What was the last movie you've seen?

[jp1]

Yeah, I can understand what people like about them. I have to disagree with the "well written" sentiment. If anything that is because the work has already been done by the comic and back story that is in place if you know the characters. They feel too crowded and action packed with little character development, hence the Bay reference. I will grant you they are better than any MB movie though.



I say "muster apathy" because I had to work my way up from disappointment.



I know they are meant as fun summer blockbusters, but so are the movies in the X-Men franchise and I think in some cases, with those, they got it right.

[Luke]

Disagree. They are very well written. So well written that they got away with "Mewling quim" and actually turned the phrase into a cultural meme. The dialogue is witty, sharp, and memorable. The jokes are well punched and tagged as well. The moment when Cap gives Nick a ten spot was great and cute at the same time. Why The Avengers work is because it's a movie about people who happen to be superheroes. It's not just superheroes in a movie. And the character growth is WELL established in the stand alone titles. That's why The Avengers work. It's not from the comics, but from their own movies. We know the back stories, now bring 'em all together and smash stuff.

On the other side of the coin, besides X2, I think the xmen movies are horrendous. So that's where preference plays out.

[jp1]

Disagree. They are very well written. So well written that they got away with "Mewling quim" and actually turned the phrase into a cultural meme. The dialogue is witty, sharp, and memorable. The jokes are well punched and tagged as well. The moment when Cap gives Nick a ten spot was great and cute at the same time. Why The Avengers work is because it's a movie about people who happen to be superheroes. It's not just superheroes in a movie. And the character growth is WELL established in the stand alone titles. That's why The Avengers work. It's not from the comics, but from their own movies. We know the back stories, now bring 'em all together and smash stuff.

On the other side of the coin, besides X2, I think the xmen movies are horrendous. So that's where preference plays out.

Fair enough. I'm not one to give credit to a single movie based on a necessary investment of watching five or six previous movies to get some character development. If I was coming in cold, never having watched the standalone films, I would find the movie to be weak in that department. Preference obviously has a huge role in it as well, I was referring more to First Class than X2 or even The Wolverine to a lesser extent.

I did enjoy watching Hulk smash Loki, but that was probably the highlight for me. I'm conflicted because I would love to see something like the Infinity Gauntlet arc brought to the big screen, but I'm reluctant because the story just feels too big to cram into a two hour movie. Like I said, I'm a Marvel fan, an Avengers fan even, so I'm inclined to try and enjoy these movies. I did like a few of the standalone movies. I guess if they are going to make a movie about smashing stuff, I'd prefer to just see them flesh out the Hulk story line. He evolves to a point in the comics that he really should be able to deal with the entire group of Avengers on his own anyway. If I'm meant to be invested in them as a group I need more than what they are giving me.

All that said, I'm not saying you nor the general public is wrong. People like what they like. I'm glad that there is success in the genre because I do see some enjoyable movies come out of it. It's just that this particular franchise isn't doing it for me.

I've said before I don't like Star Wars. I don't think that those who do are missing something, it simply isn't my flavor. There might be some great stuff I'm missing out on, but when I try to sit and watch it, I just can't get there. It's not quite the same with Avengers because I do enjoy the premise, it's just I went in expecting champagne and left feeling like I got PBR. Certainly that could be on me for expecting it to be something it was not. I did watch it a second time to see if that was the case, still I just don't love it.

[Fragems]

The main thing with me is there is just so much coming out so fast. I got in the theater and literally had a hard time remembering what all happened in the last couple of movies since we have 2 cap movies, 2 Thor movies, 3 Iron Man movies, 1 Hulk movie, and 1 prior Avengers movie which all have direct connections to the movie. Plus Agents of Shield(haven't watched), Daredevil, Guardians of the Galaxy, and etc. that are set in the same universe, but didn't really get referenced in the movie as far as I remember.

It's not that they are "bad" movies they all have solid humor, character development, and action it's just they are losing their freshness. To compare it to something in the video game world it's kind of like CoD and it's yearly entry. After a while a portion of the gaming community grew to hate them in part because it felt like there was little to no innovation going on between entries. However that hasn't slowed it's success or popularity at all.

Really I think the series would be more memorable if they spaced the movie releases out more, but with the amount of money to be made I doubt that would even be considered. We live in a society that seems pretty centered around instant gratification so patience isn't really our strong suit especially when there is money to be had.

[MrPopo]

[I'm conflicted because I would love to see something like the Infinity Gauntlet arc brought to the big screen, but I'm reluctant because the story just feels too big to cram into a two hour movie.

That's why it's being done as two movies.

[marurun]

I'm conflicted because I would love to see something like the Infinity Gauntlet arc brought to the big screen, but I'm reluctant because the story just feels too big to cram into a two hour movie.

This is exactly what's happening. Every Marvel movie has had a little bit of information tucked away in it to tie it to the Infinity War. The 3rd and 4th Avengers movies are Infinity War pt. 1 and Infinity War pt. 2. They've slowly been introducing Thanos and the Infinity Gems, and they've foreshadowed the gauntlet. Heck, Guardians of the Galaxy was the movie that finally, formally explained the Infinity Gems. So, essentially, these other movies are setting some of the stage, and the Infinity War story itself will likely be a 5 hour affair on the whole.

That said, I do understand. There are a lot of Marvel movies already, and not all of them are great. The Thor movies haven't been all that fantastic, despite producing the only villain with an actual personality. The Iron Man films have had ups and downs. The first Captain America was weak sauce. It's a lot to take in to be able to appreciate the Avengers films, which are really the highlights of the franchise. But as hokey as the plots often turn out to be, they are still light years better than Michael Bay productions, and the dialogue and inter-character banter is really some of the best to be found in action movies. The protagonists are far better realized characters than most in action movies and put the antagonists to shame.

Hopefully, at some point Marvel/Disney will figure out how to do movie villains. Loki is starting to seem like an anomaly.

[jp1]

I'm conflicted because I would love to see something like the Infinity Gauntlet arc brought to the big screen, but I'm reluctant because the story just feels too big to cram into a two hour movie.

This is exactly what's happening. Every Marvel movie has had a little bit of information tucked away in it to tie it to the Infinity War. The 3rd and 4th Avengers movies are Infinity War pt. 1 and Infinity War pt. 2. They've slowly been introducing Thanos and the Infinity Gems, and they've foreshadowed the gauntlet. Heck, Guardians of the Galaxy was the movie that finally, formally explained the Infinity Gems. So, essentially, these other movies are setting some of the stage, and the Infinity War story itself will likely be a 5 hour affair on the whole.

That said, I do understand. There are a lot of Marvel movies already, and not all of them are great. The Thor movies haven't been all that fantastic, despite producing the only villain with an actual personality. The Iron Man films have had ups and downs. The first Captain America was weak sauce. It's a lot to take in to be able to appreciate the Avengers films, which are really the highlights of the franchise. But as hokey as the plots often turn out to be, they are still light years better than Michael Bay productions, and the dialogue and inter-character banter is really some of the best to be found in action movies. The protagonists are far better realized characters than most in action movies and put the antagonists to shame.

Hopefully, at some point Marvel/Disney will figure out how to do movie villains. Loki is starting to seem like an anomaly.

I know they have been foreshadowing, although I didn't see Guardians or Ultron yet. I did not see that there were already plans for it though. The thing is, and I'm contradicting myself here, I think that the crossover characters are important to the story line. Do they have plans of bringing in the full lot or are they going to water it down and have the Avengers somehow deal with it on their own? That is a deciding factor for me when purchasing tickets.

[Luke]

I went in expecting...

Try to never do that.

I'm even a bit disappointed at myself for watching the FORCE AWAKENS trailer as I always try to walk into a movie as blind as possible.

[Pulsar_t]

I only watched that Marvel film with the shawerma stinger on DVD and it was enough to last me a decade if not longer

[REPO Man]

Not bad but certainly not good. I paid a buck fifty to rent it from the Redbox machine, but felt as though I overpaid, if only by 50 cents.

While based on the book of the same name, the book's plot is sped through in the first 20 minutes, albeit with enough liberties. The remaining hour is basically the next day, where Alexander's family has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day of their own, thanks to a birthday wish made by Alexander at 12:01 the night before. Ironically, this day proves to be slightly better for Alexander, in which a rich kid whose birthday party was planned simultaneously with Alexander's (the other kid's actual birthday was the following week) gets chicken pox and another boy who text-bombed everyone at school with embarrassing (fake) pictures of Alexander gets punished. But for the other members of Alexander's family, the day keeps getting worse, but ultimately everything works out, because Disney.

Fans of the book may not like this. Fans of the book may also notice that in the movie Alexander has a noticeable obsession with Australia, which is a nod to the book where he wishes constantly that he lived in Australia (in the Australian edition, this is rewritten to being New Zealand), believing terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days don't happen there.

Definitely more for the kids. But wait until it's on cable or Netflix so you don't have to blow through a buck fifty like I did.