Jumping on the Comic Book Movie Train...

This is going to be one of those blogs I come back to and won't post until complete.

So.  I'm a theater geek.  This puts me in a group surrounded by a lot of other geeks.  What I have come to realize is I'm way behind with the geek cred.

My nerdom really only consists of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Huge fan by the way, own the whole series, probably watched it over 20 times), Harry Potter and The Walking Dead.  I'm a huge geek when it comes to anything horror but apparently that doesn't really count for the geek cred.  I watched the 1st three Star Wars, not the last 3 and plan to watch the upcoming three.  Not obsessed though.  Don't care for Star Trek, haven't jumped on the Dr. Who train and I'm sure there a zillion others I'm not mentioning.

I've also never read comic books.  I don't like them.  They read weird, it's laid out so strange, so many pictures, it's just utter chaos and to this girls OCD brain I've never been down.

BUT

I've always enjoyed Super Heroes.  They're fun.  I'll watch a flick here and there.  What I have come to realize is there is a whole fucking universe of this shit and everyone I know is obsessed.   I am constantly finding myself in very in depth conversations about these things that I can never contribute too because I am totally out of the loop.  Then I read some news about Suicide Squad.  This sounds cool!  I've always tended to enjoy villains more than heroes and this looks like something right up my alley!  Plus - maybe I can now be part of all these comic book conversations that are always happening around me!

I started to talk about this to some folk, one friend in particular was laughing so hard at my ignorance I posted this post to my facebook page:

So....I thought I should jump on the comic movie train since everyone always talks about it & I'm lost & can never partake.
I saw Thor years ago...just found out there's 2. Ok. On my list.
I watched Iron Man. Oh there's 3. Fuck. I just watched 2. 3 is next. (Loving them by the way! Um Natalie Black Widow is badass)
Apparently there's a bunch of Captain Americas?
So then I'll see them all & can watch The Avengers right? Oh...the one that just came out is the 2nd one?!
Ok. Avengers 1...on my list.
This Suicide Squad looks rad! Wait...what!? There's Marvel and DC?! It's not all the same?!
Shit..ok...so DC is like Superman & Batman & Spiderman right? I saw Christopher Reeves...is there more?
I saw all the old Batman's & 2 of the new ones with Ledger & Bale...that's it right?
And Spider man...why are there so many? I saw one of them
Is there more?
Oh...and the Xmen? Where the hell do they fall in? I've seen some...but they're going backwards?
I also learned to watch after the credits are done for secret scenes or something? That's fun! It's like a mystery!
But my god people! There's so many. Am I too late to the game?
I'm so overwhelmed!

Knowing I would get a zillion responses - which I did - I have been put on the mission to watch all of the Marvel Movie to begin this journey.  I've been given the order of which to watch them in.  Another friend posted the order along with TV shows but that's just too much for this non geek to handle so we're sticking to the movies.  I'm sure I'll eventually move on to DC and other venues (Um whose Fantastic Four? And aren't there a bunch of green people like green lamps and shit?) but this blog is solely dedicated to my Marvel Movie watching adventure.  

Oh - and not that there's probably anyone on the planet left that hasn't watched these but me - 

*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*

First up - IronMan 1

I love it!  First of all Robert Downey Jr. is super hot - so there's that.  But I found myself squealing and jumping during the action sequences.  I also loved the humor aspect to it!  RDJ is hilarious and spot on with his timing.  I'm not a huge Gwenth Paltrow fan, but she's very cute and funny and plays well off RDJ.  It's kind of hard not to - the man is brilliant.  You get the story of how IronMan is created in this movie and it's pretty nifty!  Watching him figure out how to use the suit was a blast.  I also enjoyed the little surprise after the credits that introduces Samuel Jackson and apparently letting us know the Avengers is a thing.  So thumbs up here!

Next up I was apparently supposed to watch the Hulk, but this was before my post for help so I watched IronMan 2.

Again - hot Robert.  This one was also alot of fun!  Don Cheadle is in it and I adore him as an actor and he doesn't disappoint in this at all.  I think my favorite though is the introduction of Scarlett Johanson as Black Widow.  You think she's just a law consultant for Tony Stark (RDJ) but she has this rad scene in the boxing ring where she totally takes down Jon Favre's character in a brilliant moment.  He is also rad by the way!

Later on in the movie we get to see her kick some major ass.  Loved loved loved her!  There is a great boy brawl between Don Cheadle and RDJ that is awesome and hilarious as they destroy his home after a party having a showdown in IronMan suits.  I was dying.

The other thing I loved about this movie was Mickey Rourke as the villian!  He was so friggin scary and bad ass and awesome!  His body was RIDICULOUS!

This little surprise gem after the credits is the a shot in the desert where it looks like Thor has landed (we see his hammer) but  - I'm out of order at this point but I'll remember it!

Third up (that should have been 2nd) is The Incredible Hulk.  I was told to skip the Eric Bana version entirely, that Mark Ruffalo Hulk comes later so the Edward Norton one is the one I'm to watch (Seriously there's so many godamn re-makes/re-boots/re-whatever the hells out there!  No wonder a girl is confused!)  So Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton as the Incredible Hulk it is!

I didn't enjoy this as much.  Now - I adore Edward Norton - he is a fine actor - and he does a fine job in this, but the movie seemed kind of slow.  It gives us the story of how he becomes the Hulk and it's of course the governments fault (I'm seeing a trend here! He he!).  William Hurt plays the general who caused this and then Tim Roth - another actor I just love - plays a soldier on a power trip that takes the same dosage of whatever the hell it is to make him all crazy like the Hulk.  Liv Tyler plays the love interest of Bruce Banner (Hulk's normal self if you didn't already know).  It was kind of predictable but maybe that's because I sort of know the story already?  There's a pretty great epic battle between the two "Hulks" that will thrill the action junkies, but I guess I was hoping for something more.  The little surprise clip doesn't come at the end of the credits but actually at the end of the movie after we see Ed Norton learning to control his Hulk-i-ness.  It's Tony Stark!  He shows up when the general is drowning his sorrows at a bar and says there's a team called the Avengers recruiting peeps.  So - there ya go.  Guess the build up to the Avengers is coming!

Fourth up - Thor.

Really enjoyed this one!  I had actually seen this before way back when it was in the theaters.  My mom had wanted to see it for Mother's Day  I don't remember much of it because I just really wanted him to take off his shirt the whole time.  So watching it this 2nd time I paid much more attention and it had a lot of fun tie ends now that I know it's part of this Avengers thing.  Thor is kind of a dick but he gets banished to earth and gets whipped in shape by Natalie Portman and her comrades. 

Stellan Skarsgaard who plays Erik returns in the magic scene in the end.  He's going to help make I assume the magic potion that gets shot into our Captain America which comes up next.  Thor's brother Loki played by Tom Hiddleston is how the battle starts.

It's the usual he's adopted, doesn't feel part of the family, wants to be king and rule the world, etc etc.  I really did enjoy this though.  I think because it has the fantasy aspect to it.  I tend to gravitate towards the world of fairies and myth and magic and am actually quite familiar with the real story of Thor God of Thunder so this was right up my alley.  I also love Thor's posse:

Especially Siff because she's a girl and there are not enough girl superheros dammit!  Anywhoo - super fun.  Loved it!

Fifth up - Captain America - The First Avenger.

Again, not one of my favorites but I appreciated the story line.  It takes place back in the 1940's so he is actually The 1st Avenger.  But again - like the Hulk - he gets injected with some shit from the government and BAM - he's a Superhero.  He's a tiny guy with a good heart who wants to fight for his country and he's a true hero.  So they basically give him a magic steroid.  Now I'm not gonna lie - this was my favorite part:

I mean Jesus Christ.  Chris Evans...his body....this scene happened and I'm like:

Anywhoo.  When I picked my tongue up off the floor and paid attention to the rest of the movie, it was ok.  You're good old American Hero story.  He saves the day and ultimately sacrifices himself at the end.  Or so you think!  The movie ends with it 70 something years in the future and our hero wakes up in New York.  Apparently he'd been napping for years and guess what - Sam Jackson - our Nick Fury Avenger dude is there.  The teaser at the end is a trailer for The Avengers.  It's really fun watching how these all come together.

Ok - last up in this group.  I figure I'll blog about this 1st chunk then I'll do a separate blog when I watch the 2nd chunk.  So - last night I watched The Avengers!

This was a super fun movie!  Loki (From Thor - his evil brother actually) is our Super Villian of the movie.  He looked a bit odd in this get up:

In fact, there's a moment in the movie where RDJ calls him Reindeer Games.  Hilarious.  I much preferred:

So evil - yet lickable right?  Anyway - he has an alien army that's going to basically take over earth and he thinks he'll be king.  All the Avengers get together to fight the upcoming battle and after a few snafus where Hawkeye is bad for a bit and Loki gets them all riled up against each other - they eventually come together and kick ass.  Nick Fury is dealing with what I assume is our evil government (there's that familiar theme again.  little scary how right on they are).  We lose a rad character I was just really growing to like.  RIP Agent Phil Coulson.

But my friend told me he's apparently in the Agents of Shield TV show.  I don't think I'll be jumping on that train, the movies are enough for me.  But I was sad to see him go!  I loved the humor again.  RDJ is awesome.  When the Hulk (Who is now Mark Ruffalo and not Ed Norton anymore and I kinda like Mark Ruffalo better) whacks Loki around like a doll I about died and I laughed the hardest when he randomly punched Thor.  I also didn't realize what a badass he was.  He's like the baddest ass.  Green dude showed up and pretty much took out everything!  I also really liked these weird things:

They were so fucking weirdly cool!!!  The big battle scene at the end was lots of fun and I totally enjoyed it!

SO - I'm done with the 1st round!

I'll be starting my 2nd chunk with Iron Man 3 I guess.  I am enjoying the tie in with all the movies.  The little comments here and there, the characters, how this one knows this one or will appear somewhere with this one.  I really do like that tie in.  I don't think you can get that with DC because there's been so many reboots.  It seems Marvel is the only one I can be told an order to watch all these movies in and they tie together and make sense.  I love that.  It's good for my OCD.  Order ya know.  But so far - they're fun!  I'm still not a huge sci-fi person but they're very fun and the gentlemen are defiantly easy on the eyes.  Hot damn.  I also enjoy the very anti-government snark to them. 

These flicks have me laughing out loud, reacting vocally sometimes to action packed moments and really enjoying the whole thing.  It's just a lot of fun to watch these action packed scenes with people kicking major ass in very creative ways!  Win!