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Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Review: this is a beautiful (huge! like, 2 inches thick.) book bursting with incredible pictures that make me crave salad like i never have before and make octopus actually look edible (and appealing), information that I never would have known or thought about about the ingredients, and fantastic (and some… interesting…)recipes. A typical recipe will include a beautiful full page photograph, description of the food, very easy to read and easy to follow instructions, extra ideas and variations, and little notes and tips and pieces of advice.
There are eleven categories: My Father’s Garden, Open Water, Dinner family style, My First Recipes, The hunting trip, a Lamb and a Goat, Psilakis Birthday Dinners, Kefi—A time to dance, Big party cooking, Anthos—the new world, and The Aegean Pantry. the back of the book includes recipes by type of dish and even metric conversions.
Each section is headed off with a two or three page story about Michael’s life and lots of photographs. some of the stories are sweet, like him remembering cooking for his parents for the first time. some are things i can relate to, like the thrill and pride of learning to dance. (though I never learned to dance on an empty glass beer bottle.) and some stories are sad and sweet, like him telling the time he watched his father kill the lamb that was his friend for Easter dinner.
a quick sampling of the recipes, some that sound fantastic:
*Warm Feta with Tomato, Olive and pepper salad
*Whole Spit roasted lamb
*Grilled watermelon and grilled manouri (which sounds discussing but the photograph looks incredible)
*roasted scallops with cauliflower, tart dried cherries, and capers in brown butter sauce
*Steak with bone marrow htippiti
*Dumplings with sausage, dandelion greens, sundried tomato and pine nuts
Now I’m hungry.
Recommendation: anyone who enjoys cooking really good food, gourmet, beautiful photographs of really good food, or just loves cooking in general.
There are eleven categories: My Father’s Garden, Open Water, Dinner family style, My First Recipes, The hunting trip, a Lamb and a Goat, Psilakis Birthday Dinners, Kefi—A time to dance, Big party cooking, Anthos—the new world, and The Aegean Pantry. the back of the book includes recipes by type of dish and even metric conversions.
Each section is headed off with a two or three page story about Michael’s life and lots of photographs. some of the stories are sweet, like him remembering cooking for his parents for the first time. some are things i can relate to, like the thrill and pride of learning to dance. (though I never learned to dance on an empty glass beer bottle.) and some stories are sad and sweet, like him telling the time he watched his father kill the lamb that was his friend for Easter dinner.
a quick sampling of the recipes, some that sound fantastic:
*Warm Feta with Tomato, Olive and pepper salad
*Whole Spit roasted lamb
*Grilled watermelon and grilled manouri (which sounds discussing but the photograph looks incredible)
*roasted scallops with cauliflower, tart dried cherries, and capers in brown butter sauce
*Steak with bone marrow htippiti
*Dumplings with sausage, dandelion greens, sundried tomato and pine nuts
Now I’m hungry.
Recommendation: anyone who enjoys cooking really good food, gourmet, beautiful photographs of really good food, or just loves cooking in general.
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Divergent in Books
Jan 23, 2020
<p class="separator" style="clear: both;">Imagine having to choose only 5 factions when you're sixteen with the knowledge that you might even have to leave your family. Then there's initiation which you have to pass or you're practically homeless (in this case, factionless). I know for one thing that I'll be having a LOT of trouble choosing a faction if our world as we know it were divided into factions.
<p class="separator" style="clear: both;">My 2 cents on that? I'm not exactly selfless. And I have to look in the mirror, at least once a day, otherwise how else would I know if there's a ladybug in my hair? Dx Not that there is one. So Abnegation is out for me. I don't tell the truth ALL the time, even if I tend to burst out my honest opinion, therefore, I'm not Candor either. I would most certainly not jump off a train. Breaking a leg is painful. Falling to my death for fun and knowing that is worse. With that thought, I'm not Dauntless. I'm friendly most of the time, but not all the time. And I'm uncomfortable when it comes to hugs. *hides* I guess I'm cut out for Amity as well. I'm probably in Erudite though, drowning (in a good way) books and seeking knowledge. Maybe I'm not. I'm not that nerdy, even if I like hiding in books. I'm probably factionless though.
<p class="separator" style="clear: both;">I'm talking too much when I should probably go straight to the point. Whoops. I'm just curious about how the factions were formatted and how it's gonna work because like Four/Tobias says, "I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest."
Since I've been babbling randomly about my curiosity on the 5 factions, I should head back to the right trail then. And that is, actually reviewing and not writing away freely (more like typing) about something else (though related). I think that Divergent is quite similar to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, but different and amazing in it's very own way that makes it just as unique as any other great books out there (whether or not I read them. Sparkly Vampires and Jacob Chihuahua included). :)
I really enjoy the main character Tris, though on some actions I'll disagree on. Why kill Will? He's kinda awesome, you know... he did stick with Tris when she was bullied by the others. (though I see why she had to. If Tris was dead, there would be a different main character instead. And that bounces more curiosity) Dx Christina's gonna murder you later o_o (Hey, if that's even true later, don't tell me because I'm just predicting! I'm not exactly cool with spoilers... lol. o_o) Eric is just plain mean (he was a bit aggressive in training though... too aggressive) and as evil as Jeanine (sorry if I spelled her name wrong). Nuff said. And I have a feeling they'll be causing more trouble in the future, whatever it might be.
Curiosity included or not, I fully enjoyed the plot the author has placed into the series and can't wait to read the next book when I get the chance. :)
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-divergent-by-veronica-roth/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<p class="separator" style="clear: both;">My 2 cents on that? I'm not exactly selfless. And I have to look in the mirror, at least once a day, otherwise how else would I know if there's a ladybug in my hair? Dx Not that there is one. So Abnegation is out for me. I don't tell the truth ALL the time, even if I tend to burst out my honest opinion, therefore, I'm not Candor either. I would most certainly not jump off a train. Breaking a leg is painful. Falling to my death for fun and knowing that is worse. With that thought, I'm not Dauntless. I'm friendly most of the time, but not all the time. And I'm uncomfortable when it comes to hugs. *hides* I guess I'm cut out for Amity as well. I'm probably in Erudite though, drowning (in a good way) books and seeking knowledge. Maybe I'm not. I'm not that nerdy, even if I like hiding in books. I'm probably factionless though.
<p class="separator" style="clear: both;">I'm talking too much when I should probably go straight to the point. Whoops. I'm just curious about how the factions were formatted and how it's gonna work because like Four/Tobias says, "I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest."
Since I've been babbling randomly about my curiosity on the 5 factions, I should head back to the right trail then. And that is, actually reviewing and not writing away freely (more like typing) about something else (though related). I think that Divergent is quite similar to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, but different and amazing in it's very own way that makes it just as unique as any other great books out there (whether or not I read them. Sparkly Vampires and Jacob Chihuahua included). :)
I really enjoy the main character Tris, though on some actions I'll disagree on. Why kill Will? He's kinda awesome, you know... he did stick with Tris when she was bullied by the others. (though I see why she had to. If Tris was dead, there would be a different main character instead. And that bounces more curiosity) Dx Christina's gonna murder you later o_o (Hey, if that's even true later, don't tell me because I'm just predicting! I'm not exactly cool with spoilers... lol. o_o) Eric is just plain mean (he was a bit aggressive in training though... too aggressive) and as evil as Jeanine (sorry if I spelled her name wrong). Nuff said. And I have a feeling they'll be causing more trouble in the future, whatever it might be.
Curiosity included or not, I fully enjoyed the plot the author has placed into the series and can't wait to read the next book when I get the chance. :)
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-divergent-by-veronica-roth/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Amanda (96 KP) rated What To Say Next in Books
May 29, 2019
“It turns out cliches are cliches for a reason – they are true.”
This is the first novel I read by Julie Buxbaum and oddly enough, this isn’t the book that is sitting on my TBR list. I have another book of hers that I haven’t even cracked open yet, and I find this one instead. I think my favorite trope is the abundantly smart, socially awkward person (like Sheldon Cooper) meets someone who essentially completes them. Corny, I know, but you know what? I don’t care.
The story is of David, whom is incredibly smart but lacks some social skills and doesn’t always pick up on his surroundings. He likes his headphones and recites Pi in stressful situations (I loved him from the first chapter). Then there is Kit “Katherine”. She just lost her father in a car accident and she sits with David in the cafeteria one day because she just doesn’t want to be the one who is asked how they are feeling. I can understand that. I can appreciate the sympathy for a loved one pass, but sometimes not talking or just silence is the best for me.
David has an older sister, whom he calls Miney, and she’s sort of his guide to knowing when to react and knowing when not to do or say something. Their sibling bond is so cute. Kit has her two friends and only her mother (still in mourning of course) and along the way, Kit finds out some rather disturbing things that have been kept from her, including the accident that killed her dad.
David thinks and does things differently, which obviously, makes him an outcast at school. I loved that Buxbaum didn’t make David to be this stereotypical socially awkward guy who doesn’t know how to defend himself physically (I loved Big Bang Theory, but they could have learned to fight, just saying). So, not only is David wicked smart, but he’s also trained in techniques like Karate and Krav Maga.
“Homo is a pejorative term for a gay person, and even if my classmates are mistaken about my sexual orientation, they should know better than to use that word.”
Who ever decided that calling someone Homo was a great insult to your sexuality was highly idiotic. Homo simply means same, so how the hell is that even an insult? Who decides to redefine a word to make it negative?
One more rant…
I HATE when I see the song You Are My Sunshine used as a happy song. IT’S NOT A HAPPY SONG. Don’t let the title fool you. Read the lyrics and see that it is not happy at all. As annoyed as I was to see this song referenced in this book, the context of how it was used was a bit better than the norm. It was used to recall a memory, a particularly sad memory. I’ll definitely give props to the author for that. Thank you.
Rant over.
I wanted to read more books centering on characters with mental health/illness and I saw this book on the list. Even though David makes some bad choices, I still loved him. I loved him from the very first page of his POV. Kit was a great character and although I do question some of the things she does, like her fight with her mother going on for a long time, I loved the bond that her David eventually formed.
“All I can think is Kit kissed me, over and over until I stop thinking all together.”
It’s always so nice in that one moment where you’re not thinking at all, you’re just there in the moment.
Some things happened with the two, however, and of course it was bound to happen, but I also really liked and felt satisfied with how the story ended. I could love these two characters for a long time.
“Good-weird is what I’ve been telling myself I am for years, when just being plain weird was too much of a burden to carry.”
This is the first novel I read by Julie Buxbaum and oddly enough, this isn’t the book that is sitting on my TBR list. I have another book of hers that I haven’t even cracked open yet, and I find this one instead. I think my favorite trope is the abundantly smart, socially awkward person (like Sheldon Cooper) meets someone who essentially completes them. Corny, I know, but you know what? I don’t care.
The story is of David, whom is incredibly smart but lacks some social skills and doesn’t always pick up on his surroundings. He likes his headphones and recites Pi in stressful situations (I loved him from the first chapter). Then there is Kit “Katherine”. She just lost her father in a car accident and she sits with David in the cafeteria one day because she just doesn’t want to be the one who is asked how they are feeling. I can understand that. I can appreciate the sympathy for a loved one pass, but sometimes not talking or just silence is the best for me.
David has an older sister, whom he calls Miney, and she’s sort of his guide to knowing when to react and knowing when not to do or say something. Their sibling bond is so cute. Kit has her two friends and only her mother (still in mourning of course) and along the way, Kit finds out some rather disturbing things that have been kept from her, including the accident that killed her dad.
David thinks and does things differently, which obviously, makes him an outcast at school. I loved that Buxbaum didn’t make David to be this stereotypical socially awkward guy who doesn’t know how to defend himself physically (I loved Big Bang Theory, but they could have learned to fight, just saying). So, not only is David wicked smart, but he’s also trained in techniques like Karate and Krav Maga.
“Homo is a pejorative term for a gay person, and even if my classmates are mistaken about my sexual orientation, they should know better than to use that word.”
Who ever decided that calling someone Homo was a great insult to your sexuality was highly idiotic. Homo simply means same, so how the hell is that even an insult? Who decides to redefine a word to make it negative?
One more rant…
I HATE when I see the song You Are My Sunshine used as a happy song. IT’S NOT A HAPPY SONG. Don’t let the title fool you. Read the lyrics and see that it is not happy at all. As annoyed as I was to see this song referenced in this book, the context of how it was used was a bit better than the norm. It was used to recall a memory, a particularly sad memory. I’ll definitely give props to the author for that. Thank you.
Rant over.
I wanted to read more books centering on characters with mental health/illness and I saw this book on the list. Even though David makes some bad choices, I still loved him. I loved him from the very first page of his POV. Kit was a great character and although I do question some of the things she does, like her fight with her mother going on for a long time, I loved the bond that her David eventually formed.
“All I can think is Kit kissed me, over and over until I stop thinking all together.”
It’s always so nice in that one moment where you’re not thinking at all, you’re just there in the moment.
Some things happened with the two, however, and of course it was bound to happen, but I also really liked and felt satisfied with how the story ended. I could love these two characters for a long time.
“Good-weird is what I’ve been telling myself I am for years, when just being plain weird was too much of a burden to carry.”
She's Still There: Rescuing the Girl in You
Chrystal Evans Hurst and Priscilla Shirer
Book
What's a woman to do if her life is not taking shape the way that she thought that it would? What...
Fred (860 KP) rated Star Wars: Resistance in TV
Oct 31, 2018
Animation is terrible (2 more)
Characters are not memorable
Tries too much to be funny
The force is not with this one
I love Star Wars. I love the original movies, the prequels & the Disney era films as well. I loved the Clone Wars cartoon as well as Rebels. So, along comes Resistance. A show I had not even heard of until the day it was going to air. I was excited for a new show. That was, until I saw the trailer.
See, this show is done in CGI drawn animation. Usually this kind of animation is limited to maybe vehicles or robots & the rest is done with traditional hand-drawn animation. This can be jarring to view as the CGI animation usually moves choppy & slow. I could see where this kind of animation seems like it should work. A "3-D" object can be moved & turned easily, the animation should be smooth. but it's not. Can't stand this animation. I find I can't watch more than a few minutes before it gets too annoying. Anyway, I was gong to go on about other shows that use this animation, but this is about Resistance. So, this entire show uses this kind of animation. Fortunately, the animation is at least smooth moving, but the characters all suffer from an unnatural movement. Character design is also horrible & that doesn't help.
That's problem one. So, now to the next. The show is not memorable in the least. The characters, stories, situations, nothing. After 4 episodes, there is nothing that stuck out to me, where as I can still pick out dozens of scenes from both Clone Wars & Rebels. Star Wars memorable scenes. maybe that's it. Resistance doesn't feel like Star Wars. Even with the cameos by Poe Dameron, Leia, Captain Phasma & C-3PO were so brief & completely forgettable. In fact, I forgot C-3PO even appeared until I looked up the cast on IMDB.
Next problem. A lot of people thought The Last Jedi had too much humor in it. They thought that this was fine for a Disney film, but not a Star Wars film. I could see that, however, I didn't think it was too much & enjoyed the film very much. There are times when I do think it's too much, like in the horrendous new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Every 2 seconds, a joke bombarding us. It's just too much. There's a guy who does the voice of Donatello on that show that also does a voice on Resistance. I bring that up because his character on Resistance may be the worst character in the Star Wars universe. His name is Neeku. He's a Rodian character who is so dumb, he makes Jar Jar Binks look like Steven Hawking. Yes, he's worse than Binks. He's annoying & supposedly the comic relief. Which brings me to my next point. Every character is comic relief in this show. Yes, just like the new TMNT, the show is joke after joke. As bad as that is thought, Neeku takes the cake as the "please, kill him" character.
So, you ask me why am I watching this show if it's so bad? Well, because it's canon & I'm a Star Wars fanatic. However, it doesn't seem to have any consequence on the Star Wars universe at all. There's no weaving of the stories in the greater, larger world at all. I watch in hope that it does. I do re-watch Clone Wars & Rebels, but this show will probably be the first in my Star Wars filled life, that I just watch once & forget it ever happened.
See, this show is done in CGI drawn animation. Usually this kind of animation is limited to maybe vehicles or robots & the rest is done with traditional hand-drawn animation. This can be jarring to view as the CGI animation usually moves choppy & slow. I could see where this kind of animation seems like it should work. A "3-D" object can be moved & turned easily, the animation should be smooth. but it's not. Can't stand this animation. I find I can't watch more than a few minutes before it gets too annoying. Anyway, I was gong to go on about other shows that use this animation, but this is about Resistance. So, this entire show uses this kind of animation. Fortunately, the animation is at least smooth moving, but the characters all suffer from an unnatural movement. Character design is also horrible & that doesn't help.
That's problem one. So, now to the next. The show is not memorable in the least. The characters, stories, situations, nothing. After 4 episodes, there is nothing that stuck out to me, where as I can still pick out dozens of scenes from both Clone Wars & Rebels. Star Wars memorable scenes. maybe that's it. Resistance doesn't feel like Star Wars. Even with the cameos by Poe Dameron, Leia, Captain Phasma & C-3PO were so brief & completely forgettable. In fact, I forgot C-3PO even appeared until I looked up the cast on IMDB.
Next problem. A lot of people thought The Last Jedi had too much humor in it. They thought that this was fine for a Disney film, but not a Star Wars film. I could see that, however, I didn't think it was too much & enjoyed the film very much. There are times when I do think it's too much, like in the horrendous new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Every 2 seconds, a joke bombarding us. It's just too much. There's a guy who does the voice of Donatello on that show that also does a voice on Resistance. I bring that up because his character on Resistance may be the worst character in the Star Wars universe. His name is Neeku. He's a Rodian character who is so dumb, he makes Jar Jar Binks look like Steven Hawking. Yes, he's worse than Binks. He's annoying & supposedly the comic relief. Which brings me to my next point. Every character is comic relief in this show. Yes, just like the new TMNT, the show is joke after joke. As bad as that is thought, Neeku takes the cake as the "please, kill him" character.
So, you ask me why am I watching this show if it's so bad? Well, because it's canon & I'm a Star Wars fanatic. However, it doesn't seem to have any consequence on the Star Wars universe at all. There's no weaving of the stories in the greater, larger world at all. I watch in hope that it does. I do re-watch Clone Wars & Rebels, but this show will probably be the first in my Star Wars filled life, that I just watch once & forget it ever happened.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Mask: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel (Vanessa Michael Munroe, #5) in Books
May 10, 2018
When I decided to read and review this book, I was not aware that it was part of a series. Number five in the series to be exact. I'm a big fan of thrillers especially when there is a character like Vanessa Michael Munroe. I can't wait to go back and read the rest of the series.
Vanessa Michael Munroe is very good at what she does. Just off a recent job, she decides to spend some time with a very special person in her life, Miles Bradford. They were in the same line of work, but their personal relationship was something different. On assignment in Japan, Bradford's on the hunt for a thief at ALTEQ. Munroe asks several times to join Miles at work and help with the assignment. More times than not, he refuses. When Miles is framed for murdering a Chinese woman at the company, Vanessa, the girlfriend takes a backseat and Michael the mercenary takes over. Not just to finish the job Bradford started, but also find the real killer. Not sure who she can trust, Munroe, disguised as a man takes on this arduous task. Will she be able to find the killer before she herself is killed?
I'm really upset that I haven't read this series chronologically. I feel like there are parts of Vanessa Michael Munroe that I am missing. I want to know more about her relationship with Bradford. Munroe is the kind of woman we all wish we could be. Able to evoke fear with just a glance, can read people like a book. She is strong, intuitive, resourceful, and smart. I'm not sure if it was love or devotion to the job/craft that made her go to the length she did to save Miles.
This book takes you on a journey where you are unsure of what is going to happen next. In a foreign country where you're not sure who is in charge and who you can trust, it's difficult to get help. The way Munroe handles herself shows the skill in her profession.
Vanessa Michael Munroe is very good at what she does. Just off a recent job, she decides to spend some time with a very special person in her life, Miles Bradford. They were in the same line of work, but their personal relationship was something different. On assignment in Japan, Bradford's on the hunt for a thief at ALTEQ. Munroe asks several times to join Miles at work and help with the assignment. More times than not, he refuses. When Miles is framed for murdering a Chinese woman at the company, Vanessa, the girlfriend takes a backseat and Michael the mercenary takes over. Not just to finish the job Bradford started, but also find the real killer. Not sure who she can trust, Munroe, disguised as a man takes on this arduous task. Will she be able to find the killer before she herself is killed?
I'm really upset that I haven't read this series chronologically. I feel like there are parts of Vanessa Michael Munroe that I am missing. I want to know more about her relationship with Bradford. Munroe is the kind of woman we all wish we could be. Able to evoke fear with just a glance, can read people like a book. She is strong, intuitive, resourceful, and smart. I'm not sure if it was love or devotion to the job/craft that made her go to the length she did to save Miles.
This book takes you on a journey where you are unsure of what is going to happen next. In a foreign country where you're not sure who is in charge and who you can trust, it's difficult to get help. The way Munroe handles herself shows the skill in her profession.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Mask (Vanessa Michael Munroe, #5) in Books
Apr 9, 2019
When I decided to read and review this book, I was not aware that it was part of a series. Number five in the series to be exact. I'm a big fan of thrillers especially when there is a character like Vanessa Michael Munroe. I can't wait to go back and read the rest of the series.
Vanessa Michael Munroe is very good at what she does. Just off a recent job, she decides to spend some time with a very special person in her life, Miles Bradford. They were in the same line of work, but their personal relationship was something different. On assignment in Japan, Bradford's on the hunt for a thief at ALTEQ. Munroe asks several times to join Miles at work and help with the assignment. More times than not, he refuses. When Miles is framed for murdering a Chinese woman at the company, Vanessa, the girlfriend takes a backseat and Michael the mercenary takes over. Not just to finish the job Bradford started, but also find the real killer. Not sure who she can trust, Munroe, disguised as a man takes on this arduous task. Will she be able to find the killer before she herself is killed?
I'm really upset that I haven't read this series chronologically. I feel like there are parts of Vanessa Michael Munroe that I am missing. I want to know more about her relationship with Bradford. Munroe is the kind of woman we all wish we could be. Able to evoke fear with just a glance, can read people like a book. She is strong, intuitive, resourceful, and smart. I'm not sure if it was love or devotion to the job/craft that made her go to the length she did to save Miles.
This book takes you on a journey where you are unsure of what is going to happen next. In a foreign country where you're not sure who is in charge and who you can trust, it's difficult to get help. The way Munroe handles herself shows the skill in her profession.
Vanessa Michael Munroe is very good at what she does. Just off a recent job, she decides to spend some time with a very special person in her life, Miles Bradford. They were in the same line of work, but their personal relationship was something different. On assignment in Japan, Bradford's on the hunt for a thief at ALTEQ. Munroe asks several times to join Miles at work and help with the assignment. More times than not, he refuses. When Miles is framed for murdering a Chinese woman at the company, Vanessa, the girlfriend takes a backseat and Michael the mercenary takes over. Not just to finish the job Bradford started, but also find the real killer. Not sure who she can trust, Munroe, disguised as a man takes on this arduous task. Will she be able to find the killer before she herself is killed?
I'm really upset that I haven't read this series chronologically. I feel like there are parts of Vanessa Michael Munroe that I am missing. I want to know more about her relationship with Bradford. Munroe is the kind of woman we all wish we could be. Able to evoke fear with just a glance, can read people like a book. She is strong, intuitive, resourceful, and smart. I'm not sure if it was love or devotion to the job/craft that made her go to the length she did to save Miles.
This book takes you on a journey where you are unsure of what is going to happen next. In a foreign country where you're not sure who is in charge and who you can trust, it's difficult to get help. The way Munroe handles herself shows the skill in her profession.
My Outfit – Virtual closet, fashion blog
Lifestyle and Social Networking
App
Manage your closet from your iPhone, prepare outfits in advance and share your favorite looks with...
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Thor: Ragnarok (2017) in Movies
Oct 30, 2017 (Updated Oct 30, 2017)
Amazing visuals (2 more)
Witty dialogue
Surprise appearances
Inconsistent tone (2 more)
Anti climax
Wasted villain
The Worst Avenger's Best Movie
Contains spoilers, click to show
After seeing Thor: Ragnarok, I feel like the filmmakers were so paranoid about not churning out another formulaic, checklist of a Marvel movie that they chucked a whole bunch of disparate ideas into this mixing pot of a film and hoped that some of it would work. To some extent they were right; some of it does work, but some of it really doesn't. The stuff that doesn't work would probably work okay in a separate movie, but here it just provides a lack of cohesion and brings a jolting change of tone to many of the film's scenes.
Let me elaborate on what I mean and there will be spoilers from this point on. This movie should have been at least three different movies:
There should have been a movie about Hela's return to Asgard, showing her recruiting Skurge and raising her army of the dead and showing Thor and Loki being forced to put their differences aside and having to work together to defeat their more powerful, evil sister.
There should have been another movie about Thor ending up on Sakaar and having to battle Hulk and other competitors and eventually starting an uprising against the Grandmaster.
Then there should have been a third movie about Ragnarok and striving to prevent that event from occurring and defeating Surtur.
The plot elements of Ragnarok could have been split into three movies and it would mean that certain characters wouldn't have been wasted and that the big events that take place would have had more weight and gravitas to them, instead of just being brushed off in favour of getting to the next punch-line.
For example, Odin dies in this film and Thor and Loki deal with it and move on in a matter of seconds. There are no emotional repercussions whatsoever. Another example is the Warriors Three appearing in a single scene, having no dialogue and being killed in a matter of seconds of being onscreen. They attempt a character arc with Skurge, but again Karl Urban is onscreen for such a small amount of time that no resolution is felt following his sacrifice at the end of the movie. As soon as Cate Blanchett starts to show some potential as a memorable Marvel villain, the movie cuts away to yet another scene of Hulk and Thor bantering on Sakaar. Idris Elba is wasted too, having barely any dialogue and a very dull subplot. Jeff Goldblum is used purely as a gimmick and again is wasted by not having anywhere near enough screen time. I normally like seeing Tessa Thompson in things, but even she phoned it in here, with her accent taking on multiple different tones and dialects from scene to scene. Then, at the end of the movie, it is like the filmmakers suddenly remembered, 'oh that's right we need to conclude that Ragnarok subplot that we started at the beginning of the movie.' You know the FU***NG TITLE OF THE MOVIE. And so that gets tacked on at the end to sort of bring a conclusion to all of the other multiple subplots and lazily wrap up the movie.
The sheer amount of ideas that they attempted to incorporate here, makes so many elements of the movie's plot feel underdeveloped and although most of these separate parts could have worked if they were split up and fleshed out, here they all just end up falling flat by the end of the movie making the film feel anti-climatic as a whole.
Don't get me wrong, there is also a lot here that works too. I thought the cameos from Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Sam Neill was awesome. I liked the Doctor Strange appearance. I like how they had Thor lose his eye and I especially like how they managed to keep that out of all of the trailer and marketing. The trailers did ruin some things though, if we didn't already know that Mjolnir was going to get destroyed through seeing the trailers, it would have had more of an impact and all the talk about the vicious rival that Thor would have to face in the gladiator ring would have been way more effective if we didn't already know that it was going to be the Hulk.
Let's end things on a high note, the visuals were spectacular and this movie is worth going to see in theatres just for this alone. The CGI was incredible and the soundtrack was pretty great too. Overall this is a fun movie, but if like me you have been invested in these characters for the last five years, to see some of them go out with a whimper and some long term story arcs come to a disappointing conclusion, is unsatisfying to say the least.
Let me elaborate on what I mean and there will be spoilers from this point on. This movie should have been at least three different movies:
There should have been a movie about Hela's return to Asgard, showing her recruiting Skurge and raising her army of the dead and showing Thor and Loki being forced to put their differences aside and having to work together to defeat their more powerful, evil sister.
There should have been another movie about Thor ending up on Sakaar and having to battle Hulk and other competitors and eventually starting an uprising against the Grandmaster.
Then there should have been a third movie about Ragnarok and striving to prevent that event from occurring and defeating Surtur.
The plot elements of Ragnarok could have been split into three movies and it would mean that certain characters wouldn't have been wasted and that the big events that take place would have had more weight and gravitas to them, instead of just being brushed off in favour of getting to the next punch-line.
For example, Odin dies in this film and Thor and Loki deal with it and move on in a matter of seconds. There are no emotional repercussions whatsoever. Another example is the Warriors Three appearing in a single scene, having no dialogue and being killed in a matter of seconds of being onscreen. They attempt a character arc with Skurge, but again Karl Urban is onscreen for such a small amount of time that no resolution is felt following his sacrifice at the end of the movie. As soon as Cate Blanchett starts to show some potential as a memorable Marvel villain, the movie cuts away to yet another scene of Hulk and Thor bantering on Sakaar. Idris Elba is wasted too, having barely any dialogue and a very dull subplot. Jeff Goldblum is used purely as a gimmick and again is wasted by not having anywhere near enough screen time. I normally like seeing Tessa Thompson in things, but even she phoned it in here, with her accent taking on multiple different tones and dialects from scene to scene. Then, at the end of the movie, it is like the filmmakers suddenly remembered, 'oh that's right we need to conclude that Ragnarok subplot that we started at the beginning of the movie.' You know the FU***NG TITLE OF THE MOVIE. And so that gets tacked on at the end to sort of bring a conclusion to all of the other multiple subplots and lazily wrap up the movie.
The sheer amount of ideas that they attempted to incorporate here, makes so many elements of the movie's plot feel underdeveloped and although most of these separate parts could have worked if they were split up and fleshed out, here they all just end up falling flat by the end of the movie making the film feel anti-climatic as a whole.
Don't get me wrong, there is also a lot here that works too. I thought the cameos from Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth and Sam Neill was awesome. I liked the Doctor Strange appearance. I like how they had Thor lose his eye and I especially like how they managed to keep that out of all of the trailer and marketing. The trailers did ruin some things though, if we didn't already know that Mjolnir was going to get destroyed through seeing the trailers, it would have had more of an impact and all the talk about the vicious rival that Thor would have to face in the gladiator ring would have been way more effective if we didn't already know that it was going to be the Hulk.
Let's end things on a high note, the visuals were spectacular and this movie is worth going to see in theatres just for this alone. The CGI was incredible and the soundtrack was pretty great too. Overall this is a fun movie, but if like me you have been invested in these characters for the last five years, to see some of them go out with a whimper and some long term story arcs come to a disappointing conclusion, is unsatisfying to say the least.
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