THE AVENGERS.

It started with Iron Man in 2008, and then The Incredible Hulk soon after. From there we received Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America, with the characters of Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, Black Widow, and Hawkeye sprinkled throughout. For 5 years, Hollywood has been building to the moment when these characters would assemble together to form The Avengers. There's been skepticism and excitement leading to this moment, a lot of it centered around director Joss Whedon. With so much build up, so much hype, so much anticipation... could it possibly have been any good?

This time, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wants revenge for his banishment by his brother Thor (Chris Hemsworth) by taking over the Earth realm. With the help of an alien race, Loki goes after the Tesseract, a dangerous energy cube that could destroy the entire planet alone. So now Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) must once again attempt to assemble the Avengers to help stop him. They go for the wisecracking genius with a suit of armor, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.); the super-human soldier from the past, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans); the gamma-radiated scientist who might be the only one who could find the stolen tesseract, Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo); and then include his own agents, the Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

The biggest question of everyone's minds was... how can Joss Whedon pull off such an ensemble cast battling for screen time? Surely some were going to be left out more or left underdeveloped; he couldn't possibly give equal time to all of these characters and still have a good and/or cohesive film. But I guess these people don't watch a lot of Whedon, because thats basically one of the things he does best. While I was watching, I kept wanting to say "Oh, RDJ is stealing this movie." But then 10 seconds later, it'd be like "Oh, The Hulk is stealing this movie" and then "Oh, Scarlett Johansson is awesome in this," etc. Of course, Whedon's not a moron. He played up fan favorite Tony Stark, giving him some of the best lines. Everybody has their highlights in this movie, though. Jeremy Renner comes closest to being left behind, but the reason is pretty obvious--he's the least known of the bunch. He builds him up just enough to keep an interest in him and make him cool, but Whedon doesn't put a ton of focus on him; he keeps that on the characters the mainstream audience actually already know and want to see. The biggest surprise, though? The Hulk. After two incarnations on the big screen (one terrible, the other decent), I think Whedon finally hit the nail on the head. Ruffalo's Banner is solid, and the Hulk itself looks good and has some fantastic moments in the third act (actually, he probably has the two of the best moments in the entire movie).

Speaking of the third act... has that not been the bane of the pre-Avenger movies' existences? It seemed every time, we were all left underwhelmed by the "final boss battles." There was all the build up and then... short and not very exciting. But not this time. The third act is fantastic. The city-wide battle is outstanding, and Whedon makes sure every character has at least two or three moments to really shine. And yes, the final fight against Loki himself might be incredibly short, but it's easily one of the greatest moments in the entire film. I don't think there was a single person in the audience who wasn't laughing and cheering at that moment. Simply fantastic.

Outside the wonderful action sequences (mostly in the second half of the film), there's a good mix of comedy and drama. And just like with the action, everyone gets a turn. There's the rivalry between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers; the bond between Black Widow and Hawkeye; the isolation and worry of Bruce Banner; the trusting of Thor amongst the Avengers themselves, as well as the relationship between Thor and Loki; and, of course, Agent Coulson just being the scene stealer that he is. Of course, at the same time, the scenes in between the action can be a bit slow at times, but the ones that drag never linger too long before something strikes your fancy.

So in the end, I think it really worked. I saw it with a few other people, one of which hadn't seen any of the Pre-Avengers flicks, and he still really liked the movie. So I guess prior viewing doesn't necessarily matter, but I'm sure it definitely helps some of the deeper understandings of the characters and their past relationships with others. If you want to see a great comic book movie with awesome action and some nice comedy, check this out (if you haven't already). As a side note, I also saw this in 3D. It didn't hinder the movie whatsoever, but it's not totally necessary, either. It's, again, one of the more atmospheric types. So if you're wondering whether to see it in 2D or 3D, it doesn't matter one way or the other. The 3D won't hurt your experience, but it's not gonna blow you away, either. Anyway, I had a really great time with this, and I'm definitely going to check it out again.



Royale With Cheese


(P.S. Make sure you stay after the credits! There's a scene about halfway through and another at the very end. The one halfway through is a sequel hint, and the one at the end is just comedic.)

R2D2's Ultimate Top 10 Countdown Of The 2000s #9 - Decade Specials.

[For the last 10 days of the decade, I'm doing a Top 10 list a day, all culminating into an ultimate post of Top 10 lists. We have previously seen Top 10 Comedies, Dramas, Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Foreign, Musicals, and Action/Thrillers. Now we're moving on.]

Note: Today was originally going to be big Oscar-related films, and I've been trying to catch up with those I hadn't seen yet (for instance, in the last couple days, I watched both Michael Clayton and The Wrestler (reviews forthcoming)). But I still have one more I need to watch (Milk), which I'll be doing later today, but I don't want to delay the list, so I'm gonna go ahead and post the list I was going to do tomorrow, and then do my Oscar list tomorrow. So let's get to it.

Top 10 Decade Specials of the 2000s

What does this mean, exactly? Well, if the 2000s were anything, they were known for certain types of films. It's been known as the decade of the superhero, as well as the decade of remakes (and, occasionally, remakes (and/or reboots) of superhero films). So this is the list that takes the best of the remakes and the superhero fare of the past decade and puts them all together in one list. So let's go for it.

10. Disturbia (2007)

A modern remake of Hitchcock's Rear Window. It has a pretty good cast list, led up by Shia LaBeouf, Carrie-Anne Moss, and David Morse. Instead of the broken leg, we have a a kid under house arrest (with one of those little ankle bracelet things). It's a fun little thriller where, at times, you're really not sure if Morse is a bad guy or not (I mean, you know he is, but still. It's similar to this year's A Perfect Getaway... the ending is obvious, but it still makes you second guess yourself). It also has some nice eye candy in the form of Sarah Roemer who, unfortunately, hasn't really done anything else major.

9. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Some might disagree with me here, but I really enjoyed this movie. It was also infinitely better than the other Hulk attempt a few years prior, which was a total snooze-fest. Great cast with Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, and Tim Blake Nelson. There's even a fun cameo by Lou Ferrigno (and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark at the very end). Will Edward Norton be along for The Avengers? Let's hope so. But either way, this film had some good action, humor, and special effects.

8. Sky High (2005)

Call it a guilty pleasure if you must, but this was an original take on the superhero genre. It's also light and fun for the whole family, if need be, so you don't have to worry about the darkness of a lot of the more recent superhero films. It's like Harry Potter with superheroes instead of wizards, and it's full of fun appearances, such as Bruce Campbell, Lynda Carter, Dave Foley, and Cloris Leachman, along with its more main cast of Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Danielle Panabaker, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. For those who don't know, think of it like a live-action Incredibles, but without superheroes being banned/in-the-closet. Michael Angarano's parents are super famous, but he has no powers to speak of, and ends up going to Sky High (superhero school), only to end up in sidekick classes. He makes friends, enemies, and even a potential love interest... who might be more than she seems. A great film I recommend if you've never seen it.

7. Watchmen (2009)

Now this would be the complete opposite of the previous film. It's about as dark as they come. I was a fan of the original comic (except the squid-tastic ending, which I was incredibly happy they changed for the movie). Jackie Earle Haley was brilliant as Rorschach, and I'd even say deserving of an Oscar for his role, though that ain't gonna happen. Regardless of what you thought of the movie, his was one of the best performances of the year... and you rarely even saw his face.

6. Ocean's 11 (2001)

An all-star cast in this remake of the 1960 film of the same name, this is a great heist film... most would say (and I'd agree) one of the best. The cast totally works off each other well, and you can tell they're having fun. Not much else to say about the film. I love heist films, and I love this one.

5. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

This is the best of the Spider-Man flicks, and most would agree. Doc Ock is a great villain, but it also leads into the eventual transformation of Harry into the Green Goblin 2 (in the less-than approved third film). This has a lot of good action and great special effects. I'm still not sure how I feel about (spoiler alert if, for whatever reason, you haven't seen it yet) Doc Ock turning good at the end of the movie and sacrificing himself. It kinda took away a "Sinister 6" potential for future films (yet they let Sandman live in number 3. Go figure). Regardless, this is still in the top tier of superhero films.

4. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

I'm no fan of westerns by any means, nor do I go out of my way to see Russell Crowe, but I certainly loved this movie. (And no, Fletch, it's not simply because of Ben Foster... though that helps.) It has good character building, as well as a good anti-hero in Crowe's Ben Wade (well, anti-hero by the end of the movie). And speaking of the end... while a lot of people didn't like it, I loved it. I thought it was moving and it worked. An all-around great film.

3. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

In this remake of the Romero classic, the cast is larger and the zombies are faster. Sure, there are problems (with such a large cast, most of which don't come in until halfway through, there isn't a hell of a lot of character development). But when you have characters like Andy who you can't help but feel for, even though you see him up-close only once in the movie... or a guy like Steve, who makes you (love to) hate him almost right after you meet him. Or the character who has the best evolution throughout the movie, Michael Kelly's CJ, who goes from a grade-A ass to a likable hero over the course of the movie. From the brilliant opening to the heartbreaking (and then ironic) ending, it's fun all around. The movie is bloody, suspenseful, and action-packed. And what other movie can get away with shooting a baby in the face?

2. Iron Man (2008)

One of the biggest surprises of its year, Iron Man breathed life into a genre that was slowly dying. Mostly, it was thanks of Robert Downey Jr.'s quick-witted performance. The movie did fall prey to "origin story"-itis, where it takes a while to get to the hero action, and then the villain is more-or-less an alternate/evil version of the hero. But it all worked, and it worked well.

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

If you didn't know this would be at the top of the list, you've probably lived under a rock for the last couple years. Heralded as the best superhero movie ever made, The Dark Knight gave us Heath Ledger's final (brilliant) performance as The Joker. There's really nothing to say about this film that hasn't been already said by everybody and their mother, so I guess I'll just leave it at that.


End Note: I realize that I didn't include X-Men, the film that began the superhero craze, or its sequel, which is also placed pretty high on the superhero tier. But just to calm your nerves, X2 would probably fall at #11 on my overall list, if for anything, its fantastic opening sequence.

End Of The Year Best/Worst Spectacular!

Because every other movie blog in existence does it, why shouldn't I? Yes, it's time for my 'end of year' list of the best (and worst) everything of the year. And let me say now that these lists will only include movies that I've actually SEEN. And due to where I live, I haven't seen a lot of the higher-praised films of the year, such as Gran Torino, Milk, The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Doubt and Let The Right One In (though I've tried with this last one... but that's a long story).

And the total count for movies I've seen in theater this year is... 53. And then there were at least 5 or so that I saw afterward (on DVD or what have you) that came out this year, but I didn't get a chance to see in theater. So if you count those, I'm in the upper-50s. But otherwise, I've basically seen (in theater) about the equivalent of one movie a weekend, and that doesn't count all the movies I saw more than once. Anyway...

Just a few side notes before we get to the lists, however:

- This is the same list (just extended on in a few cases) for the LIONs for LAMBs poll over at the LAMB.

- I included The Orphanage in my list of options because it was released in January, even though it was up for Oscar noms for LAST year (and I guess is therefore considered a 'last year' movie). But as it wasn't officially released in the US until THIS year, I felt okay to include it.

- When it comes to the 'Worst' films of the year, it was somewhat difficult, because I often stay away from films I know are going to be bad, so I can't honestly say what the worst films of the year are except for those that I've actually seen. There's only one (well, three) exceptions, and those are the three Uwe Boll films that came out this year, but I didn't include those on the list because it's an automatic knowledge that this man's movies are always the worst of the year.

So without further ado, here are the lists:

The Top 10 Best Movies of the Year

10) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Just some all-around great fun, much like Iron Man was.

9) Changeling - Not everybody loved it. In fact, there were quite a few people who didn't like it at all. I don't think it'll win any Oscars, but I thought it was a great movie with some amazing acting.

8) Iron Man - Downey Jr. rocked. Nuff said.

7) The Orphanage - Again, it's a bit iffy whether this could be counted under 2007 or 2008, but as it's wide release was January 2008, I'm going with that. And I felt it was one of the best movies of the year at the beginning of the year. I still feel that now.

6) Burn After Reading - A slow start, but a great ensemble cast and some fun comedy about absolutely nothing. Brad Pitt was on a role this year.

5) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Either you loved it or you thought it was a bit too sentimental for your tastes. Personally, I loved it.

4) Role Models - Hands down the best comedy of the year. I don't care what others say. Yes, it was better than Pineapple Express and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

3) Kung Fu Panda - The second best animated film of the year. It doesn't have the deepest most intricate story, but the animation was great, the characters were great, the comedy was great... it was just great all around (and really, truly surprised me when I went to see it expecting not to like it).

2) The Dark Knight - In a close second, the movie didn't reach my number one position because I felt some of the actual Batman/Bruce Wayne scenes that did not include The Joker were lacking at times.

1) WALL*E - Not only the best animated film of the year, but I think the best overall film of the year. There's nothing about this movie I really dislike.

Top 5 Worst Movies of the Year

5) The Ruins - I saw this due to a trade-off. I would see this movie so that another fellow blogger would see a movie I wanted him to see. We both hated the respective film the other made us watch.

4) The Strangers - Either you think this movie was incredibly stupid and the most unscary thing you've ever seen... or you think it's simply the scariest movie ever made. Obviously I'm in the former group.

3) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - I knew it was going to be bad, but I was promised a Harry Potter trailer that I didn't get. So I got stuck with a bad movie without the good part to make up for it.

2) The Spirit - Hahahaha.... where to begin...

1) Diary of the Dead - Similar to The Orphanage, it could be a little iffy on the exact release of this film, but as its rather limited release was a few months into 2008, I went with that. And George Romero, I'm ashamed of you. What happened? This was just beyond awful.

Acting
(Note: Nobody from Diary of the Dead or The Spirit will be listed, as each entire cast would be under 'worst').

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark - Iron Man
(Again, he just owned the role).

Worst Actor in a Leading Role - Hayden Christensen as David Rice - Jumper
(Pure cardboard).

Best Actress in a Leading Role - Belén Rueda as Laura - The Orphanage
(I don't often notice acting in foreign films, but I noticed her. And that says something).

Worst Actress in a Leading Role - Liv Tyler as Kristen McKay - The Strangers
(It was between her and Zooey Deschanel in The Happening, but Zooey is my woman, so I just couldn't do it. So I went with Liv. How blank can you get? Well, there is Hayden Christensen...).

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Heath Ledger as The Joker - The Dark Knight
(Well, who else did you expect?).

Worst Actor in a Supporting Role - Luke Ford as Alex O'Connell - The Mummy 3
(No acting ability at all).

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Amy Ryan as Carol Dexter - Changeling
(She wasn't in it much, but she stole the show every time).

Worst Actress in a Supporting Role - Maria Bello as Evelyn O'Connell - The Mummy 3
(She was no Rachel Weisz).

Misc.

Best Cast - Burn After Reading
(Great year for Brad Pitt, though I think it was a great ensemble effort that was pushed that little extra to making this spot due to J.K. Simmons).

Best Movie Poster - The Dark Knight
(It was between that, Vantage Point, and Saw V. Regardless of what your opinions were of the latter two movies, they had some pretty cool looking posters. But I went with The Dark Knight because that movie had about a million different posters, and every one of them was awesome).

DVDs Or Death!

I almost forgot (and/or was too busy with... um... stuff) about this... which is ironic considering one of our few titles this week. I'm getting very close to wanting to pick the latter part of the title for DVDs Or Death!

Iron Man.

Brief Synopsis: Weapons Manufacturer Gets Change Of Heart (Literally) And Becomes Superhero.

Comments: One of the best movies of the summer, Iron Man is finally coming to DVD. The only negatives about this movie, to me, were the subpar climax and the female lead. Otherwise, this movie was awesome.

Viewing Option: Buy (like everyone else).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Brief Synopsis: Girl Breaks Up With Guy, Then Both End Up In Hawaii.

Comments: It's a Judd Apatow vehicle, but it only got so-so reviews. Didn't see it in theater, but I'll end up checking it out at some point, anyway.

Viewing Option: Rent.

Taxi To The Darkside.

Brief Synopsis: Documentary About U.S. Torture In Middle East.

Comments: Got a lot of recognition, obviously. I've been getting more and more into documentaries lately, so I might check it out.

Viewing Option: Rent or TV.

Summer of the Unexpected.

It’s been about a month and a half or so since the summer movie season has officially kicked off (with Iron Man), and it’s been a weird summer experience thus far. Movies that were expected to be bad or mediocre at best turned out to be good or the best, while movies that were expected to be good or the best have turned out not so great. And I’m not just talking about box office revenue or critic appraisal or denouncement, but average reception.

For instance, Iron Man didn’t have a whole lot of hype around it before it was released, and it turned out to be the biggest and best movie of the summer so far. Similarly, Speed Racer, while it was a flop at the box office and had a bad reception from professional critics, was mostly loved by the people who actually decided to go see it. On the other side of the spectrum, Narnia: Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones 4 were two sequels that were widely anticipated, and both turned out to be relatively average at best (the latter moreso hated than loved). More recently, Kung Fu Panda was a hit, Zohan was average, The Strangers wasn't scary, and The Happening—which had so much potential—is widely loathed. And now The Incredible Hulk, which had received flak simply because of the 2003 version and was all but ignored by bloggers everywhere, turned out to be just as good as if not better than (but at least compared to the success of) Iron Man.

So what does this say for the rest of summer? Is this a foreshadowing of events that means the movies that look great won’t be, or the movies that look awful will be great? If this is the case, then that means the following:

(Edit: Because more than one person has seemed to not get the joke of this post... the following list is actually the OPPOSITE of what my current feelings are for the movies... because, as mentioned before this point, every other movie has done opposite of what I have expected... so without further ado:)

-Get Smart won’t be funny at all.

-The Love Guru will be the next Austin Powers (oh wait...)

-Wall*E will bore kids and will be terrible.

-Wanted will be boring.

-Hancock will be truly disliked.

-Hellboy II will be one of Guillermo Del Toro’s worst movies.

-The Dark Knight will be like Spider-Man 3 (a lot of money, but widely disliked).

-Step Brothers will actually be funny.

-The X-Files is actually going to have an audience.

-The Mummy 3 will be the best in the series.

-Pineapple Express will be the worst Judd Apatow movie.

-Star Wars: The Clone Wars is going to set Box Office records.

-Tropic Thunder will flop, regardless of Robert Downey Jr.’s recent Iron Man success.

I mean, I’m hoping this is all false, because I’m looking forward to at least half of these films. But the way summer has been panning out recently, regardless of the money paid or the professional critic hatred, movies have been seemingly the opposite of what has been anticipated. So what are your thoughts? Leave me a comment or two, let’s have a discussion!

IRON MAN.

It’s the first big blockbuster of the season… and it delivers. I got to see the 8 PM Thursday Night showing, so I'm happy. Anyway, on to the review. Iron Man is about Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a billionaire weapons manufacturer who gets captured by terrorists demanding him to build a new-age missile. But, knowing that he’ll just be killed afterwards anyway, Stark creates a prototype armor suit instead and fights his way back home. After a change of heart (literally), he decides to fight the evil his own company has created. He builds the suit and fights the bad guys. That’s the basic gist of it.

I normally try to list all of the major cast members in the synopsis, but I really couldn’t this time. The reason? This movie was a one-man show. Robert Downey Jr. owned this movie on every level. He was smart, quick-witted, and hilarious (not to mention a badass superhero). Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, his air force friend, did a nice job. And Jeff Bridges (AKA The Dude) as Obadiah Stane did well, too. There was really only one acting complaint I had… which would be Academy Award Winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

Odd, huh? She just seemed really awkward and out of place in this movie (the title of which most thought would go to Downey Jr.). There were times she tried to be as quick-witted as Downey Jr., but it just didn’t work. Not to mention the climax of the movie in which Tony is whispering commands at her so she can help out, and she’s standing not too far away answering back in shouts (into her cell phone) for all to hear. Learn to whisper, woman.

Another thing, closely related to my previous comment, was the actual climax. One would think that Iron Man would use less weapons with normal humans and more weapons with giant robots. Apparently the movie thought differently. The final battle could have used a lot more action from the Iron Man suit. All it really did was fly around. But besides Gwyneth and the final battle, I have no complaints.

The movie did have some really cool action. The special effects were AMAZING. And, as previously stated, the movie as a whole was hilarious. It wasn’t as dark as Batman Begins, but wasn’t as light (nor as crappy) as Fantastic Four. There was a healthy mix of drama and comedy. And it totally sets it up for a sequel (in more ways than one). For those who haven’t heard yet, stick around until after the credits for a short scene. Really, it was a great movie that I’d love to see again (and again). Good fun.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. I don’t know if it’s just because he shaved his hair off, but The Dude’s head is enormous).

R2D2... The One With Superheroes.

Yeah, so... there's been a bunch of superhero movie (not the actual Superhero Movie, but movies with superheroes) news lately... felt like sharing.

- First, it was just recently confirmed that Harley Quinn is going to be in The Dark Knight, played by Sarah Jayne Dunn. It wasn't confirmed how much she's actually going to be in the movie, but she'll be there.

- Man, that new Iron Man trailer is sweet.

- I read a few days back that the reason Galactus was just a floating blob of a cloud in Fantastic Four 2 was because they're waiting to reveal the actual Galactus in the Silver Surfer prequel/origin movie they're working on (which does not involve the Fantastic Four). That should hopefully be much cooler.

- Good God, who ISN'T going to be in the upcoming Wolverine movie? Will.i.am from the Black-Eyed Peas, Dominic Managhan from Lost and LOTR, and even Ryan Reynolds is gonna be in it (which is exciting). The most exciting, however, is not an actor, but a character. GAMBIT is *finally* going to be on film! It's just odd that they waited until the Wolverine prequel to put him in.

- I don't know what's funnier: the fact they're actually making an Astro Boy movie, or the fact that Astro Boy is gonna be played by Freddie Highmore.

- Oh, I know what's funnier... they're making a Shazam! movie (Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam!). Seriously... Captain Marvel? And The Rock is playing the badguy, Black Adam.

- I can't tell if it's ironic or disturbing that Heroes co-stars Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettiere are now dating, since a lot of fans wanted their characters Peter and Claire (respectively) to hook up on the show prior to finding out the characters were uncle and neice.

Anywho, I think that's about it for now!