Assembling the Avengers

Tim went to see The Avengers with some friends a few weeks back. I was (ok, am) desperately jealous. He's promised me he'll watch it with me again when we can figure out those logistics, so there's that. In the meantime, with the heat and the mini-vacation we've got going on right now (he was off Wednesday and his regularly scheduled Friday off is today, so it was a no brainer to take today off and get 5 days off for the price of 1), we've been having family movie nights the past two nights.

Because I am woefully behind in the movie watching world. I have seen Iron Man...and that's it as far as any of the Avenger beginning movies go. (Sad. I know. It's a sad state of affairs.) So, while we waited for it to be dark enough to do fireworks on the 4th, we threw in Thor.

Oh. My. Goodness. How was there not more buzz about Thor?! What a fantastic movie! (Even Natalie Portman, who normally I dislike, manged to actually, you know, ACT in Thor.) And it really is a shame that Chris Hemsworth can't be Finnick in the Hunger Games. Cause he'd be perfect. Now, I'll admit, my only previous knowledge about Thor comes from the Thor-obsessed little girl in Adventures in Babysitting (another fantastic flick, btw). So maybe that helped me enjoy it more than a true comic lover would? I don't know. I just know it was rockin' awesome.

Last night, after a brief debate, we threw in The Incredible Hulk (the 2008 version). The brief debate was because we had seen the 2003 movie Hulk and, well, as did everyone else in the thinking (read: has a pulse) world, we hated it. That's one of those movies that's so bad you wish you could un-see it. (Seriously, where are the Men in Black when you need them?) And Tim loves a good B movie - it's really rare for him to find something so terrible that he decrees it unwatchable. Hulk? Totally unwatchable.

The Incredible Hulk, on the other hand? Also rockin' awesome. I know a bit more about the Hulk as I remember enjoying the TV show as a child. (In all it's cheesy glory.) I can't say I know much from a comic lover angle because, well...I've never really read comics that didn't come in the Sunday paper. Still - totally great movie. And I didn't dislike Liv Tyler, though for whatever reason I did realize that she really has a pronounced under bite. Has that always been the case? Or did they just do a ton of profile shots in TIH, where they don't in other films she's been in. Regardless, it was, clearly, distracting enough (for me) that I remarked on it. Tim didn't seem to notice or care.

I'm hopeful that somewhere in the next several days/weeks we can round up Captain America and Iron Man 2. (And I'd like to throw The Green Lantern in there, even though he's DC, not Marvel, and therefore not an Avenger. Though Tim says that may not actually be the case. We'll see how that pans out - I can't imagine Marvel and DC crossing the streams.

(Sometimes, like looking back over this post, I realize what being the mother of boys has wrought. In this case, I'm totally psyched at the whole new world open at my feet.)