Yep. And maybe I am a bit more favourable to the movie than I should be here, because really, degree of difficulty shouldn't matter - we're not judging Olympic diving here.

But I walked out of Avengers having pretty much unreservedly enjoyed myself for a change (in comparison to other blockbusters these last few years). My second thought was about what pitfalls Whendon had avoided - what a juggling act he had achieved.

For contrast, I walked out of The Dark Knight thinking that it was an impressive film, and then immediately thinking "but hey, wait-a-minute... how did that make sense??"

I think Bane is to Batman what Doomsday is to Superman, yes? He's a character-as-MacGuffin. In as much as people care that Bane is going to be the villain in The Dark Knight Rises it's because he's the character DC decided would break Batman's back.

Bane might end up being an interesting character in TDKR, but if so that will be because of Nolan's take on him.

Allen, you constantly express absolutely certainty about things, like how people get hired to write and direct a big budget motion picture, which your own statements prove you have neither the experience nor education to comment upon.

Mike

Mrs. Lawson and I saw "The Avengers."

Great fun! Kick-ass action, terrific interplay between the characters, and the Hulk-Loki fight was fanboy-gasm-inducing.

Probably our favorite superhero moobie yet, though I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the original "Superman" movie with the late Christopher Reeve.

I'm not gonna go back and read six pages full of Allen complaining about the empty bubblegum of CGI and why the world is going to hell in a handbasket this is just the sort of bullshit that ruins everything and hey you kids get off my lawn or I'm calling the cops. The man's entitled to his opinion. And no, this isn't highbrow cinema, which most of us also enjoy.

But for anyone here who hasn't seen "The Avengers" yet, my take is, it's great fun.

That's our Allen!

This is how he chased our hearts into the traffic of love.

I was talking to a guy at the Avengers screening, who has a theory the whole "finality" theme circling overhead of Dark Knight Rises, is just setting up a world where Wayne is retired/missing/presumed dead so they can do an adaptation of Miller's Dark Knight Returns. And instead of the gangs being neo-nazis they are all Banes.

That has got to be the best scene since Raiders of the lost Ark, where the swordsman prepares for a huge fight scene and then Indy just shoots the guy.

If that's all it was I don't think anyone would begrudge him almost any opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Allen however believes everyone is entitled to his opinions.

Please. I was following the making of The Gift very closely, as I was already a fan of Raimi and really enjoyed A Simple Plan. I was right there when Raimi's assistant (who was also Kate Blanchett's assistant — Raimi didn't even have his own assistant) received the call. He then gave his American Express to the assistant and told him to buy every Spider-Man comic in the store. Later I read an interview with Raimi who said he was not even on Sony's short list of directors in consideration for Spider-Man (since Cameron had turned them down) and it was as much a surprise to him as it was to everyone else that he had been selected.

But I know how you love using big words you don't know the meanings of, so keep right on calling me "ignorant."

I said you people are easily assuaged by glossy CGI crap, not ignorant.