I’m not sure how to say this without 92% of people out there (according to RottenTomatoes.com) thinking I’m a complete idiot, so I’ll just say it. The Avengers was a mishmash pile of poo. There, I said it. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy moments (brief as they have may been), but quite honestly if someone asked whether it’s worth seeing in theaters I would say “Yes. If you miss the first hour and a half.” So basically, yeah, I enjoyed most of the last act is what I’m trying to say. 

I have enjoyed pretty much every Marvel film leading up to this. Iron Man 1 and 2, Thor, Captain America, etc… Seriously, these movies balanced believability with awesome comic book fun. The Avengers, on the other hand, was simply tedious in every way. I love Joss Whedon as a filmmaker because of the passion he has, not necessarily the work he shoots. He has created some great series with characters a lot of people love. Buffy, Firefly, etc… But when you look at the genres these shows are in and the networks they played on, you have to realize that his style doesn’t necessarily bode well for a film that can be taken seriously. From the writing, to the actor direction, to (soooo obvious to me) the unrefined and sometimes SyFy Channelesque filming style, it was largely a difficult watch.

Those who know me know that I like pretty much every genre, and that I appreciate when a comic genre can ground itself and become believable,all whilst still having fun. In fact I find myself often saying “The filmgoing audience needs to stop taking every film so seriously and expecting another Dark Knight. They need to realize that some movies can just be for popcorn fun.” I would have loved it had “The Avengers” done this. The problem is that so much FUN is sucked out by it trying to take itself too seriously. It’s one thing to have a bit of cheese in a movie like this, it’s another when you force great actors to read terrible one-liners in a scene that we’re suppose to care about and feel for our characters.

And boy oh boy, did they try to get me to love those characters and feel for their emotional struggles. I LOVE Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo… I felt like they were in a soap opera in this though.   *mini spoiler alert*    I won’t give anything away, but I will say this… The first hour is an hour of bickering and fighting between superheroes as if they were a bunch of 20-somethings on Jersey Shore. That’s literally what the first hour is. I can get bickering at home thank you very much. But to Whedon’s credit, I’m not sure how any directors could actually make a film with an ensemble of superheroes work anyway.  

And lastly, to the film’s credit, it is consistent; consistently monotonous, forced and largely boring despite an hour’s worth of a massive “seen it already” visual effects orgasm that splashes all across the screen with no downtime. If only I could wipe it out of my eyes and move onto the next Captain America, Thor and Iron Man.

A few test photos with my new strobe kit.

Daring, Edgy, Suspenseful, Visceral, Heart-Pounding and Understatedly Over-the-Top. A mishmash of 80’s sensibilities that is either too much of an artsy gimmick or a legitimate story-driven approach. But if all else fails, if you like watching Ryan Gosling stare/gaze for long periods of time, then this is your movie. 89 pages of him gazing pensively, 1 page of dialogue. And it works.

Hitchcock suspense meets “Training Day”. If you’re game, this may very well be my first feature film.

New spot! Hope you all like green screen and lens flares!

Last year I released a music video called SUPERNOVA. It was a real challenge to make on relatively no budget and very much became a passion project that took me months of free time to complete. The video to date has had a lot of great feedback, but there is one thing that is driving me insane: everybody keeps bringing up Andrew Kramer thinking that either  (A) he made the video or (B) I copied his work or (C) I followed all of his tutorials.

Not that many people will even read this, but let me make something clear… not only did I make this, but I didn’t follow any of Andrew Kramer’s VideoCopilot tutorials. Andrew Kramer is a cool guy and I was certainly familiar with his website and tutorials. But the only thing SUPERNOVA and Andrew have in common is that I contacted him months before his OPTICAL FLARES After Effects filter was released and asked if I could be the first to test it. He was kind enough to let me be the guinea pig for an awesome tool he created.

Aside from that, SUPERNOVA was very much my creation, my style, my vision… Any similarities to Andrew’s work are more than anything a result of two talented people with a similar taste in digital filmmaking artistry. If you watch my portfolio of work (www.themartymartin.com) you will see that my work has a vast range of styles, but still maintains an overall slick, Hollywood feel - not unlike the work of Andrew Kramer - which goes back years before he even started his website/tutorials.

I know it makes no difference that I posted this, but I at least wanted to get it off my chest.