The Avengers

I'm so glad it's not just me, because I've spent the whole afternoon giggling every time I think of it. Like the old Bizarro strip where the guy tells his dog to "play dead" and the next panel the dog's in tie-dye, with guitar: "Truckin'..."

SHUT UP EVERYONE I SAW THE FILM THIS AFTERNOON AND IT WAS SO GOOD I WISH WE COULD MAKE AVENGER MOVIES BABIES TOGETHER!!!

In other words, I quite enjoyed it.

It's a strong character ensemble. There are some great lines, great action pieces and the actors all play off one another so well. Mark Ruffalo is a fantastic Bruce Banner and his Hulk gets some great moments, especially with Thor and Loki.

We went to see it in 2D because I was too cheap to fork out for 3D prices and it was fab.

Well worth going to see!!! We'll talk more when it opens Stateside this weekend.

Coneycat wrote:Someone on DeviantArt has reworked the verbal confrontation between Cap and Iron Man. ("Take away the suit and what are you?")

(I know I shouldn't find this as funny as I do. But I do.)

Don't feel guilty. I just screamed with laughter.

I saw it last night, and loved it. Was fab to see a film that really lived up to the massive build-up they've been giving it. I was especially pleasantly surprised by how very good Mark Ruffalo was. He made a far better and more likable Bruce Banner than Ed Norton, and the way they chose to do the special effects for the Hulk was a big improvement too. In fact all around I was impressed by how, despite having such a big cast, they managed to give each character real attention and an important role to play. I didn't feel like anyone was shoehorned in just to make up the numbers.

Spoiler:

It's a weird thing to say about an actor as well-regarded as Ruffalo, but he seems to be the revelation of the movie, certainly in terms of being singled out in reviews. I'll admit it-- I liked the Eric Bana Hulk, and was meh on Edward Norton, but if they made another Hulk movie with Ruffalo I'm starting to think I'd go see it.

I read spoilers all the time and usually don't care, but I have to say this: do not click Melk's spoiler unless you really, really mean it. 'Cause I just did, and whoa. Part of me's sorry, part of me's probably better off prepared.

My level of excitement cannot be accurately expressed with the English language. I am totally ha'usntéß-çø for this movie.

Luthien wrote:I read spoilers all the time and usually don't care, but I have to say this: do not click Melk's spoiler unless you really, really mean it. 'Cause I just did, and whoa. Part of me's sorry, part of me's probably better off prepared.

Last Wednesday, I actually made a post in this very forum in which I raged over that spoiler - both the mere existence of that spoiler and the fact that I stumbled across it elsewhere quite by accident because of Disney and Paramount's asinine decision to release the movie over a week in advance of the US in every other major market of the world. I thought we were past the staggered release schedule of blockbusters. I eventually deleted it because I thought of three magic words:

Spoiler:

Which calmed me down considerably. But I still don't understand why the studios responsible didn't do a single worldwide platform release.

Also, regarding "better off prepared" - another reason I was so ragey is

Spoiler:

I'm so, so excited for this. Almost as much as the positive reviews have me anticipating it, the few negative reviews seem so desperate to dislike it that it's actually making me more confident that this will be a super fun movie.

The bits I've seen so far, I just love how Ruffalo looks so small and unassuming in his too big clothes, hanging around these buff guys like Evans and Hemsworth. Just looking at him, I feel like I get a great sense of who his Banner is.

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to ruin anything for anyone. I did put it behind the spoiler cut.

swsa wrote:I'm so, so excited for this. Almost as much as the positive reviews have me anticipating it, the few negative reviews seem so desperate to dislike it that it's actually making me more confident that this will be a super fun movie.

I love how one dissed "model-turned-actress Cobie Smulders". I mean, yes, Cobie did some modeling before she was an actress, but it's not like she was primarily known as a model and this is her first acting gig.

Melk wrote:Sorry guys, I didn't mean to ruin anything for anyone. I did put it behind the spoiler cut.

No one's blaming you for anything; you did the right thing. My comments were purely about the facts presented in your spoiler, not the fact that you posted one. Like Luthien, I'm usually not very spoiler averse, but in this case, the particular spoiler you mentioned annoyed me greatly when I originally learned about it last week.

RiverThames wrote:

swsa wrote:I'm so, so excited for this. Almost as much as the positive reviews have me anticipating it, the few negative reviews seem so desperate to dislike it that it's actually making me more confident that this will be a super fun movie.

I love how one dissed "model-turned-actress Cobie Smulders". I mean, yes, Cobie did some modeling before she was an actress, but it's not like she was primarily known as a model and this is her first acting gig.

I'd think if they were going to take potshots at Cobie, it'd be the fact that she's primarily a laugh-tracked sitcom actress. I happen to love the show, but I'd think if I were intent on finding flaws with someone's career, being on a show with a laugh-track would rank far below being a former model.

See, that spoiler was one I found online, in a video that was marked as such by the time I saw it-- but the interviewer just basically walked into the interview and said, "Hi, GINORMOUS SPOILER" to an actor who clearly thought they were both about to be shot by Marvel snipers. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I clicked on the spoiler on purpose, but comments to the video made it clear the spoiler warning was added as an afterthought. Who DOES that?

Also, I don't understand this staggered release thing either, especially with a movie of this size. Is there a reason for that? And also-- why is the North American release so late??

No worries, Melk. I was just so surprised when I clicked! And I clicked knowing full well what I was doing. I thought I'd heard all the spoilers, but I should have suspected that when dealing with a project of this magnitude and with this creative team behind it, they'd manage to keep some things under wraps as long as possible. The staggered release dates are so unusual: now I know how the rest of the world lives. How do countries that get these big movies later stand it?

Coneycat wrote:Also, I don't understand this staggered release thing either, especially with a movie of this size. Is there a reason for that? And also-- why is the North American release so late??

I'm curious about this as well because I thought the usual procedure was the movie gets released in NA first (generally speaking) and particularly with something as big as this.

I'm glad Ruffalo is getting good notices for the Hulk because (1) I never would have pictured him in the role to start with, and (2) the Hulk has gotten such short-shrift in movies (and perhaps in the minds of the broader moviegoing public as well). The character is usually distilled down to HULK SMASH and generally isn't presented as having much subtlety or shades of grey (50 other otherwise), IMO.

laddical wrote:Last Wednesday, I actually made a post in this very forum in which I raged over that spoiler - both the mere existence of that spoiler and the fact that I stumbled across it elsewhere quite by accident because of Disney and Paramount's asinine decision to release the movie over a week in advance of the US in every other major market of the world.

And now you know how I feel when it comes to most other films and TV shows that I watch that air stateside first! I end up avoiding half the internets sometimes. But not this time!! *maniacal laugh*

I liked Eric Bana in Hulk and I thought Edward Norton did quite well in The Incredible Hulk, but I think most of my good will towards that film was how it embraced the TV series and the mythology more than Ang Lee did. Mark Ruffalo has been a revelation though. He's such a great Banner. And there's a moment with Stark and Banner that had me literally doing a spit take. I swear, I didn't think spit takes really happened in real life but there I was with my bottle of water. Seriously, it was great. And there are moments with the Hulk and Thor, and Hulk and Loki that are practically worth the price of admission. It's like they took what we know about the Hulk and Banner, the anger, the not wanting to be like that and the inevitable meltdown, but threw in a good dollop of humour along with the angst.

After being busy/away every day since it was released, when my dinner plans were cancelled for tonight, I jumped at the chance to finally (it seems much longer than 5 days...) to see it, and it was awesome. The audience at my cinema were totally into it, so lots of cheering and laughter at the appropriate bits. I think Hulk manages to steal the movie from everyone, but I will definitely be seeing this a few more times on the big screen - luckily my unlimited cinema card means that this won't bankrupt me...

I just have to say this:

Spoiler:

You people are KILLING ME with this spoiler taunt.

I WILL BE STRONG. I WILL NOT CLICK.

I need an opinion! I have tickets to see this on Saturday and my husband and I have plans to watch Captain America on Friday. But my friend just offered me a ticket to the screening tonight! Do I want to wait and see Captain America first? Or do I want to see it sooner?

You don't really need to see any of the set-up movies, I think. The ones that are going to carry over plot threads - Thor (the villain, Loki) and Captain America (the Macguffin, the Cosmic Cube) - are probably going to have all the highlights re-stated in exposition in The Avengers anyway.

I read a newspaper review that went into a litte more detail than I would have liked. The first half was mostly praise of the movie and Joss Whedon then suddenly it was all "details details details!" Ack. But I'm still excited. I'm doing the AMC movie marathon tomorrow with two friends and then I'm seeing it again on Friday with a friend who couldn't do the marathon. I can't wait!

You don't really need to have seen Captain America first. The film does a pretty good job of filling in the blanks, and although there are quite a few references to moments from the Cap film, it's certainly nothing vital. Really I'd say it's much more important to have seen Thor, if only so you can understand what the hell Loki's problem is.

Melk wrote: Really I'd say it's much more important to have seen Thor, if only so you can understand what the hell Loki's problem is.

I have seen Thor! We watched it with a Rifftrack a few weeks back. Ok! I'm going to go for it! I'll see it again on Saturday post-Captain America anyway, so I can fill in any gaps. Yay! Thanks!

Double posting to say a) liked it a lot, and b) I keep reading that there's only a scene at the beginning of the credits and nothing afterwards, but we got both! So definitely stay to the very end.

Will return with more when it's out everywhere.