I Watched It on DVD: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

    

No, it’s not a documentary on Miley Cyrus’  recent tabloid exploits.

    It’s actually a modern dress version of William Shakespeare’s classic comedy by quirky, idiosyncratic film-maker Joss Whedon.

And once you get past familiar faces like Amy Acker, Fran Kranz and Reed Diamond speaking Shakespearean English in distinctly contemporary settings it all kinda works … in a quirky, idiosyncratic and distinctly Whedonesque way. 

Writer/director Joss Whedon explains his latest concept 

I’ve never thought of myself as a card-carrying Whedonian. But I have seen (and enoyed) most of the Buffy episodes, both seasons of Dollhouse, the Firefly movie, Cabin in the Woods  …. heck, I even paid to see The Avengers in the theatre (So maybe I am a Joss Whedon fanboy. I’m just in a state of denial.)

Part of the reason the cast acts so natural in such challenging roles is that the actors trust Whedon implicitly.

In the process the various members of the cast learn something new about their craft and their own abilities within that craft.

For example, Nathan Fillion (Capt. Reynolds on Firefly) admits in a DVD featurette that he was initially nervous about tackling the project. He needn’t have worried. He and Tom Lenk (The Cabin in the Woods) make a great comedy team as doofus local law enforcement types.

This is Shakespeare without tears (and more than a few chuckles).

Nathan Fillion (l.) and Tom Lenk in Much Ado About Nothing: “No, As You Like It has nothing to do with Facebook.”

I Saw It at the Movies: Marvel’s THE AVENGERS

No, not these Avengers – that was a (fondly remembered) UK TV series

Marvel’s The Avengers topped the worldwide box office for the third week in a row and scored a 93 % approval rating on rottentomatoes.com (247 positive reviews, 18 negative) so I am obviously in the minority here but this megabuck production which collects  some of the fabled comic franchise’s biggest superheroes and plops them into one movie left me strangely, um, underwhelmed.

“Underwhelmed? WTF does that even mean?”

Having said that, I realize I have placed myself directly in the path of a rabid fanboy army and a bunch of formerly respected film critics desperate to sell their soul to remain hip and relevant in the New World Order.

To make matters worse, I can’t even put my cursor on what it is about the movie that didn’t click with me.

I mean, I’ve been reading Marvel Comics since I was kneehigh to a newsstand ….

Frankly, I liked the books better

and although I am not a card-carrying Joss Whedon fan (he co-wrote and directed the movie) everything he has been involved with (that I’ve seen) worked for me (shucks, I even watched Dollhouse and was pissed when they pinkslipped it after less than two seasons).

In terms of casting well, Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) and Jeremy Renner  (Hawkeye) are on an (admittedly short) list of contemporary actors I admire and as for Scarlett Johansson in a form-fitting catsuit, well, be still, my foolish heart (I think I spelled that right.)

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow: Knock ‘Em Dead Redhead

So what is it about this movie that made me feel as if  … to borrow a popular fanboy phrase … that’s two hours and twenty minutes of my life that I can’t get back? 

Well, maybe it’s the paperthin plot or maybe there was just too many CGI-saturated battle scenes.

Whatever. By the time the skies opened up over the Big Apple and an alien army started trashing Manhattan I was too shellshocked to finish my popcorn.