American Hustle (2013) - ★★★½

Director: David O. Russell
Writers: Eric Singer, David O. Russell
Stars: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K, Robert De Niro

I really liked American Hustle. It has a flare for great music, great style, and great performers. We haven't really seen a film such as this since the peak of Tarantino, yet I can't help but feel that it's not on par with his greatest films, nor is it on par with the films of Scorsese. It falls short because we never truly get to know the characters and form real attachments to them. It's over two hours long, yet it lacked the character development that should have brought heart and soul into the crazy plot. Sure, we see the surface value of these people, and then some... but I left feeling like I still didn't know anyone. There were elements of greatness in American Hustle that deserve credit, but it was lacking the key ingredient that would have made it a masterpiece. In my opinion, it is the most critically overblown movie of 2013.

North Country (2005) - ★★★½

Director: Niki Caro
Writers: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy (Novel), Michael Seitzman (Screenplay)
Stars: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sean Bean, Jeremy Renner, Richard Jenkins, Sissy Spacek

I'm really disappointed in North Country. It was fantastic the whole way through... well up until the ending. My God! They managed to turn a truly emotional underdog story into a cheesy Hollywood motion picture in the space of 2 minutes. The performances are top-notch, the story is frustrating but engaging, the cinematography and music is brilliant... but that ending. They almost ruined it with that horribly cheesy ending.

The Avengers (2012) - ★★★

Director: Joss Whedon
Writers: Zak Penn, Joss Whedon
Stars: Robert Downey Jr. Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner

The Avengers didn't live up to its hype. I expected to see a visually amazing, funny and thrilling action-packed movie, which is what I got. For me, the problem with the film was that it wasn't as fun or exciting as I had hoped it would be.

It was boring in parts, which I wasn't expecting whatsoever. However, much of the comic relief was given by Ironman Robert Downey Jr. He was pretty funny throughout the film and without him I wouldn't have been entertained much beyond the visual effects and action. Chris Evans was also pretty entertaining as Captain America. I was surprised at the how much I liked his character, considering he can't do much more than the other Avengers. Chris Hemsworth as Thor surprisingly became my favorite of all the Avengers, because he exuded the most power and always lit up the screen with his scenes. Mark Ruffalo was pretty awesome as The Hulk, but he didn't really get as much screen time as the others which was disappointing. In my opinion, his story is more interesting than Captain America's and Ironman's combined. Scarlett Johansson really shined as Black Widow, who surprisingly was just as thrilling and entertaining to watch as the others. She outclassed all the others with her screen presence, which is certainly not an easy feat to accomplish. Jeremy Renner played Hawkeye, who came across as relatively useless and weak. His character felt unnecessary, but I suppose his story coincides with Black Widow's and will perhaps become a separate movie one day. Tom Hiddlestone played Loki in what I consider to be one of the most fragile and pathetic excuses for a movie villain I've ever seen in a hero movie. Everything about him exuded weakness, which didn't add much to the film except that I wanted him to disappear. For the life of me, I will never understand why people think he plays a fantastic villain.

This movie achieves what it sets out to. It WOWS people and it stays true to the heroes origins. It just isn't that great of a movie. Its funny, but not that funny. Its action-packed, but not very original. There are great characters, and many not-so-great characters. The story is standard and nothing special. The Avengers is an entertaining film, but not a very effective or memorable one.