Marvel's Avengers the Movie

When your childhood hero comes to life...

Are you geeking out as much as we are that Avengers the Movie was totally awesome?!!!  "Avengers assemble, always we will fight as one til the battle's won...assembled we are strong."  Did you hear the music in your mind and sing along with that?!!!  OMG!!  Totally need to own this movie.  My husband and I went to see this in the theater first, then because we loved it that much, we did something we never ever EVER do.  We went back with our kids while it was still in theaters.  Granted, we went to the $2 showing, but it was so worth it!  Our kids were so enthralled, their action figures, their toys were alive and on the big screen.  See as a family we loved watching all the animated Avenger themed shows on Netflix, so this was huge.

Favorite Super Hero... 2012's big movie of the year starring: Robert Downy Jr., Chris Evens, Christ Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, and more major actors and actresses.  Based off the Marvel Cartoon The Avengers.  Available to be seen in 3D and regular when it came to the theater.  A large group of super natural creatures, super humans, some even resurrected from death, scientists and a God come together to try and save the world from destruction.  Lies, and betrayals, lost love, and pride are on the bad guys side against the super heroes.  Freaks of nature, science experiments gone wrong, wielders of lightning, electricity, and the biggest serving of courage give the Avengers something special.  Okay, so if you have followed any of the other Marvel movies: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Thor you know these faces, you've come to love those handsome actors, those sexy actresses, and hate their sworn enemies as much as they do.  Now with their combined powers they must save the world, the world of New York, because let's be honest, there are only a handful of cities movie makers enjoy trashing.  I love seeing Ironman strut his fancy tech and smart brains, with his clever banter with Bruce Banner aboard the Helicarrier.  Thor's love-hate relationship with Loki is especially funny.  But let's be honest the coolest scenes always involved the Hulk!  Except the first scene, which still scares my youngest, so we have to cover his eyes and ears.

Best movie of the Year... in my opinion!  We've been waiting for this movie to come out since the beginning of the Introductory movies: Iron Man 1 and 2, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America.  Our boys were just as excited as my husband and myself.  On Netflix you can find a cartoon series of the Avengers, and many other individual full length movies about Thor as a child, Iron man series (adult, teenager, avenger), Hulk, The Ultimate Avengers, etc.  So after months of watching these Netflix movies with our boys they were VERY ready to go to the big movie theater to watch the REAL AVENGERS!!!  We saw it in 3D, which was only good because we had a digital screen, and dolby surround system in the specific room.  Surprisingly, none of us go sick, which is one reason we don't watch in 3D, but again, totally worth it in my opinion.  Amazing acting, great plot, well known cool actors and actresses, sweet special effects and fight scenes.  This is on our to buy list.  Some things we found that we didn't like in the movie come from our avid prep.  In the cartoon series by Stan Lee, they have more Avenger characters than what was in this movie.  So when 2 characters where introduced in a way, I was very disappointed.  Scarlett and Jeremy are amazing characters in the movie, but no one really knew who they were in the movie.  There should have been a separate movie with Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson displaying their characters, skills, and why they work for SHIELD.  I hope to see more individual character movies coming out, because it helps us as normal people live in that fantasy world that much more.  Bring on Ant Man and Wasp, Black Panther etc!

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If you enjoyed this movie review, come check out Money Ball.

Glass Castle Memoir

Details: Written by Jeannette Walls in 2005.  This is a memoir of Jeannette and her 3 siblings as they grew up in harsh unconventional ways.  Rex and Rose Mary Walls Jeannette's parents were poorer than poor, and lived on the go, in scary places, with little to no hygiene and with personal addictions that always came before the care of their children.  Rex is drunk addict to alcohol.  Rose Mary is a romantic artist addicted to sugar.  This book is being filmed as a movie.

Information:  This is not a happy story, this is not an uplifting story.  I read this as my book club's March book.   Within the first 10 pages there's so much language (swearing, vulgar, crude, and plain nasty language) that I had to skip a few pages until the language calmed down.  Not a great start to a story.  As I kept reading I kept hoping the story (life of Jeannette) would get better, happier, and safer.  But no such luck.  These Wall kids suffered more than most people even imagine could ever happen at all in the US.  Its so sad.  I cried a few times because its such a depressing story.  Throughout the whole book I hated Rex and Rose Mary!  What kind of parents would do such horrible things to their own children?  Then I became furious at all the adults at the schools these children went to for not investigating their story, even when they had the impression that something wasn't right.  I am so proud of and impressed with Jeannette and her siblings.  They are so strong, and true, as they were easily able to forgive and get over the horrible life they were born into.  I love that they've learned to work hard and have become successful!  Just seeing what they've gone through and how positive and strong they are is inspiring, but not enough for me to buy or reread this book ever again.  I don't know if I could handle the movie either.

Pros: The only thing that was positive about their story is that the kids were able to escape before more damage could have happened.  And in the end none of the Wall children hated, their parents.  They forgave their parents and even came to understand why their parent's lived the way they did.  I could never read this book again, because I don't like depressing, sad stories.  But if you can stomach this type of memoir than read it.  If you enjoy true stories, memoirs, and autobiographies this is perfect for you!  The plot is a swirling twist of the unexpected throughout the whole book.

Cons: I don't recommend this for the tender hearted, the weak stomached, the emotional woman, and its not recommended for anyone until the age of 16!  There is tons of really bad language, some worse than swear words.  There is sexual abuse, child abuse, child neglect, lying, stealing, smoking, drug use, sex, immoral behavior, alcohol, prostitution, child slavery (of Jeannette by her father), and graphic imagery of children getting badly hurt, and burned.

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Here is an interview clip of Jeannette and her mother!  This is why I give this book a thumbs up.