Yep. I kept expecting to see a yellow bus come flying out of the dust cloud.

Went and saw it again today with the daughter. She wanted the 3-D, so I've seen it both ways now. And, for me, I really do prefer the 2-D viewings. I just don't seem to get enough out of the 3-D and there were only a couple of moments where it really made me say "wow".

Still totally engrossing, even knowing what comes next in every scene. And I still don't really believe that Coulson is dead. It's kind of like, if I don't see the funeral, it's not real.

And I was surprised to find out my daughter didn't know it was a Joss flick! She's the one who got me into Buffy, and she was real eager to see this movie. I couldn't figure out how she didn't know! But, I guess the franchise is such that a lot of people don't have a clue who Joss Whedon is and could care less; they just want their superhero fix and that's what was driving her to go.

Saw Avengers earlier today. No lines, but the theater was 95% filled by the time the previews rolled.

Enjoyed it, definitely worth seeing again, will probably buy the Blu-ray.

About half-way through, I noticed a girl (early teens) about three rows down from me had her cellphone out. If she had just been texting I probably would have ignored it, but the movie screen was visible on her phone screen. I yelled at her, and she put it away.

The really odd thing was that neither the two adults she was with, the other people around her, the people between us, nor the people around me reacted at all when I bellowed.

Tony Stark's dad

John Slattery!!! That still kills me.

OK, the 3-D was OK, but not really worth the extra cost for me.

The 3-D preview of Spiderman was awful for me--there were many scenes where my eyes and brain couldn't resolve what I was seeing into a 3-D image so they just gave up, which was irritating. I won't be seeing that movie in 3-D.

I had the same problem, tommyrot. Definitely won't be seeing that in 3-D, either.

Holy crap, it's earning money so fast Hollywood accountants may not be able to disguise the fact that it's turned a profit!

I want to see an edited version of that awesome scene where Thor strafes the incoming armada with lightning so that the sinking Titanic and flying dragons from Avatar are amongst the forces getting blown up.

I saw it in 3D... and I have to say, it was one of the cleanest post-conversions I've experienced, very crystal-clear focus and subtle use of the depth except for the occasional arrow or whatnot.

It also gave me one HELL of a profound headache. Which I'm going to keep in mind the next time I'm tempted to go to a long 3D movie.

Other than that... I had a wonderful time. Liked all the characters -- really liked Mark Ruffalo and his scenes with RDJ. Samuel Jackson good as ever.

Also loved that Hawkeye got to be more than the guy with trick arrows.

Matt,

you are cracking me up.

It also gave me one HELL of a profound headache. Which I'm going to keep in mind the next time I'm tempted to go to a long 3D movie

Oh hey, I wonder if that was an additional trigger to losing yesterday to one of the worst migraines I've had in a while. Because while the IMAX 3D was impressive, I could occasionally feel my eyes straining.

Joss just entered the big leagues in a HUGE way. I hope that works out OK.

I do like that he already has MUCH ADO in the pipeline, though. It will definitely make for an interesting contrast.