Avengers: Age Of Ultron

http://marvel.com/avengers

When I took part in a film reviewers accreditation course last year, one of the things they told us was that we should never ever reveal spoilers in our reviews. Sometimes however, in order to talk about the things you enjoyed or didn't like about a movie, you kinda have to reveal certain elements of the film. Having said that, I am going to try *really* hard not to intentionally spoil anything.

Avengers Assemble was one of my favourite movies of 2012. It was the culmination of all of the individual phase 1 Marvel movies of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor. And as if that wasn't enough for me to fangirl over, it was written and directed by one of my favourite geek icons, Joss Whedon.

The three years that have followed have felt like a lifetime. I developed what I can honestly say has been a life changing crush on Jeremy Renner, the actor who plays the always on target Hawkeye. I eagerly went to see all of the phase 2 movies in the hope that Hawkeye might appear, much like Bruce Banner in Iron Man 3, or Natasha Romanoff in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But sadly, due to Renner's busy schedule, the one scene featuring Hawkeye that was written into a phase 2 movie had to be scrapped. 

And so Avengers 2 became the most anticipated phase 2 movie of all for me. Spoilers slowly started to leak as the release date got closer, and these were spoilers that gave me pause. I didn't think they could be true. And I didn't want them to be. But I wanted to give Age of Ultron the opportunity to prove me wrong. 

The film opens with a battle at a Hydra facility in the fictional eastern European town of Sokovia. The Avengers are there to find and re-claim Loki's scepter as seen in the first movie. The base is overseen by Baron Von Strucker who will be familiar to hardcore fans of the Marvel comics. He was seen at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier with gifted twins Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) in his possession. Following the battle between the Avengers and the twins, one member of the team is badly wounded and they head back to Avengers Tower. At this point it seems apparent the Black Widow Natasha Romanoff has been doing some training with The Hulk, and following their encounter in the first movie where she was attacked by him, she now seems to be the only member of the team with the power to turn him back into mild mannered scientist Bruce Banner. Interesting. 

With Loki's scepter (and the infinity gem encased in it), in their possession, the team of Banner and Stark set about creating 'a suit of armour around the world', a new kind of robot with one job built into his subconscious - to create world peace. Together, the science bros create Ultron. But Ultron has other ideas, and somehow becomes a sentient being with a mind of his own, and that mind wants anything but peace. It's up to earth's mightiest heroes to stop him, but are they up to the task when they're the ones who brought him to life in the first place?

As far as characterisation goes, most of the Avengers are spot on the money. Tony is his usual egotistical self, Thor continues to add humour to the group, Cap remains in his leadership role and tries to be a good role model at the same time, at one point telling Tony to watch his language. But I think the biggest surprise for most people (and hopefully a welcome one), will be that we get to see the real Clint Barton this time. He's sassy, funny, and definitely the heart of the movie. As a Renner fan, I certainly enjoyed his scenes and was glad that they finally made use of his character. I also thought that Ultron was a formidable villain and that the Maximoff twins were a great new addition - although the accents were a little ropey. Paul Bettany's addition to the film in a more fleshy role also contributed greatly, and one scene in particular had me, and the rest of the audience gasping. 

Sadly, the same can't be said of Banner and Romanoff. Their characterisation lacked in ways I can't really go into without adding a spoiler, although it was certainly hinted at in the trailers. This is a particular disappointment following Captain America: The Winter Soldier where I thought Natasha really grew as a character and was someone I really wanted to see more of. I heard that we would get to see some of her back story in this film, and whilst you did, it was all too brief, and the rest of the time her character was reduced to little more than a googly eyed girl. As she's the only female on the Avengers team, I find this particularly insulting writing on Joss's part. And particularly disappointing as he's so well known for writing amazingly well rounded female characters (Buffy, Willow, Faith, Echo, Zoe to name but a few). Where was that head when he was writing for Nat? Banner is also very weak character wise in this movie, and I think if they are going to make another solo Hulk movie, they need to step up his characterisation in a major way. He's great as a science bro, but he needs more backbone on his own.

My other gripe with the film was the way in which certain events unfolded without any indication that such things existed prior to this movie. There were what, four phase 2 movies prior to Age of Ultron, and not one of those movies even hinted at things that appear in this movie. Things that we're just expected to believe have been this way for a while even though this is the first we're hearing about it. A heads up would have been good. 

I can't help but feel like these events unfolded in this way, without prior warning, simply because Joss wanted it that way. I read in an interview recently that he was asked if he took into account what the fans wanted, and he point blank said he didn't, he took into account what he wanted, as he is a fan himself. I think this answer shows his complete lack of respect, not only for the fans but for the characters he's blatantly shown such disregard to in this film. They deserved much more.

My only hope is that the Russo brothers who did such a wonderful job of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, will be able to salvage Joss's wreckage for the Infinity Wars films they are taking on in 2018 and 2019. 

As for Age of Ultron, I went in with high hopes and I came out disappointed. 6 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 22nd April 2015

UK Release Date - 23rd April 2015

Cast Overview:

Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark / Iron Man

Mark Ruffalo ~ Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Scarlett Johansson ~ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner ~ Clint Barton / Hawkeye

Elizabeth Olsen ~ Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch

Aaron Taylor-Johnson ~ Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver

Paul Bettany ~ The Vision / J.A.R.V.I.S.

Don Cheadle ~ James Rhodes

Cobie Smulders ~ Maria Hill

Samuel L Jackson ~ Nick Fury

Anthony Mackie ~ Sam Wilson / Falcon

Hayley Atwell ~ Peggy Carter

Idris Elba ~ Heimdall

Stellan Skarsgård ~ Erik Selvig

James Spader ~ Ultron

Written and Directed ~ Joss Whedon

Guardians Of The Galaxy Premiere

After the disappointment of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Premiere earlier this month, I thought that now might be a good time to reflect on the Guardians Of The Galaxy Premiere, especially as I just got around to publishing my thoughts on the movie.

The premiere was held on 24th July. Two days before my 33rd Birthday. It was a beautiful sunny day, very different from the wet and cold November day for the recent Hunger Games premiere.

My photographer friend and I sat in Leicester Square with our usual premiere picnic and Ice Cream, and I got to open my presents from him a whole two days early. One of which was the Lego Hawkeye below. 

We were moved into the holding pens outside the Empire and waited patiently for the stars to arrive. We then heard the surprise news that two Avengers were also coming to the premiere, at which point I became ridiculously nervous thinking I might finally see Jeremy Renner and have nothing for him to sign. 

I had nothing to worry about as the two "Avengers" were actually one Avenger, Chris Hemsworth, and the director Joss Whedon. I would have loved to get something signed by Joss as I have long been a huge fan of his, but regrettably he spent little time with the crowd owing to the fact that he was recovering from knee surgery. I am still hopeful that one day I will get my chance to shake his hand or get his signature. Which was something I did manage to get from Mr Hemsworth for the second time. What can I say, he clearly just likes me. 

 

Next to arrive was another unexpected guest, Mark Hamill. Sadly, as neither myself or my friend knew he was due to make an appearance, neither of us had anything even remotely Star Wars related to get signed, so we had to make do with a photo of the legendary actor instead.

Before we knew it the stars of the movie had all started to arrive, and with only Bradley Cooper missing from the main cast of heroes, I had a pretty good shot at getting a good haul of signatures. Sadly, the only villain in attendance was former Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan, who despite my many attempts, just would not sign for me. 

My subscriber edition of Empire Magazine had only the villains on the cover, so from that point on I knew I wasn't going to be able to get anything for myself and made it my mission to get as many signatures for my buddy as possible.

 

Director James Gunn with host Alex Zane. 

Former Wrestler Dave Bautista, who at one point, the crowd was just chanting DAVE BAU-TISTA, DAVE BAU-TISTA at. Whenever I think of Drax I just hear that chant over and over again. 

 The very beautiful Zoe Saldana. Looking a lot less green here than in the movie.  

The man of the hour, Chris Pratt in his very tight trousers (I think my knack for spotting the men in tight pants is the thing I bring to premieres, in the same way that my photographer friend always manages to get a photo of an actress' behind).

 

Just when you thought things couldn't get more amazing, Vin Diesel showed up on stilts wearing an 'I AM GROOT' t'shirt!

Just before they all got back in their cars to leave, Chris Pratt took a moment to thank us all for being there. With all the camera crews packed up it was a genuine moment of thanks for us fans who had been standing out in the hot sun all afternoon. In all the premieres I've been to, I've never known an actor to do that and I hope it's something Chris continues to be grateful for as it was a lovely moment to witness. 

My only regret is that I didn't take my Star Trek: Into Darkness edition of Empire magazine as I probably could have gotten Zoe Saldana's signature for myself, rather than just for my friend, but I was still proud of the signatures I managed to get that day, even if they weren't for me.

All in all, a lovely day out, an impressive array of signatures and another round of cracking photos by Blair Holmes. Please do not use his photos without permission. Thanks for reading, and lets all hope the next premiere is more like this one than Hunger Games.
 

Thor: The Dark World

http://marvel.com/thor

Thanks to the geniuses at Marvel, the detailed teachings of my nephew, and the welcome into the Marvel fandom I have received through my blog, I have become a huge fan of the Marvel movies. As such, when I heard that my local cinema was showing not only a midnight screening of Thor: The Dark World, but also showing Thor beforehand, I had to go and be part of that. However, I then heard that another cinema a little further away was showing Thor AND Avengers Assemble before a midnight screening of Thor: The Dark World, and I knew that was the one for me. I convinced my Avengers midnight screening buddies to come along too and before you can say 'For Asgard', we were on our way to a 7 hour Thor-a-thon. You can read my previous reviews for Thor and Avengers Assemble by clicking the respective links.

Firstly allow me to say how great it was to see Thor in 3D IMAX, which I did not when it first came out. Wow. It looked great, it was funny, Asgard looked more shiny and sumptuous than ever. And then Avengers. You can't top it. Or can you?

Thor: The Dark World opens by telling the tale of the dark elves, lead by Malekith (Eccleston). His goal is to destroy the universe by unleashing a powerful weapon known as the Aether. In the tale, Malekith and the dark elves are faught to extinction by Odin's (Hopkins) father Bor, and the Aether is moved to a safe place, far from the reach of those who might mis-use it's dark power. We move forward to present day London where we find Jane Foster (Portman) and Darcy Lewis (Dennings) discovering strange goings on in an abandoned warehouse; trucks that can be flipped in mid air by the lightest of touches, items disappearing and reappearing when dropped down a stairwell. In the midst of all these strange goings on Jane disappears into one of these voids and finds herself in another dimension, face to face with the Aether. As Heimdall (Elba) is unable to 'see' Jane in the other dimension, Thor (Hemsworth) makes the decision to return to earth to find Jane. But he takes on more than he bargained for when the dark elves return, forcing Thor to join forces with his imprisoned brother Loki (Hiddleston), in order to defeat them and return the Aether to safe hands.

I enjoyed Thor: The Dark World greatly, but sadly, not as much as I liked the first Thor. I wasn't keen on the villain this time around, I just found him to be rather lacking in charisma, and as you never really know his motivation for wanting to destroy the universe, it's hard to ever really see things from his perspective. Plus the name for the race, the dark elves, I'm sorry but I just couldn't take that seriously. I can't find elves something to be feared, no matter how 'dark' they are.

Having said that, I enjoyed the humour of the movie and I particularly enjoyed Loki's scenes this time around. Bearing in mind that this is the third outing for Tom Hiddleston's Loki, this is the first time in three movies that I have had any empathy for him, and this time I found that I was actually rooting for him a lot of the time. You can tell that Hiddleston relishes this role and has a lot of love for the character and I think this really comes across in this movie. The scene in Loki's cell with Frigga was just heart wrenching, while Loki's scenes with Thor are filled with enjoyable banter. 

In terms of the Marvel universe and the continuation of things from Thor and Avengers, Thor: The Dark World does not disappoint. Asgard still looks sumptuous and spectacular, while the scenes on earth have moved to London as the main setting. I for one really enjoyed seeing the UK play such a big part in a movie as mainstream as this, and especially as superhero movies tend to always take place in America, with very little mention of the world outside of that. Little touches such as the digestives on the breakfast table, and the ITV news story made me smile and I hope that the US audiences enjoyed it as much as I did. 

I must also give praise to the artists who's work is featured in the end credits of the film as it really is quite stunning. If you don't want to stay for the mid credits or post credits sequences I would at least recommend staying until the artwork has finished being showcased. Another great edition to the Marvel movie universe, just don't expect it to surpass Thor. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 29th October 2013 (Midnight)

UK Release Date - 30th October 2013

Cast Overview:

Thor ~ Chris Hemsworth

Jane Foster ~ Natalie Portman

Loki ~ Tom Hiddleston

Odin ~ Anthony Hopkins

Malekith ~ Christopher Eccleston

Sif ~ Jaimie Alexander

Fandral ~ Zachary Levi

Volstagg ~ Ray Stevenson

Hogun ~ Tadanobu Asano

Heimdall ~ Idris Elba

Frigga ~ Rene Russo

Darcy ~ Kat Dennings

Erik ~ Stellan Skarsgård

Director ~ Alan Taylor

Writer ~ Christopher Yost (Screenplay), Christopher Markus (Screenplay), Stephen McFeely (Screenplay), Don Payne (Story) and Robert Rodat (Story)

Based on the comic books by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

Thor: The Dark World Premiere

As many of my regular readers will know, I do enjoy going to the occasional film premiere, especially if it's a movie I am interested in, or a movie featuring one of my favourite stars. However, as I already managed to obtain the signature of Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, at the Avengers premiere last year, I almost didn't go to the Thor: The Dark World premiere at all.

My main reason for not going was that my usual premiere companion and cinema buddy, was not able to take the day off work and accompany me. Without his camaraderie, home made sandwiches and photography skills, I just didn't think it would be worth it. But as soon as I got to work on the morning of the premiere I knew I had made a grave mistake. Firstly because it was not raining, as the weather woman (Carol on BBC Breakfast) had predicted. Secondly, as I was present at the Avengers and Iron Man 3 Premiere (and did Iron Man 3 stag), it just felt wrong that I wasn't there.

So I made a snap decision to take the afternoon off work and go to the premiere. I will admit that it was not the best idea I've ever had, because as an experienced premiere goer, I know full well that the best thing to do is go up to London early to get a good spot. I arrived in London at around 3pm, which meant that all of the enclosed pens where the fans are held, were all full. So the queue of people I was with were diverted into the center part of Leicester Square. Regrettably, despite there being poster covered banners and red carpet here, this was not an area the stars walked down as this was where the general public were being ushered in. I did however have a good view of the stage from where I was, just a far away view.

The first part of the premiere involved a vote for the 'Thor with the most Phwoar', a line up of Thor look-a-likes who were all vying for the public to vote for them.

After this we saw a precession of Lookie-Loki's, who were going to be judged by none other than Tom Hiddleston upon his arrival at the premiere. My personal favourite of the Lookie-Loki's was this person, who did a fantastic job on their costume...

I managed to take a video of Mr Hiddleston being interviewed and judging the contest. If you can hear over the fangirls he comes across very well, but I always think this of Mr Hiddleston, having seen him be interviewed a number of times. Apologies for the screaming, it wasn't by me for once!

As I was too far away from the action, with only my iPhone to rely on, I decided it would be better for me to video the main interviews rather than trying to take pictures. The best I did, picture wise, was when I took these images of the main screen as Kat Dennings arrived:

But as you can see, they're not great. The next person to be interviewed was Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth.

Followed by unexpected guest, and head honcho of assembling the Avengers, Joss Whedon. *I love that someone says "oh no" when Joss says he can't say anything about Avengers: Age of Ultron, come on lady, you really thought he would?

That brings me to the end of my premiere adventures. Next time I will make my mind up earlier, be more prepared and hopefully get some signatures. But until then, here is a giant Mjolnir in the middle of Leicester Square...

Rush

http://www.rushmovie.com/

The only reason I was drawn to this film was Chris Hemsworth. I'm not too proud to admit that he is pretty and I based my decision on that. The fact that the film was being shown as a preview at my local Cineworld also didn't lessen it's appeal. Having said that, I do find Formula 1 racing to be one of the dullest sports there is.

The film re-enacts the story of rival Formula 1 drivers, James Hunt (Hemsworth) of the UK, and Niki Lauda (Brühl) of Austria. Lauda is a much more careful, considerate, driver than Hunt but still has great talent behind the wheel, whereas Hunt is all about putting on a show. Yes he's got finesse but he's also young and reckless. Their rivalry comes to a head during the German Grand Prix race of 1976, when Lauda voices his concern about driving in the rain and is overruled by Hunt and his cocky friends. Unfortunately it's Lauda who pays the price for their careless thinking when he crashes his car and it bursts into flames, with him still inside. His recovery is miraculous and will change not only Lauda's life but it will also humble the arrogant Hunt and change the rules of racing forever.

I was so impressed by Rush in every way. The racing scenes were shot so tightly and appeared so slick, it made me excited to watch race after race, which has never before been the case. Helmer Ron Howard and his cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle have done a fantastic job of the look and feel of this movie. 

As for the two leads, I honestly can't fault either. You might go into this, as I did, thinking this was Hemsworth's film. When you come out of it I hope you will think of it as more of a 50/50 split. Understand that I thought Hemsworth was great, but without his chemistry with Brühl, and the way they shared the load of this movie, I don't think he would have held the film up by himself. Brühl's performance is key in you finding Hemsworth's character at all likeable. They are both wonderful to watch, and the way their dislike of one another sparks is what keeps you hooked.

I really can't recommend Rush highly enough. Even if you hate Formula 1 I don't see how you can fail to find something here. 9 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 3rd September 2013

UK Release Date - 13th September 2013

Cast Overview:

James Hunt ~ Chris Hemsworth

Niki Lauda ~ Daniel Brühl 

Suzy Miller ~ Olivia Wilde

Marlane Lauda ~ Alexandra Maria Lara

Clay Regazzoni ~ Pierfrancesco Favino

Louis Stanley ~ David Calder

Nurse Gemma ~ Natalie Dormer

Director ~ Ron Howard

Writer ~ Peter Morgan

Snow White And The Huntsman

http://www.snowwhiteandthehuntsman.com/

I wanted to see this version of Snow White all the way back to when there was speculation that Kristen Stewart's Snow White would be sharing the screen with Viggo Mortensen's Huntsman.

Of course, when the younger - and some would say even more ruggedly handsome - Chris Hemsworth (my close personal friend after the Avengers Premiere) took the role I was even more keen to see it.

You see, unlike most of the Twiverse I do actually like Stewart and have done since I saw her in Panic Room many moons ago. And I also happen to think she's capable of a lot more than playing a stuttery, Edward-dependent version of Bella Swan. I was hoping that here, we'd finally get the gritty, feisty Kristen Stewart to stand up.

*Spoiler Alerts from here on out*

But alas no. She is somewhat feisty in her first scenes, pulling a rusty nail out of the wall in order to use it as a weapon, thus allowing her to escape her prison. But had she seriously not attempted to get out of there long before this? It seems unlikely that she'd all of a sudden be capable of such a strategy. 

Once she's outside in the open she becomes a bit useless again and needs to be rescued by the Huntsman, but let's face it I think we'd all become a bit useless and need rescuing if we were faced with Chris Hemsworth! That's not the unbelievable point really. That comes later when both feisty Snow and the grubby Huntsman are captured and then helped by dwarves. It just makes them both seem a bit pathetic really. 

Believe me I do know that the tale of Snow White typically comes with a side order of dwarves, but when the story strays from the original fairy tale in other ways it does make you wonder why they felt the need to stick so close to that one particular part. One thing I will say about the dwarves is that the CGI on them is flawless. All of the dwarves were portrayed by non-dwarf actors and shrunk down by the magic of CGI.

Another point while we're talking magic. I'd quite like to live in Sanctuary. I realise that it's highly unlikely that it's a real place, but if it is I'd like to go there and forget about work for a bit. Just saying.

Anyway, so Snow gets her feist back by the end and storms the castle to kill the wicked queen. So she's not all that useless after all. Oh yeah and the insipid bloke from the most recent Pirates movie plays the prince. And he's still insipid. I was hoping Snow would choose the Huntsman in the end, have him cleaned up and make him all princely but instead the film ends on a bit of an ambiguous note with Snow standing around holding a twig for no particular reason, looking as though she's left the gas on.

It's definitely better than the earlier Snow White movie from this year but that doesn't mean it's great. Considering the talent involved I was more than a little disappointed with SWATH. But I'd probably still buy the DVD so I could perv over Hemsworth again. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 20th June 2012

UK Release Date - 30th May 2012

Cast Overview:

Kristen Stewart ~ Snow White

Chris Hemsworth ~ The Huntsman

Charlize Theron ~ Ravenna

Sam Claflin ~ William

Sam Spruell ~ Finn

Ian McShane ~ Beith

Bob Hoskins ~ Muir

Ray Winstone ~ Gort

Nick Frost ~ Nion

Eddie Marsan ~ Duir

Toby Jones ~ Coll

Director ~ Rupert Sanders

Writer(s) ~ Evan Daugherty (Screen Story and Screenplay), John Lee Hancock (Screenplay) and Hossein Amini (Screenplay)

Avengers Assemble

http://marvel.com/avengers_movie

Allow me to start this review by saying that I have never been a fan of comic books. As a girl who's brother is an extremely talented cartoonist and comic strip creator, this is not a good thing to admit. I have tried to get on board with them. And of course I can appreciate the talent of the writers and artists involved. I just don't enjoy it as a medium.

Film however is another matter entirely. There is a medium I've been on board with for as long as I can remember. And in fact recall that one of my (or possibly THE) first cinematic experiences I had was Bambi. An animated film. So on film I can totally get on board with cartoons, animation, comic book characters etc. This is why, although I've never read a Marvel comic book, I still consider myself a fan of the Marvel universe. And of Stan Lee. Who is of course a legend.

The only problem with having not read the comics is that I don't really KNOW these characters as well as those who have read them. Or as well as my 6 year old nephew who has taught me a thing or two about these characters since I watched Thor with him last year. 

Regardless of my lack of knowledge I was excited to see some of my favourite Marvel heroes, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America alongside some newer characters who have yet to have their own movies, Hawkeye and Black Widow, and even some of my less favourite characters such as The Hulk. 

So how and why does this band of misfits come together? Well to save the world of course! SHIELD head honcho Nick Fury has been running some experiments on a powerful cube of energy called the Tesseract (you may recall seeing it in Captain America: The First Avenger). This cube allows a gateway between worlds, which Loki uses to come to earth with his plan of ruling it. Nick and the team at SHIELD cannot allow this to happen and so call upon Dr Bruce Banner to help them locate the Tesseract, as it omits a low level of gamma radition of which he is the expert. When things at SHIELD's headquarters go from bad to worse it's up to the unlikely group of heroes, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Black Widow to put things right. But can they stop bickering amongst themselves long enough to fight their combined enemy and his army?

The first thing I want to say is that the key word in the title is Assemble. Not Assembled. So if you're expecting the characters you love, teamed together, fighting the big bad from the off, you'll be disappointed. Avengers Assemble is a slow burner, re-introducing the characters one by one, then introducing them to each other. To be honest, I loved this entire part of the film, Agent Romanoff bringing in 'the big guy', the Dr shaking hands with the Capt. Thor holding his own against the Iron suited Stark. And then Stark taking the p*ss out of all of them. The one-liners kept coming and the friction/camraderie really showed.

Whether you love or loathe these build up scenes, the waiting is worth it when they do eventually team up for the grand finale. This is where I was worried that writer/director Whedon would stumble. As a long time fan of his from Buffy (yes even all the way back to the Buffy movie) through to Dollhouse and Cabin In The Woods which he co-wrote and produced, I knew he could do ensemble casts until the cows came home. What I wasn't sure he could do was all out action. But I'm happy to say he pulls it out of the bag with a truly stunning end sequence in which each character has a part to play and a chance to shine.

Character wise, The Hulk was everything. He might have thought they were more of a time bomb than a team but he was undoubtedly the glue that held them together. Think about all his scenes in the movie and how things would have turned out without him. He was pivotal. Hulk also, surprisingly, got both the biggest laughs and the biggest cheers in the showing I was in. And the laughs for once were not for the way he looked on screen. The artists on this film have done a fantastic job of making The Hulk actually look like the man playing him, not just like a big green monster. Ruffalo's facial expressions are evident, which for the first time makes The Hulk feel human. I loved him, and he was my least favourite going in so that was quite a turn-around. I thought Ruffalo was inspired casting as Banner and Hulk and that he played both guys perfectly. 

I also loved the relationship between Banner and Stark and think this was helped immensely by Ruffalo and Downey Jr's on screen chemistry. First forged in their previous on screen collaboration in David Fincher's Zodiac. This lightbulb moment only occurred to me after I saw Avengers Assemble for the second time (on IMAX - HIGHLY recommended!) and was reflecting on how good their scenes were.

Avengers Assemble is not only an action packed spectacle, it's also genuinely laugh out loud funny and has a lot of character driven moments which make it what it is, an all round great film. Go and see it, more than once and definately make one of those screenings an IMAX experience. The sound and picture quality will blow you away. 9.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th April 2012

UK Release Date - 26th April 2012

Cast Overview:

Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark / Iron Man

Chris Evans ~ Steve Rogers / Captain America

Mark Ruffalo ~ Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Chris Hemsworth ~ Thor

Scarlett Johansson ~ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Jeremy Renner ~ Clint Barton / Hawkeye

Tom Hiddleston ~ Loki

Clark Gregg ~ Agent Phil Coulson

Cobie Smulders ~ Agent Maria Hill

Stellan Skarsgard ~ Professor Erik Selvig

Samuel L Jackson ~ Nick Fury 

Director ~ Joss Whedon

Writer(s) ~ Joss Whedon (Screenplay and Story), Zak Penn (Story) 

and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (Comic Book)

Avengers Assemble European Premiere

Some of my readers will know that I regularly attend Premieres for upcoming films I'm interested in. Not to watch the film, but to see the stars and hopefully come home with the occasional signature to add to my collection - which for the record includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Ralph Fiennes, Megan Fox, Toby Kebbell, Evanna Lynch, Alex Meraz and Booboo Stewart to name but a few.

This concept, of attending the Premiere but not seeing the film, seems to baffle a lot of my friends. So I thought I would take this time to explain the reason why I don't see the film when I go to the Premiere. 


You see I would love to be able to see the film on the day of the Premiere, but to do this you have to be one of three things. 1) A movie star or D list celebrity, 2) A very wealthy person who can afford to buy a ticket or 3) A competition winner. I do of course enter the competitions to win tickets, but as yet have not been lucky enough to win. And at the present moment I'm not one of the other two options. I hope this helps to clarify when I next say I'm going to a Premiere.

Now onto the good stuff. My band of superheroes - which for the purpose of the Premiere were known as the Mighty Blair (my usual Premiere companion and cinema buddy) and Iron Hayley (our friend and comic book expert) - and myself aka Captain Kath, set out for London on a rainy Thursday morning and reached the Westfield shopping centre just before midday. We found our spot for the Premiere and settled down to our picnic prepared by the Mighty Blair. We chatted to the fellow Avengers fans surrounding us, prepared our cameras, pens, items for signing etc and ourselves and eventually it was time for the stars to arrive.

Each star was individually announced and came out onto a stage in front of a sea of photographers and fans. They made their way around the atrium and greeted and signed for fans until they were needed for interviews and official photographs and such. The event host, Jonathan Ross, took each of the stars back onto the stage for screened interviews - which I did record but you can barely hear over the screaming fans. Instead I have included some photo's taken by the Mighty Blair.

Robert Downey Jr who plays
Tony Stark aka Iron Man

Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor

Mark Ruffalo who plays
Bruce Banner aka The Hulk

Scarlett Johansson who plays
Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow

Clark Gregg who plays
SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson

These fantastic photos aside, the Mighty Blair also took some amazing shots of the cast members on stage when they were talking to Jonathan Ross. This means we were also able to capture Jeremy Renner who plays Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, Tom Hiddleston who plays Loki and Cobie Smulders who plays SHIELD Agent Maria Hill, but who most will recognise as Robin in How I Met Your Mother. Unfortunately Chris Evans who plays Captain America Steve Rogers and Samuel L Jackson who plays Nick Fury weren't at the European premiere so we didn't see them at all. :0(

But I think my favourite photo of the day has to be this one of Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson, where Jeremy is clearly thinking what every other man in the room was thinking (and probably some of the women too)...

So there you have it folks. Our fun day out at Westfield with some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Oh and I did manage to get one signature...

You can't see it that well but in the white THOR writing is Chris Hemsworth's signature.
And a very happy looking Captain Kath. :0)

It must have been my Avengers nails he couldn't resist.

 

**Special thanks to Iron Hayley for her expertise and being a wonderful Premiere companion and of course extra special thanks to the Mighty Blair for his always amazing picnic and the use of his awesome photographs.**


Tune in soon for my Avengers Assemble review!!!