"The Avengers" (2012): I took my son to see this the other weekend, and we had a great time with it--classic entertainment, good Joss Whedon script, super special effects, plenty of action and humorous banter between the characters. Okay, maybe the character development was somewhat lacking, but the movie more than made up for that in everything else it offered.
   This movie even had a plausible story: Thor's brother Loki is on another power trip, and has found a way to open a door into our world so that alien invaders known as the Chitauri can come through and take over Earth. Loki's prize is the powerful energy source called the Tesseract, but he first takes over the minds of several key characters (including Dr. Selvig) and puts them to work on his plans. Samuel L. Jackson's character Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. escapes Loki and his henchmen, and begins gathering the heroes together to fight the invasion as a team. Unfortunately, the Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, the Black Widow, and Thor have to figure out how to work together first. Once that is accomplished, the fun begins, as they battle the invading aliens and their warships over Manhattan. Effects were superbly done, and the actors were really into their parts. Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. did well set against each other and I enjoyed their banter, and Scarlett Johansson was interesting as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. Chris Hemsworth makes a great Thor, and Mark Ruffalo did very well as Bruce Banner, "who's always angry." There were great scenes between Iron Man and Thor fighting each other in the woods, with Loki looking on; Black Widow defeating her captors after she's called to work early in the picture; the Hulk annihilating Loki--"puny god," he mutters to himself; the battle over Manhattan with the mechanical lizard like warships slithering around and through the skyscrapers. Lots of action, explosions, chases, fighting--a wonderful feast for the eyes. Excellent entertainment on a Friday afternoon. My son and I both enjoyed it. Joss Whedon did a wonderful job with this movie, and my hope is that he will continue to do more of them.

I finally saw "Captain America" (2011) last night on DVD. While it's certainly not the best action hero movie I've ever seen, I think that Chris Evans did a credible job as Steve Rogers, the somewhat puny guy who wants to serve his country and fight the Nazis, and ends up becoming an experimental soldier. He's supported by Tommy Lee Jones, who has an important role as Colonel Phillips, and the English Hayley Atwell is pretty to look at as the love interest, although the whole idea that she would participate in the operation as she did in those times came off as a bit unbelievable. Hugo Weaving (with that horrific red face--yuck), is fun to watch as the madman villain who wants to rule the world--he makes Hitler look mild in comparison--and Toby Jones as his sidekick was interesting. I liked the fact that the character who becomes Iron Man's father, Howard Stark, has a major role in this film as one of Rogers' cronies, that added to it for me.
   The plot--was there one? did it matter?--it was basically that Weaving's character, Red Skull, wanted a crystal that contained the most terrible and awesome force ever seen on earth (the occult powers of the Norse Gods), and when he got it, he would go completely into conquering mode and change the globe to suit himself. The transformed Rogers, who has been paraded around as some sort of symbol of United States heroism and freedom, is called upon to battle Nazis and then to stop Red Skull, along with a crack team to help him. Once they discover in fact that Red Skull and his evil organization HYDRA have captured this item and are on the move, they have to lead the fight for freedom and destroy them. Lots of action, explosions, shootings, dead bodies, a real thrilling ride. Although it started out a little slow with the set up, the pace definitely picked up after Evans was transformed into the bulked up soldier-hero who eventually gets his wish to fight for his country. As someone who did not grow up as a Captain America fan--I was more into Superman and Spider Man--I don't have any particular problems with this film that his true fans might. With pretty awesome special effects, a personable hero, a wickedly nasty villain, and a preposterously fantastic storyline, I found it an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. I would say it's worth a watch on DVD when you have a chance.