DVD review: Marvel Avengers Assemble

a (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in Avengers Assemble. Picture: Zade Rosenthal

"Phil Coulson died believing in that idea, in heroes. Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

Old fashioned it may be, but there's a reason we love superheroes so much, and it's all here in Marvel Avengers Assemble.

Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk and Thor, they may not be a conventional view of heroes but that's the reason they work so well. Each has as many flaws as the average human being, but their actions elevate them to the status of superheroes.

I haven't seen the previous films leading up to Avengers Assemble, and while I think I would have benefitted from viewing them, this was still a brilliant watch.

The Avengers are brought together to fight Loki, an egotistical almost-god who wants to wreak havoc on earth as some twisted form of revenge for his own shortcomings. He harnesses the power of the Tesseract to open a portal that brings an army of mutant things and giant flying centipede types flowing into New York.

The film gets off to an action-packed start, with the blowing up of a research facility and the escape of Loki with the Tesseract. Having no other option Nick Fury, director of international peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D, calls together the Avengers.

What follows is two and a bit hours of spectacle and amazing fight scenes, all held together with a simple but effective plot - the good guys must win.

The numerous fight scenes, which are essential to the story, never seem gratuitous. Instead, they show us more and more about the characters, about their motivations and emotional states and their struggles to be who they want to be, and who society expects them to be.

Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). Picture: Zade Rosenthal

The effects are amazing. So much of what we see on screen is actually green screen, yet the actors never look out of place or awkward.

Directed by Joss Whedon, who has a history of just being brilliant (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, etc) Avengers Assemble was never going to be a film afraid to gear itself towards sci-fi geeks - there are so many little details that would make the geekiest of fanboys and girls (like me) happy. Among the bits geared towards geeks is the launch of the giant S.H.I.E.L.D ship into the air, which is all the more jaw-dropping as you see it through the eyes of some of the characters unused to S.H.I.E.L.D. Yet at the same time, the film is mainstream enough that the average viewer wouldn't feel confused watching what's going on.

For all its high tech scenes, the best moments are those which show the heroes at their most human, or that involve those who have no super powers - Captain America and Iron Man constantly arguing, the Black Widow having to recall her past, even Loki's egotistical, sometimes childish attitude is an all-too-familiar human reaction, although magnified.

The most emotional moment for me came during a very human scene of loss and hope featuring one of the only non-superhero characters we get to know - the aforementioned Phil Coulson. It's Agent Coulson who inspires the superheroes the most, showing the real power belongs to those who seemingly have no power.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Picture: Zade Rosenthal

On the opposite end of the scale to the kind, principled Agent Coulson is Loki, the maniacal baddie of the film. Yet, I still loved him. Tom Hiddleston created a bad guy who really drew you in, and however heinous his behaviour there was always something compelling about him - the mark of a truly successful bad guy. Ultimately though, like the best bad guys, it was his need to be more that led to his downfall.

Unconventionally the end of the film wasn't the usual bad guys die, good guys prevail and are heroes kind of thing. It was much more complicated than that, and all the better for not adhering to cliche.

Avengers Assemble is two and a bit hours of pure adrenaline, a real rush to watch, and I can't wait for the sequel.

Glee recap/review: The Role You Were Born to Play

The Break Up recap/review

It's been five weeks since Glee was last on our screens, and I've missed it. Even though The Role You Were Born to Play felt a little like a placeholder of an episode, I was glad to have Glee back on my screen in any form, and the episode was a fun placeholder, featuring some development and good set ups for future plot lines.

Let's get the sad stuff out of the way first. When we last saw them, some of our Glee couples weren't doing too well. Finn and Rachel broke up, but I don't much care about them together, and so did Santana and Brittany, who I like but who didn't feature in this episode.

And then there were Kurt and Blaine. The latter cheated on the former and at the end of the last episode they were in a state of limbo, with Blaine unsure they'd broken up. The small flame of hope inside me died this week when Blaine confirmed the couple had parted ways (at least for now). So Blaine was feeling sad.

If Blaine was a painting this week he'd be the sad clown with a tear running down his face. He was tragically funny this week, and that works because, remember, Glee is actually a comedy, and not a full-on drama. While I love a bit of Blangst, that mostly exists in fandom and not so much in canon, at least not continuously. Sure, Blaine's heartbroken, but the way we see it on screen is the Glee way, not the Glee fandom way.

He did turn rather dramatic after singing Hopelessly Devoted (a not entirely appropriate song lyrically for the situation, since he cheated), but I'd have liked to see a bit more guilt for what he did alongside the sadness (since he cheated), although he does take responsibility for the break up. I'm sure he's feeling guilty, but I don't think that was portrayed through the writing. Still, the way it was handled fit well into the episode. 

I liked that Blaine was confiding in Sam, showing he's making real friends outside of Kurt. I liked that he realised he couldn't handle playing a big part in the musical, showing he's realising he can't be full on and who everyone wants him to be all the time, and that the role he was born to play is himself. Now I'm hoping we'll see this development continue around Blaine becoming his own person, instead of the Blaine in KurtandBlaine.

I'm also hoping next week we'll get to see some of Kurt's reaction to The Break Up (yes, it takes capital letters).

So now on to happier stuff, which was mainly the rest of the episode, aside from a blip or two.

It was lovely to see Mike and Mercedes back, even though I don't understand how these kids have the money to be flying back and forth. Their rendition of Born to Hand Jive with the McKinley gang was full of energy and had that old New Directions fizz that used to come out in the upbeat group numbers.

I thought the competition for roles in Grease was fierce, and it was good to see the right people winning out for once. Unique and Marley both deserved their roles after their rendition of Blow Me (One Last Kiss), and I liked new guy Ryder (but more on him later).

Finn as the head of New Directions isn't something I'm entirely on board with, since I don't really see the Finn that is constantly referred to by other characters as inspirational and brave and so on. He might have displayed it this episode by casting Unique as Rizzo, but he also displayed his insensitive, idiotic side when he called Sue's baby something he really shouldn't have. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but using that word shows Finn hasn't quite grown up yet. Perhaps, though, this opportunity to be a leader will actually be the making of him, and finally show me what the other characters are talking about when they talk about admiring Finn.

As I said before, I liked new character Ryder - he's already displaying all the qualities Finn supposedly had and he's only been in the show five minutes. I liked that he called Kitty out on her behaviour straight away, would Finn have done that when we first met him? No. I liked that he was throwing shapes by the side of the football field, unselfconscious about who he is. I liked that he knows he's not academically strong, and he's really, really trying to change that. And while Jake may have been jealous to see Ryder and Marley talking, I liked that for the moment he's just a guy that's a friend to everyone, and not immediately being made into one of a pair.

I even, and this is unusual for me, liked the scenes with Will and Emma. I love Emma, but I'm lukewarm when it comes to Will, and have been heading towards cooler temperatures for a while. This week he was frustrating as usual for a while, trying to force Emma to go to Washington with him even though she told him didn't want to go. But then he finally noticed something was wrong, sat down, and listened. And the two of them worked out what they're going to do.

As a comparison, Will and Emma's discussion of staying together despite the distance sort of mirrored Kurt and Blaine's discussions on the same topic. But note that Will and Emma created practical solutions about switching who visited who every weekend, meaning they'd still see each other, while Kurt and Blaine decided to rely on text and phone and Skype, all methods that link people on the surface but actually remind you that you're apart at the same time (and Blaine's cheating was largely down to his feelings about being physically apart from Kurt, since Blaine shows affection in a physical way).

And finally for this episode, Sue was back. Yes, she's been in Glee all along, but Sue was back to some of her season one glory - all quips and meanness and comments about Will's hair. But there was also some of the sensitive Sue we've come to love, who revealed briefly that her objection to casting Unique as Rizzo was because she didn't want the teenager subjected to a hard time. I like this Sue, and I'm hoping she stays.

This episode, as I said right at the beginning, felt like a bit of a placeholder for me. Its purpose was to introduce a new character, change a few things around and set up for next week's Grease episode. That's when we'll get the real action, but in the meantime The Role You Were Born to Play was a good homecoming for Glee after a long break.

Best scene
A difficult one this week since just one scene didn't really stand out for me, so I've picked some of the cute moments I liked throughout the episode. I loved the little pieces about why certain characters were going for certain roles or not. I loved Shannon giving advice to Emma, and that the writers hadn't forgotten about her past with Cooter. I liked the interaction between Mike and Tina, although I'd have to see more of that. As a general note, I'd like to see more Tina, but I'm almost resigned to the fact that she's just a side role now.

Glee recap/review: The New Rachel

Forget the new Rachel, this is the new Glee - more grown up, more sophisticated, but still knows how to have fun.

With its season four premiere, Glee went back to somewhere close to its best, piling in a raft of stuff and giving us a lot to think about, but never crossing that line into too much or just plain ridiculous.

Season three of Glee was really hit and miss (more of the latter than the former), with just a few stand out episodes and then a lot of crap that made fans want to tear their hair out and never watch again. I know the only reason I stayed watching were out of loyalty, and having seen the first episode of season four, The New Rachel, I'm glad I did.

My reservations about the Rachel in New York/everyone else in Ohio split were allayed somewhat. There was a good balance between the two worlds, and with Kurt now finally in New York, that balance will hopefully continue throughout the series.

It seemed like Rachel's story of growing up and moving on influenced all of Glee - the writers realised the show needed to grow up a bit too.

And of course growing up doesn't happen overnight, so the New Directions in Ohio still had to show us their childish side. But they, after an initial show of immaturity, showed strength and wisdom, yet it was all done in a realistic teenage way. Sure, there will be difficult times ahead and more fights over solos, but for now the glee clubbers have realised what's important to them - each other.

But what the battle to be the new Rachel showed was that actually everyone possesses Rachel's qualities, that they all have that same star quality she does, it just manifests itself in different ways.

While New Directions were fighting over who got to be the new Rachel, Rachel was trying to figure out who the new Rachel was. Still talented, but now a small fish in a very big pond. I thought she was miles less irritating than she was in season three, and perhaps taking her away from the other characters and putting her in an unfamiliar world means we get to see the real Rachel, and not just a carefully constructed star.

That real Rachel was trying to break through all episode, but she finally got through in a tear-filled phone call with Kurt, confessing her insecurities and fears. It's the first time I think we've seen the real Rachel, and I liked it.

Talking of Kurt, oh darling, I'm so glad you're in New York. Making the best of things has always been Kurt's strength, but he couldn't fool those closest to him. In a very sweet scene (the most adorable of the episode) Blaine told Kurt he needed to go to New York, that staying in Ohio was hurting him, And he topped it all off by singing to Kurt in the school courtyard. That's Kurt and Blaine's thing - Blaine sings to Kurt in the courtyard and the two come to a realisation that's good for everyone. Especially cute was the way the couple slightly mocked the tradition, with rolled eyes and sly smiles.

While Blaine was cheering up Kurt, he was also competing with the New Directions. He was rightfully named the new Rachel - he has the qualities needed in leadership and that charm to lead everyone through. And he's just so, so adorable.

Marley is a good addition to New Directions, and once everyone got over their egos, they really all pulled together as a group. I loved the scene where Marley and Unique (woo) were "welcomed" to New Directions with slushees - they may be winners but they're still the same old New Directions, and that's really not a bad thing. I'd rather be in glee club surrounded by friends who'll clean me up after I've had a face full of red ice than a cheerleader with hair tied back so tight I've got a permanent headache and have to take it out on others.

In addition, Marley and her mum's relationship was cute, and could be this season's Kurt and Burt (although the latter can never be replaced). The two taught the glee club a lesson, but it wasn't done in a heavy-handed manner. And talking of Marlie and relationships, I can't wait to see what happens between her and Jake.

The introduction of new characters was done well. I got enough of a glimpse of Jake, Marley and Brody to want more, but I felt like the old characters weren't sacrificed for the shiny new ones. And hello Wade/Unique, I'm glad you've come to New Directions.

This episode wasn't crammed with musical numbers, which worked really well. I felt the plot took priority over the music, which is how it should be. Yes, Glee is a musical show, but the music should always enhance and never overshadow. That's exactly what it did this week.

Call Me Maybe showed the glee clubbers at their most playful and competitive.

Americano/Dance Again told us more about Cassandra July's character than she could have done in a 40 minute monologue - talented, gorgeous, but so, so lost and lonely and ever so slightly bitter.

Blaine's rendition of It's Time was a song about letting go, telling Kurt exactly what he needed to hear and showing us how much these two kids understand each other.

Never Say Never showed us just how smooth Jake's voice was, and just how smooth he can be, while the aftermath of his number showed us he's most definitely related to Puck.

New York State of Mind showed us both Rachel and Marley finding themselves in their voices even when everything surrounding them is unfamiliar.

And Chasing Pavements was a perfect New Directions song to bring everyone together, because they should never give up, they should just keep chasing pavements.

Glee is about acceptance and love, and I liked that this episode went back to the roots of the show to reiterate that. New Directions has always tried to stay true to itself, and even when Artie and Sugar and Brittany were making fun of Marley's mum, underneath and not buried too far down, you could see that there was that feeling of being different, but of knowing there was one place in the world you belong. And that came to the fore when the group came together at the end.

Best scene
Look, let's face it, the thing we're all going to miss most now that Kurt's in New York? No, it's not the interactions between him and Blaine. It's the interactions between Kurt and his father. These two have, from the first moment we saw them on screen together, been the heart of this show. Whenever they are on screen together everything else has to stop. Their relationship is beautiful and compelling to watch, and you don't know you're missing it until you see it again. Watching Burt break down in the car as Kurt turned to get on a plane brought tears springing to my eyes. Thank you Glee for giving us something so wonderful to watch, and please let Kurt go home for every holiday so I can watch him and Burt together.

Glee season four recap/review masterpost

All Glee season four recap/reviews in one handy place.

Episode one - The New Rachel

Forget the new Rachel, this is the new Glee - more grown up, more sophisticated, but still knows how to have fun.

Episode two - Britney 2.0
Oh Glee, you really are back aren't you? After an excellent start last week, this episode was really up and down in the quality stakes.

Episode three - Makeover

Makeover. It's an interesting concept. We make ourselves over every morning when we put on make up or do our hair or select an outfit. We make ourselves over when we meet new people, hoping to offer them the best impression of us. And we sometimes make ourselves over when we start somewhere new, hoping to be what we want to be instead of what we are.

Episode four - The Break Up 

Oh Glee, why do you stomp on my heart? And why do you do it in such a messy, disorganised, frustrating way?

Episode five - The Role You Were Born to Play
It's been five weeks since Glee was last on our screens, and I've missed it.

Episode six - Glease

"This is just another one of your ill-conceived, bizarrely sentimental schemes and displays absolutely no forethought and appears immediately ridiculous to everyone in America except you."

Episode seven - Dynamic Duets
I loved, loved, loved (most of) this episode of Glee - Dynamic Duets.

Episode eight - Thanksgiving

Hello old New Directioners, this Thanksgiving (yes, I know it was last week) I'm thankful that you've come back to Glee.

Episode nine - Swan Song
This episode of Glee may have been called Swan Song, but perhaps a more appropriate title would have Crossroads, because that's where we found ourselves.

Episode 10 - Glee, Actually

Glee, Actually was a combination of completely bonkers moments alongside stunningly touching ones, and it totally worked for me.

Review: Paralympic Games' opening ceremony

Pride, joy, wonder - they were all emotions that coursed through me as I watched the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games in the Olympic Stadium.

I was lucky enough to get a last-minute ticket to the show, and I'm so glad I did - it's an experience I hope never to forget.

From the moment I walked into the Stadium and was stunned by its size and the riot of colour that made up the stage for the main show to the moment I left, surrounded by a sea of people on a high from what they'd just seen, every moment was close to perfect (despite the cold).

Months ago, when it was announced the opening ceremony would be titled Enlightenment I met and briefly interviewed Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, co-artistic directors of the show. 

Both of them said something that has stuck in my mind ever since - that they didn't want people to watch the show and go: "Wow, wasn't that an amazing show for a group of people with disabilities?" Instead, they wanted people to watch the show and go: "Wow, wasn't that an amazing show?"

Well, they succeeded, at least in my mind. I was stunned by the scenes I saw last night, from people flying in on umbrellas to the performers swinging dangerously back and forth on the sway poles to the performance of Spasticus Autisticus (a personal favourite moment) to Professor Stephen Hawking wowing the crowd with his words, challenging us to challenge our own preconceptions and to reach for the stars.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew many of the performers in the opening ceremony were disabled, but watching in the Stadium, where I could either look at the action as a whole in front of me or in bits on the television screen, I had little concept of which of the dancers or singers or actors had missing limbs or were deaf or partially sighted. To me, they all just looked like a group of phenomenally talented people.

Talent was found in abundance. I loved the performances of Spirit in Motion and Eternal Source of Light Divine, with the singers of each causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. As a keen reader, the sequence with all the books made me extremely happy, and seeing all the talented performers who took on aerial work for the show made me gasp.

Of course, at times Hemmings and Sealey's vision to enlighten people about disabled people couldn't be avoided, but it was always done well, and at times with great energy, as when performers took to the stage to sing Ian Dury's disability anthem Spasticus Autisticus.

No one watching can have been unaffected by what they saw, especially as thousands of athletes from 164 countries made their way round the Stadium, clearly ecstatic to be in front of such an enthusiatic crowd. Particularly moving was ParalympicsGB's entrance, when we all surged to our feet as one in the audience and cheered the team the whole way round, waving and clapping and hollering, and hoping we'd get a wave back.

Hemmings and Sealey put together a brilliantly crafted show, which contained humour and anger and hope and beauty, and succeeded in Professor Hawking's mission to get us all to look at the stars. As we did, we said: "Wow, wasn't that an amazing show?"

Reading challenge book 14: Girl Reading by Katie Ward

Girl Reading is Katie Ward's debut novel

Book 14 in my challenge to read one book (I haven't read before) a fortnight in 2012 is Girl Reading by Katie Ward.

One of The TV Book Club 2012 selections, Girl Reading can almost be seen as a collection of seven short stories rather than a novel.

Instead, it's six chapters, each containing an almost isolated narrative from the one before, and a seventh which brings all the previous narratives together.

With a common thread of women reading, the stories in Girl Reading take the reader on a trip through history, from 1333 to 2008, and then into the future with the final chapter set in 2060.

Simone Martini, the first chapter, reminded me slightly of Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, while Angelica Kauffman, the third chapter, took me to the world of period drama with a dark twist, and Immaterialism, the sixth chapter, was a very familiar world which at the same time was completely unfamiliar.

At first I found myself trying to look for things connecting each of the chapters, but once I stopped I found that the connections were numerous, but not always obvious - something which really added layers to the stories.

Its narrative style is clever, with each chapter having a distinct voice suited to the characters within, and creating a portrait in the reader's mind of that slice of the world at that particular time.

Girl Reading is a fascinating book, with so many layers, and by the time I got to the end I discovered it was something completely different to the book I thought I would be reading - a discovery as fascinating as the very modern world which ends the novel.