Chris Hemsworth is Hot and THOR

Over the summer, I'd grown weary of superhero movies featuring caped characters and musclemen with extraordinary powers.  I wanted to see films that had real humans dealing with real life problems.  Well, I have to admit that now, in the fall, I would love to go see Chris Hemsworth in THOR:  RAGNAROK.  Why do I want to see it?  Because I have read a few raves from folks who have seen it.  They say that it's funny.  That makes it different from the previous THOR adventures.  I like Chris Hemsworth.  He's not Daniel Day-Lewis in the acting department but he's got a warm, likable presence.  And, let's face it, he's got the perfect physique to play a superhero.  I really liked Hemsworth a lot as the clueless male eye candy office secretary in the GHOSTBUSTERS reboot. He tickled the heck out of me in that one.  I hadn't seen him let loose and be goofy in any of his other films.  The GHOSTBUSTERS reboot with the gender bender element of casting four women in the roles originally done by four males back in the 1980s did not do well at the box office. A lot of folks missed Hemsworth's comedy turn in it.  Now he's THOR again.

I blame fanboy misogyny for the GHOSTBUSTERS lukewarm box office reception.  I was stunned to read the online complaints about women taking on the roles.  Pardon my language but, as a Brit might say, "Oh, for f*ck's sake.  It's a bloody sci-fi fantasy comedy!  Grow up, you men of America!"  I didn't see the 2016 GHOSTBUSTERS starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones during its theatrical release.  This year, I spent a weekend with two married friends and their son.  After we ate dinner, we just felt like watching an entertaining movie at home.  We hadn't seen GHOSTBUSTERS, so we rented it.  We broke up laughing in its first five minutes.  And all the best parts were not in the trailer.  We were entertained and pleasantly surprised.  Kate McKinnon, SNL cast member, was hysterically funny.  Chris Hemsworth was one of the pleasant surprises.  He was s hoot in scenes with Melissa McCarthy.  GHOSTBUSTERS 2016 was solid Saturday night entertainment at home.  I wonder if the actor's work as Kevin in GHOSTBUSTERS inspired the THOR director to let Hemsworth bring some humor to his superhero role.

That whole Twitter backlash against the female casting of GHOSTBUSTERS really irritated me.  Those women should've returned for a follow-up adventure.

When I was just starting my career, I was an entertainment reporter in the 1970s.  Movie studios would send out booklets promoting what was on their slate for the upcoming year.  We entertainment press people would get those booklets. Not all the projects mentioned would get made and not all the casting mentioned would come to be.  For instance, 20th Century Fox sent out its booklet one season and promoted THE KAREN SILKWOOD STORY starring Jane Fonda.  Well, that story did become a biopic -- but it was SILKWOOD starring Meryl Streep.  A Fox film adaptation of the popular stage play A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS SITTING AROUND TALKING was slated to star Jill Clayburgh and Susan Sarandon.  It never got made.  Then there was a sci-fi horror story called ALIEN in the works.  It would star Paul Newman.  It didn't.  At that time, Newman was really hot and highly paid.  He may have been too expensive for the film's budget.  He may have passed on the project.  An unknown new actress named Sigourney Weaver got the lead in a gender bender approach to the character.

It worked.  It was a futuristic sci-fi horror thriller and we had no problem with Sigourney Weaver becoming a new action hero.

If you never saw the "Girl Power" twist on GHOSTBUSTERS, give it a chance.  You will definitely get some laughs.

        
 Now here's a trailer featuring Hemsworth in THOR:  RAGNAROK.