"...And then shawarma after."

My original plan was to see The Avengers on Sunday. However, after sitting in front of my computer at work all day Friday and reading the multitude of comments on Twitter about how good the movie was, I decided that I needed to see it Friday night. Then, because it was SO GOOD, I saw it again on Sunday :o)

Don't worry, I will warn you before I get to the spoilery bits.....

When Loki teams up with an unexpected army, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D) Director Nick Fury must bring together a group of super humans to defend the Earth. This team consists of Tony Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Thor, Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow and Clint Barton/Hawkeye. After working out their differences with each other first, they then have to figure out how to defeat Loki.

The acting in this movie was all-around fantastic. There was not a weak link in the group, but it was really the supporting roles that stood out to me the most. We know from previous Marvel films that Clark Gregg is a great Agent Phil Coulson, but he was especially fantastic in The Avengers. Although he was not in a majority of scenes, he had his share of hilarious lines. I was also especially impressed with Cobie Smulders, who plays Agent Maria Hill. I love her on How I Met Your Mother, but she kicked a lot of ass in this movie...literally. I was also excited to see other Whedonverse actors Alexis Denisof, Ashley Johnson and Enver Gjokaj.

Of course, it would not be The Avengers without the Avengers themselves. We have seen Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston in their roles as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Loki respectively and they all continue to be fantastic. However, this is the first time Mark Ruffalo played the role of The Hulk. I did not actually see the previous Hulk movies (mostly because they did not get very good reviews) but I thought Ruffalo was a welcome addition to the team.

And now on to the more spoilery parts of my review. If you do not want anything ruined then I suggest you STOP READING IMMEDIATELY.

For those that have already seen the movie, please continue....

And the Oscar goes to...

Okay, here they are, my Academy Award predictions and, in some cases, my preferred winners:

Best Actor:
My choice - Jeremy Renner or Colin Firth
Probable winner - Jeff Bridges

Best Actress:
My choice - Sandra Bullock
Probable winner - Sandra Bullock

Supporting Actor:
My choice - Stanley Tucci
Probably winner - Christoph Waltz

Supporting Actress:
My choice - Mo'nique or Anna Kendrick
Probable winner - Mo'nique

Best Animated:
My choice - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Probable winner - Up

Best Director:
My choice - Kathryn Bigelow
Probable winner - Kathryn Bigelow

Best Picture:
My choice - The Hurt Locker
Probable winner - The Hurt Locker

xoxo
c
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball...

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again."
-------------------------------

The Olympics are over and I have no more Curling to watch, so I guess I should get back to my movies :o)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was good but I was not blown away by it. I think I am just over the X-Men movies. Enough is enough. There were lots of plot twists, but i was not really shocked by any of them. It was kinda like, "Okay that make sense that he was being deceived, I am not surprised" :o) The action sequences were cool, I just think if they are going to keep making these movies, they need to be better. Let's hope that Ryan Reynold's Deadpool does just that.

Rachel Getting Married has been sitting on top of my blu-ray player for about a month and a half now. My mom saw it in the theater and said it was pretty depressing, so I just have not been in the mood to watch it yet.

I have also been really bad about watching all my Oscar movies, so I tried to cram a lot in this week. Thank you Bryn Mawr Film Institute for playing all the nominated films that I had not yet seen!

A Single Man was a beautiful movie. Colin Firth was amazing. He played a man, dealing with the sudden death of his partner of sixteen years and, not really knowing how to live without him. When it started, I thought it was going to be way too artsy for my taste, but I loved it. It was sad without being depressing and it was very visually pleasing. Nicholas Hoult was also excellent. I did not even recognize him at first until I got home and checked imdb.com to discover he was the little boy from About A Boy all grown up. This is definitely a movie that everyone should see.

Crazy Heart was good, but not amazing. I thought Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal were excellent, but they are both good actors, so that was not a surprise. Maybe my expectations were too high? Jeff Bridges has been getting all this Oscar buzz that I guess I just expected to be totally blown away by his performance, and I was not. He is a good singer, but this just felt like a country version of The Dude to me. I thought Jeremy Renner and Colin Firth were much more impressive in The Hurt Locker and A Single Man respectively.

I could not get through District 9. It was weird and I just could not get into it. I only watched about forty-five minutes of it, maybe it got better, I guess I will never know.

Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to see An Education. It is a bit of a long shot for any Oscars and I just did not have the time to get to the theater again this week. It did get really good reviews though, so I plan to see it next week :o)

To sum up my Oscar prep this year, of the ten Best Picture nominees, I recommend seeing the following (in no particular order): Avatar, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, A Single Man, Precious and Up In The Air. And I will give you my winner predictions soon, probably Sunday afternoon. I am having my annual Oscar Party and I do not want to give my friends any tips :o)

In non-movie-related news, Spring Training is officially underway, which makes me ridiculously happy! It also means that the Phillies road to the 2010 World Series is underway. You can even follow Jayson Werth's Beard on twitter! So, to put you in the baseball spirit, and since I just watched this movie on TV, I leave you with Tom Hanks...



xoxo
c

Haiti, and now unfortunately, Chile need our help. Please give what you can:
Hope For Haiti Now (H)
Stiller Strong (H)
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (H&C)
UNICEF (H&C)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~