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I hate them for putting this behind a $20 pay wall

https://twitter.com/MarvelSnapZone/status/1675661890683547649?t=Rxf4E0vfKFk5I7ODlNy1bw&s=19

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Maniac64 posted...

Have you watched endgame? If so you should watch the holiday special to continue the Guardians fun.

Yeah I've watched everything. lol It's my girlfriend's first time watching some of these though.

Ultimately, I think the biggest problem compared to Guardians 1 is that the Guardians aren't all together and by each other for the majority of the movie. I think the Guardians are best when they're all together, and that was the charm of the first movie for me. Splitting them up was a mistake in the second film.

But... this is a movie about Yondu, at the end of the day for me. Michael Rooker puts everything he's got into this performance. We start when Sylvester Stallone's Stakar tells him off for what he did and really sets the pace of why Yondu is the way he is. He used to be a part of a family of his own, and he pushed them away. Stallone does great in his small role. He gets turned on by his crew, and it just shatters him. He sees the path he's been on that led to this and he confides in Rocket and is determined to have him not make the same mistakes as him. And he exacts unholy revenge on these fucking Ravagers, like Taserface who is hilariously played by Chris Sullivan. The scene on the Ravager ship is probably my favorite action scene because of how cool his arrow is. They do so many cool things.

Where this all culminates to is Yondu's reflection that he just acknowledges he fucked his life up, regardless of what excuses he can make. It's his fault. He doesn't feel like he did a lot right--but the one right thing he did was save Peter and raise him as his own. And he begs Rocket to let him save Peter one last time. He wants to be able to go out taking care of the one thing that he covets in this world, even though he knows he won't survive. It's his choice. He'd rather die than let anything happen to Peter. "He may have been your father, but he weren't your daddy." Kills me every time I see it. And Pratt's acting when Yondu passes, using the last of his life to frame Peter's face... it just hits me hard.

The funeral scene is my absolute favorite scene though. You can have all the action and everything, but nothing makes me feel more than this scene where Yondu is laid to rest. Peter eulogizes him in his clumsy way because he doesn't know how to deal with it. Baby Groot tries to comfort him. Gamora and Nebula have a touching finale to their story in the movie. And then we see al of the Ravagers come to send Yondu off. He never asked to be accepted by them, but he would have loved it. Rocket did one thing to repay Yondu that would have meant everything: let the Ravagers know he died a hero and not a scumbag they thought he was. They celebrate with a beautiful light show, cheer him on, talk about how he died a proper Ravager. Kraglin sees all of this, for the captain he respected and loved, and he stares in awe before screaming and pounding his chest. No words needed. It's perfect. And we close the movie here, celebrating Yondu as a family, allowing these guarded people to express they care for one another in different ways. I'm not ashamed to admit I cry every time I see it. I rarely ever cry at media, but this hits different, and I think it's just because of how perfect it all is, and how well it's built up through the movie. No other MCU moment is as emotional as this one.

But. I'd be remiss to not mention to action sequences still. The battle during the opening scenes against the giant monster is cut so well with the Baby Groot dancing. It's a fun sequence to remind us all of the team. The giant space battle against the Sovereign is also great, with so many fun and dramatic scenes. Just really great stuff with humor tacked on. And I mentioned it before, but Yondu single-handedly massacring the betraying Ravagers rules. It's so creative and fun and it's set to Come A Little Bit Closer. I love when the scene pauses as we see him surveying the security screens... and then picks up with him just whizzing his arrow through everyone. It's probably my favorite action scene.

I think the climax is... not great? It comes across as a bit confusing sometimes, we miss a lot of the action, it feels clunky with the addition of the Sovereign ships again, and I feel like most of the characters don't really get to do much during it. It's a bit disappointing as a finale that I really wanted to enjoy but found underwhelming. Mantis getting hit by a piece of debris during the big dramatic team pose moment is great though--it's a shame she does nothing else though.

I talked a ton about this movie, and I think it's an excellent one. Probably some of Marvel's best. I just don't think I like it as much as Guardians 1, which feels like a more better paced movie with more to do for everyone.

Girlfriend Thoughts: She found it funny, not shocking. She found all of the emotional scenes... well, emotional. It hit with her. Particularly the Gamora/Nebula stuff. She was shocked by the Ego tumor reveal though and did a whole gasp and everything. Baby Groot was adorable to her too. She laughed, but she thought Drax was so mean with how he talked to Mantis. She also swore that Yondu wasn't going to die there and then when it was clear, she got extremely sad. She teased me for crying at the funeral because I never cry at this stuff, but she thought it was really emotional too. It didn't hit her as hard as it hit me though.

So last week I said we were finally watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I went to the bathroom and then the girlfriend said naaaah let's watch a show instead.

BUT WE WATCHED IT TODAY!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Release Date: May 5, 2017
Stand-Out Character: Yondu Udonta (played by Michael Rooker)
Best Scene: Yondu's Funeral

Back to it with an excellent sequel to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and I don't think it's quite as good as the first movie, but it's completely excellent. It has everything you want from the movie. Tons of heart. Great humor. Awesome action. It does everything extremely well. I have minimal complaints.

So I guess I'll get those complaints out of the way. Some of the CGI looks... not great? The skeleton of the human-form Ego is one thing that just looks dated, along with a couple other things that jumped out at me. It's very rare, but it did feel a little out of place when it wasn't excellent CGI.

And I think this movie is a little slower, and it doesn't have as many cool set pieces as the original had. It also doesn't feel nearly as high stakes. Then some characters get a lot, and then some... well, don't. Let's talk about those that don't get a lot.

Drax, played by Dave Bautista, is a complete non-factor in this movie, and it's a shame. He does nothing, barely fights, gets some good moments of great character work, but he's just not in the mix at all, which is a shame because he was the stand-out character in the first movie. He's hilarious when he gets time though, but it's just minimal compared to the others.

Baby Groot, played by Vin Diesel, is also just there for comedy and nothing else. I mean, I guess I get it, but it really doesn't feel like he's involved, and there's no real big moments. He's a mascot in this film, essentially.

And then Ayesha, played by Elizabeth Debicki, is kind of not a huge thing. She has a couple good gags, but she's otherwise not too interesting. So it's not horrible for a secondary villain though. I think Debicki does a good job with conveying her, and I feel that more in the end credits scene more than anything else.

I also feel like Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff, is pretty underutilized as well. She is positively hilarious, and she becomes my favorite member of the Guardians, but oddly enough it's in every appearance after this one that I think she really gets better. Here, she's pretty muted. She gets some funny and good scenes, but she's otherwise not particularly useful or interesting? She tries to offer Drax some more character as a foil but it's really just not as good.

Anyway, all of the awesome characters.

Kurt Russell positively kills it as Ego. Just completely excellent, start to finish, as this friendly father type that you can really feel comfortable with. And then when you hear his plan, he does it in such an off-putting and positive way. He really seems like an egomaniacal psycho there, and I love the way his big evil monologue go. Peppering in the comment about giving the tumor to Peter's mom, and then casually trying to explain it away, and then his final moments begging Peter to help stop the bomb are all just outstanding acting. Ego is the easy runner-up for the Stand-Out Character for me.

But that brings us to Star-Lord aka Peter Quill, played by Chris Pratt. I kind of find him annoying sometimes in this movie, and he's not nearly as entertaining in this one. Like he comes across as a little dumb to a fault, and less crafty than I am used to. A re-watch does kind of make more sense of his Infinity War moment though. I think Pratt does a great job here going through all the emotions, and when he gets serious he just does great. Pratt needs more appreciation for his acting in this film because it is just aces.

I do think they don't do enough in this story with the love between Peter and Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana. It feels like such a nothing thing aside from like one scene. That's my only real complaint about Gamora in this movie, because I do find the story between Gamora and Nebula more valuable. But when we're in Infinity War, I do feel like they could've done more to build up their relationship. But her story with Nebula? Great. You see her in this movie being a lot more thoughtful and kind, and it's done in just little actions for the most part. Nothing that screams in your face about it, but it's really just small stuff like being kind to Baby Groot, or the way she speaks to Rocket or Drax. And her talking to Nebula and showing more humanity. These things are great, but she also kind of does not a lot of fighting in this movie. I forget if she even does anything in the final fight in Ego's core if I'm being honest.

Nebula, by Karen Gillen, is a stand-out too though with her portrayal of Nebula. She's funny, but in a deadpan way. All of her action scenes are outstanding. And her emotional scenes with Gamora have all of the awkwardness of someone who has never actually had to express emotions. Her going "I win" after her fight with Gamora is great, and it's done so well. Just a subtle way to show how meaningful that stupid fight was for her to win, and how extra it was. All she wanted to do was win, and every interaction stems from that with Gamora and is done so damn well.

Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, really kills it in this movie. His development is basic, but it's effective. They give him a ton to do in terms of fighting, comedy, everything. He's a little asshole, but he learns to be less of a little asshole with his connection with Yondu, who wants to just help him. He takes it all to heart though, and we do feel like he went on an emotional journey through this thing.

Sean Gunn plays Kraglin, who I think is underappreciated in this movie. He has an emotional throughline that we can all follow. Kraglin is a well-meaning member of Yondu's crew, and he inadvertantly helps stoke the mutiny by simply disagreeing. But he just has heartbreaking lines he delivers to perfection like "...They killed my friends" and helping Yondu escape. He never meant for any of this to happen, but it did. He knows he screwed up. And he's a valuable member commanding the ship.

Guys.

I'm finally watching it right now.

up

Thanks LMS

Guardians 2.

Soon

Ish

Vacation bump

Bump

Rescue post

Bump!

We will watch Guardians 2. Eventually.

Edit: We also began watching Jessica Jones, which my girlfriend swears she watched but remembers absolutely nothing about it.

I also think I remembered the least of this movie. It's a lot like Thor 2 in that way. But I would rather have a fun time and remember very little than remember awful stuff about a film!

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release Date: July 6, 2018
Stand-Out Character: Wasp aka Hope Van Dyne (played by Evangeline Lilly)
Best Scene: Laboratory Car Chase

So yes, this is out of order but the girlfriend never saw Ant-Man 2 and we're looking to see Quantumania here soon. We'll go back in order after this!

I actually really enjoy this movie. I think it's extremely fun and does a lot of cool things. I think all of the humor works extremely well too. It's a light-hearted, simple movie with a lot of heart infused into it. In a series of movies that are dramatic action movies, it's a really nice change of pace. That said, it's not the best movie. I don't expect it to be though. It doesn't need to be.

I personally love everything that they do with the size manipulation stuff. I'm going in a different order than I usually do discussing these, but I think the action and effects really deserve to have a lot of focus. The choreography in this is actually pretty outstanding. The creative things they do with the shrinking in these action scenes rules. There's so much creativity involved and there's a lot of blink and you'll miss it awesome tricks they do too. Watching Ant-Man and Wasp just shrink in a blink and then re-size and smash people kicks ass. I'll watch that stuff all day every day if they can keep it fresh. It's so awesome to watch and such a nice change of pace from the action we get in other MCU films.

I think the best part is Wasp, played by Evangeline Lilly. I think she continues to do a great job with this character. She's a hell of a lot more endearing in this one and you really get to see her heart and badassery in this. She's still no-nonsense, but they let her have some fun here when the stakes aren't huge. Her and Scott are a cute couple and work out well, which is frankly what I love about those two. They are able to laugh and joke around and just seem to really be into one another. But man, the stuff they do with Wasp in these action scenes, she really comes across as a huge badass. She's an amazing fighter, has a mastery of shrinking and de-shrinking. The stingers look great. Her added flight is a great way to give her more mobility for fighting. Every single thing about Wasp works in this movie and it's by far my favorite thing about it.

But of course Paul Rudd's Ant-Man rules too. He gets a lot of great action scenes by virtue of being able to use his growing powers too as well as shrinking. It's a nice change of pace and ramps things up. You can really tell that he's a hell of a lot better with his powers now. And probably most notably, he's just funny. Paul Rudd is an outstanding comedic actor with so much charm and he's just a complete delight to watch. And he also has so much heart that helps carry this movie too. He just wants to do the right thing and help out the people he cares for.

Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, has a lot of good stuff in this movie too. He's really funny, still bitter, but he also provides a lot of heart here. He cares about Hope, he cares about Janet, and you can tell how much love he has for them. I think his more emotional scenes play really well.

Such as his reunion with Michelle Pfeiffer, playing Janet Van Dyne! Janet rules in this and she's pretty perfect. She balances out that bitter part of Hank and even though she's not in it a lot, you get a ton of her personality. She's the glass half full to Hank's glass half empty. Her lines just bring a smile to my face, and her delivery is perfect. She comes across as smart, confident, and caring. She's great.

The X-Con crew, specifically Luis played by Michael Pena, is tons of fun here too, even in their limited role. Luis is still funny as hell. I love Michael Pena so much. Whatever he does is just always hilarious. The dude is just a master of comedic acting. The other two guys are good too, just... with a lot less of a focus. Baba Yaga jokes always landed though.

Cassie is great too in this. The child actor they had, Abby Ryder Fortson, is actually really good. She's fun and plays off of Paul Rudd very well. You really get a sense they are father and daughter here, and she has a lot of emotional moments as well you might not expect. Just good stuff from her all around. Tragically, her parents are very minimal but play their roles fine. Shout outs to Judy Greer.

And Randall Park is great as Jimmy Woo. Just a funny ass dude who really manages to make for some hilarious stuff out of what he has. I just really enjoyed his presence in the film and the casting was awesome.

But then there's the weakest part of the movie, with the villains. Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, is... well, she's kind of here. I'm going to be a comic snob and say I like Ghost in the comics so many more times more than this character. She gets barely any time to develop and she's not particularly interesting. She's a great actress though, and the best part is that they do the effects of Ghost's powers perfectly. I'm actually disappointed we didn't get to see more crazy Ghost action scenes because it's really just so damn cool. I think if you're going to have Ghost play such a little part, having the character be more like the comics is better. Just an unsettling creep who really hates capitalism, but plays a great goon for hire. I know they tried to use the character to inject more heart into it, but it's just not interesting.

And despite Laurence Fishburne being outstanding too, Bill Foster is also not very interesting. He's a sort of villain but... man, who cares? He just tries to reign in Ghost a bit but it's not really interesting. I enjoyed him, because who doesn't like to see Laurence Fishburne on your screen? But it's not like it lit my world on fire.

Walter Goggins also plays Sonny Burch, who is a more traditional villain. He's just a shitty low level crime lord and it's a vibe I kinda like in this sort of movie. I really enjoy the actor as well, but he's a character who is... you know, fine for what he is. I would've like a different story to maybe utilize him a bit better. But I mean, he is just a leader of goons and does a good job of it.

The best parts of this movie are the action and comedy and personal relationships from our heroes. The worst part are the villains and a weaker story overall. This movie doesn't feel as crisp as Ant-Man 1, but it's still a really enjoyable film that you can just sit back and enjoy casually without investing a lot of emotion. And I kind of wish that more MCU movies could give us something like this. A much lower stakes adventure. Just a slice of these heroes' lives. I know a lot of people seem to really dislike this movie for some reason, but I can't find myself disliking it at all. It's all good fun.

Girlfriend Thoughts: She practically melted at any Scott and Hope scenes, and the Janet and Hank/Hope reunions. They hooked her with that stuff. She also thought Jimmy Woo was hilarious and loved that guy. Basically, all of the humor seemed to land with her from Woo, Luis, Baba Yaga, and Lang. We live in San Fransisco area, so it was really fun being able to point out places we knew. She loved the car chase scene and when it seemed like it was over, she was excited all over again when it continued after a Hank Pym interlude. She thought Cassie was completely adorable as well.

Life has been hectic. But we will watch silly Ant Movie the Second soon.

So uh, we'll be going out of order a little bit but it's not a big deal because it's just Ant-Man & Wasp we'll be watching next because the girlfriend hasn't seen it yet ahead of Quantumania next week.

And because we had lofty goals to get through the rest of the MCU movies to Ant-Man & Wasp first but you know.

Vacation bump

OH SHOOT! I forgot to mention the soundtrack!

Yeah, Doctor Strange's soundtrack may be my actual favorite. It has one of four individual MCU songs I actually remember. Avenger's Theme, Winter Soldier theme, Black Widow IM2 theme, and Doctor Strange theme. I also remembered other music beats too in this one. His theme seriously feels completely perfect for the character and I wish they used it more in the second Doctor Strange. Just such a triumph of a theme that really feels like it's taking you on a wild, magical adventure.

https://youtu.be/O6Gkdme2bck

Shoot, I forgot about those. lol

Girlfriend Thoughts on Daredevil Season 1: She thought Matt Murdock was a charming SOB and loved him when he wasn't brooding. The story with Matt's dad hit her hard and she thought it was so sad. She thought Kingpin was a total asshole and she outwardly expressed he's bad when people were acting like he was good. The second he appeared in Ben Urich's home, she immediately said "He's dead." She was blown away by the car door scene and was like "Okay, he's beaten up now. Is he going to kill him? OH!" She was always cracked up by Leland as well. She didn't care for Vanessa because she was in love with Kingpin who she hated. She adored Foggy though. Positively loved him, was rooting for him every step, and thought he was the sweetest. The action was getting extremely brutal for her and she didn't really expect it. The Nobu fight in particular got her cringing quite a bit, especially Kingpin beating Daredevil's ass after it. Overall, she loved it. Thought it was great stuff and is now excited for Daredevil returning in the MCU.

Girlfriend Thoughts on Doctor Strange: She claims to have seen this movie before but she did not remember any of it. I don't think she saw it before. She thought Strange was quite a dick a lot of the time, especially during the scene with the rehab coach. She also loved the "Open Your Eye" scene and thought it was extremely cool, and really liked the mirror world stuff. I kept giving her shit about mispronouncing all of the silly magic names like "How did you not remember the Eye of Agamatto?" She thought the reverse time stuff was cool, and really enjoyed the face off with Dormammu as well. She outright laughed when I showed her a picture of Baron Mordo from the comics.

She also greatly enjoyed this video I showed her even though she doesn't know anything about Marvel vs. Capcom outside of the concept:

https://youtu.be/ScIu5qrMaxQ

Doctor Strange
Release Date: November 4, 2016
Stand-Out Character: The Ancient One (played by Tilda Swinton)
Best Scene: "Open Your Eye"

God, I am so mixed on this movie. I love a ton of it, but I think ultimately it just played it too safe.

When this movie wants to be cool, it is so god damn cool. My favorite scene is just Strange going through the multiverses early on in the film. It's just a gorgeous, wild trip. Buildings folding in on themselves in the mirror dimension? THE DREAD DORMAMMU!? All of that stuff rules. But everything in between feels so dry. Kamar-Taj feels kind of dull. The Sanctum is also kinda boring. The conversations are also kinda dull as well for the most part. And Kaecilius? Man, that guy is a snore. Give Mads Mikkelsen a better character ffs.

That said, there's a lot of good storylines. Doctor Strange, in particular, has a character development that feels a bit... stilted? Like it was missing a few steps in there. I love his character. Benedict Cumberbatch plays him so damn well. He has an aptitude for this and he goes through the entire gambit of emotions. From being the cocky and sure surgeon, to being down on his luck, absolutely broken, desperate, and then being sure of himself as he begins to really learn magic. Everything Benedict Cumberbatch does is great. He's one of the best. I just think that there was something missing on his development and I can't quite pick it out.

Christine Palmer, played by Rachel McAdams, is great too. As a love interest, she works fine. She's a good character for strange to bounce off of, even if she doesn't do a ton. I enjoyed her when she's on screen and she had a few good scenes with Strange.

The stand out to me is definitely The Ancient One though, masterfully played by Tilda Swinton. I know there's issues with white washing, but looking past that, Swinton plays this role so well. She's confident, patient, understanding, and wise. You see her keep a peace within herself, and while she pushes Strange hard, she also has a kindness to her. She has guilt, but in the end she even admits she just doesn't know it all. Her final scene is tremendous, and I think without her this movie just doesn't work as well as it does.

Mordo by Chiwetel Ejiofor is... you know, he's here. He has some good scenes. I feel like he doesn't have enough good scenes though. They talk about how Mordo really won't like breaking the rules of magic and I had to stop and say... wait, where did they establish this? I really don't remember. I think they could have had a lot more of a dynamic between him and Strange. He has some cool scenes, but ultimately... he's just a disappointing presence. And they set him up for so much more for the sequel, and he's disappointingly not even involved. To be honest, what they set up seemed like a far more interesting direction, but that's another conversation.

Wong, by Benedict Wong, may as well not even be in this movie. He does nothing. He has maybe two funny scenes. He's just... there. Big who cares. Glad they managed to do some great stuff with him since this movie though.

And then there's Kaecilius, by Mads Mikkelsen, our lead villain who is just boring. He has a scene where he sheds a tear explaining how everyone is broken and it's just... nothing. Didn't hit me in the feels. He's a good character to show that off, but they just didn't go the full way to expose everything. Give me some fire and emotion from this dude, not just a calm monologue. Have him show some hate for Ancient One. He just had a poor script, poor direction, and a half-baked idea.

I want to give a small shout out to Jonathan Pangborn's actor, Benjamin Bratt, as well. He has his scene with Strange where he is his polar opposite. He tells him he's an asshole, almost blows him off, but then he explains his own philosophy that is so counter to what Strange believes. Really great scene and I loved how it played out.

And finally, Dormammu, also played by... Benedict Cumberbatch! Dormammu rules, always, and it sucks he didn't appear in the second movie. Dormammu looked badass and the take on him was great, but they could've done so much more. My issue is this movie sets up a lot of stuff and then the sequel doesn't follow up on any of it. Hindsight makes this movie more disappointing in that way.

The choreography and action is great in this film too though. I greatly enjoyed seeing every fight scene that was totally mind bending and wild. Except for maybe the ones in the actual Sanctum and the hospital. Those were... I mean, they were fine I guess. I want more bat shit magic stuff though. That's where this movie was the best, was when they explored that. Seeing two guys wrestle on an astral plane wasn't doing anything for me.

So yeah. Doctor Strange is a very disjointed movie that while it was a good introduction for the actual character, it could have been far more. It's certainly carried by the performances of Cumberbatch and Swinton, as well as the actual magic elements they went all out with. There had to be a better script for this one though. But for what we got, it's alright.

Daredevil (Season 1)
Release Date: April 10, 2015
Stand-Out Character: Daredevil aka Matthew Murdock (played by Charlie Cox)
Best Scene: The Hallway Fight (Episode 2)

There's something truly special about Daredevil's season 1. It kicks off the Netflix series in a huge way and was such a departure from the rest of the MCU, and I positively love every bit of it, especially as a huge Daredevil fan before this.

God, where to start? This show is just so perfectly woven together. Everything is so meticulously planned and paced out and every step feels so distinct. It's positively wonderful watching this and seeing how every piece falls together to the conclusion. It's a lot of episodes, so I can't promise to discuss too much at length. But let me just poke at our title character a bit.

Matthew Murdock played by Charlie Cox is perfect in this. I can't gush enough about how endearing Murdock is here. He wants to do what's right. He's tortured by it, but he knows he needs to push forward because everything is awful, but he needs to have balance to stop himself from going too far. And he helps you understand the gravity of it all.

What's so damn good about this is how we get to see each part of Murdock's backstory here too. They give us a focus on his father, which is so integral to his character. And then on Stick. Then a little bit of his time in college with Foggy. And it really explores Murdock so well too and manages to also fit it in with the present story.

And god, Elden Henson's Foggy Nelson is just wonderful too. What a charming son of a bitch you can't help but enjoy at every moment of the story. Absolutely love Foggy in this series, and he provides a ton of much needed comedy and heart.

Karen Page, played by Deborah Ann Woll, also manages to become another interesting part of this story. She investigates this with Ben Urich, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall. And their dynamic is just tremendous. She is vulnerable, but brave, and she wants to see justice be had after she was almost made a victim. And Ben Urich is trying to help her along as a wise mentor who knows the limitations of his job, and how dangerous it is. Ben Urich is such a wonderful part of the story too and really sends you over the edge to want to see Fisk get his.

Which, hey! Let's talk about how Kingpin aka Wilson Fisk, played by Vicent D'Onofrio, is positively amazing as a villain. He's nuanced, he has a very eccentric personality, and you can understand his twisted mind just enough to see the logic in it all. But where he's most strong is in how he is a god damn force. He's smart, but his selfishness is his downfall. He has plans on plans on plans and always seems ahead of the heroes, only to be taken down by his own arrogance in the end. But my god, he's so perfect in this. I almost gave the stand-out scene to Wilson Fisk & The Car Door, or Fisk Confronting Urich.

But what makes Kingpin so wonderful is how he's surrounded by so many wonderful villains. James Wesley, by Toby Leonard Moore, is his right hand and honestly I forgot how great he was. He's such a professional and seems like he truly, honestly cares about Fisk. His every scene is so tense and he's an awesome lackey. I definitely miss his presence in the later seasons.

Leland Owlsley is someone I remember being one of my favorite characters, played by Bob Gunton. Every time he's in a scene he chews that scenary and stands out by being the biggest ornery prick you've ever seen. He's nothing like The Owl in the comics but who honestly cares. Leland is so damn good, and if we're being honest, he's the reason that Kingpin's entire empire falls which I forgot about. If it weren't for him, Kingpin probably gets away with everything. And if Kingpin just cut his losses instead of getting his revenge on Leland's life, he would have been able to get out of this. Leland rules and I greatly enjoyed him throughout the series.

Nobu and Madame Gao are also great. Nobu is a simple character, but he's memorable for being our first introduction to The Hand, and for probably taking Matthew closest to death. Madame Gao is just... such a terrible, awful person who prides herself on seeming measured and calm. But when she sees that it's all over for her, she's a contrast to Owlsley and Fisk. She cuts her losses after failing to kill Vanessa and Daredevil taking out her operation. The Russians are also great. The episode where Matthew is trying to get information from the surviving one is really memorable to me. Just so chilling.

Vanessa, played by Ayelet Zurer, is also so good in her role too. She falls for Wilson Fisk despite him being truly awful and she manages to try balancing his fury and eccentric lifestyle and convincing him to branch out, which ends up being Fisk's downfall. He falls for her, and their love is pure, and that's just something he can't have in his line of work.

Not a villain, but Claire Temple by Rosario Dawson is great as well. Her scenes with Murdock early on are just perfect for the tone and showing us Murdock's kindness and vulnerableness. Without her, it's a lot harder to see Matthew Murdock, the guy behind the mask. It also shows the dangers of getting involved in this very well.

I need to mention Scott Glenn too, who plays Stick. I love this actor in everything he's in, but Stick in this series is so magnetic. Just a really special casting and everything he adds to his few episodes is awesome. A great character all around.

Turk also exists, and I enjoy seeing him. Bless Turk.

The action in the show is also top notch. All of the fights are brutal, gritty, and you feel every impact of them. They don't hold back and they are just intense as all hell. The choreography is off the chain.

I could talk for a while about it all, but I'll stop here. Daredevil Season 1 is easily the best of any of Marvel's TV shows, and I don't know that it will ever be topped. It just gave us something so new and special for the character and I'll always cherish that. I'm hoping they can capture some of that magic for the next series.

Oop, Daredevil Season 1 write up sooooon

We have finished Daredevil Season 1! I'm on a trip right now, but I'll have a write up when I get back.

XIII_Rocks posted...

But then the airport battle is so good, and that's definitely enhanced by Spidey and Ant Man, so...

I mean, this alone justifies them being there enough for me. lol It doesn't have to be completely clean how they got there, or if it's totally logically sound to me because it made for some incredible moments there and it's easy to look past.

And I don't blame anyone for taking Becky & Cap vs. Iron Man over the airport fight. It really is brilliantly done. I'm a sucker for a lot of characters being able to show off everything they're capable of though.

I really wish they'd be able to give us a proper Thunderbolts (not this boot leg garbage one we're getting) or Masters of Evil thing. Or hell, Dark Avengers. Actual villains with tons of powers fighting heroes with powers would be so much cooler than them fighting a giant non-descript army like usual.

Anthony Mackie playing Falcon is just cool to watch in this movie. I love seeing him fly around and do sick moves with his Falcon gear. Aside from that, Falcon is just the guy to keep it real in this movie. There's nonsense going on around him and he just wants to get to the damn point with all of these dramatic superheroes. I love his vibe and I think he's great as Cap's number two in this because he, like Black Widow, trusts him tremendously.

Black Panther played by Chadwick Boseman (RIP) also gets his debut here. Just a little snippet here is enough to really sell you on the character. He's tearing things apart, showing off incredible athleticism. Man, they just really make Black Panther look great. Boseman is also able to really bring you into this character too. He's an angry, vengeful person, but he's thoughtful too. He doesn't fly off the handle, and he goes through a whole arc. He wants to kill Bucky for revenge, which is understandable. But then you see him following Iron Man to the end. He sees what is playing out with Iron Man losing his damn mind wanting vengeance. He sees the lengths that Zemo went to in order to get his vengeance, and the bodies he left in his wake. And when Zemo explains his plan and expects Black Panther to kill him, T'Challa says he's done letting vengeance rule him. Just a great moment and wonderful arc for this character.

Speaking of Zemo, he's our villain here. And he's a pretty sinister son of a bitch. He just wants to tear the Avengers apart. While the government wanted to see them be held accountable in their own way, Zemo has another way. He wants to turn them against one another, orchestrating multiple stages of a plan to do so. He knows he's not powerful enough to kill the Avengers, so he had them kill themselves. He wants vengeance, just like so many others, and he makes it happen. Zemo is awesome here, and he barely has to do much. Daniel Bruhl just does a tremendous job and I want to keep seeing more Zemo because he's honestly one of the more interesting villains.

Bucky played by Sebastian Stan is wonderful as well. He is under control again, just trying to be his own man while everyone tries to keep him held accountable for things that were not under his control. He's tortured, and that comes across so well. They make him look so badass the whole time up to the end of the movie. They really do a great job when it comes to Bucky and he's the lynchpin of this whole movie.

Captain American and Iron Man, played by Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. respectively, are at the center of this whole plot. Cap believes in freedom whereas Iron Man wants control. He's seen too many things go haywire without checks being put in place and he just doesn't want to see it fall apart. Captain America just believes in not letting an organization control the most powerful group of people in the world, and he certainly doesn't agree with locking anyone up over trying to do the right thing. It's such a wonderful dichotomy that plays out so perfectly in this movie. Ultimately, it comes to a head when Tony learns Bucky killed his parents. And then Iron Man turns into the guy without checks being put in place. He becomes an executioner, wanting to just kill Bucky. All of his ideals he stood behind thrown away in an instant so he can get revenge. Just sublimely done.

It's a tremendous movie, and I love watching it every time. When I said that Captain America: The Winter Soldier felt like real cinema rather than just a popcorn action flick, I feel the same about this movie too. These characters have layers and story arcs and feel like real, breathing people with issues. That's missing in a lot of these movies. When you look past the giant, bombastic battles here, you get people with super powers all trying to do their best, even if they don't necessarily agree on it. And that's the sort of thing I love about the MCU, is when they can take these ridiculous concepts and make something feel truly special out of them. Civil War is seriously one of the best movies they've got in the MCU, easy.

Girlfriend Thoughts: She swears she saw this movie but at every step of the way she was like "Wait Black Panther is in this!?" and "Ant-Man is in this one!?" I do not think she saw this movie before. She kept calling Zemo by Elmo for some reason. My absolute love for Baron Zemo made me consider breaking up with her. She had a moral quandary with Sharon and Steve kissing, stating "Wait, he kissed her aunt and her too!?" I explained it was like 100 years ago it's fine please don't cancel Captain America. She seemed to really love Spider-Man which who can blame her? She was Team Iron Man at first, which threatened to tear our relationship apart, but then she soon turned to Team Cap after a discussion. She thinks Falcon rules too and was amused by him. She also really enjoyed Ant-Man, in particular when he went giant. She was absolutely stunned by the reveal that Bucky killed Tony's parents and felt bad until he went ballistic.

Captain America: Civil War
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Stand-Out Character: Captain America aka Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans)
Best Scene: Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man

So let's talk Captain America: Civil War which may be one of the best Marvel movies.

Everything just absolutely clicks here with this film. Watching this so close to when I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron kind of makes this feel a lot better too. They don't give you jokes constantly. They let this movie and its drama breathe, and everyone seems like they have legitimate, serious characterization that isn't just surface level garbage.

But that's enough about Avengers: Age of Ultron. Civil War brings us legitimate super powered drama with a simple premise: do we let the government hold us accountable, or do we keep fighting on our own without government inteference? When Wanda Maximoff rolls in and royally screws the pooch, it makes that idea a little bit more muddled. Personally, I'm always Team Cap. Never going to change that. But they do present a pretty compelling counter-argument and allows for some serious schism between Cap and Iron Man that, while bubbling up before, really boils over here.

I'll talk more about characters later, but let's focus on the action here. It all rules, so much. The fight choreography is off the chain and they really make good use of showing off what each character is capable of. Stand outs include Bucky/Cap/Black Panther/Falcon chase scene, the Crossbones fight, Winter Soldier escape from custody, the Cap/Bucky/Iron Man fight at the end, and of course, the airport scene.

Cap, Bucky, and Iron Man's fight was a close contender for best scene here, mostly because of how emotionally charged and creative it is. It's an intimate kind of fight where every single thing they do matters, and changes the dynamic and flow of the fight entirely. It's seriously brilliant and if you break it down moment by moment, it's even better. I didn't realize it until this most recent re-watch.

So let's talk characters from minor to major, starting with Crossbones, played by Frank Grillo. My one complaint is that you have Rumlow be a significant part of the last movie, you give him a sick ass outfit and badass weapons, and you make him fucking awesome, and then you kill him off. Come on, you couldn't have just had Crossbones set off an explosive anywhere but on himself to have Wanda heave away? Why kill off an awesome character with loads of potential? Throw his ass in jail and bring him back. Crossbones rules. Imagine if we had a character like him floating around in say Falcon & The Winter Soldier to bring some more life into that show. Would have been awesome.

Minor players also include Everett Ross played by Martin Freeman, who I completely forgot was in this movie. But he does a great job in his role. I kinda like him as a hard nosed CIA fella. Also great is Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter, who doesn't get much, but she's also perfect in her role as Cap's inside guy, and every scene they have together is great. And to round out our government folks is William Hurt (RIP) playing Thunderbolt Ross, and he's just perfect. He makes his salient point to set up the Sokovia Accords and makes the movie simple to understand from here, and he's the guy that is hard assed enough to keep pushing for it. All respect to Harrison Ford, I'm really going to miss William Hurt in the next Cap movie.

Ant-Man played by Paul Rudd is here! They had probably expected a lot of people to skip Ant-Man, which is fine, because they absolutely made sure to really give him some giant play in the fight scene at the airport. They really push the boundaries of what was established in Ant-Man and make him do so many cool things. Him mucking up Iron Man's suit, single-handedly fighting off Iron Man's team for a while, and providing some solid levity on top of that is awesome. Love Ant-Man in this.

And then there's Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner, who just wants to retire but the man needs to do the right thing and also pay it back to Wanda. He has a sense of urgency and doesn't sweat it all too much and I love how he opens with a trap for Vision. He just has a bunch of nice little moments too, and I particularly like his monologue with Stark in the prison.

And of course we have Spider-Man's MCU debut with Tom Holland at the helm. I cannot tell you how happy this Spider-Man makes me. I have been waiting to see Spider-Man like this in the movies forever. He's charming, cracking jokes the whole time, and just earnestly trying to do the right thing. This is the Spider-Man I absolutely needed and I loved how they introduced him here. He got so much time to kick ass in the airport fight and he looked legitimately awesome.

War Machine played by Don Cheadle is great as well. He doesn't have much, but he is a no non-sense soldier who always has Iron Man's back. I particularly enjoyed after he was crippled from the fight and he's struggling to walk, he still tells Tony he believes in the registration. It just cements that friendship so much more with a nice moment of trying to make his friend feel better.

And going forward with characters who matter just a little bit more, Vision has a nice little arc here. Vision is looking at everything super logically. There's no pushing back at that. And when it comes to listening to reason or budging, he won't have it. He's like "Yeah, you made a mistake Wanda and I'm protecting you from yourself." Unable to comprehend that Wanda shouldn't be placed under lockdown for a mistake. And then Vision blows War Machine to the ground because he got distracted by Wanda and made a mistake. Perfect little arc there to conclude it's not all that simple and logical. There's layers to this, and Vision learns that here.

Speaking of Wanda, played by Elizabeth Olsen, I think this is about the best adaptation you can get to set off her comics story which is, uh, messy to say the least. She is to be feared, she can't control her shit, and she should never truly feel sure of herself. If anyone is going to kick off Civil War, it should be her. She's public enemy number one and the thing that makes me shake a little bit of my Team Cap resolve is that Wanda IS a danger. While she shouldn't be under lock down, I think something should have been done to help her get control of her powers or be more combat ready. Regardless of that, she just wants to do the right thing. She wants to do what is legitimately right and not be a prisoner again. They also give her some sick stuff to do in the film too. Her story isn't significant here, but it plays into the future. Also, her accent is much less thick here. lol

Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow needs to fight between logic and her absolute faith in Steve Rogers. She contends with it through the whole movie, being the more heart of Team Iron Man honestly. When she speaks, she's conflicted and she wishes they could all be on the same page, but it's not until the end where Natasha finally steps in to stop Black Panther from stopping Cap and Bucky does it really pay off. She believes in her friend, and despite the danger it puts her in, she can't bring herself to side against him.

Lots of people not complimenting Jessica Jones season 1 enough.

"Cap retaining his Winter Soldier badassery"

>"Language!"

HanOfTheNekos posted...

I think the general problem with AoU is that it's bad.

I mean, yes.

But also you're forgetting that yes.

pezzicle posted...

Age of Ultron - Honestly, I don't get the hate of this. The dialogue has some issues, but I honestly found the entire thing really captivating and refreshing. It was well paced, and was a great balance between soap opera and spectacle. The characters have personality that really help push forward the narrative of identity and responsibility as well as the ambiguity of power. I honestly felt like this was a really great movie and didn't get all the hate. Granted, I also think that The Last Jedi is the 2nd best Star Wars movie which a lot of people think is insane so maybe I just like things people don't normally like

You completely lost me at "well paced" lol

Oh that ranking reminds me: we have two episodes left of Daredevil Season 1 also. So we should be wrapping that one up too.

And we're done with Phase 2! Here's a ranking.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Avengers
Guardians of the Galaxy
Iron Man
Ant-Man
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor: The Dark World
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Iron Man 3

Ant-Man
Release Date: July 17, 2015
Stand-Out Character: Ant-Man aka Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd)
Best Scene: Ant-Man vs. Yellowjacket in Cassie's Bedroom

Alright, enough of a bad movie like Age of Ultron. THIS is the good stuff!

I love Ant-Man. I think it's an awesome film that's tons of fun and does so many interesting and fun things. This is the kind of wild stuff I really love to see from the MCU, and I think it really pushes the boundaries in such a fun way.

I guess I can try to talk about the negatives but... There's not a lot of negative here. Maybe Darren Cross, our villain, isn't developed enough. Darren Cross is still a solid villain though. He's an asshole who just isn't all there, he's petty, and he just wants power and money. And then when he's pushed far enough, he just absolutely loses his god damn mind. Perfectly fine. I would have liked to see more of him though.

Aside from that... I don't really have too many complaints. It's just such a solid film all around. I think what feels really good about this movie is just how different it feels than the rest of the MCU films so far. We have our generic action movie fair, and we have a couple spy action films thrown in. But Ant-Man? We got ourselves a trippy heist movie. It feels the most risky and daring of any movie so far, and that includes Guardians of the Galaxy too. Nobody cared about Ant-Man. They thought he was a dumb idea. But there's a vision here that really helps it stand out.

Fun with ants, shrinking, and just loads of scenes that take full advantage of the cool shrinking idea. The entire final act from the moment that Hank Pym escapes from Pym Technologies with his tank on his key chain turning huge, to Darren Cross losing his mind and using the Yellowjacket armor for pint-sized battles inside a suit case, to battling in a little girl's play room, to the quantum realm. This final act absolutely rules. It never lets up. I love the final battle between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket.

The script is great too. It gives us a lot of heart-warming moments, tons of fun, and then some really good comedy. I think pretty much all the humor lands here. Some actual laugh out loud moments are had here.

But hey, let's go over our characters. Because I like our major players here.

Hank Pym played by Michael Douglas is great in this film. He's a determined, intelligent scientist who feels really eccentric while also managing to feel really compelling. I really enjoy Michael Douglas in this movie as he navigates his relationship with Cross, with Scott, and his daughter Hope. As a mentor, he does great too. He just doesn't want his science in the hands of anyone else but himself, and he understand the danger of it all. Just a great anchor in this movie where everything circles around.

Hope Van Dyne played by Evangeline Lilly is a character I remember originally not liking very much, but liking her a ton on this re-watch. She's cold at first, but then naturally begins to break down her shell and becomes really likeable and playful, as well as quite a badass. Hope is great, and I loved watching her evolve through the movie and become pretty charming.

Luis is a stand out comedy character though, because Michael Pena has such good comedic timing. He got me laughing so many times. He's just such a weird, uncomfortable dude at all times. His other crew members, Dave and Kurt, also get some laughs but they're clearly not as much of a focus.

Cassie is great as a little girl character. Just a perfectly adorable little girl that you really root for Scott getting to re-unite with. They make her really fun and endearing, and I loved seeing her. Bobby Cannavale as her step-father and cop is really good too. He's fair, but also clearly cares a lot. And Judy Greer is a wonderful actress as Scott's ex, but doesn't get anything to really work with, which is a shame considering she's a hilarious actress.

And then there's a fun little bit with Anthony Mackie's Falcon and the fight with Ant-Man. Just a fun little bit and a cameo at the end. Not much to say there, but his presence is great.

And of course, the highlight of the movie and our main character, Scott Lang by Paul Rudd, is just a lot of fun here. He's a well-meaning crook and Paul Rudd does a great job showing he's always thinking and being resourceful. And he has enough charisma to make him instantly endearing in touching scenes with Hank, Hope, and Cassie. And watching Ant-Man move is so much fun too. Just loved it, especially once he has mastery of his powers.

Overall, Ant-Man is loads of fun. Completely love it. It's a fresh, fun idea, and it's not necessarily the best at anything, and the stakes aren't enormous by any stretch, but I will forever appreciate a creative and fun superhero movie. Quality stuff here.

Girlfriend Thoughts: She thought it was funny. She said at first that she didn't really want to watch it because she thought the idea was dumb because Ant-Man can just turn small. I told her she'll love it though and she did. She seemed to like Hope a lot and really wanted to see her as Wasp, which obviously we don't get here. She loved Luis as well. Any scene with Cassie got her going "Awww". She was dying laughing at the final act of stuff and was enamored by the Quantum Realm. She was appalled by Darren Cross killing that one dude in the bathroom by making him splat and then the one lamb. And then she was just yelling about how crazy he was when he was shooting and firing lasers on the plane. Darren Cross was a hit for her as a villain! She also loved the Falcon vs. Ant-Man fight. She was high on the movie as a whole.

Lopen posted...

I've always biggest reason Age of Ultron's humor feels so flat is there isn't anyone in the movie taking anything seriously. Usually the villain is the one achieving that in Marvel movies but Ultron is trying to outjoke Iron Man and it sucks

You need a straight man SOMEWHERE.

I just really hate that Ultron is joking throughout the movie. That whole Klaue scene is just painful on a re-watch seeing him do Tony Stark schtick and then throwing a tantrum when Klaue says that Ultron is with Tony.

And then even Ultron getting beaten when he's hit with a wicked uppercut from Hulk at the end he's like "Aww, now guys, I don't suppose there's any chance--" And then he's trying to fly away in the Quinjet and says "Aw, come on man!" when he's thrown out. Just... what are we doing here? Why did Ultron of all people need to be cracking jokes? His best scenes are when he comes across as a soulless maniacal metal monster.

What's funny is that they actually do him a hell of a lot better in What If? He's actually vicious, feared, and everything.

Jakyl, I'm sorry but someone needs to tell you this.

Agents of SHIELD isn't real, and it never was. It was just a show you invented in your mind to protect yourself from the trauma of losing Phil Coulson in Avengers 1.

There is no SHIELD anymore though!

It's Nick Fury's buddies he managed to pull that weren't busy on Floating Sokovia Saturday.

I think it's more egregious that he blew up all his armors and said he's not going to make any more, but clearly has a different armor and then has a giant Hulkbuster armor too.

Iron Man 3 is basically just entirely ignored which is fair because it's probably the worst MCU movie.

I think hindsight hurts the Thor visions a lot more, because it seems like they completely shifted the direction of Ragnarok. So all of these visions are just so much more irrelevant and complete time wasters in a movie that could stand to have less time wasted.

I'll agree that this probably ends up towards the bottom for me too. While I love the majority of the final act, everything else just sucks.

LinkMarioSamus posted...

The monster comparison was more meant to refer to Natashas assassin training, but I get why people didnt quite get it.

My guy, the conversation STARTS with Banner going "B-b-b-b-but I can't even have children!"

And then Natasha talks about her horrible assassin training and then ends with a monologue about how they sterilized her and says "So maybe I'm a monster too."

They bookend the whole scene with that terrible point. Obviously the intent was that the assassin training makes her a monster along with everything else, but they make sure to specifically point out the barren womb thing above anything else. It's awful writing.

most_games_r_ok posted...

AoU is okay. Had this debate with my coworkers few days ago. Guy said AoU was his favourite and everyone stopped and stared lmao. On yhe one hand, I get it was never, ever going to live up to the first one. On the other hand, some stuff that they did was dumb. I too, did not enjoy seeing an Ultron that was constantly talking shit instead of the no nonsense enemy he usually is. That being said this movie really started to make clear a problem that the MCU has struggled with for almost it's entire duration and that is that too many villains trace their origins back to Stark. If they really wanted to go down the"Tony created another villain again" would have been nice to see him open up an old research document or something that he thought was worthless and filed away before or a throwaway line that Pym was an idiot or something I dunno, just hated that this was just an evil, watered down robot Iron Man as a villain and that was lame.

It absolutely could have lived up to the first one! It just needed to be better than it was. I also agree with another Tony villain, because that isn't fun. Ultron was just lots of wasted potential.

redrocket posted...

The trailers made it look like it was going to be a super dark no nonsense movie and then we got the biggest bait and switch in MCU history.

I remember being so excited because of that trailer. Absolutely insane that we got Tony Stark stand up from Ultron after that.

Girlfriend Thoughts: I swear to god, the first thing she pointed out was that Wanda has an accent in this movie. I cackled. But she didn't have a ton of thoughts about this one, but I thought she'd at least like the Banner and Natasha stuff but even she thought it was all bad and just shriveled up at the "I'm a monster too cause of my barren womb" stuff. She continually called Vision JARVIS which I can't blame her, and she made me explain the difference in the comics and I swear her eyes glazed over. She laughed more than I did, but it was funny because in the middle of the Floating Sokovia stuff she said "This is a really good movie." And I was just shocked and just said that it didn't get good until this last part and she was like "Oh yeah, you're right." She only knows James Spader as Robert California but she was excited when I told her that. Strangely, she really likes Rhodey. I don't know why, but she was always really into it when Rhodey was around and shouted "It's War Machine!" Maybe just proud that she could immediately pick him out, I don't know. I also had to attempt to explain Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to her and die a little as she tried to understand who Magneto was, confusing him for Professor X. I showed her Vision's OG comics look and she did not care for his big ass manties.

I shit you not, and I have no idea how she just actively knows this, but when Captain America at the end of the movie goes "Avengers...!" She said "Assemble!" And she was apalled that they cut off after that. I do not know how she knew Avengers Assemble was a thing. But I did tell her that everyone hated that tease.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Stand-Out Character: Hawkeye aka Clint Barton (played by Jeremy Renner)
Best Scene: Avengers vs. Ultron & Bots on Floating Sokovia

You know how a movie isn't really good? When I struggle to think of who the stand-out character is because everyone is just middling to bad in this movie.

Despite any complaints I had about the length before I watched this, I went into this movie telling myself I think I'll end up liking this a lot more. Even in movies like Thor: Dark World that I knew had a bad rep and ended up liking more on a revisit, I thought Age of Ultron would be solid on a re-watch. I was wrong.

I normally start with the good, but I seriously struggle to say what I thought was good in this movie. This movie is a slog that starts the moment that Ultron leaves the Avengers Tower and only picks back up when we get to the floating Sokovia stuff at the climax of the film. Everything in between is just rough.

The biggest credit I can give is that the action works... in few of the action scenes. It works in the chase for the Vision body while Cap fights Ultron and everything from floating Sokovia. Everything else just flat out sucks, is confusing to follow, or has some rough looking CGI. Everything on floating Sokovia is some of the best action the MCU and I actually really enjoyed it.

But I'm just going to come out and say my biggest issue with this movie is that it's not funny. There was an attempt made to make it as funny and quippy as the first movie but it's just not. Very rarely did I get any laughs from this film from Tony, Ultron's stand-up routine, or anything else. Oddly enough, the only laughs I ended up getting were from anything involving Mjolnir and the worthiness of it and Quicksilver.

So I guess we can start off with Quicksilver. Why was Quicksilver killed off? For what reason? I know Joss likes to just have a character die for whatever reason, but Quicksilver dies with literally zero stakes involved to save one child and Hawkeye. This isn't to build up Ultron as a big bad boy or anything, it's just... Quicksilver dies because they wanted to kill off someone and check a box. Which sucks because what little we get from Quicksilver's personality is great. His effects are extremely cool and feel very different than the one in the X-Men movies. But this is the only time we get it, which sucks.

Scarlet Witch is fine, but kind of a nothing character in this movie that only does mind voodoo. She has a couple other cool scenes, but I just really don't care at this point? Hilariously, I forgot she had an accent in this movie. That is GONE in the other films. Elizabeth Olsen was just not having anything with that accent after this one.

Banner and Natasha just drag this film down when they give them any focus on their frankly pathetic love plot. It doesn't work, doesn't feel natural at all, has cringe dialogue in every scene with it, and they kiss once and that's it. Why waste time on this? Also "I'm a monster too because of my barren womb." I'm not even getting into it past that.

Tony felt a little more annoying than anything in this movie, and I didn't really like any of his bickering with Cap in this one. It was just kind of grating and done a lot better in the following films. His humor is just more miss than hit in this as well.

Thor is just distracted with his own visions and bullshit that are frankly god damn irrelevant, especially with how they completely flipped gears in Ragnarok. What a weird, weird distraction all of that was. But he was a highlight with his humor. Probably the most consistently funny dude in this movie.

I liked Vision though. There's something delightful and comforting with how Paul Bettany plays him. I just enjoy his general vibe, and it's nice to see him in this movie get some good dialogues.

Maria Hill and Nick Fury are whatevers. Fury got a couple chuckles out of me with some good lines though. Rhodey is probably the only other significant role, and I really enjoyed him in this movie aside from the weird attempt at comedy at the party in the beginning. OH! And Andy Serkis is a delightful distraction with Ulysses Klaue.

And then there's Hawkeye, who I chose to have as the stand-out mostly by elimination. He gets to feel a lot more useful and insightful in this movie. He has some funny lines as well, and his feud with Quicksilver is cool. Him being a boss and just using that shock arrow on Wanda's head was a great moment too. One of the best parts of this movie was him rescuing Wanda in the final battle and giving her the pep talk about how crazy shit is and how he's not going to babysit her, but that if she steps out of this building then she's an Avenger and she has to fight. That's great, quality stuff. The scenes with his family were great too. It felt like a lot of making up for his lacking presence in the first Avengers movie, but I enjoyed him a lot in this one.

But then we need to talk about Ultron. I've always loved Ultron in the comics because he is a vicious, cold, heartless metal monster who cannot be spoken to with emotion. He's the epitome of a machine. He only understands facts, and nothing else. And then you get... this one. He's an emotional, simpering, robot comedian trying to do stand up. And yes, you can explain to me how "Well, he was made as a vision of Tony so of course he has goofy comedy" and I say that fucking sucks who cares don't do that. In a movie where everyone is trying to quip each other to death, Ultron being a no nonsense monster works much better. I don't need him whining about how Klaue is calling him a puppet. I don't need him talking about how he's alone and trying to keep the Maximoffs from running away. I don't need him going "Aw, come on man!" or singing Pinocchio songs. Just give me the cold, heartless creation who wants to end humanity because it's imperfect. We get there, kind of. But it takes us a long time and you still need to sit through bad comedy for it too. It's just a complete waste of a character who is far more fascinating in how calculating of a machine he is.

And that's kind of where this whole thing falls apart, is that Ultron isn't a compelling villain and they take entirely too long to get to his damn meteor plan. Just frustrating to spend all of this wasted time to get to something legitimately good. And everything in between feels like a mess and nothing feels cohesive.

I don't know that I was bored during it, but I was keenly aware of a lot of things I was watching that just weren't good, and that very well might be worse. So much wasted potential, and I'm glad this was ripped from Joss Whedon's perverted fingers. I do not care for Avengers: Age of Ultron, and I think I disliked it a lot more on a revisit.

We got halfway through Ultron before we needed a breather.

I don't love this one.

Bump

Every time we think of what to watch I have to say that Avengers Age of Ultron is almost 2.5 hours long and that gets a loud groan from both of us and we watch something else.

Nothing this week! Hopefully next week! The girlfriend seems more excited to see Ant-Man and barely remembers them, so maybe we'll start plugging away at these faster.

Yeah, I've never found Gamora interesting in literally any medium ever. I think her appearance is also not great either when everyone else has a glow up (aside from maybe Drax which you can debate).

It's better than a lot of Gamora's early outfits, but the only positive is that I think red hair makes her stand out more than green hair on green skin, but then it probably clashes with the yellow around her eyes.

I dunno, Gamora is generally disappointing and she easily gets the least play in the movie since she needs to be the straight man in most scenes. Her being missing in most Guardians related stuff in the MCU since her death has kind of not been missed aside from the fact it's made Star-Lord a sad sap that just needs to move on already, but I guess we'll see in May how they resolve that finally.

The Guardians of the Galaxy
Release Date: August 1, 2014
Stand-Out Character: Drax the Destroyer (played by Dave Bautista)
Best Scene: Escape from Kyln

So this film was the first big risk that Marvel really took. It could have easily failed. It could have been lame. But James Gunn is such a visionary that he came up with something that was equal parts stunning, intense, hilarious, and touching.

I have very, very few bad things to say about this movie because damn, everything really works so well. But one has to be the underutilization of Korath the Pursuer. Hell, if you aren't plugged in enough, you might not even know who I'm talking about. You got Djimon Hounsou in this film and you barely have him in it! He absolutely deserved better.

I also have my issues with the conclusion, in which we see Ronan the Accuser distracted by a dance and then killed with the power of friendship. Like it's all entertaining, and outside of a vacuum it's not a big deal, but I think the bigger deal is that Ronan dies at all. Because god damn, Lee Pace just absolutely kills it in the little we get. Ronan is a force to be reckoned with and easily one of the best villains in the MCU, even without us getting a lot of backstory or development for him. Any time Ronan is on screen, he commands the attention with a fiery vengeance. He could absolutely have been a player throughout the rest of the films. And no, Captain Marvel is certainly not enough.

Besides that, there's so much more to love in the movie. Star-Lord played by Chris Pratt is just outstanding. He really manages to bring so much charm to the character and give a full array of a performance. It's easy to hate on Pratt nowadays, but he absolutely kicked ass with this role. Zoe Saldana does a great job as Gamora, being a strong straight man character through all of the nonsense, but she does feel like the least memorable in this film.

The wise-cracking Rocket voice acted by Bradley Cooper is also great too. They took a talking raccoon and made him just so damn cool. His resourcefulness throughout the film really carries it to prove he's not just a cute mascot or anything. That's more, kind of, Groot for some reason voice acted by Vin Diesel. The way James Gunn manages to pull so many poignant scenes from a tree fella who can only say "I am Groot" is astonishing. This should be awful, bad, and corny, but you come away loving this tree guy.

And then there's my man, Drax the Destroyer by Dave Bautista. I expected literally next to nothing from freaking Dave Bautista. And yet Dave just launched his career with this movie single-handedly. He showed such a knack for comedic timing and just ended up being a delight throughout the entire film. He's a dummy, but he has a heart. And when he has a chance to show that heart, he's great. The humor from this character just delights me, even re-watching it now.

Yondu by Michael Rooker is just so damn good. His scenes just pop and Michael Rooker is really a brilliant actor. The way he plays Yondu is just wonderful, and the subtlety of a lot of it behind the brashness of his character is outstanding stuff. He gets more play in the next film, but in this one we really get a short but sweet taste of what an entertaining badass he is.

For less important characters, Nebula is played by Karen Gillan and is as much the cold force of nature she needs to be as an antagonist who certainly got her importance upped in future films. Benicio Del Toro as The Collector seems like the most perfect casting. You can tell he completely loved being such a bizarre, eccentric weirdo in his scenes while he delivers what is probably the most important dialogue for the entire MCU as he describes the Infinity Stones. It was short but delightful. The little stuff Sean Gunn does with Kraglin always cracks me up. "Captain's gonna teach stuff!" Just seeing him in the background is great.

But with all of that out of the way, I need to gush about the creativity here. James Gunn created an entire alien universe here, before the MCU really started to get into it too much. And god did he ever make sure it came to serve with great action as well. I put the Kyln Escape as my favorite because I think it's such a brilliant way to show off the entire team at first. Drax as a gleeful psychopath, Gamora as a femme fatale, Groot as a terrifying monster behind his soft, kind exterior, and Rocket showing all of his cleverness and know-how. It's all built up so well and we see the chaos ensue and it delivers something memorable as Rocket saves the day last minute and heads out. Star-Lord gets a bit part in this as the butt of a joke, but the entire sequence ends with him kicking ass and getting his cassette player back. Just a tremendous introduction.

Aside from that, the other scenes are outstanding too. The entire sky fight against Ronan's ship and the Nova Corps putting up their shield is awesome too. And then the battle inside is just so great and memorable as well. I really love Ronan's ship. The way it moves, transforms, and looks like such a menacing force is great. And Ronan himself being an absolute tank against it all just tops it all off.

But it's really the world building and set pieces. Kyln rules as a prison. Xandar is beautiful and when it's destroyed, it has a ton of impact. Knowhere is so fucking cool for what a dump it is and I love they got that in there. The Collector's museum is also great with a lot of easter eggs in it and it looking like such a shady and disturbing place. They really went all out and completely delivered on how creative and great everything looks in this movie.

So yeah, suffice it to say I love Guardians of the Galaxy. It holds up extremely well and is just a fun, action-packed movie and one of the strongest in the MCU by far. Always great for a re-watch.

Girlfriend Thoughts: I showed her the multiple outfits for the characters from the comics to compare. She was most shocked by Gamora's outfit, and Drax's original look. Real ones understand why. She was most amused by Yondu because she loves Michael Rooker, and Rocket. She also thought Groot was absolutely adorable and was talking about how sad his sacrifice was. Honestly she was mostly just glued to the movie. She was blown away by John C. Reilly being in this movie too. And Howard the Duck at the end just confused and slayed her.

Watching Guardians of the Galaxy right now! It's happening!

I lied about soon.

But we are making more progress on Daredevil Season 1! We're close to the end.

Ahhhh bump soon soon

And I'll be picking this up again this week with Guardians of the Galaxy.