The tinnitus isn’t letting up. Have been avoiding the computer, and only now realized it’s because I usually don’t have music going. So the ear-ringing is especially noticable when typing away at the keyboard.
But the noise was totally forgotten for two hours and twenty-two minutes. Saw a matinee of The Avengers and loved it. Will probably go again tomorrow with the Brother and the GSB.
Five movies set this one up–Iron Man, The Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America. All were entertaining, with Iron Man and Thor exceeding expectations. And now Joss Whedon tied them all together…and raced past expectation. This movie is an enormous blast. It’s nice that Mr. Whedon finally has a giant commercial success to go with his critical acclaim (Buffy, Firefly).
They give a short scene after the movie, like the previous ones, but don’t make you watch all the credits to see it. And if he’s going to be the next villain, they don’t get much more epic.
If you enjoyed the earlier movies, I don’t know how you can avoid loving The Avengers. It’s all the more stunning if you know the business end of making theatrical films. Herding all these cats into one place has to be a superpower in its own right.
World's Only Rational Man 
Iron Man… haven’t seen.
The Hulk… I remember the tv show from ages ago, but haven’t seen the movie.
Iron Man 2… haven’t seen.
Thor… haven’t seen.
Captain America… you can guess it by now, yeah, haven’t seen that one either.
The Avengers… not going to watch.
Why?
It’s very simple. I have zero connection to this stuff. It means to me as much as some Iranian independent movie filmed in Brazil and in French. I don’t even know the characters. I know the Hulk thanks to the shoddy tv show from ages back. The others… no idea. When I was a kid, we didn’t have these things here. We had Superman, Spiderman and Batman. Getting any other comics than these was possible, but a chore. I think the closest store, that had a decent stock of US comics, was in Vienna. That’s 160 km from my hometown, so completely out of question. It was easier to get the old Star Wars comics. Plus, we had our own local stuff. Asterix. Nuff said.
Today it’s different, yeah. But see, I’m too old, too tired and too uninterested in super heroes these days. Plus, I actually disliked Superman and Spiderman. Oh yeah, fancy shmancy superpowers. Give me a break. Superman was a jackass and Spiderman was just annoying.
Now Batman… that was the man. He don’t have them superpowers. The Batman movie I’m really looking forward to. Except, I still feel Catwoman was, once again, a miscast (I saw the Princess Diaries and Becoming Jane and my god was that some awful and boring horse manure!)
I guess I prefer Batman because he has an actual back story I can relate to. I’d probably do the same thing. And he’s not the shining, dashing hero who everybody’s drooling over. He’s actually quite the opposite. Batman > all others.
On that note, I’m surprised Batman isn’t banned for promoting vigilantism.
As for Whedon… blah, overrated IMO. Buffy bored the crap out of me (I still say it can’t even remotely compete with the original Buffy movies, which were campy as hell.) I guess it’s because I totally loathe Sarah Michelle Gellar. She’s not good. Not at all. And Firefly… oh god, I’ve never seen a more dull scifi show myself. Yeah, I saw it. The first episode. Half way in I had to stop because I couldn’t take the nonsense anymore and I had this nagging feeling that I’ve seen it all before. So Han Solo was now also Luke Skywalker. Chewie was still big, but had lost his hair. R2 was now a girl. And Kenobi was black. The bad guys had changed from British to WW1 Germans. And the ship looked like a duck (and had no weapons, wtf.) The first episode had some battle scene, which was one of the dumbest ones I’ve ever seen. It made the fights in Spaceballs look smart. And if Firefly was so good, why did it completely tank when it ran? It’s all hype based on nothing. So it’s critically acclaimed. Well, that is pretty much newspeak for “it has lots of rabid fanbois”, which both shows absolutely have, especially Firefly. The fanbois for that one are absolutely batshit crazy.
Anyway…
Let me give you the real movie of the year:
Thermae Romae. Abe Hiroshi as Roman bath designer who travels through time into 21st century Japan. Sadly it has Ueto Aya, but it’s a comedy, so she shouldn’t be too challenged and not fail as much as in “heavier” stuff.
Well, when it comes to movies I’m all about the audio-visual spectacle. Even if I hadn’t been a slight comic book nerd, I’d really like these flicks.
I am, of course, with you all the way on Batman. Filmmaking-wise, I rank Batman Begins as the best hero movie ever. But as far as “super”heroes, The Avengers is awesome entertainment.
As for Catwoman. I like Ann Hathaway just fine, she has an adorable sweetness…which isn’t a plus in this role. Also, that “mask” she wears is the worst disguise ever, and I’m not excluding Clark Kent’s glasses.
Yep, it’s probably good entertainment. I don’t mind some mindless kaboom. Heck, I love those dumb action movies from the 80s, because that was real action. They were stupid, had so many errors in them, but they were still entertaining (unlike most modern action movies.) But it’s not entertaining for me when I would have to spend half the movie checking wikipedia on my phone because I don’t know ANYTHING about the characters, plot, setting, etc.
The Hulk turns green and big when he’s angry, I know that. Captain America fought some Nazis I think at one point. And that’s about it. Iron Man? First thing that comes to mind when hearing that one is the triathlon. Avengers… uh… isn’t that a car?
There’s a pokemon movie coming and I know more about that stuff than about Avengers and similar. Which is actually pretty scary.
It would probably be the same for you if you had to watch one of the old Asterix movies. Not the live action, they’re awful, but the old cartoons. Or Lucky Luke.
Never knew about the Asterix movies. I read some of the comics, including the Superman crossover. That was…odd.
But this Avengers movie isn’t mindless. Whedon did an astounding job of writing and directing it. You could certainly enjoy it simply for the “kabooie!”. And, without seeing the earlier flicks, that’s how you would enjoy it. You’d never know how brilliantly Whedon brought all the threads together, but it would still be obvious that this is a notch above a simple popcorn movie.
Also this:
Feel better soon, Wormy.
Thank you, Linda! If you’d asked me even five years ago, “what’s the worst thing about getting old?”, I wouldn’t have said “the ringing in my ears.”
But that’s definitely the worst thing.
Now to completely derail this….
Ashida Mana throwing the first pitch at the Koshien in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, at the Hanshin Tigers vs Yomiuri Giants game:
I’m with y’all on Batman. But Ed, I still loved The Avengers. It was loads of fun, even for a non-Marvel junkie.
I could watch it again right this second! In a decade it might even catch up with Aliens in the number of viewings.
I’m very sorry about your train of physical trials, Worme. Hang in there.
Thank you, xpat. If it wasn’t for the sleeping difficulties, it would be a very minor cross to bear. Anytime I’m focused on something I can forget the ringing. But that doesn’t work at bedtime.