Thor the Dark World Review

Thor the Dark World Review

Earlier this month, Marvel released the eight installment in their popular cinematic universe, centering around one of their characters, Thor. As a followup to the 2011 debut of the character, the plot continues the story of Thor, this time pitting him against the villainous Malekith, who threatens to plunge the very universe into darkness. Does this movie succeed with the flashiness and splendor of a true Thor based Marvel movie, or does it fall into a dark abyss?

As the third appearance of Thor, viewers were well familiar with the character and his portion of the larger world. Without the baggage of an origin, the story of the characters we love has gone into full flow, starting wisely with the fan beloved Loki. Audiences do have to wait a little, as they have to be introduced to the new villain and his backstory for the first ten minutes before that. The opening plot has the generic story of a villain losing a precious artifact to the good side (this time the Aether) and returning with every intent on revenge. Despite some slightly tedious time being given away for him, the villain Malekith really doesn't have any special magic to his character. However, the villain from the previous movie, Loki, retains love from the audience and more than makes up for the mediocrity of the previous villain. Loki is easily the best part of the film, invoking comedy, sympathy, and confusion, as he well earns the title of god of mischief. Fans never know his true intentions even to the end, and he is even more loved because of it. Despite Loki being more popular, the main character cannot be forgotten. Thor is more mature and fleshed out now. This may not be the best thing though. His flaws from the first film made him more interesting and he seems a little flat now. Now he leaves little room for development and he cannot be taken much further. His love interest Jane Foster, on the other hand, has more to do and is an improvement since her cinematic debut. Odin continues his streak as a poor father, remaining as average as before, though Thor's mother, Frigga, is a major improvement, with a pleasantly surprising scene full of epic action. She has more to do in this film and really invokes powerful moments that rival and accompanies Loki's. 

In the end, the main protagonist and antagonist are weaker, but the supporting cast is so much stronger, making this sequel an improvement. Loki makes this all the more better. The story contains the regular Marvel fun, with Loki's twists and even further improvement enhancing it. Overall, Thor the Dark World is a highly entertaining film, honoring the Marvel legacy and including Loki, which is a definite bonus. 

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Trial Post (Catching Fire)- Alessia C

Movie Preview

Catching Fire hit theatres this past Friday (Nov. 22) Introducing new personalities such as Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason, this flick is sure to please any hardcore fan! 

May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favour

Alessia C

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'Delivery Man' Fails to Deliver

Vince Vaughn's New Comedy Bombs

This weekend, Vince Vaughn’s comedy movie ‘Delivery Man’ was destroyed at the box office by its competition, including the latest movie in the Hunger Games trilogy ‘Catching Fire’. Curious to see how a movie featuring beloved comedian Vince Vaughn could do so bad, I decided to do a little research. What I found did not do the movie any favours. A pitiful score of 36% and a general consensus amongst reviewers that the movie was one of the worst released this year. And the timing for this movie could not be any worse, as Vince Vaughn has already had a bad comedy outing this year in the abysmal film ‘The Internship’, another comedy that fell flat on its face. Vine Vaughn’s attempts at playing characters outside of his, and his viewer’s comfort zones have not paid off for him. Vince Vaughn needs to go back to his usual narcissistic comedic self, not this sobbing man-child trying to make sense of the world, that we have been seeing him portray recently.  ‘Delivery Man’ fails to deliver (ha! So funny!) to his audiences in the way he did in movies like ‘Dodge-ball’ and this is disappointing. Vince Vaughn joins 2013’s cemetery of bad movies like After Earth, The Fifth Estate, Identity Thief, The Internship, The Lone Ranger The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and R.I.P.D. One can only hope Vince Vaughn can dig himself out of this film abyss next year.

                        Skye’s the Limit

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What’s After Grade 12?

What’s After Grade 12?

For grade 12 students, what comes after high school can often feel like the biggest decision in life. It’s like the world depends on it. But don’t stress too much, as you do not have to have everything sorted out before you leave high school!

Do you hate when people ask the question “What do you want to do after high school?,” and then you are unable to give a solid answer because you have literally no idea? It’s quite common, and you do not need to feel embarrassed or left out. For many people, it’s a difficult question to answer.

I am busily investigating different universities to find out which one is the best for me, and it is honestly difficult for me to decide. What makes the deciding process worse is that we do not have Grade 13 like our parents or guardians did, so that’s one less year to decide. Now the pressure sets in.

At a Waterloo Fall Open House, I was able to listen in on an alumni panel discussion in one of the lecture halls at the university. There were five graduates from the school sitting at a desk on the stage, discussing their experiences at Waterloo and how they got into the career they were in now. What surprised me most about what the alumni members had to say was one thing in particular: none of them went into the career they had planned to go into when first staring university. They all took different paths instead and did something different; some of them had no idea that they would ever be what they were today, but there they were. Their original plans had changed drastically, and they instead discovered the careers they were truly more passionate about. For some people, they know exactly what they are going to be and have known for the longest time; however most students, I think, are uncertain, and are still struggling to sort out their whole life. Don’t! Chances are what you are thinking you might study is not what you are going to be doing as your career. People change, especially young people as they go through a very difficult, confusing, yet exciting time of transition between high school and university, college or other post-secondary options. My advice, and I have talked to many supportive people who also shared the same advice with me, is to follow after your passions and what perks your interest the most, and see where that leads. Right now, things may seem confusing, but that might change later as you start to realize what you were really meant to do. You may not see all the doors that are available to you until you are actually in university or college, and have maybe taken several courses. I was also able to attend a tour at Brock University recently. Our tour guide was a fourth year student in biomedical science, and mentioned he switched his career focus four times before figuring out what it was he really desired to do most; and what’s funny is that he started with biomedical, and ended back in biomedical science after lots of switching around. The first career decision he made ended up being his last one anyway, but it took more exploring of other programs available to make himself feel more certain that his field of study was right for him. So, another thing that is important when deciding your career (which you don’t have to do right now) is exploration, as it allows you the opportunity to discover what you are most passionate about. Exploration and taking chances are both very important.

Don’t stress out too much right now, because it is not worth it. See this struggle as an opportunity to explore and try new things, things that may even take you places where you never thought you’d be! Try your best at everything you do, and above all else, never give up. Instead of trying to determine where to go in life, try and see where life will take you.

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Senior Boys Basketball Team - Drury Tournament Champs!

Well done. Mike Malo MVP.

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Typical Poems-Test

The Blazer 

Cinderella

Pouring silver from the wand,

the enchantment is

encircling the girl lightly

as shimmering ivory melts into the  ripped, destroyed fabric

the Caster of Spells whispers a warning

of the time that the  girl mustn't stay

disappearing into

darkness

nothingness

emptiness

without another word

Ron Duberstein
November  24th

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