AVENGERS: ENDGAME

 

• First time seeing it
• Loved it
• Let's say this right here and now. I loved this movie because I had seen everything that came before it. Would I have liked it anyway? Sure. It's a very entertaining movie. But I'm a completist, and had I seen this movie before all the others I would have been bothered by not knowing what came before. I'm glad I engaged completely with the MCU because a film like Endgame is made so much richer for it
• Incredibly effective intro with Hawkeye and his family
• And then the intro gets even more effective. Of course they'll hunt down Thanos! Of course that will let them undo what he did! Nope. Thanos gets beheaded and our movie begins. Five years later.
• I like how Endgame sits in the aftermath of Infinity War. The consequences are not glossed over, they are addressed and explored
• Scott's reentry into the world is such a good way of showing us how much the world has changed. And him realizing that he's been listed as one of the dead was chilling
• Sexy Ruffalo-Hulk is sexy
• Love the condescension towards Scott
• Time travel movie poking holes in every single other time travel movie
• Before they time travel Nat says "See you in a minute." Now that's something that hits you right in the feels on a rewatch
• The whole middle hour of the movie is brilliant in the way it entertains and revels in some of the movies and moments that came before. It celebrates the entire franchise while not forgetting to have value in its own right
• Cap Vs. Cap fight is pretty great
• Loved the Come and Get Your Love gag
• And man, that climax. Fittingly enough, one of the best of the franchise. The action is good, the stakes are immense, and the emotional beats feel earned
• When all the heroes start to come back, it is impossible not to feel invigorated
• "Avengers assemble"
• "And I am Iron Man." I cried.
• Lastly we have a touching, fitting denouement to bid farewell to some of our heroes and tease the future adventures for some of the others. And I loved how they did the credits

CAPTAIN MARVEL

 

• First time seeing it
• I knew very little about the character, and this was a weirder movie than I expected going into it. The early part reminded me of Guardians of the Galaxy without the wisecracks (the Kree connection might have something to do with this), and I found it disorienting and hard to connect with. I couldn't tell how much I was liking or disliking the movie for most of its runtime, although it was keeping my attention
• This is one of those cases where I developed a stronger appreciation after the fact. We watched it last night. I've landed on the conclusion that I quite enjoyed it after all, while not quite meeting the level of my favourites
• A fair amount of this was familiar, but it worked for me. The Skrulls were effective villains while they were still the villains, and more on that in a moment. I liked what was done with shape-shifting
• I'm not usually one to spend too much time anticipating what a movie's going to throw at me. Most people could have anticipated the twist a mile away, if for no other reason than the fact that we've seen the Kree before and they were not nice. But I liked the twist, and I liked how the movie changed our view of these characters
• Fun cast, good chemistry. They do love their de-aging technology, don't they
• Holy Moses, does Captain Marvel get super-powered. Not surprising that Fury hit up that pager at the end of Infinity War
• This might be surprising to hear, but I liked the climax. The fact that it basically consisted of Carol absolutely DESTROYING set it apart from the same old climax beats we've seen 20 times already
• Girl power without hitting you over the head with it. This movie fits into the Marvel formula, and it's been said many times that it shouldn't have taken this long for a female-centric Marvel movie, but looking at the team behind this is heartening. Also the subtle touches like the soundtrack, which is not only kick-ass, but also features some terrific contributions from ladies of rock

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP

 

• First time seeing it
• Liked it. It was a fun, light movie with a funny script and charming performances
• Lost some of the ingenuity of the way the first Ant-Man played with scale. Best action scene was Hope fighting bad guys early in the movie, shrinking in size and using kitchen implements to her advantage
• As per usual, villains were meh
• For such a big name, definitely expected more Pfeiffer than what we got
• Really liked Randall Park. He was a delight
• Michael Peña was still fun but he didn't have as much to do. I was happy to see the return of the Luis story
• I liked the climax. It was wacky, and multi-faceted, and it kept my attention
• THAT MID-CREDITS SCENE, THOUGH. That got me. Possibly the most effective mid-credits scene yet, which is saying something considering this is one of the lower-stakes movies
• Oh. And one last thing. The scenes of Paul Rudd on house arrest singing karaoke and playing drums reminded me of this video. Damn does our boy look good playing the drums

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

 

• First time seeing it
• Liked it
• I cannot even fathom how anyone could watch this movie without having seen everything that came before it. I saw everything that came before it in the last 6 months and I was still lost at points. Where are all the Infinity Stones? Who's going where? Who's teamed up with whom? It was a lot to keep track of
• Related to that, and due to the nature of the movie, some subplots were better than others
• I generally liked the new team-ups we had here, especially when there were some heads being butted. The prickliness of Tony and Doctor Strange was a lot of fun, as was Peter Quill being so put off by Thor. I also liked the team of Thor, Rocket and Groot, although that whole subplot was pretty bland
• The Guardians-styled segments were my favourites; in some ways I liked them even better than the actual Guardians movies. Quill and Drax had some good bits, and while Teenage Groot was really just one joke, they stuck with that one joke and it was a good running gag throughout the movie. Rubberband Man was also a fantastic choice for the Guardians' entrance
• I also liked the aforementioned team of Tony and Strange, as well as Spider-Man. Strange's powers are still pretty cool and unique, though I wish they had leaned a little more heavily into them, perhaps more inspired by the visuals of the Doctor Strange movie. Spidey's new suit was also pretty neat
• Everyone else got pretty under-served. Captain American has a beard and Black Widow is blonde now, and those were my main takeaways from the screen time given to those two. Oh, and Bruce Banner has performance anxiety
• Thanos. Complex motivation for a villain, certainly the most powerful foe our heroes have ever fought, and I don't really care about him as a character. Considering how deep we are into the franchise, not to mention how the movie ends (which we'll get to in a minute), the most important thing about Thanos was that he had to feel like an actual threat to this multitude of incredibly powerful superheroes; the good news is he does, right from the start. But he doesn't have the charisma of the best MCU villains - Killmonger, Loki, and so on. Perhaps this was by design to make him all the more intimidating. Perhaps this was due to there not being much humanity behind his performance, by Josh Brolin, an actor I like. But even the parts intended to give him depth, like his relationship with Gamora, did nothing for me. His henchmen will have left my memory within the week if they haven't already. Parting word about Thanos for now: he has a surprisingly cute lil button nose compared to the lump of flesh that is his face
• One has to respect a movie in which the bad guy wins. The subversion of our expectations is honestly shocking. However, the risk they ran was that it ended up making the first two hours of the movie feel somewhat hollow. Nothing the Avengers did before fighting Thanos actually made any difference. Thor's axe didn't save them. The battle in Wakanda didn't save them. Even sacrificing Vision didn't save them. This does add to the bleakness of the conclusion, but at the same time it diminished my appreciation for the movie as a whole story
• It feels incredibly stupid and very 2019 to say this, but I knew a lot of details about this movie's ending thanks to memes. I tried to avoid spoilers, but it was to no avail. Spider-Man not feeling so good, people turning to dust, even the knowledge that Thanos was wiping out half the population of the universe. These were all things I knew. And with that said, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ending to this movie still hit me hard. It was extremely well done. The emotions, the characters we've gotten to know, the ramifications, those are all going to stick with me. But if only I'd been a Marvel moviegoer when this movie came out, I'm sure seeing this ending in a theatre would have been next-level feels-hitting

BLACK PANTHER

 

• Second time seeing it. We watched it when it was nominated for best picture
• I admire this movie for the things that are unique about it. The African setting and the diversity of the cast and characters provide a welcome non-white, non-American focus. The movie is also full of strong, independent, plot-important women. These qualities do make it stand out from the crowd
• Having said that, do I think this movie transcends the Marvel formula? No, not really. I was surprised it was nominated for best picture the first time I saw it, and it still doesn't blow me away after having seen everything that came before
• The action is fine. There are some cool hand-to-hand fights, especially the waterfall scenes. The setting is interesting. Not a whole lot of memorably funny parts. Most of this movie kind of just slips away after seeing it
• However, the one thing that stuck, both the first time and this time, was Killmonger. Considering I've complained about boring villains in the past, the villain in this one definitely elevates the whole movie beyond some of the others. Michael B. Jordan is super entertaining to watch, and his character's motivation has a lot of depth and nuance. Best part of the movie by a fair margin
• I've started taking notes while watching these things, and my notes for Black Panther included me saying, "Same old climax. People just flying all over the place." And it's true! The CGI, weightless, generic climax is something that has plagued a lot of the Marvel movies. I've even started wondering if I'm placing too much weight on the climaxes, and perhaps I should start to judge these movies more on whatever comes before. But is it too much to ask for an engaging, original action movie climax!? What is it about the way they make these movies that the big, final, super important action set-piece, the culmination of the whole movie, is so incredibly forgettable? I can think of only a handful of Marvel movies with memorable climaxes that stand out from the others: Avengers 1 and 2, Thor: The Dark World (I know, I'm surprised it stands out, too), Ant-Man, Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Guardians 2 if I'm being generous. Am I missing something here? Does anyone out there have an argument for the Marvel climaxes being good? Or did I miss any individual movies that should get recognition? I'm open to discussion

THOR: RAGNAROK

 

• First time seeing it
• Loved it
• The Marvel movies always get a boost in quality when you can sense the director's unique style, and that's the case here. Taika Waititi's dry sense of humour permeates to the core of this movie. I haven't seen all of his movies, but I liked What We Do In the Shadows, and he wrote and directed for Flight of the Conchords, one of my favourites. Everyone knows this is one of the funniest Marvel movies, and it sure is, but I really did love how distinctively funny it is through the writing and the performances
• For that reason, I was surprised to find Waititi isn't actually a credited writer on this movie. Honestly, I'm assuming he put his spin on the script quite a lot, but if more praise is due to the credited writers, consider it given!
• Running trend in the Thor movies: Asgard scenes are boring and self-serious, Thor out of his element scenes are funny and entertaining. Setting so much of the action on Sakaar was the best choice. There's an immediate shift in tone in this movie compared to the previous ones, almost jarringly so, but still not enough to make the Asgard scenes all that memorable. Although I did like the Matt Damon cameo and Anthony Hopkins was funny playing Loki/Odin
• The whole climax of the movie was pretty forgettable. I liked Cate Blanchett as Hela, though. She was fun as a straight-up, no subtleties, villain. I also liked their tactic for defeating her. Karl Urban did nothing for me, considering how much screen time his character got
• So with that in mind, back to Sakaar!
• Mark Ruffalo is charming, Tessa Thompson is badass, Tom Hiddleston is mischievous. I liked them all
• Jeff Goldblum! What I loved about him in this movie is that there was JUST the right amount. He made the most of every minute of time he was on the screen and it never got old. Same with Korg (voiced by Waititi, as most of you know). It takes restraint to use these characters sparingly, as I'm sure they knew how much the audience would love them
• I've always liked Hemsworth in these movies, and I think he's a really funny actor. It's also always more interesting to see Thor in a vulnerable position, considering he's a God. But more importantly, THOR GOT A HAIRCUT
• Ashley's reaction to said haircut: "OH MY DADDY DADDY. I'm going to flood this fucking couch!"
• The joke was on her, dear reader. It was I who flooded the fucking couch. Hemsworth looked goooooood
• And now, a little tangent for some Mark and Ashley lore. Way back in April 2017, the trailer for Ragnarok was released. You remember it. It featured Immigrant Song pretty heavily. Ashley and I were seeing a movie, no idea what it was, and this trailer pops up. Ashley decided to refer to Immigrant Song as "that song from Shrek 3!" Now, at first I just gently mocked Ashley for associating that song with Shrek, and not with, say, Led Zeppelin, by suggesting that Shrek 3 was her favourite movie of all time. And BOY has that initial mockery morphed. It has now become a running joke that Ashley is obsessed with the Shrek franchise, but also that she is sexually aroused by it and him. She affectionately refers to herself as a Shrek Slut. So! If ever you've heard us joke about Shrek and Ashley's fetishization of everyone's favourite ogre, well, this is why. Thanks, Thor: Ragnarok trailer, for inspiring this stupid thing we've been saying for over two years!

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

 

• First time seeing it
• I very much enjoyed the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies when they came out, including Spider-Man 3, as I remember. It has also been quite some time since I watched them. Those movies benefited greatly from being unique and novel, and earlier examples of how to do blockbuster superhero movies. They were light, and fun, and funny, while still having some good action scenes and special effects. If I watched them now, I'm sure they'd feel very similar to the *counts on fingers* SIXTEEN Marvel movies I've watched in the past half a year
• Side note, I didn't see either of the Andrew Garfield movies
• This is a long way of saying that Spider-Man: Homecoming was a very, very fun Spider-Man movie, while not really doing a whole lot better than the Tobey Maguire ones, in my opinion. But let's talk about the actual movie at hand, now
• Loved Tom Holland in Civil War, and loved his interactions with Robert Downey Jr., so it was pretty disappointing there wasn't more of that. Instead we got Happy Hogan...Thanks?
• Tom Holland was a lot of fun in this one, too, and definitely skewed younger than Tobey, feeling more like a high schooler. And speaking of which...
• JESUS CHRIST, TOM HOLLAND. When I saw him without his shirt on I immediately looked up how old he was when they filmed this because I felt like a pervert. The good news is he's 23 now, so he was about 20 when they filmed it. The bad news is that Peter's supposed to be 15 in the movie, so I still kind of feel like a pervert
• I liked Tom Holland's performance so much that it was even more of a bummer that his face was covered in so many scenes. Comes with the superhero territory, I suppose, but I think it affects Spider-Man more than most
• Michael Keaton - kind of boring as a kind of boring villain, but great as a protective, vaguely menacing father. Combining these two aspects made the later villain stuff more interesting. At some point that character twist was spoiled for me, and I wish it had been more of a surprise, but it was still pretty effective
• The action was serviceable, if not memorable
• I really liked this movie's sense of humour and comic timing. All the way up to the last second of the movie, with Aunt May's "WHAT THE FU--," I laughed a lot at this one. The funny Marvel movies sit high on the list for me; I'm still holding Iron Man 3 as one of my favourites. For this reason, if you've been following along, you probably know why I'm excited for the next one in the franchise

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

 

• Saw it in the theatre when it came out
• I still feel a little bad for how hard I was on the first Guardians with my rewatch. I went into this one with an open mind, and again with the memory of enjoying it the first time I saw it
• Some of the things I liked about the first Guardians are even better in this one, while some of the faults are still present. Overall, I enjoyed watching it again, though
• From beginning to end, I adore how colourful and vibrant this movie is
• Once again, Rocket is a lot of fun, you can tell how much Bradley Cooper likes voicing him. For me, though, and surely for a lot of people, Baby Groot is the MVP of this movie, and the source of the best gags
• Another great, tone-setting opening credits sequence
• I loved the first movie's soundtrack. I loved this one even more. So many of my favourite scenes are enhanced by the song choices, and quite a few of the songs are ones I'd heard before in my life but didn't give much thought to. Thanks to this movie, I developed a new appreciation for most of these songs
• My favourite sequence is the scene where Rocket, Baby Groot and Yondu escape from the Ravagers' ship. Come a Little Bit Closer is a fantastic song choice, and Yondu's whistley arrow thing is super cool every time it's on screen, especially with the neon tail effect
• As a villain, I thought Ego was a really cool concept, executed well. I always like seeing Kurt Russell. The climax was fine, but I really liked the little humourous touches like Baby Groot and the bomb, and Quill flying around off-screen asking if anyone had any tape
• The space battles left me kind of cold
• I think I laughed more at this movie than the first one, but again, I ended up wishing it was just a little funnier than what we got. Like I said above, I love Rocket and Groot. But splitting up the team for a big chunk of the movie wasn't a great choice, and I never found Drax's shtick all that amusing
• The ending funeral scene didn't hit me in the feels like it did for some people, but I appreciated closing the movie with one last visually vibrant scene

DOCTOR STRANGE

• First time seeing it
• LOVED the special effects. Visually incredible. Just like with Ant-Man, the effects were used to show us scenes and settings that would have been otherwise impossible. I wish I had gone to see it on the big screen
• Lots of comparisons to Inception, another movie that really impressed me. I definitely got some Matrix vibes too
• Having said all that, by the time the climax rolled around, I had no fukken idea what was happening with the plot or the villains' motivations. It might be more clear on a rewatch. But the thing is, I didn't actually care that much. The stuff at the end was still so visually inventive, with the Dark Dimension and the time loop, that I was fully engaged right to the end
• I saw a few episodes of Sherlock, but this was the first movie starring role I'd seen of Benny C. I liked his performance a lot, although that accent at times seemed a liiiiittle shaky. He really does have a sexy alien thing going for him
• I liked Tilda Swinton. I think she brought a fun impishness to her character that was clever and subversive. However, I am going to come down on the anti-whitewashing side. I'm sure an Asian actor could have given a performance that was just as good, and I will always support more diversity in movies
• Thanks for coming, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg, Rachel McAdams and Benjamin Bratt. You did very little to enhance this movie but it's probably not your fault
• I actually thought this movie could have had fewer jokes. Not all of them landed for me, and I found a lot of the humourous beats tonally jarring. I didn't think this movie needed it, it had enough going on otherwise. I'm sorry, Marvel. I know I'm fickle and hard to predict. I know I've complained about the opposite in past movie write-ups. What can I say. I contain multitudes

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

 

• First time seeing it
• Excellent
• This movie has a lot in common with Winter Soldier, which was also one of the best movies so far in the franchise. Makes perfect sense, considering the two movies share directors and screenwriters. When Civil War first came out I went for a very long time thinking it was an Avengers film, given the sprawling cast of characters. But considering the sensibility and tone of this movie, it does have more in common with the Captain America movies than the Avengers movies
• Amazing action sequences. There's a wonderful sense of verticality to some of these scenes, for example Bucky's stairwell escape and the missile silo fight towards the end. Lots of practical effects, which we've established make a big difference for me. A fair number of plainclothes fight scenes, too, which are fun to see the actual actors kick ass. Also some great car stunts
• In terms of tone, this one is also pretty serious. Again, it worked very well. But going into it I was expecting a lighter-style romp than what we got. It's funny to think that some of the Marvel movies that rely the least on humour were also directed by the Russos, who were well-known for their work on two of the funniest shows ever made, Arrested Development and Community
• I knew all about the airport fight. In fact, I had watched the airport fight already. One of the best sequences yet in any Marvel movie, definitely lives up to its potential. What I didn't realize, though, was that the airport fight wasn't the actual climax of the movie. With 45 minutes left to go, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But the ending, with Tony and Steve going mano a mano, was tremendous. I would call this the best climax in a Marvel movie so far, and if you lump it together with the airport fight and call them Climax 1 and Climax 2, well, there's really no contest. The Avengers movies are the only ones on the same level
• The Howard Stark reveal totally got me. I reacted verbally. I also thought Robert Downey Jr. put in some excellent acting in this movie, something the Marvel films don't usually get attention for
• Marvel villains, mostly, are dull. I've said this before, others have said this before. This villain was fine, but dull. However, the genius of this movie is in where the conflict is actually focused. Some of my favourite scenes have been when our heroes fight against each other. As I said in my Age of Ultron post, we care about these characters separately and love watching them work with and against each other. The central conflict, the action sequences, everything stemming from Tony going against Steve, worked incredibly well. The movie also did a great job of toying with our sympathies and making us straddle the line between rooting for one or the other
• Great intros to Spider-Man and Black Panther. Peter's intro and his interactions with Tony were especially fun, and I can't wait to see Homecoming
• Funniest scene was probably when Ant-Man showed up. I LOVE YOU, PAUL RUDD
• So Chris Evans should just devote the rest of his career to restraining helicopters with his bare hands, right?

ANT-MAN

 

• First time seeing it
• Liked it a lot
• The way this movie plays with size and scale is incredibly creative. This is another example of CGI done well. It uses the technology inventively to show us things we haven't seen before
• Scott's first shrinking experience was super cool, the briefcase fight was great, and the climax taking place on a child's train set was a stroke of genius. My favourite appearance by Thomas the Tank Engine, by far
• I LOVE YOU, PAUL RUDD. I am not shy about my man crush on Paul Rudd. I want to marry him and become a Hollywood power couple. I want to kiss him on the mouth. I would watch him watch paint dry. I enjoyed Paul Rudd in this movie, is what I'm trying to say
• Michael Douglas is also having a lot of fun. When I think Michael Douglas, I mostly think serious Michael Douglas. The Game, Fatal Attraction, Traffic. But he fit right in to the Marvel style
• Michael Peña is a delight
• Oh good, another bald, evil, rival businessman. Jeff Bridges couldn't make an interesting villain out of it, and neither can this guy
• Judy Greer is a great actress. I've seen her in lots of things at this point, and she's versatile and talented. I will never see her without imagining her saying, "Say goodbye to these!"
• Let's talk heist movies. I like the idea of a Marvel heist movie. It's a nice variation on the way to deliver action. In a heist movie, the action isn't just about two dudes punching each other. It's about a plan coming together and being executed. In the best heist movies, you get to admire the planning and plotting pulled off by the protagonists, as we can see in movies like Ocean's Eleven, The Sting, and so on. The issue I had with this movie's main heist scene was how dependent it was on the magical ants. Those ants could basically do anything the heroes needed, and there was barely any human ingenuity involved. I know it's canon that Ant-Man can control ants or talk to ants or whatever, but the ant-heavy scenes had my interest flagging. I preferred the earlier mini-heist when it was just Scott stealing the suit, making a phony fingerprint, and freezing the safe. I still really enjoyed the movie as a whole, but I liked some parts better than others

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

 

• First time seeing it
• Liked it. I was prepared to be disappointed. I feel like when it came out, some people were underwhelmed. But I was pretty whelmed. It was entertaining all the way through, and I enjoyed my time with this movie
• Not as good as the first Avengers, and not as good as several of the stand-alones. The action was pretty good in this one, but the humour was lacking. The wisecracks missed more than they hit, and for that reason they felt forced. There is a lot of value in just watching these characters bounce off of each other, though
• Speaking of these characters bouncing off of each other: definitely didn't need the Banner/Romanoff romance. Is it conceivable that two of these characters could develop feelings for each other? Sure. Does it make sense that it might have started to happen in between movies? Yep. Did it feel shoehorned in and unnecessary for the overall appeal of this movie? You betcha. Perhaps they chose this plot line to make Hulk departing at the end of the movie more poignant, but I think it could have been just as effective without
• Let's talk Ultron. Once again, we have an entirely CGI character who, for me, was really sold by some solid voice acting. I really liked James Spader's performance. At first he seemed a little smarmy for a murderous AI entity, but when it clicked that he has some of Tony Stark's personality in him, that made more sense. The visual depiction of Ultron, though, was total uncanny valley. The way his mouth and eyes were animated unsettled both Ashley and me. It must be said, though, Ultron has a cute little robot butt.
• 
  
  
• I like Elizabeth Olsen as an actress, but that accent got a little dodgy. I knew Quicksilver was in this one, but I had no idea he died in the span of just one movie. There was some cool stuff done with his speed super power, although I think it's hilarious that most of the time when he's fighting people he just goes really fast and bonks into them.
• I dug the climax. It had a similar feel to the climax of the first Avengers, with one charismatic big bad and a whole army of lesser cannon fodder bad guys, which works to serve up some sweet action scenes. And somehow Ultron's plan was even more batshit crazy than Loki's.
• Loved the Hulkbuster fight. And I was the first to acknowledge the incongruity here. This is another punch-up between two CGI characters, something I've railed against in the past, but here it totally worked. So let's analyze this a bit. What did this fight have that other similar scenes haven't?
• a) The fight evolves. It kicks off with a really cool evolution of Tony's Iron Man suit into something we haven't seen before, and it just continues evolving. Hulk rips the suit apart, Tony fixes it. Hulk can't be subdued by a bunch of punches, Tony uses the suit to cage his hand instead. The fight keeps throwing new wrinkles at the viewer
• b) The size and scale of these characters is used to great effect. They wreak havoc and use the setting creatively. Tony hits Hulk with a friggin' elevator car
• c) At this point we care equally about both characters involved, and their relationship to each other makes this a better fight.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

 

• Well gang, this might be a controversial one. This movie didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped or expected
• As mentioned, this is one of the few movies that I had already seen before Ashley and I tackled the MCU. I saw Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 in the theatre, and hadn't seen either one since. And I remembered liking Guardians of the Galaxy a lot! So much so that during some of the less entertaining movies we've watched recently, I actually kept thinking, "It's OK, you'll have a great time watching Guardians of the Galaxy, you know you like that one."
• I now think the best way to watch this movie was the way I did it the first time: in the theatre, surrounded by a game audience. Watching it from the couch, there just isn't a whole lot to take away from this movie. Is it pleasant and capable? Sure. Is it easily forgettable? Absolutely. Doesn't that describe the majority of these movies? One could argue.
• There were some pretty cool shots that used slow motion effectively. Yondu's whistle arrow thing was neat. I liked the scene where Groot impaled a hallway full of bad guys, and then used them as a club to take out the rest of the bad guys. Aside from that, it was a lot of animated explosions. Formulaic and dull climax; I got a bit of a Star Wars prequels vibe. Although I do want to shout out this movie's use of colour. It's a visually vibrant film.
• I wanted to laugh more than I did. There were some funny subversions of action and sci-fi tropes and the cast is likable. But when this movie was released, its sense of humour was always brought up as one of its strengths. I remembered thinking that was the case the first time I saw it. But I couldn't pinpoint anything that will stick with me in the way really funny movies do. Based on what I've heard, I'm really looking forward to Ant-Man!
• This movie was the beginning of "Chris Pratt, Leading Man!" He was Andy from Parks and Rec! He was missing from Parks and Rec because he was getting hot! It was so awesome to see this goofball as the star of an action movie! And he's fine. Now that this is just what he does, the novelty has worn off. He's pretty convincing acting against a lot of CGI, though. And speaking of which...
• Rocket is the best part of this movie. "But Mark," you say! "You're Mr. Anti-CGI, and Rocket is an entirely CGI character! Explain yourself, you mewling quim!" Rocket was animated with character and personality, but the real credit goes to Bradley Cooper. He created such a fun, anarchic character, using only his voice, and then the animators brought him to life. If you haven't seen it yet, watch clips from Bradley Cooper's VO sessions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPa1d8ygmo8
• I would absolutely be remiss if I didn't give credit where it's due: This is one of the best movie soundtracks ever, and it definitely provides a lot of the affection I do have for this movie. The opening credits are probably my favourite sequence, and I still got a thrill when "Guardians of the Galaxy" popped up on screen, underscored by Come and Get Your Love. But if my favourite sequence from the movie is the opening credits, well, something might be amiss
• This is another long write-up, but I'll leave you with this: I feel very unnerved by Groot's wooden teeth

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

 

• First time seeing it
• This movie has the best fight scenes, the best car stunts, the best explosions, and the best gun play of any Marvel movie so far. In fact, it stands pretty tall among action movies in general
• This is a very serious movie, with not much levity. While this tone hasn't worked for me with other movies in the franchise up to now, in this case the plot and the action thoroughly engrossed me. I like my Marvel movies with some humour, but I appreciated this movie's purity of intent
• After this one, the only future movies I've already seen are the two Guardians and Black Panther. I believed the Nick Fury death, not knowing for sure if he appeared in later movies. Having said that, I did feel a little gullible when the truth was revealed
• It was great to see Nick Fury get to be a badass
• The practical effects were so well done in this movie that I was a little disappointed by the CGI-heavy climax. It was still entertaining, there was some good stuff in there, but I'd take the elevator fight scene or the attack on Nick Fury over the high-flying spectacle of infiltrating the airships. I'll always appreciate and prefer practical effects. It's partly why Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of my favourite movies of all time
• That Robert Redford can rock a suit, boy
• Samuel L. Jackson: "Director override. Fury, Nicholas J." Mark: "What does the 'J' stand for?" Ashley: "Jizz."

THOR: THE DARK WORLD

 

• First time seeing it
• Probably last time seeing it
• I didn't entirely hate it. I just didn't care. I might have been better prepared for what to expect from this one, so with low expectations, I at least didn't find myself disappointed, and I think my expectations might have been surpassed
• Despite ragging on the movie as a whole, I thought the climax was legitimately awesome, and I'd go so far as to say that it was one of my favourite climaxes so far in the MCU. The dimensional portals, the wonky gravity and the great special effects all worked for me. I've already started getting a little bored by the big final action set pieces in these movies, but this one surprised and engrossed me
• The first Thor movie gave me a total Lord of the Rings vibe, so I was amused to find that this one seemed to be going for more of a Star Wars pastiche. I got this impression even before Thor loses his hand, but that clinched it. At that point I even started to admire it more as deliberate homage, as opposed to shallow mimicry. And THEN I'm told that someone loses a hand in every Phase 2 movie, as a direct reference to The Empire Strikes Back, which I think is a pretty cool little Easter egg
• Hemsworth wasn't given as much fun stuff to do here, but man, he shows a lot of commitment to this character in the sincere way he plays him, even when he's actively poking fun at said sincerity
• I've had enough Kat Dennings for now, thanks. Also, what an odd little thankless role for Chris O'Dowd. And this was after he was in Bridesmaids
• Loved the Chris Evans cameo

IRON MAN 3

 

• First time seeing it
• Loved it
• I probably laughed more at this movie than any of the others so far
• Some very cool and creative action choreography in the sequences with partial and multiple Iron Man suits
• I thought The Mandarin twist was hilarious, and Ben Kingsley was great as both the hammy, exaggerated initial villain, as well as the pathetic actor portraying him
• Having said that, I was probably in the ideal position to enjoy this twist. I'm aware of comics, but not a consumer; I knew that the Mandarin was supposed to be a big deal, but I also wasn't let down by this movie undercutting him. I can understand people being disappointed with not seeing a sincere depiction of the villain. Worked for me, though. I thought it was a riot
• Guy Pearce as the real villain was less interesting. Although they added some mutanty, X-Men-like abilities that haven't really been shown in these movies so far
• Nice little heroic moment for Gwyneth Paltrow at the end
• I liked that they took Tony out of the suit for a fair chunk of this movie. I thought it played with the Marvel formula in a successful way, added a new sensibility to the action, and Robert Downey Jr. certainly rose to the occasion. There are some who say this is more of a straight action movie than a superhero movie. I say that's a benefit of having a massive franchise like the MCU, they had more chances to try new things in different ways. I also say that the climax to this movie is pure Iron Man and superhero action
• Despite liking action movies, and having a good idea of the Shane Black style, I believe this is the first Shane Black movie I've seen all the way through. From what I understand, he really put his stamp on this one, and I admire that level of craft when working within a franchise like this one
• Considering I liked this one so much, I should definitely make it a priority to watch more of the movies Shane Black wrote or directed. Any suggestions?

THE AVENGERS

 

• Now THIS is a movie!
• Action, humour, characters, dialogue, all on point
• While the story beats are par for the course with a superhero team-up, the infighting followed by begrudging teamwork followed by triumphant coalescence were entertaining throughout
• And THIS is a villain. Tom Hiddleston is having a blast, and he's such fun to watch
• The Chitauri don't bring anything to the party from a character perspective, but since they pose a threat through overwhelming numbers, that's understandable, and it's good that Loki is there to serve as a single recognizable villain
• I still don't think back fondly to his role in Thor, though. There's a part of me that wants to watch Thor again to greater appreciate Tom Hiddleston's performance, but I still just don't care about the Asgard stuff, which is all he appears in. Perhaps, like Thor, Loki is best when he's on Earth
• If you're looking for a movie with a lot of cute butts, you could do worse
• CGI in this movie: better utilized, better quality, or both?
• Since this movie's one of the big ones, Ashley and I invited our friends Nick and Liz over for a viewing party. These are their two-sentence reviews
• Nick: I'm massively impressed with how they were able to take all six previously established characters and give them all seemingly equal screen time. It's an excellent blend of action, comedy, and drama, with a sprinkling of butts
• Liz: Joss Whedon is really good at action scenes. Everything is interesting
• Ashley: Butts butts butts butts butts butts.
• 
• In case it wasn't obvious from my reviews, I've been underwhelmed by the other movies so far. I've stayed committed to seeing the franchise through, but I started wondering how much enjoyment I'd actually get from the experience, or if maybe the MCU just wasn't for me. However, I saw Avengers in the theatre with Nick, after having seen only Iron Man and Captain America prior. I remembered liking Avengers a lot, so I was pretty confident I'd like it just as much this time
• Furthermore, I can now say that the experience of watching The Avengers is richer for having seen the previous films. The recurring characters, the interactions, the references, I had a deeper appreciation for all of them
• On to Phase Two, baby

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

 

• This movie achieves what it sets out to do. It's a good introduction to Steve Rogers and really solidifies his character
• Despite that, I found it left me a little cold. I wasn't entirely sure why at first, until Ashley pointed out that it didn't have much levity. And it's true. For a sci-fi war movie about a super soldier battling a guy with a red skull for a head, this is a very sincere movie
• I appreciate that the Marvel films play with the formula. If all 22 movies had the exact same tone, that would get really boring. However, I do enjoy the humour, the snark, and the more fun qualities of the ones I've seen so far. It's good to identify that this is the flavour of Marvel I like, as I think this will help me understand the later movies for what they bring to the table
• As a shorter guy with a deep voice, I feel qualified to say that it's unnerving to hear Chris Evans' voice coming out of pre-Cap Steve Rogers
• Hugo Weaving is probably the most effective villain in the movies so far. However, as of yet, none of the villains are nearly as interesting as the heroes. On the face of it, this might seem like a foregone conclusion. Of course you'd want the hero of your movie to be more interesting than the villain. However, this hasn't always been the case for the superhero genre. It's been said before, but in nearly every Batman movie, the villain is the most entertaining part. I like that the MCU provides charismatic heroes you can root for, but you can't deny the entertainment value provided by a magnetic villain on screen
• By "magnetic villain" I'm not just specifically referring to Magneto
• We took great pleasure in referring to him as Fucky Barnes
• Howard Stark looks like a grown-up Neal from Freaks and Geeks
• We are now in a post-Endgame world. Ashley and I were under no illusions that we could catch up in time, but we've managed to avoid spoilers so far. We'll see how long that can last, especially since we apparently can't even watch the trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home. At least they included a spoiler warning
• This is a long write-up. Fucky Barnes. Heh

THOR

 

• First time seeing it
• Thor on Earth was delightful, made me laugh several times, and contained some good action scenes
• Asgard was a bunch of CGI bullshit that I didn't care about
• I will admit, when I first saw Asgard, I was impressed in a Lord of the Rings-y way, but those parts of the movie didn't have the story or characters to back up the setting
• After the movie ended, both Ashley and I commented that we remember Thor breaking that rainbow bridge thing with his hammer, but neither of us could remember why. If this is the result of your movie's climax, something has gone awry with the stakes
• The less I see of Anthony Hopkins' eye socket, the better
• That Chris Hemsworth, boy. When he took off his shirt both Ashley and I responded verbally
• However, I'm convinced his beard and eyebrows look weird in this one. I'm pretty sure they get darker in later movies
• Setting aside some creepy stuff towards Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2, am I right in thinking that these movies objectify the male bodies more than the females? There's Hemsworth in this one, and I know Chris Evans gets some attention in later movies. So, progress?

IRON MAN 2

 

• First time seeing it
• Robert Downey Jr. still having a good time, although a depressed and dying Tony Stark isn't as fun as one who's just discovering his abilities
• I was excited to see Mickey Rourke as the villain. But my GOD was he boring. How hard is it to make a vengeful Russian with crazy electric whips a compelling character?
• You know which character I would expect to find boring? A RIVAL BUSINESSMAN. But I couldn't get enough of Sam Rockwell. That guy knows how to play an entertaining villain!
• ScarJo got a great action scene near the end of the movie, but Black Widow's introduction was disappointingly undercut in the service of a twist reveal

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

• First time seeing it
• Some fine action scenes
• I enjoy Edward Norton very much as an actor. However, he doesn't often play likable. From the Marvel movies I've seen, and what I know of the franchise, they traffic in likability and charisma, to the point that I've already decided I need to come up with some synonyms for those words. It's hard to imagine Edward Norton interacting with the charisma-bombs who appear in the later movies. Ruffalo definitely fits in better
• On the flip side, I really don't think Liv Tyler is a good actor at all. I liked her in That Thing You Do. She was fine in The Strangers. I haven't seen Armageddon though, so, grain of salt
• Evil Tim Roth Hulk was kind of cool looking at the end, exposed bones and all, but...
• In thinking about committing myself to a viewing of all the Marvel movies I've been worried about CGI overload, and it's already hitting me. There's something I find so ineffectual and boring about CGI, and I'm not entirely sure why that is, since animated movies can have a big impact on me. Is there something about real actors and settings being juxtaposed against CGI that pulls me out of it? Is there a particular way the Marvel movies use CGI that doesn't do it for me? I'm curious what other people have to say about CGI and the special effects in general in the Marvel movies
• It does have to be said, the Hulk doesn't always look great in this one
• Liked Tony Stark showing up at the end, although the version we watched had that as a pre-credits scene instead of post-credits. For the longest time I really didn't think this movie was an official part of the MCU, but that scene clinched it
• People who have seen both, how does this compare to Ang Lee/Eric Bana's version?

IRON MAN

• Very entertaining
• These days, the origin story is played out. But hey, if you're starting a franchise, it's a given. And this was a fine origin story
• It's been said countless times before, but Robert Downey Jr. has charisma for days
• Pepper Potts is a dumb name. Naming your child Pepper Potts is almost as bad as naming your company Goop
• The goodness of a Jeff Bridges character is directly related to his amount of hair. Iron Man: bald douchebag; The Big Lebowski: coolest dude in the world; Surf's Up: penguin. I rest my case
• Bye, Terrence Howard. It's been fun
• Am I wrong, or does the Iron Man mask have a lil frowny face on it? :(
• We almost forgot to watch the post-credits sequence! I mean, we all know where this is going, but the fanboys must've been screaming back in 2008!

MARK'S MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE REVIEWS

Hello, and welcome! Full disclosure, I'm actually writing this post on April 18th of 2021, but we're going to backdate all the Marvel reviews to reflect when I first posted them on Facebook.

In March of 2019, there had already been 21 movies released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At that point, I had seen 6 of them. So, my girlfriend, Ashley, and I decided to embark on a watching project, and I decided I'd write little reviews of each movie throughout. I had never written movie reviews before, but I've long loved talking about and reading about the movies I watch, so it seemed like as good a time as any to give it a go.

The reviews started out pretty casual and short, and they stayed pretty casual, but you may notice that I started to go more and more in-depth. Enjoy!