Review: THE AVENGERS

So, by now it's safe to say that half the world (and then some) has seen The Avengers. And it is easy to see why: up until now every superhero movie has tried to bank-off audience’s inner child and repressed id. Broad emotions and large explosions are fun to watch; it is the same root emotion with which children bash action figures, have snowball fights, and play with NERF guns. However, no film has yet captured the childish enjoyment of bashing action figures against each other in the way The Avengers does. Long awaited, since Samuel L. Jackson’s cameo at the end of Iron Man, The Avengers assembles a good array of Marvel characters into one film: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury; it gives them a worthy villain: Loki and the Chitauri, and then proceeds to wreck havoc over a CGI Midtown Manhattan. What more can we ask for?

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolves?

In today’s world, or at least in Hollywood, movies are made by large studios. These studios along with many other non-filmic companies form conglomerates called corporations. In a previous entry, About the Indie Film, I spoke about the difficulties in labeling a film as independent. The economic gears and systems of today’s world are so intrinsically complicated that the only way to survive is to conglomerate into a corporation. Is there anything wrong with this? Definitely not, if a good film has to sacrifice the honor of being called Indie for it to still exist I’ll call it a studio film just so I can see it. Plus without the money coming from corporations, we wouldn’t see Iron Man kick the shit out of the Iron Monger this past summer. (Although, I could have saved myself from watching the Hulk and Abomination make loud noises in the rooftops of New York). We would also not have a franchise like Batman, which has given us two continuities to choose from: Nolan’s physiological thrillers or the highly stylistic Burton/Schumacher pieces of the last decade. What about Wall-E? Without the Disney Empire there is no way we could enjoy animated films like Wall-E or Bolt. Nevertheless something has been lost. For every one new original piece we are getting a dozen rehashes of old stuff, and the value of a lot of previous originality has been lost.

Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Wall-E; these are all great studio films, and they could have not been made unless a studio had done them. It is when a studio steps out of its territory when problems start arising. Several films come out every year that studios should not be releasing. This year was no exception. here are a few.

Anticipating the success of Juno, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist had to be produced. Both films offer an Indie feel to their audiences, and in the past only a small independent crew would have ever ventured into producing a film about teenage pregnancy or about “wild night” in the music scene of New Jersey. The problem here is that instead of being made by an underground group of people who probably suffered the hardships of both situations, such movies are being written by office desk writers who know little of either situation. Yes, a former prostitute wrote Juno; but street touch did not go past script level. Lots of money went into the production of both movies but they were marketed as independent films. Instead of getting the fruitful flavor of an Indie film we were expecting when we walked in we walked out with a bland taste of wanabe quirkiness. Nevertheless, both films were enjoyable up to a point, and who knows maybe in the future we will see a good product come out of this new Indie looking style. However there is one new style, corporations have created this year, which I could live without: the color saturated neuron-popping mesh that was Speed Racer

Speed Racer's plot, if you could find any, dealt around a family that wanted to keep a small home owned business a family home owned business. There used to be a time when films with such plots were created by small family owned business, and thus meant something. It was a small statement of , “stick it to the Man” but not anymore. Speed Racer was created for the sole reason to make money of nostalgic baby boomers to take themselves and their kids to see a rehash of an old and not very good cartoon. Corporations have begun to exploit and make profit from what once defined a product anti-corporate.

Similarly, our enjoyment of high-end art works has been blended down and spoon-fed to the masses. Call me an elitist, but it's true. A couple of decades back, an incredibly blood-filled musical was made, by who was then considered one of theater’s most avant-garde writers. I’m talking about "Sweeney Todd" by Steven Sondheim, based of an incredibly obscure novel/play of the same name. The musical was of course praised by art critics and was soon moved up into becoming something a little bit more commercial: a Broadway musical. Three decades later and the show is revived as a Hollywood Holiday movie by no other than Tim Burton. Is there a problem with this? Well the film was indeed a beautiful film but something on it felt terribly wrong. First of all it lacks the unique Timburtoness of other Burton films, and at the same time it lacks the obscurity of an intended only for theater buffs movie. It just lags in the middle quite not being anything. Like other things corporations have stolen from us, it lacks flavor.

Recapping Marvel's Summer 'Block Busters'

Summer is over, and everyone is back to school and back to work (even though business does not take a summer break), so I think a short re-cap of the MARVEL films that were anticipated should be discussed and see if they live up to what they we're expected to be.



IRON MAN

Robert Downey Jr. plays the newest Marvel Comics hero to hit the big screen - IRON MAN. Downey Jr. gives a fantastic performance as the new hero, surprising many, and setting a new standard for the Marvel films. Also, this film is the first film produces entirely by the new Marvel Studios.

The plot was nicely handled, and the change of Jarvis from a human to a robot system was well received. Jeff Bridges played a good villain who had reason for his motives, and Gwenyth Paltrow and Downey Jr. had fantastic chemistry that made the man and woman relationship fun and believable, with out the tacky standard of 'love story'. Samuel L Jackson after the credits was a good nod to the character of Nick Fury, and indeed a nice touch.

Even so... the Video Game was terrible, and one of the worst that has been made in years.

But- Did IRON MAN live up to its expectations? ABSOLUTELY


The Incredible Hulk



A few years ago, Ang Lee directed a film called 'HULK' starring Eric Bana, that wasn't exactly a hit. It went far too deep into an existential journey of family reconciliation, loss, acceptance, and hulk dogs. But - just because that one wasn't a hit, does not mean that this one is awesome by default.

Here are the problems with it. The Hulk is never running away from the action, as the Hulk is normally supposed to do. He has no idea who this villain is, why he is fighting him or if he should be. Also, the action was weak, his head was too small, and there was an absurdly weak love story. One fantastic shot, however, was of him and Liv Tyler sitting on some rocks in the canyon in the rain at night. That was good filmmaking. However, the rest is just a cat and mouse, pointless chase that ends with a lame and weak outcome.

Norton did a good job with his performance as Bruce Banner/ Hulk, and Tim Roth did a nice job as well, it's nice to see him on the big screen again. However it is a shame that most story and character development were glazed over. But- apparently 70 minutes of footage were cut, and I will certainly re-judge the movie when I have a chance to check out the DVD and see it in what should be its fullest form.

Even so... The Video Game was fantastic. Lots of fun, roaming the cities in a free-form world, doing things the Hulk does that are fun in games but don't satisfy at all in movie form.

But - Did THE INCREDIBLE HULK live up to its expectations? NOT AT ALL




With a reboot of 'The Punisher' franchise coming soon, as well as sequels to most previous Marvel films, and more avengers movies on the way, it looks like Marvel has a chance to make some more good things on the grill. Lets hope they don't get spoiled with the success of Iron Man and think anything they do is golden. Movies take work to make them good. Even if you already wrote the storyboard 50 years ago.