(no subject)
May. 13th, 2012 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bobcatmoranLess than an hour in, and I'm having the sort of bang-up Mother's Day I always seem to have, which is the sort that one has while being bombarded with "DO THINGS WITH/FOR YOUR MOM" messages when your mom died eleven years ago. Easily my least favorite holiday. Every. Single. Year.
Also, I apparently was an idiot, typed up an entire entry like last Monday, and then forgot to hit "post." So here's what I thought of The Avengers (yay mood whiplash):
Despite the good reviews, I was doing my best to keep my expectations down, as I think the last time I've anticipated something this much for this long it was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was a horrible disappointment and is still to this day my least favorite book of the entire series. Also, my only other experience with the Avengers as a team is via "The Ultimates" comic series, which does a spectacular job of portraying all the superheroes as enormous assholes. (to this day, I cannot read a comic with Hank Pym in it without going, "No, no, don't work with him! He's a terrible person!"
Expectations: met and exceeded. It's a great superhero movie, action-packed, with enough humor to give it levity. Especial kudos go out to whoever storyboarded the big climactic action sequence, as that could've easily gone the way of focusing only on one character or just becoming a confusing mess. Instead, it manages to weave together what is essentially four or five simultaneous action sequences, giving all the members of the team a chance or four at being awesome. Other (spoilery) stuff that I loved :
-"I get that reference!"
-"His first name is Agent" Coulson and how he is (was?) a huge Captain America fanboy. I am seriously hoping that his death turns out to be a comic book death, i.e. not actually dead at allbecause Nick Fury is a manipulative bastard because Coulson is like totally my favorite character in the franchise, no lies.
-Tony Stark and Bruce Banner: Science buddies
-Actually, just Bruce Banner/Hulk in general. He's the one character that I was kind of "meh" about going in, but Ruffalo did an amazing job, and the Hulk CGI was for once totally believable (wish I could say the same for CGI!Cap — there were at least three places where I kind of cringed at that).
-The old man in Stuttgart standing up and saying, "There are always men like you." Really, Loki, making a speech like that in Germany, of all places?
-Mjölnir + Captain America's shield (aka unstoppable object + immovable wall) = Tungusca event. Just the look on Cap's face…
-Actual concern for civillians, and giving the (non-superhero) authorities something useful to do. You never see that in these sort of movies.
-The Black Widow outsmarting Loki. On Monday morning, discussing the movie with the three other office fanboys (I managed to worm my way into their ranks by being able to explain who Nightwing was when it came up during an office meeting — don't ask), this was agreed upon as one of the crowning moments of awesome, second only to...
-Hulk's eloquent response to Loki's speechifying. Apparently this was followed by Hulk saying, "Puny God," but I didn't hear it as the entire theater was laughing and cheering.
Also, if you haven't seen it yet, and you're in the US, stay through the entire end credits. There's one bonus scene after the shiny animated credits, but the really good one is after you sit and watch the names of the eleventy thousand special effects artists scroll by.
Also, I apparently was an idiot, typed up an entire entry like last Monday, and then forgot to hit "post." So here's what I thought of The Avengers (yay mood whiplash):
Despite the good reviews, I was doing my best to keep my expectations down, as I think the last time I've anticipated something this much for this long it was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was a horrible disappointment and is still to this day my least favorite book of the entire series. Also, my only other experience with the Avengers as a team is via "The Ultimates" comic series, which does a spectacular job of portraying all the superheroes as enormous assholes. (to this day, I cannot read a comic with Hank Pym in it without going, "No, no, don't work with him! He's a terrible person!"
Expectations: met and exceeded. It's a great superhero movie, action-packed, with enough humor to give it levity. Especial kudos go out to whoever storyboarded the big climactic action sequence, as that could've easily gone the way of focusing only on one character or just becoming a confusing mess. Instead, it manages to weave together what is essentially four or five simultaneous action sequences, giving all the members of the team a chance or four at being awesome. Other (spoilery) stuff that I loved :
-"I get that reference!"
-"His first name is Agent" Coulson and how he is (was?) a huge Captain America fanboy. I am seriously hoping that his death turns out to be a comic book death, i.e. not actually dead at all
-Tony Stark and Bruce Banner: Science buddies
-Actually, just Bruce Banner/Hulk in general. He's the one character that I was kind of "meh" about going in, but Ruffalo did an amazing job, and the Hulk CGI was for once totally believable (wish I could say the same for CGI!Cap — there were at least three places where I kind of cringed at that).
-The old man in Stuttgart standing up and saying, "There are always men like you." Really, Loki, making a speech like that in Germany, of all places?
-Mjölnir + Captain America's shield (aka unstoppable object + immovable wall) = Tungusca event. Just the look on Cap's face…
-Actual concern for civillians, and giving the (non-superhero) authorities something useful to do. You never see that in these sort of movies.
-The Black Widow outsmarting Loki. On Monday morning, discussing the movie with the three other office fanboys (I managed to worm my way into their ranks by being able to explain who Nightwing was when it came up during an office meeting — don't ask), this was agreed upon as one of the crowning moments of awesome, second only to...
-Hulk's eloquent response to Loki's speechifying. Apparently this was followed by Hulk saying, "Puny God," but I didn't hear it as the entire theater was laughing and cheering.
Also, if you haven't seen it yet, and you're in the US, stay through the entire end credits. There's one bonus scene after the shiny animated credits, but the really good one is after you sit and watch the names of the eleventy thousand special effects artists scroll by.
