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Saturday, April 28, 2012

I Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is... More Avengers!




Doug:  Just a quick post today friends.  I'm actually re-blogging this incredible (that word isn't strong enough... magnificent?) original art to one of our very favorite John Buscema pin-ups.  This was originally published in Avengers King-Size Special #2 from 1968.  The fine folks at John Buscema: The Lost Drawings posted this last Monday.  If you're just crazy-stupid over Big John like I am, you've probably already made this image your desktop background!

A good friend of mine texted me last night to say that he'd gotten his grimy hands on a (gasp!) bootleg copy of The Avengers, and although the quality of the reproduction was not good, he said the film is everything he hoped it would be.  Below is a copy of a post on the Avengers Assemble message boards from a user who has seen the film in Europe.  No spoilers:

I watched Avengers Assemble last night. And I thought it was stunning.

Any preconceptions that I had were surpassed and then some.

I thought the film had a great cast; had some genuine surprises; some great action sequences; moments of humour that had the whole cinema laughing - two key moments with Hulk were hilarious (and intentionally so!); and most of all - it felt 'right' and it 'worked'.

Every character had their moments to shine, and in allocating Joss Whedon to writing and directing duties I think he proved himself a very capable director within this genre, but much more importantly, all of the dialogue felt unique to the characters in question: lines by Tony Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Thor et al all felt true to the previously established Marvel Cinematic Universe interpretations and continuity.

It is a big movie. yes at two and half hours is the longest of the Marvel movies. It is not the longest super-hero movie (Watchmen probably), nor the most narratively dense (again Watchmen I believe, or possibly The Dark Knight), but it was a packed film. There is a little sagging in the middle which was more to do with positioning characters and characterisations, but in all I would rank this as one of my favourite super-hero movies of all time.

Thinking about the list that would probably include The Dark Knight (Avengers does not over-run as I feel TDK did), X-Men 2 (which starts amazingly and never quite lives up to that opening scene again in terms of action - Avengers builds better), Spider-man 2 (Avengers wins in scale, Spider-man 2 in evenness of tone), The Incredibles (I think The Incredibles has the similar problem of sagging a little, but also mixes too much spy-fi into the mix at the expense of spectacle - Avengers has an amazing array of spectacle). On balance Avengers is so strong in so many areas that it may be the contender. That said, I will be very curious to listen to Mark Kermode's review today on BBC 5 Live.

And to anyone going to see it - do, do, stay for the couple of minutes necessary after the initial post-film credits - it is worth it for anyone with some Marvel knowledge.

Possibly my favourite super-hero film ever. I want to see this again - NOW! 

Have a great Saturday, and come back tomorrow for a report from Miss Karen on a recent trip she took.





13 comments:

  1. Love that drawing! It's got the power we expect from pure unadulterated Buscema!

    The inked and published version is a bit different. I took at look at it at the beginning of the year. Here's a link with the details.

    Rip Off

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  2. saw the movie last night,with my kids.
    mark ruffalo is great and the hulk rules the movie.

    not the nostalgia fest i hoped for,with key classic poses etc.. although they are there.
    repeated watches will be needed to take it all in.

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  3. Sounds by all indications to become a smash..

    NOW can someone start planning a star-studded Defenders flick...?!?

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  4. man I would love a Defenders movie but seems like Hulk and Silver Surfer are not available.

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  5. Oh well, maybe we'll have to settle for a Champions movie?

    I'm pretty excited for the Avengers, though I don't know when I'll get to see it. It seems to be getting great reviews both from fans and from critics.

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  6. My son has a buddy who works at our local 10-screen theater. He was a smart boy and asked off for Thursday night, when The Avengers premieres. At 2 1/2 hours, the lad would be working past 3:00 am! He figures they'll open with four screens -- they are also showing Hunger Games and Think Like a Man, so going to five screens for the first weekend probably isn't an option.

    Man, I am pumped for this! If you haven't already seen it, I switched our Avengers clip on the sidebar -- check it out!

    Doug

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  7. 'Hulk and Surfer not available'..??

    Says who...? They all belong to the Mouse now.

    Who would play Strange and Namor?, I wonder.

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  8. Hulk is already tied up for Avengers, film rights to Surfer are with another studio same as Spidey and X-Men.

    --Matt alias Anonymous

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  9. Johnny Depp would make a great Dr. Strange as long as Tim Burton was not involved.

    --Matt Anon again

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  10. Ironically, I think Robert Downey Jr would have made a great Dr. Strange, as well. I wonder if Gary Oldman could be lured over from the Batman franchise for it? He'd be fantastic. Oh! Or possibly Paul Blackthorne-- the actor who played Harry Dresden in The Dresden Files-!

    For Subby? Yeesh, first you'd have to commit to having him in one of his non-swim-trunk uniforms. The mostly-naked look is one of those conventions that just doesn't translate well to the big screen. But. . . what about Mark Wahlberg, now that he's HUGELY buff?

    HB

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  11. I agree on the differenrt studios, but it's all down to money... That's all it is.

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  12. Hoping the film is good, but I don't expect to see it in the first or second week. I want to get feedback from my friends first.

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  13. Saw the film last night. Everyone will be pleased to know it meets expectations.

    I thought Stark/ Iron Man came over the best but the Hulk definitely has his moments.

    I am also in love with Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.

    And as for the teaser/ reveal during the end credits. I let out a whoop of delight. Now we must have a sequel!!

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