Some Brief Thoughts on Avengers (The Movie)

Last Friday, I saw The Avengers with my girlfriend and we both enjoyed it. Her more than I (although, in some ways less, too...). I think she said she'd give it 4/5 and I said 3.75/5. Big difference. So, here are a few brief thoughts (aka minor, nitpicky complaints) (and I'm going in whatever order they occur to me right now):

* I'll be honest: any time Thor wasn't on the screen, part of me was wondering "Hey, I wonder what Thor is doing right now..."

* At the end of the movie, where the team 'disappears,' aren't Hawkeye and the Black Widow walking away from their jobs? I mean, they're just regular SHIELD agents. Actually, what makes them so special to be Avengers? That seemed strange.

* Michelle thought Captain America was the worst character (most uninteresting). I told her that that's something they copied exactly from the comics.

* I could watch Robert Downey, Jr. play Tony Stark all day.

* Adapting The Infinity Gauntlet seems a little stupid to me, if only because that story (and the other two "Infinity" crossovers) was about Adam Warlock and Thanos with the rest of the Marvel heroes used as filler, never actually doing anything. In The Infinity Gauntlet, they were cannon fodder that Warlock hoped would distract Thanos long enough to actually get something done. They were worthless losers. So, yes, let's make that story into a movie. (I know, I know, they'll just change it, shut up.)

* I tried explaining Thanos to Michelle after the movie was over and that was very, very weird. "He, uh, gets the Infinity Gems, which each represent mastery over something different like time or the mind. He does this to impress Death. Because he's in love with Death. That's why he smiles when that alien guy mentioned courting death, because, uh, that's what he's trying to do. Except, when he gets the Infinity Gems and becomes like a god, she won't talk to him then, either. Before, she was too far above him to pay him any notice, but, now, he's as far above her as she was him then, that it's the same thing. So, he's sad. It's weird and kind of creepy."

* The comedy was pushed a little too far at times. Like the bit with Captain America and the cop. That felt like the same type of joke done a couple too many times.

* Oddly, Michelle and I seemed to be the only ones who laughed at many of the jokes.

* The joke I laughed at the most, and the longest, was Cap's excitement over getting the Wizard of Oz reference. That killed me.

* But, my favourite moment was the use of AC/DC when Iron Man first showed up in his armour. I wish the soundtracks for the other movies were as distinctive as that one so we could have gotten three other moments like that for Thor, the Hulk, and Cap.

* It was well worth being secretive over the identity of the aliens. Clearly.

* Seriously, those aliens sucked. Even the flying dragons sucked. Also, why did they not send Thor through the portal to attack them on the other side, like, right away?

* If Thor can fly, why would putting him in a container and dropping it be a threat? Couldn't he just fly and lift the container from the inside?

* Mark Ruffalo was good.

* The stuff with Loki 'brainwashing' people was surprising and gave the first half a different feel than I expected, especially with Hawkeye.

* "Hulk: smash." That was funny, too.

All in all, an enjoyable movie. Not the end all be all of movies or superhero movies or anything like that. But, well worth the two free passes we used to get in.

The Sunday Open: Astonishing X-Men Hardcover Vol. 1 and the Eternals

Alright, fuck, shit, I have got a headache, so this may be briefer than I want. I got a couple of Marvel hardcovers over the past week, so let's do this.

The Eternals

Yeah, yeah, what was the fucking point of this series and haven't I read this whole "gods tricked into being human until one of them remembers and begins gathering them together" stuff before? Yes, I did, in a little series called Journey into Mystery, which spun out of the then-cancelled Thor book when Heroes Reborn happened. And then it's happening again in the current Thor book. Fuck, people.

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1

I read these comics when they came out and wasn't that thrilled. Seemed like Whedon was just playing to the fan(boy)s with various classic-type moments meant to push the right buttons, but not actually signify anything. The comic was cute and who gives a damn about a cute comic featuring the X-Men really?

I've got to say that the issues work better when read together like this, but not by much. Still cute and lovely and blah blah blah, but still not getting why it's so great (or so the people tell me). Geoff Klock has some great write-ups on the book and I reread 'em last night, but still not seeing it. But, I'm not loving All-Star Superman the way everyone else is either, so maybe I'm broken inside.

One thing that did bug me: the giant sentinel they encounter at Genosha--I thought it was made into that Magneto monument in Morrison's run. I could be wrong, I don't have Morrison's stuff here, but I remember it as that. Anyone else with me?

I would go on, but headache and apathy win the day.

Tomorrow, we jump right into some more Jim Starlin comics. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.