Finally saw Thor! Now I can go see Avengers. Thor was great.

Thor is the last movie I need to see before seeing The Avengers. I saw Captain America last night and really enjoyed it.

Thor is the last movie I need to see before seeing The Avengers. I saw Captain America last night and really enjoyed it.

If you have liked the other films in the lead up you will LOVE The Avengers. If you don't something is clearly wrong with you.

I guess something is clearly wrong with me, because I saw The Avengers and I didn't think it was so hot. Now, having said that, I will freely admit it's a pretty faithful adaptation of the comic, at least how I remember the comic from my comic-reading days as a kid, and there were a lot of positive aspects to the movie; I can see why a fan of the comics would enjoy it, but I think I'm comic-ed out when it comes to big Hollywood productions of comic book adaptations.

I would have enjoyed all these movies more when I was 12, but as an adult--or a 38 year old kid masquerading as one--I'm aching to see some high quality adaptations of great novels make it to the screen. Obviously, The Tomb would be great, but I'd also like to see John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee get some decent Hollywood treatment. I am stoked that the Parker character, a ruthless thug who'll stop at nothing to get the loot, created by Donald E. Westlake under the psuedonym Richard Stark in the sixties, is getting a big budget adaptation starring Jason Statham. That'll be out in Jan of 2013.

But as for the comic book stuff--I don't know, maybe I'm becoming harder to impress as I get older, but The Avengers left me mildly amused, but nothing more. The CGI is clearly just that--CGI. At no time did it look faintly believable to me. Hollywood has had thirty five years to improve on the ground-breaking animotronics in Jaws, and to my mind, it hasn't done such a swell job. Most CGI sucks. The performances were all one-trick ponies. No depth or complexity. The plot was rather inconsistent and ridiculous. The attempts at humor were fairly decent but became painfully predictable as the movie wore on, except for when The Hulk beat the crap out of Loki, which was funny. But all in all it was just so-so.

I am going to see The Dark Knight Rises, only because I like what Nolan did with the Batman character by placing him firmly in a real-world setting, but I'm gonna pass on Spider Man.

I guess something is clearly wrong with me, because I saw The Avengers and I didn't think it was so hot. Now, having said that, I will freely admit it's a pretty faithful adaptation of the comic, at least how I remember the comic from my comic-reading days as a kid, and there were a lot of positive aspects to the movie; I can see why a fan of the comics would enjoy it, but I think I'm comic-ed out when it comes to big Hollywood productions of comic book adaptations.

I would have enjoyed all these movies more when I was 12, but as an adult--or a 38 year old kid masquerading as one--I'm aching to see some high quality adaptations of great novels make it to the screen. Obviously, The Tomb would be great, but I'd also like to see John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee get some decent Hollywood treatment. I am stoked that the Parker character, a ruthless thug who'll stop at nothing to get the loot, created by Donald E. Westlake under the psuedonym Richard Stark in the sixties, is getting a big budget adaptation starring Jason Statham. That'll be out in Jan of 2013.

But as for the comic book stuff--I don't know, maybe I'm becoming harder to impress as I get older, but The Avengers left me mildly amused, but nothing more. The CGI is clearly just that--CGI. At no time did it look faintly believable to me. Hollywood has had thirty five years to improve on the ground-breaking animotronics in Jaws, and to my mind, it hasn't done such a swell job. Most CGI sucks. The performances were all one-trick ponies. No depth or complexity. The plot was rather inconsistent and ridiculous. The attempts at humor were fairly decent but became painfully predictable as the movie wore on, except for when The Hulk beat the crap out of Loki, which was funny. But all in all it was just so-so.

I am going to see The Dark Knight Rises, only because I like what Nolan did with the Batman character by placing him firmly in a real-world setting, but I'm gonna pass on Spider Man.

Nolan places Batman in the real world which works. That could never work for The Avengers which is pure comic book fantasy. I wasn't bothered by the CGI because it was all supposed to be large and over the top. I didn't go in expecting anything more than eye candy and it delivered in spades.

The story was huge and for the most part, character development took place in the individual titles leading up to The Avengers, this was supposed to be an all out action story. Even Joss Whedon admitted that it was grandiose and if he is given the reins for the inevitable sequel, he wants to go smaller and make a more personal movie that deals with the characters. Granted, there will be action, but he wants to do more with the characters.

Overall, The Avengers spoke to the nerd in me and for 2 and a half hours I was a kid again.

The Avengers was awesome. And it's about time the directors got the Hulk right.

I guess something is clearly wrong with me, because I saw The Avengers and I didn't think it was so hot. Now, having said that, I will freely admit it's a pretty faithful adaptation of the comic, at least how I remember the comic from my comic-reading days as a kid, and there were a lot of positive aspects to the movie; I can see why a fan of the comics would enjoy it, but I think I'm comic-ed out when it comes to big Hollywood productions of comic book adaptations.

I would have enjoyed all these movies more when I was 12, but as an adult--or a 38 year old kid masquerading as one--I'm aching to see some high quality adaptations of great novels make it to the screen. Obviously, The Tomb would be great, but I'd also like to see John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee get some decent Hollywood treatment. I am stoked that the Parker character, a ruthless thug who'll stop at nothing to get the loot, created by Donald E. Westlake under the psuedonym Richard Stark in the sixties, is getting a big budget adaptation starring Jason Statham. That'll be out in Jan of 2013.

But as for the comic book stuff--I don't know, maybe I'm becoming harder to impress as I get older, but The Avengers left me mildly amused, but nothing more. The CGI is clearly just that--CGI. At no time did it look faintly believable to me. Hollywood has had thirty five years to improve on the ground-breaking animotronics in Jaws, and to my mind, it hasn't done such a swell job. Most CGI sucks. The performances were all one-trick ponies. No depth or complexity. The plot was rather inconsistent and ridiculous. The attempts at humor were fairly decent but became painfully predictable as the movie wore on, except for when The Hulk beat the crap out of Loki, which was funny. But all in all it was just so-so.

I am going to see The Dark Knight Rises, only because I like what Nolan did with the Batman character by placing him firmly in a real-world setting, but I'm gonna pass on Spider Man.

I can see what you are saying, I loved Avengers, but if there were complaints from me, it would be that it was a bit light, no real seriousness to it. The Ultimates(an alternate universe Avengers), which quite a bit of the movie was based on, was much more serious than the movie. I think vital parts, such as Steve's reunion with Peggy 60 some years later would have added a bit more depth and shown you how out of time Cap is, instead of just being told. I've always said Hulk should almost be played like a horror movie and whereas this movie did so more than the other two movies, it was much more subtle and glossed over. Of course this is just nitpicking to me, as I said I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I second the McGee demand, that would be awesome. Though I have to disagree about Statham's Parker, that makes me very wary, did you see his version of The Mechanic?

The Avengers was awesome. And it's about time the directors got the Hulk right.

That's an original statement if I ever saw one....

I'm so far behind the times and not p to speed with the hip crowd.

finally saw Avengers last weekend and I would pay full gate to see it again. wow! I was worried I'd miss a lot not having seen Captain America or Thor yet. not a problem.

someone has finally remembered that Bruce Banner is effing brilliant and should have a chance to shine. Ruffalo carried the character well. the dynamic between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner was outstanding and unexpected. loved it.

Stark as always is a scene stealer. everyone's favorite self absorbed genius jackass.

great dialogue, good timing. "He's adopted" had us laughing til our sides hurt.

would have liked to see more of Hawkeye

I didn't care for it much, despite liking a few scenes and one liners. I think with me it's because I've only seen Iron Man (once back when it played at cinemas) and never really cared for superhero comics so I didn't recognize the characters, understand the story (I think I figured it out as it went but I definitely felt like I came in at the middle instead of beginning), and since I didn't care about the characters I couldn't care about the simple story. And as someone else told me it was a movie for fan boys, that is if those characters had been altered so they were like "Metal Man" and "Patriot Man" instead of Iron Man and Captain America he thinks most others wouldn't have liked it either. As for me it was just souped up wrestling (and I don't care for wrestling) with better lines. (That said, I did think the interrogation of the Black Widow scene near the beginning was delightfully insane.)

Still, the audience loved it (including many women though all the females I know personally thought it was mediocre at best, even if a couple of them gave a thumbs up to the males serving as eye candy in it). Toward the last half I yawned and checked my watch more and more and noticed a couple of others checking iphones and the like as well. But the 9-year-old boy who conned me into taking him loved it to the point that he was raising his arms up and cheering (like so many of the adults) whenever a bad guy got smacked down so I guess it was worth it, even if I paid extra for us to see it in 3D. But I doubt he'll be able to convince me to see Avengers 2.