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Posts tagged "Joss Whedon"

ICMYI: here’s the trailer for Agents of SHIELD, as masterminded by Joss Whedon.

(Spoiler: Phil Coulson is BACK, baby!)

So, I saw the Avengers film today.

Rest assured, it delivers on the promise hinted at by the tag at the end of Iron Man in ‘08, and the hype it’s been (justifiably) been saddled with since. It’s a genuinely satisfying, thrilling and - dare I say - fun movie from start to finish; any film that opens with a decent enough car chase and then proceeds to up the ante/scale in each subsequent act, without losing sight of the plot/character focus, deserves praise.

Each of the main cast members holds their own in this film. It’s an ensemble piece, no mistake, but each team member gets their chance to shine. No diva moments here (except for Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, but hey, he is the antagonist). Joss Whedon, whose potential was glimpsed in many an episode of Buffy/Angel and hinted at in Serenity, finally delivers with aplomb and flair. The script moves at a rattling pace, but allows its cast to breathe when needed.

Is it a perfect film? No (the explanation for Thor appearing in the story is handwaved in, and is equally handwaved out again at the film’s denouement), and despite Whedon coming close to imitating latter-day Michael Bay in the final third of the film, the 2+ hours running time whooshes by with little slack or flab. (Cameo from Harry Dean Stanton notwithstanding.)

You will laugh, as it is a Joss Whedon film, and his Buffy-speak has become part of modern-day lexicon. You will cry, as again, it is a Joss Whedon film - and to say any more will spoil. Whedon’s love for the Marvel Universe is apparent via in-jokes, sly references, and the inevitable post-credits sting (and if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Marvel fanboy like I am, you’ll lose your shit).

Suffice to say, The Avengers is a true crowd-pleasing experience, and hugely enjoyable if you’re a comic-book fan. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

And to Whedon’s assembled (ha!) cast above, I say: take a well-deserved bow, you’ve all earned it. Roll on the sequels!

[Gaspar Saladino’s Avengers logo design sourced via Dial B For Blog; Kevin Feige (far right), Whedon et al at SDCC 2010 via bigkevsgeekstuff on Flickr.]

Don’t worry, the female characters in The Avengers are going to be badass: “All I can say is that Scarlett [Johansson] gets to do a lot more than be hot in ‘Avengers’. It’s definitely dispiriting to have a woman play an heroic role and then be reduced to body parts by fan commentary, but that can only change slowly. And is.”

(Flavorwire: 17 Things We Learned from Joss Whedon’s Reddit AMA)

Don’t worry, the female characters in The Avengers are going to be badass: “All I can say is that Scarlett [Johansson] gets to do a lot more than be hot in ‘Avengers’. It’s definitely dispiriting to have a woman play an heroic role and then be reduced to body parts by fan commentary, but that can only change slowly. And is.”

(Flavorwire: 17 Things We Learned from Joss Whedon’s Reddit AMA)

In terms of fulfillment, I’m a fan-boy. I want to see these guys do everything they can do, both physically and emotionally. I want to see what’s up with Thor, and Captain America, what he can do with that shield… all of those things have been in my DNA since I was a tiny child. I love all that. In terms of how I make it mine, obviously I look at the Avengers and go, this team doesn’t make sense at all. But I can work with that, because it doesn’t make sense to them either. They’re extraordinarily dysfunctional people, and in their own ways, very isolated. And just being able to tell that very specific story—isolated people who come together and become more than the sum of their parts—is a meaningful story to me. And I also feel, I just wanted to make a straight-up superhero movie, in the sense of I’d see a lot of them, like Watchmen or The Dark Knight, that say, ‘we’re past the idea of superheroes, we’re gonna go past that.’ I’m not past it! I’m not ready to be post-modern about superheroes yet.

Flavorwire » 12 Things We Learned from Joss Whedon’s SXSW Talk

A great cover I overlooked from Dark Horse’s October solicits - DOLLHOUSE: EPITAPHS #4 by Phil Noto.