The Avengers

“There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could…” – Nick Fury

The next movie up in my library is the superhero team up of The Avengers. This movie is a high visual roller coaster that keeps our attention the whole way by giving us the best in which each character has to offer. Each actor does their best and it just works so well. This movie is straight up fun and everyone who watches gets a hero they love the most and get to root for. Joss Whedon gave us what we wanted and what we needed for a superhero team origins movie. Some people were miffed about the two and a half hour movie length. Personally, I could have went through another hour as long as there was more Hulk.

The only qualm I have with the movie is when the Hulk showed up for the final battle and all of a sudden he can completely control the Hulk and then one punches the flying leviathan. Okay I just read that sentence again never mind, that scene was amazing. One of my favorite parts was actually in the middle of the credits when Thanos turned around I went into full comic book nerd mode and wished so hard that the next movie would be out soon. Unfortunately the sequel is not set to come out until 2015 and I hope they forced the cast of The Avengers to stay on. I would hate to see any of them leave. All of the actors did such a wonderful job portraying their roles. Yes even Mark Ruffalo did well even though I wanted Edward Norton doing the Hulk again.

This movie easily makes up for Iron Man 2 and sets the bar at a higher level for future Marvel movies. Now they have to keep on topping themselves or otherwise the franchise can easily fall apart. Giving three years between sequels though I’m sure they will have something great to show us. They should have another great story to tell in Avengers 2 and 3 with that amount of time. Of course Sam Jackson gets two more motivational speeches that will bring everyone together when it seems like all is lost and one of the heroes will rise up above the others to truly outshine and do what is necessary to save the team and the world. Would it be too much to ask for if they gave us at least a Sentry cameo in the next two movies? Please Joss? Just a glimpse of the S would be good enough for me.

Overall The Avengers is a fun flick and I will definitely pay to see every sequel they have to offer and really can’t wait to see how Joss Whedon writes in Thanos. It’s a hard character to write because of how powerful he is but I’m certain he is up to the challenge. Catch my next blog when I watch Ash take on the Army of Darkness. Time for a good old action comedy horror movie. Until then this cinephile is out.

Alien Resurrection

The next movie on this long strange journey is Alien Resurrection directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and written by Joss Whedon. This movie tries to be more like Aliens in the fact that it returns back to the sci-fi action formula. However this movie plays out to be more of a comic book than a movie and tries to no pun intended to resurrect the alien franchise. While I understand that Joss Whedon was wanting to write this as his own movie he missed the elements that made Aliens into the movie it was. He also made the same blunder they did in the Alien 3 were again we really don’t care about the vast majority of characters and what happens. Instead of sympathy for the victims were are given a basically a pirate crew that we are supposed to idolize and be pissed that such awesome characters could die.

The first gripe I have about the movie is the character of Ripley. Ripley’s character is completely different and not in a good way. I know that this is a different Ripley since they brought her back from the dead so she is physically stronger, darker, and different. However after watching three movies were the actress plays a character as a voice of reason, quick thinker, emotionally strong, and empathetic its hard to think, well now she’s just a hard ass who doesn’t care for anyone or anything. In this movie she almost cares more for the aliens then she does the humans. In the three last movies she cares about all of the human life that is lost, she even cares about the prisoners who try and rape her. Her mentality has always been lets stick together and kill these aliens before they kill us. In this movie she says, “Who have I got to fuck to get off of this boat.” I think that sums up the new Ripley. But then again you have to have Ripley in film that just centers around the aliens. Otherwise you would completely loose your fan base of these movies. If you just put Winona Ryder to fight the aliens people wouldn’t have even went to the theater. I’m not sure if Joss Whedon just wanted to write a sci-fi movie to call his own or thought here’s a franchise that needs an adrenaline pump of action. But if you take away the sci-fi aspect of this movie and turn the aliens into supernatural monsters you have an extended episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on a boat.

The action and movement of the story is good and short for a few bad apples the acting is good too. For the best character and acting in this movie it has to be Ron Perlman. Yes this movie pretty much started his typecast roles of being the big bad ass in movies and television. However he really gives the impression that he can and will mess you up if you cross him. He just does it so well.

Worst acting would be a tie between Winona Ryder and Brad Dourif. First with Winona is that she seems to play the same damn role over and over again. She reminds me of that girl in high school you just want to punch in the back of the head for whining so much. And then Brad Dourif popping in. Why does Brad Dourif have to constantly pop into sci-fi, horror, and fantasy movies as the creepy guy. This guy started off in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest a wonderful flick and now he is the typecast for the creepy guy in three genres. Brad you really couldn’t find any other work? I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing him trying to kiss the alien, way too weird for me.

My last gripe with this movie is the scene where the alien spits acid into Christie’s face. In absolutely none of the movies with aliens does an alien spit acid. I know some people will say well they did it in the comic book. I’m sorry but I’m not reading comics I’m watching a movie. Unless they have done it in the past or referenced it they are just making up new rules and the writer of that scene is saying fuck the fans this is an awesome scene. It was like watching and or reading about Superman pre-1986 were Superman can all of a sudden do something more with his powers or finds a hidden power. This scene immensely pissed me off because movie studios think we are morons and either won’t care or won’t notice.

Okay I’m good after that vent. Now don’t get me wrong this is not a bad movie just a not a good Alien movie. If you are wanting  a good sci-fi action movie this is a great movie for you. However if you want to compare it to the rest of the franchise I don’t suggest it.

Well that is all I got for this flick. Thankfully I’m done watching human vs aliens. Now its time to watch the aliens fight a predator. Until next time this cinephile is out.