I was watching HRTV yesterday and one of the co-hosts thought it was the worst movie ever.
Angel: Connor, this is Spike and Illyria. Guys, this is Connor. Connor: Hi. umm...I like your outfit. Illyria: Your body warms. This one is lusting after me. Connor: Oh...no, I--I--it's just that it's the outfit. I guess I've had a thing for older women. Angel: They were supposed to fix that.
'Origin'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
sumi - May 29, 2012 1:48:35 pm PDT #20790 of 30000
Art Crawl!!!
Consuela - May 29, 2012 1:59:45 pm PDT #20791 of 30000
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Which is the closest thing to a bad review I've heard about The Avengers.
My sister didn't like it much: she was bored by the fight scenes and didn't find the characters engaging. But she's not into genre much, and doesn't read comics (and isn't comics-adjacent like me), and hadn't even seen Iron Man. So, not exactly the target audience.
§ ita § - May 29, 2012 2:04:59 pm PDT #20792 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I do think it was too long. The fight scenes were great, but I don't think they needed that length. And, as noted, some of that could have been spent showing more Loki-brain to me, but I guess I'll accept (ho hum) that it's crazy pouty man with no clear endgame in mind.
A little kid tried to run out as soon as the last fight scene started, and the adult nearest him grabbed him back and covered his face. But the fidgeting really distracted me.
eta: My sister was left cold by everything not Coulson, and went as far as not remembering Hawkeye existed.
Jesse - May 29, 2012 2:14:57 pm PDT #20793 of 30000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
The folks on the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast were all, "Big loud superhero movie, meh." I sort of feel like you shouldn't be allowed to review something if you aren't even generally open to the genre.
Polter-Cow - May 29, 2012 2:17:53 pm PDT #20794 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
A couple of my friends I expected to love it were underwhelmed. On the other hand, a friend who really hates Joss Whedon loved it.
Tom Scola - May 29, 2012 2:18:28 pm PDT #20795 of 30000
hwæt
"Big loud superhero movie, meh."
I’ve read several reviews like that. Some people just can’t see past the superhero thing. Including professional film critics.
Jesse - May 29, 2012 2:22:40 pm PDT #20796 of 30000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
See also Dana Stevens:
As a viewer, I might just qualify myself as tired of the chokehold the comic-book blockbuster has on our culture; as a critic, I’m starting to feel something akin to defeated by it. If guys in tights and capes must dominate our summer movie screens until we’re all pushing walkers into the multiplex, I guess I’ll resign myself to watching—but what on earth is there left to say about them?
Amy - May 29, 2012 2:26:07 pm PDT #20797 of 30000
Because books.
I hate it when people are purposely culturally ignorant. There's a reason the superhero resonates with the public, and it's *not* just because things blow up.
[Insert here intelligent discussion of superhero as a kind of faith, or at least moral compass, as well as a source of hope and inspiration, which I'm too tired to write.]
Matt the Bruins fan - May 29, 2012 3:34:29 pm PDT #20798 of 30000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Were superhero comics not touchstones of modern mythology to people brought up in the 50s and 60s? Because they were for my dad back in the 40s, and for me and my friends growing up in the 70s.
tommyrot - May 29, 2012 3:43:10 pm PDT #20799 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
My dad grew up in the '40s and would not allow us to read comics. It confused me at the time but me must have been influenced by the Congressional investigation of comic books in the 50s.
edit of Dad's growing-up time....