The Avengers Assemble to Create One of the Most Entertaining Comic Book Films

The Avengers (4 out of 5 Stars)

Directed and Written by Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr.,  Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Colbie Smulders and Samuel L. Jackson

At the end of every Marvel film seeing Samuel L. Jackson show up as Nick Fury to recruit for "Avengers Initiative" made me an incredibly giddy fanboy.  I have read comic  books since as long I can remember.  I primarily used to read the X-Men titles, but ever since Avengers Disassembled  (2004), I have been hooked on this super team.   As a little kid I used to play with the action figures, and played the video games, so for me there was a lot of pressure for this film to live up to my childhood hopes.  It did.

Without giving too much of the film away, the film starts with the evacuation of a SHIELD base.  Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is racing to the base with his second in command Agent Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders) tells him the Tesseract, an energy source of unknown potential, has activated and opened a portal through space.  Loki steps out of the portal takes the Tesseract and escapes.  Fury has a bunch of hologram screens with government officials telling him he should not go forward with the Avengers Initiative it was disbanded, but of course they need "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" to save the planet, and the story takes off.

Director/Writer Joss Whedon who is best known for his TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel was the perfect choice to direct this film.  Whedon is the eternal fanboy in the director's chair, and perfect person to pen this screenplay.  Whedon knows the comic book world well; he has continued to write the Buff, and Angel comics, he has also created a series entitled "Fray"which takes place in the future of the Buffy world.  Whedon has done writing for Marvel comics as well.  In 2006 Whedon helped relaunch the title series "The Astonishing X-Men" and under his writing it received numerous honors and was one of the best written 24 issue arc of the decade.  I had walked away from comics for a few years, but I credit Whedon's writing on this X-Men series to be the reason I returned to comic books.

Fans have been clamoring for Whedon to step behind the camera for years, with a variety of different comic book films, but he waited for the perfect moment.  Whedon's only other film credit is Serenity, but boy does he know what he is doing.  Whedon makes you feel as though he is one of the fans; he knows the comic book crowd and how to make them happy with both his direction and writing.  As a comic book fan he made the film speak to me, and put into full realization everything I had always imagined this experience to be, and he is especially good at bringing the different cast members together.

From Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr's) one-liners, to the Hulk smash the cast meshed well together.  The core four Avengers (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hulk) were the best part.  I read Whedon wants to shrink his cast down in the next film and I have a feeling it will involve these four and maybe one more new cast member.  I enjoyed Hawkeye; he was cool, but without his own film you lose the characterization.  The Black Widow kicks ass and Johansson was better in this than in Iron Man 2, but I still  did not care about her character's development because of the lack of depth behind her.  Other than that I may have given a few fan boy shrieks, but this movie was just great.

Avengers Assemble: Thor aka Donald Blake

Thor is exactly who you him to be, God of Thunder from from Norse mythology.  Thor first made his appearance in 1962.   The world of Marvel comics used their anthology based on science fiction/fantasy entitled Journey into the Mystery  to launch Thor; he first debuted in issue # 83.  Two of the four men created Iron Man came together to create Thor for Marvel, and they were the brilliant Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

In the book Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee he talked about the birth of Thor in congruence with the creation of Thor.  Lee wanted to combat the fact the fact that he had created Hulk who had this eternal strength.  Stan Lee stated this:

"[H]ow do you make someone stronger than the strongest person? It finally came to me: Don't make him human — make him a god. I decided readers were already pretty familiar with the Greek and Roman gods. It might be fun to delve into the old Norse legends... Besides, I pictured Norse gods looking like Vikings of old, with the flowing beards, horned helmets, and battle clubs.  ...Journey into Mystery needed a shot in the arm, so I picked Thor ... to headline the book. After writing an outline depicting the story and the characters I had in mind, I asked my brother, Larry, to write the script because I didn't have time. ...and it was only natural for me to assign the penciling to Jack Kirby.."


This is a fascinating look into the creation of Earth's most powerful heroes and his origin.  Journey into the Mystery was later re-titled Thor.  Marvel knows how the capture lightening in a bottle, and has told some great stories over the years, and while I have never been an avid Thor reader, the film got me more interested in his character.


Like within the the film Thor was sent down to Earth in the body of a human who had lost his memory.  The human name he took was Donald Blake.  Blake became a doctor and fell in love with a nurse name Jane Foster.  The basics are there in the film.  Good job Marvel!  Soon Blake used his Hammer to combat aliens and his arch nemesis and half brother Loki found him on on Earth, and the battle raged on.  Loki became the first villain the Avengers faced in the comic book, and he will be the first villain the team faces in the film.


It seems as though the film did a job with the lore and story from the comic book with Thor.  I would have like them to focus more on the world Thor comes from, Asgard, but Kenneth Branagh did a great job with this film.  Chris Hemsworth played Thor like no one else could, and he was beautifully brilliant (key word beautiful).  The real scene-stealer in the film was Tom Hiddleston who played Loki; he played Thor's jealous half brother with humor and venomous rage well.  I am excited to see Loki back on the screen in a few more days!

Things in Movies, TV, and Music I am Thankful for This Year

Movies


More films centered on women-Maybe Hollywood will realize that women centered films can be Post to both solid, and money makers.  Two films that come to mind right away are The Help, and Bridesmaids.  Both films were some of, if not the most entertaining films of this year.  Bridesmaids was hilarious, and there were very few central male characters.  The Help was heartfelt and well acted and was focused centrally on the women.Twitter


The Muppet's-I am so happy this group of puppets is back.  I am so happy Jason Segal brought Kermit, Miss. Piggy, Gonzo, Fozie, and Animal back into my life.  The movie was hilarious, and brought out some great celebrity cameos.


Marvel Comic Book Movies-They started with Thor, then there X-Men: First Class (the best) , and closed out with Captain America.  These three films took the time create wonderful stories with great action, and unlike Green Lantern or the Green Hornet they did a good balancing story with action.  The other important part was that the casting was well done, from Michael Fassbender as Magneto to Thomas Hiddleston as Loki (the only awful call was January Jones).

Ryan Gosling- This boy can act!  I have seen quality work from him in the past in Blue Valentine, Half Nelson, and Lars and the Real Girl, but he had three amazing performances this year alone.  Gosling started with the summer film Crazy Stupid Love, where he was both sexy and hilarious.  Then Gosling had his starring role in Drive where he played the sulky stuntman/criminal.  He closed out the year with his best performance in The Ides of March where he started out an ambitious aid to a politician and ended up a bitter sullen victim of the game of politics.

Some great Original Screenplays- Midnight in Paris was romantic hilarious and beautifully written.  The Tree of of Life is ambitious and a revelation.  Martha Marcy May Marlene is dark and thrilling.  Margin Call is one of the most interesting looks at current financial situation.  Taking Shelter is a great look mental illness and how fear of losing things shapes our reality.  Even Bridesmaids (with its flaws) is a hilarious piece of work.  There are still so many great ones to come!Th

TV


AMC- The Network is amazing!  They are currently airing The Walking Dead, which is having a great second season.  The first season of The Killing was addicting.  The fourth season of Break Bad continues the show's pattern of only getting better.  Mad Men will be returning in the new year.  What more could anyone want? This network is great!

Emily Van Camp-I love good soapy drama and she is currently the the headline of one of my biggest addictions this year, Revenge.

The Ensembles from Community and The Good Wife


Community has found their groove again, and NBC is shelving them for a short time?  This show has done such an amazing job evolving and continuing to be funny, and I could watch it over and over again.

The Good Wife's ensemble (including its guest stars) work impeccably together.  The cast is lead by Marguilles but this is not a one woman show.  The directors know how to intertwine stories and bring characters together.

Louis CK and Larry David-I am thankful for bitter sarcastic, dark humor!  Louis CK and Larry David have provided that for me this year.  Louis is a much darker version of Seinfeld, and his humor is so on point.  Meanwhile Curb Your Enthusiasm only has gotten better with Larry moving to New York City.

Music


4-I am thankful Beyonce has decided to to follow her heart, and work on music she wanted to make because it has paid off.  With great songs like "I Care" "I was Here" and her bigger hits "Run the World (Girls)" "The Best I've Never Had" and "Countdown" Beyonce should be proud.

Adele-Her voice is flawless and she can actually sing.  I have always loved this women, and new found popularity is great.  This Best New Artist Grammy winner is one of the best singers I have ever heard!

David Guetta-His DJ'ing and new CD is one of my favorite of the year.  This music is my gym mix and all of these songs are what make me want to just get out there and dance