Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Aevngers

Here is a list of the top 10 grossing films of all time. Ones which have received a lot of bad reviews are in bold:

1. Avatar
2. Titanic
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Halos - Part 2
4. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
7. Toy Story 3 (The worst of the franchise)
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
9. Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
10. Alice in Wonderland

Wow, there are 10 terrible, or at least sub-par movies. I doubt any of these movies, with the possible exception of Lord of the Rings, would appear on anyone's top 10 list. I guess the amount of money a movie makes is in no way a reflection of the quality of a movie.


I will be seeing the movie on Saturday. This is for the sole reason that Doc will not use the excused of, "you never saw it," when I tell him it is a terrible movie that is just like every other superhero movie. I told him that I will be honest and admit if I like it after that, but I see very little chance of this occurring.

Furthermore, I did not say people who like this movie are dumb. I just said that most people are dumb and that is not a reason to go by box office receipts to judge the quality of the movie. Also, I am sure there are plenty of people who see this movie and end up not liking it. I will probably be one of those. So, just seeing a movie can not mean you are dumb. However, I do say that most people who like this move are sheep. They like very formulaic films where the same basic story happens every time. I do believe that one of the signs of a good movie is originality. Here are some quotes that agree with my prediction:

"Every now and then, director Joss Whedon executes a quirky camera set-up to assert that the film was created by him and not a team of marketing executives." - Ben Sachs

"There are also the fans who rage in the comments, as if men in spandex are as serious as war and the economy. Is there a defensive euphoria in seeing your childhood heroes come to life? Is 'The Avengers' a great film? No. Will people love it? Yes!" - Clay Cane


"Yet another brainless, overbloated and mostly underwhelming blockbuster despite marvelous visual effects." - Avi Offer

"Really, who cares about another battle? We know how this is going to end." - Karina Longworth

"Nothing but 2:20 of special effects and ridiculous fights...it's like all the superheroes are trying out at the Improv to see who can give the best one-liner, and none of them do." - Tony Medley

"If you're not much of a Marvel Comics person but just want to get an early start on your mindless summer moviegoing, well, I guess this picture is no stupider than anything else." - Andrew O'Hehir

"To watch another comic book transformed into another blockbuster is to "marvel" at much and to feel nothing - that's a safer bet than the converse, perhaps, which may explain the genre's popularity." - Rick Groen

I'll take the hit and see this movie for all of those who know it sucks before you see it. I will be your casualty in the war against banal film making! You are all welcome.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Avengers

A lot of people saw it because it was good!

And Dos will be seeing the movie on Saturday. So if his statement is true, he is admitting he is one of the dumb people.

Game. Set. Match.

Holla Holla Holla

Re: Re: Re: Re: The Avengers

The amount of money a film made does not mean that it is a good film. It just means that a lot of people saw it and most people are dumb. A fact which Doc and I agree on.

The Avengers received a 69 score out of 100 on metacritic.

Dos - 52,234
Doc - -56

Re: Re: Re: The Avengers

93% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 254 Reviews

$207.4 million Opening Weekend

Doc - 1
Dos - 0

Re: Re: The Avengers

I will respond to each quote in the order which they were presented and then provide one more:

Yeah, and if Titanic was released in the 1700s everyone would be amazed that there are luxury cruise lines and moving images that you can watch on a screen. What a dumb quote! I also think the idea of someone's senses being raped sounds rather hellish and not a good selling point for a film. I honestly think this may have been a quote saying how the movie is obnoxiously loud and nauseating.

Whedon may be a good director. I can not judge this quote, nor do I think it contradicts the idea that all superhero movies are the same.

Christians are getting really really relaxed in their vocabulary and sentiments toward homosexuality. Kudos to them!

Saying that if you like the movie then you should look at its source material hardly means it is a good movie. This guy was just like, hey, if you like, you may like comic books.

The future is a scary place!

Excerpt from the New York Times Avengers  review:

While “The Avengers” is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting. The light, amusing bits cannot overcome the grinding, hectic emptiness, the bloated cynicism that is less a shortcoming of this particular film than a feature of the genre. Mr. Whedon’s playful, democratic pop sensibility is no match for the glowering authoritarianism that now defines Hollywood’s comic-book universe. Some of the rebel spirit of Mr. Whedon’s early projects “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly” and “Serenity” creeps in around the edges but as detail and decoration rather than as the animating ethos.

“I aim to misbehave,” Malcolm Reynolds famously said in “Serenity.” But for all their maverick swagger, the Avengers are dutiful corporate citizens, serving a conveniently vague set of principles. Are they serving private interests, big government, their own vanity, or what? It hardly matters, because the true guiding spirit of their movie is Loki, who promises to set the human race free from freedom and who can be counted on for a big show wherever he goes. In Germany he compels a crowd to kneel before him in mute, terrified awe, and “The Avengers,” which recently opened there to huge box office returns, expects a similarly submissive audience here at home. The price of entertainment is obedience.

RE: THE AVENGERS

Roger Ebert is a crazy, senile, old man. Lets take a look at some of the reviews that actually matter:

"If this movie was released in the 60's, people's eyes would have exploded and their ears would have bled as the film raped their senses." - Rick Marshall - IFC.com

"The real hero of The Avengers is not Iron Man, Thor or even Nick Fury. It's Joss Whedon." - Rick Bentley - Fresno Bee

"Present Joss Whedon's balls. And I will suck them." - Sloth Swanson - Christianity Today

"If you dig Thor or Cap or Hulk, please check out the original sources. Support your local comic book shop. You wouldn't have any of these movies without them." - Christopher Long - Movie Metropolis

"I do not like the taste of this hat. Nor do I like buying Doc action figures." - Future Dos - The 3184 Blog

The Avengers

These films are all more or less similar, and "The Avengers" gives us much, much more of the same. There must be a threat. The heroes must be enlisted. The villain must be dramatized. Some personality defects are probed. And then the last hour or so consists of special effects in which large mechanical objects engage in combat that results in deafening crashes and explosions and great balls of fire.

"Comic-Con nerds will have multiple orgasms," predicts critic David Edelstein in New York magazine, confirming something I had vaguely suspected about them. If he is correct, it's time for desperately needed movies to re-educate nerds in the joys of sex. "The Avengers" is done well by Joss Whedon, with style and energy. It provides its fans with exactly what they desire. Whether it is exactly what they deserve is arguable.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert's review of The Avengers