CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

[Vic Sage]

Saw it with my son; we both enjoyed it.

[Edgy MD]

Does the comic book movie glut affect of the impact of the Captain?

[dgwphotography]

Hayley Atwell alone was worth the price of admission...

[Vic Sage]

Edgy DC wrote: Does the comic book movie glut affect of the impact of the Captain?

i'm not sure i understand the question. Are you asking if it affects CAPTAIN AMERICA in particular, as opposed to any other superhero/action type movies, because its kind of a dated character or something? Or just that it's yet another superhero movie after a number of other superhero movies this year, some of which were not particularly good (yes, GL, i'm looking at you!), so this one is less likely to have the impact it would have were it being released in a relatively superhero-free zone?

And by "affect the impact", do you mean hurt box office? or dampen critical response already numbed by the genre? or simply lessen audience anticipation, however quantified?

at any rate, it pulled in $65m its opening weekend, which i think is comparable to X-MEN, THOR and GL. So the "glut" of summer SH movies doesn't seem to have kept anybody away so far, and the critics liked it better than THOR and GL (if not quite as much as X-MEN), and as for audience response, I don't know how to quantify accept anecdotally.

also, the assertion that there is a "glut" is somewhat confusing, in and of itself. Its summer. SH movies are action movies. Would you say there is a "glut" of dramas in the fall? or a "glut" of comedies? Certainly, technology has made SH movies more producible and so more prevalent in the action/sf/fantasy genres, but with 70+ years of backlogged material to draw on, i'd hardly call 4 SH summer pics a "glut".

[Edgy MD]

Enough.

[Vic Sage]

i thought i was taking it easy. this is me, taking it easy.
wheeee!

[Vic Sage]

wait... what just happened?

[Edgy MD]

I edited my post while you were responding.

It's just, enough weaving semantic circles, please. You're smart. I understand. But any ocelot can tell I'm not asking about box office. Any black-capped chickadee knows I'm not asking about the datedness of the character.

or dampen critical response already numbed by the genre? or simply lessen audience anticipation, however quantified?

Give me a break already. It was the easiest question ever.

[Vic Sage]

i swear to god i was just trying to answer your question, and realized in the middle of trying to do so, i wasn't sure what you were asking. Apparently, i'm an ocelot. or a black-capped chikadee. which is fine. i've been called worse. today, even.

wheee! [still taking it easy]

[Edgy MD]

God? Really? Then I will rephrase.

I wanted to know if your enjoyment (and yours alone) was at all affected by the relative glut of recent superhero movies --- the magic made less magical by it's increased relative availability.

Because we went to Thor and Lantern at my wife's suggestion. I warned her that the potential for suckitude was high. We each disliked them both, and both disliked them each, and now I'm not sure I could drag her to Captain 'Merica, despite my interest in him being far greater than those other two costumed big shots.

[dgwphotography]

While I had a few nits to pick, I think Captain America is better than Thor.

I think the pacing of the first half of the movie was much better than the second half. The second half felt a bit rushed, and I would have liked the main villain to be fleshed out a bit more. I also felt Tommy Lee Jones would have been a good casting choice for the colonel, 10 years ago. I was a bit distracted by his age and seeming weariness.

I'm not really affected by the glut of SH movies - I ignored GL (I still think they should have cast Nathon Fillion there, but I digress...).

I think that the Marvel movies should be taken as a package, they make winking nods to each other, and they are all leading up to next year's Avengers movie.

and to reiterate, Hayley Atwell alone was worth the price of admission...

One more thing, stay through the credits.

[Vic Sage]

Edgy DC wrote: God? Really? Then I will rephrase. I wanted to know if your enjoyment (and yours alone) was at all affected by the relative glut of recent superhero movies --- the magic made less magical by it's increased relative availability. Because we went to Thor and Lantern at my wife's suggestion. I warned her that the potential for suckitude was high. We each disliked them both, and both disliked them each, and now I'm not sure I could drag her to Captain 'Merica, despite my interest in him being far greater than those other two costumed big shots.

my enjoyment was not affected, at least not that i'm aware of. I could watch superhero movies all day every day, and they each would rise or fall on their own merits, one having no conscious affect on the other. I mean obviously i could see where, having seen alot of action movies, you might be in the mood for something lighter, or heavier even. i just don't think superhero movies, per se, are more or less likely to suck or more or less bound by genre convention than any other kind of movie, such that i'd feel particularly gluttenous for having viewed a bunch of them in a relatively short period.

But transmonk doesn't like anything with unicorns, so everybody's got their own tolerance for stuff.

As far as quality goes, this was WAY better than GL, better than THOR, and perhaps not quite as polished overall as the last X-MEN, if that gives you any help.

CA is more of an old-fashioned, square jawed hero tale, with a terrific performance by Chris Evans, and some good supporting bits by Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones. The bad guy from MATRIX and V FOR VENDETTA plays the villain here with typical over-the-top histrionics, and the wrap up does feel rushed and incomplete, but overall i thought it was more heartfelt, contemplative and corn-fed (but in a good way) than any superhero movie since this director's adaptaton of THE ROCKETEER, which had a similar vintage feel and quality.

[Edgy MD]

If he did The Rocketeer, that's enough for me. I'm there. I'm queer. Get used to it.

[TransMonk]

Vic Sage wrote: But transmonk doesn't like anything with unicorns, so everybody's got their own tolerance for stuff.

This is true.

CA is in my queue to see. Maybe this weekend. There aren't any unicorns in this one, right?

[Vic Sage]

There aren't any unicorns in this one, right?

hardly any.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

What Vic said. Really, I didn't expect to like it all-- or Chris Evans, for that matter, who's a little like acting tofu, taking the flavor of whatever sauce in which he's cooked (and he's usually cooked)-- as much as I did.

Cracking good yarn, with some fun nods to the character's history (that aren't lost-- I think-- on newcomers).

I totally forgot that Johnston did The Rocketeer. This movie has a little bit of a lot of that mojo.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I really enjoyed it. Got a special kick out of the quick glimpse of the Original Human Torch.

[Edgy MD]

dgwphotography wrote: and to reiterate, Hayley Atwell alone was worth the price of admission...

Could just be the quality of the projection I got, but there was some strange doings in her makeup: a mustardy yellow in her foundation that was offputting.

[Vic Sage]

did you like it?

[Edgy MD]

Liked it better than Thor and Green Lantern.

They're hard films to make --- needing to satisfy invested constituencies from several generations of the character, as well as people who've never read a comic in their lives.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I really enjoyed it. Got a special kick out of the quick glimpse of the Original Human Torch.

I was the only person in my theater who let out an excited "Hey!"

[dgwphotography]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I really enjoyed it. Got a special kick out of the quick glimpse of the Original Human Torch. I was the only person in my theater who let out an excited "Hey!"

My daughter and I completely missed this...

[Edgy MD]

I missed it too.

Vic Sage wrote: did you like it?

It was no Judge Dredd.

[TransMonk]

Edgy DC wrote: Could just be the quality of the projection I got, but there was some strange doings in her makeup: a mustardy yellow in her foundation that was offputting.

This. Due to all the hype here, I was expecting more than I got out of Haley.

As for the movie...meh. It kept me from falling asleep, but I wouldn't watch it again.

I think I may like CA better in the upcoming Avengers flick as the fish out of water who is the fish out of water.

[Vic Sage]

but Monk... it totally didn't have unicorns!

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Don't think this could have been done much better than the end result and certainly it could have been much worse.... which makes Brannagh's failure with Thor even more spectacular.

My biggest criticism: Fake CG backdrops look fake and kill the ambiance and immersion of scenes, especially when they're over-elaborate. They killled Hugo for me and nearly killed this, and it makes me very pessimistic about Gatsby. One day the penny will drop.

[Ceetar]

eh. it was okay. watched it just before I saw the Avengers last week. Just seemed flat and uncompelling.

May have been my least favorite of the bunch.

[Edgy MD]

A Hulk fan!

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: A Hulk fan!

if there's one I'd put below Captain America, it'd be that one, but I saw it a while ago now so absense may make the heart grow fonder.

[Vic Sage]

Ceetar wrote: eh. it was okay. watched it just before I saw the Avengers last week. Just seemed flat and uncompelling. May have been my least favorite of the bunch.

Congrats, Ceetar, you are now officially my own personal Rex Reed... a perfect reverse barometer for movies, sports, everything. You are my true north, and i can always gauge how straight my course is by how diametrically it opposes yours. Thank you. A guiding star is a valuable thing to have in one's life.