The Hidden World is an Ending We Deserve

When I watched the original How to Train Your Dragon (2010), it was actually a fluke. I was home alone for a couple of days and my parents grabbed me a movie to keep me busy. I had not seen it in theaters, I barely knew about it, and my opinion about giving it a try was more of a: “Eh, fine, I have nothing else to do.” What followed turned out to be one of my favorite animated films, with a sequel that matched the beauty and well-crafted storytelling that drew me in to begin with. Now, nine years later, I feel like we have a finale that echoes the elements that made the story great. It’s the end that the story of Toothless the dragon and Hiccup the rider deserve – sure, we’re going to cry a little bit, but ultimately we can be happy to see them end their journey. I’m not going to say there aren’t minor issues with the movie, and I will acknowledge that they do replay a lot of the hits in the story (culminating in an end credit sequence that actually does tell the story of the three movies in pictures), but it’s not enough to stop fans from loving the result. As sad as we are to see them go, it’s nice to have a satisfying ending to hold on to, and the magic of Berk and their dragons will never leave our hearts.

Ocean’s 8: Proof Reboots Can Be Fun

Many of the summer blockbusters you’ll see this year are superhero flicks – fun, even when they’re animated, but not everyone’s cup of tea. Alongside those movies come a series of reboots and sequels, which is a bit dry in its own way, since we know at least a little bit about the stories as we walk into them. So, how to combat this? Well, the reboots and sequels must do their best to bring a fun, fresh twist to the story in order to keep us entertained, since that’s really what we’re asking for in a summer blockbuster. Ocean’s 8, an early contender for the summer movie crowd, is a great example of this. Not only is the reboot of Steven Soderbergh’s heist film a twist on the original story – a team of women committing the crime – but all the elements of a good heist film are played to perfection. The plan is complex but fun to follow, the characters form a seamless and amusing team as they execute the heist, and no matter how you may expect the story to end, the film will still keep you on edge wondering how the ending will come about. Summer blockbusters are there for you to have fun indoors, and you will definitely have fun sitting through the antics of the newest Ocean team.

Thor Ragna-rocks (My Belief in Marvel)

Superhero movies have gotten pretty dark in recent years (not as dark as their Netflix counterparts, of course, it’s hard to believe those are even in the same universe with how often they kill people), so it was almost strange to hear that the newest addition to the Thor saga was going to be primarily a comedy. Granted, those familiar with director Taika Waititi knew that comedy was his forte, and everyone not so secretly believed that maybe a bit of comedy was just what Thor needed. His films, while not outright terrible, have always been at the lower end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Quality Spectrum. One big reason is because Thor, the main character, is constantly being upstaged in his own movies (by Loki, who we forgive because he’s awesome, and by Jane, who we don’t forgive because being played by Natalie Portman is not quite enough to make a character likable), but another reason is that he is played off as a serious warrior, and he’s an alien from a magical planet with a magical hammer. He SHOULD be a little ridiculous, his entire universe is a little bit (okay, very) ridiculous, and his films have never even once tried to capitalize on that. Now, under Waititi’s amused gaze, Thor is fun again, and what could be wrong with that? Well, sadly, becoming a fun movie has not only amused us, but it’s shown us just how tired this MCU is making us, so we are both laughing and crying and wondering how much longer we can take this. I have new respect for Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans.

Mystical in Marvel: The Lord of the Rings Crossover

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and its spin-off television shows) grows, the number of actors being cast also increases exponentially. Not only do we start to see more cross-over between actors who’ve worked together before (Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, for example, have worked together almost a dozen times now), we’re starting to see a great deal of influence from other large bodies of work. Heading in Marvel Phase 4, we’re noticing a recurring trend – there are quite a few cast members from Peter Jackson’s imaginings of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies making an appearance in this world of superheroes! Some are fairly obvious, but digging through the two extended universes, it’s actually pretty interesting just how much crossover there is.