Shit and Shinola

​Not everything you write will be perfect. Not every rewrite will turn shit to Shinola. The fact is everyone is going to write something that doesn’t quite make it. Granted, some people will love it. But, down in your heart, you will know that it’s not perfect. Some will be near misses; others will involve the broadsides of barns and horseshoes and hand grenades. No matter. You will keep writing because you know this. Even the great Taika Waititi fails.
 
And with that out of the way, let’s have a quick review of the latest Thor. Let’s get some perspective. If I had to give a grade to his previous Marvel film, Thor: Ragnarock (2017), it would be an A++. It was 130 minutes but felt much shorter, the humor flowed naturally and was never forced, and it was awesome. A perfect blend of all the right elements. Cut to 5 years later and Thor: Love and Thunder. 117 minutes (so it is shorter). Great cast with terrific performances by Christian Bale and Natalie Portman, a large city of people working on special effects, and with a result of it being not as good. Just doesn’t compare. It is almost a case of trying too hard. And there is no better example of this than the Zeus sequence. Overlong, overblown, forced. 
 
Is there a lesson here besides waiting for these films to show up on Disney Plus? Yes. Every artist will produce material that is not always equal to their best. Often, there will be great scenes that somehow do not add up to a whole. Sometimes, it has to do with us, sometimes our environment, and sometimes it is just Disney/Marvel and as Robert Blake fondly referred to them as the “suits.” It is never from lack of trying but is merely a law of the universe. 
 
Just keep on writing. Even the best pitcher hits an occasional batter. Even the great Taika Waititi misses the plate. No worries. You will have several more attempts to get it over the plate. Keep pitching.