Thor: The Dark World is the latest addition in the Marvel movie franchise as well as the continuation of Thor’s story… but I’m sure you knew that! I wanted to keep this review short and sweet by covering the movie’s good points and “meh” points…
Good: The Snarky Dialogue… Especially with Loki
As all Marvel movies should be, Thor: The Dark World has many quotable moments. I don’t know why Thor goes from speaking Shakespearean-style English to telling Loki to shut up, but regardless, I still enjoyed a lot of the dialogue, especially where Loki was involved. They had some great brother banter moments.
Good: Darcy!!!
I absolutely adored Darcy in the first Thor film and was thrilled she was coming back. She did not disappoint!
Meh: Thor + Jane = Still Not Buying It
I like Natalie Portman and I like Jane, but I didn’t find Jane and Thor together believable in either the first film or this film. (Team Sif all the way!)
Good: Thor’s Mom is Awesome!
I thought Thor’s mom was awesome, but I don’t want to spoil anything, so you’ll just have to watch to see why.
Meh: Poor Dr. Selvig
It was sad to see that state Dr. Erik Selvig ended up in after The Avengers. 🙁
Good: Zachary Levi!
I think Zachary Levi did a pretty seamless job filling in for the role of an actor who was in the previous installment of Thor. And I’m always happy to see Zachary Levi!
Meh: Just OK Villain
The villain, The Dark Elf or whatever he was called, didn’t impress me in the slightest and I never really felt a sense of danger with him. I never thought about this until a few days after I had seen the movie though, which tells you how little I think about villains (unless they’re awesome), but I would compare him to Nero in the 2009 Star Trek movie… just not that impressive. But without getting too spoilery, let’s just say there’s plenty of questioning Loki’s motives throughout the film, and that is much more interesting… and then there’s the mid-credit scene that opens a new door…
Warning: I can’t talk about this season without talking spoilers. So don’t read this unless you’ve already seen Fringe season 4. Seriously.
Season 4, how I love you. And yet I also hate you. I don’t hate you as much as season 3, which I guess doesn’t actually exist anymore thanks to you, but did you have to go and erase seasons 1 and 2 too? White Tulip, one of my absolute faves, means basically nothing anymore? But oh, thank you for more Lincoln Lee, and specifically Blueverse Lincoln.
Red Lincoln and Blue Lincoln meet.
At the end of season 3, Peter disappears and no one remembers him. We find out that he’s been “erased from the timeline,” as the Observers put it (which turned out to be total bull – dying early does not constitute being completely erased from time, but I digress). So season 4 starts with the Fringe team, without Peter. Everything feels off. Walter is even a little more nutty without Peter there, and Olivia actually seems a bit more confident but also a little empty, and Astrid is basically the same but the role she plays is a little different. Things carry on with glimmers of Peter trying to get back, or at least that’s the way it seems (later we find out it’s really love conquering all). Meanwhile, they work on a shapeshifter case that kills Blueverse Lincoln Lee (who apparently they had not met in this timeline)’s partner, and he ends up coming in to work with the Fringe division. Before Peter appears, Olivia says “no way” to Astrid about dating Lincoln , but then she seems to be reconsidering, even after the mysterious Peter that no one remembers returns…
And somehow, I, who have been Team Peter and Olivia since Season 1, suddenly found myself seriously shipping Lincoln and Olivia. He was so shy and cute and sweet around her I JUST COULDN’T HELP IT. Seth Gabel, the writers, the directors, the producers, THEY DID IT TO ME. (Sidenote: I specifically wanted this version of Lincoln to end up with this version of Olivia. I still wanted Peter to be able to go back to “his Olivia.”)
Lincoln around Olivia.
Needless to say, I was frustrated when September told Peter that he was in the right universe/timeline/whatever-the-crap-this-amber-colored-title-sequence-place-is, that he had no where to go back to. “A Short Story About Love” was obviously supposed to make me feel happy but instead it made me feel like this:
I’m pretty sure this is how Lincoln felt too.
But we’ll get back to this whole Lincoln subplot thing. I want to address other issues I have with this season. Like, the fact that for everyone who isn’t Peter, and sort of Olivia, it erases everything we’ve seen about them before on the show. And then for Olivia, that she forgets about this whole other life where she got away from her crazy and abusive stepfather and was raised by a nice Nina. And then poor Walter, he doesn’t have the same benefits of knowing this Peter and knowing that God’s forgiven him.
And then the crazy weird inconsistencies this created when we decide to re-do cases from season 1, where somehow magically, the same guy wearing the same shirt with the same people on the same flight of the same plane has almost the same thing happen to him four years later than originally when Peter was around. What? I try to justify it happening later due to a change of plans with David Robert Jones and William Bell due to Peter’s premature death, but that still doesn’t justify SAME CLOTHES SAME PEOPLE SAME FLIGHT SAME PLANE other than the obvious reason: budget.
But let’s talk about something positive this whole catawampus storyline shift did, and that is the return of David Robert Jones.
DRJ is a great villain, and I felt his first story arc in Fringe was a little unsatisfactory, so I was happy to see more of him. So yay for more DRJ! But I am still a little unsatisfied with the conclusion of his overall story, especially since we never get the answers to his connection with ZFT (does it still exist is this timeline, or did Peter somehow change that too? Or does this come up in season 5?). However, having his second demise somewhat reflect his first was great. And I don’t really understand how the shapeshifters were going to play a role in Jones’ and Bell’s new world.
Speaking of that, what is up with totally whacked-out crazy William Bell?!
I hope there will be more answers about Bell in season 5. I really liked the old Bell better though…
Now, back to another positive thing about this season with the new timeline: Walternate and Fauxlivia are much nicer! Guys, in season 3 I hated Fauxlivia with a passion. I hated her at least as much as I hated Walternate. I don’t think Fauxlivia was inherently more evil in season 3, but she quickly chose to take that turn, I think largely because of Walternate and Newton’s influence. (Sidenote: I found Newton’s end in season 3 also unsatisfactory. Basically, I don’t like the way Fringe ends the storylines of their villains. Except Harris.)
So, this brings me back to Lincoln. After Redverse Lincoln dies, he decides to stay in the Redverse, presumably in part to see how things go with Fauxlivia. And while I wanted Redverse Lincoln and Redverse Olivia to hook up, and I wanted Blueverse Lincoln to feel wanted and needed… as a compromise… I think this might be OK with me.
How you doing?
Mostly, I want Lincoln to be happy. I’m just sad he isn’t a regular in season 5. *Cries*
You’re a good guy, Lincoln Lee. *Cries again*
Here’s Gene with a FBI hat to make me feel better:
I don’t know how to rate this season. Some of it I really liked, but some of it frustrated me. I gave season three, which I felt the same way about, 4.5 stars, but I still can’t decide if I like this season more or less than season 3. I do want to give kudos to a finale that really wrapped up the season nicely, and that even made me like Peter and Olivia being back together again (after basically hating them being together from “A Short Story About Love” up until “Brave New World Part 1,” minus “Letters of Transit,” in which we don’t actually see them together but we see their daughter). It’s either 4 stars or 4.5, but I don’t know which quite yet. So I’ll just leave us with this still from the season 4 gag reel:
Joshua: “Welcome to the gag reel, Seth Gabel.”
Help me out with my rating! How do you feel season 4 compares to the others? Were you as frustrated by new timeline stuff as I was? Are you a Lincoln Lee fan?
Every once in a while, there’s a book you feel a strange and unknown draw towards to read, and Ender’s Game was that for me earlier this year. I think it was partly due to the movie coming out, but not completely, as there are plenty of book-to-move adaptations that I don’t pay attention to. But the story sounded interesting and I wanted to check it out. I was surprised by how dark and gritty it was for a book about children, but it’s painting a picture of a desperate society who has barely survived war once and is on the brink of another. It’s a cautionary science fiction tale of how far we will stretch someone, particularly a child, to receive a desired result.
I don’t think I realized how much I got from the book emotionally until I watched the movie and felt much of a lack of emotion. I know this sounds like the start of a negative review, but it’s not. It is just to say that the book is about warfare and its psychological damage and the real-life causalities of it, as seen through the eyes of the child. I don’t think the movie adaption of Ender’s Game expressed this as fully as it could have, yet at the same time, it did help recall those feelings I had from the book.
I saw this movie with my husband and two friends. My husband has not read the book, but thankfully he was somehow able to follow along with what felt like an extremely accelerated pacing in the movie. The highlights are all there (or at least in my opinion, one friend missed the Peter-Valentine subplot, which I get the point of but I can take it or leave it) in terms of scenes. But we don’t get to experience the full development of Ender’s mental battle in Battle School or his relationships with Valentine, Petra, Bean, and others. The relationships were my favorite part of the book, so while we see glimpses of these in the movie, they are more of a quick acknowledgment. I do think the relationship that was best represented in the movie was probably that of his and Petra’s, even though I wanted so much more of it! And speaking of Petra, I loved Hailee Steinfield’s portrayal of her. Really, I felt all of the main actors did a solid job in their roles, and even most of the minor kid actors.
The movie does not really take liberties or change a whole lot, it just mostly skims. The ending of the movie also felt less strange than the ending of the book, and I was satisfied with it. Another part of the movie I thought was really well-done was how everything looked: the Battle school, the technology, etc., I felt all looked great and believable.
As a supplement to the book, I’d give Ender’s Game the movie four stars, but as a stand-alone, I would give it three. So overall, I’ll average it out for 3.5 stars.
I do feel it would be a decent introduction to the ideas of science fiction to someone who may be skeptical, but I feel it’s too obvious in many plot points instead of being delivered organically as it is in the book. Though the movie was already two hours, another half hour at least could have really made it a better film.
Have you seen Ender’s Game? What were your thoughts on it as a standalone and as compared to the book?
A while back I shared my thoughts on the first three episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I expressed that I felt the show had its share of flaws, but with such lovely quips and hints of more to come, it left me satisfied enough to keep tuning in. The show continues to get better each week, and this last episode, FZZT, seriously gave me ALL THE FEELS. It finally made me fall in love with two of the show’s characters: Fitz and Simmons. It starts off like a normal case of the week, but halfway through when they’re wrapping the case up, you know there’s more to go. (Not only because it’s wrapping up quickly, but also becuse virtually nothing from the preview for the episode has happened yet!)
Basically this episode was all about why you should ship Fitz and Simmons if you don’t already. OK, not really, but I think that’s what some of us got out of it, myself included. I tried to hold out, but now it’s hopeless. When Fitz yelled, “Jemma!!! NO!!!!!!!” it was all over. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
One thing I lamented about when I talked about my first thoughts on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was that I didn’t really love any of the characters yet (except Coulson, who we already knew), and that was just so weird for a Whedon show (based on my experience with Firefly and Dr. Horrible; I haven’t seen any other Whedon shows yet). And lately, everything has felt so Skye-centric and I’ve just gotten tired of her. So to have the focus to shift on the scientists of the group, who have always had such quirky conversations but we knew so little about, was great. We knew they went to school together, but what is their history exactly? At first, before I caught that they had different last names, I thought they were brother and sister because of their obvious connection but lack of romantic behavior toward each other. Then I learned they were just long-time friends, and of course your mind jumps to the conclusion that guy + girl + friends = future romance, but there are an equal number of guys and girls on the cast of this show and somebody needs to keep it platonic, right? That’s what I told myself anyway, as it was obvious they wanted to set up Skye and Ward for future romance.
There was some great dialogue that I think revealed a lot about Fitz and Simmons’ friendship without spelling out all the details of their background together.
Every minute of every day you’ve been stuck in a lab right beside me. At the academy. At PSYOPS. This plane. You’ve been beside me the whole time. You have to fix this. -Fitz
We’re doing what we always do. We’re going to fix this. Together. – Fitz
It wasn’t Ward by my side in that lab searching for a cure. It wasn’t Ward giving me hope, when I had none. it was you. -Simmons
But seriously, despite all my ship talk, I don’t want for things to get ruined by them rushing into romance too quickly. A lot of times when couples hook up on shows, the dynamic is suddenly a lot more boring. I don’t think that has to be the case with Fitz-Simmons, but I don’t want to see any hyper-acceleration into a relationship either. And if and when they get into one, I want them to still be normal, not all lovey dovey. I want them to have the same kind of fights and say the same kind of things to each other. I just hold a personal belief that best friends can make great life partners.
And honestly, other than Simmons’ thank-you kiss to Fitz, I don’t think the episode was actually trying to be heavy-handed with a romance potential. Obviously Fitz is worried about his friend and lab partner, because they are so close. I just love how pure-hearted their friendship is, and seeing those kinds of relationships usually make me want to see it become more, but still remain pure-hearted. Typically TV shows like to dramatize these things though, and honestly, I’d rather them be friends forever than see a ruined romance. So I’m not thinking ALL about romance here. I just want what’s best for their friendship, and them, because now I love their characters.
Another highlight of this episode was seeing Fitz, Simmons, and Skye poke fun at Ward, and then to see Ward loosen up and poke fun at himself. And then also we got to see Coulson open up to May, and it continues the mystery of just what happened when Coulson died, and just how much May knows about what happened to him, and perhaps if she knows something about dying herself. Overall, this was the episode that made me care the most about everyone, and I think that’s a sign of a strong episode, fangirling aside.
While I know that Deep Space Nine and the other Trek series have their own books, and I might check them out some day, I wanted to create a list of the certain elements from DS9 I really like and would like to see in otherwise completely different stories.
1. Space Station Life
The show Babylon 5 also executed this extremely well, but I would love to read a YA book where life is set on space station (not a spaceship, and I’ll explain the differences in a minute) and you really get the full feel for it. A ship is always on the move, and it largely has the same people on it. Since people live there, it does include many of the things a space station also would, but there are some things it does not include that the station does. Deep Space Nine included shops, a school, a bar (where you can eat, drink, play darts, and gamble), and holodecks, and it was all there not just for the regular crew of the station (and their children), but also for the guests coming and going in and out of the station. Having so many people come into the station also means a wide variety of aliens are likely to be there at any given time, which also makes it all the more interesting!
2. A Secret Agency, a la Section 31
I don’t want to say too much about the role of Section 31 on Deep Space Nine for anyone who has not seen the series, and I only mention it since anyone who has seen Star Trek: Into Darkness will be familiar with it already. The concept of a covert, morally ambiguous organization within a larger organization like Star Fleet is something that just fascinates me. I’d love to see something like this played out in a book.
3. An Unlikely/Untrustworthy Friendship
For me, one of the most interesting dynamics of Deep Space Nine was that of Dr. Bashir and Garak. The two have a very odd friendship, where they frequently dine together and Bashir will never stop insisting that he believes Garak is a spy. In the episode “The Wire,” when Bashir discovers just how much Garak has lied to him, he asks him what was actually the truth, and Garak tells him, “It’s all true, especially the lies.” This, in a nutshell, describes Garak and his relationship with Bashir, and really with everyone. He’s never straightforward and sometimes you think you can trust him, but sometimes you know you can’t. I would love to read about a friendship as complicated and dynamic as theirs.
4. Important Arcs for Secondary Characters
One of my favorite episodes of Deep Space Nine is “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” (BTW, if you’re ever going to watch the series, do NOT look up the synopsis for this episode! Major spoilers!) The whole episode centers on Nog, a secondary character whose name does not ever show up in the main credit sequence. And it is an amazing episode, because it’s about a defining moment in Nog’s life, and the arc he experiences in the episode alone does more for Nog than some characters get out of a whole series of a show. For this much emphasis on a secondary character for a book, it would probably need to be a series, but just the same, I’d love to see amazing growth from secondary characters in books in addition to the primary ones.
I could think of more elements from DS9 I’d love to see in a book, but talk about spoiler city! There’s just so much goodness to be had, so watch the show and discover it!
What elements from Deep Space Nine or your favorite science fiction show would you like to see in a book?
As all Marvel movies should be, Thor: The Dark World has many quotable moments. I don’t know why Thor goes from speaking Shakespearean-style English to telling Loki to shut up, but regardless, I still enjoyed a lot of the dialogue, especially where Loki was involved. They had some great brother banter moments.
I absolutely adored Darcy in the first Thor film and was thrilled she was coming back. She did not disappoint!
I like Natalie Portman and I like Jane, but I didn’t find Jane and Thor together believable in either the first film or this film. (Team Sif all the way!)
I thought Thor’s mom was awesome, but I don’t want to spoil anything, so you’ll just have to watch to see why.
It was sad to see that state Dr. Erik Selvig ended up in after The Avengers. 🙁
I think Zachary Levi did a pretty seamless job filling in for the role of an actor who was in the previous installment of Thor. And I’m always happy to see Zachary Levi!
The villain, The Dark Elf or whatever he was called, didn’t impress me in the slightest and I never really felt a sense of danger with him. I never thought about this until a few days after I had seen the movie though, which tells you how little I think about villains (unless they’re awesome), but I would compare him to Nero in the 2009 Star Trek movie… just not that impressive. But without getting too spoilery, let’s just say there’s plenty of questioning Loki’s motives throughout the film, and that is much more interesting… and then there’s the mid-credit scene that opens a new door…
It’s Thor, it’s the Avengers, and it’s just fun.
Others’ thoughts:
