Thor - Movie Review

I had originally intended this to be my first blog post, as I saw this movie (in very good company, might I add) a couple of days after it came out here in TJ. Truth is I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we got the movie here before it came out in the US and give my thoughts on it, but there was no way I was going to wait on writing on my beloved Pack.

Let me start out by saying what a big fan of Thor I am. I think that whenever he's handled right, he is a very cool character; he isn't merely Marvel Comics' equivalent to Superman, he is a God! That´s what distinguishes him from all of the other super heroes and comic book figures. He isn't a superhero per se, he´s not a vigilante, he doesn´t need to resort to an alter ego (at least not my favorite incarnation of him, when he´s handled as a straigh-up God) or all of the other common superheroe tropes.

I've often hear fanboys going on about how the particularly characteristic godliness of the character takes away from the enjoyment they get from him; his godliness makes it unable for them to relate to Thor. I call bullshit on this. I call bullshit on the need for characters (specially comic book characters) to be relatable. If you are looking to super heroes and comic book characters for relatability, you´ve got issues.

But I digress... Moving on to the movie. It was good. I enjoyed it a good deal. I´ll admit I was hesitant so my appreciation for the movie did have the benefit of my lowered expectations, but I thought watching the movie was a satisfying experience. One of the reasons for my initial hesitation was that it seemed that both aspects of Thor would feature in the movie, the mythological, larger than life, Asgardian god, as well as the Misgard based, human-interacting superhero. I was not sure how both of these iterations of the character would play out in the movie's limited amount of time. To my surprise and satisfaction, the main emphasis is of Thor, the god of thunder that has his adventure in

Earth, but his godliness and that of his comrades is very much at the forefront.

I won´t get into the story too much by doing a recap or summary. I'll focus more on plot points or ideas that I thought interesting. First off, Thor was cool; or more specifically, the actor playing him. I think the movie depended on the casting of Thor. As a character, he's not the easiest to nail down. Playing a god, being arrogant, brash, smart but thick-headed, a leader but submissive to the will of his father; all of these characteristics must be integrated into his perfomance and they are. He's a likeable guy who despite his flaws has enough charisma to make others root for him and makes the support he receives understandable.

Some of the best scenes in the movie had to do mostly with the characters themselves. In particular the ones that dealt with Thor's difficulties in adapting to human life and relating with some of the characters. Granted, there weren´t too many of these scenes (given the movie's time restrictions, I imagine), but the ones that were in were greatly appreciated. I think that the biggest reason these were pulled off so well were the actors that were in the movie. I recognize the weaknesses in plot and story, but the actors are charming and talented enough that are able to do well with what they are given and the time they have to accomplish it.

I will admit that I geeked out at the semi-introduction of Hawkeye. When the main agent asks for Barton and we see a hand choosing a bow over a machine gun, I had a mini geek-gasm. My girlfriend sitting next to me had no idea what had gotten me so riled up. While I would have loved to have seen him in action, I thought that particular scene played very well as it was. And the fact they got that actor to play him was great!

One thing that I enjoyed in particular was how Thor's humbling was done. While it would´ve been better if there had been more time given to the process, I think the movie's pacing would´ve slowed down too much. I like that he gets it, he gets his punishment. It takes him a bit before he realizes what he's done and the consequences, but the moment that he does, it just about destroys him. I think his love for his father, his home, his brethren is transmitted well and his believing he's lost it all, makes him mature and realize he needs to change. He was humbled into being a better person (god), but not humiliated. That was good.

The early fight scene where Thor leads his gang to confront the frost giants was pretty neat. Seeing him rip lose and having all his buddies around him while doing so is something I've seen in comics countless times and seeing it happen on screen was very nice.

I've heard several comments regarding some of the god's ethnicities and here's my take on it. It's not something that's on the comics (that in itself will get a justifiable reaction from comic geeks) and it makes no sense for there to be a Japanese or black god in a race of nordic gods. That being said, I have no problem with them being there.

I can see why a studio would want for there to be a more racially diverse cast and while I understand the reasoning, I don't like it when they do that. What did save it for me was that I enjoyed who they got and they gave a good preformance (even if Hogun got very little to do). Heimdall in particular looked impressive, powerful and bad-ass, which is all you need basically for the role of watchman. Besides, as long as its handled well, I have no problems with changes being made to the original material. Just as long as it keeps me entertained and doesn't insult my intelligence as a movie viewer (or a comic geek).

So yeah, those are my thoughts overall on the movie. It was a good, satisfying movie-watching experience. There were issues with the movie, yes, but seriously, you can't expect too much out of a comic book movie I'm realizing. There is so little time to properly develop the characters and storylines, to be 100% faithful to the original material that I basically look to be entertained by a comic book movie. Plus, this all leads into the Avengers, so I'm content with that.

GREEN BAY´S SUPERBOWL XLV

After making the decision of relaunching Three Caballeros, I went through the previous blog postings (the ones that remain) and found myself drawn in particular to the Superbowl posting. This year, it was my beloved Packers´ to hoist the Lombardi trophy and decided that regardless of the fact that the Superbowl ended about 3 months ago, my first blog posting back would feature the 2011 World Champions Green Bay Packers!

To start, a bit of my history regarding the teams. My team has always been the Packers. I´ve

followed them from the age of 13, the season they won the ´96 Superbowl. There are several reasons why I love this

team: their history and majesty, their amazing fan base (the team has 86,000 people on the waiting list and the waiting time to get the season ticket? 955 years according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), the fact that the team is owned by the city itself (the fans own the team!) and of course, the great players they have, specifically #4 Brett Favre. I won´t get into Favre because it´s all too painf

ul, but I can´t deny he played a huge role in me becoming a cheesehead.

I can´t go into the Superbowl without mentioning the season that lead to it. What a season! Filled with amazing highs (great wins agains Eagles, Cowboys, Jets, Giants, sweeping the Vikings, emergence of Clay Matthews and a dominant defense, high-powered offense lead by the accurate and impressive Aaron Rodgers) and abysmal lows (losses against Redskins, Detroit, Miami and New England, season-ending injuries to Ryan Grant, Jermichael Finley, Al Harris, Atari Bigby and alarming concussions to Aaron Rodgers himself) this season was spectacular. There was a lot of hype surrounding the Packers heading into this season, with many "experts" picking them to be the NFC representative at the Superbowl; halfway through the season with a 4-3 record, those predictions seemed exaggerated. Truth was that as the season went along one could see the potential in the team, but oftentimes, dumb mistakes, lack of character or sometimes plain bad luck got in the way and the team faltered. It got to the point where two games before the season ended, after two straight losses, the playoff future for the team was uncertain. In order to advance, they would need to win out the season. And did they! A great, overwhelming win against New York Giants was followed by a tough win against division rival Bears; gutsy performances both of those. And so it was that with a not terribly impressive 10-6 record, the Packers moved into the playoffs with a 6 seed, meaning they would not only face the tougher playoff route, but they would have to do it on the road. The team showed it was up to the challenge by giving its fans three glorious victories. This was a team of destiny.

That is how the Pack got to the Superbowl, playing a combination of explosive offense, tough defense and (at times) sloppy football.

I´ll admit that I was very nervous when I realized that Green Bay would have to face Pittsburgh. I knew that my team had great potential, they were very well coached and the players were amazing athletes; talent-wise, the Packers were the better team, but I feared the Steelers´ mental fortitude.

The Steelers have a well-earned reputation of being a tough, aggressive team that doesn´t give up, ever. They will fight ´till the bitter end and more often than not, come out victorious. I knew that unless the Pack kept the pressure up all 60 minutes of the game, it would come down to the wire and we would have a nervous, thrilling game.

With the stage set, game day came. I had the chance to watch the game with my amazing girlfriend at her house with her family (three people rooting for Packers, my girl rooting for Steelers and one disinterested mom) on her new, big, beautiful TV. After long years of retirement, I finally wore my #4 GB jersey. After the burgers were eaten, the beers out of the fridge and in our hands, we werea all set... GAME ON!!

Generally speaking, the Packers dominated the first half racking up a 21 to 3 score just shy of the 2 minute mark. This was beyond my wildest dreams. In the biggest stage possible, the Packers were performing as well as could be expected, having both their offense and defense scoring and keeping the opposing team in check. 2 passing touchdowns, one interception returned for a TD vs a field goal.

The game was off to a great start. Still, the Steelers would show their mettle and grit by coming up with a TD-scoring drive in the little time that remained making the half-time score 21-10.

It was a weird mood during the incredibly long half-time break (I won´t go into the half-time show this time around, except to say that Black Eyed Peas weren´t as horrible as The Who were the year before) and there was a considerable amount of nervousness settling as the injuries to Packer players Donald Driver, Charles Woodson and Sam Shields left them uncertain to return. These were three huge injuries, Driver being one of the toughest receivers in the league and vital for short gains, Woodson being the most dynamic and variable player in defense and Shields shutting receivers down.

The game resumed and my mood didn´t improve. After forcing the Pack to a 3 and out, the Steelers came back and scored, closing the scoring gap. The momentum had turned in a serious way. The 3rd quarter was all Pittsburgh. Relief wouldn´t come until the Pack scored in the 4th quarter after recovering a fumble forced by Matthews. This turned into a score and allowed cheese-heads the world over to relax for a bit. At least until the Steelers came back and not only scored a TD, but made good a 2 point attempt. The game hinged on a 3 point difference. The Packer response was a field goal but more importantly, it ate up a good chunk of time.

With the Green Bay lead being only 6 points, all the Steelers had to do was go on a 2 minute drive and score the winning TD. It all came down to this. The Defense would have to

hold... and did. In a magnificent effort and display of excellence, the Packers secondary after allowing two early completions, forced three straight incompletions and that was that; they were able to force a turn over on downs and let the Packers run the clock down. My heart was doing its best to leave my chest during all this time, my hands were sweating and I had to force myself to take deep breaths. The moment I had been waiting for 15 years was so close to arriving. After the 4th down incompletion came, I literally fell to the floor and collapsed into a ball of unexpressable joy. I wanted to run, to jump, to scream for joy, to explode all at the same time and it all canceled each other out. I was speechless, motionless. I simply was... I let the glory of the moment take me over, envelop me. I was at peace with the world. And life was good.

To top it off, Rodgers was designated the game´s MVP. Glorious.

This was the best moment in my life as a sports fan. I must admit the my favorite sport is soccer and in that, Barcelona is my team. But despite all the joys that team has given me, it pales in comparison to the glory of seeing the Green Bay Packers win the Superbowl.

There have been criticisms regarding this game, that both teams made errors, that game play was sloppy at times, that excellence on the field fell short of expectations, to which I say: fuck that. We got an exciting, nail-biter of a game. While both teams didn´t play all 60 minutes of the game at their highest level, while balls were dropped, while questionable coaching calls were made, while key injuries abounded, the game was good. Two tough, historic teams fought it out and played their hearts out. Most importantly, Green Bay won the game and in the same way they played the whole of the season. This was the best game ever.

GO PACK GO!

RETURN OF THE THREE CABALLEROS BLOG!

Back regardless of lack of popular demand. Well, sort of... This blog started out as a project for three friends to reconnect in a way and to write about whatever we wanted. Ultimately, for various reasons, I was the only one that remained and I simply stopped writing.

While my interest in writing didn´t go away, I simply found myself lacking the motivation to do it and found myself distracted with what was going on in my day to day life. Currently, the majority of my writing either goes to lifeless, bland reports seeking to erradicate any notion of personalization or life within the its sentences or personal emails. I think it´s time to give it another go at the blog.

And so, the Three Caballeros blog will be active once again. I have contacted one of the original members and he expressed interest in writing for it so hopefully it won´t be a one-man show. I considered changing the name of the blog, or scrapping it and starting a new one, but decided not to. The original spirit of that blog remains, even if the presence of all of the original members does not.

The Three caballeros Blog 2.0 begins.