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Son of Coul, Agent of Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division! <3
Surprisingly little to add before jumping to the movie proper except for me waking up late and needa waste money on cab fare only to find the box office to be full of kids from the neighboring secondary school but here we go~
Warning, super long post.
Also, more importantly, THOR SPOILERS!!!!!
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Natalie Portman being gawky and adorkable? Check.
Plucky comic relief girl who reminds me a little of a much younger Liv Tyler? Check.
Storm!
Thor falls to Earth!
Boom! Got hit by their storm-chasing van!! Ouch...
Flashback time~
Voiceover!
Ye olde Scandinavian village and some back stories on the Norse mythology.
Frost Giants! Brrr... is it just me or did the cinema get colder when they used their magic Ice Crystal power thing? I didn't know we had one of those 4D cinematic experiences. XD
Cool entrance, bro--I mean, All Father. I wonder if they de-aged Anthony Hopkins digitally, like they did with Patrick Stewart in Wolverine Origins... But they didn't needa do much. He was mostly covered by his awesome helmet.
Ouch eye...
Oh gods... Asgard is all decked out in gold! So bling and tacky!!
Kid!Thor and Kid!Loki. Kid!Thor is such a brat and Kid!Loki did look a lil like Loki... =3
Grown-up Thor is still a brat I see. In a certain light, he reminds me of Chris Evans (eh?!). And in another certain light, he reminds me of Chris Pine (well duh... he *is* Father of Kirk after all). Do all Chrises look alike?
And he's gonna get crowned King of Asgard?! We all know how well *that's* gonna end.
Frost Giants in their vault/artifacts room thing? This will not end well.
Odin: "I name thee--"
Cut to vault
Frost Giants killing guards left and right. Yep, just the two.
Cut back to throne room
Odin: "--Frost Giants"
Bro and me: Did he just name Thor a Frost Giant?! Lolol!!
Loud resounding thump of All Father's mighty spear and a cool metal mecha guard appears and dispatches of the pesky Frost Giants. Cool!
Odin and his sons hurry to the vault. Thor wants to fight like the brat he is. Odin don't want to. They argue. Reminds me of a line in the lyrics of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own by U2. We fight all the time / You and I / That's alright / We're the same soul.
Loki couldn't get a word in edgewise. Poor Loki... Everyone's so dismissive! Designated buttmonkey? D'aww... *pats*
Is he trying to 挑拨离间 when he was trying to make Thor feel better? Seeing that he's Loki, it wouldn't be that unbelievable. That underlying trace of what feels like real concern is pretty well-played though. :D
And off they rode, He-Man and his Masters of the Universe.
Oh gods... Did Kenneth Branagh bring lens flare along with Father of Kirk from Star Trek to Thor the Movie?! *_*
Hey! Their city coulda been TRON city! Tron, where are you?!
Funky bridge!
Water falling off the edge of the world... Discworld? Will there be 4 elephants underneath? And underneath those 4 elephants, a turtle?? XD
Ooo... Black guy with glowy eyes. The all-seeing gatekeeper Heimdall. I like him!! XD
Heimdall on He-Man and his Masters of the Universe trying to go to Frost Giant Land without permission: You are not dressed warmly enough for where you're going.
Ooo... Spinning golden sphere that is the gateway between 9 realms. Like the Transporter Room in Star Trek! Does that make Heimdall Chief O'Brien?
And they land on the Land of the Frost Giants! Looking very much like Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Hot damn, Mr. B... You sure like to make me cross fandoms.
Poor Loki got dismissed again! By one of He-Man's Masters of the Universe too. They're supposed to be on the same team! No wonder he turned to the dark side. *pats*
Ooo... Bratty. Fight, fight!
Ouch! That's one hell of a frostbite.
Eh?! How did-- Why did his hand--?? *_*
Mr. B sure likes his upside down and underside sequences...
Cool entrance, bro--I mean All Father. Too bad the King of the Frost Giants is adamant about war though. I would love to see them share a pint or two. XD
Thor's in trouble now~~. Expressly disobeying a direct order from his father and king. Odin and Thor argue again. Lol @ Loki's face as he watches the back and forth volley.
Loki is once again dismissed. Very loudly. By Odin himself. Poor Loki... *pats*
Thor gets casted down to Earth without his powers!
Bang! Hit by Nat Portman's Stormchaser van!
...Marvel has a lot of scientist huh?
Bro got tased by poor man's Liv Tyler!
As they drove off to find a hospital, the Hammer that was locked with all of Thor's powers that was taken away from him and thrown down after Thor was casted out landed with a vooooooom.
The locals have fun trying to take the Hammer.
Pickup truck with chain trying to pull the Hammer out? Good luck with that...
And the whole flatbed of the pickup truck got ripped out!! O_O
Stan Lee!
Agent Coulson!!
Hospital. Thor fighting people left and right. I see why they need big guys for nurses/orderlies.
Nat & co finds something interesting in the photos of their storm. A certain man-shaped shadow.
They go to the hospital to find Thor who had escaped his restrains (lol @ poor man's Liv reloading her taser in the van after they found out he escaped), only to promptly run him over again.
Product placement count: uh... a few?
Levi's black jeans. Classic.
Father of Kirk is ripped! I mean, obviously since he is Thor now but still! *drool*
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*_--wait what?! Why would Nat Portman be keeping around her ex's clothes? And why would her ex's clothes fit Thor?! Her ex is his size?!?! ...She has a type I see...
Tiny Nat!
Food! Waffles and eggs... Mmm... Delicious!
Lol @ mug smashing!
Ahaha! Cute!! Poor man's Liv after finding out something else landed near Thor's crash site: This is so going on Facebook. *turns to Thor with her camera phone* Smile~
Thor: *biggest cutest smile ever*
XD
When Thor hears about his fallen Hammer, he tries to get a horse from a Pet Store. Lol... Nat offered him a ride out. But an unmarked black van drove past them with her equipments and stuff so she gave chase. They got back to their lab and found everything loaded up and ready to go. Agent Coulson's taken everything! :D Very efficient.
Stories they tell when he was young... You mean Eric is Scandinavian? Dude! I did not realize he's Stellan Skarsgard (whose from Sweden so it's as Scandinavian as they get!) until the credits!! I fail as a fan I tell ya...
Eric also knows a guy who knows a guy who does work on gamma radiation, was contacted by S.H.I.E.L.D. and never heard from again. Of course! He changed his face twice. He's gonna change it again for The Avengers! Poor Bana and Norton... :( I wished Ed Norton had stayed on though... Woulda made The Avengers a gathering of 2 of my favorite actors--minus the 2 Chrises.
Then Thor decides to go find his Hammer still and Nat decides to go with him since all her life's work is gone and she's got nothing to lose. Really? Or does she just wanna sex the man?
So he broke in and Curb Stomp Battle'd his way through the temporary base set up by S.H.I.E.L.D. Very efficient people, S.H.I.E.L.D.
Hawkeye! When bro said there's a cameo by Hawkeye, the first thing I thought of was Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H?! Then I remembered. Lol...
When he reached the Hammer, he could not lift it either! Why, he cried up into the sky. Coz you haven't undergone Character Development yet, silly! XD
Then Agent Coulson gave the order to capture the broken spirited Thor.
Interrogation time~
Coulson tells Thor he made his highly trained men look like a bunch of minimum-wage mall cops and asks Thor where he got his training.
He's not gonna say anything, Coulson. Who would?
Best sequence of the movie! Agent Coulson leaving the room and the mirrored door closed back to reveal Loki standing at Coulson's previous position. And later, the mirrored door reflecting Loki slid open and when it closed, Loki's gone! Nice...
Loki in a modern suit... Yum. Did he raid the closet of Arthur from Inception? The slicked back hair did not help. Or did it? XD
Then Loki BAMF'd to the Hammer site, tried to pull it out but couldn't and decided to walk away pretending to not have tried it in the first place. Lol his face!!
Then Eric came to Nat's aid like Old Ben Kenobi answering the plead from Leia. Oh wait... Nat = Mother of Leia. Hmmmmm...... XD
Anyway, Blatant Lies! And obviously faked ID! But Coulson lets them slide coz he wanna know what's gonna happen next. :D
And the first place they go to after getting out of "imprisonment"? A bar. Of course!
Thor explaining why Eric is stone-drunk: "We drank, we fought, he made his ancestors proud."
LOLOL!!!
Obligatory romance scene.
Thor explaining his world to Nat and watches her sleep.
Morning breakfast! So domesticated.
In this light, with his buffed physique and his trucker flannel shirt, Thor reminds me of Christian Kane. Another Chris! I swear, Chris Hemsworth is like the total embodiment of all the Chrises in the world!! Or at least those in the US entertainment industry... XD
All is not well in the realm of Asgard.
Loki find out he is actually Laufey's son. Blue! I feel like saying BAMF whenever he turns blue. So Alan Cumming! XD
Odin falls into a coma mid-reveal. Was that real concern for Odin even though he just found out he was just a bargaining chip and not Odin's real son?
So Loki became the temporary ruler and the Masters of the Universe--who originally wanted to plead with Odin to end Thor's exile and maybe tell him it was Loki who let the Frost Giants in the first time so that they would wreck some havoc and disturb his brother's coronation--had to ask Loki and was promptly rejected.
And of course the Masters of the Universe plans to go anyway. But how will they get past Heimdall?
Speaking of Heimdall, he summons them just as they were wondering how they're gonna use the Transporter Room--I mean, spinny golden sphere.
Heimdall to the Masters of the Universe: You are trying to bring Thor back? Even though the King forbids it? Good.
And promptly leaves without his sword, sending them to Earth.
LOL!! Whoever said Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. do not have a sense of humor? The best description of the Masters of the Universe! Xena, Jackie Chan and Robin Hood. I wonder what they'll say about the big guy?
The Masters of the Universe: Found you! *happy wave at Thor from outside the shop's glass door*
Cute! XD
Loki found out Heimdall helped the Masters of the Universe to try to get Thor back and Hadouken'd Heimdall with the Ice Crystal Power thing!
And then Loki sent the metal mecha comes to finish Thor!
And then brought forth the Frost Giants to off Odin!
Lol @ other agents asking Coulson if it's one of Stark's.
Lol harder @ Coulson's reply that he don't know and that he (Tony Stark) never tells him anything.
Metal mecha thing made short work of S.H.I.E.L.D. Obviously. He's Odin's mecha.
Then they reach town and the Masters of the Universe tried to fight it but fail spectacularly.
Cool change in orientation, mecha bro!
Then Thor talked to it and asked Loki to spare the innocent people's lives and take his life instead. How'd he know Loki would be listening?! They have special earbud things? Through the mecha? How?!?!
So Loki obliged and the mecha swiped at Thor. And Thor dies. And Nat is sad.
And then the Hammer flies back to Thor! That's one hell of a defibrillation!! XD
Before he leaves, he told Coulson (Son of Coul! XD) that he can consider Thor one of them if they ever need help and turned his attention to the girl immediately. Feels so throwaway, that line. Obviously Thor had more on his mind than putting his name into The Avengers' sortie hat but still!
So He-Man is reunited with his Masters of the Universe again! But they can't go back coz Heimdall is still a popsicle.
But wait a sec! He's melting! And sliced through 2 Frost Giants before opening the gateway in his weakened state. Oh I love the man! XD
Go mama! She took out 1 Frost Giant before the King got to her.
Loki kills the King of the Frost Giants who was trying to kill Odin and was about to be commended and be praised and everyone will accept him as King now.
And Thor flies back to the palace immediately after that and told his mother what Loki did.
And they fight.
And Loki flies back to the gateway and used it to destroy the Frost Giant Land. He also jammed the gateway such that it cannot go anywhere else anymore.
And they fight more.
Loki taunts Thor, asking what made him so weak? Was it the girl? I thought he started turning for the better after Loki went to see him all decked out in Arthur's clothes and told him he could not go back coz Odin did not want him back. More so than any girl. What is love?!
And they fight more. Thor finally got the upper hand and was one move away from the finishing blow but instead, he placed the Hammer on Loki's chest. That is some tough ribs, Loki. How come it's not crack when the Hammer is so heavy, you couldn't even lift it off your chest?!
But Thor needs the Hammer to destroy the bridge that held the gateway that was destroying the Frost Giant Land. The gateway will fall off the edge of Discworld if Thor breaks the bridge! No more sonic-booming to Earth for sexytime no more!
Thor does it anyway because it is the right thing to do but breaking the bridge caused them to fall too.
Cool entrance, bro--I mean, All Father. That's some grip you got there, holding onto both of your sons.
Poor Loki! Odin does not think he would've made a good king. No praise from daddy so he lets go of the spear and fall into the abyss with the gateway.
And all was relatively well in the end. Odin and son are finally getting along. Nat and co are still looking for a way to create the wormhole to Asgard.
...Voyeur!Heimdall can see her. I really <3 this guy! Lolol!!
Credits!
Foo Fighters' Walk played. Bro questioned the choice of the song but Mr. B said it was appropriate so who was bro to argue? As far as ending credit songs go, they could've done worse.
Stinger!
Black Nick Fury meets Eric Selvig! Awesome!!
What is this cube Nick is showing Eric? A power source? ZPM??
Ooo...... Loki in the mirror whispers something ("It wouldn't hurt taking a closer look"?) and Eric replies Nick the same thing. OOOoooOOOOOooooo~~~~~
Until next time! Or August for CapA with another Chris!
Post-movie thoughts!
The movie started out solid and ended well but the middle was pretty meh.
Great acting all round, especially from Odin and the 2 Odinson! None of the major characters were glaringly bad and Chris Hemsworth is surprisingly good!! Not too bad for a comic book movie. XD
I never noticed the parallel between Thor the Movie and Shakespeare's Henry V until I read the trivia on IMDB! And the first movie Mr. B directed was Henry V, back in 1989!! Cool story bro!
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1s time at a concert where I can see the band so clearly!
Bro told me Jimmy Eat World is coming to Singapore in late Jan after he saw it on 8days. I squee'd but was broke so I didn't buy tix then.
Feb came and went.
Late Mar, while filling in stuffs into the log book retrospectively (even though we shouldn't), I had the radio on and they were doing some promo on Jimmy Eat World Live in Singapore. The next day, I heard 3 different instances of people referencing "the middle".
...I had to buy the tix now! XD And I bought it the day after. Had to pay the booking fee even though I was buying it at the Sistic counter in Tampines One. Zzz...
Managed to keep it from The Mother for a day before she found the tix. She said she was about to commend me on my restraint... Until she saw those $100++ tix. /sheepish grin
So on April's Fool 2011, bro and I made our way to Vivo, had Carl's Jr coz we haven't had them in a while and left for Resort World Sentosa, Hard Rock Coliseum. I wanted to go earlier but we ended up arriving only half an hour before the concert. Bro had to dump all the bottles of water I had him carry coz they serve food in there and wanna rob us blind ($3 for a cup of Coke?!?! OMG rip-off!).
It was a small place and the turn out was surprisingly little.But thanks to that, we managed to get quite close to the stage. I picked a spot slightly left of center of the stage (or on the right if you're facing the stage) coz that's where they usually plunk the bass players. I'm totally addicted to bass
Guy started to squeeze me out of my spot even before the concert started. Told him to move away. Urgh... Don't he know that you only start squeezing when the band comes out? Basic concert rules people!
Even though the turn out was less than what I imagined, the crowd was pretty energetic and super "on". Had my bag up in front of my boobs and I'm all set to mosh! Was trying my best not to get stepped on and sprayed with sweat from other bouncing and moshing people. Found a sweet spot where there was a visible dip in heads before me. That dip was formed by a crowd of girls and for that I thank them. Unfortunately, I had to keep dodging the long pony tail of a group of middle eastern teen beauties. Was really tempted to cut it if I have a pair of scissors on me but I don't think I'll do it even if I have a pair of scissors on me. /coward XD Even the band commented on the large percentage of girls that turned up. Why are they be surprised? They are such chick magnets!! :D
They also commented on the humidity. They're from Arizona so the heat is okay but the humidity isn't what they were used to. Frontman Jim Adkins was literally dripping with sweat by the end. We could totally see the sweat roll off his face. It's that close!
They played a few songs from their new album and many old ones. This guy standing behind us knew them all. Amazing! He's such a fan... They sound surprisingly good live too. One of the songs they played was 23 and that made bro very happy (he turns 23 this year).
And good times came to an end. During encore, a bunch of idiot guys started pushing and shoving each other around instead of jumping on the spot like everyone else and they started bumping into people left right and center. Even the bouncers/security guy couldn't get them to stop. Bro was good enough to come and block some of them and I started elbowing and punching anyone who came close to me. Accidentally punched a befuddled guy who was victim to their shoving and got too close to me. Oops... But I apologized to him after the concert so all's good. Bro's bag's zipper was a bit loose and it slid open during the close to 2h of moshing. My PSP and various other stuffs fell out and he stooped to get them. Was really worried he might get crushed by them violently moshing idiots but he came up okay. My PSP was okay too. The casualty of the day was the 2-pin adapter thing and a packet of tissue went MIA. I almost fell over after being bumped by one of them idiots and was offered a slightly safer spot to mosh on by a pair of guys behind me. So kind! /grateful
Throughout the concert, as with any concert, the view was blocked by arms doing fist pumps/finger pointing/ILU signs and arms attached to cameras and phones taking pictures/videos. One good thing about those was that if the view was completely blocked and I couldn't get a direct line of sight of the stage, I could just look at those cameras' and phones' display and watch it there instead.
...I sincerely apologize to the band for having to witness my armpits. Lol...
So after the concert, I wondered if those rolled up bundles were posters and asked someone who had them. Yep, posters for $10. I also bought the album at $25. OMG what was I thinking?! Then again, the booth selling the posters and CD, Macbeth, they helped me get $10 off each tix so I guess I could count the CD as costing $5...? /self-justification
When we left, there were still a lot of people sitting around in the Coliseum so I wondered if there was some special private meet-and-greet thing or they just don't wanna go home yet. The concert did end quite early. Not used to concerts ending before midnight... XD
7-11 at Waterfront station didn't sell Big Gulps coz the place is too small for the machine so we left and went back to Vivo. 7-11 at Vivo didn't sell Big Gulps coz the machine broke down so we bought a box of ice and a bottle of Coke instead. Poured the Coke into the box of ice and drank from the box. They sold cups of ice but we didn't know how much those cost... The box works fine too. XD
...In conclusion, I just hope the band don't feel too bad the turn out was pretty bad and be entertained by our energy and involvement as much as they entertained us with their songs and polite concert banters. It is really one of the best concerts I've been to (not that I've been to that many...)--minus the idiots who think people shoving them away when they got too violent and close were playing with them in return.
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