The Road to the Avengers: The Avengers (2012)

Agent Coulson is dead! Long live Agent Coulson!
The first time I watched this movie I took it all in and mostly thought about everything that had been left out and hoped might make it's way into some future Avengers movie. You know, like Dr. Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne (leaving out Vision, Scarlet Witch, Tigra and the Flacon for the time being). Now, I know that the sequel deals with Ultron which must include Pym and possibly the Vision, depending on how they spin the tale. I wonder if the will go the X-Men route and introduce new team members each time because then I guess I'm okay with the ones that have been left out because you can add in Pym and Van Dyne in number two. Now that I think about it, the Hulk is good and all, but what about She-Hulk? She is way cooler, plus instant cross-over with the rumored reboot of hte Faantastic Four, which I guess we need...because heaven's forbid we should accept mediocre sales and mediocre special effects. If they had given the Fantastic 4 movies the same level of attention (to be read as "budget") that they did the Avengers and it's prequels, we would already have 3 of them and a She-Hulk spin-off movie.
THe other thing the movie missed, and in it's defense very few movies tie-in other movies, was a super-powered Manhattan. Fury and the Counsel make references to other super heroes I don't know if you have read many Marvel comics, but when big things go down in New York City, Spiderman tends to turn up. And when really big things go down in the Big Apple, one or more X-Men tend to pop-up - not to mention that Beast left teh X-Men to join the Avengers and could be a nice tie-in. These could have been cameos...who wouldn't love to see the latest actor playing Spiderman or hunky Hugh Jackman in a minute or two of this movie? I don't need to explain this to Whedon who did right for the X-Men for a bit and knows how the Marvel Universe works.
I have a confession to make. Let me just take a deep breath first. Okay. I liked Mark Rufallo as Dr. Banner. I tried not to, while trying to not hate the character just because it's Raffalo. Dammit. This happned to me a few years ago with Tom Cruise.
Whedon left something out of this movie that was in every single one of it's prequels - a hint at what is to come and what super heroes it might entail. Thanatos coming to earth for the sport of it is strongly implied, but I didn't see any references to specific heroes, and I was looking for them. Certainly the scene after the credits was entertaining and I thik appropriate, but not helpful towards giving a hint.
The first time through, I thought they didn't give enough time to Captain America, and too much time to the Black Widow. This time through, I still think that they didn't give enough time to Captain America, but I liked that Black Widow was a key member of the team and proof that S/H/I.E.L.D. super spies are pretty much street level super heroes. So, who do you take away time from to give to Cap? No one. You add in 3 minutes to the movie. Are you listening Joss? You give him a minute and a half more on the helecarrier to counteract Tony Stark's tireade against him and team play and to discover and react to the "Phase Two" that Fury has in the works. And you give him a minute and a half more in the battle of Manhattan. You could maybe show some more fighting, but the best way to use this time, would be to show him acting as the commander - perhaps further orders to the first responders - but even more importantly, you show him saving/rescuing the bystanders both on the street and trapped in the buldings. What he needed was a chance to show that he is the opposite of Stark in many ways, but is already a super-hero both morally and physically. Can you think of a better answer to Starks statement that all Rogers is comes from a test tube? Show the mettle in the man, who wades in to the thick of battle, not because his ego says he can do anything, but because his conscious tells him that it is his duty to defend those that cannot defend themselves.
Of the six movies, this one is easily at the top of hte heat. I hope that Joss Whedon does more than just write and direct the second Avengers movie. I hope there are other super hero films in the works for him and his team. And I secretly hope that at some point one of them includes Warbird (who has Avengers ties of course).

The Avengers on IMDb

The Road to the Avengers: The Avengers (2012)

Agent Coulson is dead! Long live Agent Coulson!
The first time I watched this movie I took it all in and mostly thought about everything that had been left out and hoped might make it's way into some future Avengers movie. You know, like Dr. Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne (leaving out Vision, Scarlet Witch, Tigra and the Falcon for the time being). Now, I know that the sequel deals with Ultron which must include Pym and possibly the Vision, depending on how they spin the tale. I wonder if the will go the X-Men route and introduce new team members each time because then I guess I'm okay with the ones that have been left out because you can add in Pym and Van Dyne in number two. Now that I think about it, the Hulk is good and all, but what about She-Hulk? She is way cooler, plus instant cross-over with the rumored reboot of the Fantastic Four, which I guess we need...because heaven's forbid we should accept mediocre sales and mediocre special effects. If they had given the Fantastic 4 movies the same level of attention (to be read as "budget") that they did the Avengers and it's prequels, we would already have 3 of them and a She-Hulk spin-off movie.
The other thing the movie missed, and in it's defense very few movies tie-in other movies, was a super-powered Manhattan. Fury and the Counsel make references to other super heroes I don't know if you have read many Marvel comics, but when big things go down in New York City, Spiderman tends to turn up. And when really big things go down in the Big Apple, one or more X-Men tend to pop-up - not to mention that Beast left the X-Men to join the Avengers and could be a nice tie-in. These could have been cameos...who wouldn't love to see the latest actor playing Spiderman or hunky Hugh Jackman in a minute or two of this movie? I don't need to explain this to Whedon who did right for the X-Men for a bit and knows how the Marvel Universe works.
I have a confession to make. Let me just take a deep breath first. Okay. I liked Mark Rufallo as Dr. Banner. I tried not to, while trying to not hate the character just because it's Raffalo. Dammit. This happened to me a few years ago with Tom Cruise.
Whedon left something out of this movie that was in every single one of it's prequels - a hint at what is to come and what super heroes it might entail. Thanatos coming to earth for the sport of it is strongly implied, but I didn't see any references to specific heroes, and I was looking for them. Certainly the scene after the credits was entertaining and I think appropriate, but not helpful towards giving a hint.
The first time through, I thought they didn't give enough time to Captain America, and too much time to the Black Widow. This time through, I still think that they didn't give enough time to Captain America, but I liked that Black Widow was a key member of the team and proof that S/H/I.E.L.D. super spies are pretty much street level super heroes. So, who do you take away time from to give to Cap? No one. You add in 3 minutes to the movie. Are you listening Joss? You give him a minute and a half more on the helecarrier to counteract Tony Stark's tirade against him and team play and to discover and react to the "Phase Two" that Fury has in the works. And you give him a minute and a half more in the battle of Manhattan. You could maybe show some more fighting, but the best way to use this time, would be to show him acting as the commander - perhaps further orders to the first responders - but even more importantly, you show him saving/rescuing the bystanders both on the street and trapped in the buildings. What he needed was a chance to show that he is the opposite of Stark in many ways, but is already a super-hero both morally and physically. Can you think of a better answer to Starks statement that all Rogers is comes from a test tube? Show the mettle in the man, who wades in to the thick of battle, not because his ego says he can do anything, but because his conscious tells him that it is his duty to defend those that cannot defend themselves.
Of the six movies, this one is easily at the top of hte heat. I hope that Joss Whedon does more than just write and direct the second Avengers movie. I hope there are other super hero films in the works for him and his team. And I secretly hope that at some point one of them includes Warbird (who has Avengers ties of course).

The Avengers on IMDb

Hitchcock (2012)

Sure, I've seen Hitchcock movies, but I don't very much about Alfred Hitchcock. Well, I did listen to a radio interview with Janet Leigh where she did discuss filming the shower scene in Psycho, which is a propos. She did imply that the scene was very traumatic to film.
Sir Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock is phenomenal. But that isn't a surprise, as he always hands in a fine performance. I'm not sure how much time Hopkins put into studying Alfred Hitchcock, but for my money he has the mannerisms and voice down. Sure, I'm too young to have seen "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" when it aired, but I've seen re-runs and they seem a very good match with this movie's portrayal of Hitchcock. Hopkins made this movie interesting to watch, but the person that really makes it worth watching is Helen Mirren. As with her co-star, Mirren always turns in a top-notch performance. As Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, Mirren is strong, inspired and inspirational and is portrayed as a big part, if not the biggest part of Hitchcock's success.
This movie takes place around the making of Psycho, so Janet Leigh, played by Scarlett Johansson, is a big part of it. yet at the same time, Johansson is playing Lee as so demure that she's not a big part of the drama, or at least not a big part of the melodrama which she is shown working hard not to be part of. For me, well, I'm not the biggest fan of Johansson, though I think she's a fine actress - it's the hoarse quality her voice takes on in dramatic or stressful scenes which I find really detracts from her characters. Not once does that become a factor in this film, so for the first time that I can think of, her performance really was a pleasure to watch. Also in Psycho was Vera Miles, played by Jessica Biel. What a far cry from her last role as the lieutenant of the worker's resistance in Total Recall this role is for her. She was completely unremarkable in this film. Unlike the character Johansson was playing, this is a bad thing. Miles was in her last picture with Hitchcock and glad to be done with him, or so they say in the movie, but Biel's character in Total Recall was much more dramatic and passionate, and that was a silly action film.
This film isn't really about Psycho, or even about making a movie thought that is the backdrop for the whole story. It's really about a man sobering up enough, psychologically speaking, to realize that his partner who has told him for decades that she loves him, really does, and not only that but she is the one thing that he absolutely needs to succeed. The big break-through is not that Psycho turned out to be a unmitigated success, but that the man can tell the woman what he is feeling and share in the glory of their success together. It warms the cockles of my heart.

Hitchcock on IMDb