About 7 minutes in I thought SHIT...over 2.5 hours of this? I saw it with my family over mothers day because mom wanted us to see a movie together and this movie seemed to be family safe.

Then I started fantasizing about someone behind me strangling me unconscious and I'd wake just as they rolled credits. BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED.

The fact that this movie made more than any movie in history on opening weekend caused me to lose all faith in humanity and I'm having trouble finding the energy to wake up each day.

i agree. I saw it with friends last weekend and jeez it was bad.

@gamehenDgePHONICS said:

lol pt.

like the honeybees of the inter-tronz. What with the cross pollination. Essential, yet underappreciated. And you definitely don't want swarms of them up in your shit.

you described the same feeling i had when i watched the Dark Knight.

@IntoYesterday - You say that it is the worst movie ever made. Obviously your using hyperbole, but I would like to know what you think the best movie ever made is. If you're comparing it to Fellini, Truffaut, or Hitchcock it is obviously going to fall flat. But if you compare it to other Action/Adventure films, it stacks up pretty favorably.

I don't usually go in for comic book movies, but I thought it was the best one to come out of the Marvel universe. A great ensemble cast, and for the type of movie it is a good script, some great cameos(Harry Dean Stanton, what?), and fantastic visual effects. IMO it is far from "the worst movie ever made" I've seen much worse films this year.

Anyone else psyched for Prometheus???

My take on these movies, and the criticisms thereof, is this. A movie like The Avengers is cheap entertainment. Not cheap to make, and not cheap to gain admission (especially if you’re opting for 3D) but rather, cheap in terms of the effort required by the viewer. A certain (evidently large) segment of the population wants to go to the movies and tune out, watch things blow up. These audiences don’t want to have to follow a complex plot or keep track of many characters. Superhero movies, Transformers, etc. are great for this audience.

Another segment of the population is interested in watching movies with more depth and artistic value. These movies tend to be slower to develop, have more complicated plots, and more complex characters to learn and follow. As a result, they require more effort from the viewer.

It seems that the fans of the more substantive movies (we’ll call them film lovers) tend to criticize action movies for being two hours of explosions with no point. Fans of these action movies (we’ll call them movie lovers) tend to criticize “artsy” films for being slow, complicated, and boring. One type of movie experience is not necessarily better than the other. Certain audiences prefer one type of movie, others prefer a different type. What it boils down to is that The Avengers is a good movie that satisfies audiences who are looking for impressive action without a big intellectual commitment.

Note: Of course this is a continuous spectrum, with many movies providing some art, some cheap entertainment. These are merely the two extremes at either end of that spectrum.

Edit: Definitely check out Roger Ebert's review of The Avengers. If you read between the lines a little, the review speaks to this difference in type of audience very well. His conclusion is basically that it's a good movie for its intended audience.

Me and my 4-year-old liked it. Im not sure if you were expecting a Shakespearian tragedy or anything, but you just have to know going in that it's going to be 2.5 hours of explosions, cheesy dialogue, and people getting ragdolled by the Hulk.

If you expected something else, well thats on you.

@chris200w, I agree with almost everything you said. I just want to add that you can like movies anywhere on this spectrum. Using your dichotomy of "film lovers" vs. "movie lovers" is a little too black and white, and I know you didn't mean that according to the rest of your post, and I think it's important to add that being in both categories isn't some sort of film blasphemy. I personally fall into both categories and I am glad that I don't limit myself to only one because films along the entire spectrum have completely different places and purposes.

Another thing I feel strongly about that you also addressed but I would like to expand upon is that one is not better than the other. That also goes for the people who watch one or the other. That is all. I am a music major in college and am surrounded by a ton of conservative (when it comes to music) professors who would look at Phish like the OP looks at the Avengers. A viewpoint I know all of you would disagree with. The thing is, they, like the OP, are wrong. They aren't wrong because I think they are, they're wrong because they cannot sufficiently understand what they're judging. They can "understand" it from a purely intellectual point of view, but that viewpoint does not allow them to enjoy it, and many times people will call something they don't enjoy bad. That is a fallacy.

What gets to me is that they sit there and imply that their crazy-ass-physically-makes-me-feel-bad-after-hearing-it serialist music is better than Phish because it takes several years of study to fully understand it. Just like the OP is implying that insert-artsy-acclaimed-indie-movie-here is better than the Avengers.

Everyone has a right to dislike something (I certainly dislike serialist music), but I would never call it bad, just something that doesn't suit me.

@Punchyouinthejejunum said:

@Penn42 said:

It's become a really cool thing to hate on action movies. But the fact of the matter is, for what it is, it is a great movie. You might not like what it is, and that's ok, but saying it is bad is a very uneducated and shallow statement. Certainly not the best movie ever made, but a really fun and low-effort watch, and as far as action movies goes, it's one of the best made in a quite a while imo. It blew all of it's pre-curser films (i.e. The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor) out of the water. Better action, better story (than most), some really cool shots. I throughly enjoyed it.

If you go into an action movie expecting a social commentary (or something else that's cool to like because it gives you some false sense of higher intellect) you're not even close to understanding the purpose of one of these films.

But that's just like, my opinion, man.

Oh, and two other things: I f***in' loved Dark of the Moon and I'm stoked for Battleship.

You thought it was better than the first Iron Man? Really bro? come on....

The first Iron Man is the strongest of the pre-curser movies imo, but I enjoyed The Avengers more. Really it's just going to be a hard sell when you have two strong action movies, one with a ton of heroes and the other with only one. lol

@Penn42 said:

@IntoYesterday said:

I didn't really have expectations, I'd never seen one of these kind of movies. Was never into comic books either, I just figured that with those great actors how could they go wrong?

But YIKES, they sure did. I honestly can't recall any movie I've seen in the theatre in all my life that was worse, and I saw Deep Blue Sea in theatres (ironically also with Samuel Jackson).

Today I saw the Dictator, and it's now a coin toss between these two films for worst film I've seen.

Someone asked me what my favorite movie was, that's a tough one. Probably "Dude Where's My Car" or anything with some of todays greatest actors like Lou Diamond or Keanu Reeves.

I'm callin' troll.

Great actor and Keanu Reeves does not belong in the same sentence. Troll indeed.

@MomaDan said:

^agreed. So many complained about the end of Inception because it didnt tell you, it was designed to make you think. Avengers was made for the exact opposite reason, no thinking just action.

no, Inception just plain sucked, for a plethora of reasons.

@the_Crested_Hogchoker said:

I stopped seeing movies a long time ago, but my brother dragged me to whatever pointless sequel they're up to in the Transformers franchise last summer.

I'll tear my eyes out before I give those slobs in Hollywood one more dollar.

They don't have one iota of pride in their own industry. Everything is a sequel, a blatant rip off or a(the worst shit ever) reboot. The scripts have been ripped up so many times that plot holes render much of what they're making uninteligible.

Everything is done so cheaply and there's so little serious film being made that many of the great actors are essentially out of work (not that all of them need it).

CGI is the worst thing to happen to movies... ever. Whole movies now look fake, not just the special effects.

I could go on for a few more hours about this, but I'll just sum it up... There are things I hate as much as I hate hollywood, but there's nothing I hate more than hollywood.

That's my rant for today. Anyone want to buy me a beer tonight?

I think this is gross hyperbole. I agree with alot of what you said, However, we're in America, isn't capitalism and money-grabbing what we're all about right? You can't really blame them when movies are raking in that much. They're playing to their "strengths".

@Penn42 said:

@the_Crested_Hogchoker said:

I stopped seeing movies a long time ago, but my brother dragged me to whatever pointless sequel they're up to in the Transformers franchise last summer.

I'll tear my eyes out before I give those slobs in Hollywood one more dollar.

They don't have one iota of pride in their own industry. Everything is a sequel, a blatant rip off or a(the worst shit ever) reboot. The scripts have been ripped up so many times that plot holes render much of what they're making uninteligible.

Everything is done so cheaply and there's so little serious film being made that many of the great actors are essentially out of work (not that all of them need it).

CGI is the worst thing to happen to movies... ever. Whole movies now look fake, not just the special effects.

I could go on for a few more hours about this, but I'll just sum it up... There are things I hate as much as I hate hollywood, but there's nothing I hate more than hollywood.

That's my rant for today. Anyone want to buy me a beer tonight?

I think this is gross hyperbole. I agree with alot of what you said, However, we're in America, isn't capitalism and money-grabbing what we're all about right? You can't really blame them when movies are raking in that much.

Agreed, I blame the average American mouth breather. That was why I joked that I lost all faith in humanity. This isn't trolling, I just made a joke about Keanu and Lou Diamond. This was the worst movie I've ever seen.

The idiot demographic naturally gets to decide what is put on tv and in the theatres. We get movies like the Avengers raking in 211 million in 48 hours, and shows like Arrest Development go off the air (at least for 8 years, thank you Will Arnette for getting that show going again).

But I'm happy for Robert Downey Jr. He made $50,000,000 from this movie. Scarlett and Samuel Jackson made 5 or 6 mill each, and the rest ade 2-3 mill. They all did well for themselves in a movie they probably didn't take seriously or have high hopes for.

@Penn42 Agreed. I was really trying to get across in my previous post that neither type of movie or movie fan is inherently better than the other. I dislike snobbishness even more than I dislike cheap Hollywood entertainment or cheap Top 40 music.

I think it's natural to feel that one's own taste in any form of art or food or women or any other part of culture is better or more correct than others' tastes. I always make an effort not to come off as a snob, though, because nothing turns people off from a person faster than being told their taste in something sucks.

People seem to get very defensive about movies/music they like. It's almost as if those pieces of art are an important enough part of that person's identity that it's a blow to the ego to hear that someone else doesn't like it.

@IntoYesterday said:

and the dude from the Goonies and then pretty much nothing till his great performance in No Country for Old Men (a GREAT film). Forget his name.

Josh Brolin and don't forget the best movie he ever made.

Haven't seen the Avengers, but for the record, Manos The Hands of Fate is the worst movie ever made

Has anyone seen Drive?
One of my favorites. Now that's art

See Drive...

@IntoYesterday said:

About 7 minutes in I thought SHIT...over 2.5 hours of this? I saw it with my family over mothers day because mom wanted us to see a movie together and this movie seemed to be family safe.

Then I started fantasizing about someone behind me strangling me unconscious and I'd wake just as they rolled credits. BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED.

The fact that this movie made more than any movie in history on opening weekend caused me to lose all faith in humanity and I'm having trouble finding the energy to wake up each day.

By the way I would just LOVE to know what you consider good cinema. I would not be surprised if most people found what you liked to be garbage.

greatest movie ever made period.

Red Planet is the worst movie ever made. It came out trying to rival Mission to Mars (which is pretty awesome) and it just plain sucked in every imagineable aspect. However, it did introduce me to the wonders of being high: My best buddy from middle/high school and I saw it together. He got high beforehand and I did not, in fact at that time I had never smoked nor had any interest. As the travesty of a film trudged along, we were both laughing maniacly (like, my-abs-are-sore, my-face-hurts, tears-rolling-down-cheeks laughing) at how unbelieveably bad the movie continued to be. I figured if I could laugh that hard w/o sensory-enhacing substances, laughing under the influence of sensory-enhancing substances would be absolutely amazing (as my buddy proved to me). And it was... is. Look back on the days when my life was a haze...

Edit: I highly recommend everyone see Red Planet... perferably high. You'll understand once you see the inflatable ball filled with Val Kilmer and the chick from Matrix roll down this Martian cliff for like 5 consecutive minutes.

@ithacapete said:

@IntoYesterday said:

About 7 minutes in I thought SHIT...over 2.5 hours of this? I saw it with my family over mothers day because mom wanted us to see a movie together and this movie seemed to be family safe.

Then I started fantasizing about someone behind me strangling me unconscious and I'd wake just as they rolled credits. BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED.

The fact that this movie made more than any movie in history on opening weekend caused me to lose all faith in humanity and I'm having trouble finding the energy to wake up each day.

By the way I would just LOVE to know what you consider good cinema. I would not be surprised if most people found what you liked to be garbage.

I feel like I somehow really hurt your feelings and possibly insulted your families honor. Those were not my intentions here.

Braveheart and Thin Red Line were my favorite movies in the mid to late 90's. Not anymore, but I don't have a favorite movie. I already mentioned I love No Country For Old and Dark Knight. The Godfather is one of my favorite movies, part 2 is up there as well. The Departed, Tropic Thunder (teaching us the valuable life lesson of why one should never go full retard), Snatch, Lock Stock and 2 smoking Barrels, Layer Cake. The LOTR trilogy, Blazing Saddles, Dumb and Dumber, Big Lebowski. Michael Clayton was great. Honorable mention to Zodiac, Casino Roya, Jermeiah Johnson, Monty Pthyon and the Holy Grail (at this point I'm just looking at what dvds I own).

You get the picture, I like good movies. The Avengers is what we call "a joke." Worst movie ever made.

hijack: how do we feel about prometheus? it's a 'prequel' of sorts to 'alien' done by the same director (scott). i'm really not trying to get my hopes up too much but this is one flick i actually have been looking forward to for a while. it got the R rating too

random observation: what's with the lack of original ideas? it's either a sequel, a reboot, based off a comic book or video game or devoid of anything resembling what once constituted a good movie. don't get me wrong there are still gems to be found that defy that trend

i used to really be into cinema (that term certainly doesn't apply) but my interest has almost completely dropped off in the past 5-7 years. i only go to the theater to kill time on tour in the afternoon & i don't pay

tl;dr.

Prometheus and Dark Knight Rises are going to be my summer movies.
If you want to talk about bad, go see Dark Shadows.
Also I can't stress how much you guys should see Drive.