If you like The Hunger Games, watch Battle Royale. 40-something 9th graders from a Japanese school have to kill each other off in 3 days... it's bloody and amazing.

YES! That movie is awesome!

So I saw the original theatrical cut of the first Star Wars film from 1977 and it was the first time I've seen in the movie in over a decade and I'm still wondering why it took me that long. It's a true gem of a movie.

I marvel at how George Lucas has become such a complete public ass since that 1st movie.

I know! And I watched the special edition again. And I mean wow....

So I watched a bit of Fall from Grace and...You know there's a problem with society when people have signs that say, "Thank god for 9/11."

I haven't seen this, but I was told that Battle Royale 2 was awful.

And speaking of George Lucas; Lucas Says Empire Strikes Back was the Worst of the series

WTF?

Whenever I hear about one of his Star Wars-related ideas, it's usually film-ruining shit like Jar Jar Binks and universe-destroying like Midichlorians, which have to be explained away by the fans and ignored by extended canon authors.

From a poster in another forum:

I think I saw a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff that showed Lucas having a lot of shitty ideas that got shot down really early on. C3PO as a "Greasy car-salesman type" for instance. Then when we gave him more freedom in episodes 1-3 (I didn't mind 3 as much as the first two) he puts in his "Goongas" and makes Jar Jar (his character) a part of the movie despite being told it was a bad idea.

I can totally see why he'd think TESB is the worst movie. He's always had a gigantic ego, some great ideas, and a bunch of stupid ones. My guess is that his vision for "The Empire Strikes Back" is vastly different than the movie we got. The reason the first three films were so awesome (from what I can tell) is that a lot of different people's imaginations went into them.

IIRC SW almost didn't get filmed until an artist actually drew Vader fighting someone with a lightsaber. That artists vision was sort of George's, as in George told him it was like "A big evil dude fighting this really good dude with swords of light" The first three films were as much a collaboration of the individual actors (C3PO invented his way of moving/acting I think.) and other people working on the show as much as it was George.

In episodes 1-3 George is given the world. Creative control to do whatever the ---- he wants because he made Star Wars. And he ---- it up royally because he has a bunch of shitty ideas and no one to tell him "no."

The more I learn about how the films were actually made, the more I'm pissed that George Lucas takes credit for the 70's trillogy. Those films are clearly not "George Lucas" films IMO, they are "George Lucas and a ton of dedicated, creative and ambitious people working together" films. Episodes 1-3 are George Lucas Films, because he had a lot more control. And we see what that gets us.

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For the curious, Ralph McQuarrie was the concept artist that had a bigger influence on the lasting, beloved aesthetic of the original star wars trilogy than any other person.

When Star Wars creator George Lucas was first shopping his space opera around Hollywood it was met with rejection, as studios could not envision what Lucas had in mind. That’s when the filmmaker hired McQuarrie to do concept art for his movie. According to McQuarrie’s site, when Lucas “made his pitch to Alan Ladd Jr. at 20th Century Fox he did so with a table full of Ralph’s art” and Fox is the studio that gave Lucas and Star Wars the green light.

End credits scene in the Avengers is being talked about...

No, you really don't want to know...No really.
But spoiler is below:
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For those that don't want to wait around, if you catch the "mid-credit scene' where Thanos is talkling to the alien leader, I believe that such was the original end-credit scene that everyone across the pond saw.

This is a pic the new scene
That's pretty much it.
No talking, no dialogue, just eating.
Apparently Whedon's way of making a joke out of end-credit scenes.

Avengers did indeed do the job. And yes, the Hulk did steal the movie. It was awesome to see them take the leash off and let him go apeshit.

Box office update: 'The Avengers' posts second-best opening day ever with $80.5 mil

Moviegoers assembled! Disney’s The Avengers debuted to a gargantuan $80.5 million on Friday, including $18.7 million from Thursday midnight showings, according to early estimates.

That gives the $220 million Marvel superhero film the second-largest opening day ever, behind only last year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, which earned $91.1 million its first day. It also means that the opening weekend record, also held by Deathly Hallows — Part 2 with $169.2 million, is in jeopardy. Depending on how well The Avengers holds up on Saturday and Sunday, the movie will finish the weekend somewhere between $160 million and $200 million. My guess at this point: a record-breaking $180 million.

What The Avengers really has going for it, though, is that audiences absolutely love it. The 3-D movie, which was directed by fanboy favorite Joss Whedon, earned a rare “A+” rating from CinemaScore participants. With an “A+” grade, The Avengers joins the company of such crowd-pleasing movies as Die Hard, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, A Few Good Men, Forrest Gump, The Help, The Incredibles, The King’s Speech, The Lion King, and Titanic. That’s good company to be in, and it means that even though a huge amount of people rushed out to see The Avengers on opening day, those moviegoers are now in the process of encouraging their more hesitant friends to also check out the film.

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Spoilers just because;
Seeing our heroes fight each other was classic. And the Thor vs. Hulk match even more so. And then later after they tag team against one of the giant alien things, as it died the Hulk suckerpunches Thor. And as funny as that was, when Loki squares off against the Hulk and starts ranting at him, the Hulk cuts him off by picking him up and slamming him repeatedly against the concrete ground, leaving him unconscious in a small crater. The action was startingly fast and brutal. And up to that point, almost everyone Loki had talked to had been either manipulated, dominated, deceived, or killed. The Hulk's contemptuous utterance "Puny god," was perfect.

Something that many won't know about unless you're into the comic-book genre;
The scene where Loki was finalizing that deal with that alien, and that alien's ability to inflict pain upon Loki. That alien was a subordinate to Thanos, who we see in the mid-credits scene. Fighting Thanos will be epic

I watched The Avengers last night and was definitely not disappointed.

SPOILERS: Watching Thor and Stark fight one another was probably the most exciting, seeing their strengths and weaknesses. Apparently Thor has no weaknesses! Ha. Stark was really getting pummeled. Lots of good laughs, especially when Hulk pounded the shit out of Loki. Honestly, I'd go see it again just for that one scene.

Weekend Estimate; $200.3 Million

'Avengers' Box Office: $200 Million Opening Weekend Breaks Records

Hulk, smash.

That's what Captain America tells the Incredible Hulk to do in "The Avengers," and that's what the Marvel Comics superhero mash-up did at the box office, smashing the domestic revenue record with a $200.3 million debut.

It's by far the biggest opening ever, shooting past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year's "Harry Potter" finale.

"The Avengers" added $151.5 million overseas over the weekend to bring its total to $441.5 million since it began opening internationally a week earlier.

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Wow.. How about that?



In a later comic-book, a fight between Ironman and Thor last only a few minutes. IM was put in charge of enforcing superhero registration act. And when Thor shows up, well. Thor had an easier time with others, and apparently he thought he'd be able to go toe-to-toe with him. Well, you can read that particular issue here
"Give your orders and ultimatums to those who choose to obey, or are too cowardly to fight, not to me. Or learn again the difference between a God of Thunder and a mortal man in a metal suit"

Hahaha, got to love Thor. He really put Ironman in his place!