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

Super Hero Movies

As I sit in the first lecture of my last month of classes, with senior-itis having already been a factor in my focus since late March, I was looking at fandango.com to figure out what movie I should see this week.

Now for many of you, the obvious choice would be The Avengers. And why not? It is the epitome of a weekend movie. There are Super Heroes, explosions, and of course, Scarlett Johansson. I will definitely see it eventually, but the excitement for it is not as great as it would have been a few years ago.

My excitement was absent for Thor and Captain America last summer as well. This got me to thinking. Why am I not nearly as excited for Super Hero movies as I was when Iron Man or The Dark Knight came out? The only Super Hero movie I am even somewhat excited for is The Dark Knight Rises. But the others have me looking for something else to watch the weekend they're released.

I have come to a few conclusions. The one thing that has changed for me between now and 2008 is the fact that I no longer work for a movie theatre. When I worked for the theatre, I didn't have to worry about sold out crowds, or even having to pay to see it. I would get an after hours screening of it, with just me and my friends from work, the day it came out. The annoyance of being crammed into the theatre and people taking up my elbow space, and whispering to each other distracting me from taking in the great visuals.

I have been spoiled with my movie going experience. The $10 ticket that everyone else had to pay while I was seeing everything for free makes me feel like I am putting a down payment on a car that might break down on my way out of the lot. The great thing about not having to pay for a movie ticket was the fact that if I didn't enjoy it, it didn't matter. Now, I have to carefully choose what movies I decide to pay to see.

That brings me to why I skeptical about paying to see a movie most people love.

Super Hero movies have  lost their flare to me.

Before you close out this blog out of disgust, hear me out. I have always enjoyed Super Hero movies. Even since I've lost interest I have still enjoyed them. Captain America was the best one I had seen in a long time! I love that movie.

But I have noticed something. The studios try to pump them out so fast, and don't take that much time on them that they have all become very formulaic. They all follow the same plot points, and have the same structure.

Some of you may be thinking to yourself "Well, all movies are like that", and for the most part, I would agree. But Marvel and DC Comic movies do it with such force that they might as well be sitting next you you, nudging your arm, saying "You see what we did there?". They are recycling movies, but inserting different characters and settings.

Here is the outline for almost every Super Hero movie that has been bade in the past decade.

• Introduction of the main character. He's either a nerd or a rich giant douche.
• He is in love with a girl that is either way out of his league, or don't want anything to do with him because he's a douche.
• Something happens to him that makes him have super powers (usually involving radiation), or something terrible happens like his parents dying, or being kidnapped by terrorists.
• He decides to become a hero, and tries to change things.
• Insert montage of him being awesome!
• Best friend, brother, or well trusted colleague becomes the villain.
• Villain kidnaps someone close to hero. Usually the girl.
• Hero struggles to defeat villain before ultimately winning.
• Happy times occur. Girl realizes she loves him, etc.
• Hero rides off into the sunset.

The most different movies in this genre are Captain America and Ironman. They manage to have certain things that make it feel fresh. And can I just say, Captain America had a great ending?!

"I are you gonna be ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I just.... I had a date"

So good.

All in all, I will definitely see The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises in theaters. But I will more than likely wait a few weeks until the crowds have died down. Crowds suck.

The Avengers opens this Friday, May 4th.