OK, lemme see: I loved Superman 1 & 2, but they don't really hold up (especially 1). The Tim Burton Batman movies were great, and I still like them a lot. X-Men 1 & 2: very good  (though Hugh Jackman and McKellen really carried them - not much else there, I felt). Iron Man 1: excellent, loved it. The Nolan Batman: very cool movies, but really too artsy/angsty/plain dark for me (and with too many plot holes that made me mad as I watched them). Blade 1 & 2: stupid but fun. And 3 had Jessica Biel kicking ass, so... thumbs up.

Now, about The Avengers...

This was a blockbuster movie done RIGHT. A movie in which things go KA-BLOOM!! just about most of the time, but you actually care (well, up to a point) about the people who are getting ka-bloomed. At some point there are hordes of giant aliens thingies coming down from the sky - hey, just like in a Michael Bay movie! - but you can actually follow the action and keep interested in the end result. You actually LAUGH at several points during the movie (Nolan and Bay must be incandescent with rage at this sacriliege!). You get all of the classic/stale comics conventions - like super-heroes having to have a big pow-wow when first they meet - but it doesn't FEEL stale or forced. You get the first truly believable Bruce Banner/CGI Hulk. You get a Black Widow who in no way feels like the compulsary T&A bit (shades of Megan Fox in Transformers or that self-same Black Widow in Iron Man II). You get Samuel Jackson playing the role he was MEANT to play ("meant" by Brian Hitch, but, still...). You get the Hawkeye who's the baddest of the badasses. You get Joss Freakin' Wheddon spreading his wings and taking to the sky.

Oh, yeah. It's summertime, all right, and the living is mighty easy. And we still have The Hobbit to look forward to...!

Yeah, OK - Batman, too. Complete with Anne Hathaway's skinny ass in a catsuit. And the teeth.


Oh, God... And I was in such a good mood just a minute ago!