Jilli, TCG wanted you to know that the Jilli stamp of approval is good enough for him. He was on the fence about seeing it based on the trailers.

Oh, Jilli, that is good news.

Avengers, round two. Shawarma in 3d!!

So many continuity-gasms in this movie, thank you Joss. P-C, I totally missed that Tony landed in front of the Shawarma Palace, but I did see when the "RK" and "ST" got knocked off the Stark Tower. And that Hawkeye hurts his knee when he smashes through the window ; during the second post-credit scene, he's got that leg propped up on Natasha's chair. On a related note, awww.

And speaking of Natasha, not only does she use people's emotional weapons against themselves, she uses their physical weapons against them. She ended up using the Chitauri speargun thingies, she uses an actual Chitauri (Chitauron?) to fly her up to the tower, and she winds up with Loki's "glowstick of destiny."

Dammit, I want a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie. I want that backstory. I want to know what happened in Budapest, and why he didn't kill her. Also - I don't speak Russian, really, but I was around it for two years, and ScarJo does a pretty decent rendition AFAIK. She gets the "mouth feel" right, where it sounds like you're talking around marbles.

After the first viewing, Nora and Tom and StW and I were discussing over beers, and Tom asserted that Nick Fury sent Agent Coulson down there. And he totally did - I heard him do it this time. But I also believe that Coulson knew what Fury was doing, he knew his boss, and it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He did his job. He gave them something to avenge (and how much do I love that Coulson didn't actually say "avenge," but it was clearly the next word).

In conclusion, "do it again, do it again!"

eta wow, ScarJo learned the Russian phonetically in two days - [link] She's got a good ear, and must have had a damn good dialogue coach.

One more one more thing - I was not expecting how much 3D *ahem* enhances things like Black Widow's tush, Hawkeye's biceps, RDJ's eyes...

Awww! Tell him thank you for me.

Just came back from my third viewing of the Avengers. This is the first time I cried at Coulson's death. And yes, Fury totally sent him to die. He sent him to the armory, you can hear it over the comms.

I actually gasped involuntarily when Coulson first showed up, which would have been a spoiler if anyone had been able to hear me.

Also, the Black Widow/Hawkeye fight, I have decided, is my favorite fight. It reminded me of BTVS fights. Raw with emotion, acrobatic, seemingly untouched by CGI. They are also my favorite characters, I think, given that they have no super powers. As Tom said to me the other day, "they are the most courageous of all."

ALSO JEBUS SAVE ME JEREMY RENNER'S ARMS IN 3D OH LAWDY.

The emotional journey of every single one of the Avengers just hit me where I live. (also, they are all so very, very, very pretty.)

Conclusion: I still love the balls off this movie.

ahaha, smonster and I went to see the movie together, BTW, and she had just dropped me off.

which would have been a spoiler if anyone had been able to hear me.

Other than me, who already knew.

Other than me, who already knew.

Yeah, I was like, oooooops! And tried to be more careful during the rest of the movie.

There are so many reasons I want to watch this again -so I can focus on the small character moments, and another to focus on the fight scenes.

I hope the dvd has tons of great extras. And this is a movie I would LOVE LOVE to have commentary track on.

I hope Tom wants to go see it again soon.

There are so many reasons I want to watch this again -so I can focus on the small character moments

That's why I want to see Avengers again. I don't particularly care about fight scenes (and yes, Pete thinks I'm crazy to hold that opinion), but the small character moments always a source of delight to me.