Thor

[UnSub]

Okay I haven't watched it yet but I went to the imdb page and

THIS WAS DIRECTED BY KENNETH BRANAGH?

Who greenlights Mr. Shakespeare Adaptations to direct a big summer action superhero flick? I mean, I'm pleased to hear it worked out pretty well but WHAT.

Marvel Studios pick actors and directors who have talent but aren't generally that expensive (yet). Brannagh's directorial ability is known, but he isn't as expensive as going for a full-on Hollywood blockbuster director.

[Surlyboi]

Yeah, 3D is useless. Serves me right for fandangoing in a bar after four martinis.

[Chimpy]

Marvel Studios pick actors and directors who have talent but aren't generally that expensive (yet). Brannagh's directorial ability is known, but he isn't as expensive as going for a full-on Hollywood blockbuster director.

It is not even the money part. Branagh and Favreau are both ACTORS who got into directing. They actually know the craft from both places and it shows in how the actors in their movies act more like real people than the ones who are in your average summer blockbuster. Both of them can make mediocre actors seem good, most of the guys like Michael Bay can make good actors seem bad.


Also, I saw it 2d...almost saw 3d on accident but when they charged me 10 bucks for a noon show on a saturday I asked "no matinees on Saturday?" and she said "there is a 3 dollar surcharge for 3d movies, the next 2d is at 12:45." I ended up going to Burger King and grabbing lunch with that 3 dollars.

[LK]

Surprised at the praise.

[Tannhauser]

Just saw it, really enjoyed it.  They did an amazing job of tying the Asgardian mythos into modern day.  Great story from JMS, great directing from KB and good acting all around.  I don't know what they could have done better, good to see Agent Coulson again, Nick Fury sure keeps him busy!
Lots of humor, action and larger-than-life events; great summer movie!

I didn't stay for the easter egg at the end. Figured it was for Cap and I can catch it online somewhere.

Really wasn't that enthused about yet another super hero movie, but very glad I saw it.

[Yegolev]

Watching this was like riding a slip-n-slide on level ground.

[devildog]

I saw this over the weekend and went into it expecting less than i got. I happen to be a Thor fan from the 80s and had a hard time finding fault with anything in the movie really. While i might have enjoyed the first Iron Man more, i would put it right up there with it. I'm amazed that we somehow went from crappy adaptations of superhero comics to decent movies so quickly. Maybe Lord of the Rings to thank for this originally? I'm sure Iron Man and the X-men didn't hurt. To see the superhero recover from flops like The Shadow and the goofy Billy Zane superhero movie is great. Casting  was really good and of course Thor kicks ass.

I saw a couple of trailers before the film that look like the summer is going to be great for superhero movie fans. Green Lantern is looking better each trailer i see and Captain America looks like it might be the best of the summer just going  off the trailers. Nazis are always great bad guys.

[Yegolev]

You can't blame Billy Zane for anything which is bad.

[Merusk]

The Phantom isn't exactly good source material, either.  I remember reading it in the comics section back in the 80's and the whole whole story  felt like the 50's comic it is.  That's not going to work well without a big overhaul similar to the ones the iconic Marvel & DC chars have had over the years.

[Khaldun]

Not much you can do about a dude who hangs out in the middle of Africa wearing purple tights, honestly. There is almost no way to fix that as material, though there was a cartoon with a futuristic Phantom that took a decent stab at it. The Shadow, on the other hand, should have been way better than it was--it almost was good in a few spots.

But definitely the thinking about how to do superheroes and get the tone right has come a long way. I was watching Tim Burton's Batman the other day and was shocked at how weak it feels compared with the films that came later. I didn't like it all that much at the time, but against the way that the basic concept of the superhero in film has developed since?

[NowhereMan]

Lest we get too cocky the modern film era of Super Hero movies also brought us Daredevil, the Fantastic Four movies and Catwoman. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go make plans to see this.

[Sky]

The director's cut version of daredevil was ok. The FF movies had moments, but the casting for Reed and Sue was so bad there was really no way to do anything.

I'll probably be a bit picky about Thor, being a nordic pagan and whatnot. The Simonson era comics were great, though.

[Slyfeind]

I wonder how much involvement JMS had. He got story credit, and he was in it, and once mentioned that he likes Branaugh, but I can't find any interviews or articles beyond that.

[Lakov_Sanite]

If you can't leave your nordic paganism at the door, you will NOT enjoy Thor. It takes the stargate approach to mythology in that our religions and myths were based on these immortal space people.

[Nebu]

If you can't leave your nordic paganism at the door, you will NOT enjoy Thor. It takes the stargate approach to mythology in that our religions and myths were based on these immortal space people.

Oh... like scientology.   

[devildog]

I had forgotten about catwoman. In fact, i never saw the whole movie. Daredevil was, meh. Fantastic Four was decent i guess. I was never a big FF fan, so the movie pretty much held set with what i already thought about them, though the thing seemed to be plus. Yea, there have been quite a few bad ones, but it seems now we get 2 good ones for one so-so one. That is a hell of a lot better than our odds 30 years ago. We'll see how the summer goes.

3 big superhero movies, and the first one gets a plus in my book. Thor was a movie i was surprised in a good way over. I will probably grab it on dvd/blu-ray to add to my collection. Now we see how Green Lantern and Captain America go.

[Khaldun]

I thought FF was pretty wretched. One of the all-time dumb storytelling adjustments in making Doom one of the gang to go into space. FF2 was pure shit.

[Tannhauser]

They should cast Chris Evans as Namor in a movie.  That way he can be all of the Invaders.

(Bucky doesn't count he was a sidekick)

[Surlyboi]

There's also a Hawkeye cameo, by the way. You'll know it when you see it.

[MuffinMan]

They should cast Chris Evans as Namor in a movie.  That way he can be all of the Invaders.

(Bucky doesn't count he was a sidekick)

The Human Torch doesn't count either, right? I don't think Johnny Storm was ever in the Invaders, it was the original android Human Torch.

[Yegolev]

There's also a Hawkeye cameo, by the way. You'll know it when you see it.

OH... yes.  Derr.

I'm wondering what the big-ass crossover movies are going to look like in ten years.

[SurfD]

One thing i have to wonder about is doesn't the Thor Timeline sort of shoot down the whole idea that that guy getting his mugshot taken in the French Prison in Iron Man 2 was supposed to be a Thor cameo?

Cause the entirety of Thor's banishment to earth takes place in New Mexico.  About the only plausible explanation (since I believe the Iron Man 2 Cameo would chronologically be before the events of Thor) would be that mere months before his banishment he was galavanting around europe and got arrested, but somehow that just doesent seem likely.  Then again, Jane had enough data on 17? different wormhole phenominon that had previously occured, so who kows?.

[DraconianOne]

One thing i have to wonder about is doesn't the Thor Timeline sort of shoot down the whole idea that that guy getting his mugshot taken in the French Prison in Iron Man 2 was supposed to be a Thor cameo?

Or perhaps, just perhaps, the fan boys were wrong and there never was a Thor cameo in Iron Man 2 at all.

[SurfD]

One thing i have to wonder about is doesn't the Thor Timeline sort of shoot down the whole idea that that guy getting his mugshot taken in the French Prison in Iron Man 2 was supposed to be a Thor cameo?

Or perhaps, just perhaps, the fan boys were wrong and there never was a Thor cameo in Iron Man 2 at all.

I thought one of the producers actually confirmed it.

[DraconianOne]

I don't recall that being the case and certainly can't find anything to back it up.

What I can find is a reference to a tweet from someone who was, allegedly, a "Creative Designer involved with the film" saying that it was a cameo and which was then reported across the websites. Doesn't look like anyone's proved the veracity of his claim as being involved with the film.  The guy is, however, a "social media" expert so this is more than likely a way of getting attention and proving that a) social media works and b) people will believe anything.

[Velorath]

There's also a Hawkeye cameo, by the way. You'll know it when you see it.

OH... yes.  Derr.

I'm wondering what the big-ass crossover movies are going to look like in ten years.

I'm curious what The Avengers is going to look like next year.  Or more to the point, I'm curious as to how much time is going to be spent putting the team together.  Despite how much groundwork they've laid in the various movies so far, the status quo of each of the characters is such that it seems like it would take some time in the Avengers movie to get them to a point where they can join up. 


I almost feel like Thor and Cap could have used one more movie each to set up the Avengers, and Iron Man might have been better set up for it without the second movie.  With Iron Man, it doesn't take much to set up the character, whereas Cap has to deal with adjusting to another time, and Thor has to deal with adjusting to another world.  In some ways, I'd rather see them do that first instead of rushing into the big team-up movie where presumably all the characters will be fighting for screen time (something the X-Men movies have struggled with).

[DraconianOne]

If they spend a lot of time putting the team together then it will pretty much kill the movie dead because that could take half the film leaving no time for plot. But the seeds have been sown since Iron Man with all the post-credits teasers. They need to get that sorted within the first 10 minutes and that shouldn't be too hard.  Getting Tony Stark out from being a consultant and as part of the team?

NICK FURY: Stark - we need you to lead the team.
TONY STARK: No way - I'm only a consultant remember.
NICK FURY: You're right - you haven't got the skills or the cojones to lead this team. We'll find someone more capable.
TONY STARK: What the...? No way - you can't find anyone with more knowledge of what's going on with me. They won't be able to handle it like I can. I'll do it.
NICK FURY: Okay. Moving on...


I reckon they can set up the bad-guy and macguffin (obvious from Thor's post credit teaser) and establish the team within the first 10 minutes of the film. I'm also not that worried about spending any time with all the members of the team because there's only going to really be three who count and that we spend much time with.

[Velorath]

The problem then becomes, why include these plot points to begin with, only to invalidate them almost immediately?  With Iron Man, it's not a huge deal, but it would still feel a little strained for Fury to make a point of telling Stark that he's too unreliable to play an active part on the team, only to completely change his mind at the beginning of Avengers.


The thing about spending time with each of the characters is that Thor, Iron Man, and Cap have their own franchises to develop their characters in.  Hulk's franchise is sort of in Limbo, but he's had at least one movie although they're now on their 3rd actor playing Banner in just under a decade possibly confusing things a bit for the audience.  Fury's appearances add up, and Black Widow got at least an ok amount of screen time in Iron Man 2 but not really enough to get to know her character too well.  Hawkeye has only had a cameo in Thor.  So do they spend some time reintroducing the Hulk, who will have gone the longest without an on-screen appearance?  Does Downey get the most screen-time, being the biggest star, despite the fact that we've already got two Iron Man movies?  Do they develop Black Widow and Hawkeye's backstories since those characters don't have their own movies to flesh them out in?  Jeremy Renner has been getting a lot of attention since Hurt Locker.  Did they sign him on here with the intention of leaving him largely in the background?

Mind you, I'm a fairly big Whedon fan, and I know from his previous work in Marvel comics that his respect for the characters shows through in his writing.  I'm not saying that they can't do a good Avengers movie here.  I just think they've got a very big juggling act, and I'm curious to see what their plan for pulling it off is.

[SurfD]

Don't forget, we also still have no idea what (if any) plans they have for Wasp and Giant Man for Avengers as well.

[Sky]

They spent a decent amount of time in the original X-Men bringing in Rogue and Wolverine, so there's precedent for a slow initial team movie. Avengers is actually in a better spot due to the solo movies, of course. I hope the Vision makes it in at some point, he was one of my favorites to throw into 'most powerful superhero' debates. Maybe done like Dr Manhattan. And if you bring the Vision, you can throw in a sexy Scarlet Witch!

When do we get to the Defenders?  Valkyrie, Doc Strange, Gargoyle? Hell yeah!

Ahem. Sorry.

[Margalis]

Oh no Joss Whedon is writing the Avengers. Argh!

"Do you know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning?"

Someone take the word processor away from this man!

[UnSub]

If they go the "X-Men" route, they introduce an outsider into a team that is already almost complete. There's a bit of exposition about what's happened / why the team it together (which Sam Jackson can deliver) and then it is on to blowing stuff up. They don't need to spend 45 minutes bonding and becoming BFFs before the Red Skull and Skrull hordes show up .

I also think that Marvel Studios intentionally strands some of its characters so that the actor can't be too confident that they'll actually be needed for the next film.

[DraconianOne]

Oh no Joss Whedon is writing the Avengers. Argh!

"Do you know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning?"

Someone take the word processor away from this man!

So much hate for Whedon and so much reference to this line while ignoring the line that definitely got a laugh (and the fact that only two lines of his were kept from a complete overhaul of the script).  His dialogue and character changes to Toy Story and Speed didn't seem to harm them.

Plus, love him or hate him, Whedon has got experience with Marvel properties and also handling ensemble casts.

[Slyfeind]

I'm expecting Iron Man to be essentially Malcom Reynolds, and everybody else having the weight of the rest of the Firefly cast. That is to say, plenty for the actors to chew on, but the story still centered on Iron Man.

Also, did Whedon write the toad line? I'd convinced myself that was a Halle Berry ad-lib.

[Sky]

If it was edited down from the normal stream of Whedon-isms, it would stick out. But I wouldn't see that as out of place as a throw-away line on Firefly. That show was almost like Henny Youngman, so many quirky quotes and most of them good, delivered so that the lesser ones just slid on past.

They're re-airing Firefly on some network right now, so I'm especially partial to Whedon currently.