Stan Lee Cameos

I'm just going to get right to it. Stan Lee's cameos in Marvel movies are terrible. They weren't that bad until the train wreck that is Spiderman 3. After that, with the exception of The Incredible Hulk, they have made me want to jump off a bridge.

There are a lot of people that do cameos in movies. One of my favorite directors, Alfred Hitchcock, is known for them. But the difference between the two is subtlety. The reason I have hated almost every one of Stan Lee's cameos since Spiderman 3 is the fact that they might as well be slapping you in the face.

Stan Lee's cameos used to be subtle. In X-Men he was just a hot dog vender. In Spiderman he saved a little girl! In the first Hulk, he was a security guard walking out of the building Dr. Banner worked in. A bit obvious, but you know what? I'll take it. But then you have Spiderman 3. Not only does he walk up next to Peter Parker and look at the same news feed that our hero is, but he also delivers a completely cheesy and unnecessary line.

"You know. I guess one person can make a difference. 'Nuff said."

SLAP! "Hey did you know Stan Lee is in this movie?" said the studio executive desperate for a gimmick.

One of the first things they teach you in film school is to never do anything that will remind your audience they are watching a movie. Now there are exceptions to the rule, like if you have a character that breaks the fourth wall on purpose and what not, but these cameos are on a whole other level.

Hitchcock's cameos were classy. He never made a big deal about them. He was always in the background somewhere. Never in the foreground. He would always walk on screen and walk off with out a word, or the camera would pan past him.

M. Night Shyamalan, a little less subtle, but he always gives himself roles that move the story forward. They are necessary roles. The give the story some development.

If Marvel just went back to giving Stan Lee background roles, things would be better. The only thing that bugged me in The Avengers other than an awkward shot (just nit picking right there) was Stan Lee's cameo. I instantly rolled my eyes as he came on screen and shook my head after he delivered his line.

Please, Marvel! Don't be so obvious when throwing Mr. Lee into your films!

Review: The Avengers

So, I gave in. After all, there wasn't many movies that came out this weekend. No one wanted to compete with The Avengers on opening weekend. And rightfully so. It had the best opening weekend domestic gross (money it made in America) in movie history! This weekend it made $200.3 million in domestic box offices. Thats more than James Cameron's Avatar and Titanic, the two highest grossing movies of all time, made in their opening weekend combined. However, that isn't saying that The Avengers will become the highest grossing movie of all time. Having a fantastic opening weekend such as this usually means profits will decline greatly in the following weeks. But it is still an impressive feat.

This movie exceeded my expectations. If any of you read my last post about how I feel towards Super Hero movies, you would no, I wasn't completely sold on seeing it right away. Luckily, nothing else came out, so I had no choice but to see it.

We all know the story. Or should, anyway. The Government creates a program, called the Avengers initiative during a dire situation. Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston (Thor, Midnight in Paris), a norse god, tired of living in the shadows of his brother, Thor, played b Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Cabin in the Woods), travels to Earth planning to bring an army of alien creatures and wage war on Humans to rise up and become their ruler.

Nick Fury calls upon Ironman (Robert Downey Jr. Ironman, Sherlock Holmes), Captain America (Chris Evan, Captain America, Sunshine) Dr. Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island, Zodiac) and, of course, Thor, to stop Loki and save the planet.

The main thing I was worried about, going in to the theatre, was that they were going to rush into the action. A lot of action movies nowadays do that. They say "screw the story" and give the minimum amount of information needed to follow and just jump into the explosions. That, for me, makes a movie dull, boring, and quite frankly, insulting. It makes me feel that the studio is assuming that I, as a movie goer, am a empty headed, popcorn eating, zombie. But to my surprise, they took their time with it.

They made sure every character had a beginning, middle and end to their story. No one just popped up out of thin air. All of the characters were connected to their previous movies and everything fit together. It felt like everything was planned from when they first made Ironman. Which is probably what happened.

There was a great balance of every emotion in this movie. You felt for all of the characters, and you wanted them to succeed. And when things felt they were getting cliché, something surprising or hilarious would happen to change that.

Joss Whedon co-wrote and directed this newest installment from Marvel. He is one of the best directors out there right now, yet he is mostly unknown. I suspect his name will become more well known... hopefully. He deserves the recognition.

My Grade: A

The Cabin In The Woods

Every so often, there is a movie that comes to theaters that splits it's audience completely down the middle. The feelings for such a movie are so strong on both ends of the spectrum that it becomes a metaphorical "Civil War" pitting brother against brother.

The Cabin In The Woods is one of those films.

Marketed as a cliché filled, college-party-vacation-gone-horribly-wrong horror film, this movie is not what the marketers would have you believe. Instead, what you experience is  a great, original (as far as my knowledge goes), tongue-and-cheek master piece written by Joss Whedon (Firefly, The Avengers) and Drew Goddard (Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the latter also being the director.

It tells the story of a group of College Students who decide to go on a little weekend trip to a cabin... in the woods, owned by the cousin of Curt, played by Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Star Trek). But what they do not realize is that they are being watched by a government run program that creates horror film scenarios to sacrifice young people to a blood-thirsty god. The program is run by two overly confident, conceded directors played by Richard Jenkins (Step Brothers, Let Me In) and Bradley Whitford (Billy Madison, The West Wing), and they are by far two of the more entertaining characters in the movie.

Now, I know that not everyone will enjoy this movie. I know a few people who did not like it specifically because it was not what was advertised. They went in, ready to be scared, or at the very least, thrilled by a twist ending and what-not. But the way the film is told, there are no secrets, and few scenes that will make you jump (unless you are easily frightened). They tell you what is happening from the start. But the filmmakers utilize this to their advantage.

They use it as an opportunity to create hilarious situations that will keep the audience (at least half of it) smiling and laughing.

Overall, this is just a fun movie for avid movie-goers. It pokes fun at all of the horror movies we know and love, but with more grace and subtlety than the Scary Movie franchise.

If you want to experience a movie that has the best aspects of both horror and comedy, I suggest you see The Cabin In The Woods.

My Rating: A-