THE AVENGERS (Rated PG-13)

Fanboys of the Marvel Comics universe will flock to see writer-director Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers” with the same fervor that once gripped teen girls swooning over “The Beatles” arrival in America.

No words of criticism or discouragement will dissuade the built-in audience. Fortunately, in the case of “The Avengers,” the summer movie season starts off with grandiose explosive excitement.

Imagine, if you will, a gathering of disparate superheroes called into action by the existential threat of Earth’s demise at the hands of a lunatic Norse god.

The menace becomes real when the small but unlimited power of the extraterrestrial energy source of Tesseract rears its ugly force, opening up a portal to the dark side of space.

This allows the villainous Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to recruit an army of aliens in order to launch an assault on vulnerable earthlings just ripe for domination, or so he believes.

The deranged Loki, of course, is the adopted brother of the virtuous, hammer-throwing Thor (Chris Hemsworth), one of the superheroes to be called to action by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

It is Fury’s organization, S.H.I.E.L.D., which recognizes war has been declared and mobilizes the superheroes of the Marvel Comics universe to combat mode.

Naturally, Thor, who has battled his adopted brother in the past, joins the group. Captain America (Chris Evans), who has been snoozing since the end of World War II, is revived from his slumber.

The egomaniac Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), is joyously on board, playing his sarcastic attitude to the hilt as he lobs delightfully funny, barbed jabs at fellow superheroes.

The mild-mannered Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo, new to the role), who turns into the Incredible Hulk when stirred by anger, is also capable of verbal sparring. But first, he has to be retrieved from missionary work in India.

Superheroes, accustomed to doing big things, also possess large egos. As a result, they don’t really like each other all that much. In itself, this makes for interesting character development.

After all, Joss Whedon realizes that there has to be a lot more to a successful superhero action film than just unlimited battle scenes and destruction. We have to find our superheroes worthy of attention.

Other players on the scene include the archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the aptly-named Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the expert killer in martial arts.

I don’t believe it would be wise to give away too much of the story, but insatiable action fans will need to exercise a degree of patience while awaiting the full-scale assault on New York City.

Between the wisecracks and eager moments of one-upmanship, the superheroes are shown to be ordinary mortals in terms of the emotional baggage they carry with them.

The most complex character might be Bruce Banner, a brilliant scientist who labors mightily to keep his anger management issues in check.

Ultimately, after all the characters have been well-defined and their personalities are allowed to shine, “The Avengers” gets down to some serious business.

Tony Stark’s massive headquarters near Grand Central becomes ground zero for the alien attack. The explosive finale is a colossal battle in which most of Manhattan is leveled to the ground.

Because the front end of “The Avengers” allowed so much time for exposition and character development, the non-stop action at the back end seems all the more purposeful and satisfying.

“The Avengers” is a dream come true for all those who love these superhero characters. I am not sure how the next movie of this kind will be able to top this one.

When the film’s end credits begin to roll, be sure to stick around for a couple of surprises.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

The popular detective drama starring Robert Urich as cool private eye Dan Tanna gets another DVD release with “Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 1.”

This 3-disc set features action-packed episodes centered on the detective who drives around Sin City in a vintage bright red Thunderbird, solving cases with the help of his loyal staff.

I don’t much care for how the entire season is broken up into volumes. We may have to wait a few months for Volume 2 of the Third Season, but at least for now there are 12 episodes to enjoy.

Until a package arrived in the mail, I had no idea that the “regular guy” spy story of “Chuck” had come to an end.

You too can catch all 13 episodes from Season 5, plus over 3 hours of never-before-seen bonus features, in the DVD release of “Chuck: The Complete Fifth and Final Season.”

The bonus features include 6 all-new featurettes, 2 full-length commentaries, deleted scenes, gag reel and an extended version of the series finale episode.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery will host summer youth art camp classes.

The classes will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Classes will be offered in acrylics, beading, collage, crafts, drawing, pastels, silks, watercolors and much more.

Registration begins May 20.

The Main Street Gallery is located at 325 N. Main St., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-6658.

Dana Gioia, who served as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, did a marvelous job of bringing the arts to Americans, arguably the best job that anyone in that position has done. He was a fine poet before he took that job, and he is a fine poet after. Here’s an example of his recent work.

Pity the Beautiful

Pity the beautiful,
the dolls, and the dishes,
the babes with big daddies
granting their wishes.

Pity the pretty boys,
the hunks, and Apollos,
the golden lads whom
success always follows.

The hotties, the knock-outs,
the tens out of ten,
the drop-dead gorgeous,
the great leading men.

Pity the faded,
the bloated, the blowsy,
the paunchy Adonis
whose luck’s gone lousy.

Pity the gods,
no longer divine.
Pity the night
the stars lose their shine.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2011 by Dana Gioia, whose most recent book of poems is Pity the Beautiful, Graywolf Press, 2012. Poem reprinted from Poetry, May 2011, by permission of Dana Gioia and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (Rated R)

Everyday life often results in making bad decisions. My most recent terrible choice was thinking that the comedic pedigree of a Judd Apatow production would result in unbridled hilarity.

As a result, I screened “The Five-Year Engagement” instead of trying to see the animated comedy “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.” This error in judgment cost me roughly an extra hour of time never to be recovered.

Just for starters, “The Five-Year Engagement” is almost as long and plodding as the title suggests.  Given the object of attention is the appealing coupling of Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, I had hoped for a better, livelier outcome.

At times funny, sometimes touching and other times crude or profane (hey, this has the stamp of Apatow on it), this effort by director Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) wanders the landscape without a decent payoff.

The film opens with Segel’s Tom and Blunt’s Violet on the anniversary of how they met one year earlier at a New Year’s Eve costume party.

In a flashback, we see Tom dressed as a pink bunny while Violet perfected the Princess Diana look, complete with the sparkly tiara to complement the spot-on hairdo.

The sous-chef at an upscale San Francisco restaurant, Tom has a great career in the works. Violet is angling for a postdoctoral position at Berkeley.

No sooner than Tom and Violet have their engagement party do things start to change in their lives.  

Tom’s friend and fellow chef Alex (Chris Pratt) has a one-night stand with Violet’s sister (Alison Brie).  Let’s just say that the two of them get married a lot sooner than Tom and Violet.

Meanwhile, Violet loses out at Berkeley but gets accepted by University of Michigan into the school’s psychology department. This leads to the first of many dilemmas.

Leaving behind a great opportunity to become the head chef at a new chic eatery, Tom heads off to Michigan with Violet for what turns out to be a serious period of adjustment.

Violet finds professional satisfaction with her university position, working with some goofy colleagues and being drawn closely to her charismatic mentor, head of the department, Winton Childs (Rhys Ifans).

On the other hand, Tom is rejected by every restaurant in town, some expressing great puzzlement and amusement at his decision to abandon a great gig in the Bay Area.

The only job Tom can locate is one of making sandwiches in a hippie deli run by some unforgettable goofballs, including Brian Posehn as the self-described “pickle nerd.”

The bleak Michigan winters, added to the general lack of excitement, cause Tom to fall in with another faculty spouse, Bill (Chris Parnell), a sad and lonely oddball who spends time knitting really ugly sweaters.

Bill also introduces Tom to the outdoor pleasure of deer hunting, and before you know it, Tom grows a long, straggly beard that makes him look like the Unabomber.

When Violet’s two-year tenure at the university turns into an unexpectedly longer commitment, Tom sinks so deep into depression that it seems to be a stretch to think of this movie as a romantic comedy.

The best comedic effort comes from Tom’s old chef buddy Alex, who has a real knack for being a foolish but amusingly annoying jerk.  

For his part, Jason Segel has no problem going for the laughs, even if it requires exposing sensitive body parts. Thankfully, he only bares his butt this time, not the full frontal exposure as in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

The premise of “The Five-Year Engagement” appears to be that love will eventually win out over an extended period of time, if the parties are right for each other.

At least, I think that’s the foundational reason for a story that should have been resolved in the same amount of time as a half-hour sitcom.

One can’t help but wonder why two people in love will not find a way to make marriage work, whether they’re stuck in the desolate environment of Michigan or the boondocks of North Dakota or northern Minnesota.

But then, “The Five-Year Engagement” would have lost its promise of being considered a romantic comedy, even though I firmly believe it is only intermittently funny.
     
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Mike Wilhelm & Hired Guns will play Blues Monday at the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake on Monday, May 7.

Blues Mondays are a regular Monday feature at the Blue Wing Saloon & Café. The band plays from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Guitarist/vocalist Wilhelm is a recent inductee into the American Heritage International Foundation Blues Hall of Fame.

Bassist Jamie Webber came up in Chicago, playing with Earl Hooker. More recently he was the longtime bassist for rock, blues and country legend Lonnie Mack.

Sticks the Drummer is a recent arrival in Lake County and is the most recent member to join. He stays in the pocket with Webber at all times.

Another recent addition is lead guitarist Gary Bouley, an extremely fluent player who lends yet more nuances to Wilhelm's already evocative blues.

Rounding out the band is tenor saxophonist Dave Gower whose solos draw applause from audiences and band members alike and whom Wilhelm describes as "… the style of player I've been looking for, a real find."

Blue Wing Saloon & Cafe is part of the historic Tallman Hotel complex located at 9520 Main St., Upper Lake.

Due to the popularity of the Monday night blues shows reservations are recommended. Further information is available at www.BlueWingSaloon.com .

For information about Mike Wilhelm & Hired Guns go to www.mike-wilhelm.com .

Adult and youth artists from around the country are invited to submit their original artwork to the 2012 California Duck Stamp Contest.

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will accept submissions from April 30 through May 30.

This is the first year the contest is open to youth artists – in previous years it was geared to artists 18 or older.

The youth contest is open to any artist under the age of 18 as of April 30, 2012. The winning artwork from the adult contest will be reproduced on the 2012 California Duck Stamp and the youth winner will receive an award.

The top contest submissions will also be showcased at the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association’s art show in July.

The picture must depict the species selected by the California Fish and Game Commission, which is the Aleutian Canada Goose (Branta canadensis leucopareia).

The design is to be in full color and in the medium (or combination of mediums) of the artist’s choosing, except that no photographic process, digital art, metallic paints or fluorescent paints may be used in the finished design.

Photographs, computer-generated art, art produced from a computer printer or other computer/mechanical output device (air brush method excepted) are not eligible to be entered into the contest and will be disqualified.

The design must be the contestant’s original “hand drawn” creation. The entry design may not be copied or duplicated from previously published art, including photographs, or from images in any format published on the Internet.

All entries must be accompanied by a completed participation agreement and entry form. These forms and the official rules are available online at www.dfg.ca.gov/duckstamp .

Entries will be judged at a public event to be held in Sacramento in June. The judges’ panel, which will consist of experts in the fields of ornithology, conservation, and art and printing will choose first-, second- and third-place winners along with an honorable mention in both contests.

Since 1971, the California Duck Stamp Program’s annual contest has attracted top wildlife artists from around the country. All proceeds generated from stamp sales go directly to waterfowl conservation projects throughout California. In past years, hunters were required to purchase and affix the stamp to their hunting license.

Now California has moved to an automated licensing system and hunters are no longer required to carry the physical stamps in the field (proof of purchase prints directly onto the license).

However, DFG will still produce the stamps, which can be requested by interested individuals on DFG’s Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/collectorstamps/ .