Thor Gives Avengers Much-Needed Jolt

This Memorial Day, I took a trip to my local movie theater and finally saw Thor. All of the good reviews it has received are right on point with the film at once epic and still managing to ground itself with much-needed heart. Mostly though, it also satisfied my need for a great summer action film that even worthy movies I have seen recently like Midnight in Paris and Bridesmaid couldn't meet.

Thor being a worthwhile film also made me feel a midge better about the much-anticipated Avengers film to be written and directed by Joss Whedon. When his involvement was announced officially at Comic Con last year, I really didn't know how to feel. Happy that he got this amazing opportunity, but extremely worried that it will fail miserably. The latter can still happen because they're just way too many variables with a film that big, but the relative success, critically and box-office-wise, of Thor at least assuaged my fears that maybe all will be good in the end.

The next film set in the Avengers universe will be Captain America due out at the end of July starring Chris Evans. I have actually been a bit more excited for that film than I had been for Thor with its period sensibilities and its cast looks just terrific on paper, so I'm hoping the film continues the momentum that Thor seems to have started especially after my (and more than a few people) ambivalent feelings regarding the Iron Man sequel last year.

And finally, I really wanted to focus on Thor/Captain America/Avengers in this post, but I just wanted to quickly say that Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, the other film I saw this holiday weekend, is just wonderful and highly, highly recommended. Tom Hiddleston coincidentally appeared in both films playing Loki in Thor and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Woody's film.

What about you? Did you see any movies over the weekend? Are you excited and/or worried about The Avengers?