Cowboys & Aliens

Woodrow Dolarhyde: What are you all choked up about?

Emmett Taggart: I'm worried about my grandpa.

Woodrow Dolarhyde: Look. When I was just a little bit older than you are now, all this was Mexico. Word came that the Apaches was riding towards a settlement called Arivaca. My father wanted me to be a man, so made me ride out with the garrison, banging on a drum. Boy, was I scared. Well, we got there, it was too late. They were all dead and the whole place was burnt down. This settler fella came crawling out of a burning cabin. He was bad. He knew he was gonna die. Burnt bad. He rolled over, looked up into my eyes, and he said "Kill me."

Emmett Taggart: What did you do?

[takes the knife from Emmett's belt buckle]

Woodrow Dolarhyde: I took this knife off his belt and I slit his throat. Take it.

[Emmett takes the knife back]

Woodrow Dolarhyde: Be a man.

I think Harrison Ford plays a character in this film that can match pretty much any John Wayne persona in terms of true grit. And let's face it, Quorra is pretty cute, too:

Thor

Thor: The Jotuns must pay for what they have done!
Odin: They have paid, with their lives. The Destroyer did its work, the Casket is safe, and all is well.
Thor: All is well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants have stolen even one of these relics...
Odin: They didn't.
Thor: Well I want to know why!
Odin: I have a truce with Laufey, king of the Jotuns.
Thor: He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable!
Odin: What action would you take?
Thor: March into Jotunheim as you once did! Teach them a lesson! Break their spirits, so they would never dare try to cross our borders again!
Odin: You're thinking only as a warrior.
Thor: This was an act of war!
Odin: It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail.
Thor: Look how far they got!
Odin: We will find the breach in our defenses and it will be sealed.
Thor: As king of Asgard...!
Odin: BUT YOU'RE NOT KING! Not yet.

"A wise king never seeks out war. But - he must always be ready for it." I like the antiwar message of this movie and the way that Thor has to learn humility and compassion. He has to learn to be grateful for what he has and to treat other people with dignity. He shows as much when he offers to sacrifice himself to save his friends:

Thor: Brother, however I have wronged you, whatever I have done that has led you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent, taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine, and end this.

No, it's not OK to kill frost giants just because they're different from you. It's not OK to kill innocent people because of the actions of a few radicals. The arrogant Thor from the beginning of the film reminds me of the the wicked Nephites who gloried in their own strength and craved battle. They got it in their heads that they could take the fight to the Lamanites. Big mistake.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by J. Michael Straczynski? Sweet. Also got me interested in Norse mythology.