For the last two months I've been working my way, slowly but steadily, through the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in preparation for Avengers: Age of Ultron - I watched two movies a week starting with Iron Man (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008), and finishing up yesterday with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). All of these were second or third viewings, but many were the first viewing since the original film.
Here's what I learned.
1) Avengers: Age of Ultron better be pretty great, as I've spent a lot of time doing prep work to enjoy the film. I'm aware my personal efforts in watching the movies are not the same as those who made, studied, cos-played or otherwise enjoyed the films - but still - ten movies? I feel they better raise the bar a little.
2) 3D is pretty overrated. Of all the films, I saw the vast majority in 3D and re-watching them in old-fashioned 2D at home made the colours brighter (looking at you Winter Soldier) and the images much crisper - I think I'll be hunting for 2D showings from now on when possible (I do have to admit that Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D was a treat - but the colour palate of that film was very bright and largely in primary colours - so even dimmed-down a little it was still very effective).
3) How come we haven't had another Hulk movie yet? I found The Incredible Hulk to be a lot of fun, and with the massively positive response to the character in The Avengers (2012), I was honestly a little surprised that a Hulk sequel doesn't even show up on the proposed schedule to at least 2020.
In the end, the films were all well worth the watch and have me pretty excited for next week's follow up.
I took the day off today to hang out with my wife, get a couple doctors appointments out of the way and finally check out The Avengers in theatres.
For the three of you who haven't got around to seeing it yet - go for it! The movie was a lot of fun, filled with both humour and action, and if you've taken the time in the last few years to see the Iron Man, Thor, Captain America or Hulk films, this is the payoff.
We saw the film in 2D, and honestly, I prefer the brightness you get there as compared to the dimmer colours that come with the "benefit" of 3D (also I have pretty bad eyes so all I get from 3D is a bad head-ache).
Over the years I've read a bunch of Marvel comics, but have to admit that I don't actually know the identity of the character in the end bit, but even without that knowledge, we had a great time.
So there you go - like with pretty much everyone else, I found the film to be a lot of fun, and will probably add it to my collection when it hits DVD.
