Raptorific

I had an absolutely wonderful night! The Avengers was awesome! There are also spoilers here.

Post reblogged from Raptorific

So, I ended up seeing “The Avengers” entirely by accident tonight. My intent was to go see the Hunger Games with Shenile (who is awesome and you should all go follow) but alas, it is no longer in theaters!

So we ended up going to the Avengers instead, and I was 100% not disappointed. Spoilers are possible ahead!

It was an absolutely awesome movie. I loved how, despite the presence of a romantic subplot for the female lead, it was not the central aspect of her character. I loved how, despite usually not being a fan of the Hulk, the Hulk’s parts of the movie were some of the best. I could not stop laughing during the whipping-Loki-around scene or the Thor punch scene.

Loki, as well, was both funny and a menacing villain, and the people giving his commands were freaky as hell.

Every moment with Tony Stark was golden. Every moment with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers was platinum. I lost my shit when Cap was giving commands to the cops.

I was worried about Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow character because in Iron Man 2, I wasn’t really sure who she was or why she was there, but I thought she was incredible, especially in any direct interactions with Loki. I especially like that the big save-the-day moment goes to her, and that even though Tony Stark insists the day needs to be saved even harder, either way, ultimately, Black Widow gets the big moment.

Plus, by the time Stan Lee’s cameo came around, I forgot to be looking for it, so it was twice as good!

Final thought: I should have known he would have died. Joss Whedon is a dangerous man who needs to be locked up before he kills again.

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Post reblogged from Raptorific

raptorific:

aimmyarrowshigh replied to your post: completemadman replied to your post:…

I’m always surprised that everyone assumes they got married, tbqh. I think they just had kids.

I like to think they got married, but mostly because I like the idea of Katniss coming home to find Peeta frosting a large, elaborate wedding cake and she’s just like

“Peeta… there’s… there’s no religious tradition… and we, um, we collapsed the government, dear, there’s not really any legality to speak of anymore… I think that just knowing we are in a committed relationship is enough…”

And then Peeta just quietly starts putting away his frosting and she’s like

“I mean, if it means that much to you let’s toast some bread and run around the house shouting ‘WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING’ but I don’t know how that will change anything”

and then they did exactly that

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Thoughts on all these posts I keep seeing that tell me to forget about problems in the Hunger Games movie so I can enjoy it.

Post reblogged from Raptorific

raptorific:

First of all, the only problem I’m unwilling to overlook is the whitewashing of the cast. Let me explain:

District 12 is based on Appalachian mining towns in West Virginia and Kentucky from the early 1900s. In these towns, the miners were generally less wealthy Italian immigrants, and the merchants were generally more wealthy English and German immigrants. Now, today, “Italian” is considered white. In the first half of the 20th century, this was not the case. While it was certainly not nearly as bad as the oppression of other minorities in this country, that doesn’t negate the fact that Italians were, in the towns District 12 was based on, considered to be People of Color.

My family comes from Italian immigrants in a West Virginia coal mining town, so it bothers me to see all the major actors playing characters in the group that represents the Italians played by actors of Anglo-Saxon descent.

It also bothers me that, since America today is around 40% white, that apparently the only people of color in the entirety of Panem are District 11 and Katniss and Peeta’s prep team.

Now, here’s the thing: I still, even having acknowledged that these things bother me, have every intention of still enjoying the movie. For some reason, people seem to have this all-or-nothing mentality where you either have to think of something as perfect or completely hate it.

Liking something and finding fault in it are not mutually exclusive. I can like something and still acknowledge it is problematic. In fact, if I hated everything that had major problems relating to race, gender, or sexuality, I would hate every single work of fiction I’ve ever taken in.

So please, stop telling me to “stop talking about the problems and just enjoy the movie.” I intend to do both.

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Putting “The Hunger Games” in perspective, or, “Why everyone should stop acting like addicts jonesing for their next fix of Hunger Games movie news.”

Post reblogged from Raptorific

raptorific:

There’s no prize for MTV polls. Even if the win was legitimate, a random poll on an online magazine means nothing. The whole purpose of this is to “beat Twilight,” but why? It’s so important to everyone that nobody anywhere thinks Twilight is better than the Hunger Games that everyone’s swarming to prove how good it is by sabotaging a poll, but in doing so they’re becoming as rabid and insufferable as Twilight fans.

“The Hunger Games” was published in 2010, and the movie is being released in 2012. To give everyone a sense of scale, here are some book-to-film adaptations that are probably more anticipated:

“The Dark Knight Rises.” The last movie was released in 2008 with a cliffhanger ending and no word on whether or not the director planned to make a third movie. Almost no details of the film surfaced until Spring of 2011. Fans waited almost three years to find out the name of this film, then learned what actors were in it months later, then didn’t find out what characters those actors were playing for months after that.

“Skyfall” continues the James Bond series started with “Casino Royale.” Since a lot of people didn’t like “Quantum of Solace,” which came out in 2008, diehard Bond fans have been waiting four years for a new film to take the bad taste from their mouths.

“World War Z.” The book was published 6 years ago, and in that time has come to define the zombie genre. It is considered by many to be the most realistic scenario (that includes zombies) told in literature to date. Because of the nature of the book (short stories taking place around the world rather than direct narrative), many fans believed this book to be unfilmable, and never thought a movie would get made. 6 years.

“Artemis Fowl” Published in 2001, with an upcoming film that’s been “in pre-production” and “coming out next year” for the past 11 years, with no sign of any of these things changing.

“Les Misérables” the musical was released in 1980 with no film adaptations until this year. 32 years.

“The Avengers.” The Avengers first appeared in 1963, and are one of the most iconic superhero teams ever. Some fans have been waiting 49 years for a major motion picture adaptation.

“The Hobbit.” Published in 1937, there has never been a major motion picture adaptation of this novel. Animated TV specials notwithstanding, some fans have been waiting for 75 years. Fans who were babies when the book came out have literally died of old age waiting for this movie to be made and released.

Consider that before you insist everyone bomb the “most anticipated polls.” Consider that when you scold people for admitting they’re looking forward to one of these films more than the Hunger Games. And consider that before you post about how we’re not getting any information on the film. I love the Hunger Games, but when enthusiasm turns to venom, I get uncomfortable with the enthusiastic.

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