
"I'm here to talk to you about The Avengers initiative." And with those few ominous words, the superhero movie landscape changed forever.
Make no mistake, 2008's "Iron Man" is the one that started it all. It established Marvel Studios' unexpected but insightful taste in directors with Jon Favreau. It showed their excellent eye for casting through Robert Downey Jr and his all-star cast of supporting players. Just as importantly, it kicked off the idea of a shared universe in which leads from other big budget comic book movies could cross paths with each other seamlessly, just as they do every week in the comics themselves.
Somehow, that impossible fanboy pipe dream became a reality, and now we're staring in the face of "Marvel's The Avengers," arguably the most important superhero movie of all time... and it owes all of its thanks to a badly wounded playboy genius trapped in a cave with only his wits for armor.






Call them "cult classics." "Guilty pleasures." "Comfort movies." We all have a mental rolodex of flicks that may not be terribly popular but, for one reason or another, they resonate in a very special way. Maybe you saw it at the right moment. Maybe you just see gold where everyone else sees feces. Whatever the case, these are the special favorites that you keep stashed away for sick days. These are some of ours.
by Brian Phares
by Rob Markman
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'Borat' Make Benefit For Glorious Sick Day Stash
Posted 5/16/12 11:57 am EST by Kevin P. Sullivan in Commentary, Sick Day Stash
On Friday, November 3, 2006, I left school particularly quickly to meet my uncle at a movie theater nearby. My Uncle Mike was always the cool uncle, who knew good movies, so he had made a point of seeing "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" the day it came out. You can probably see why he was the cool uncle.
In the weeks leading up to that day, Sacha Baron Cohen's first theatrical release was heralded as a wide variety of things, including "sexist," "offensive" and "the funniest movie of all time." Mostly unfamiliar with Borat's previous appearances on "Da Ali G Show," I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I got was a new type of comedy that I'm still not sure I was ready for.
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Tags borat, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sick Day Stash, the dictator