93% Marvel's The Avengers

All Critics (268) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (249) | Rotten (19) | DVD (3)

Never underestimate the entertainment value of the Hulk Smash.

If you are a Marvel fan, then The Avengers will feel like Christmas. Thanks to the merry doings of the director, Joss Whedon, all your favorite characters are here, as shiny and as tempting as presents under the tree.

Ultimately, it all comes back to Whedon: His clear vision for each character and how they might be profitably intermingled; his unexpected knack for action choreography; his funny, tender, immaculately constructed script.

A spectacle in the grandest sense of the word ...

Whedon, a pop-genre magician best known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is a master of viewer manipulation - because he never gives up his own seat in the crowd.

The performances are so well-pitched in The Avengers, meshing with such vividness and ease, that it's tempting to overpraise the good but not great movie that surrounds them.

By the time the utterly routine (and decidedly endless) finale rolls around, Marvel's The Avengers has unquestionably squandered the potential of its premise and its cast...

Delivers big time with everything longtime fans and newcomers alike could possibly want in a summer blockbuster that definitely surpasses the hype.

This too-long adventure is a sensory overload --- complete with loud, protracted battle scenes and hunky super heroes who provide the necessary eye candy. It's also very funny, and highly entertaining.

There is much humor laced throughout the film, giving it an air of not taking itself too seriously -- which is as it should be in a film of this genre.

The Avengers lives up to every last ounce of hype.

It's a blockbuster that manages to please with intelligence and fun. Whedon makes it look easy.

It's all very smoothly done but comes without a hint of surprise or revelation.

The Main Event is pretty much what you'd expect ? noisy, overlong, wall-to-wall CG effects and arcane superhero lore ... Yes, it's all fairly formulaic, but on a Wow! scale never before experienced.

If you only see one movie this year over and over again, it'll probably be this one.

I have a feeling that this will be a comfort film for myself and many other film geeks for years to come, just like the Indiana Jones or Star Wars movies.

Whedon delivers a thoroughly entertaining compilation of the best of these heroes while never hiding either his giddy love for the characters or the wry wit that has formed the bedrock of his career.

The Avengers will surely rank among the best superhero movies, if not summer blockbusters, of all time.

The Avengers is a fun time at the movies. That's as important as anything.

Whedon gives balance even to relative minnows Hawkeye and the Black Widow by giving each their moment to shine.

The real hero of The Avengers is not Iron Man, Thor or even Nick Fury. It's Joss Whedon.

There's also great chemistry between the principals, who all get their moment in the sun.

The Avengers greatest accomplishment could be this: its ability to make an entire audience feel like children reading their favorite comic for the very first time.

The movie engages the viewer from a very strong opening sequence through the two bonus scenes included in the closing credits. The nearly two and a half hour running time passes by swiftly and leaves you eagerly awaiting a follow-up sequel.

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Video: More on May 23: Pants on fire!

After chemo hair loss, 'henna crowns' help heal

After losing her hair to chemotherapy while receiving treatment for advanced stage ovarian cancer, Deanne Mayall was feeling depressed about being bald. Every look in the mirror reminded her of her cancer diagnosis.? So, the Kingston, Ontario, native decided to change that.

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Football star Donald Driver is new 'Dancing' champ

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Console Innovation Is Past Due - Gentlemen of Gaming

The AP posted this story today outlining the state of the video game industry - and from looking at the list things aren't going so well. Company after company, from EA to Microsoft to Nintendo to Sony, are showing decreased revenues and/or losses from core video game products and services.

I'm far from a financial or industry expert, but it seems to me that the industry (particularly the console gaming industry) has been milking the cash cows of the current platforms for far too long and it's starting to catch up with them. The Wii, PS3 and XBOX 360 are very old by video game standards and the games themselves are starting be hamstrung by their aging technology. And most people who were ever going to buy one of these consoles has probably already done so - new products like the XBOX 360 Kinect notwithstanding.

But the software companies can't lay all the blame on the consoles either. I've gone on at length about my disappointments with EA, but they aren't the only company dropping the ball. Take-Two Interactive pushed back the release of BioShock Infinite from October 2012 to the end of February 2013 and took a 6% hit in stock price. And Activision Blizzard Inc. is showing lower revenue for their games as well - which isn't surprising considering their yearly Call of Duty releases are practically indistinguishable from each other.

Add all of this to the fact that games on platforms like the new iPad are increasingly more beautiful and engaging, and the console/traditional video game industry looks like it's in trouble. I understand why in a down-economy companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo decided to stick with the current consoles and only make iterative improvements. But if they want to succeed in the future, the time to come up with some real innovation is now.

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Aggressive Chicago prosecutor Fitzgerald to quit

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Patrick Fitzgerald, the aggressive U.S. attorney in Chicago whose investigations ranged from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to CIA leaks and two consecutive Illinois governors, said on Wednesday he would step down effective June 30.

Fitzgerald, 51, who was appointed to the post just days before the September 11, 2001, attacks, is the longest-serving U.S. attorney in Chicago history.

He is known for taking a hard line on political corruption, and has overseen thousands of criminal cases, including those of organized crime bosses, former Chicago officials who rigged city hiring, and supporters of terrorism.

Fitzgerald was also lead counsel in the 2007 trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the chief of staff and national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, which resulted in Libby's conviction on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Under Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney's Office also convicted media baron Conrad Black.

Fitzgerald, who is married with two young children, has no future employment plans and will take time off this summer before considering career options, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office statement.

"He will be a tough act to follow - that's the understatement of the day," said Andy Shaw, president and CEO of the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based political watchdog group. "He brought a level of commitment and passion and skill to that job that elevated it to a new level."

Shaw said Fitzgerald was "in a class of his own" because he had no political agenda, which was illustrated by his office's successful prosecution of an Illinois Republican governor, George Ryan, and then a Democratic governor, Rod Blagojevich.

While Shaw said Fitzgerald did not wipe out political corruption in Illinois, he reduced it. "People think longer and harder about misbehaving in part because of the force of his office," said Shaw.

After Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat President Barack Obama held before he won the 2008 presidential election, Fitzgerald said authorities had halted a potential crime spree that would have made Illinois legend Abraham Lincoln "roll over in his grave."

Fitzgerald could make even the top levels of Washington power quake when he acted. Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush's most powerful White House aide, was investigated by Fitzgerald in the illegal leak of a CIA agent's name to a journalist.

Rove said in his book "Courage and Consequence," that when he learned in a letter from Fitzgerald in 2006 that he would not be prosecuted for his role in the scandal, he wept.

'PROSECUTOR'S PROSECUTOR'

In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called Fitzgerald "a prosecutor's prosecutor" who served the American people "with the utmost integrity and a steadfast commitment to the cause of justice."

His arrival in Illinois rocked Chicago's political world because the city had been used to U.S. attorneys who were part of the local political and legal class.

The mild-mannered son of Irish immigrants, Fitzgerald is a native of Brooklyn, New York, who worked college summers as a janitor. Fitzgerald graduated from Amherst College with a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics in 1982, and from Harvard Law School in 1985.

Before coming to Chicago, Fitzgerald worked with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, where he participated in prosecutions involving the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Fitzgerald was nominated to the Chicago federal prosecutor post by Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald (no relation), who ignored pressure to appoint a local lawyer.

In 2007, Patrick Fitzgerald was named The National Law Journal's "lawyer of the year." Two years earlier, before his marriage, Fitzgerald was named to a People magazine list of the sexiest men alive."

Shaw said he hoped senior Illinois U.S. Senator Richard Durbin made a nationwide search for the prosecutor's replacement.

Matt Orwig, the former U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of Texas, who is now a partner at Jones Day in Dallas, said he talked with Fitzgerald once about whether he was interested in going into private practice.

"He was very focused on his job and could not be distracted by any offer," said Orwig. "He said when he left he would leave first and then decide what he wanted to do."

"Pat is someone who listens to his inner voice and he just thought it was time," Orwig said of Fitzgerald's decision.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Greg McCune and Peter Cooney)

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The best way to Push The Golfing Ball Straighter And Longer With ...

This really is probably a burning desire of most each golfer within the planet. The desire to drive the golfing cheap jerseys ball farther and straighter, permitting us to reduce our golf scores within the golf course. One of the keys to driving golfing the straighter and longer is really a golf physical fitness plan. This sort of a coaching system incorporates workouts to boost your golfing swing.

An amateur lately sent me an e-mail describing how he?s driving the golfing lengthier and straighter than ever before. He plainly states the purpose for your improvement is straight linked to a golfing physical fitness plan he applied 10 weeks in the past.

Right here is what he had to say;

?Sean, Thought I would drop you a note to let you realize I?m nonetheless taking pleasure in the BioForce work out exercises and I?m finding closer cheap jerseys for the objectives I set 10 weeks in the past.

I nevertheless monitor my exercises and I?m encouraged by the progress I see, not only within the chart, but in addition with my swing. As a reward for my attempts and progress, I purchased a brand new Ping Tour wedge. Why a wedge
Because I can already see I?m hitting my drives regularly significantly straighter -

This, not surprisingly, is providing me extra length and terrific satisfaction.

And, I?m much a lot more constant with my pitches and chips.

So, a fantastic wedge that could give consistent length and permit me to try different sorts of photographs to expand my skills cheap jerseys appeared like the best reward.

The one factor I?m unsure of is ?am I pushing myself sufficient Could you remember to have an examine my exercises and suggest the top routine for me to satisfy my goals.

I understand I haven?t pushed myself on some the exercises like Facet Retains as I should really have; the outcome becoming no progress with this particular.

For my initial targets I?ve 5 weeks to go, if I miss these then Mid-May may be the subsequent deadline I have set.?

Colin

Colin, let me initially congratulate you on your progress, perseverance, and results that you are viewing. It can be mainly because of one?s challenging operate and dedication for the golf health and fitness programs your golf video game is enhancing.

I usually cheap jerseys like to say; ?I possess the effortless part, all I have to complete is teach you, as well as the tough component is following by means of with what I educate you.? I suggestion my hat to you.

Just before I solution your query about ?pushing yourself?, I would prefer to produce an observe of the goal environment. Goal environment is incredibly important. I know Phil and just about each and every athlete I work with sets targets. On one hand, it allows you to measure your self and see how you are progressing.

I think all newbie golfers do that to some extent. Aren?t we all wanting to reduce our handicaps, make far more birdies, and general increase our golfing sport The answer is certainly, and on some degree, we set goals to measure our progress. Additionally objectives have another benefit.

It supplies a ?mark? to obtain, retains you targeted, and provides a feeling of accomplishment when satisfied. We as golfers generally set targets of decreasing our handicap to solitary digits, push the golf ball 280 yards, or not make any three putts. These are all ?marks? we?re wanting to hit, and these ?marks? are essentially goals.

Once the goals are set, a strategy can be place in place to attain people targets. For example, if the desire is to decrease your handicap to one digits, element from the plan might be training at the array three occasions each week. On the other hand, cheap jerseys if the aim is add an further twenty yards to your drives, element from the plan may be the implementation of the golf health and fitness program to boost your versatility, energy, endurance, and power.

I?ll also say at occasions objectives will not be met, and which is all right. If an objective is just not met, it provides us a degree to replicate, make adjustments within our existing program, and set new targets.

In addition, Colin you carry up an extremely very good level on how much ought to you be ?pushing yourself? around the workout routines. We all most likely are conscious that so that you can increase in any activity, golf swing included, we ought to put forth an effort. Just how much is very critical, and this can be in the up most significance in relation to golfing fitness exercises.

Allow me to initially say there is an extremely wonderful line among the correct quantity of exertion and an excessive amount of exertion. Too much exertion can result in bad workout approach and also an attainable harm. Also tiny exertion will limit the advantages acquired out of your golfing fitness plan.

A phrase I use as a guideline for your appropriate amount of exertion on every exercise is: ?Perform each and every physical exercise for your personal degree of tolerance?.

Essentially this states each physical exercise you execute needs to be completed with all the;

1) Right approach

And

2) Performed for the amount of repetitions through which you can maintain suitable physical exercise strategy.
This needs you to ?push yourself?, but furthermore sustain an recognition of one?s physical exercise method. As an example with all the golf health and fitness workout Side Retains, once you set your self up inside the right place, you ought to ?hold? the place for your amount of time you could until your technique falters.

This guideline can be followed for pretty much every single golf fitness physical exercise. A different golf fitness exercise, the Jack Knife really should be performed for as several repetitions using the right strategy. For those who obtain your strategy beginning to falter this can be the purpose at which you cease.

To summarize, we know a golfing physical fitness system can help a golfer in driving the golfing ball lengthier and straighter. In the larger picture longer and straighter drives is an aim. To be able to achieve an aim in the sport of golfing, a program has to be put in spot. The strategy can incorporate golfing physical fitness workout routines as portion in the steps for us to fulfill that aim. Also, when we talk about any golfing conditioning physical exercise the right quantity of work has to be exerted, but not exceeded. Subsequent the rule of thumb of ?perform every single golfing health exercise for your personal degree of tolerance? will enable you to sustain this great line of effort.

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Germany Kicks Microsoft StreetSide to the Curb

Today in international tech news: In Germany, Microsoft's StreetSide is running into similar problems that Google's StreetView service faced. Elsewhere, the Associated Press takes a long look at the case of Cuba's disappearing high-speed Internet cable, a Japanese chipmaker plans to cut 6,000 jobs, and Spotify launches in Australia.

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