The Avengers: "We have a Hulk"

"But let's do a head count here. your brother the demi-god, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

Two words: Tony Stark. What resembled Transformers: Dark of the Moon in terms of breath-taking cinematography, the action-packed thrill and the dark apocalyptic atmosphere became more than just what thirteen-year-old teenagers and Marvel fanatics lined up for; even their girlfriends and self-proclaimed geeks like me itched to watch Joss Whedon's block-buster hit and most-awaited movie of the year The Avengers.

And it's all because of the intellectual and witty humor--that Ironman has become overly famous for in his two movies--infused in the dim and end-of-the-world plot. And even though the laugh-off-the-seat punchlines were 90% Tony Stark, the other Avengers and even Loki had their own funny moments to contribute--they are a team after all--how Thor immediately denied that he and Loki are true brothers when Black Widow told him Loki has killed 80 people in two days; how Captain America, Thor and Ironman wrestled like real ten-year-old kids fighting over a precious in-demand action-figure doll (aka Loki) (Thor: Do not touch me again! Tony: Then don't touch my stuff.), and how Steve Rogers aka Captain America always boiled over Tony's witty sass-mouthing (Steve: Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you? Tony: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.)

As we witnessed how Tony Stark also idolized The Hulk very much he even invited him to visit Stark Tower (his candyland), we also witnessed the end of the world as it is when Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson, Ironman) activated the Tesseract at the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, a hypercube with a powerful energy source and opened a portal releasing exiled Norse god Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Thor). With plans of conquering Earth, he stole the Tesseract and manipulated  Hawkeye and astrophysicist Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) to help him escape and collect Iridium for the Tesseract needed to stabilize it.

With The Avengers' Initiative (which served as epilogue scene for all Marvel Hero movies involved in this movie), Nick Fury assembled Black Widow ( Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to stop Loki with his plan of wiping out the entire planet with the Tesseract. Complications immediately exploded with Thor interrupting the mission as he still had "unfinished business" with his brother, and all members--especially Tony and Steve--having "friendship" issues.

They managed to capture Loki but worse misunderstandings followed when Tony and Dr. Bruce Banner (aka Hulk) (friends as they immediately became mainly because they spoke the same "language") were able to breach Nick's security files and found out that The Avengers and the Tesseract were to be used by the government to create nuclear weapons, thus making them "not a team, but a time bomb".

Just as the heroes were caught off-guard, Loki's army attacked their ship led by Hawkeye, where Dr. Banner finally lost control, threatening and attacking not only the enemies but also Thor and Black Widow as well, and hard-core enemies Captain America and Ironman had to work together to keep the ship from crashing. Thor faced his brother Loki again, but fell into his trap and fell from the ship.

Tony's agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, Ironman) tried to stop Loki but was killed in the process, and together with Nick's "dramatic" scheme  because the Avengers needed "a push in the right direction", the team reunited to finish the job and save the world.

Led by Captain America, the battle began as Loki, with Prof. Selvig's assistance assembled the Tesseract to open the portal that led to the world of the Chitauri, the alien race Loki recruited and released his army that all brought me back to the plot and the Decepticon aliens of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In the end, Black Widow was able to close the portal using Loki's Tesseract staff just seconds before Ironman delivered his atomic bomb (which was released by the government to destroy Manhattan) to Chitauri portal.

Movie review: "Down to earth Thor"

Mighty is the king who is humble.

Science is evolution, but the question remains whether we are truly alone in this universe or not. Marvel Pictures gave us an interesting theory in the face of a mythological realm called Asgard, and sent us not only a king named Thor (2011, directed by Kenneth Branagh) who gained a change of heart, but also a hero who achieved humility.

He only wanted to make his father proud. As he itched for battle and chased off exciting adventures with his friends, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the hammer-wielding and thunder god of Norse mythology became a bigheaded war freak he even made himself get banished from Asgard after he triggered the war against the Frost Giants.

Somehow it's always a personal success of wanting to make his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) proud, and it paid him a visit to the human world to learn a thing or two. All of a  sudden he felt powerless and vulnerable after finding out he couldn't use his mighty hammer, and about his father's death. Learning to cope up with his new realm, he met Jane (Natalie Portman, The Other Woman), a scientist, and got along with her while they make deals to help each other out.

The greatest battle he'd always dreamed of was yet to come, as he was forced to save two worlds in the condition of being a weak human. Thor's humility was proven when he asked his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to forgive him and spare the innocent people on earth and on Asgard, even though he didn't know what he had done wrong to him.

A tragic history was dramatically infused as Loki hated his father for lying about his true identity, discovering he was not a son at all possessing the blood of a Frost Giant. But then we also saw how much he loved his father, saying he can rightfully hold the throne as king by conquering both the human world and Asgard.

Just like Thor, all Loki wanted was to make his father proud. I believe this is the major conflict in the story that set it all in motion. It was sad enough when their mother told Loki why Odin lied to him; because they didn't want him to feel different.

On the other hand, the movie also gave us a bunch of laughs especially when Thor was exploring the human world. I would never forget the scene when he went to a pet shop and demanded for a horse, and when he asked for more of his drink and smashed the mug into pieces.

My mentor Ms. Josephine Bonsol kept telling me to watch the movie, and it's definitely all thumbs up!

PIXAR @25: The Incredibles "No capes!"

Sometimes when our family becomes our weakness, it becomes our strength.

The movie's inpiration coined from director Brad Bird deeply moved me, as, for some reason I could relate to the concept of being torn between two things and thinking there's nothing left but to choose, when in fact I didn't have to at all.

With Pixar's release of The Incredibles (2004, directed by Brad Bird) came another touching but hilarious feature film for worldwide audiences of all ages. And for the first time our childhood characters were all clad as human beings in real superhero costumes. Another first time? They're a family of supers.

To complete the debut celebration, we witnessed how, surprisingly, heroes were despised after the innocent majority decided Mr. Incredible and the rest of the "mutants" destroyed enough of the city and they should stop their work. "Blending in" became the heroes' motto since then as they hid their identities and powers amongst millions of civilians.

As Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible, voiced by Craig Nelson) itched for some action and chased his old dream as a famed superhero, he didn't know the price he'd pay for--his family. Suddenly we witness it's not about saving the city we've long perceived in a hero routine, but saving his family instead.

It didn't take long for Bob to realize he could do what he loves without leaving his family behind, because in times when he's weak, his wife and children were his strength.

I was taught that in a family, it's about giving part of yourself to each one while also leaving a part for your self-growth. When both parties have fully accepted it, the concept of sacrifice and difficult decisions would hardly exist anymore.

"I can't lose you again!" This scene when Bob tried hard to say he wanted to work alone because he couldn't risk losing his family again always makes me cry, thinking how his family could weigh a thousand times more than his passion as a superhero.

I'll never forget Edna's (Brad Bird) comical advice as well, saying there should be no cape in Bob's new suit, given the tragic endings of most heroes because of their capes.

Maybe Bob's family did weigh a lot more than his life-long dream, because his wife and kids were already his dream come true.

THE INCREDIBLES Fact Sheet

1. The movie's inspiration came from director Brad Bird, sewing it from his experiences when he struggled to meet the demands of his family and his mounting opportunities in filmmaking.

2. The Incredibles is the very first Pixar feature film to use human cast, with the character's attitutdes adapted from Bird's family members (click here for detailed story).

3. Pixar created Universal Man, a highly "morphable" model capable of creating hundreds of unique background and side characters for the movie.

4. It reaped an Academy Award for Best Animated Film and Best Sound Editing. It also became Pixar's second highest grossing film with more than $629M in worldwide box office receipts.