Nerd in the 'Noke

Originally I thought that I might try and use this week leading up to the release of The Avengers to re-watch each of the five Marvel films that directly feed into this weekends film (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger).  It doesn't look like there will be time due to previous engagements so I thought that I would do the next best thing: dig through my personal movie review archives and share my thoughts on these five films with everyone in a countdown fashion.  Not all of these have appeared here on my blog.  Some pre-date the blog and were originally posted on myspace.  So here we go (in chronological order by release date), number one on the countdown to The Avengers: Iron Man Iron Man (2008), PG-13, 126 minutes -  The comic book nerd in me has never been a big fan of the Tony Stark/Iron Man character, but I've been looking forward to this movie since the teaser was released months ago. Not only did the...

The Cabin in the Woods (2011), R, 95 minutes - The horror genre generally isn't at the top of my list when it is time to decide what is worth dropping hard earned cash on, but The Cabin in the Woods was the exception for me last weekend for a couple of reasons: 1) My girlfriend wanted to see it.  In all honesty, this is really the only reason that matters, although the following reasons didn't hurt either. 2) An old roommate - who has a very good idea of what my horror/slasher threshold is -  recommended it highly. 3) Joss Whedon co-wrote The Cabin in the Woods with director Drew Goddard.  And like most nerdy folk, I believe that most everything Whedon touches is amazing. So for one of the few times in my life, I found myself really looking forward to a horror flick in the theater. The Cabin in the Woods is a highly enjoyable film.  It acknowledges and plays with typical horror stereotypes while telling a story that keeps you guessing (or at least wonderi...

The Hunger Games (2012), PG-13, 142 minutes - A year ago, an old college friend had recommended that I read The Hunger Games. I did, and I couldn't put the book down (or either of its two sequels).  After reading the trilogy by Suzanne Collins, I eagerly waited for the movie that had been announced that would star a very good young actress named Jennifer Lawrence who had received a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars for Winter's Bone  and who had also been in last summer's blockbuster  X-Men: First Class .  This all lead to Gary Ross's big screen adaptation ranking #2 on my most anticipated movies of 2012 list  earlier this year and it didn't disappoint. For those not familiar with the books, The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian nation known as Panem (basically a post apocalyptic North America) in which the all of the rich and privileged folk live in the Capital which runs the country.  The rest of the country is split into 12 districts,...