Entry 1: RE: "Avengers" - You have got to be kidding me.

Posted by: Chad Van Alstin

Well, I don't know where to begin. I guess I'm not surprised by your rating; however, I am a little surprised by the way you tear the movie apart. It's actually a little bit difficult to take you seriously when you compare the villains in The Avengers to Power Rangers concept art -- really? Do you really believe they are that silly looking?

The Power Rangers featured terrible actors in terrible rubber suits. Even for its era it looked like total crap. While I may agree that the Chitauri are not the coolest looking alien race, it's hard for me to take your hyperbolic statement seriously. It's ridiculous.

I'm also baffled by your following comment: "Whedon wants these characters to be his, to belong to his film, yet he doesn't develop them in any way, instead relying on what five other films have done, and using funny dialogue as an instant character developer"

What does that mean? Whedon definitely wanted The Avengers film to have its own unique look -- his look -- but I don't find any basis for saying he wants to 'claim the characters as his own.' Each actor brings to the screen the character they played in the previous films. That's completely fine with me. Where the other films served to help develop the characters, this movie serves to bring them all together. 

I actually really respect that. The director of each individual film got to keep the character they wanted -- Whedon just brings it all together into a perfect package that he designed. Like it or not The Avengers is a product of a lot of other movies, it's not just Whedon's baby. Yet, he's able to give this film a distinct visual style and tone -- that's incredible! It's an incredible achievement. 

One area we can agree upon is that Tom Hiddleston does an excellent job playing Loki. It's his creditably as a villain that really helps sell the story for me. I'm glad we can find common ground there.

Entry 2: RE: "Raven" - Cheese or Poe-peroni?

Posted by: Bradley Redder

I don't know if it's a sign of a dull film or of this blog being comprised of two incredibly astute viewers that we both came away with an almost identical dislike of this sorry piece of shit. I notice that both of our reviews hit on all of the same points; mine originally even contained mention of that outrageous utterance of "Nevermore" by Poe himself at the costume ball. What a ridiculous moment! But perhaps one that should have been replicated throughout. Think of how much fun this could have been had we seen Poe just walking around shamelessly quoting his most macabre lines in ordinary conversation: "Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here, here! It is the beating of... little Timmy's tambourine. I borrowed it last week and forgot to give it back. Sorry."

If I had to pick out what the biggest problem with The Raven was, after much deliberation I think I would say inconsistency of tone. You are right when you say this had the potential to be fun; I thought the same thing. It's really not a bad premise, but McTeigue just doesn't really know what to do with it. The murder scenes are handled in radically different ways, sometimes gravely, like the opening double murder, which actually brought some legitimate thrills. But then you get scenes like the pendulum murder, which are so over-the-top and cartoonish they couldn't possibly be taken seriously at all. And the reactions to these murders, the pendulum one in particular, were just as erratic: The guy identifying the bloody, halved body of the victim is vomiting when he enters the room, and by the time he is leaving a few minutes later looks like he's wondering which toppings he should get on his pizza.

If only McTeigue had settled on a cheesy approach, all of this could have been great. All of the schlocky silliness could have been right at home. Then when we got to the end and the killer is getting away on horseback, leaving behind a horse and a dozen policemen, I would have been laughing with the film when the wounded lead detective tells Poe to ride after him. Not any of the able policemen... Poe. The alcoholic writer. Horrible.

Entry 1: RE: "Raven" - What did I just see?

Posted by: Chad Van Alstin

While I liked the gory scenes, I agree that they seem made for 3D. Very strange. It's almost as if this was intended, as so many films are presently, to be a 3D blockbuster. After all, it seems to have all the makings of a really fun adventure flick -- great cast, murder, a damsel in distress, gunplay. 

Yet, the end result is really flat. Nothing ends up being really fun at all -- though the potential for fun was there.  I wouldn't necessarily mind the hokey, generic, script if it were all packaged in a fun movie. The only real enjoyment I found came from mocking the movie moments that we've all seen previously in countless other films. 

I guess that the only question I have is this: was this film intended to be more, or is this just some boring movie that the filmmakers added Edgar Allan Poe into as a gimmick to sell tickets? I'm inclined to believe it's the latter.

Chad's Take: "The Raven" (2012) - 1 Star

I’m going to assume by now that you’ve seen the trailer for The Raven, a film by V For Vendetta director, James McTeigue. You know the premise: a fictional Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) is helping hunt down a serial murderer, who seems deeply inspired by Poe’s work. This story is told through a series of chase scenes, shootouts, and other movie clichés.

To say that the plot unfolds without originality would be a complete understatement. This is a formula movie, and a very poor one at that. The Raven displays a visual style that seems to strive for mediocrity, and only succeeds at reaching that level some of the time. The film shows very little creativity in its visual style, and sometimes it looks downright ugly.

The cinematography is as formulaic as the film’s script — every shot seems borrowed from somewhere else; every scene seems crafted around a stale idea from the past. While I expected to see a film heavily influenced by past “whodunits”, The Raven fails so completely to deliver anything original that it seems like little more than a cheap knockoff.