Super sequel doesn’t quite measure up to previous installments

The start of the summer blockbuster season has been continually getting pushed earlier and earlier. Once upon a time, that season reliably started with Memorial Day weekend; you could set your watch by it. But things have changed; now, with this first weekend in May, the summer blockbusters are in full swing.

First out of the gate? “Iron Man 3.”

Comic book culmination even better than advertised 

“The Avengers” is the culmination of a years-long buildup spread across multiple films. It is an incredibly ambitious attempt at world-building the likes of which the summer blockbuster genre has never seen before. It is an effort at creating not just a comic book movie, but a comic book universe. The hype has been enormous and the anticipation even greater. So it’s here.

And it’s outstanding.

A mad Asgardian demigod named Loki (Tom Hiddleston, “War Horse”) – the brother of Thor – has stolen an alien artifact known as the Tesseract in order to build an army to conquer the Earth. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, “Meeting Evil”) is the head of a superspy organization known as SHIELD and is the point man on dealing with this (or any other) alien attack against the Earth.