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CinemaCon Video Blog: Marvel's 'Thor' & 'Captain America' Footage!

by Alex Billington
March 29, 2011

Courage is Immortal. I'm currently in Las Vegas at another convention - CinemaCon. Most probably haven't heard of it, and that's because this is the first year it's known as CinemaCon. Years previous it was called ShoWest and I'm attending again for my fifth year in a row. It's a convention for the movie theaters themselves and the movie industry, from materials to concessions to equipment. Every year, the Hollywood studios stop by for major presentations including never-before-seen chunks of footage from the upcoming summer's releases. Marvel stopped by to tease Thor and Captain America with ~20 minutes from each.

Neither movie needs an introduction, so I'll be brief. The first major Hollywood presentation of CinemaCon was hosted by Paramount. They first showed us the same footage from J.J. Abrams' Super 8 that I saw in New York City (read my report on that) and also showed us footage from DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, which was entertaining. But the two movies I was excited to see footage from was Thor and Captain America, especially because they're two of the most anticipated and anxiously awaited movies of the summer and we got a taste of what they're like after seeing a good 20 mins from each.

After seeing the footage last night, Peter of SlashFilm and Frosty of Collider and I snuck away to record a video blog talking about our thoughts on the footage, which you can watch above. In brief, I am even more excited for both movies now and can't wait to see them. Believe it or not, most of the Thor footage actually looked awesome, especially everything on Asgard. Kenneth Branagh has shot a beautiful movie centered on a badass character and the storyline actually looks like it might really good. My only complaint with Thor, as I brought up in the video, was that the scenes on Earth with Kat Dennings were terrible. The humor was very cheesy - no, it was extremely cheesy. Every single line that Dennings spoke in every scene was a campy, cliched line that belonged in a Saturday Morning Cartoon - which makes sense as to why Marvel wanted it.

Captain America, on the other hand, had the tone of Joe Johnston's The Rocketeer, the palette and WWII action of Indiana Jones, all rolled up with undying patriotism of a beloved superhero who is soon going to be leading The Avengers in 2012. I've heard some people complain about it being too comedic or jokey, but it's not at all. Some of the jokes fell flat in the footage, but it wasn't finished at all (editing, FX or sound) and to me, Marvel's marketing is trying to play up the comedy when it's not there. It has a lighter tone, but still looks great. Between the two, I'm honestly more excited for Captain America, but can't wait to see both!

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