thor

kenneth branaugh managed to take an extremely cheesy comic book






















and give it a very classy, stylish look and feel:




some specific thoughts:

• skip the 3-D-totally pointless
• there is apparently another teaser at the end of the credits (but we get it, the avengers is coming soon!!!)
• chris hemsworth looks great and gives a surprisingly solid performance (did he look this freakishly huge is star trek?)
• thank GOD thor didn't have an american accent...
• idris elba (the wire) has some serious gravitas-wow!
• the traitor was not much of a surprise if you know the comics, and was played a little too sypathetic-i almost wanted evil to triumph...
• it's official:  natialie portman can't act!  or she has a very limited range:  she can do hysterical crying, but can't do funny, romantic, friendly, hostile, or even intelligent (a very unconvincing physicist...)  in any case, it's official-she's bad!  i thought she was miscast when i saw the posters, but all she had to do was be smart and cute and charming in a way that, say, alexis bleidel probably could pulled off with ease...
• NP's super-close-up "oh...my...god!!!"  might be in competition with devon aoki's "slap that ass!!!" (the fast and the furious) for the worst-written AND worst-delivered line in movie history!!!
• jeremy renner (hawkeye in the upcoming avengers movie) pops up for a few minutes-fanboy gold!!!  it's amazing how much tension that guy can create with a few minutes of screentime (seethe cafe scene in the town!!)
• i'd say it's worth seeing!!  story drags a little in the middle, action drags a little at the end, but overall good fun!!