The biggest cheer at last night's advance screening of The Avengers came at the end of the movie.
But the night's second-biggest cheer came about 45 minutes into the movie, when Cleveland made its first appearance, as Terminal Tower and parts of Euclid Avenue (playing movie roles, of course, and not places that have anything remotely to do with Cleveland) filled the screen.
This was the city's first chance to see its hard work — part of downtown was shut down last summer for a couple of weeks while the movie's climatic battle scenes were shot — on the big screen.
We're not allowed to talk about the movie (the studio is super-sensitive about reviews being published before opening day next Friday, even though you can find several of them online), but we can tell you that Cleveland looks marvelous.
And we can also tell you — but don't let the studio know you heard it from us — that the movie is freakin' awesome. Our review will be online at midnight next Friday. —Michael Gallucci
