Avengers Footage

[Talavar]

No, they were forecasting significantly lower totals for opening weekend than the $207 million domestic record.  Initial forecasts were putting it more in line with the last Harry Potter's opening, around $160 to 170 million.  Crazy stuff.

[Cyber Burn]

Saw it yesterday, after using all of my will power for months to avoid seeing *anything* in this thread.  It was a thing of beauty.  I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.  I thought the portrayals of what they could do and were capable of were pretty spot-on.  I actually *don't* have any real nitpicks at the moment, other than I didn't really care for Ruffalo's portrayal of Banner.  It just didn't feel like Banner to me, just some guy that was there.  It seems like I'm in the minority about that here, though, but I still liked the *first* Hulk movie, and thought the first Ghost Rider is still semi-watchable, so I'm used to not being in complete agreement with everyone.

Like most people, my favorite scene was

Spoiler

Loki lying dazed on the floor.  As if the flinging around he just got wasn't hilarious enough, the look on his face sealed the deal on that scene.  My audience was laughing too loud for too long for me to hear the Hulk quote after, but it turns out it was pretty much what I thought it was.   

I know I made more than a few noises during the movie, especially that hammer shot to the chin!  You just can't help but exclaim at scenes like that!

One other thing that bugged me a little bit, when they were all arguing in the helicarrier, I would have liked for someone to have pointed out that they were most likely acting out that much was due to Loki's influence, via the staff.  It just seemed a little out of character for everyone to be letting loose verbally quite so much like that.

If we're getting into nitpicking...Cap's costume...hated it. Too far removed from the classic for my taste.

[Ares_God_of_War]

I said the name of the Villian in the 1st teaser when I saw him and got weird looks. No one in my theater knew who he was

[captmorgan72]

I said the name of the Villian in the 1st teaser when I saw him and got weird looks. No one in my theater knew who he was

Yeah, I got that too. One guy behind me was explaining to his friend that Thor's hammer "bounced" off Captain America's shield because they are both made of the same metal.  I didn't correct him, much to the anguish of my cousin who was with me. 

[BlueBard]

I'm quite sure I sense a DVD purchase in my future.

I need to pick up the Captain America one anyhow, might as well make it a double feature

[ow_tiobe_sb]

Three words:

Spoiler

"Reindeer Games."     I watched the film on opening day with my better half and loved most of it--with the notable exception of Agent Coulson's death, which struck me as a premature elimination of an interesting character (no matter what type of teleological spin the film might want to put on that event as a necessary condition for The Avengers to assemble properly).  Of course, it may be that Whedon et al. are setting up a very merry, Marvel comic-style rebirth for the character at a later date: clicky.

I wish I had the leisure to see it again. 

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

[BentonGrey]

That article was really interesting, Tiobe.

Spoiler

Coulson!  What in the world...haha, I guess Joss lied to him.  I kind of hope he will come back.  I really love the charm that fellow brings to the movies.

[Talavar]

In the 'well, duh' department, an Avengers sequel has been officially announced.

[oldmanwinters]

Well, I did get to see Avengers this weekend, and I can happily say it is one of the top 5 superhero movies I've seen on the cinema screen.  Nice job to all folks involved.

Everything was good, but I found the actual Chitauri invasion fairly underwhelming.  Loki himself was great, but the aliens were just about as "generic evil creatures" as you can get.  Looking back, my original prediction about the movie's plot wasn't too far off:

Spoiler

My guess is that the plot will probably be pretty meager and formulaic:

Act 1: Nick Fury tries to convince all the Alpha Males to work together as a team; chaos and hilarity ensue. Loki helps sow seeds of dissent.
Act 2: ALIENS INVADE EARTH!!!  Avengers get their collective butts kicked pretty good.  Loki enjoys the light show.
Act 3: The heroes realize they need each others' strengths (plus Hulk) to save the world; thus they succeed.   Loki gets ticked but swears revenge.

That said, the actual merit of the plot matters little to me at this point.  I just want to see the All-Star cast in action.  This is probably the biggest cinema crossover since Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.  I'll worry about plot in Iron Man 3 and the inevitable Avengers sequel.

It was still a great movie, and probably one of the most impressive films ever made given the scope of its buildup.  I commend the director, cast (especially), and special effects masters who made this film memorable.

My expectations will be considerably higher for the inevitable sequel, however.  Next time it won't be enough to just to put 7 awesome heroes into the movie and watch them play off each other.  Next time the plot must be truly epic enough to challenge the team at their mature best.  Hopefully,

Spoiler

Thanos

can deliver!

That article was really interesting, Tiobe.

Spoiler

Coulson!  What in the world...haha, I guess Joss lied to him.  I kind of hope he will come back.  I really love the charm that fellow brings to the movies.

I suspected reports of

Spoiler

Coulson's death

might have been greatly exaggerated as well.

The first hint was his line to Fury about how "they need this" (or something like that), and the second clue was the reveal about Fury's theatrics regarding his Cap. America trading cards.  Fury more or less repeated C.'s line.  Very interesting indeed.

[thalaw2]

Saw tonight at a late showing for about $5.  The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the 3D....I could have done without it.  It's cool that theaters here let you BYOB!

[Courtnall6]

I saw it last night (the theatre was packed) and I loved it! I have to agree it is the best superhero movie made so far. I had my doubts when Whedon's name was attached to it since I'm not a fan of his...but he did a fantastic job on this one.

The Thor/Hulk fight was awesome! See that X-Men 3...see what you missed out on not having Juggernaut fight Colossus!

Still waiting for Thor to yell "I say thee nay!" though. Also, still not liking the "no helmet" thing. His look will always seem laking to me.

Hawkeye's boring costume made sense in the context of the film but I hope that he gets something more visually interesting in A2.

By far the best version of Hulk yet. Now they need to do it right in his own movie.

All in all it had great action, great fun, and is a great movie.

Spoiler

Of all the big hits and destruction. The one I think I felt the most was Widow slamming Hawkeye's head into that railing. Ouch.

[thalaw2]

Spoiler

Of all the big hits and destruction. The one I think I felt the most was Widow slamming Hawkeye's head into that railing. Ouch.

Spoiler

I thought the Hulk slamming Loki about was the big Ouch moment...and it was darn AWESOME!!!!!

[Shogunn2517]

The Thor/Hulk fight was awesome! See that X-Men 3...see what you missed out on not having Juggernaut fight Colossus!

THANK YOU! Thank you for saying that!  I agree 1,000% and said as much when I saw it NOT happen in X-Men 3!  How did they NOT have those guys fight?!  That was a totally blown opportunity that the Avengers took FULL advantage of!  I've always wanted to see the two go at it, effectively since I started playing FF and trying to get Thor's strength and invulnerability(or lack thereof) right against a powerhouse like the Hulk!  They got it right IMO! 

[deano_ue]

Hawkeye's boring costume made sense in the context of the film but I hope that he gets something more visually interesting in A2.

for the love of god man let it go, let it go

[BentonGrey]

Come on TUE, that's a legitimate point.  I'll say that none of the design choices bothered me at all in the film, but I also hope we'll see Hawkeye begin to look more like himself eventually.  After all, look how amazing Captain America looked!  He was like a comic book brought to life...and that is just so freaking neat!

[Courtnall6]

Hawkeye's boring costume made sense in the context of the film but I hope that he gets something more visually interesting in A2.

for the love of god man let it go, let it go

Let what go? A boring design is a boring design.

[deano_ue]

that maybe be so, but it worked for the style they wanted to shwocase for the character. are you seriously telling me you would have prefer the actual pointy mask

caps worked to a degree because its a simple skull shaped hood, add two big pointy flaps to the front of that and it would look ridiculous

[Cyber Burn]

Come on TUE, that's a legitimate point.  I'll say that none of the design choices bothered me at all in the film, but I also hope we'll see Hawkeye begin to look more like himself eventually.  After all, look how amazing Captain America looked!  He was like a comic book brought to life...and that is just so freaking neat!

Sorry Benton, I have to disagree on this one, Cap's costume just felt lacking to me, Hawkeye's too, but Cap's was the real disappointment.

[Previsionary]

Come on TUE, that's a legitimate point.  I'll say that none of the design choices bothered me at all in the film, but I also hope we'll see Hawkeye begin to look more like himself eventually.  After all, look how amazing Captain America looked!  He was like a comic book brought to life...and that is just so freaking neat!

Sorry Benton, I have to disagree on this one, Cap's costume just felt lacking to me, Hawkeye's too, but Cap's was the real disappointment.

Cap's costume, specifically the mask part, was not the best looking thing in the movie, guaranteed. I'm pretty sure you were just happy to see him in costume again.

[murs47]

Just finished watching this...again. Still no words to describe the awesomeness of it. But gosh darn, for two hours, this flick makes me feel like a kid again. Magic.

[Cyber Burn]

Come on TUE, that's a legitimate point.  I'll say that none of the design choices bothered me at all in the film, but I also hope we'll see Hawkeye begin to look more like himself eventually.  After all, look how amazing Captain America looked!  He was like a comic book brought to life...and that is just so freaking neat!

Sorry Benton, I have to disagree on this one, Cap's costume just felt lacking to me, Hawkeye's too, but Cap's was the real disappointment.

Cap's costume, specifically the mask part, was not the best looking thing in the movie, guaranteed. I'm pretty sure you were just happy to see him in costume again.

Yeah, I never thought that I would ever see an Avengers movie in my life, that and the fact that it was just sooo awesome to boot, has made my year.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, I never thought that I would ever see an Avengers movie in my life, that and the fact that it was just sooo awesome to boot, has made my year.

Amen!  I've spent these years since they announced it quite intentionally NOT holding my breath...up until recently, but man, did they pull it off!

that maybe be so, but it worked for the style they wanted to shwocase for the character. are you seriously telling me you would have prefer the actual pointy mask

caps worked to a degree because its a simple skull shaped hood, add two big pointy flaps to the front of that and it would look ridiculous

Haha, you're assuming something I haven't said TUE.  I don't necessarily want to see Hawkeye's classic costume appear on screen unchanged...though, if they could throw in a nod to it like they did with Captain America, that would be pretty awesome.  (Hey, Clint could be working as an acrobat in the circus in Avengers 2, either undercover or just to stay hidden, and that would work pretty darn well in that context.)  No, I don't think we necessarily need to see this:
http://marvel-comics.wikispaces.com/file/view/hawkeye.jpg/230643948/hawkeye.jpg
But I do think there is plenty that can be done to nod towards the costume without ending up with something that looks ridiculous.  Cap's costume in the first movie was a reasonable, if somewhat ugly with the gray straps and what not, middle ground.  I don't see why something along those lines is so unreasonable to hope for in the next movie.  I mean, he had a dark purple part on his uniform at the end of this movie, so it isn't like the color won't work.  I mean, I could totally see a slightly more realistic version of the costume on the left of this image working:
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/7/72631/1434083-hawkeye_02_super.jpg
Take away the pointy bits of the mask, let him keep a cowl or a helmet of some sort, make it a bit more tac-gear/high-tech armor-y, tone down the purple to only be the highlights, and you've got something that would work reasonably well, methinks.  Heck, keep mostly the same chest piece, just "costume" it up a bit, and I'd be happy.:
http://www.heromachine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/hawkeye-movie.jpg
So yeah, I'm not unreasonable TUE, and I've got faith that Marvel, Whedon, and Co. are going to go out of their ways to capture the spirit of the comics, so I imagine we'll see something along these lines in the next film.

Come on TUE, that's a legitimate point.  I'll say that none of the design choices bothered me at all in the film, but I also hope we'll see Hawkeye begin to look more like himself eventually.  After all, look how amazing Captain America looked!  He was like a comic book brought to life...and that is just so freaking neat!

Sorry Benton, I have to disagree on this one, Cap's costume just felt lacking to me, Hawkeye's too, but Cap's was the real disappointment.

Really?  I'm totally surprised by that.  I thought he looked fantastic!  What disappointed y'all?
http://thefilmnest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/0816-chris-evans-captain-america-avengers-22-480x720.jpg
He looks just like Cap to me, right down to pretty clear headwings, even if they aren't 3D, and I thought he looked great in action. 

[thalaw2]

I liked the Cap costume in the Captain America movie more.  One thing I couldn't believe though:

Spoiler

Cap. doubted wearing the stars and stripes?!?!?!?!  Maybe I dropped off a bit at that moment (perhaps reaching for another beer in my bag o goodies), but that was odd.

The movie is cliche and over the top but the awesomeness makes up for it.  I don't think it's the best superhero movie ever...but it's certainly the best superhero team movie ever.

[Tomato]

Spoiler

thalaw, I took it as more or less just part of Cap's whole "doubting his own relevance in the modern world" thing.

Speaking of Cap... I dunno if it's just my own protestant upbringing showing through, but was I the only one who got a chuckle out of Cap's "There's only one God, and he doesn't dress like that" line?

But yeah, I loved this film, I'll be seeing it again next weekend (Sister has the last of the finals for the semester this week, so I'll be going to see it again with her this weekend to celebrate her escape), and... yeah, that's really all I have to say on the matter.

[Podmark]

I watched a video review of this movie (does anyone else watch Half in the Bag?) and the stuff they pointed out just made me love this film even more. The big one that I didn't think of: no tacked on love interest. That is my biggest pet peeve in movies especially in superhero movies but here they knew there was no room for it.

On the topic of costumes, I wasn't impressed with Cap either. The design was fine (except the back was oddly bare - really bugged me during the film) but the fabric made it seem...cheap? I'm not sure but it seemed off. Preferred the costume from his film, not that it was perfect.

On Hawkeye, I'm actually not a huge fan of the variations of his classic look. It's okay (good depending on the design/artist) but I always look at it and think "what is this?". I have no problem with the Ultimate/Movie/current style and it fits perfectly in the context of the movie Hawkeye. Benton brings up some good ideas though and it should be easy to make it less boring and still fit with movie Hawkeye who is a agent/spy/assassin first and super hero second.

Thor's okay, don't really have much else to say. Hulk is Hulk. Black Widow looks fine. Love Sam Jackson as Fury. Liked Loki's look. Chitauri were blah but servicable.
Iron Man continues to look awesome.

[BentonGrey]

Spoiler

thalaw, I took it as more or less just part of Cap's whole "doubting his own relevance in the modern world" thing.

Speaking of Cap... I dunno if it's just my own protestant upbringing showing through, but was I the only one who got a chuckle out of Cap's "There's only one God, and he doesn't dress like that" line?

But yeah, I loved this film, I'll be seeing it again next weekend (Sister has the last of the finals for the semester this week, so I'll be going to see it again with her this weekend to celebrate her escape), and... yeah, that's really all I have to say on the matter.

Not at all, 'Mato, not at all.  That is, perhaps, my favorite line in the entire movie.  It's hilarious, it's heart-warming (to me and mine), and it totally speaks to the character.

[Mr. Hamrick]

I liked the Cap costume in the Captain America movie more.  One thing I couldn't believe though:

Spoiler

Cap. doubted wearing the stars and stripes?!?!?!?!  Maybe I dropped off a bit at that moment (perhaps reaching for another beer in my bag o goodies), but that was odd.

The movie is cliche and over the top but the awesomeness makes up for it.  I don't think it's the best superhero movie ever...but it's certainly the best superhero team movie ever.

Actually, I totally got the exchange between Cap and Coulson that you're referring to.  And it totally made sense.

Spoiler

Cap has not been unfrozen THAT long and it doesn't seem that he is that "up to speed" on all the stuff he has missed.  Thus, he is questioning his role in the modern world.  In addition, what he has been brought up to speed on is probably not all good for the image of the country that he represents.  I would guess those two factors would lead him to question his fit into the modern world.  PLUS, you get the whole nod to the era where "Steve Rogers had abandoned being Captain America and was just "The Nomad" during the 70s.  I am guessing that the second Captain America movie will pick up with that notion and continue to evolve Rogers into a guy who "symbolizes America's ideals and not her government".   

[Courtnall6]

that maybe be so, but it worked for the style they wanted to shwocase for the character. are you seriously telling me you would have prefer the actual pointy mask

caps worked to a degree because its a simple skull shaped hood, add two big pointy flaps to the front of that and it would look ridiculous

I will always rather they use of the proper source material* than the Hollywood revised versions. Whether it would look ridiculous on screen or not is impossible to say for certain. In my head it works and in yours it does not. Give me the real Hawkeye...and not Ultimate Shield Agent Bow-Man.

*The point where the characters were accessible to all ages and not just to the dwindling aging fanboy market.

[Amazo Version 2.2]

that maybe be so, but it worked for the style they wanted to shwocase for the character. are you seriously telling me you would have prefer the actual pointy mask

caps worked to a degree because its a simple skull shaped hood, add two big pointy flaps to the front of that and it would look ridiculous

I will always rather they use of the proper source material* than the Hollywood revised versions. Whether it would look ridiculous on screen or not is impossible to say for certain. In my head it works and in yours it does not. Give me the real Hawkeye...and not Ultimate Shield Agent Bow-Man.

*The point where the characters were accessible to all ages and not just to the dwindling aging fanboy market.

amen on that one

[oldmanwinters]

Spoiler

thalaw, I took it as more or less just part of Cap's whole "doubting his own relevance in the modern world" thing.

Speaking of Cap... I dunno if it's just my own protestant upbringing showing through, but was I the only one who got a chuckle out of Cap's "There's only one God, and he doesn't dress like that" line?

I absolutely loved that part too!  I felt a little awkward that I was one of the few people in the theatre to actually chuckle at it though.