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?

THOR Featurettes:

Check out these featurettes on Thor, courtesy of Paramount Pictures:





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INTERVIEW WITH THE CAST OF THOR

One of the writers for The Movie Watch attended the press junket for up and coming release of Thor. We already reviewed the movie on Saturday but for your enjoyment, and ours, here is the interview with the cast of Thor, speaking about their experiences working on the movie. Present at the junket, was Chris Hemworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Idirs Elba (Heimdall), Jamie Alexander (Sif) and Kat Dennings (Darcy).

Enjoy:

Review: THOR

            One of the biggest problems with The Hulk movies has been that it is really hard to take a big green dude with purple shorts seriously. Making a movie about a hammer-wielding Norse god who is prone to shouting “I AM THOR! THE THUNDER GOD!” and taking it seriously is perhaps even a bigger challenge. But unlike the Hulk movies, the filmmakers chose to embrace the absurdity of the movie’s premise and play along. The result is a movie filled with Viking pleasing, bashing fun that lacks the raping part of “raping and pillaging” in order to keep it PG-13. In other words, a brilliant kick off for this summer’s line of blockbusters.

 

New Thor Trailer Surfaces

The first Thor trailer actually raised my hopes that Marvel was going to deliver another good pre-Avengers installment. At the very least it would be the one decent superhero flick this summer, since Green Latern looks like shit and we really don't need another X Men after X3 and Wolverine. But alas a new trailer has surfaced and this no longer seems as hopeful. I'll let you guys watch and have your say:

Thor Comic-Con Trailer

Jesus.

Marvel's Thor to have a Classical feel?

Breaking News!

For those of you who are fans of this blog, you know that we loves ourselves some comic book goodness. One of the next installments of Marvel's new and improved movies is going to be Thor. Though the title actor is still yet to be determined (Come on Triple H!), the topic of director has recently been brought back up because Kenneth Branagh has been talking to the studio about doing it.

This announcement comes as a welcome shock. Not only as an actor, but as a director is Mr. Branagh well versed in the classical "sauce" as some may put it so we can't wait to see how Shakespearean Thor will turn out.


-Mark

Give ‘Em A Fighting Chance

An Editorial by Mark Donica

All right, so as I have mentioned in a previous blog, I am a born and bred wrestling fan. Starting in 2006, World Wrestling Entertainment (grumble) started exclusively producing film content utilizing their wrestling talent as the leads of the projects and lesser-known actors as the supporting cast. So far, WWE Films has produced the horror film See No Evil starring Glen “Kane” Jacobs and the action films The Marine and The Condemned starring John Cena and Stone Cold Steve Austin, respectively. Future films include 12 Rounds starring John Cena, Journey of Death starring Triple H, Suckerpunch starring Big Show and (sigh) The Marine 2, not starring John Cena. (found out this morning)

What I’ve noticed is that the general public dismiss these films because they star “wrestlers” not actors. If people had a lick of sense, they would know that PROFESSIONAL WRESTLERS ARE ACTORS! They do more than “regular” actors because they perform verbally as well as physically. It’s usually the writers that I have gripes with in terms of WWE Television, but there are several performers that excel no matter what is written for them. Also, there is sense of originality in these films. See No Evil was one of the few original horror films since 2000. The Condemned borrows some elements from the Japanese novel/film Battle Royale, but allows for more carnage by replacing the children with death row convicts. The upcoming 12 Rounds deals with a man getting back at the cop (John Cena) that accidentally killed his wife in the process his capture. Blaming “Cena” of course, after he gets out of prison, he creates a series of seemingly impossible puzzles and tasks in order for Cena’s character to save his fiancé.

HOW AWESOME DOES THAT SOUND!? A real life Batman/Riddler situation. It sounds like it’s going to be a good movie with a respectable and solid performer at the helm. What if instead of John Cena, it was an actor like Jason Statham? WWE doesn’t appeal to the populous on as large of a scale as mainstream actors, but what has to be realized is that these people act. I know full well as a fan that these people are acting, especially in the ring. Wrestlers VERY rarely have “shoot” matches anymore, they have scripted matches. They may or may not know how the entire match is mapped, but they at least know the finish. Also, these people perform live on a several times a week basis, so having them on the set is so handy because a lot of the shots have the possibility of needed one take.

The professional wrestling performers would be a huge advantage for Hollywood. Triple H was brushed aside as a possibility of playing the title character in the upcoming Marvel Studios Film Thor because the director didn’t think a “wrestler” could pull it off. Most people today still know who Triple H is because he was a big contributor of “The Attitude Era” when everyone watched WWF. He is one of the WWE’s top performers and currently the reigning WWE Champion. Don’t think that this is just a wrestling fans opinion, but also a fan of good films and knowing good workers when I see them. Hollywood needs to realize the potential that the WWE, TNA and other promotions can do for the business, but let’s forget that David Arquette won the WCW Championship as a promotion for Ready to Rumble.