Now, I'm not a huge MCU fan--I like some of the movies, but the only other ones I own are the founding Iron Man and the two Guardians of the Galaxy volumes, and T:R definitely reminds me of the latter. There's an oddball looseness to the humor that I really like, and the serious moments are allowed to land naturally, instead of being pounded into place by dramatic music or belabored camera angles. Is it doing anything new? Not really--the first time I watched it I was able to predict beat by beat through most of the movie. But it didn't feel stale, more like I'd somehow already seen it before and knew I loved it: an old favorite that I simply hadn't had a chance to see yet.
Neither the original Thor or Avengers movies left much of an impression on me (heresy, I know)--I did like some of the glimpses we got of Thor in them, but his character as a whole didn't really catch my interest. The guy on display in T:R, though? He's pretty cool. I mean, he's also a ridiculous idiot at times, but that doesn't affect the core of him, and he never stops moving long enough any of the potential embarrassment to land. And when he needs to be, he's full-on awesome, and I use that word deliberately. He feels like a potential 'god' in this, rather than just a long-lived, durable alien.
But if you're interested in some coherent discussion of the movie, I'd suggest zmediaoutlet's review, or puckity's essay Scene, Interrupted: "The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard". (Mad spoilers in both, as might be expected.)
Also, this movie is at times breath-takingly gorgeous:
I'll admit that SPN's "War of the Worlds" didn't leave quite as clear an impression. Having watched it several weeks ago, at this point what I remember the most was that I liked the pacing. Which sounds weird, I'm sure, but is really very high praise for your basic "maneuvering the pieces into place for the next chunk of the season arc" episode. I enjoyed it as it unfolded, even though it's sort of a vague blur now. But I do have a few specifics of things I liked:
- That was actually a semi-plausible way to bring Ketch back into the picture; just goes to show why you should always salt and burn the body (circumstances allowing, of course).
- Confession: I like this AU version of Kevin a lot more than the guy we got s7-9.
- Asmodeus's "evil Colonel Sanders" schtick continues to entertain me--I don't know why, but I find him a fun villain to watch, in a very different way than Crowley. (Actually, that's true of the villain in T:R, as well--Hela's admittedly somewhat a one-note character, but it's an excellently tuned note; so too Asmodeus, for the most part).
- (Another confession: There was something very satisfying about Dean nonchalantly smacking Ketch around.)