The Avengers (2012)

Nominated for:  Best Visual Effects    Of course I went to see this movie.  I didn't get to go at midnight on Thursday because Rob had to work but you can bet we went as soon as he woke up on Friday afternoon. 

I specifically read as little as possible about it because I didn't want to be biased before I even saw it.  I did read one review on CHUD.com that said it sucked for the first thirty minutes, or until the Hulk showed up.  I think that's a little unfair.  It is very much a reflection on Joss Whedon, however.  If you're a fan of Serenity or his various TV shows, you probably won't mind as much.  I'd go as far to say that the first half of the movie is very talk-heavy, while the second half is more action-heavy.  I think they did a good job, considering that pretty much everyone in this movie has their own movie to star in either out previously or coming soon.  I hear Mark Ruffalo got signed for a 6 picture deal.  I'm not even mad at him for it, either, much as I loved Edward Norton's version.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) got himself some new allies in the form of aliens called the Chitauri.  With their backing, he storms S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters and walks out with the Tesseract (the blue cube from Captain America), while mind-controlling Dr. Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) with his shiny new Tesseract-powered spear.

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) immediately implements the Avengers Initiative consisting of Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.)  They confront Loki in Germany only to have Thor (Chris Hemsworth) show up and demand that they hand his errant brother over for Asgardian justice.  This does not go over well, as you can imagine, and amidst their superhero bickering Loki starts some shit.

My only real problem with this movie is such a spoiler that I can't actually write it down.  Suffice to say, there is a moment in the film that involves a sacrifice and it is handled so clumsily in an attempt to be "knowing" that it put a bad taste in my mouth the rest of the film.  It's not something so big that it ruins the experience but it annoyed me pretty thoroughly.  Two specific scenes with the Hulk, however, more than make up for it.