Wow. So I am still totally reeling from the fact that my blog about the Olympics was Freshly Pressed. I am overwhelmed by the response it has gotten and want to say a huge thank to you everyone who read it.
Now, on with today’s post.
When I started the series I did on The Avengers I mentioned that there were several super hero movies coming out this year that I was excited about and one of these movies comes out next week.
If I am being honest, The Amazing Spiderman is the super hero film that I am looking forward to least. I am still excited about it, but not nearly as much as I was for The Avengers or am for The Dark Knight Rises. I think part of it is the fact that it hasn’t exactly been a long time since the last Spiderman franchise ended, but hey, maybe this reboot will be incredible. There are certainly things about all the trailers that give me hope that is possible. Regardless, I will definitely be going to see this movie first chance I get.
Are you excited about this new Spiderman? Is it too soon to attempt a reboot? What do you think about the trailer? Let me know in the comments.
If you have been following my blog, then you know how I have been looking forward to release of The Avengers. It finally opened this weekend to record breaking numbers and I got to see it on Saturday. My response? GAHHH…OH MY GOD….SOOOO AMAZING!!!!!! I had very high expectations for this film and it surpassed them all.
One of the biggest surprises for me was how funny this movie was. It was freaking hilarious. I was expecting snarky one-liners from Tony Stark/Iron Man based on his earlier movies, but he was not the only one delivering the humor, not by a long shot. All of them were funny. They had my entire theater cracking up throughout. Well, except for one time. I don’t know if the rest of the theater didn’t hear the joke, didn’t think it was funny, or are unfamiliar with The Lord of the Rings and didn’t get it, but Stark makes a joke where he refers to Hawkeye as Legolas. I was the only one in the theater to laugh. Loudly. My husband just looked at me and shook his head.
As I anticipated, getting to see the various heroes interact with each other was fascinating. I have to say, each and every one of the actors did an incredible job. They bickered and bantered with each other, but when the time came to act they were able to pull it together and do what needed to be done. I loved the dynamic between Captain America and Tony Stark. They did a really good job showing the friction between the two characters when they first came together and their gradual shift to respect for each other. I was also pleasantly surprised by the depth of development that was given to Hawkeye and Black Widow. I did not think that there would be time to develop much of a connection with these two, but I ended up caring about them and their relationship with each other.
I think the stand out performance, for me at least, came from Bruce Banner/Hulk. Mark Ruffalo was perfect as this character. He was able to infuse him with humanity and strength while still keeping the reserved scientist in tact. Whether he was in the scene as Banner or Hulk, this character demanded your attention. I am very curious to see if the magic Ruffalo brought to this character would transfer over to a Hulk film or if the reason the character worked so much better here was because the weight of the film did not rest solely on his very large shoulders.
Speaking of Ruffalo, this seems like a good time to talk to the ladies. Any men reading this feel free to jump to the next paragraph if you do not want to read a bunch of gushing. Oh my yum! The amount of gorgeous male in this movie was astounding. No matter what your personal type is there was a guy in this film to match it. I have never seen so many beautiful, muscular arms in one place. Whenever Thor, Captain America, and Hawkeye were together I had to wipe the drool from my face due to those arms. Then of course, there were all the tight pants and, well, tights. For me though, nothing beats the dreaminess of Robert Downey, Jr. and Mark Ruffalo. They are the two least buff of the group, but holy cow are they still nice to look at (and I prefer the less buff type anyway). I have never been so angry at strategically placed rubble as I was in that one scene with Ruffalo. If you have seen the movie, you know exactly what I am talking about.
Alright, the gush fest is over. Don’t worry men, there were plenty of exciting action sequences to make up for all the female drool. The special effects and CGI in this movie were incredible. I saw it in 3D on the giant XD screen and it looked out of this world. Everything looked real. The fights were all choreographed really well with none of them feeling the same. There were tons of explosions and all kinds of other cool effects. It was definitely quite the rush.
So what’s the bottom line? Go see this movie! I fully intend on seeing it at least one more time in the theater and I will most certainly be purchasing it when it goes on sale. The rest of the comic book movies coming out this summer have some very large shoes to fill.
Have you been able to see The Avengers yet? What did you think about it? Did you want that rubble to move, too? If you haven’t seen it, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments.
A few weeks ago I ended my series looking at the legend of Robin Hood, which means it is time to start a new series. It is no secret that I am a huge fantasy nerd, but what you may not have known is that I am also a comic book movie nerd. Ever since I was a little girl I have loved super heroes. At five years old my favorite cartoon wasn’t one about princesses or puppies, but ninjas who happened to be mutated turtles. I am pretty sure if I had been born a boy I would have been an avid comic book reader, but alas, I was not. I didn’t really even know what comic books were until I got older and by that point in time all I cared about was that reading them would get me mocked. So I never did. But I did watch the movies and the television shows (mostly about Superman).
This year is going to be a big year for the super hero movie. We have The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Avengers all coming out in one year. While I am excited about all three (especially the end of The Dark Knight trilogy), I absolutely can not wait for The Avengers. This movie has a lead in that is unprecedented, in that it is building off of four other movie franchises (granted not all four were huge successes). It even managed to keep all but one of the original actors from those separate franchises. That is insane!
So for this series, I plan on looking at the individual character movies and how they have set things up for when the call goes out: Avengers Assemble.
Thor
Last year the movie Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth, was released. One of the really cool things about this movie was that it was created with the knowledge that The Avengers was going to be happening and was a set up for what is going to happen in that movie as well as its own stand alone film. This allowed there to be little easter eggs sprinkled throughout the film that cheered my nerdy little heart upon my second viewing when I actually knew about The Avengers (my favorite being the cameo of one of Thor’s future Avenger mates. Anyone know who I’m referring to?).
Thor is the elder son of Odin, ruler of the realm Asgard. At the beginning of the movie he is a very powerful warrior, but he is also very arrogant and that arrogance lands him in some serious trouble. His father realizes that he is not ready to be given the responsibility that comes along with being King, so he strips him of his power and banishes him to Earth. During his time on Earth, Thor finally learns humility as well as the importance of thinking before acting, especially if your actions will affect others. It is when he demonstrates his newfound wisdom through sacrifice that his power is restored to him.
It is going to be very interesting to see how the lessons Thor learned will carry over when he is asked to work as an Avenger. Even with his lessons in humility, he still has a very big personality that is sure to clash with some of the others from time to time (we have already seen allusions to this in some of the trailers). He is the heir to his kingdom’s throne as well as the fiercest warrior in Asgard, so he is used to being a leader. I think that he will do reasonably well taking orders from Nick Fury, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the man who brings them all together, since he is accustomed to having to defer to his father (and learned the hard lesson of defiance in Thor), but I imagine it will be very difficult for him to take orders from other members of the Avengers team.
The thing that I am most interested in seeing, however, is how the actions of Loki will affect Thor.
Loki is Thor’s brother and is set to be the main adversary that the Avengers must fight against. He is not strong like Thor, but he is very intelligent. In the film Thor, Loki betrayed his brother and tried to kill him. In the end, Thor was able to defeat Loki who fell into a wormhole and disappeared. Thor loved his brother and was deeply hurt by his betrayal. That is sure to carry over and cause him some amount of internal conflict. I would also imagine that some of the others will have a hard time trusting Thor completely, which will probably lead to even more conflict within the group of Avengers themselves.
Between Thor’s confident personality and personal conflict over the actions of his brother, there is sure to be lots of drama and conflict surrounding his character in The Avengers. But no matter what issues arise, I am sure that they will be able to work through them and come together as a team to defeat the threat Loki brings to Earth.
Are you looking forward to the upcoming Avengers movie? Have you seen Thor? What do you think about his character and the way he will interact with the other members of the Avengers team? Do you think he will be able to hold on to the lessons he learned in Thor? How do you think his personal connections with Loki will affect him? Let me know in the comments.
Be sure to look for The Avengers when it hits theaters on May 4 and check out Hypable.com for all the latest news on the movie.
