"The Avengers" Review: The Best Superhero Movie Ever Made

  How can we put this..."The Avengers" was the best superhero based movie ever to be made, and that's an understatement. From beginning to end the movie had our attention, if there were any doubts on casting prior to the release of this movie then all those doubts are gone now. The theater was laughing and cheering their favorite hero the whole movie, it was a great experience. To put it simply, Marvel has outdone themselves, we were looking forward to this movie but never did we assume that this movie would be this good, this was one of those "I could sit here and re-watch the whole thing" movies, if you don't have plans to go watch it then do yourself a kindness, change your mind and allow yourself to be blown away by this awesome movie.

    When talking about this movie we cannot begin anywhere but with Joss Whedon. This was your classic Joss Whedon work, it was funny, it was serious, it was entertaining from beginning to end and it was just plain awesome. Joss doesn't disappoint, he directed and co-wrote this movie, if you are familiar with his work then you know what we're talking about, Joss Whedon has been writing/directed works like "The Cabin In The Woods", "Firefly", "Buffy", "Toy Story", and a ton more, if you have never seen "Firefly" then do so. Most of the humor within "The Avengers" was thanks to him, and it was awesome humor, it was a perfect balance of everyone's ego while keeping us all entertained the whole time. We cannot wait for the DVD to come out so that we may watch the extra scenes, there are a lot of rumors circulating about the scenes that were taken out that Joss wanted to put in there, just another thing to look forward to.

     Looking back upon this flick the character that deserves to be talked about first is the incredible Hulk for he was the least looked forward to character and the choosing of Ruffalo as the Hulk made many worried that the Hulk wasn't going to be played right, let us put those fears at rest in saying that Ruffalo did a fantastic job. The Hulk in this movie was awesome, his every appearance was awesome, we had people cheering for him every time he appeared on screen. The humor Joss was able to weave into the Hulk was brilliant and created some of the funniest most awesome moments in the movie. Mark Ruffalo deserves to be commended though, he played Bruce Banner exactly like Bruce should be played, it was an exceptional performance. With the exception of the latest Hulk movie with Edward Norton, we had not had this good of a performance ever, and even though we love Norton we cannot help but want more Ruffalo on the screen from now on.

      One of the biggest worries when releasing a big budget production like this one with many strong actors within it is that the actors will clash with one another trying to outdo one another, but this was not the case here. The movie flowed like it should have flowed and the actors behaved like a team, you could tell that they were all in this together from beginning to end. They all had a strong presence and all of them had funny little jokes here and there, picking a favorite among them is a difficult task, this is the reaction one should have when watching this kind of movie, if it is done well that is, and oh this movie was awesome. One would imagine that their personalities would have clashed and their stage presence would have made this movie unwatchable but trust when we say that it was everything we ever dreamed of and more.

     Everyone that has ever read a comic book or watched a superhero movie has dreamed of this moment, as IGN's review puts it "this is the movie that played out in our minds as we read the comics", except it was written by Joss Whedon so it blew everything we could possibly imagine out of the water. Let's not forget the side characters as well, Nick Fury was played perfectly by Samuel which was expected but a surprise came with Cobie Smulder's performance (Robin from "How I Met Your Mother") as she played Agent Maria Hill, she did a fantastic job and made us want to see her in more movies, her career is one worth following for sure. When rottentomatoes.com gives a movie a 93% you know the movie is going to be amazing, we fall right in line with everyone else in saying that this movie was a definite 4.5/5, we would give it a perfect score but that would mean that nothing more can be done to make the next one more awesome and that's simply not true, think Spider-Man and Wolverine making an appearance, that would be awesome.

      So there you have it, this is how you should spend your money this weekend, be it today or tomorrow, just do yourself a kindness and go watch this movie, it's sure to not disappoint. Make sure to stay for both secret endings not just the first one, you won't regret it.

 Love from your humble blogger,

Who Is Woody Allen?

    We live in a world where more people know who Michael Bay is than who Woody Allen is and have seen more brash movies from Bay than intelligent movies from Allen, we find this to be unfortunate. With the Academy Awards just a few days away we felt that doing a story on Woody would only be fitting being that to us the movie that deserves to win this year happens to be a Woody Allen film, so sit back and read on, Woody is someone you should get to know, he is a brilliant writer and director, and deserves our attention.

    If we were to list all the movies Woody Allen has either written, directed, or been part in, this post would take up countless pages for Woody has had a long career with many great successes. One of his first movies that became an instant classic was "Sleeper" which he wrote, directed and stared in, it was released in 1973 and depicts what the future might look like, it was very imaginative and won our hearts. We could talk about a lot of other movies here, but we've decided to focus on a few recent ones you might have heard of and if not should check out. Before we do though, here are some movies you should take a look at as well: "Annie Hall" (1977), "Manhattan" (1979), "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), "Hannah And Her Sisters"(1986), "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995), "Everyone Says I Love you" (1996), "Small Time Crooks" (2000), "The Curse of Jade Scorpion" (2001), and "Anything Else" (2003), we could put all his movies within this list, but alas this is our selection.

   Woody Allen has always had this motto of pushing the audience to see the world in a different light, to embrace someone else's perspective on life, and of course he also gives a cultural critique within most of his movies. One could argue that all of his movies offer social critiques about life, love, the meaning of living, the purpose of work and the delight of creativity, which are all great topics rarely discussed by others and thus is addressed by our friend Woody. This is what sets him apart from other writers and directors, Woody will have a very real philosophical theme throughout the movie that will be expertly sown in within the story, so that the story in itself will be engaging but the philosophy and questions that the story sprouts forth will catch you by surprise and thus Woody's brilliance is seen.

      A few of his latest movies that show this phenomenon are "Match Point" (2005), "Scoop" (2006), "Cassandra's Dream" (2007), "Vicky Christina Barcelona" (2008), "Whatever Works" (2009), and "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" (2010), all of which are brilliant and should be watched. Not all of these movies will win your heart, that's a simple fact, to us the best three up there are "Match Point", "Vicky Christina Barcelona" and "Whatever Works". The cast within all these movies are amazing, and are sporting big names here like, Jonathan Ryes Meyers, Emily Mortimer, Scarlet Johansson (she's been in a lot of his movies as of late), Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Collin Farrel, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, and Naomi Watts, this does not even begin to cover the amount of good actors that have worked for him, but here are a few so that a picture of Woody's awesomeness begins to take focus.

     It is said to be a high honor to be within a Woody Allen film, very few actors have turned down an invite to be within one of his pictures, being able to be in one of his films is a career making choice and all those that have been a part of the magic have never regretted it. One thing to note if you haven't already is that Woody has released a movie per year since 1982, meaning not only does this guy write and direct his own movies, he also does it once a year and does it well. He has done this so well in fact that he has been nominated to various awards throughout his life, to the point of being nominated by the Academy around 23 times, here is a man that deserves your attention.

    This Academy Awards has put Woody's latest movie "Midnight In Paris" on the race for best movie, art direction, directing, and writing (original screenplay), all of which he could win. The movie takes place in Paris just in case you didn't get that from the title, and shows a story about a man who is about to get married and thinks that he is happy, a man who cannot see beyond what he has always known, but is taken up and his eyes opened, to the beauty that life possesses. A story about a struggling writer played by Owen Wilson, his fiance played by Rachel McAdams, and an incredible cast consisting of many fantastic actors including Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Michael Sheen, Tom Hiddleston, and Corey Stoll. This is a movie that everyone should see, a great movie about thinking outside the box, loving life and recognizing the beauty around you.

    If you get a chance to watch some of Woody's work we recommend that you do, and if nothing else do take a look at "Midnight In Paris", it is a delightful movie with something for everyone in it.

   We hope this week has been going well for you, and pray that it might finish even better,

Love from your humble blogger,