10 AM Monday, cold, heavy rain, figured it was safe to venture out. As I mention, I Hate Going To The Movies. Theater mostly empty, the way I prefer. A trio of loud teens a few rows back gabbing loudly and digging through noisy candy boxes wrapped in cellophane (why do they allow cellophane wrapping for movie candy?!?). A row ahead: some geek brought his toddler. *Shakes head* Right on queue: every quiet moment, the talking scenes, what have you, the toddler starts talking and has no “indoor voice.” Eeba waddle doo hickle muddy daH? EEBA WADDLE DOO HICKLE MUDDY DAH!!!
Just kill me, now.
Micro review: liked it more than the first AV film, really surprised by how “grown up” it was and by Whedon’s (Marvel Studios’) redefining of the genre specifically to know the difference between humor and camp; having the audience laugh *with* the heroes and not *at* them. That paradigm shift, in and of itself, may extend the super-hero film genre from a passing fad to a permanent industry staple (along with Westerns and Science Fiction, etc.). Much of the film’s plot will sail way over the heads of the average eight-year old, but, like Bugs Bunny cartoons, the kids were never invested in that stuff anyway. *Marvel* comics were never, ever, written for eight-year olds to begin with, and pandering to the lowest (and shortest attention span) common denominator is what has traditionally crippled attempts to build successful SH franchises.
I’m sure 8 million other people have pointed this out by now, but Joss missed a huge opportunity in the hammer-lifting contest by not having the final contestant, Black Widow, simply pick up the coffee table and effortlessly carry it (and Mjolinir) off-stage. As demonstrated by the Vision, *people* can’t lift or move the hemmer, but you can presumably move whatever the hammer is resting upon/embedded within.
Pleased by the Black Panther groundwork in Ultron by the Ulysses Klaue cameo.
Would be nice if, eventually, parents figured this out and stopped bringing toddlers to these things, but that’s not likely to happen until the Adam West Batman generation dies off (including me).
I’ll admit to bringing a four-year-old nephew — brother-in-law’s idea; not something I usually do. He behaved pretty well (and I didn’t think the theater would be so packed for the first showing at 9:30 AM). But…yeah, not something I usually do.
Good point on the difference between humor and camp. I LIKE camp — working my way through Batman on DVD and enjoying the hell out of all the performances, the more over-the-top the better — but it’s nice to see people figuring out there are intermediate steps between self-parody and No Smiling Allowed. (Guardians of the Galaxy really nailed space opera/comedy, a genre which is criminally underserved.)
They’ve got Lord and Miller, a couple of writers best known for comedies (the 21 Jump Street movies, The Lego Movie, The Last Man on Earth) working on scripts for both The Flash and an animated Spider-Man movie; I think those are both really good signs. The Spider-Man movies have never really gotten the smartass side of the character right, and the Flash TV series has really impressed me as the first superhero TV series in ages that didn’t act embarrassed about being a superhero TV series. It’s embraced all the goofy Silver Age stuff like Gorilla Grodd, the Cosmic Treadmill, and Captain Cold, and as a result it’s got a lot more levity (and is just a lot more fun) than the dour movies and TV shows DC/Warner has been putting out for the last few years. (Conventional wisdom seems to be “Batman is our most successful character, ergo we need to make every character more like Batman.” Fortunately they seem to be starting to allow a little wiggle room for that premise.)
Dude, I’ve seen people bring small children to *300*. You know, with the slow-motion decapitations and tent full of naked sex slaves.
Widow shouldn’t have been able to pick up the hammer. Whatever the worthiness criteria may be, her past is so checkered she couldn’t possibly pass. (Watch, tomorrow’s comics will reveal that the new Thor is actually Nat.)
He didn’t say she should pick up the hammer, but instead the table.
I believe the hammer’s enchantment is about the proprietary function and use of the hammer. It’s not so much about who can pick it up but who is worthy of its power. In that view, were Thor to leave it on a tray, anyone could pick up the tray. What the enchantment blocks is the user’s ability to access the hammer’s features. A New Thor? *sigh* haven;t we seen this before?
The hammer has also been established in the comics as weighing about a ton (so, in the comics, that table shouldn’t have held it at all). Machines can move it, but they need to be pretty strong machines.
Ah– an authority (no snark intended). I actually prefer Whedon’s approach, the hammer looks substantial, but a *ton* is ridiculous.
I wouldn’t lay any particular praise for de-camping things at Whedon’s feet. That’s been a long, long road and everyone from Dini/Timm to Bryan Singer to Sam Raimi to Jon Favreau deserve their own slice of the pie in that regard.
Favreau…?
Favreau directed the first Iron Man movie.
I should really read those credits… The first two acts of IM1 are, SFAIC, the definitive superhero film, the template, The Way. Act 3 devolved into stupidity, as did Act 3 of MOS.