Tuesday 2 October 2012
Avengers Assemble
Hey guys!
I thought I'd start off my blog with a review of a modern day classic: the somewhat horrifically named Avengers Assemble (only horrific as the 'assemble' part somewhat ruins the kickass title that everyone else IN THE ENTIRE WORLD got to have).
Released last April just in time for the bank holiday rush, Avengers Assemble ticked all the boxes of a box office busting high concept experience. It has huge names (namely Downey Jr and Johansson, the I mainly knew before, but not forgetting the amazing Hemsworth with his muscles and that hammer), a bucket full of CGI and I'm pretty sure its 80% fight scenes. It was a mass coming together of all the biggest Marvel stars (in the movie world at least), and even though Norton failed to return as the Hulk, Ruffalo managed to fill those large purple pants undeniably well, bringing the much needed calm but frightening aspect to Bruce Banner.
In terms of the actual story, it followed the series of Avenger films surprisingly coherently (the films starting with The Incredible Hulk and ending July '11 with Captain America and the tesseract, for those who have been paying attention). And for someone who has only read about the actual comic books online, the story as a whole didn't seem to land too far from the comic book tree.
Although, while watching the film, the fight scenes do tend to drag on at certain points, with the stress and tension of the seemingly endless sequences piling on to a simply uncomfortable mixture of boredom and anxiety (namely the end). The comedic aspect that runs through all is present, namely through Iron Man and Downey, who leads the cast of misfits without becoming too overpowering that it turns into the third Iron Man film. Thor does too get his share of one-liners, and I was almost in tears at some points with the Hulk in his full luminous green glory.
The CGI is styled flawlessly, only adding to the (somewhat typical) destruction of Manhattan and does not detract from plot in the manner so many other CGI films do (Avatar, I'm looking at you); the criss-cross manner between the cast is easy to follow, mainly due to the such large personalities, but it never appears to get confusing. Barely any minor members are used, so the cast list is just full of big names and the ones we expected to see.
Two last things I will witter on about; the final closing credits scenes firstly, a now well-established motif in the Avengers franchise are in this film shamelessly introducing the sequel that we all knew was coming anyway, but the excitement in the air was tangible as the new villains face loomed into view. The second post-credit scene is simply full of the typical Avengers humour and dedication. The second point is not wholly to do with the film, but the poster (excluding the name, which again, is still awful). Is it really essential to have Black Widows arse as her main feature on that poster? Really? It may be perfect but sex does not needed to be included to sell this movie (although my boyfriend and yours may disagree).
Cheers!
Sarah x
I thought I'd start off my blog with a review of a modern day classic: the somewhat horrifically named Avengers Assemble (only horrific as the 'assemble' part somewhat ruins the kickass title that everyone else IN THE ENTIRE WORLD got to have).
Released last April just in time for the bank holiday rush, Avengers Assemble ticked all the boxes of a box office busting high concept experience. It has huge names (namely Downey Jr and Johansson, the I mainly knew before, but not forgetting the amazing Hemsworth with his muscles and that hammer), a bucket full of CGI and I'm pretty sure its 80% fight scenes. It was a mass coming together of all the biggest Marvel stars (in the movie world at least), and even though Norton failed to return as the Hulk, Ruffalo managed to fill those large purple pants undeniably well, bringing the much needed calm but frightening aspect to Bruce Banner.
In terms of the actual story, it followed the series of Avenger films surprisingly coherently (the films starting with The Incredible Hulk and ending July '11 with Captain America and the tesseract, for those who have been paying attention). And for someone who has only read about the actual comic books online, the story as a whole didn't seem to land too far from the comic book tree.
Although, while watching the film, the fight scenes do tend to drag on at certain points, with the stress and tension of the seemingly endless sequences piling on to a simply uncomfortable mixture of boredom and anxiety (namely the end). The comedic aspect that runs through all is present, namely through Iron Man and Downey, who leads the cast of misfits without becoming too overpowering that it turns into the third Iron Man film. Thor does too get his share of one-liners, and I was almost in tears at some points with the Hulk in his full luminous green glory.
The CGI is styled flawlessly, only adding to the (somewhat typical) destruction of Manhattan and does not detract from plot in the manner so many other CGI films do (Avatar, I'm looking at you); the criss-cross manner between the cast is easy to follow, mainly due to the such large personalities, but it never appears to get confusing. Barely any minor members are used, so the cast list is just full of big names and the ones we expected to see.
Two last things I will witter on about; the final closing credits scenes firstly, a now well-established motif in the Avengers franchise are in this film shamelessly introducing the sequel that we all knew was coming anyway, but the excitement in the air was tangible as the new villains face loomed into view. The second post-credit scene is simply full of the typical Avengers humour and dedication. The second point is not wholly to do with the film, but the poster (excluding the name, which again, is still awful). Is it really essential to have Black Widows arse as her main feature on that poster? Really? It may be perfect but sex does not needed to be included to sell this movie (although my boyfriend and yours may disagree).
Cheers!
Sarah x
Sunday 30 September 2012
Here goes nothing...
Hello!
This is my first blog, and first attempt at doing anything casual like this, so please be patient. The whole purpose of this blog is to encourage myself to watch and review films during my degree, keeping that lovely casual edge to film viewing that a film studies degree will ruin. My plan is to review a film a week, be it something mainstream or something art-house or something foreign that I think you all should watch; simultaneously expanding both our film knowledge. Cute.
Well, this is just something brief and mainly to myself so I can start playing with my blog, but I'll shush now.
Love,
Sarah
This is my first blog, and first attempt at doing anything casual like this, so please be patient. The whole purpose of this blog is to encourage myself to watch and review films during my degree, keeping that lovely casual edge to film viewing that a film studies degree will ruin. My plan is to review a film a week, be it something mainstream or something art-house or something foreign that I think you all should watch; simultaneously expanding both our film knowledge. Cute.
Well, this is just something brief and mainly to myself so I can start playing with my blog, but I'll shush now.
Love,
Sarah
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