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: Frances Ha (2012)

It’s a fun time, when an obsession hits me. Every now and again an intense feeling hits me over a particular actor or actress, and I feel the need the spend the following weeks consuming their entire filmography. What follows is normally hours of watching sub-par rom coms and dramas that make no sense to me, but every now and again I come across a real gem, a movie that makes me forget why I watched it in the first place. That happened to me the other night with Frances Ha (2012).

It’s an indie movie following a girl living in New York called Frances (Greta Gerwig). She lives in an apartment with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) and the two are closer than sisters, and life seems great, but Frances ends up separating from her boyfriend when he asks her to move in with him, and Frances is reluctant to leave Sophie on her own. What makes things worse is not long after, Sophie moves out to live with her boyfriend, and that’s where things really go downhill.

After she is forced to move out, Frances moves into a lush apartment inhabited by rich boys Lev (Adam Driver), who brings home a different girl every night, and Dan (Michael Esper), who she has a playful friendship with, with Dan picking up on all the quirky things she does and labels ‘undateable’, but with affection. It reminded me of when I was younger, and that’s how I envisaged my life panning out, living in a huge apartment with my friends. I mean, that’s not even a thing here in the UK, but regardless, the movie shows the downsides to this, too.

To be completely honest, it took weeks to eventually see this. I even considered not watching it at all, and for a silly reason to. It’s all black and white! An odd choice for a modern movie but I read that director Baumbach did it to instill a feeling of nostalgia. Being the same age as Frances, I can’t see it that way, but what I did find that without colour, I was fully focused on everything that the characters were doing and saying, and it held my attention more than most movies do now. Weird! I clearly have a much shorter attention span than I thought I did.

Frances goes through a lot in this movie, but essentially, it’s about break-up and change. Not a break-up in the traditional sense either, but a best-friendship break-up. It’s quite heartbreaking to watch, and although I couldn’t relate at every moment, I could definitely see parts of myself in Frances. Especially in the scene around the dinner table. I honestly feel so lost in group conversations sometimes.

I haven’t mentioned the soundtrack yet, either! It’s not something I normally even pick up on, but some of the songs in this had me dancing in my seat with a smile on my face. And finally, it isn’t until the very final scene that we learn why the movie is called Frances Ha. It’s such a minor thing, but it’s a detail I really appreciated.

After watching, I’d decided to give this an 8/10, but now I’ve written this review, I feel like I enjoyed it more than that...I don’t know. This is a placeholder score for now!

Review: The Boss (2016)

I have been avoiding writing this review after hearing what people thought about The Boss but I love Melissa McCarthy and so I was still desperate to see it.

Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) is a big shot gazillionaire running a large corporation but gets arrested for insider trading and sent to prison,  Once she is released, she has nothing and ends up on the doorstep to her assistants (Kristen Bell) apartments looking for somewhere to stay.  Ultimately, she ends up setting up a better version of the Dandelions cookie sales with Claire's brownies.

As you can tell from my horrific blurb, the plot is terrible and it doesn't improve as it goes on but it was funny.  I laughed a lot (I can't confirm 100% that this wasn't down to the glass of wine I had beforehand or that I was with my funniest friend!) and one scene made me laugh to the point I couldn't catch my breath.  I'm certain that this wouldn't hold up on a second viewing (unless I was tipsy again) and I'm pretty sure that now I know how the plot ends I would find the whole thing even more ridiculous.

I wanted so badly to like this movie. I loved Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy. When she's cast in a supporting role her loud and aggressive moments are hilarious, but given the lead role, it all gets too much for me. In fact, movies she's in turn into marmite for me, I either love them or hate them. I hated Identity Theft, hated Tammy, even St. Vincent which I know a lot of people loved. That left the score 3-3 until The Boss. You hated St Vincent?! But how?! All I even remember is she left her kid with a complete stranger for hours on end, and that alone annoyed me so much I stopped paying attention!

The trailer didn't sell the movie to me at all, in fact it was Jenna telling me about how much it made me laugh that got me to give it a chance. There was nothing funny about the opening scene, in fact the only time I really laughed was the bra moment, but I could stick it out for the brownie business, I wanted to see where that went. After a while I must have nodded off, because the next thing I remember was Melissa McCarthy and Peter Dinklage having a sword fight on the roof of a building. What?!

I'm struggling to rate this because the more I think about it the more I dislike it but when I watched it actually enjoyed it.  I certainly don't think this hits the comedy levels of McCarthy's collaborations with Paul Feig but I don't think much will.

The score was going to be 3-4 on my Melissa McCarthy movie, love it or hate it meter, but since writing this Ghostbusters has been released which I loved, leaving the score 4-4 now. Her next movie could go either way!

Comic-con Movie Trailers - 10 that peaked my interest

Wonder woman 

I'm not sure I can comment on this having still not seen Batman vs Superman but I actually think it looks quite good, the addition of Chris Pine can only be a ood thing and him and Gal Gadot seem to have some good chemistry.

Justice League

Again, I haven't seen Batman vs Superman so not sure I can comment on this but Aquaman!!!!  Not sure about seeing someone else as Barry Allen when I love Grant Gustin so much but Ezra Miller seemed ok I guess!!  I think based on the hype from Batman vs Superman and the film being not so great, I won't be making any judgement based on the trailer.

There's a theme here of you commenting on things you don't think you can comment on...!

Dr Strange

I don't like the look of this, it just looks really boring!  I know Allie will disagree as a die hard Benedict Cumberbatch fan but I got bored just watching a three minute trailer, we'll see what happens when the film comes out.

I'm biased, but I think it's something a little different! Still sick of superhero movies, though.

King Kong

This looks exactly like the other King Kong that I have seen, other than the inclusion of Tom Hiddleston, there is really nothing to get excited about!

Suicide Squad

I promised myself I wouldn't watch another SS trailer because I wanted to be surprised when the film is finally released but I just couldn't resist.  I am so excited about this it is unreal, downside is I'm on holiday when its released so I have to wait until I get back :(

Sausage Party

The original trailer for this look Ok but this one has peaked my interest, seen as I still find fart jokes hilarious I think this may be pitched right at my level!!

Snowden

I was never bothered about this story but the trailer has made it seem more interesting, i'm now googling Edward Snowden to find out the story. I guess that is a sign of a good trailer, it seems like something Dad would like as well and seems better than the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy debacle of 2011!

You should watch Citizen Four, it's chilling...

King Arthur: Legend of the sword

So it seems that Guy Ritchie can 'Guy Ritchie' anything, this looks so bizarre, kind of Game of Thrones meets Lock Stock.  Not sure if this is my thing but I'm happy to give it a go, mostly for Charlie Hunnam!! 

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them

100% didn't want to see this, loved Harry Potter and didn't want anything to ruin it but it does looks really interesting.  I feel bad for Allie and her hatred for Eddie Redmayne, I don't think she could bear an entire film with him at the forefront, but I LOVE him!  I get the feeling that its completely separate from the HP films so I'm going to give it a try with an open mind.

Honestly, I'm not a fan of his but he's perfect for this role. I think he'll nail it.

Legion

This gave nothing away in the trailer, I really have no idea what its about other than a guy who is a powerful mutant doesn't know this and thinks he is having a mental breakdown.  I assume there will be a lot more trailers to come for this one but i'm tempted to not watch anymore and be surprised.

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema: August 2016

Good afternoon from sunny England, where we’re all complaining about the heatwave that arrived shortly after we were all complaining about our lack of Summer. Me? I’m just riding out the hay fever and patiently waiting for Autumn. After a flurry of blockbuster releases in July, this August is shaping up to be a fairly quiet month for new releases. Thank goodness for that, because I’m so behind!

August brings the long awaited release of Suicide Squad, which I know should be my choice for this month, it’ll be great I’m sure, but I’m so tired of superhero movies right now. I’ll go to see it with the gang, probably on the opening weekend, and I’ll come out loving it and telling myself off, but honestly, there’s a movie coming out at the end of this month that I’m dead excited about. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping! I can’t believe how long we’ve had to wait for this. In fact, as I start this post a little early whilst I’m typing this the UK STILL hasn’t had the release of Finding Dory! Ugh!

Anyway, as you all probably already know, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping features the boys from Lonely Island, one of my favourite bands. I’ve also had a little bit of an Andy Samberg crush since getting hooked on Brooklyn Nine Nine this year, so my choice was a no-brainer. It also comes out on my Birthday weekend, which is perfect, other than the near 3 month wait, of course.

I’ve tried as hard as I can to not look up the songs so that they’ll be a surprise, but that’s getting harder every day. One things for sure, this is going to be a soundtrack I’ll want to pick up straight away. I’ve heard there’s some great cameos too. I’m so excited!

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping will be released in UK cinemas on 26th August, 2016.