Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

The third Thor movie owes a lot to the Guardians of the Galaxy films in both tone (lighter) and space (as in that's where most of it is set). There are the increasingly obligatory cross over appearances, in this Hulk and Dr. Strange, these work for the film. Jeff Goldblum and Catch Blanchett are here as well, with the latter being particularly under used. Chris Hemsworth gets to be funnier and show more personality in the title role then he has in the past, and the whole movie felt freer, in large part because they were not trying to show horn Natalie Portman and her side characters into the film, and I don't think we will be seeing them again. Tessa Thompson is a welcome addition to the cast. There is a twist in this film that I didn't see coming and has the potential to really alter the trajectory of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Too many Marvel films feel like they are just connective tissue stringing together multi tired franchises, this film had more of a heft to it then I'd expected, and was still rather fun. ***