My 5 Favourite Chris Hemsworth Roles

G’day, folks! Did you know today is Chris Hemsworth's birthday? Well, today is Chris Hemsworth’s birthday! In true Flick Chicks fashion, I thought I’d celebrate by sharing my 5 favourite roles of his. For such a famous face, it’s surprising how few movies Chris has actually been in, but there’s still far too many I haven’t seen yet. Sigh, if I weren’t at work right now I could be having a Hemsworth-related movie marathon at home! 

Anyway, let’s kick this list off! I’ve even managed (with difficulty) to rank my list for a change:

#5 Stone Crandall, Vacation (2015)

So, only a small role this time, but 2015’s remake/sequel of Vacation was so packed with cameos this felt like a much larger role. And sure, his only real job here was to take his shirt off and pose in those far too tight grey boxers, but I’m a warm-blooded female dangit, I enjoyed it! 

#4 George Kirk, Star Trek (2009)

Again, a small role in the newly rebooted Star Trek movie, but arguably a very important one. I mean, there’s no James Kirk without George Kirk, right?! What excites me the most though is that Chris Hemsworth has been confirmed for the next sequel. I know next to nothing about Star Trek so can’t speculate much, but I’m looking forward to it!

#3 James Hunt, Rush (2013)

Any actor who can leave me raving about a Biographical Motorsport movie should be handed with every award going. I can’t even remember why I let myself be dragged to the cinema for this one, but the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl was just phenomenal, the rivalry felt so real.

#2 Kevin, Ghostbusters (2016)

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that Kevin was downright hilarious in the Ghostbusters remake. From answering the phone terribly, posing with musical instruments, to the whole interview scene where he asks if he can bring in ‘Mike Hat’...which is his dog...who lives with his aunt. I’m genuinely laughing right now, that joke will never get old.

#1 Thor, The Marvel Universe

Come on, there was never any real question about the number 1 spot, was there? Chris Hemsworth was born to play Thor! I haven’t picked up a Marvel comic in a couple of years now, but Thor was my favourite character, so I had high hopes when the first movie was announced. Needless to say I was very happy! It’s not just that he has the look, either. It’s in his mannerisms, and the ease that he pulls off that old-timey way of speaking. He can be this powerful God among men one minute, and a loveable oaf the next. I’m really looking forward to Ragnarok next year!

What about you guys? Are there any roles you'd have included, or movies Chris Hemsworth was in that you can recommend for me? I may just have that movie marathon this evening, instead!

Review: Ghostbusters (2016)

Oh boy. I don’t think I’ve been this nervous about writing a review since, well ever actually. Let’s start a few months ago, when the first bits of news came out that Ghostbusters was getting an all-female remake. I’ve never seen any of the original movies (gasp!) and even as a woman myself couldn’t see the need for an all-female team, and the trailers that eventually came out had me feeling pretty ‘meh’ about the whole thing. We’ve had a fair number of reboots over the last few years, and the lucky few have had mediocre reviews.  I am still horrified that you haven't seen the original Ghostbusters!!

Of course, a few days before the release, IMDB and Letterboxd users rated the movie as low as possible, before they could even have a chance to watch the movie, which honestly winds me up more than is rational. I try not to judge a book by it’s cover, but I use sites like those to get a rough idea, and on the UK release day Ghostbusters had an abysmal score of 3.7 on IMDB. With a rare Monday night free and cheaper tickets at my local cinema, I thought ‘screw it’ and went to see it on the opening night.  Now I had seen the opposite, I hadn't looked as early as Allie so the annoying pre-reviewers had been overpowered by an array of positive reviews.  This unfortunately led to countless people coming out of the woodwork to state that Sony clearly had brought their reviews!! argh - why are people so annoying?!

Out of the Ghostbuster ladies, I’m only really familiar with two of them, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, who were brilliant together in Bridesmaids (2011), so I had a little hope. I know Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are from Saturday Night Live, but we don’t get that show here in the UK, although something clicked half way through the movie when I recognised Leslie Jones as the technician who shouted at Kylo Ren in the Undercover Boss sketch, which led to me laughing out loud during a non-funny part of the movie.

Um, I gotta say as well, it certainly is something spectacular when Chris Hemsworth isn’t the hottest blonde in the room. Where has Kate McKinnon been my whole life? I had such a lady boner crush on her the whole time. She’s aloof, gorgeous, and fierce, and everything I want to be!  You may have to fight me for her, she was amazing!!

Anyway, I’m going off topic now. I think what I’m really trying to do is stall, because what I need to say is I really, really enjoyed watching Ghostbusters. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen the original, maybe it’s because I was expecting something even worse than Independence Day: Resurgence, but it doesn’t matter because I had a blast. The jokes were funny, the special effects were hella-cool, and those ladies kicked ass. 

I have to disagree with Allie, it can't be because she hasn't seen the original because I have seen, and loved the original Ghostbusters and I still loved this.  It was a film of it's own, it wasn't a carbon copy of the originals but had enough easter eggs to keep me happy!  I feel like Allie needs to go and watch the originals and then watch the new one again and it will be like a whole new movie for her!

Chris Hemsworth playing a goofy receptionist was an absolute stroke of genius. He got guaranteed laughs every time he was on screen, but nothing was funnier than his interview for the job. I really don’t want to ruin the joke but I’m laughing just thinking about it. I wish I could get away with being as bad at my job as he is, though. Admittedly, I’ve pretended there’s a really bad line on the phone and hung up when someone on the other end is making absolutely no sense.   This was the first gag I mentioned to Allie when I had seen the film and spent Saturday evening (a bit tipsy) repeating it over and over while laughing hysterically.  I wish I could tell the joke because at this point this whole paragraph is a bit vague!

Look, I’m off topic again! I don’t know what else to say other than I hope people at least give this a chance. I’ll give the original Ghostbusters movies a watch at some point so I have some kind of comparison, and maybe that’ll change my mind, I definitely saw Jurassic World in a different light after finally watching Jurassic Park. And if you hate the cast, hate the new effects, maybe it’s worth watching for some pretty awesome cameos? I didn’t get them all of course, but I could make a pretty good guess when one showed up by everyone else’s reactions. Wait, what am I even talking about? Forget those guys, the best cameo (which isn’t even a cameo, it’s a small role) is DOPINDER. Dopinder, guys!!  This is where Allie lost me, the cameos throughout the whole film made me squeal and whack my Dad in the arm, I didn't even realise that Dopinder was Dopinder until Allie told me afterwards!!

I have to repeat that I loved this entirely as a movie of it's own.  The action was great and the comedy was really. At one point I laughed so much that I had tears in my eyes and missed about 3 other gags that followed.  Chris Hemsworth and Kate McKinnon were by far the highlights, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't utilise Melissa McCarthy's comedy genius more but she can't always be the centre of attention! Honestly I'm glad for that, she's driving me crazy lately and I was worried she'd be as annoying in this as she was in The Boss. She makes such a great supporting cast member, it's when she's the lead that it all goes wrong for me.

Oh, and stay till the end of the credits! Not just for the dancing, I promise, there’s actually a proper scene right at the end.

5 Movie Themed Pokemon GO Games I Want to Play

Who knew Pokemon GO would take off the way it has? As an avid fan since the age of 12, I’ve been looking forward to the release for far too long, but I didn’t expect to find my local park filled with people playing it! It’s honestly quite bizarre, there are groups of children, teenagers, families, and grown adults like myself playing. On Monday night we lost track of the time and had to find out way out of the woods at 10pm in the dark. Whoops. Well, at least none of us have been hit by a car yet.

Lots of people have started to think about what kind of Augmented Reality (AR) mobile device games could come next, mostly Nintendo themed. Luigi’s Mansion was a favourite of mine, but the thought of Mario Kart GO turned my blood cold. I have enough nightmare’s about blue shells thanks to my college days, I don’t need to be driving away from one on my way to work!

What it really got me thinking though was what about if we had a movie themed version? My mind can’t function enough to watch a movie in this heatwave we’re having in the UK, so I sat myself down in our garden with a frozen cider and my notebook and thought of a few ideas.

Ghostbusters GO

Perhaps the most obvious choice, given the spot in the limelight Ghostbusters has right now, but you’ve got to admit, this would be pretty cool. Playing Pokemon GO in the dark doesn’t feel quite right, but teaming up with 3 friends and roaming the streets to hunt down ghosts? That’s cool. Just try not to get ran over by Slimer driving a car!

Fast & Furious GO

Less clever and more downright dangerous, it was Mario Kart that got me thinking in this direction. People have already set their phones up in their cars to play drive-by style, in fact someone was fined in our local area for it this week. Fast & Furious GO would never, ever come to reality, but it’s okay to dream, right?

Jurassic Park GO

Maybe it’s just early release teething problems, but my friends and I are having problems finding any Pokemon at all in our local parks and woods, and we honestly thought they would be abundant there. So, whilst we’re enjoying the nature, why not track down our favourite dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, instead? Replace the eggs with unidentified fossils? Now we’re talking.

28 Days Later GO

File this one under NOPE for me, but talking about the health benefits of Pokemon GO reminded me of that fitness app where you’re running away from zombies. So why not go one step further and create 28 Days Later GO? I think you’d be wanting to move away from the rustling grass rather than track it down, but imagine the fear when you see a zombie 1 footprint away from you.

Lego Movie GO

This is my favourite idea ever. Lego Movie GO, guys! Instead of hunting down Pokemon, we’re hunting down individual Lego bricks. Gyms are replaced with statues, monuments, buildings, anything large that communities have to work together to build using the bricks they’ve been collecting. I would play the hell out of this game!

What about you guys, where do you stand on Pokemon GO, love it or hate it? Can you think of any movie versions you’d love to see?