This blog post was inspired by a pile of unwanted DVDs in my living room.

I’m just letting you know. In case you want to spend your valuable time elsewhere.

Okay. So. We’re good?

Fine. It’s your time.

Traditionally, I open my blog posts by commenting upon how long it’s been since I’ve written a blog post, wistfully recalling the days of yore when I actually wrote blog posts on a regular basis, or casting aspersions upon myself for my inability to stick with anything in my life that I actually have the energy to start.

Well, I’m not going to do that this time.

[Aside for the ironically challenged amongst you. I just did what I said I wasn’t going to do. And I did it before I said I wasn’t going to do it. Isn’t that clever?]

So, anyway, as I was saying, this blog post was inspired by a pile of unwanted DVDs in my living room. And I’m repeating that so you’ll still have a chance to bail, in case you didn’t really get it the first time. Because sometimes we don’t really get things the first time we read them. I can read an entire page of something and have to go back over it because I wasn’t really paying attention. (more…)

I like to think of myself as a fairly discerning moviegoer. Part of me knows this thinking to be delusional—after all, I am the guy who loved The Da Vinci Code and hated Angels and Demons (when most folks thought the latter was far superior to the former) and actually enjoyed Ang Lee’s take on Marvel Comics’ Hulk—but I like to think that I’ve seen enough films and read enough about films to know a thing or two about what makes a good film and what makes a stinker.

Oh, yeah, and I happen to be a fairly decent writer, too, so storytelling is pretty darn important to me.

Nonetheless, when something really appeals to me and entertains me, I do have a tendency to gush. And gush is what I’m about to do here, so brace yourselves.

Last evening I went to see Thor, the latest instalment in Marvel Studio’s vast campaign to bring their cinematic heroes home. It began with Iron Man and will culminate with The Avengers. In between, we’ve had The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. And now, Thor. (more…)