AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel **SPOILERS** - Page 18

Aldo · May 2 2012, 09:46 PM

Plus he says that Black Widow had a small cameo in Captain America.

JD · May 3 2012, 02:17 AM

Who the hell is that guy anyways? He definitely takes himself waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy to seriously.

Aldo · May 3 2012, 02:34 AM

I rewatched Iron Man, and was surprised that it was better than I remembered. I mean I always enjoyed it, and I love RDJ in it, but I don't remember being too impressed with it initially.

I know others have already confirmed it, but I have always believed Iron Man/Downey is going to be one of the high points of this film.

Flying Spaghetti Monster · May 3 2012, 03:25 AM

Ebert:

It provides its fans with exactly what they desire. Whether it is exactly what they deserve is arguable.

Aldo · May 3 2012, 03:49 AM

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

Ebert:

It provides its fans with exactly what they desire. Whether it is exactly what they deserve is arguable.

I was about to say something about you taking that line out of context since he gave it 3 starts. But after I read the review I started to wonder why he gave it 3 stars.

He spends two thirds of the review seemingly talking about how run of the mill the whole thing is. Only in the last paragraph does he award it some praise.

Samurai8472 · May 3 2012, 04:41 AM

Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote:

Ebert:

It provides its fans with exactly what they desire. Whether it is exactly what they deserve is arguable.

It's the movie we need, but not the one we deserve.

trekkiebaggio · May 3 2012, 12:43 PM

Watched it again last night, it seemed to move a lot more quickly this time. I could actually watch it over and over again. I might go and see it a third time, which I've never done for another movie.

Captain Craig · May 3 2012, 01:48 PM

Just under 17 hours now for me.

I predict very little work getting done today.

Set Harth · May 3 2012, 04:46 PM

Plus he says that Black Widow had a small cameo in Captain America.

I insist that all movie criticism should come from those lacking basic critical thinking skills. It's more fun that way!

Armond White wrote:

Most of them, particularly Jon Favreau’s dung-colored Iron Man, were poorly directed.

[Ned]Riiiiiight.[/Ned]

Admiral Buzzkill · May 3 2012, 05:08 PM

Armond White is always fun to read - he won't stay on the reservation. Ebert, as always, is the best movie reviewer working (and fuck all the guys who do it for free).

"Comic-Con nerds will have multiple orgasms," predicts critic David Edelstein in New York magazine, confirming something I had vaguely suspected about them. If he is correct, it's time for desperately needed movies to re-educate nerds in the joys of sex.

Saul · May 3 2012, 05:45 PM

Samurai8472 wrote:

Second post credits scene revealed

SPOILER

Photo

Bugger, this wasn't in the Hong Kong version.

I enjoyed the film. Not perfect. I wasn't with it heart and soul but I loved seeing it all come together. It was fun, I liked the big bangs and the action is pretty beautiful, the shots of Heroes fighting alongside eachother was very pretty. I also liked that unlike Transfromers I could see what the hell was going on.

BTW, someone told me there is an F-bomb in this. Where was it?

SalvorHardin · May 3 2012, 07:06 PM

Saul wrote:

BTW, someone told me there is an F-bomb in this. Where was it?

The only thing I remember is Scarlett saying "Baise moi", which i think translates as "F* me", when they send her to get Banner

Trekker4747 · May 3 2012, 07:09 PM

superdeluxe wrote:

Armond White has returned!!

The Delusion of Marvel’s The Avengers

Previous Marvel Comics superhero movies such as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and Thor were like roughly cut puzzle pieces that looked odd and unfinished by themselves–pretend-movies derived from already established brands. Most of them, particularly Jon Favreau’s dung-colored Iron Man, were poorly directed. Now, fitted together in Marvel’s The Avengers, the superhero tales still don’t quite cohere: instead, each superhero’s traits and powers have been simultaneously inflated yet streamlined (Scarlett Johannson’s Black Widow, barely a cameo in last year’s Captain America, is almost a character here) with the sole intent to overwhelm, not merely entertain. That’s why a corporate brand is part of the title.

A live-action version of the comic book series about “Earth’s Greatest Super Heroes,” Marvel’s The Avengers is promoted as the ultimate Comic-Con–the franchise of franchises, the movie for which contemporary audiences have been trained to anticipate and genuflect. This whopping sales campaign manipulates immature, undeveloped adolescent taste into the mistaken notion of cultural fulfillment. The Avengers is neither good nor important, yet the more it consummates Marvel Comics’ current strategy to secure the adolescent comic book/graphic novel/video game market, it illustrates Hollywood’s shameless insufficiencies.

To discuss The Avengers as a story–or even a thrill ride–is delusional. Best to tally some of the actors’ deceits (which parallels the media’s complicit self-deception) as they trivialize the emotional satisfaction that is supposed to come from modernizing myth and legend.

The Captain America role traps Chris Evans, who was a great tease as the Human Torch, in an uninteresting anachronism–now a truly faded idea of American Exceptionalism. Same holds for the Halloween freakazoids Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Bruce Banner/The Hulk (a CGI’d Mark Ruffalo). Jeremy Renner’s archer Hawkeye seems to be auditioning for Katniss’ evil twin brother in The Hunger Games. As villainous Loki, Tom Hiddleston, who was so moving in Spielberg’s War Horse and Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, comes closest to giving a performance. He suggests the intense young aspirant Peter O’Toole, though without the glorious voice–and no story details to frame his petulance, just a pretext for the superheroes to fight his plan for world domination. The film’s only probable hero is zillionaire gadgeteer Tony Stark who Robert Downey has finally learned to make his own–using hipster witticisms that lend this basically unhip movie some erratic self-satire.

Only a capitalist icon with Stark’s endless resources makes sense to an audience of semi-illiterate consumers catered to by the leisure industries and discouraged from interest in characterization, theme or ideas. That’s why Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury can simply watch action from the sidelines, occasionally firing off a gun shot or epithet, pretending to be a leader in his ghetto eye patch. (Insert convenient Obama analogy here.)

Director Josh Wheedon brings TV squalor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to his big screen debut. Wheedon doesn’t have Zack Snyder’s personal style (the elan that at least made Watchmen and Sucker Punch thoroughly idiosyncratic and fitfully compelling). Wheedon directs impersonally, which is to say he manages the proceedings as one runs a fast food joint. This analogy ought to appall the very fast-food patrons who flock to The Avengers yet cannot accept that an artistic enterprise should be more than ground patties of optional substance. Like Wheedon, they can’t tell the difference between art and conviction-less product.

This proves the brainwashing that has happened to pop audiences in the generations since comic books and TV stole their imaginations from cinema and literature. Much of this tragedy has to do with the impact of television (Wheedon’s background) which has destroyed popular understanding of narrative complexity. Each superhero should represent overcoming some social or personal difficulty (like Eric Bana in Ang Lee’s underrated The Hulk); now they’re just gimmicks. Wheedon simply makes the action go on and on. He has no sense of dramatic build or rising to a peak. He overloads the spectator with one climax after another (imitating Michael Bay angles, particularly the same skyscraper-devouring turbine F/X from the last Transformers flick).

Unlike the lyrical teen fantasy Chronicle or Neveldine-Taylor’s daring Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance which addressed life, death, morality, Marvel’s The Avengers has little to say other than “Buy me!” Millions of mentally hijacked moviegoers will respond like Pavlov‘s dog, barking “Wow!”

If you really feel the need to give this guy hits:

http://cityarts.info/2012/05/02/pavl...99s-franchise/

Ahhhh, Armond White. You always deliver.

Captain Craig · May 3 2012, 07:21 PM

SalvorHardin wrote:

Saul wrote:

BTW, someone told me there is an F-bomb in this. Where was it?

The only thing I remember is Scarlett saying "Baise moi", which i think translates as "F* me", when they send her to get Banner

According to Google Translate that is a yes.

Marvel's The Avengers has pulled in $281m in 8 days of International release so far. With today's totals, not tallied till tomorrow it should be over $300m on opening day in North America.

Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios announced this morning that Marvel's The Avengers earned another $20.6 million internationally on Wednesday, May 2nd. That puts the overseas total at $281.1 million so far.

Wereghost · May 3 2012, 07:33 PM

SalvorHardin wrote:

Saul wrote:

BTW, someone told me there is an F-bomb in this. Where was it?

The only thing I remember is Scarlett saying "Baise moi", which i think translates as "F* me", when they send her to get Banner

I think it was "Bozhe moi" (Russian for "O my God", and used a lot in comics). "Baise-moi" is French.

View Poll Results: How do you grade The Avengers?
A+	149	46.42%
A	102	31.78%
A-	30	9.35%
B+	17	5.30%
B	11	3.43%
B-	5	1.56%
C+	0	0%
C	4	1.25%
C-	1	0.31%
D+	1	0.31%
D	0	0%
D-	0	0%
F	1	0.31%
Voters: 321. You may not vote on this poll

May 2 2012, 09:46 PM	#256
Aldo Admiral Location: Washington	Re: AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel SPOILERS Plus he says that Black Widow had a small cameo in Captain America. __________________ I'm only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand.

May 3 2012, 02:17 AM	#257
JD Admiral Location: Arizona, USA	Re: AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel SPOILERS Who the hell is that guy anyways? He definitely takes himself waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy to seriously. __________________ Over the course of many encounters and many years, I have successfully developed a standard operating procedure for dealing with big, nasty monsters. Run away. Me and Monty Python. Harry Dresden - Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)

May 3 2012, 02:34 AM	#258
Aldo Admiral Location: Washington	Re: AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel SPOILERS I rewatched Iron Man, and was surprised that it was better than I remembered. I mean I always enjoyed it, and I love RDJ in it, but I don't remember being too impressed with it initially. I know others have already confirmed it, but I have always believed Iron Man/Downey is going to be one of the high points of this film. __________________ I'm only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand.

May 3 2012, 12:43 PM	#262
trekkiebaggio Vice Admiral Location: Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock	Re: AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel SPOILERS Watched it again last night, it seemed to move a lot more quickly this time. I could actually watch it over and over again. I might go and see it a third time, which I've never done for another movie. __________________ Angelic Hellfire - My novel. Man of Yesterday - My blog, in which I'm writing a superhero story.

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May 3 2012, 01:48 PM	#263
Captain Craig Vice Admiral Location: Nashville,TN	Re: AVENGERS: Grade, Reviews, Discuss, DVD & Sequel SPOILERS Just under 17 hours now for me. I predict very little work getting done today. __________________ "Picard never hit me." Q-Less(DS9) "Freedom is the Right of All Sentient Beings" Optimus Prime Twitter:http://twitter.com/#!/CaptainCraig1