Film

Dream team

The Avengers

Geek boys and girls, you can start rejoicing. The Avengers delivers the goods in a big, unforgettable way. It’s exhilarating action moviemaking at its best. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow come together in director Joss Whedon’s damn near miraculous The Avengers to kick off the summer movie season on a high note that’s going to be tough to beat. There’s a major balancing act going on here, and Whedon somehow manages to pull it off. None of the superheroes get shortchanged. Heck, even Nick Fury gets a significant story arc. Everybody gets screen time worthy of their cinematic greatness and, ultimately, their teaming together against the powerfully bad forces of the universe has true substance and soul. The last thing I was expecting in this Marvel hero summit meeting was soul, but there is plenty of it. The baddie that winds up bringing these forces together would be Loki (Tom Hiddleston), last seen making his brother’s life a living hell in last year’s Thor. Loki has gotten his hands on a crazy energy orb that can also provide a gateway from another universe. All kinds of bad guys plan to use the gateway to come down and conquer Earth, with Loki, still furious over what Thor and his daddy did to him, as the ringmaster. This pisses off Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to no end, so he decides to bring the planet’s super entities together for a cage match to end all cage matches. Captain America (Chris Evans), having just woken up from a mega-sleep, is hanging out at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters doing severe damage to punching bags. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)

is working on his Stark headquarters building in Manhattan, concentrating on stuff that makes his life better rather than saving the world. Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, replacing Edward Norton, who replaced Eric Bana) is roaming the Earth trying to keep his inner bad boy in check, while Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns from Asgard because he has unfinished business with that troublemaking sibling, Loki. by The individual Marvel films released in the Bob Grimm last few years provide a nice backdrop for what bgrimm@ happens in this one, although viewing all of newsreview.com them is probably not necessary to enjoy The Avengers. The movie stands on its own. I will say, having enjoyed both previous5 Hulk efforts—Ang Lee’s misunderstood and underappreciated first try, Hulk, and the more streamlined second effort, The Incredible Hulk—the Hulk in this film will certainly emerge as the favorite. Ruffalo takes a great approach to the role, and the CGI creation does a nice job incorporating his image. Downey Jr. has great fun expanding upon Stark’s wiseass image, taunting and lampooning all of his cohorts. I especially liked his attempts to get all up in Banner’s business. Evans provides a nice, old-school moralistic anchor, while Hemsworth’s Thor brings that otherworldly, godlike element. And Hulk … well, you’re just going to love him. (Hey, fans of the Green One, Lou Ferrigno, TV’s original Hulk, does, once again, provide the screen incarnation’s voice.) In the midst of all this, the story affords quality time to Scarlett Johansson’s leather-clad badass Black Widow and Jeremy Renner’s arrow-slinging Hawkeye. Admittedly, I came into the screening with little interest in their characters, but left liking them a lot. As for the retrofitted 3-D, it’s surprisingly good, especially during the film’s astonishing Manhattan finale. As usual with these Marvel films, stay for the credits because a big hint is dropped regarding further adventures. All of the major heroes, with the exception of Hulk, are currently slated for individual films before the next Avengers as of press time. Actually, that could wind up being a problem, because The Avengers is better than any of the individual Marvel hero films. It’s even better than the Spider-Man films. They need to turn out the solo movies fast, because I’m ready for the next Avengers chapter right now. I’m spoiled! Ω

“I like to be in America. OK by me in America. Everything free in America.”

1

POOR

2

FAIR

3

GOOD

4

VERY GOOD

5

EXCELLENT

4The Cabin in the Woods This crazy rule-bender comes from writer/director Drew Goddard and cowriter Joss Whedon, the father of TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayerand hero to many a geek. It’s quite clever, maybe even a little too clever at times. The setup sees a typical sampling of college students getting ready for a vacation at the lake. They are Curt the Jock (Chris Hemsworth, a.k.a. Thor!), Dana the Almost Virgin (Kristen Connolly), Jules the Whore (Anna Hutchison), Holden the Hot Nerd (Jesse Williams) and Marty the Wisecracking Stoner (Fran Kranz). At the same time, we see two working stiffs (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) reporting to their very peculiar jobs, the details of which will not be given away. The film works as both a straight-up horror film and a funny homage to the genre, with plenty of great reveals and twists along the way, including an awesome final cameo. It sat on shelves for three years, and we finally get to see it. Yay!

3Chimpanzee While watching DisneyNature’s latest effort, I was reminded of some of the shows I used to catch as a kid during TV’s Wonderful World of Disney. I remembered being wowed by the cool nature footage that Walt’s army used to catch, and I also remembered that the narration would bore and/or annoy me in contrast. Such is also the case with this movie. The footage of a little chimpanzee orphan dubbed Oscar is amazing stuff. Oscar, an energetic 3-year-old, is a cute little shit, and I could watch hours of footage featuring his adorable eyes and natural sense of mischief. I’d say I’d like to pinch his cheek, but he would probably tear my arms off. As for listening to Tim Allen narrate the story of Oscar and his predicament (“Power tools … grr!”), I was longing for the voice of Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones. Or perhaps even the famous primatologist Jane Goodall, who served as an advisor on the flick.

4Damsels in Distress Writer-director Whit Stillman, who did a disappearing act after his fun 1998 film The Last Days of Disco, makes a funny return with collegiate comedy starring Greta Gerwig as a student who wants you to know the healing powers of really good hotel soap. Gerwig plays Violet, the leader of a small group of female students intent upon preventing suicide, avoiding acrid odors, and starting a new dance craze. Stillman has a great gift for absurd, random humor mixed in with meaningful, surprisingly deep life observations. The cast is full of colorful, funny supporting players like Thor (an extremely funny Billy Magnussen), who doesn’t know all of the colors but pledges to hit the books and learn. There’s also Frank (Ryan Metcalf), the dumbass Violet has a crush on, who really wants his bean ball back. Throw in Analeigh Tipton as the normal girl and Adam Brody as a guy with a fake name, and you have one of the year’s greater casts. Look for the always-funny Aubrey Piaza in the aptly titled role, Depressed Debbie. Sure to stand as one of the year’s funniest movies.

2The Five-Year Engagement This one feels more like a 50-year engagement. Jason Segel and Emily Blunt star as a couple who get engaged but wind up postponing their wedding for career considerations. While Segel and Blunt have some decent comedic chemistry, the movie just drags on and on and on. What’s more, while they work as a comedic team, they don’t really click as a romantic couple, making it all seem a little strange that they’re together in the first place. Directed by Nicholas Stoller, who co-wrote the screenplay with frequent writing partner Segel, the two fail to capture the magic that made their prior effort Forgetting Sarah Marshallso funny. The humor here is mostly flat, peppered with occasional laughs, which mostly come from Segel’s character trying to adjust to life in Michigan after living the big life in San Francisco. Segel says he won’t be in the next Muppetmovie because he wants to do human movies. As this movie shows, humans can be really boring. 2The Hunger Games For a big blockbuster based on an extremely popular novel, director Gary Ross’ film looks mighty cheap. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, forced to represent her district in a televised contest where young people must battle to the death. While Lawrence is a great actress, she doesn’t fit the role of starving teen very well. Josh Hutcherson plays her fellow district rep, Peeta, and he suits the role just fine. I just couldn’t get by the drab look of the movie, and the horrible shaky cam that manages to destroy the action visuals instead of enhancing them. Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson are all saddled with silly getups for their roles, which might’ve played OK had another director filmed them. The movie is just a strange clash of tones, never has a consistent feel, and is surprisingly boring considering the subject matter.

2The Raven While John Cusack gives it his all as the film’s central character, Edgar Allan Poe, this cinematic attempt at making the author some sort of super sleuth during his dying days is a little silly. As history has told us, Poe was found in bad shape on a Baltimore park bunch shortly before he died. This movie comes up with the fictional device that Poe was running around looking for a serial killer copying his stories, 1849’s answer to Saw’s Jigsaw. The premise is too goofy to overcome despite a decent performance from Cusack and a goodlooking movie from director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta). By the time this movie reveals its mysteries, you could care less, although having Alice Eve in your cast can easily make things worth watching at times. There have been a number of Poe films kicking around for years now. I’m kind of bummed this is the one that actually wound up getting made. Cusack is still a god, even if this movie is beneath him. Just had to say that.

2Think Like a Man Comedian and radio talk show host Steve Harvey wrote the bestselling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitmentin 2009. Even though it’s an advice book, with no plot, somebody has managed to make a movie out of it anyway. The film follows four couples as the women read and take the sage advice of Steve Harvey, who strikes me as an arrogant asshole. So I don’t buy that the characters in this movie would give two shits about what Steve Harvey has to say. Harvey appears occasionally in the film, spewing his nonsense straight at the audience, appearing on talk shows in the film, etc. A winning cast makes things sporadically tolerable, with fun performances from Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara and Gabrielle Union. They are good. Steve Harvey the douche can suck it, as can Chris Brown, who appears in a lame cameo.

2The Three Stooges Peter and Bobby Farrelly have been trying to get this thing made for years. There were times when high profile actors such as Sean Penn and Jim Carrey were attached to the project. What finally makes it to the screen is a cast of talented people giving it their all with a script that lets them down. Sean Hayes is especially amazing as Larry, while Chris Diamantopoulos and Will Sasso do good jobs as Moe and Curly respectively. The problem is that the writers rely on dumb jokes involving Jersey Shore, and most of the cast surrounding the Stooges—with the exception of Larry David doing fine work as a grouchy nun—has nothing worthwhile to do. The slapstick hits are often good, but there’s just no story worth watching, and things get a little tedious by the time the credits roll—too bad, because there’s potential for consistent fun with the new Stooges. As performers, the three new guys do the originals proud, even if the movie falls short.

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