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GAF: How do you feel about Joss Whedon?

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He's definitely one of the better writers/directors out there, but the amount of people who line up to worship him is rather bizarre to me. After walking out the Avengers with friends, they kept ranting on about the guy saying literally "He should write and direct every movie ever!" with half-joking/half-Whedon-giddiness.

Horrible was excellent, Avengers was excellent, and Firefly/Serenity were just kinda 'meh' I actually started to fall asleep during Serenity. Seriously, River Tam is just so borderline "Mary Sue," or whatever you desire to call it, that I honestly do not care about her and her whole subplot seemed to be a major crux of the film.

All I care to recall about Buffy/Angel is that they were just some more generic, 90's, trashy, "oooh witches and spooky stuff" dramas like "Charmed," which is simply fodder to me. And Dollhouse was very boring.
 
I liked the first couple of seasons of Buffy and Angel. Hell I even like the movie.

Dont give a shit about Firefly, Dollhouse, or Dr. HORRIBLE.

Never seen Alien Ressurection.

He was not the sole writer of Toy Story, Jesus Christ.

Astonishing X-Men blows and so was his horrible Runaways arc post Vaughn.

Avengers was pretty great.

He's alright but a lot of his writing quirks get
annoying. So are a lot of his fans.
 
Loved Buffy and Angel although Buffy went to shit when he abandoned it for Firefly. Didn't care for Firefly or any of his other films aside from the Avengers. I haven't read his comics so I can't comment on those.
 
I think Joss Whedon is great. What I love about him besides the obvious stuff that gets thrown out like "strong female characters" or "funny dialog", is that he's ambitious as fuck. The kind of long-form storytelling he and his cast of writers does with Buffy or Angel is really quite exceptional. He's not afraid to take risks, to kill off a character or go in another direction entirely. But all the surprises and inversions are built from the characters, their previous actions and established personalities. He understands the dramatic consequences, and he builds it on top of humor and love. And it's because of that earned emotion, fascinating storytelling, and great character work is why he's one of the best short/longform TV show writers out there.

I knew he was a perfect fit for the Avengers, and he didn't let me down.
 
ViewtifulJC said:
I think Joss Whedon is great. What I love about him besides the obvious stuff that gets thrown out like "strong female characters" or "funny dialog", is that he's ambitious as fuck. The kind of long-form storytelling he and his cast of writers does with Buffy or Angel is really quite exceptional. He's not afraid to take risks, to kill off a character or go in another direction entirely. But all the surprises and inversions are built from the characters, their previous actions and established personalities. He understands the dramatic consequences, and he builds it on top of humor and love. And it's because of that earned emotion, fascinating storytelling, and great character work is why he's one of the best short/longform TV show writers out there.

I knew he was a perfect fit for the Avengers, and he didn't let me down.
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I hope he can inject some of that earned emotion and fascinating storytelling into Avengers 2.
 
I've seen...

Firefly: Pretty good, not as amazing as some people make it out to be
Cabin in the Woods: Awesome
The Avengers: Even more awesome

So, I guess I like him!
 
Good Job Bob said:
I hope he can inject some of that earned emotion and fascinating storytelling into Avengers 2.
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Dude wrote a screenplay for, and directed a fun superhero movie. It's not high art, and it's not trying to be. It was trying to depict an undoubtedly eclectic group of superheroes. Huge powerhouses, and those closer to human. It did a damn good job at making all of them seem an integral part of the group.

And on top of that you've got the best big screen adaptation of the Hulk ever. So why do you have to be such an ass about it?

Is it the pinnacle of the superhero genre? Fuck... I hope not. Is it a damn entertaining movie completely worthy of the acclaim and money? Yes. Did Whedon play a part in that? Duh.

So give him his dues, enjoy a great movie, and stop acting like you're the be all end all on this subject. I love ya Bob, but good God are you being irritating on this subject. You don't like his stuff, we get it. But was Avenger's so bad that you have to piss and moan at every mention of Whedon?
 
HP_Wuvcraft said:
What.

The fuck.

Are you quite stoned, sir?
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Angel, honestly like Buffy has some very high highs, and low lows.

Firefly is definitely his most consistent, probably because it's really short. But for a first season? It is by far his best. Far and away. I love Dollhouse, Angel, and Buffy but he really had something with Firefly. Too bad few agreed at the time.
 
Too bad I didn't agree at the time.

I never watched Firefly in its first run. I watched it a year later. And then smacked myself for being a stupid git.
 
joss-whedon-cliff-chiang-art-gq-magazine.jpg


this kinda explains all of it.
 
Best parts of Joss Whedon's career were as a story editor for Roseanne and as the writer of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. The reason the original movie worked so well was because it was legitimate camp and actually took place in the early 90s, which meant Whedon's constant campy early-90s dialogue worked well. Everything else is stilted shit.
 
Well, if you didn't know how Fillion felt about Whedon:

'Whedon: The Biography': Read Nathan Fillion's foreword

My generation, we were kind of raised on the super-cool, "I can handle anything" with a gun in his hand hero. Any situation you throw at him, he can handle it — with catchphrases. It was very cool.

But Joss Whedon's version of a hero doesn't always win. He loses more than he wins, and when he wins, the victories are tiny, but he takes 'em. "That's a victory! I call that a victory!" It's a tiny victory — he takes it, and that's what he walks away with. And that's something I can actually relate to.

That's something that people can relate to — because that's actually life. I don't know a lot of people who win more than they lose. Life is kind of a losing proposition as you go. It's not all winning lotteries every day. It's a lot of "What do I do with this problem? Now how do I handle this?" I think people can relate easier to someone who isn't prepared to handle every single situation, and everything comes out roses and their way, and all they've got to do is be cool. We don't have that in real life.

A friend of mine once told me that what he finds so satisfying about Joss Whedon is his way of telling stories. As a society, we are incredibly story literate: We know story. This is the hero; this is the villain. This is the denouement; this is where the twist comes; this is where the learning experience is; this is where the turn is. We know story.

He said, "Joss Whedon will give you a story twist. But instead of twisting it to the story tradition that we know, he twists it and says, 'That's what happens in stories. This is what happens in real life. This is how real life went.'"

I described Joss to a friend as we were on our way over to his house for a party. And she's heard me tell stories over the years about this fellow. We went to his house, we had a great time, and on the way home, she said, "You know, I got to say, from your description of the kind of guy this guy is, and from all the stories you've told me — I expected him to be six two, chiseled jaw, long, wavy golden hair and bright blue eyes and gleaming teeth, and just chesty and ..." The guy, she said, "when you describe him, he's so heroic."

And yeah, he is. He's heroic like that.
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Sanjuro said:
He simply hasn't accomplished enough in his career to have a definitive view on.
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4 TV series, a made for theaters direct to video firefly movie and one of the highest grossing films ever isn't enough to form an opinion? Nobody's asking for a final verdict.
 
Love Buffy

Love The Avengers

I enjoyed what I read of Astonishing X-Men

really dislike that shitty Alien movie

Firefly was great

Serenity was pretty neat

Dr. Horrible was a bizarrely entertaining... thing

Cabin in the Woods was fantastic (though I don't know to what extent he was involved)

Speed is pretty fucking awesome.

So he's pretty rad in my book.
 
his Astonishing X-Men run is phenomenal, one of my favourite Marvel books ever

so yeah I like Astonishing X-Men writer Joss Whedon
 
Escape Goat said:
4 TV series, a made for theaters direct to video firefly movie and one of the highest grossing films ever isn't enough to form an opinion? Nobody's asking for a final verdict.
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Roseanne was a while ago.

The answer is still no, it's not enough to form an opinion. I don't know what his position is. He is either a writer or a director, the latter still has much to develop.
 
Joss Whedon is great but not a genius. Most of his work is dumb fun with a lot of heart and effort. Everybody ought to watch Firefly, Cabin in the Woods, and Dr. Horrible.
 
This guy made Buffy The Vampire Slayer, FIREFLY (Soooo Underrated) and The Avengers...he'll always have a place in my heart (Man-Crush and Fanboy wise) right next to Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Christopher Nolan, Hideo Kojima, Sakaguchi, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Vince Carter, Jay-Z, Tupac, Nas, Biggie, Eminem, Kanye, Kendrick, J.Cole and Drake
 
I used to roll my eyes over him and his internet fan base, but Avengers was good and even better than Avengers and pretty much his best work was his contemporary adaptation of Much ado about nothing.
 
I loved Firefly and Serenity was good too. Really enjoyed Avengers and absolutely loved Cabin in the woods.

I guess I'm a fan on his work although I never got into buffy or angel and Alien Resurrection sucked.
 
I can't speak for the body of work he's done in the past.

The Avengers was a very well crafted film. It stood on its own despite having a set of movies establishing the characters (which did help a lot).

Film had a very fun, visual way of re-establishing characters without being encumbered in them. They didn't go on about Thor or Iron Man in detail ... stayed away from the mythology or things that might clash.

Simple things, like establishing Stark's suit works underwater set up the climax where he's in friggin' space or his wrist laser. The Hulk unable to pick up Thor's hammer. Fun things an audience can pick up on and maybe understand.
 
I loved Firefly, I liked Serenity, I loved The Avengers. If you want someone who can translate the dialogue and style of 80s Marvel superhero comics to the big screen, he's the perfect choice.

Wait, he wrote Speed? Then add that to the list of things I loved.

Pop quiz, hotshot.
 
FStop7 said:
I loved Firefly, I liked Serenity, I loved The Avengers. If you want someone who can translate the dialogue and style of 80s Marvel superhero comics to the big screen, he's the perfect choice.

Wait, he wrote Speed? Then add that to the list of things I loved.

Pop quiz, hotshot.
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Wrote Speed, but didn't get credited for it. He also hates that line :P
 
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