Inclined to Opine

      Oh dear, where to start....      This film is so bad, so very bad! I didn't have particularly high expectations - hell, I didn't even have medium expectations! - but it still managed to be worse than what I was prepared for.     The writing is atrocious, the story bland, the action scenes forgettable, and the acting painful. Given that we have some heavy-hitters in the cast, I have to highlight the director: it isn't easy to make Tom Hardy AND Michelle Williams AND Riz Ahmed all act like cardboard cutouts but somehow Ruben Fleischer managed to do so, bravo! True, the dialogue must have been difficult to deliver with a straight face but I'm sure there were decent takes to choose from; all left on the editing floor, clearly.  Every component of the film is a cliché stacked on another cliché without a single original moment just to vary things up. I mean, it's almost impressive, to be this un-unique.     Not everything is doom an...

    Ah, what a difference a Whedon makes!     There's nothing like rewatching the MCU films over a matter of weeks for the importance of writers/directors to become glaringly obvious. While Iron Man and Iron Man 2 are quippy and funny by necessity (I mean, you can't really have Tony Stark without snark, right?), and both Thor and Captain America have enough humour to be in keeping with the overall style, The Avengers (Avengers Assemble in the UK) is the first film in the series to really pack a hilarity punch. For those of us still pining for Firefly, Whedon's humour in both his writing and directing are a much welcome addition to the Marvel movies (favourite line, anyone? Mine was Fury's frustrated "Is the sun coming up? Then put it on the left!").     The chemistry between the main actors is effortless, be it when they're at loggerheads or being friendly, making each interaction genuine and enjoyable.  Downey Jr. was born to play this role, Evans is ...