there is one action sequence that needs a mention involving Erik Bana in a sort of underpass thing which is just so incredibly cool. It was done all in one shot where he takes out about a dozen men! It's one of the coolest action scenes since that epic strobe light scene in Kick Ass.

The only complaints have to be the way this film is finished. The ending could've have been better but I only think this is because I felt it ended too soon and they could have found a better way to conclude the story then give a great film a slightly rushed ending.

Anyway, go and see it. It is well worth it.

****

"Birdsong" By Sebastian Faulks

Okay, so I recently finished this book, like what? Last week, I think. I just want to take this opportunity to say that I have never have cried when finishing a book, not even after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! The thing is, it wasn't even a sad ending, well, it was incredibly bittersweet I'll say that. I juat want to apologise for this mega long review, it was neccessary!
It's 1910 and the book begins with our twenty year old protagonist Stephen Wraysford arriving at the house of the Azaires, the family he is to stay with during the time he was given to work in his benefactor's textile factory. He explores northern French life and gets to know the Azaire family while becoming increasingly curious about Azaire's wife, Isabelle. The two eventually fall in love and have a doomed affair which leads to them running away, tearing the Azaire's apart. However, once Isabelle realises she is pregnant with Stephen's child she leaves him without a word. Flashforward six years and we're in the middle of the First World War, we are taken along Stephen's perilous journey to get through the war and his complicated relationships with the soldiers around him. While the war is continuing we are often taken forward to another generation, 1978. Here we are introduced to Elizabeth who is moved by information she has found out about the First World War and goes to all lengths to find out every piece of information she can about her grandfather.

It seems that the book jumps around a bit, it does. But the story is so satisfying so this doesn't present itself as a issue becuase the charcters are so brilliantly handled. Stephen comes to France, a young yet very serious man. He is often described to stare a lot, and come across as quite an imposing figure yet he doesn't really say very much or express himself often which is what made him so compelling for me to read about. No one is ever sure about what is running through his head and even Isabelle whom remains the first woman he ever loved was uncertain about him. During the war, the soldiers consider him mad and strange because of his resilience and determination to stay alive and get through the war despite his passionate hatred for it. But that is what I think the book is, he is a strange character and throughout the novel you realise that Stephen doesn't really understand himself and the war acts as a catalyst for him to find himself amongst his heartbreak (Isabelle) which has turned him cold and his humble beginnings in life. It's a search to find that sympathy, care and tenderness again that he desperately needs (MILD SPOILER!!!) and eventually finds with Jeanne, Isabelle's sister which arguably makes her the heroine of the novel.

The romance at the beginning moved me, I'm not going to lie. It was a goooood hundred pages or so and normally I can find romance quite difficult to read becuase sometimes it can come across as too soppy or too detailed when describing emotions and feelings where it just reaches the point of repetition which can often be tedious. But this was perfect becuase you were sometimes given insights to how the characters were feeling but you were never fed what was running through their heads, you knew it was passionate, that was certainly made edvident from their first time of making love together moments after Stephen had proposed the affair! But the focus wasn't only the romance, it was them getting to know eachother during the affair, it was the effect of their forbidden, intimate relationship on others around them. That was what made it interesting for me.

The First World War scenes have to be some of the greatest character moments I have ever experienced with a novel. I swear, reading this, it was so vivid I could've been sitting in a cinema watching the war play out right in front of me. We follow a group of different soldiers that all have certain connections with Stephen in the novel, or will. Prominent characters are Jack Firebrace, a tunneller who is unable to go on leave to tend to his dying son and Captain Weir who Stephen forms a close relationship with and views as the only person he ever felt he had experienced traumatic experinces with all the way through. The gory images that are illustrated during certain parts of the book stay with you becuase they are so horrifying along with the frantic battle scenes that manage to mention the boy soldiers who are nothing but horrified and shocked to see the reality of what they had signed up for.

At first I wasn't sure of Elizabeth and her role in the1978 part of the book becuase I wasn't at first aware of where it was leading. But when she became interested in the War that was when I knew it was going to work because there always had to be a connection between her and Stephen, it was just what that connection was going to be. I loved her moments of dicovery in Northern France and finding out about all the soldiers. I loved the gradual revelation throughout the third act of the novel so that it wasn't suddenly bombarding you with information.

Overall, a great novel well worth your time and my tears. If you do decide to check it out, look out for a certain tunnel scene towards the end of the book with two prominent characters that just had my heart sinking and my eyes glued to the pages. I heard that someone has the rights to make this a film and all I can say is cast wisely. If you don't have the right Stephen, you don't have a potentionally very great Birdsong movie adaption. Maybe they should consider an unknown actor so people will be interested to know more about the character than be thinking about something else they've seen him in.

All I can say is, read it.

*****