Marvel Movie Minute

Minute One Hundred Twenty Four: From Director Nick Fury in Motion to the F-35 Lightning II in Motion

Lester Clark and Kynan Dias from The Exorcist Minute join us in this episode!

In the one-hundred-twenty-fourth minute of The Avengers ...

Hill’s comments on the F-35 Lightning II that’s been put into action by the World Security Council sends Fury scrambling to stop it in the only way he knows how. A bazooka. Uh, is this Fury’s weapon of choice? Is there bazooka storage in the elevator? We decide that Fury’s such a fan of bazookas and blowing things up with them on the helicarrier that there’s likely bazooka storage all over the place.

But Fury does take out one of his own aircraft. Presumably, he wouldn’t have cared if it blew up entirely or fell off the side of the helicarrier, killing the pilot, because the nuke wasn’t launched. So then why does he hesitate when he pulls his sidearm to take aim at the second F-35? Shouldn’t he just unload his clip? It’s a bit of a trope that doesn’t play well here for his character.

The fact that the World Security Council did decide to launch two F-35s to take on NYC does pique our curiosity. Why is this the route they choose?

We do get to sort out a bit as to who’s got earbuds for communication here. We also talk a bit about Tony’s HUD and how it’s being portrayed through the film and the shift we’ll start noticing here as we move forward toward the end. It’s an interesting shift to allow us to get more personal with Tony. Tune in!

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Film Sundries

• Tune in to The Exorcist Minute, follow it on Facebook or Instagram, and join The Exorcist Minute Facebook Group to be a part of the conversation
• Find Lester on the web or Instagram
• Find Kynan on Instagram or Letterboxd
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Original Material
• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

Minute One Hundred Twenty Nine: From Tossing Tony’s Mask to Not Finished Yet

Matthew Costello, author of several works on politics and superheroes including Secret Identity Crisis: Comic books and the Unmasking of Cold War America, joins us in this episode!

In the one-hundred-twenty-ninth minute of The Avengers ...

Thor rips the face of Tony’s mask off. The image of the face plate laying in the rubble was something we saw in the alternate opening for the film. We talk a bit about what that would’ve meant to have seen it then. Hulk roars and Tony snaps awake then has a line about hoping no one kissed him. This shifts us into some talk about fan fic and other ways this scene may be interpreted, regardless of any intentions from the writers or director. That wistful look on Steve’s face...

There’s plenty to discuss about camera technique in a post-climax scene, including the possible trope of the slow pull-back on our team. We also talk about the wrap-up of the battle and wonder why this ended up being put together without Clint or Natasha (despite the obvious reasons that they’re still at the tops of high-rises). And we wonder how Tony ever managed to spot the Shawarma Palace in the middle of his fighting. Tune in!

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel’s Discord channel!

Film Sundries

• Get your copy of Matthew’s book ‘Secret Identity Crisis: Comic books and the Unmasking of Cold War America’
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Original Material
• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

Minute One Hundred Thirty: From Realizing There’s One More Thing to Shawna Lynde’s Brief Appearance

TwitchTV’s MarvelousTay joins us in this episode!

In the one-hundred-thirtieth minute of The Avengers ...

Break time! But not quite. Tony really wants to get to Shawarma Palace, but he’ll have to wait because they have to deal with Loki first. But how does Clint get there? And do Natasha and Erik find a ladder or something to climb down? Is that how she got the scepter in the first place?

We find Loki barely moving, but alive. He clearly looks defeated, perhaps so much so that he doesn’t hear the six heroes sneak up on him because when he turns around, they’re practically in his face. We love the fantastic pose here showing our heroes assembling and in the scope of things, it doesn’t matter much that Loki doesn’t hear them coming because it looks so damn cool.

We jump to the helicarrier where we’re looking at several monitors, watching the various news feeds that Fury’s looking at. We discuss the newscaster here as well as several actors, along with a number of fun Easter eggs. Tune in!

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel’s Discord channel!

Film Sundries

• MarvelousTay on TwitchTV, Instagram, and Twitter
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Original Material
• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

Minute One Hundred Twenty Seven: From Tony’s Final Push to Tony Falling in Space

In the one-hundred-twenty-seventh minute of The Avengers ...

Tony somehow manages to not hit Stark Tower, which now looks like AI Tower. It’s a bit ridiculous, but it’s a movie so it’s fine. Hulk watches in a dramatic shot, as does Nat. Where’s Clint? Still stuck in that apartment? Cap and Thor watch from the streets below. Tony flies the nuke through the one-sided space hole and everyone cheers, but the battle’s not over yet. Shouldn’t Fury be, you know, directing or something?

Meanwhile, we join Tony on the other side of the one-sided hole, but couldn’t he have just tossed the nuke through and not gone through himself? If his intention was to hit the Chitauri mothership – which he does – wouldn’t it have been better to see him aiming it once through? As it stands, it just looks like he keeps flying straight, until his suit powers down.

Wouldn’t his suit have been bette designed by this point after learning about near space flight in the first Iron Man movie? And even if it powered down, shouldn’t he just keep moving along with the missile because of the vacuum of space? At least the shoulder units pop off to help propel him backward but was that enough?

Regardless, Tony has a spiritual moment here as he seems to be dying. It’s a powerful moment and we’re fans of the moment, even if some of the logistics don’t make sense. Tune in!

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel’s Discord channel!

Film Sundries

• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Original Material
• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram

Minute One Hundred Forty One: From The 34 Lighting TDs•Shader Writers at Weta Digital to The First Six of the Visual Effects Thanks

The TruStory FM Entertainment Podcast Network’s own Steve Sarmento joins us in this episode!

In the one-hundred-forty-first minute of The Avengers ...

We’re knee deep in credits for the visual effects teams who worked on this movie. We look at how many people are credited with each team here, and then we jump into our names that we each picked. Steve picked the brothers Greg and Colin Strause, who run [hy*drau”lx], which spurs on a chat about the world of VFX right now, particularly with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes going on. From there, Andy talks about Joel Gerlach who worked as a VFX artist at Luma Pictures on this film, but has since gone on to create his own VFX company. Pete closes things out with a chat about Michael Corcoran, but we’re still not sure where he’s actually credited in this film. Regardless, he worked on creature effects, so we assume that means the Chitauri? Or maybe he was responsible for the exploding leviathan eyeball! And where would we be if we didn’t bring up Soundgarden one last time? Tune in!

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel’s Discord channel!

Film Sundries

• Find Steve at TruStory FM
• Watch this film: iTunes • Amazon • YouTube • Disney+
• Join the conversation on Discord
• Script
• Trailer #1
• Trailer #2
• Poster artwork
• Original Material
• Season 6 Show Art by Winston Yabo. Find him on Instagram
• Season 6 Music: “Message to the World” by Anthony Vega. Find him on Instagram