Tag Archives: Norse Mythology

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It earned Test Drive.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit snippet.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Hiccup stands off against a dragon.

How to Train Your Dragon Review –

Well, if there was one film I was hesitant to see, it was this one. I adore the How to Train Your Dragon films; How to Train Your Dragon 3 is in our Top 10 Animated Films of All Time, though I think that list might need an update. So, I was not one of those people jumping for joy when it was announced that it was getting one of those dreaded live-action re-makes. I say that because they are mostly trash and rarely get even into the same ballpark as the originals. Well, I was shocked because I could not believe how quickly this film had entranced me.

So, to set the scene, in the great arctic north, there is a village called Berk. The people of the town were summoned from across the Viking lands for one reason: to find the Dragon’s nest and destroy it. They just have not had a lot of success on that front because even though it is an old town, every house is new. At night, the dragons attack to steal their livestock and burn down their village, and every time, the villagers fight back. However, within this highly competent town lives Hiccup (Mason Thames), the son of the village chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). Who wants to work smarter, not harder, but no one trusts him. But one night, as the village burned, Hiccup wheeled out one of his inventions and aimed it at a mysterious Night Fury, and for the first time in his life, he struck gold.

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Mort: Ragnarick

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TL;DR – A classic episode structured in such a way that it knows it will get complaints from an entire religious organisation.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Valhalla.

Rick and Morty Review –

As we continue through this very disjointed and somewhat experimental season, culminating in last week’s Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie, which was a Rick and Morty episode without Rick. Well, it’s almost as if they knew the response to that episode and prepared accordingly because this week’s episode, named after Thor: Ragnarok, is almost like a classic episode writ large, including a b-plot for a change.

So to set the scene, after killing Jerry (Chris Parnell) multiple times to confirm, Rick (Ian Cardoni) finds out that there are “heavens” of some sort. But Rick, being Rick, wants to tap into that unlimited energy, and it can be just any kind of heaven. So, he and Morty (Harry Belden) go to Norway, where he gets Bigfoot () to kill him so he can go to Ragnarok. It’s a solid plan. I just sure hope nothing goes wrong. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Glorious Purpose & Full Season 2 – T.V. Review

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TL;DR – They absolutely stick the landing in such a way that I might have a touch of hope that the MCU finally knows where it is going.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End Credit Scene.

The whole team.

Loki Review –


We have reached the end of Loki’s second season, and I have to say that I am in a much better position with this show now than I was this time last season. The writers have condensed the width of the show, but by doing that, they have given it the depth it needed. But the question remains: can they stick the landing? And we will look at that and then the season as a whole in our review today. (Spoiler: the answer is yes)

So to set the scene, things are bad: the temporal loom has exploded, the TVA has been abandoned, and only Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) can remember their time there. But in Science/Fiction, Loki discovered how to control his time-slipping. It is not about how, it is about who, it is the driver who is to protect his friends that is the driving push behind is control. Loki is no longer the God of Mischief, a loner messing with people for japes. But what has he become? Well, that is a fascinating question. We will be looking at the episode and the series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Troll – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fantastic monster film that crashes through the Norwegian countryside, leaving very little in its wake.    

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film

The destruction of a house.

Troll Review –

I have wanted to explore more of world cinema for a while, and one area where I have been trying to expand my knowledge is Scandinavia. I have not visited a film from this region in a time, and never one from Norway. With reports of a new Kaiju film out of that region all about a troll on a rampage, I knew that this was the perfect time to jump back in.

 So to set the scene, at Trolltindene, Romsdalen, in Norway, Nora (Ameli Olving Sælevik) and her father Tobias (Gard B. Eidsvold) climb up a cliff face. Once they reach the top, they see The Troll Peaks, and Nora relates the fairy tale of a big troll wedding where 13 trolls got too drunk, and when the sun rose, they were turned to stone. Twenty years later, on the Atlantic coast of Norway, Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann), now a palaeontologist, is rejoicing because they finally found a fossil. But in the village of Hjerkinn, in the Dovrefjell mountain range, a rail tunnel is being controversially cut through the mountain. But the last explosive charge does not just blow up some rock. It wakes a creature from its slumber, an angry beast.

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Violent Night – Movie Review

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TL;DR – The sleigh bells ring as Santa takes out one henchman after another.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Santa and his reindeer.

Violent Night Review –

Some concepts for a film intrigue you by their very existence. For example: what if Santa must carve his way through a pile of mercenaries to save a young girl who truly believes in him? A concept that answers once and all the question ‘is Die Hard a Christmas film?’ by straight up making it one. Well, that is a film that gets my immediate attention.

So to set the scene, Santa (David Harbour) is getting wasted in a bar in Bristol, England. The constant consumerism of Christmas is wearing him down, and this might be his final year. Meanwhile, in Greenwich, Connecticut, Linda (Alexis Louder) is picking up Jason (Alex Hassell) so that their daughter Trudy (Leah Brady), can have a normal Christmas. Well, as normal as you can when you are separated, and you are part of one of the wealthiest families in America under the all-seeing eyes of matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo). But as Santa arrives at the house to drop off Trudy’s presents, Mr Scrooge (John Leguizamo) and his gang storm the house, kill the staff and take the whole family hostage. There is $300 million on the line, and now Santa is stuck in the middle of it.

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The Northman – Movie Review

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TL;DR – The Northman is unrelenting, uncomfortable, unyielding, and uncompromising

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Bjork as a witch in a wheat headdress

The Northman Review –

When I heard that Robert Eggers was making a new film, I was interested because his last work, The Lighthouse, well, it was ‘a lot’, but it was also fascinating from start to finish. Then I heard it would be a Norse epic tale of revenge and carnage. Well, I was intrigued. But when I heard that early reviews were calling it ‘impenetrably Norse’, I had to check it out because that is my jam.

So to set the scene, in 985AD, on the Atlantic coast, young Prince Amleth (Oscar Novak) looks out into the sea and sees that his father, King Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke), has returned from his raids. With his Mother, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), he greets his father and discovers that he was wounded in the last battle. After Aurvandill’s brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang) arrives, Gudrún counsels her husband that Amleth needs to start the process of becoming a man. Aurvandill takes Amleth to the Heimir (Willem Dafoe), the fool and seer, to have a vision. But as they leave the temple, Aurvandill is ambushed and murdered, and as Amleth runs, he sees that the murderer is his uncle Fjölnir. Many years later, in the Lands of the Rus, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) is a berserker taking out villages when he is reminded of his duty to avenge his father’s murder.

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Loki: Glorious Purpose – TV Review

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TL;DR – A complete set-up episode that was still filled with a lot of potential.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Loki: Glorious Purpose. Image Credit: Disney+.

Loki: Glorious Purpose Review –

Of all the recent MCU/Disney+ shows, there has been one that I have felt a lot of trepidation for. The Character of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) had its big arc after the events of Avengers, so resetting him back to that mark. Well, it felt like it would take a lot of work to stick that landing. In today’s episode, we get to see if it all holds up or not.   

So to set the scene, we start right at the time heist amid Avengers Endgame, where Loki took an opportunity to escape when the Tesseract lands in front of him. Something that decidedly did not happen in the original Avengers. With the Infinity Stone’s power, Loki jumps out of New York and lands in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. He immediately starts on his “you shall kneel” shtick when a door opens up and some goons in black walk out. Loki is charged with crimes against the Sacred Timeline and immediately punched in slow motion. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Movie Review – Thor: Ragnarok

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TL;DR – A visual extravaganza, Taika Waititi with the cast and crew gave their all to this film, and it amazing to watch.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a Mid and End Credit Scene

Thor: Ragnarok. Image Credit: Marvel/Disney

Review –

Wow, what an amazing end to a film trilogy, and one of the strongest so far for Marvel. I’ve always had a kind of indecisive feeling towards the Thor films so far. They have been a case of fantastic casting matched with just ok storylines. Now when you have Anthony Hopkins going gangbusters, then even a bad script will look good, but overall I just thought the Thor films were ok and nothing more. To be fair, I think it was a testament to the quality of Marvel’s films that while Thor might have been my least favourite Marvel films it was because they were only ok, not fantastic. However, I was honestly wondering with everyone doing their big Cinematic Universes now if superhero fatigue would set in given my relationship with the films so far, but nope this film was a riot from start to end and I highly recommend it. So today we will set the scene, and then have a look at all the factors that went into making the film work. However because of the nature of Thor Ragnarok and its story, we are going to hit spoilers much earlier than we would normally do, so to be on the safe side I am implementing a [SPOILER] warning from this point onwards.

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