Earth's Mightiest Heroes

I haven't made a post (before that last one) in a while, but I forgot to mention the new way Blogspot lets you actually post things. It's quite streamlined, though call me old-fashioned, but I enjoyed the older way a little better. I was probably just used to that, though, so I'll probably get used to this one eventually too.

In any case, the REAL subject of this blog post...The Avengers! Before I actually type out my review of the film, let me just say that ever since Iron Man came out in 2008, and I waited (on opening night) for the post-credits scene, I have been excited for this movie. I never thought that Marvel would actually realize such an ambitious project, and yet four years later, here we are. The result is quite honestly nothing short of amazing; Joss Whedon definitely has the fanbase pegged, as the movie is rife with explosions, witty dialogue, amazing fight sequences, awesome CGI...pretty much everything a fanboy like me could want.

The movie itself is pretty formulaic, because after all, these are 'Earth's mightiest heroes'. They're not going to initially get along, and the movie spends a good chunk of time setting up how this dysfunctional group is actually going to, you know, save the world. One reviewer wrote that 'these super-powered people have super-sized egos to match', and it's definitely true. There's one scene in particular that has almost every single star in the movie, all participating in lightning fast dialogue, bantering back and forth...it's quite well written, for such a short scene. That is, in my opinion, where Joss Whedon (with Zak Penn) excel in this movie; they make the dialogue super entertaining. I mean, it's what Whedon is known for, with Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer under his belt. But, yes, formulaic. The group gets together, they argue, an enemy arrives, they fight it, they win, the world is saved, everyone is happy. There was no other real way for this movie to pan out, in that order, simply because this is still (at its core) an origin story. Perhaps not an origin story for each individual hero (gotta see their individual movies, for that), but definitely for the team as a whole...and what a story it is.

But, while the dialogue is awesome, the explosions and fights are even better. Every character only has so much screen time, but in the climactic battle scene (the one so often referenced in the trailers), the camera seamlessly cuts from character to character, all fighting and walloping this mysterious threat to Earth's freedom. Maria Hill, Agent Coulson and Nick Fury, all SHIELD agents, they're all pretty awesome as well...oh, and Loki? Nothing short of phenomenal. I love Tom Hiddleston, really. Finally, the end-credits tag sets up an AWESOME sequel. I mean, it had been announced previously that the character they show was going to be in the movie, but I had quite honestly forgotten until I saw the scene, and realized a split second before...and the theatre (midnight screening) went absolutely insane. There is also ANOTHER post credits scene, so wait until everything is done, and you'll get to see that extra little tidbit. It's, quite honestly, hilarious.

All in all, I loved this movie. Prior to this film, this was my order of the Marvel films:

Iron Man >> Thor > Captain America >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iron Man 2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hulk

With The Avengers (which I am definitely going to see again in theatres) in play now, my order definitely looks like this:

The Avengers >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iron Man >> Thor > Captain America >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iron Man 2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hulk

It's THAT good. That's coming from someone who has read Iron Man since he was a little kid, and who LOVED the first movie (my dad has the original Iron Man comics, I got hooked on good ol' Mr. Stark from an early age =P), and it was that much better. I mean, it had Iron Man IN it, so it was definitely going to be awesome anyway. Regardless, the movie was just fantastic. Perhaps that's the fanboy in me talking, but...well, the movie was MADE for fanboys like me, so I think I'm justified in giving it the rating you see below. Avengers, assemble!

10/10

Summer already?!

Well, it's been a whole semester since I last blogged; I dunno what happened. I used to blog so frequently, though, the year DID get a whole ton more crazy (cray?) as it progressed. Less video games, less internet-ing, less everything, really. On the plus side, I was elected VUSAC President, after an intense race against a worthy opponent. To be fair, however, I did win by a somewhat comfortable margin, so that was a little nice too. In any case, as a result of that, I am now mandated to hold office hours in the VUSAC office, so here I am. A minimum of 30 hrs a week spread out over a minimum of 4 days (wooo, Fridays and weekends off!), so not too bad. There are some other things to look forward to over the break, however, so that's fun too...time to look ahead!

McDonalds $1 drink thingy! Now that it's available again, I plan on measuring my consumption of these drinks. So far, I've only had one, but it IS the beginning of May. I have the entire rest of the summer to take advantage of this. The plan: rip the red square with the golden arches on it, and keep it in the first one, to avoid having hundreds of those cups at my place...that would just end up being kind of gross, I think, and would probably attract ants or something. In any case, that's the plan. Last year, when I worked at Jameson Bank, I probably had one a day for the entire summer. That was a matter of convenience, though, since it was in the same building, and I literally just had to take an elevator down to the food court in the basement. Now, I have to leave the Birge, lock up the office, and walk over to McDs. I dunno how much I'll end up drinking, but, I can still imagine it'll be a lot...fountain drinks are SO TASTY. It'll probably be an unhealthy amount, but still.

TCAF! Otherwise known as the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, it's being held this coming weekend at the Toronto Reference Library near Yonge and Bloor. I'm going to go see my favourite webcomic artists, namely, Christopher Hastings of Dr. McNinja, who I have literally missed every time he's come to Toronto. Along with Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, it should be a fun time. Definitely buying some prints or something and hopefully will get them autographed!

The Avengers! It's literally TOMORROW NIGHT. Holy crap am I excited. I have literally been waiting to see this movie since Iron Man came out in 2008 and I saw the tag after the credits about the 'Avengers initative'. The crowd (which I was a part of) went nuts, and suddenly fast forward to 2012, and the movie is going to be a reality. I hear nothing but good things, AND I'm going to go see it with my awesome girlfriend, so...that's going to be pretty much nothing but awesome.

That was an appropriate segue into what I *really* wanted to talk about, i.e., the summer movies. The summer movie period is always my favourite part of the summer, because they have those high-octane movies that all the studios hope will be multi-million dollar blockbusters, and so they're all supposed to be crazy. I LOVE those movies, and so, I'm looking forward to them. Here are the ones I'm especially excited about:

The Avengers (obviously) (May 4th)

Men in Black III (May 25th)

Prometheus (June 8th)

Brave (June 22nd)

G.I.Joe: Retaliation (June 29th)

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3rd)

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20th)

The Bourne Legacy (August 3rd)

The Campaign (August 10th)

The Expendables 2 (August 17th)

I have no doubt some of these movies will be down right terrible. In fact, I am hoping some of them will be...because that's part of the fun! Of course, I also expect that some of these movies will be awesome in every way. The Avengers, Prometheus, Brave, The Dark Knight Rises...I have so much hope that they will be amazing. For me at least, the jury is still out on the Amazing Spider-Man, though I'm definitely going to see it regardless. Really, I'm going to see all of these movies. I'm definitely going to see all the comic book ones at midnight, and maybe even Prometheus will be seen at midnight as well...that movie looks so cool, my god. As per usual, I'm going to post reviews of these movies when I see them, so...woo for that!

Anyway, time to go grab some food. Huzzah for more blogging this summer!