I think it is a fascinating book. But still I didn't see even a smidge of cinema in it so was amazed at the result.
I think it is a fascinating book. But still I didn't see even a smidge of cinema in it so was amazed at the result.
"The Raven" - It was a pretty interesting concept. Overall, I liked the film, and it was pretty tense in parts. And I always love seeing John Cusack. The end seemed a bit abrupt, though.
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
"Safe" - I've really gotten to like Jason Statham and his movies. I enjoyed the movie overall, and there were, as expected, lots of fighting scenes and chases and things blown up. Parts of the story/plot were really interesting, but the movie didn't really wow me.
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
The Descendants 9/10
Carrie (1976) 9/10 - One of the best tales of revenge in any movie.
GO PADRES
Flash Gordon OMG I had forgotten how utterly cheesy this film was, but it is still one of my favorites. Just a totally fun ride.
Cruising the Seas... Looking for the Pearl
We took DS to see The Pirates! Band of Misfits. We all really enjoyed it. Really funny and a good storyline. Held my 3 year old's attention from start to finish.
Nichole
Too tired to write a review tonight, but I'll have one up for The Avengers tomorrow. In the meantime, short version:
Loads of fan service, great laughs, strong character development, incredibly fun. The narrative itself wasn't particularly amazing, but considering everything the film accomplished I can't get too hung up on that. If you like these characters you'll love this movie, it's that simple.
A-
"The Avengers" - Awesome. Seriously awesome. No, really, I mean it.
ETA: Oh, and you're going to want to stay until THE VERY END OF THE MOVIE, as in, after all the credits are done.
Last edited by cstephens; 05-04-2012 at 03:07 AM.
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
Over the last four years Marvel Studios has done something completely unprecedented, they attempted to take the complex and sometimes obtuse method of cross-continuity storytelling that is commonplace in comics and bring it to a series of Hollywood blockbusters. The results were fairly mixed with most of the movies fitting somewhere on the scale of B- to B+ and not a whole lot of ambition to exceed that range (with the exception of Captain America: The First Avenger which I would say is the only one that really seemed to strive for greatness). There were some frustrations along the way, Iron Man 2 getting a bit bogged down in cross-continuity exposition being the worst offender, but the expectation was always that it would all be worth it if the payoff worked. Boy does it ever work.
The Avengers, for my money, probably contains the most fan-service per minute of any movie in the history of cinema. The movie doesn't waste anytime bringing you up to speed on what's gone on before, so the other five movies really are required viewing, but for fans it's an absolute dream come true. Seeing these characters that have been established and developed through five different films come together in one place creates one of the most satisfying feelings I've ever experienced from a movie. As much as I was looking forward to this film I don't think I could have comprehended just how incredible it would be to see Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor occupy the same screen space.
Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and particularly Robert Downey, Jr. have crafted iconic performances out of these characters and each one has such a firmly rooted sense of character that it's rather remarkable that when they all have to share the spotlight nothing is lost in translation. The chemistry between these characters is impeccable and seeing them riff off of each other, banter, and eventually work together as a cohesive team is truly the joy of this movie, and watching them play off of each other elevates each performance to a whole new level not seen in the previous films. Even Mark Ruffalo's performance as Bruce Banner and Hulk (replacing Edward Norton from The Incredible Hulk) fits seamlessly in with the rest of the cast and almost instantly solidifies his status as an icon alongside these other characters despite this being his first shot at the role.
Speaking of Hulk, Mark Ruffalo's performance is definitely the biggest surprise of the movie. I wasn't sold on him when I first heard about the casting, but he completely owns the part and creates by far the best version of the character ever to be put to film.
It's worth noting that when I say that they share the spotlight, I really mean it. No single Avenger is really the star of the show by themselves, each of the four heroes has a leading role and never feel like supporting cast. Striking this balance between four main characters who each need their own development and moments to shine is an incredibly daunting task and the movie could have easily collapsed under its own weight (in fact, at times the characters almost threaten to overpower the narrative, more on that in a minute) but Joss Wheadon's (Creator of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and general nerd icon) skill as both a writer and director manages to maintain the juggling act without seeming to break a sweat. This film has Wheadon's fingerprints all over it, and he is really the glue that holds the whole thing together. Even with all the strong performances, without Wheadon directing I don't think this film would have worked.
As I mentioned, though, the film isn't perfect. The point of the movie is to bring these separate characters together into one film and make them feel like they've always belonged together, and on that, the most important element, the movie exceeds every expectation. However, in order to accomplish this the narrative often has to take a back seat to the sheer task of tying these separate threads together. On the merits of the narrative alone this isn't the strongest super hero film, and movies like Spider-Man 2, The Incredibles, The Dark Knight, and even Captain America surpass it. That being said, this doesn't diminish the enjoyment of the film. Assembling the Avengers and having a plot heavy film would likely have made the thing feel bloated and unmanageable, and when you're forced to choose it's almost always better to focus on character over narrative. This is another reason why Joss Wheadon was the perfect fit for this film because his work has always been about taking characters and creating a family, and that is exactly what was needed in The Avengers; taking these larger than life characters and making the team more than the sum of its parts.
Marvel already has sequels for Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America in the works (as well as talk about a new Incredible Hulk movie) leading up to The Avengers 2, but I have to wonder, can they ever go back? After seeing these characters all come together in The Avengers will audiences be satisfied with a movie that's just about Captain America or just about Iron Man? All I know is that the greatness of The Avengers is going to be a double edged sword for Marvel. For Phase 2 of The Avengers Initiative B+ movies aren't going to cut it any more, we'll need to see much stronger films leading up to The Avengers 2 if they want to maintain this momentum.
While not the greatest super hero movie ever made, The Avengers' clever script, remarkable performances, and unashamed fan service make it easily one of the best. It's bold, it's ambitious, it's incredibly funny without devolving into self-parody, and it's probably the most fun super hero movie this side of Spider-Man 2.
A-
By the way, I shouldn't even have to tell you at this point, but stay all the way through the credits. There will be a moment part way through when you think it's okay to leave, but it's not. Stay through the entire thing.
While he is signed on to star in Iron Man 3, even Robert Downey Jr. himself isn't so sure how long he will be able to go on playing the part (though his perfectly willing to run with it as long as he can). He is currently 47 and an Avengers 2 is probably at least 3 years away, maybe longer. Marvel producer and principal master-mind Kevin Feige has said that they are perfectly acceptable in recasting the part should Downey bow out. The series will continue as long as the market supports it.Originally Posted by IllusionOfLife
PS: I agree that Spiderman 2 was maybe the best superhero movie made by any studio. (And Spiderman 3 may have been the worst). I also thought Captain America was a more solid movie in its story telling than either Thor or Iron Man 2. The original Iron Man is special though because it set the table for what we have now. Without its popularity or success, we problay would not be in this current run of 9 or 10 pictures (Samuel L. Jackson is contracted for 9).
Writing about all things Disney, a couple of paragraphs at a time.
http://disneylandtraveler.blogspot.com/
48000 page views and counting
I wanna see the rumoured Nick Fury movie.
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
Spiderman 2 is everything you could want out of a superhero movie and its a movie you can take your kids (say over 7) to. The current Disney/Marvel series falls right in place with this. The Dark Knight is great, disturbingly great, but that PG-13 really is about 13. The graphic scenes of threatening violence kind of remove it out the comic book realm. Its in a class by itself. Most of your worst ever superhero movies were pretty much forgettable. Spiderman 3 - so bad, so big of a let down from its predecessors, that its one of the few movies that flat out made me angry. We'll see about the rebooted Spiderman this summer.
Writing about all things Disney, a couple of paragraphs at a time.
http://disneylandtraveler.blogspot.com/
48000 page views and counting
Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, but unfortunately I don't have too much hope for The Amazing Spider-Man. It was rushed into production so that Sony could hold onto the rights and that by itself is enough to make me concerned, then on top of that they're trying to make Spider-Man "dark" and "gritty" which has never been Spider-Man's thing. Also, the fact that they're apparently drastically re-working the origin story worries me too. I'm hoping to be surprised, but I don't have a lot of hope right now.
Great. Now I have the image of the last Nick Fury movie burned in my head. But I would like to see a Samuel L Jackson version. (If only to purge that mental image.)
Last movie seen: Gulliver's Travels (w/ Jack Black). Pretty solid departure from the book. Iit primarily focuses on the Lilliputins (sp?), barely touches upon the second island and third is only referenced in the credits.) Glad I saw it on one of the movie channels. I would have hated to pay to see it in a theater.
Hahahahahah!!
So dead on with your review. Absolutely everything I would have and could have said about it
"Pirates! Band of Misfits" -- very clever, good pacing, very good voice work from Hugh Grant. Overall, a really fun film.
Oh, right, that reminds me.
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" - I didn't much care for the film. I didn't hate it, but I found myself getting bored and restless about half an hour into the film. I'd really liked the trailer, but the film itself just seemed to "miss" for me.
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
How did you like "Chicken Run"? That might be a good test for whether people will enjoy "Pirates!" Aardman animation has such quirky humor, and we enjoyed all the jokes and trivia references in the backgrounds.
I've always loved Aardman's work, but I too was a bit disappointed in The Pirates! I'm not sure exactly what it was, the writing was very clever, and I chuckled through a lot of the movie, but there were very few legitimate laugh out loud moments to be had. It certainly didn't live up to the standard set by the likes of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, at least not in my opinion.
I loved "Chicken Run".
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
Maybe it's because DH is in a science field, but we had several laugh-out-loud moments and enjoyed all the nerdy references. But, we agree with IllusionOfLife, "Pirates!" is not as charming as Wallace & Gromit.
Avengers. One of the best action movies I have ever seen.
I loved Chicken Run. Found Pirates very "meh" and mildly boring. I had screened it, but ended up not writing a review because I just couldn't work up any energy for it one way or another.
That's the best description I can think of. Thanks for that. Totally agree.
Now different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty, pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different who couldn't figure that out
But beautiful, I'd never live to see
But it was clear, if not to her, well, then to me.
blah blah blah blah
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