I'm not entirely how the movie managed to not ott "Yay, America!" with having continual USO performances and flags all over everywhere, and America coming into WWII is also generally pretty much all about America.

But you're right Steph--the Cap role doesn't spout any of it back, so I get an impression of it all happening around him, and he's just there to go to war and save whoever.

I think that's how it managed to not hit me as jingoistic -- Cap is the POV character, and his lack of America Fuck Yeah jingoism was enough for me.

I'm watching it again now, for the commentary (there is *way* not enough explanation of the Skinny Steve effect. I just--jesus, it's creepy), and I don't know if he mentions America a all.

Looking at Chris' resume, I hadn't been exposed a majority of cocky roles. it was about half and half to me at the time he was cast, if not more on the serious side (not having seen more than one Fantastic Four movie helps with that). So I was at first clueless when people were complaining about the choice.

Honestly, I'm glad he got it over Jensen. Because he's brilliant, and I still have Dean, who's dreamiest hero ever.

Man, the commentary really loves Chris. They talk about how hard he was to double, because the runners and gymnasts apparently didn't move like him, so they had him do more of his stunts and long shots than originally planned.

Yet...somehow not an issue (or not possible) for synching up Black Widow.

Yeah, I'll be over that any time now.

It wasn't until I got to the takeout food place that I registered I was wearing a Captain America tee. Given what I was buying, I wonder if the chick at the register thought anything of it.

But then again, they probably have better things to do than watch The Avengers.

Off of the top of my head I couldn't work out what that could be, but I am accepting the possibility.

I love Jensen, but I don't think he would have been right for the part. Even though he's above average height, he just doesn't ever look big to me. And I question whether he would have been able to fake a believable New York accent, something Chris was able to manage without difficulty to my untrained ears.

They're showing a slate of classic Pixar movies on the big screen this weekend in SF: Ratatouille, Up, WALL-E, Toy Story 3. Might have to go catch one with Matilda tomorrow.

Which would you want to see on the big screen again? I'm thinking WALL-E.

I don't know the first thing about proper American accents, and I've never heard Jensen try.

He is supposed to be taller than Chris, though. Chris is consistently listed as 6', and Jensen as 6'1. I would imagine that a combination of personal trainer and movie magic, and he'd have been quite fine. Colin does assure me that Jared is just unreasonably fucking massive, and that Jensen *is* a big guy (taller than him, anyway, and also significantly beefier).

Because he's brilliant

I think I only saw him in Fantastic Four 2, but just based on that, I was VERY dubious about him as Cap. And -- yeah, he's so damn good.

Can you imagine if Ioan Gruffudd tried to get cast as Horatio Hornblower on the basis of Franklin Reed? I think that the Geneva convention requires you to disregard all Fantastic Four movies when considering the legacy (and I use that word tentatively in Alba's case) of any actor.

The Marvel One Spot feature on the Cap DVD is absolutely hysterical, and I had no idea it existed. It's called A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer, and it really is a funny thing, and (Avengers spoiler) made me well up with Son of Coul tears.

I think I may need to rent Thor and the Norton Hulk. Not movies I'm interested in owning, but I could half-assedly watch Thor again, and I've not actually seen that Hulk movie.

But, seriously, most of all I need to watch Avengers again. All the "Assemble" stuff on the Cap disc made me feel like I'd never even seen it.

Damn, I love Thor. It's just big uncomplicated fun. And Hemsworth is both shirtless AND rolls around in the mud, neither of which happened in the damn way-too-beshirted Avengers.

Thor was definitely not my hotspot. I liked Thor better in Avengers, in the end.

Part of my dissatisfaction was the completely stupid love story, and the complete non-impact I felt (I know she did actually satisfy a couple plot dependencies) Natalie's character had on the story. I basically felt like Stellan's character could have done the work, and Thor should have fallen for Kat Denning's character instead, since she was actually interesting.

Also, I had not the slightest feels for Loki. I thought he was an ass, so the parts where I was supposed to feel bad for his transition I just wanted to counsel Thor that it's hard, but sometimes you have to leave some family members behind because they're toxic.

However, I forgave Hemsworth for not being Johann, and that I didn't see coming.