pym
Reservist Avenger
"About 20 yards to my right…"
Posts: 200
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Post by pym on May 4, 2012 21:41:22 GMT -5
Friends.....I have been waiting for this ever since my oldest brother left a copy of #58 out in the open for me to marvel at.
The movie is a success on many levels.
I do not possess photographic memory....but I swear that there are scenes that were taken from the very panels of several comic books. And there seems to be a kind of CGI 'airbrushing' in selected scenes that evoke memories of Alex Ross......idk.
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pym
Reservist Avenger
"About 20 yards to my right…"
Posts: 200
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Post by pym on May 4, 2012 21:45:31 GMT -5
Do not be satisfied with the early 'teaser' before the credits....stay until the very end to see more.
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Post by badgermaniac on May 4, 2012 22:16:19 GMT -5
First, regarding the movie offer, I was in such a hurry to type that I forgot to say that volumes 2-3 are at Target, not Walmart, but the deal is the same (you just have to go to two stores).
Anyway, saw it tonight and it was everything a superhero movie should be...fun and epic. Even my wife and daughters (who like the Marvel movies, though they aren't fanatical about them) want to go again.
Hulk is getting a lot of the pub, and rightfully so, but I was really happy with Black Widow as well. I am not a Scarlet fan but I thought she shined.
The bottom line for me is that this was a comic book movie for comic book fans, not a comic book movie that tried to hard to ground it in reality.
My favorite comic book movie ever!!!
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Post by Shiryu on May 5, 2012 8:19:46 GMT -5
Oh, definitely! Whedon has a history of liking non-powered, strong-willed female characters, and he shows it again here.
There is one line I read somewhere that epitomises this film: it's a comic book turned to film, rather than a comic book anchored to reality and realism, and a lot of people seem to be loving it for this reason. You could say it's the exact opposite of Nolan's Batmans, and both succeed very well at very different levels.
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Post by humanbelly on May 6, 2012 19:46:38 GMT -5
Ohhhhh my goodness. What a reallyreallyreallyreallyREALLY GOOD MOVIE!! Good Heavens. Honestly, it’s almost too much to even talk about. You know how with most movies there will always be a few particularly memorable and great moments? Moments where you say to a friend, “Hey, didn’tcha love that part where etc, etc, etc?”. And that better movies will have several? RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK immediately comes to mind as probably the best one ever. PULP FICTION is a close second in my book. Okay, no kidding, this movie (with all proper grace and courtesy) easily laps both of those fine, fine examples. It is the best “Wasn’t that part great, where etc-?” movie I have ever seen in my tender 50+ years. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever seen a better constructed and balanced action/adventure genre film. . . and I can’t think of a one. Again, RAIDERS and STAR WARS would remain the stick to measure against. . . and I daresay AVENGERS has the advantage.
Here’s a GREAT question to ask if you’re feeling like having a heated fanboy/girl discussion: Whose film is it? (As in, which character?). Because this is where Joss Whedon simply wins the writer/director prize, as far as I’m concerned. A case can be made for all of the following:
It’s Tony Stark’s film. It’s Nick Fury’s film. It’s Bruce Banner’s film. It’s Loki’s film (strong contender!) It’s Steve Rogers’ film. It’s Natasha Romanoff’s film. It’s Phil Coulson’s film. For which, oh my god, I do believe a beautiful case can be made.
It’s not quite Thor’s film, although he’s terrific and highly visible and a crucial component. It’s simply that he actually does function quite similarly to the way he always has in the comic book. HUGELY powerful, and earnest, and inspirational—but still a figure whose other life takes an understandably higher proportion of his time and attention.
It’s not Clint Barton’s film just yet—but mostly ‘cause circumstances prevented us from spending quite enough quality time with him, AND because his characterization is markedly different (very taciturn) from the big-mouth we’ve always loved in the MU.
And it’s not Maria Hill’s film—although we welcomed having the added strong female character included. Again—not a lot of depth there just yet.
But when you have an ensemble film where you’re able identify and pursue a Main Dramatic Action for six or seven different characters—and you feel deeply invested in ALL of them, and it doesn’t feel stilted or forced. . . that’s where a filmmaker is doing a job that other filmmakers could do worse than to try and emulate.
Think about this. Has anyone noticed how in many of the recent superhero & action films there’s been a fairly common complaint that you very often can’t tell what the heck is going on in battle scenes or mayhem scenes and such? That it just becomes a blur of explosions and punches and flailing bodies and fast cuts from shot-to-shot? Even locale to locale? (*cough* LOTR Trilogy *cough*) Never. Happened. Here. Never wondered what was happening or where we were. “There is no such thing as being too clear”—a maxim from an early grad school acting class. “Focus on the storytelling” went hand-in-hand with that.
Bingo. We have a winner.
Hey, for the record though. Cap’s poor helmet must go. There’s just no way to make it look right. Heck, the one from his own movie (GI helmet, basically, wasn’t it?) was better. Not surprised at all that he lost it by the end of the final battle—I can’t imagine it was winning any favor with anyone on location. The smart thing to do would be to either keep it off- Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier style- or try to find a better design, and make that a minor, up-front detail in Avengers 2.
Gosh, what a long rave-! And I haven't even touched anything specific, really!
HB
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Post by spiderwasp on May 6, 2012 22:57:48 GMT -5
Okay, finally got to see it today. What can I say that hasn't been said? The abundance of praise was not hyperbole at all. I'm hoping to see it again within the next week. I just posted a comment on my Facebook that included "Okay people, now do you see what I've been talking about for the past 40 years?" I almost immediately got a response from someone saying "Yes, yes I do."
One thing that really struck me was that I can't think of one comic book situation where I have ever thought that the Black Widow was half as interesting as she was in this movie. I've always thought she was pretty boring but no one was boring in this movie.
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Post by tomspasic on May 7, 2012 7:21:53 GMT -5
They even managed to get in a couple of touching moments with Thor and Loki where Thor tries to get through to Loki and almost looks like he might, or has. I liked the "you stop this and come home" (may be misremembered slightly) from Thor. But Loki's "arc" is moving further from redemption and into villainy, so he cannot or will not take Thor's metaphorical outstretched hand. In a film that had so much action and so many characters to juggle, I thought this Thor/Loki dynamic well written and acted, giving some needed emotional weight and depth to counterpoint the comedic and action bits.
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kidcage
Reservist Avenger
Posts: 167
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Post by kidcage on May 7, 2012 12:57:02 GMT -5
Loved the film, it really takes itself as an ensemble film seriously, whereas I was really worried it would have been an "Iron Man...and the Avengers" film. It was a lot of fun seeing it with an audience, as this truly is a great "theater experience" movie, with people cheering, laughing, and clapping all at the right times.
And there are so many awesome moments in the film, but my favorite was during the big finale war in NY was this tracking shot where you'd watch one Avenger who then passed by/teamed with another, then seamlessly moved to another (Iron Man/Cap, then Iron Man takes off to pass Hawkeye, who then shoots an arrow at the thing BW is on, who then passes Hulk, who then seemlessly teams with Thor, etc.) This scene was a great piece of filmmaking technique but also a great storyline piece.
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Post by Ignore Me! on May 12, 2012 9:48:07 GMT -5
One word - AWSOME!!!!
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Post by Crimson Cowl on May 13, 2012 5:08:23 GMT -5
WARNING Some Minor Spoilers:
I really enjoyed the movie and have watched it several times, and I'm still keen to see it again. That's a pretty good sign as hardcore fans often hate big money productions of their baby. Most people I've spoken to enjoyed it too.
In one respect I did feel that it didn't live up to its five 'trailers' though. The individual films really got to the heart of their character's story. An ensemble piece was always likely to struggle in this respect. The Avengers has never had its own integral driving narrative in the way that the FF and most especially the X Men have. Over the years it's aquired and developed some important ongoing themes but ultimately it is still a comic made up of the characters from other comics. As a result I wasn't entirely surprised to discover that I did feel the spectacle was a little empty upon first leaving the movie theatre. On later viewings the sheer visceral spectacle and the nuances of the interplay of characters has more than made up for it.
Nonetheless, as a sequel seems very likely at this juncture, I think they're going to need to play up the story of the Avengers as a concept, and really develop the interaction between a group of self appointed champions and the expectations of government bureacracy and military ambitions. Basically they'll need to tip the balance towards the Avengers and decisively away from the Ultimates. In this movie I thought it was about 50/50 (which is still more Avengers than I was expecting after the preambles that appeared post credits in the solo flicks).
Three cheers for the Maria Stark foundation.
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