Reading roundup (with Seven Surrenders) and Infinity War

[hamsterwoman]

38. Jonathan Kellerman, Heartbreak Hotel -- another Alex Delaware novel. I enjoyed this one less than Motive, but it was still fun (I mean, this isn't Great Literature by any stretch, but I've read 36 of this man's books and keep reading, so he's doing something right). In this case, no particularly strong secondary characters stood out (one of the

Comments

[tinnny]

Definitely going to check out the Ada Palmer books! That looks interesting.

I'd forgotten about vormir, lol! I like Bruce, but he came across as just mumbling and rambling the whole time, which annoyed me.

[hamsterwoman]

The Ada Palmer books are fascinating and dense, but (like everybody else who likes them) I have no idea if they would work for any given person. I think you might appreciate the unreliable narrator POV, but the prose is definitely very idiosyncratic, and there's lots of terrible people, that kind of thing. It is a really fascinating world, though.

I like Bruce, but he came across as just mumbling and rambling the whole time, which annoyed me.

Same. He'd been one of my favorites in the first Avengers, and I enjoyed him even in Thor 3, but here he was just kind of... mumbly and lost, and not in a fun way.

[manue7a]

Who are Bruce and Natasha?
Do they have made-up names, then perhaps I know :D

[spiffikins]

Bruce is the non-green form of the Hulk and Natasha is the Black Widow :)

[hamsterwoman]

I had to laugh, because those two lines are basically the movie XD

[aletheiafelinea]

Solo (which... I'm not too excited about, but young Harrison Ford and that role are foundational to me, so I was always going to be a tough sell.
I'm not goint to watch and I hadn't even known it's coming, so that trailer was a surprise, but I considered it my duty to say "Pfft" on behalf of my much younger self. So, pfft. Sorry, Dear Current Actor, whoever you are, nothing personal. XD

We also got Facebooks "sorry we fucked up but we're better now!" commercial, which was rather weird.
We got some social campaign vid which passed 'rather weird' area and landed firmly in the 'cringe inducing'...

Other people have remarked that the movie feels surprisingly coherent and not-too-confusing while giving so many characters a fair bit of screentime and good character moments -- I definitely agree.I kind of think it's a pity they don't give the 'big' Oscars for blockbusters of MCU sort, because frankly, in purely technical terms the Russos pulled off quite a feat of good directing. Not their fault that MCU doesn't belong in the Oscar drama

[hamsterwoman]

Sorry, Dear Current Actor, whoever you are, nothing personal. XD

Pretty much this, yes XD He seems like a perfectly nice kid! But come on. :P

We got some social campaign vid which passed 'rather weird' area and landed firmly in the 'cringe inducing'...

Huh. I wonder what's bringing them all out of the woodwork...

I consider what they did a good example of "do your job best you can, no matter what job it is".

Yes, it was definitely an impressive way to juggle a huge cast and multiple storylines and strike a good balance of catching up people who haven't been following every movie (B has been watching sporadically, and he was fine) and payoff for the people who have watched everything multiple times. Good job all around!

To my surprise, I found 'Homecoming' one of most enjoyable in MCUSame! And I'm glad to hear that you liked Peter there because I do seem to recall you being annoyed by him in Civil War. Anyway, we all think Holland is a wonderful Spider-Man, and he and his friends actually look and act like high school kids,

[aletheiafelinea]

He seems like a perfectly nice kid!
Yes, and that's actually a disadvantage in this case... XD

Anyway, we all think Holland is a wonderful Spider-Man
Not an expert on Spider-Man here, but he's an actually convincing teen. Wait, this sounded like I'm an expert on teens...

and he and his friends actually look and act like high school kids, which is really refreshing.
This. And humor, actually funny instead of forced and icky.

And his dynamic with Tony is really cute.
Right, you reminded me it had much more Tony than I actually expected, so I was happy on all fronts. :D

I just remembered the scene in this one where Tony "knights" him while pronouncing/promoting him to Avenger.
Yep, I noticed that, too. *g*
ETA
btw, this

And, ahaha, I'm sorry the new spider-legs were too realistically spidery for your enjoyment. XD
Not like I didn't love the idea and execution, actually. ;D

I normally like guys with long hair and beards, right?
Very much right, same here, and...
But Steve I prefer cleanshaven and trim. *shrug*...that fits him more,

[hamsterwoman]

Not an expert on Spider-Man here, but he's an actually convincing teen. Wait, this sounded like I'm an expert on teens...

Haha, well, as a parent of two of them, I can confirm that he does make a convincing teen :) And, yeah, I really like the humour, which is not that common in a movie with teen protagonists.

btw, this

Oh... OH! Oh man, as if that scene needed to be any more heart-breaking... :(

I never really liked it on him, and B. I saw him now and was "OMG", so... :)

It actually took me a little while to get used to Chris Evans's Cap look, because I originally knew him as The Human torch from the Fantastic Four movies. But sandy-haired, bulked up Cap grew on me over time :)

(My "OMG"s are taken up by RDJ in Iron Man 1, so I guess I didn't need another one :P)

Gathering foot soldiers and letting them go medieval on each other as the crown of battle tactic in Highly Advanced AliensTM vs supposedly The Most Developed Country on EarthTM doesn't make much sense to start with anyway..True XD I guess it just needed to be

[spiffikins]

Yay Infinity War!

I am crossing my fingers that Loki comes back! I'm pretty confident that Gamora is trapped in the orangey-world of the Soulstone - along with all the other "poof" deaths. Unless they end up using the Time stone to just...undo everything in the next movie?

Bruce's story is at least some character development - after spending a bunch of time in Thor3 as Hulk and being lauded and admired - he gets absolutely CRUSHED in 3 seconds by Thanos - it's the first time he's ever just been beaten down. My take is that Hulk is sulking because he's scared and just doesn't want to get hurt anymore.

Vomit = Vomir in french though - no extra 'r' :)

I am totally going to see those spaceships as "hamsterwheels of death" now though! That's totally apt!

[hamsterwoman]

Unless they end up using the Time stone to just...undo everything in the next movie?

They could, I guess, but that would be a) just silly and b) they've already used this gimmick in Doctor Strange, so, I doubt that's what they'll do. All the poofed characters trapped in the Soulstone world with Gamora makes sense... Or, IDK, maybe some other alternate reality type place, but you probably can't have too many of those at once.

My take is that Hulk is sulking because he's scared and just doesn't want to get hurt anymore.

Hmmm, I suppose that would be consistent with Hulk's rather toddler-like persona. I'm intrigued, but was kind of disappointed by how Bruce was acting in this one. I mean, I like Bruce way more than I like Hulk, normally, but not in this movie... :/ He was just kind of extraneous and pathetic here.

I am totally going to see those spaceships as "hamsterwheels of death" now though!Sorry/you're welcome! :D This shall be our contribution to Infinity War discourse :D

[lyssa027]

My review for the movie was here: https://jamielyssa.net/2018/04/29/avengers-infinity-war/

[hamsterwoman]

Thank you for the link! I enjoyed your review, the comic arc insight, and the HP midnight premiere reminiscing :)