movie review: THE AVENGERS

The Avengers have done what previously seemed impossible. A movie that takes superheroes from their own franchises and have them team up.  DC-Warner Bros had several failed pre-production attempts at the Justice League of America, but Disney-Marvel was the one to pull it off.  In a way, all the previous Marvel movies are kind of like a serial, with The Avengers as the epic final chapter.

Director Joss Whedon pulls it off, mostly.  The plot is actually quite simple. Loki makes a deal with an alien race to lead them in an invasion of earth. Nick Fury has to get earth's mightiest heroes to team up and stop it.  That's the whole plot.

The first hour or so of the movie moves at a slightly slow pace. Its about getting the heroes together, and then getting them to stop quarreling with each other and get them focused on the greater threat.  A big portion is set on the SHIELD aircraft, giving the scenes an almost "kitchen sink drama" feel, which should have been avoided. This first part of the movie, with tighter editing and a quicker pace, could have been shortened by about 15 minutes, and would have made the movie better overall.

The second half of the movie is what we came to see. The Avengers taking on the invading aliens and kicking ass.  The special effects are excellent, as are the action sequences.  Now a break down to the main characters.

Captain America: Chris Evans does a great job in the role, and only hints at the fish out of water aspect (needless to say, that will play a much bigger role in Captain America II, so Whedon couldn't do too much with that here).  As expected, Steve Rogers ultimately becomes the de facto leader, figuring out the Avengers' strategy.

Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr once again plays the role with a comedic flair, giving the character far more personality than he ever had in the comics. You can tell he's probably having the most fun in the movie. If he hasn't already, Downey needs to get on his knees to Michael Keaton and thank him, because there is no way Downey ever would have even been given a second thought for the role of Iron Man if Keaton had not blazed the trail by playing The Batman.

Thor: Chris Hemsworth also picks the role up right where he left off from his solo movie.  Overall, Thor plays very well in this movie.  He gets some spectacular special effects calling down lightning, and his flying scenes are very real looking.  It may be because unlike Superman and Iron Man, all we get are glimpses of Thor flying, which makes the viewer want to see more.  My one complaint is he never wore his helmet. Loki got to wear his big antler helmet for a lot of the movie, but where's Thor's helmet?  Another complaint is it seems in post production, care was not taken to make the plastic parts of Thor's, and Captain America's costumes (including Thor's hammer) look like metal as they did in the solo films. Here, it does look like cheap plastic.

Hulk: it is in a movie like this where the character of the Hulk actually becomes interesting. In the two prior solo Hulk movies, with the big green goliath at the center of the plot, it gets kind of repetitive.  Here, where the Hulk is a supporting player, the character can shine much better than in a solo film. As for Mark Ruffalo taking over the Bruce Banner role, I think he falls in the middle.  Not as bad as Eric Bana, but not quite as good as Edward Norton.

Hawkeye and Black Widow:  In the original Avengers line up, it was Ant-Man and Wasp. Good call in using Hawkeye and Black Widow instead.  Hawkeye spends most of the movie under Loki's spell, and Scarlett Johansson does very well with her character.

Nick Fury: Samuel L Jackson plays the role that was tailored for him by the Marvel Ultimate Universe creators. But really, come on... we all know the only real Nick Fury is David Hasselhoff.

OK... I'm kidding on that one.

Loki: Tom Hiddleson really excels in the role, evolving the character from his appearance in Thor as being far more evil and cunning.  Plus the Hulk's treatment of Loki got the movie's biggest laughs and cheers.

Overall, The Avengers is an excellent film, despite being a little slow in the first half, and Disney-Marvel hit a home run they can be proud of.

Davy Jones Memorial

On Sunday, April 15, Micky Dolenz had a private memorial for Davy Jones at his home. 

Peter Tork commented, Davy’s passing was hard. The rest of us, Micky, myself, and Mike Nesmith got together in California to attend a very private ceremony for Davy with some other friends and associates from the early days. At the end of the service 66 balloons were released, one for each year of Davy’s life. When some of the balloons got caught in the trees. Micky said, ”He’s not leaving while the lights are still on.”

Here are some pics from the event, taken by Nurit Wilde.

Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, and Micky Dolenz

Micky and his wife Donna

Peter and his girlfriend Pam

Mike

The Monkee kids (l to r) Sarah & Talia Jones, Georgia Dolenz, Jason Nesmith, Ami Dolenz, Jessica Nesmith, and Emily Dolenz

Review: Curse Of Shazam, part 2

The second chapter of Curse of Shazam from JUSTICE LEAGUE  #8, once again reads like a teaser.  All that really happens is Billy meets his new foster family, which includes Mary and Freddy (who is now blond with a "Dead End Kids" personality).  Not surprisingly, Johns also includes his three new creations from Flashpoint : Eugene (the nerdy Asian), Pedro (the overweight Latino), and Darla (the Rudy Huxtable archetype).

Billy still acts like a jerk and makes Darla, the youngest of the kids, cry. Mary chews Billy out, and he seems to show a little remorse.  There is a glimpse of Tawny, a reference to Hoppy (Mary's pet rabbit that she, with Freddy's help, "liberated" from a pet store), and the all-too-brief teaser of a story ends with a foreboding lightning flash and thunder clap.

My thoughts: Much like chapter one, it's not bad, but nothing really special happens either.  Johns still seems to be setting the stage.  In the Golden Age, in 10 pages you could get an entire story with action, humor, thrills and a complete plot. I think the trade paperback collection of the entire story will be a more satisfying read. Gary Frank's artwork is very good, but like the tall muscular Sivana and the hooded cape, making Freddy blond is kind of a meaningless change (unless its some kind of reference to Elvis, who dyed his hair black once he became a movie star. Will Freddy likewise have black hair in his superpowered form?).

I would grade chapter 2 a C.  Johns better get things moving.

The Three Stooges movie

I only have one thing to say about it.

Actually, I'll let Jerry Howard, the real "Curly" say it for me.

Link to article "Three Stooges Updated"

Review: Curse Of Shazam, part 1

The first chapter of  Curse Of Shazam in JUSTICE LEAGUE #7 is more of a teaser, setting the stage for things to come.  It begins with a man being abducted by the wizard Shazam (if indeed the wizard is still named Shazam).  Entering an elevator, he gets zapped to the Rock of Eternity, where he is tested to see if he is worthy.  We only get a glimpse of the wizard's hand and tooth-missing mouth.  The man fails, and is zapped back.  Apparently several people have been abducted and tested to see if they are worthy.

We are then introduced to Dr Sivana, who has been keeping track of all this. Sivana, in this new take, is not a short, scrawny elderly gent, but appears to be youngish, tall, and muscular.  For some reason he reminds me of the modern version of Professor Hugo Strange.  We get a recap of Black Adam from Sivana, who figures the current abductions are tied into this legend, and we learn Sivana has spent his life trying to save his family.  Well, at least he's not a millionaire businessman copy-cat of Luthor.

Cut to Philadelphia, seven months later (no more Fawcett City?).  We meet Billy, at an orphanage, who is being interviewed by prospective foster parents, the Vasquezes.  Billy seems very polite, and the Vasquezes mention they have other foster kids (Freddy Freeman, perhaps?).  But as soon as the Vasquezes agree to take Billy and leave, we see Billy's true colors.  He's a jerk. He's a trouble maker. 

Then there is a full page shot of Captain Mar... er, Shazam as a teaser for the next chapter.

My thoughts:  The script was well written, and kept my interest.  The art was also good, but some choices in the character design are questionable, such as Sivana now being a big burly guy, and I'm not too fond of the rather dorky hoody Captain Mar... er, Shazam now sports.  As for Billy being a jerk and only pretending to be a nice kid... well, we'll just have to see how that plays out.  It's too early to tell.  Overall, I would grade this first chapter a B-.