The Avengers ***

Director: Joss Whedon
Year: 2012
Comics by: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Adapted by: Joss Whedon, Zak Penn
Cinematographer: Seamus McGarvey

I swore to myself after seeing the horrendous "2012" that never again would I go see a movie whose trailer included the now obligatory summer blockbuster shot in which a monster, asteroid, or anything else chopped down a skyscraper like a lumber jack chops down a tall cedar. However, despite the felling of skyscrapers, I enjoyed myself. I never read comics growing up, which partially explains why I've missed most of the Marvel movie adaptations aside from Spider Man and Batman. Going into the movie I feared that due to the ensemble nature of the film, the story would be chaotic and not leave any time for character development... but somehow between all the action sequences and snarky comments, there was development for most of the characters. I followed who was who and most of what was going on even with no background, and I enjoyed when the team came together. Good summer fun. Not all that memorable, no images that will stick with me for a long time, so its shy of being Jaws or Jurassic Park (5-star blockbusters) and its even shy of The Dark Knight (my favorite super hero movie so far, a 4-star blockbuster) because it lacked the edge that Christopher Nolan has brought to the Batman franchise... but still, it was fun.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close **

Director: Stephen Daldry
Year: 2011
Novel by: Jonathan Safran Foer
Adapted by: Eric Roth
Cinematographer: Chris Menges

Well made but should have been more touching. I had one big problem with the movie, and I don't know if its just me or if others were turned off by the movie for the same reason... I've never met a kid so neurotic, so I found this character unrelatable. It pulled me out of the movie because the kid acted like Woody Allen. Maybe there are children who act so adult, but it didn't ring true for me. I found the character obnoxious, and unless its a comedy, I think it's near impossible to enjoy a film that centers on an obnoxious protagonist.

I enjoyed Foer's first adapted film, "Everything is Illuminated" because the neurotic jewish stereotype was played to more comic effect, and contrasted against the eastern-european pagan fool stereotype of the antagonist. And for some reason, in "Everything is Illuminated" the quirkiness of the search for a connection to the "Investigator's" family history is touching. I felt I could relate to the desire to know more about his family's european roots. EL&IC on the other hand suffers from a quirkiness overdose. The tambourine, the key-hole search, the neurosis of the child, Tom Hanks' annoying shoulder shrug tic... all of that made me resent the movie. I can imagine how all these elements might work in a literary sense... reading about all these things would seem like a consistent tone, repeating or echoing themes... but in the movie, it was too much.

I did enjoy Max von Sydow, Jeffrey Wright and Viola Davis... but even they couldn't save this movie.