Assorted Trivia for AV2....

Rating: 9/10 (25 April 2015)

Can this film possibly "not" succeed? No. Even if it were a bomb (which it is most definitely not) tens of millions of fans would see it anyway. So it was a guaranteed hit. Nice work if you can get it.
Best line? "I support your avenging." (Mrs. Hawkeye)
Second Best line? "You get hurt. Hurt em back. You get killed. Walk it off." (CA)
Third Best? "Well I was born yesterday." (you know who)
Honorable mention? "Beep beep" (Natasha on her cycle, mimicking her horn, trying to warn pedestrians)
Why did Spader get the Ultron gig? Because of his incredible work in Blacklist. (See it)
What's the best part of this (somewhat long) movie? The back-and-forth between the characters, a Whedon trademark. And of course the action scenes. Possibly the best ever filmed.
What's the worst part? The 40 minute "dead zone" after the Bond-style opening, where the Avengers try to make like it's Happy Hour at the local bar.
Which actor consistently shines? Downey. He is the smartass each of secretly wants to hang out with.
Which actor suffers the most in group play? Thor. The gravitas of being a God gets lost in team work.
Name a massively over-exposed actor who finally got under-exposed? Sam Jackson.
What could we have lived without? "Explaining" to the audience why characters like Pepper Potts were "unavailable" for the story (or possibly too expensive even for a quick cameo)
What is Whedon's greatest enhancement to the Marvel backstory? The romance between Natasha and Hulk.
What is Whedon's strangest tweak? Killing Pietro. The boys at the X-Men franchise will not be happy.
Is this a better movie than AV1? No, but it is just as good. (It tries harder but has pacing issues).
Who wins at the end? The studio. And Joss Whedon who BOTH wrote and directed what could be the biggest money-maker in history. Somewhere in Hollywood, JJ Abrams is actually getting nervous.
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UPDATED Jan 16 -- OK, so JJ deconstructed the original Star Wars script scene by scene (something no one else had ever bothered to do) and rebuilt it into the 2015 relaunch of Star Wars. And nailed it. The viewer experience, the pacing, is dead-on. And oh by the way produced the fastest film in history to hit 1.0 billion in ticket sales. So disregard the last line of the original review above. JJ is no longer nervous.