Avengers
There's a lot to talk about in the Avengers and I probably won't mention everything I mean to.
First, a question: scene towards the end, Thor and Hulk are fighting aliens, they reach a breather where they've taken down all enemies for the moment. Did Hulk hit Thor to the side because he's Hulk and therefore kind of a jerk, or did he hit Thor as a comradely "punch on the shoulder" gesture that just went really wrong?
I want to talk a little about what went wrong, first, because what went wrong is fairly limited compared to what went right.
I don't like Cap's modern era suit. It just looks... like a costume, I guess. I wasn't a huge fan of his WWII era outfit in the first movie either, but this one just looks bad. "Would you rather yellow spandex?"
I think that the plot line about Hawkeye being taken over by Loki might have been better if we gave a damn about Hawkeye before this movie. Yes, he had a scene or two in Thor but come on. I know a "Hawkeye" movie probably wouldn't have made a lot of bank but there was very little emotional investment in whether or not he recovers.
Okay, what went right:
The Hulk. Good lord, why haven't the other Hulk movies succeeded at portraying the character like this one did? I have one theory: in the 2 fairly recent Hulk movies, Hulk was not really a hero, he was an antagonist. The main action sequences may have been Hulk v. the army, but the real struggle was Bruce v. getting angry. In this movie, Hulk had slightly (not much) but slightly more intelligence and was capable of being a hero. And in the end, I think that's what we want out of a movie Hulk. His ongoing comics can portray the angst better than a 2 hour movie.
Iron Man v. Thor: This scene was well done because it was clear that Tony was going to lose. Tony was going to try his hardest, but he couldn't do much more than throw Thor around, and even then he couldn't hurt him. And yet Tony's armor was getting beat. And while that may not be important in the grand scheme of things, it stated very clearly the following: Tony is a great mortal, sure, but Thor is a God.
Loki: at the end of "Thor", Loki kinda lost it and became a scenery chewing caricature. In this movie, he's still clearly crazy, but he's back to being a good, interesting kind of evil.
Reasoning: Its an accepted truth that when heroes meet for the first time, they fight. The reasoning is often stretched beyond reason. Here, the reasoning is certainly a bit flimsy, but not totally so. Iron Man had a reason to fight Thor. And the group squabble scene, everyone had legitimate reasons to be mad about things... though while not stated, I imagine that Loki's staff didn't help.
Pretty much everything else: This movie isn't going to win any Oscars (except for effects) but its solidly made in most respects. A lot of Whedon touches without going overboard, so it didn't feel like Buffy or the like. Its not high art, but its a well done example of what it is.