Reviews

Sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Freed from the tyranny of the Fire Nation, technology in the world of "Avatar" has progressed ridiculously fast. They are now approximately in the 1950s, with planes, automobiles, and mechanical tanks...all of which are evil.

The Legend of Korra is based on political intrigue of Republic City, where society is broken into "Benders" and "Non-benders".

Korra, the new Avatar, travels to Republic City to learn airbending from Aang's descendants; the only family of airbenders in the world. When she arrives, she finds the city is plagued by criminal and political corruption and gets straight to work by joining a Pro-Bending Championship team and becoming a thug for the government. In virtually the last three episodes an actual plot starts to develop and then is resolved. Seriously, no cliffhanger or anything...even though the series is supposed to continue though another season.

Pros:

-I thought Korra a likable character; as is her trainer, Tenzen. The character development for Mako, Bolin and both of the primary antagonists was rushed.

-Korra's arms look cool. Seriously, we should all just watch the whole series and press dumbbells the whole time so we can get arms like that.

-Nostalgia value for fans of the original series...Aang's wife, his son(s) and grandchildren, Zuko's grandson, Toph's daughter, the humor, the animation, etc. are in the show.

Cons:

-The story presents several complex human right issues in this fictional setting. This aspect could have easily been the most intriguing aspect of the series, however, they are overly simplified and the viewpoints are very poorly explained. Neither side is "good" so you ended up rooting for neither side.

-Korra came to Republic City to learn airbending, which she needs to become a world leader in the capacity as The Avatar. However (as is mentioned above) a large portion of this series involves Korra playing for a sports team to avoid training. Even after this phase, nothing she does even approaches 'Legendary' status.

-The announcer's voice at the beginning of the episodes is extremely annoying.

-Considerably less epic in scope then it's prequel.

-Most of the relationships in this story are poorly developed. The romantic couple have no chemistry, so I didn't root for them to be together.

-The plot is based on political intrigue, but the episodes themselves aren't that suspenseful, they don't leave you craving the next episode. The source of the main character's ultimate conflict is resolved almost as easily as it develops.

Conclusion: This story owes a lot of it's popularity to the original series. I'm glad it wasn't expensive. Nothing here to make me eager for the next part of the series.

Even though it looks like it. Sure it has the whole "Bond between man and animal" thing going on, but it's a whole lot bigger then that.

It's a wonderful story about courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. About being brave when your first instinct is fear. About belonging and ownership.

Joey is the horse, a diamond in the rough. He is inherently valuable, beautiful and precious. Almost everyone (on both sides of the war) who looks at him can see it.

Throughout the story, this horse is continually placed in circumstances that he isn't "fit" for. He isn't a draft animal, he's afraid of loud noise, he's decidedly NOT a jumper. Yet he has to perform the part of a draft horse, he has to run toward shooting guns, and if he doesn't jump...I'll save THAT part for you to see.

And by being the magnificent animal he is and in doing all of these things, things he is NOT "supposed" to do, he inspires the humans around him.

In short, this was a superb, gripping and inspiring movie.

Downside: From the very beginning, you can see where the story is going. A bi-product of being the type of movie that this is, the horse has multiple owners throughout the movie but You...the viewer..."Know" its not going to turn out good for anyone of them.

Because Joey...and Albert...belong...together!!! The WORLD MUST BE SET RIGHT!!!

In addition to an ensemble of very talented and well cast actors, this movie contains Thomas William Hiddleston, an incredibly handsome and talented actor. I really wouldn't count this against the film except He's only in it for about 15 minutes and I reeaaallly wanted to look at him a bit longer.

Overview: The action is successfully balanced with comedy in the form of Thor's fish-out-of-water experience on earth. The romance is sweet and sincere, but not overwhelming. Female characters are given full character (as opposed to eye candy) status.

The story: It's basically cut in two equally engaging sections surrounding the two brothers: Thor and Loki.

Thor's story arc follows his journey from a selfish, arrogant brat into kingly material through his sojourn on earth.

Injected with humor and bravado, Thor's story arc works well because it doesn't take it's self too seriously. Yes, the "learning from your experiences" story line has been done before but ultimately Thor is such a likable guy that you can't help but root for him.

(Note to fellow ladies: Thor is what I would call "woman's eye candy". He's attractive and muscular with deep royal blue eyes. Beating people up in one scene and being a complete gentleman by helping serve breakfast the next. Not bad at all.)

Loki is portrayed with passion and sincerity. While being the polar opposite in appearance and personality, he is equally likable. His mannerisms, expression and demeanor demand your attention before he even speaks. He also has an awesome story arc that could have made it's own movie.

Only two things I can say against this movie:

Some of the secondary characters were not developed very well. Odin, Jane, Darcy and Erik Selviq are successful characterizations. However, Thor's BFF's "Lady Sif and the Warriors Three" get minimal introduction and development.

Also, I would have liked to have more info on the Frost Giants. Despite the fact that they are, as Loki says, "the monsters that parents tell their children about at night" the story leads us to believe in their value as sentient beings without allowing us to see them as anything but a brooding, demonic army.

This this kind of a movie to lead up to it, "The Avengers" better be pretty darn good. It doesn't have the same director and that makes me concerned because this guy did such a good job. I am looking forward to seeing where this adaption takes the characters though.

NOTE: this review contains spoilers!

I saw this series all in one night. Perhaps that was a mistake because it made me see how unsubstantial the whole story is.

In a nutshell, Downton Abbey is about a British aristocratic family trying to keep their manor and land in the family by various means.

Some of the characters are interesting, particularly the grandmother of the family and her rivalry with Isobel Crawley. Other characters never really get a chance to shine, which is a shame.

The real problem is with the story, basically its all about how this family deals with their problems by covering them up, or by pretending they don't exist.

For instance: (spoiler alert here!) They know one of their servants is dishonest, a borderline psychotic, and is stealing from them. However, they continually put off firing the guy because they don't want to be seen as ungenerous by putting a man out of work. Ultimately he joins the military and his dishonest deeds are never brought to light.

It took me almost until the end of the series to realize that the characters are pretty stagnant as well.

So, if you want to see a highly repetitive British drama about bratty rich people trying to save face, watch this one. (I personally would have loved to see them fall on it.)

I felt this was a very poorly done movie. It is especially disappointing to me because when I saw the commercials, I felt it would be a good movie to take my younger sisters to. Unfortunately, everything I found enticing about the story in the commercials is grossly absent from the movie itself. The characters are underdeveloped, the humor is base, and the voice acting is horrible...all brought to you in 3D!! I only laughed once during the whole film; when it looked like a young girl had been impaled. I'm not sick: that's just how bad the humor was. I rarely say this about Family-friendly movies, but I never want to see this one again.