The Avengers Review

               

                         It is an amazing thing to see a big project come into fruition over time in Hollywood and this year we finally saw the release of The Avengers, the culmination of every comic book fans dreams in one movie. The idea originally began as a tease in 2008's Iron Man, but with smart executives and a great writer/director in Joss Whedon fans finally got the comic book movie they've been waiting for for years.
                        When Loki (Tom Hiddleston) threatens Earth with world domination Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. a world peace keeping agency, calls in a team he has assembled called the Avengers. The team consists of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Bruce Banner/ The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). Together this group of superheroes must learn to work together in order to save the planet.
                      This movie is as close to perfect as Joss Whedon ever could have gotten. The script has some of the wittiest dialogue I have ever heard and gives each character just enough screen time for us to care about every single person on screen. The already large cast includes Stellan Skarsgard, Jude Law, Clark Gregg (who steals every scene he's in as Agent Coulson), Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cobie Smulders. This is very much a movie written for it's fans, but considering how long they have been waiting for this, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
                  Mark Ruffalo and Clark Gregg steal this movie which just might be the best comic book movie to date Based on Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America, this is the perfect culmination of superheroes and with Thor 2, Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, and Ant-Man all under way it is inevitable there will be a sequel. I just hope it is as amazing as this was. I give it an A.
                 Also, for those who STILL haven't seen it (I've seen it 3 times) wait until after the credits, ALL THE WAY after the credits.

Dark Shadows Review

          

                         Dark Shadows is out in theaters and if history has taught us anything it is that at this point it is a given that every Tim Burton movie will star Johnny Depp running around in  makeup that screams "LOOK HOW QUIRKY AND HANDSOME I AM!", Helena Bonham Carter will be weird, Colleen Atwood will do the costumes, Danny Elfman will do another great soundtrack, and everything will be stripes. Unfortunately for us this almost always works and we will end up spending money on it no matter what the movie is about. 

                        Based upon the 1960's soap opera of the same name Dark Shadows is about Barnabas Collins (Depp), a 1700's wealthy and powerful playboy who just so happens to fall in love with the wrong woman and is cursed, turned into a vampire, and imprisoned by a witch with a crush who goes by the name of  Angelique (Eva Green). Two hundred years later Barnabas is accidentally freed by a not-so-smart construction crew  and returns home to a dying Collinwood Manor to find things have changed quite a bit. Barnabas then embarks on a quest to revitalize the remnants of both the manor and the small, dysfunctional Collins family who lives there.

                      Johnny Depp is really good here and quite frankly is the only reason to watch the movie even with his tendency to get carried away in these kind of roles. The film, like all Tim Burton movies, looks great with the exception of the big CGI battle at the climax. The final showdown between Barnabas and Angelique is the only issue I had with the movie. The battle seemed almost forced as if Warner Brothers stood behind writer Seth Grahame-Smith with a gun screaming for more action, causing a lot more questions than answers in the end.

                    Overall the movie had a great supporting cast that included Michelle Pfeiffer (Catwoman), Chloe Grace Moretz (Hit Girl), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs. Lovett), Alice Cooper, Johnny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Gulliver Mcgrath, Ray Shirley, and Christopher Lee (Saruman). It had beautiful cinematography, but a script that struggled to find the balance between horror and comedy. Not Tim Burton's best by far, but also not his worst. I give this a B.