avengers ... hmmm

Like a whole lot of other people, we saw The Avengers when it opened last Friday. As a big fan of Joss Whedon, I am happy for the director's success and hope that it helps him in his future projects. The cast was terrific. I liked Scarlett Johansson in this film more than any other movie I've ever seen her in. I didn't even mind the 2 1/2+ hours length. But I have to admit that the enemy — some horde of CGI insect/crustacean monsters were just damn ugly and uninvolving.

I understand that is the Hollywood deal. No matter how clever the repartee that Whedon and Co. have created for the bevy of superheroes, modern blockbusters demand ridiculously loud, city-destroying special effects. New York gets trashed once again on film, with Grand Central taking the brunt of the assault. Yawn.

Oh no, New York City is under attack! Again.

But mind-numbing ending battle aside, there were some definite highlights and Whedonesque flourishes that would bring me back for the inevitable sequel(s).

The opening sequence features Johansson as Black Widow. She kick-asses her way out of what at first appears to be an impossible situation. The scene was definite nod to Buffy and all the other cool gals that Whedon has loved to write and celebrate. It also set the tone for introducing the rest of the reluctant and unpredictable band of superheroes. Black Widow didn't need a big iron suit or any superpowers to work her magic, either. Cool.

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man was in fine form as always, bantering a mile-a-minute with anyone and everyone, "Dr. Banner, your work is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Chris Evans as Captain America managed to hold his own with RDJ and the rest of the crew. Many of his lines played off his man-out-of-time situation and good-guy professional hero ethic.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor was a hoot, spouting pompous Asgardian dialogue, but somehow knowing it sounded out of place, which kept him from becoming pompous.

Mark Ruffalo was a perfect Dr. Bruce Banner, AKA The Hulk.

Captain America, "Doc ... I think now is the perfect time for you to get angry." 

Bruce Banner, "That's my secret Cap, I'm always angry."

Samuel L. Jackson was his usual Samuel L. Jackson super-cool self as Nick Fury, who takes no crap from anyone, including the ominous and bossy World Security Council, "I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it!"

Jeremy Renner was also good as Hawkeye, his never-ending supply of special arrows proving remarkably effective against gigantic aliens.

And did I mention how absolutely fine they all looked?

All of the Avengers had their moment to shine, but the scales seemed definitely tipped in the direction of The Hulk. Ruffalo got the most character development, and his alter ego got the funniest moments, taking out his frustrations in wonderful ways on Thor and Loki. Tom Hiddleston, another one of the film's highlights, may have been given a thin motive for his badassery as main villain Loki, but he managed to be intriguing and have some bad guy individual screen time with each Avenger.

Captain America to Loki, "What's the matter? You scared of lightning?" 

Loki, "I'm not overly fond of what follows ... " (Thor arrives)

The best part of the film was all of the bickering between the reluctant team members — i.e. Whedon dialogue.

Iron Man, "Falling in line's not really my style." 

Captain America, "You're all about style, aren't you?" 

Thor, "You people are so petty. And tiny." 

Did you see that, Thor? It looks like a gigantic shrimp!

Bruce Banner, "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." 

Thor, "Take care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother." 

Black Widow, "He killed eighty people in two days." 

Thor, "He's adopted."

Hulk disoriented. Which way downtown?

The Avengers, as individuals, dislike each other on sight and are far from being team players. But when the chips are down, they manage to pull it together to fight the CGI. The Avengers the film, even with the too-much CGI at its climax, is still a lot of fun. Joss Whedon may direct the sequel, which would be fine. But maybe he should consider doing a smaller, but still action-packed movie centered on Black Widow. With no alien lobster-monsters. That would be really interesting.

buffy's back ... with an evil twin

I'm interested in checking out Sarah Michele Gellar's new show this fall, Ringer. It's a mystery/suspense show where she plays twins. I'm glad she's back on television and I hope this series is fun for her and the audience.

Doesn't every actor want to play their evil twin? Not so sure audiences clamor for twin stories, but they do make for quirky, sometimes campy classics. Here are some of my favorites:

Bette Davis plays sisters Margaret (rich and bad, a husband murderer) and Edith (good and poor) in Dead Ringer. This is not a great movie, but it is compellingly watchable. Bette has to vie with good guy cop suitor Karl Malden and naughty boy toy Peter Lawford in this sordid '60s murder mystery. Apparently Bette played twins in another earlier film, A Stolen Life, which I have yet to see.

Eddie Murphy as movie star Kit ("Keep it Together, K-I-T") Ramsay and his nerdy brother Jiff in Bowfinger, a sarcastically funny take on Hollywood from Frank Oz and Steve Martin. This movie is just as funny whether you're watching it for the first or fifteenth time and Murphy is truly great at two very different, wacked out twins. He has always liked to play multiple characters, and did that to perfection in The Nutty Professor, his riff on Jerry Lewis's '60s version.

Jeremy Irons as creepy twins in the creepy Dead Ringers, directed by creepy David Cronenberg, who always seems to make creepy movies. They play twin gynecologists, who both start messing around with the wonderful Geneviève Bujold, who deserves much better.

Nicolas Cage plays screenwriter Charlie Kauffman and his nebbish brother Donald in Spike Jones's Adaptation, a surreal take on Susan Orleans's bestseller about the orchid industry in Florida. Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton and Chris Cooper are along with the Cage (s) for the ride.

Twin-age is not limited to comedy and arty films. Action-adventure's own Jean Claude Van Damme beats himself up in Double Impact - what's not to love about that? Well, a lot actually, but it's still pretty fun.

If you were expecting the classic twinfest The Parent Trap, I'm sorry, but I don't like either version, Mills or Lohan. But I do love the concept of identical cousins, which isn't exactly a twin scenario, but it's wacky enough to fit this theme, and has that unforgettable theme song, to boot.

Related articles

• This Week's Cover: Sarah Michelle Gellar on 'Ringer,' 'Buffy' and motherhood (popwatch.ew.com)

twilight zone

I just saw the movie Twilight on cable. It's not as bad as critics or haters of runaway successes would have you believe. It's not great, either, but it was very watchable. And almost classic, in some ways. As I watched it, I was waiting for a scene or scenes that I might want to shield my daughter from (who was already tucked into bed), but there really weren't many. There were a few scenes of menace, and she would have found the penultimate fight scene scary, but she could see it in a few years (or tomorrow, with her eyes covered until given the all-clear, as I used to watch monster movies with my dad). Mostly it was pure fairytale. I haven't read the book(s), but have notice and liked the bold cover graphics, the illustrated forbidden fruit referencing remembered childhood fairytales.

What is interesting to me about this "vampire fad" is not the romantic or even sexual aspect of the stories, which, unless you were completely asleep, were always there. It's that vampires are just a device to tell the fairytale story. Twilight's lead vampire, Edward Cullen, is part handsome prince, part sleeping beauty. Bella, the heroine, awakens him from his slumber, and lets love into his life. The fact that they can't consummate their love (he might lose control and vamp out) may be frustrating for moviegoers, but completely in-sync with the chaste kiss that culminates most Cinderella, Snow White, etc. stories. Little girls love to swoon and imagine all things romantic, but are slower to actually want to let things get real. Pretty kid-appropriate, apart from the vampire angle. With a female heroine who drives the paper-thin story, no wonder girls are flocking to this tale. Much like their re-christening of Aladdin "Jasmine," Twilight is another princess story, just not by Disney.

After finding movie vampires attractive since my childhood—Francis Lederer in The Return of Dracula was exotic and sexy (I hadn't seen Bela yet), Frank Langella in my teens made becoming a vampire an option worth considering (and made me read the original novel by Bram Stoker), and Gary Oldman—well, he was creepy and Gary and sexy all at the same time—he made Coppola's over-the-top mix of genius design and embarrassing acting worth watching—a vampire romance seems pretty par for the course. Not to mention my love of all things Angel and the inimitable Spike.

Edward may be a de-fanged vampire, but his blatant channeling of James Dean, the ultimate inscrutable, frustrating, and oh-so-attractive movie male and teen icon is dead-on and absolutely appropriate for this demon without a cause. Dean died tragically young and will always represent teen angst. Edward died at seventeen and has been pent up and frustrated pretty much ever since. He may represent the ultimate teen dreamboat/horny boyfriend. Angel & Spike may have been juvenile at times, but were men for the most part, trying to find their way in the world of good or evil, depending on which show, which season, you were watching. Edward and Bella's romance is not only this generation's vamp couple, but may speak more directly to a teen sensibility. Buffy was set in high school, but was more sophisticated, adult in tone. Buffy didn't have the luxury of living a fairy tale. She was in a monster movie from the get-go. What if Angel had attended Sunnydale High? It would have been a much different story. Edward seems to want to go to school. live in the world. He's even sort of a science geek. He's that weird but attractive guy with the family problems that no one wants to talk to. You know he's trouble, but . . .

For folks who would argue that Edward's fascination with Bella is creepy, stalker-like—are you that disconnected from teen romance? Obsession is the name of the game. What about how Edward's attraction to Bella is directly linked to his thirst for her blood? Hello, pheromones. But he's a blood-drinking monster—killer of little bunnies and Bambis (he and his vamp family consider themselves vegetarians). Well, to reference Some Like it Hot, nobody's perfect. Most fairy tales are creepy. Cinderella was treated as slave labor by her family. Snow White's step-mother was constantly trying to murder her because she was jealous of her beauty. Sleeping Beauty falls in love with the first guy she kisses (even sees.) These are not role models. But they are classic stories that feature girls and women and magic and fantasy. Children need make-believe, and stories where the boy is always the hero are all too common. Some may find Bella's obsession with Edward dangerous and inexplicable. Sort of like love. Can love ever be explained rationally? Should it? Is she losing herself in him, is she making bad choices? Probably. Is it entertaining to watch? Definitely.

hulu hula

I've been very happily Lost the past few weeks. How did I miss this show? Oh right, I have a five year old and it's been on for five years...

Anyway, it's never too late to join the party, luckily, especially with hulu and my fabulous MacBook Pro screen. So these days after the kid is tucked in bed I have been tucking myself in and settling back into an episode or two on my laptop. I'm halfway through season two at the moment.

I love television, always have, and enjoy shows in many different genres, but my favorites are usually found in mystery, fantasy or British categories (Buffy, Angel, Poirot, The Avengers, Farscape, Are You Being Served?, The Night Stalker, Lovejoy—the list goes on and on). I wouldn't say that Lost is the greatest show I've ever seen, mostly because I shy away from superlatives, but it is damn good, as Sawyer might say. It manages to blend fantasy, mystery, romance, even a reality/Survivor feeling with excellent characterization. Most of the actors are top notch. Even with its intricate plotting the show, although full of quick-moving action, isn't afraid to let the characters take time to interact, both on the island and in glimpses of their past. Some might find it slow, but I love it.

Lost manages to tap into our deepest fantasies and fears. Who hasn't had a deserted island fantasy? What if you could start fresh, where nobody knew your baggage—is that even possible, or does it follow you to paradise? What could be scarier than a plane crash? Or your child being kidnapped? Or not being sure you can trust those around you? Or will you will be able to survive in a very unpredictable wilderness? What does it take to bring out your very worst or your very best? How interconnected are we all really, if we bothered to find out? But you get the idea. So excuse me. I've got some more episodes to catch up with . . .

livingsocial

LivingSocial is a facebook app that has taken me (and many of my friends) by storm. The LivingSocial website describes itself as a place where a person can catalog his or her "collections" and share these likes and dislikes with others. On facebook it's seems like an image database, run not very differently than many other facebook quizzes. A question is posed: name five films that twisted your mind? What are your five favorite kid shows? What five albums shaped you? You rack your brain, type the answer, and hopefully up pops the appropriate album, movie or cartoon thumbnail. This game is of course frustrating, as we are all fascinating creatures who certainly have more faves than the magic number of five (five thumbnails fits ever-so-conveniently on a computer screen, however.) It's so frustrating that we want to play it again. And again. And again.

The power of facebook is that you're not just waxing nostalgic in a vacuum. Once I proclaim that my five greatest television shows were Angel, Buffy, I Love Lucy, The Odd Couple and The Tudors all my friends can see it and my fellow Buffy fans are revealed. Who knew? And they post their faves in the same and other categories until there is a pop culture back-and-forth frenzy of posting.

Movies that warped my mind
A Clockwork Orange, Blue Velvet, Brazil, After Hours, Orphee [1950].

What makes this particular app more appealing than the countless other memes and quizzes that populate facebook is the power of the visual. Most of the movies, books, etc. have an appropriate icon. You get to see a visual capsule of a person's tastes. It is also quite enjoyable to dredge up one's personal mythos, albeit via pop culture as diverse as Clockwork Orange and The Flintstones.

Most importantly, this app understands the basic premise of facebook - put yourself out there and see who will respond. Use your past and present to define who you are. We live in a random, high-speed society and social randomness is where it's at. The only thing I can't figure out is why they haven't made all the books, shows and movies we're citing clickable to Amazon...

remembering buffy

All the buzz a new vampire flick is getting made me think about Buffy and how she is truly missed. I didn't start watching the show regularly until the famous, mostly silent, "Hush" episode, and came in through the back door, sort of - I watched Angel first.

The Buffyverse, as the fictional world created by Joss Whedon is called, was full of great characters, lots of Brit-inspired wit, pop culture references and good old teenage angst, which most of the time made for great TV and has led to comic books, endless fanfic and hopes for a reappearance of one (or any) of the characters in some form.

What really took the show above and beyond the average fantasy (or any genre) television show was the gradual reveal of the show's mythology, which deepened (much like the hellmouth) and grew over the course of the series. Also taking a pithy, simple metaphor like "high school is hell" and literally and creatively bringing it to undead life. But especially great was the dialogue:

Buffy: "Cordelia, your mouth is open, sound is coming from it. This is never good."

Buffy: "I haven't processed everything yet. My brain isn't really functioning on the higher levels. It's pretty much fire bad; tree pretty"

Spike: "If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock"

Spike: "We like to talk big... vampires do. "I'm going to destroy the world." That's just tough-guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I _like_ this world. You've got...dog racing, Manchester united. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real... passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Good-bye, Picadilly. Farewell, Leicester-bloody-Square."

Xander: "You are one crazy troll! I'm not choosing between my girlfriend and my best friend. That's insane troll logic."

Giles: Demons after money? Whatever happened to the still beating heart of a virgin. No one has any standards any more"

Angel; "She made me feel like a human being. That's not the kind of thing you just forgive"

Cordelia: Oh please. I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."

Willow: "Well, I like you. You're nice, and you're funny, and you don't smoke. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but...that's not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month, I'm not much fun to be around either"

I was standing on line at the grocery store the other day and one of the grab and go items was a "Spike" dvd, a compilation of some of the best Buffy episodes to feature that zany vamp. I'm not sure whether I would just prefer to revisit the show via dvd, or to actually see some of these characters again in new adventures. I do know that in Buffy, it was mostly a whitebread world. Angel tried to remedy that a little with the character of Gunn. If Whedon were ever to resurrect Buffy he would need to reflect the Obamaverse.