the gang

it’s been awhile since i’ve taken on a superhero flick here on the breach. i passed on thor and cap and hulk and lantern and whatever else might have popped up in there that i’m leaving out. not enough DC i say. but the last time i was here talking about men with super-suits or x-ray specs, i played naysayer to the worst sequel this side of Back to the Future 2. but it’s been a long time since then. and since dc is giving us … green lantern (sigh), marvel has been running rings around hollywood. in the interest of full disclosure, i’m a full on DC guy, and i’ll take the Trinity over ANY group, ANY day. still, iron man was awesome. captain america was pretty good. those 2 hulk movies were ok. and thor was … well … important to the avengers story at least.

lolz!

so here it is! all this time in the making. all the sitting through the end credits to see all the sam jackson cameos – all the press releases – all the shoe-horning of scarlett and renner into movies where they didn’t belong is finally over, and the end game is at hand. and while it might’ve been hard to see the point while you were sitting through the end of iron-man 2 or the parts of thor sans idris elba, much like a child doesn’t understand the use of piano lessons, you are now grown, and when you sit and tickle the ivory, the foxy chicks abound, and you thank god for every single lesson.

where did this analogy come from?

ok, so fudge all that. that doesn’t make any sense. here’s what makes sense: The Avengers is an awesome damn movie. i wouldn’t say i was walking into the theater expecting to hate this flick, but it would be equally unfair to say i just had a few doubts. sure i liked the buffy tv show when i was in high school, but it’s on instant now, and lemme tell you, it’s DATED YO. i DO love Firefly. it’s great. one of the truly great tv shows to come around ever. but dollhouse left no impression on me, dr. horrible’s sing-along blog was, as kindly as i can say, not for me, and i absolutely Hated (capital ‘H’ over there <—-) cabin in the woods. and it’s been getting easier and easier for me to say whedon was a flash in the pan. he caught lightning in a bottle with Firefly. but now?

zing!

so it’s easy to go all hyperbolic with a movie like this. it’s big-budget. its cast is LOADED with acting talent (ruffalo and hiddleston topping my list). and it managed the impossible by not becoming the train wreck i expected. and as far as hyperbole – i had an absolute BLAST watching this in the theater. i was laughing and rocking back and forth in my seat the same way i did when i was a little kid watching jurassic park in the theater all four times. it felt like watching terminator 2. and the matrix. while it’s not the technical marvel that those 3 movies were, The Avengers immediately jumps into the mix of my favorite action movies i’ve ever seen. hyperbole? *shrug*

but if you’re looking for details, take a hike. this isn’t a review, it’s a recommendation, and i’m not spilling any beans. ok maybe one or two beans. thor becomes in this movie what he should have been allowed to become in his OWN damn movie. and hulk? hulk smashes.

in the end, i think joss earned a TON of credit for this movie. he’s earned the budget for whatever he wants to do next. and he’s earned my apologies. this man is no flash in the pan. in fact, despite his relative early success and faithful fan-base, this might just be the beginning.

boss whedon

We’re at July, which when I was younger was the time of summer where I realized how much of June I had wasted and how little time I had before school started back up.  I’ve written a few times on here about getting old, most notably when I wrote about Crank some years ago.  It’s strange because in general I don’t fear aging and most folks aren’t likely to feel my 28.5 years on this planet can be classified as “old.”  But there’s just something about the summer movie season that harkens back to my youth.  And with that, here are my thoughts on the summer movies so far.

Most of the stuff I’ve seen this summer has been disappointing.  For a few it was expected- Transformers and Hangover II come to mind.  Others just missed the mark but were still watchable- Thor, Green Lantern, etc.  And then possibly the biggest disappoint for me was the latest Harry Potter.  I’m sure I’ll revisit it on Blu in the fall and find less to fault but the experience of watching what is the last piece of a 10 year process seemed underwhelming.  There’s an argument to be made that these flicks haven’t necessarily been “good” but were certainly made with good effort.  Excluding the overwrought epilogue, the ending of this film felt no different than the end of any Harry Potter film.  Perhaps I was being too picky or looking for something that simply wasn’t there.  Maybe I also happened to be 24 hours removed from watching the finale for Friday Night Lights, which plays like some form of wrap up concocted by the gods.  I just couldn’t help but come away disappointed.

That said, I really enjoyed X-Men: First Class, Bridesmaids, Fast Five and most recently Captain America.  I’ll tell you though, this variation in what I’m liking isn’t what frightens me.  I’ve simply found that I may be growing out of the demographic given priority access to the summer movie hype train.  Summer films during adolescence are an event and as much as we adults try to convince ourselves that these things are still a big deal, I’m starting to see the seams and money making schemes behind it all.  Take the fourth Pirates movie.  I wouldn’t have seen this thing if I was given a free ticket.  I’m over it.  But $1  Billion later, clearly there’s still an audience.  What’s weird is that I’m slightly upset to not be a part of that $1 Billion while at the same time I have this weird mental thing where I feel like I have something over those folks that have sunk (pun intended) their money into this franchise after the second one.

Is it growing up or is it developing choice?  I’d like to think it’s choice but more often than not, it will likely end up being age.  The better question is whether or not growing out of the excitement for movie events is a bad thing.  I’ll tell you this much, it certainly saves me a lot of money.  Not so coincidentally, I have a strong inclination to see the most adult film released this summer, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.  So make of that what you will.

Breachcast 80 – Ate E

Breachcast 75 – Hityid

Breachcast 61

Breachcast 40

And if you’re at all sentimental about Lost leaving the airwaves, give a listen to this-

Breachcast XXXVII

Breachcast XXXII

The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed that Chris Evans has officially accepted the role of Captain America for Joe Johnston’s First Avenger: Captain America.¬† Evans reportedly took a few days to mull it over, but honestly did we really think he’d decline?¬† What actor turns down a potential 3 picture deal and the opportunity to play without a doubt one of the most iconic and beloved superheroes ever because he’s locked into some romantic comedy?

I, for one, welcome Evans in the role although I’m aware that the nerd fanbase is sort of split down the middle on this one.¬† If some of you are worried about his acting ability outside of his smartass (and completely fun) turn as the Human Torch, then I urge you to check him out in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine.¬† The rest of the base is inexplicably concerned with the fact that he’s already played a Marvel superhero in 2 other movies, and that it’s somewhat of a conflict of interest.¬† To you guys, I would like to remind you that the world doesn’t give a damn about the Fantastic Four movies and they’ve been long forgotten.

Sound off in the comment section!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter and Ain’t It Cool News