Marvel's 2015-2016 in movies

I missed ALL OF THESE! Let's talk just a little about the Marvel releases since this blog went underwater (that's what happens when anything on the internet goes away. So many Angelfire Atlantises).

Avengers: Age of Ultron

This one suffered amongst fans and critics alike for, I guess, not being The Avengers. That said, I liked it rather a lot. It felt like a movie that knew its characters very well and created an interesting situation for said characters to deal with. It certainly wasn't perfect; Age of Ultron drags a bit in the middle and, likely thanks to the studio, ties its hands a little by cementing its place as a building block in the Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than its own removed entity, but that's to be expected with such a huge franchise (especially given that the Avengers films will likely always be very concerned with building towards the next big thing). That aside, we got good characters in Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (whose introduction felt fitting for comics fans without being a carbon copy of the source material) and in Paul Bettany's Vision. Some good jokes, some decidedly fun action, and plenty of character development for a movie that would surely have survived on action and brand recognition alone (*cough* Batman vs. Superman *cough*) make AoU a very nice addition to the MCU. It seems like the movie's biggest crime was that it wasn't as big of a surprise as its predecessor, which is like saying that Aristotle was a real let-down when compared to Plato. I'm sure Marvel's happy to have both in its stable.

Ant-Man

It goes without saying that nobody likes Ant-Man. Like, it's Ant-Man. Don't give me any "oh, sure, Hank Pym is real plain toast and one time hit his wife, but he's not so bad" or any "Eric O'Grady sure is an interesting character!" Like, sure, Scott Lang is your best option; a good guy thief, jailed for trying to save the life of his daughter (the way more fun Cassie Lang who, truth told, is probably only in our hearts because of her ties to the Young Avengers), but saying Catdog is the best cartoon starring a cat/dog creature doesn't really scream praise for Catdog now does it? Anyway, all this to say that the movie was fun. Yup, that was a real turn, right? I have some complicated feelings towards this movie. I like Paul Rudd and I like his inclusion in this universe (after Civil War, I'm pretty sure we're just slowly morphing him into Bobby Newport, which is the best of all possible MCUs) and I thought the movie, while probably the most paint-by-numbers Marvel has yet been (which is probably saying something in its own right), was more than entertaining enough to merit a favorable review, it's hard not to see a better movie creeping in at the seams. That's right, this mini-review, which started with a rant about Ant-Man turned into a positive review about Ant-Man and is now turning into a glowing review about a movie that was never made: Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. Wright, as we probably all now know, was literal years deep into his Ant-Man movie when he abruptly was removed from/left the picture. Rumors have it down to Marvel's insistence that the movie tie in to the greater universe vs. Wright's control freak director personality, which has yielded unbelievably good movie after unbelievably good movie. Marvel's done well for itself since it hired Wright (allegedly) to work on an Ant-Man movie, so I can't really fault them for wanting to continue to build and to change their original promise to Wright (a hypothetical promise; it makes sense to me that they'd have offered Wright full control over the title before they really knew how big they'd get), but Wright is an excellent filmmaker and was a perfect choice for this project. Let him do what he does and get out of his way. You can still see very Wright-esque shots in this perfectly acceptable version of the movie, but those shots only let you see just how delightfully quick Ant-Man could have been.

Captain America: Civil War

Why even mess around? This is quite possibly the best movie Marvel has put out yet and it has absolutely no right to be. This many characters, both new and old, appearing in a film (some for only ten or so minutes) is a recipe for disaster, as so many examples have shown (WHAT UP, SPIDER-MAN 3 AND X-MEN 3?). The Russo brothers, though, have a story they want to tell and set to work expertly telling it and bringing in all the pieces they need to tell it most effectively and efficiently. The movie moves exceedingly well for it's two and a half hour runtime and every character gets at least a few good moments throughout. Special mentions to their treatment of Spider-Man (and the performance of young Tom Holland), which really defines just how the next wave of Spidey movies could turn out, and to both their treatment of Black Panther and Chadwick Boseman's stellar performance as the Wakandan royal. Excellent character work throughout with a few killer action sequences (Marvel has, very intelligently, made every single one of their characters' fight styles distinctive so it's easy to watch a longer fight sequence and still lose yourself in it) and a really tight, exciting, and, most important of all, different story launches this entry right up to the top of Marvel's best.


BONUS ROUND:
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse

I walked out of this movie saying to my fiancee, "boy, Bryan Singer sure knows how to make a competent movie." I like the way this X-Men film series is going, but none of the movies its spawned strike me as particularly great movies. They are, however, eminently watchable. There aren't ever particularly exciting ideas (though one could make an argument that placing these movies smack dab in the middle of real world events like the Cold War and the JFK assassination and, just, the '80s, I guess is a decidedly compelling idea) or particularly outstanding writing. The characters who always seem to be the most focused-upon and, perhaps therefore, interesting are Professor X and Magneto, which isn't exactly a bold new direction for the X-Men franchise as a whole. This movie, for example, introduced Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Storm, Psylocke, and Angel, to name a few, and yet I walked away feeling like only Professor X and Magneto had really developed as characters (maybe Jean a little bit, but that's starting from zero, where development should be easy). Granted, I really only find three of the characters I mentioned in that "just introduced" group genuinely interesting in X-Men lore (HINT: none of my picks are original X-Men), but still there should be more there. Obviously they're intending to build on those characters specifically as we move forward (well, maybe not Angel, there aren't many places for him to go post-Apocalypse. Frankly, I'd be a little surprised if they go back to Psylocke, which is a dang shame, but then again, she wasn't even British in the movie, come on), but this was the chance to lay a foundation and, instead, we got another movie about Magneto, Professor X, and boring ol' Mystique. Still, I'll put on FXX when this one is on, won't I? Just like with First Class and Days of Future Past (for what it's worth, Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World don't get that kind of treatment).

Quick Big Hero 6 review

I went out and saw the new Marvel/Disney movie Big Hero 6 with my girlfriend and a theater full of children and parents. I went into this one pretty upbeat; I love Disney, I love animation, and guys, I love Marvel. I was not disappointed in the least. It's a delightful movie with a lot of genuine laughs and some really moving scenes. Very well-written, extremely well-acted, and overall absolutely delightful. I don't see too many movies aimed at all ages (okay, mostly children) with a theater full of children but boy it's more fun than seeing a movie intended for older audiences with a theater full of children. Can we agree, nationwide, to stop taking kids on field trips to see Gone Girl? So anyway, Big Hero 6 was great, would recommend to friends. And you're all friends.

Huge Marvel Cinematic Universe announcements!

GUYS. Hot on the heels of the Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Doctor-Strange maybe-news yesterday (which was, ironically, the only bit of news Kevin Feige did NOT confirm, if just to make my blog look wrong), Marvel held a press conference to announce the slate of upcoming movies for phase three of the MCU. There are, you guys, some really huge, if not suspected, announcements here.

Captain America 3 gets new title!
After the news that Robert Downey Jr. would join the cast of Cap 3, the next installment of the fantastic Captain America movies will officially be called Captain America: Civil War. This is a huge deal and is likely something that will have seeds planted all over the coming Marvel movies. I talked a lot about the implications of Civil War in my post about RDJ in Cap 3 so I won't spend too much time here, except to note that when I went to IMDb for this news, they said it would be called Captain America: Serpent Society, which is...interesting? Whatever. Mark May 6th, 2016 on your calendars now.

Doctor Strange gets a release date!
No new news here (and, as I mentioned, no confirmation of now day-old news) except to say that the new Doctor Strange will land on November 4th, 2016.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 gets bumped up!
After a wildly successful and unexpected opening for the first film, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 will now open May 5th, 2017.

Thor 3 ALSO gets new title!
Things are decidedly about to go bad for Thor as the latest in his franchise has officially taken the name Thor: Ragnarok. It has also slid into the release spot vacated by Guardians 2, set to release July 28th, 2017.

Black Panther officially confirmed for 2017, star announced
Ahhhhh, this one is huge! One of Marvel's best and most underrated heroes, Black Panther, will officially get his solo movie. Black Panther is set to be released November 3rd, 2017 and will star 42 and Get On Up star Chadwick Boseman, who is decidedly great. Very, very cool.

Captain Marvel!
Guys! Captain Marvel! Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, no less! Coming July 6th, 2018, everyone's favorite pilot-turned-Captain Marvel will take to the skies in Captain Marvel, which will purportedly find Carol trapped between Earth and outer space. Feige said there's no other news yet, but that a director and writer will be announced soon, though casting, obviously, is still a ways off.

Inhumans coming in 2018
With 2018 shaping up to be a big year for space experiment heroes, Marvel has also confirmed that Inhumans will release November 2nd, 2018 and will at least tie to the hitherto unseen in the MCU Kree-Skrull War.

Avengers: Infinity War to be two parts, spread apart one year
With the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron on the horizon, the third and fourth installments of the landmark Marvel franchise have been given name and tentative dates, with Avengers: Infinity War Part One set to land May 4th, 2018, and Infinity War Part Two coming almost exactly a year later, May 3rd, 2019.




Again, it's confirmation of a ton of news that has been speculated at for some time, with Marvel finally making the splash it needs to with movies like Black Panther and Captain Marvel and other major characters and events coming soon. Really exciting stuff, tucked away on a slow Tuesday. Special thanks to the security guard who wandered over to ask me who Dr. Strange was and kicked all of this off.

Benedict Cumberbatch cast as Dr. Strange

Sigh. Guys. I was about to get a nice headstart on my Tuesday post. We're slow at work and I updated the new comic list and everything. The weirdest thing is that I was reading about Dr. Strange, both as a character and as the upcoming movie. Grantland recently posted an article about how hard it is to cast Dr. Strange. So here I am, talking to my girlfriend about these Doc Strange articles I read when she bashes me for not telling her the news I was clearly building to. The only news I had, on the other hand, was how ridiculous the stories tied to his STRANGE TALES appearances were ("Human Torch and Thing meet the Beatles!" "The Mad Thinker's maddest plot yet: BOUNCING BALL OF DOOM!" "The Terrible Toys!"). So she broke the news to me: Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to play Dr. Strange in Marvel's upcoming Dr. Strange movie.

Really big move here for Marvel, who has largely been casting lesser-known actors in their key hero roles lately (particularly as said roles tend to come attached to multi-picture deals). Paul Rudd was one of the bigger stars tied to a protagonist in the MCU (Robert Downey Jr. was in rebuilding mode when Iron Man turned his career right around, Chris Evans was great but not big when he signed on as Cap, and Chris Hemsworth was a relative unknown when he was cast as Thor) and now Cumberbatch moves from giant geek strongholds in Sherlock and Star Trek right over to the Marvel Universe. I hadn't even heard his name in relation to this movie yet but here it is, front-page on IMDb. On top of that, I think it's a pretty strong move. Cumberbatch has the weight and range of someone playing the mysterious Strange, though it begs the question which Strange is going to show up here. The aforementioned (and aforelinked) Grantland article does a great job giving a rundown on Strange's history and the many personality change he's undergone in his existence, including one more Sherlock Holmesian sort of run. Will Marvel typecast Cumberbatch here or let him show a little more range? The article also mentions that Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige wants a more Ditko sort of feel to the movie, a world Sherlock Holmes may not work in. Still, really big news and a really interesting move overall. Should be a lot of fun going forward as we now have our character, director (Scott Derrickson), and lead all worked out.

Guardians of the Galaxy quick review

Hey guys, as ever, no spoilers this close to the release of the movie.

I was nervous about Guardians of the Galaxy right up to the moment the movie started. I tried to get myself excited, tried to remember all the praise I'd heard, tried to just be excited that we were seeing such a crazy Marvel property in a movie, but I couldn't help being a little worried. There are people out there who hear that kind of attitude and say "you're worried that a fictional movie about a fictional universe with fictional characters will let you down?" They're the same people telling me that, as a grown man, I shouldn't care what horrors Michael Bay has bestowed on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What kind of life must those people have, not caring about stories, about the oral and the aural and the written tradition? Look, I don't have to convince you guys. You're my people. You're comic people. So I can tell you instead that this movie was a ton of fun.

That's what I'd been hearing all along and I can't help but agree. I don't think the film is as deep as a few of the Marvel movies have been. I don't necessarily think it has as much to say as, say, Captain America: Winter Soldier. I don't think it's as ambitious as Avengers. I think it's riskier than both those movies and I think it maybe pulled what it wanted to off as well as either of those movies. It wasn't ever trying to be Cap 2 or Avengers. It was shamelessly and unflinchingly itself the whole way through. It never bogged itself down with grit or a big message. It took a team comprised of a half-human, a pair of alien assassins/killers, a talking raccoon, and a talking tree and said "hey, you know what, maybe this shouldn't be heavy-handed. Maybe this should just be a fun superhero movie." And it absolutely was. There are a lot of genuine laughs to be had, there still manages to be a good amount of heart, and the team itself ends up being a really likable and really fun team. Fun is the keyword, I've certainly used it enough. Go in looking for a fun movie and I don't think you'll be disappointed. It was maybe a little over-expository but you run that risk, as I say in so many comic reviews, when you have a whole team to develop in a limited space and when you set it in space and have to introduce an audience to brand new mythologies that intersect. It's maybe a little long because of that and it's maybe a little weighed down by that, but it manages to keep the dragging to a minimum and keeps the tone and the pace pretty well in check. It also accomplished something that less than a week ago I was doubting, which was to make me like this team and this universe enough to be excited for the sequel. Can't say better than that for a movie like this.

Movies this week

An addendum to my typical comics pre-game on Tuesdays because I didn't even mention it in this week's post. In case you somehow missed it (and you would have to be trying REALLY hard to miss this) Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy comes out THIS VERY FRIDAY (or, most likely, Thursday night). I'm a little mixed on this release, as I rather have been since its announcement, but the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Of course, the reviews were overwhelmingly positive for Iron Man 3 and I was not onboard with that one. Anywho, if all goes well, I'll be seeing this Thursday night and give you a quick update on my thoughts, likely to not be succeeded by another post with a full review since CLEARLY I have stopped doing those? Look, what I'm trying to say is that I've had a nearly empty draft post about Captain America: Winter Soldier, a movie I loved, sitting in this blog since April.

Edgar Wright leaving ANT-MAN over creative differences

News broke today that Edgar Wright, director of such films as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and The World's End, will be leaving the much-anticipated Marvel film Ant-Man over "creative differences." This is rather crushing news as literally the only thing I've been reliably complimenting about this move was the brilliant hire of Edgar Wright, who has a sterling track record and is one of my personal favorite directors. The parting, reportedly, was amicable, though it raises some concerns for me about the shape of Marvel movies in general that there were irreconcilable creative differences between studio and director. Marvel is not currently in talks with other directors. Now I guess I'll just have to be satisfied that it's a movie about Ant-Man, everyone's favorite superhero.

SUPER QUICK REVIEW: X-Men: Days of Future Past

As ever, no spoilers until there's been more time for people to get out and see the movie (believe it or not, I'm still optimistic I'll get full reviews out for all the movies I've missed).

I worried from day one that X-Men: Days of Future Past was going to suffer from a hugely complicated story and from having too many characters. I'm delighted to report that, while the story is pretty convoluted and while there are plenty of roles in this movie, there was no such suffering through this one. There's a bit of suspension of disbelief in play here to get through some of the finer points of the story (though likely no more than you had to suspend to get into comics and the X-Men in the first place) but it's not troubling enough to taint the movie. There are maybe a few too many winks and nudges at the audience (big winks and nudges too, broad ones that everyone can follow and not just the diehard fans who are searching them out). Regardless, the movie easily stands on its own and is certainly one of the strongest movies in the franchise to date, if not the strongest. As ever, stay til the end of the credits for an exciting, if somewhat predictable, teaser.

NOT a full CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER review

SOOOO I promised everyone Thursday night that I'd have a Captain America: Winter Soldier review up today but I have had all sorts of trouble today putting my thoughts into words and those words into coherent sentences and those coherent sentences into a blog post. I have lots of feelings about this movie and they're almost entirely really good feelings. I really enjoyed the movie, you guys. This is one of the best Marvel has so far put out and it's one that only gets better on repeated viewings, which I think they've lacked since Avengers. It's edgy and dark and gritty without having to be edgy or dark or gritty because Captain America has no time for dark or gritty. He's not Batman, toeing the line between "one bad day" vigilante and the only justice in a town corrupted. The movie has plenty of great themes including security vs. freedom, trust, and friendship and manages to really explore those themes in interesting ways. The action is great, the writing is solid, the performances are incredibly impressive. It's everything I liked about the first film but with an entirely new feel to it at the same time. It's a sequel that really adds to the franchise and improves on the mythos, the first movie I think that's really true for from Marvel. I still have lots to say on this and I'll likely post it eventually (I have a long blog post that's not even like, a fifth done yet sitting in my queue right now but I've come to the realization that that one isn't getting posted today) but for now, suffice it to say that Marvel has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one. Sorry for throwing a sports metaphor into a comics blog.

Quick hits: CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER

Hey everyone, just saw Captain America: Winter Soldier. I'm not willing to give a full review of it right now (particularly if I want to get tomorrow's reviews done tonight which, my friends, I do) because I want to let it sink in and I want to let other people see it first before I start going crazy with spoilers and, well, let's face it, I want to see it again first. Suffice it to say right now that it's entirely unlike any Marvel movie so far and I think it may go down as one of Marvel's best movies. AS A HEADS-UP A FULL FOUR OR SO DAYS IN ADVANCE: My full review (I'm aiming for that to come on Monday) will certainly be RIFE with spoilers. If you don't want to hear spoilers by Monday, maybe don't check out that review just yet. I'll mark it pretty clearly on Monday too but that's your cue to go and make this a huge box office opening, okay? I'm pretty sure this blog has the sway to do that, right?

New X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST trailer

Hey guys, the first truly long-form X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer just dropped. It's a much greater look into the story and tone of the movie as well as a good look at plenty of the characters. Take a look, tell me what you think.

Rating the modern Marvel movies (part three: 9-1)

As amazing as it is that Marvel has built an entire cinematic universe and made it work well enough that they're planning multiple movies years in advance, it's equally amazing that they have well over ten movies to choose from and that the top ten are all good. So let's get into the fun part of this list.

9. Spider-Man
High school me would be SO MAD that Spider-Man came in at number eleven (and also confused that there were ten other movies that qualified) but that's the bounty Marvel has delivered unto us. Even today, after we've had 27 Marvel movies (god, I'm not counting the Blade movies, guys!) and some that have truly changed the game, Spider-Man still holds up. The only big flaws I can point to now, after getting a chance to look back, have to do with characters. I don't think Peter Parker is developed as much as he really ought to be, which is depressing because it's Peter that's brought people to the comic for over fifty years now. Still, it's a good movie and a lot of the effects still look good twelve years later.

8. X-Men: First Class
This one is an interesting one particularly because of the team they built. This isn't about, as you may have guessed, the original five X-Men being trained by Charles Xavier in a world that hates and fears them. It's about a group of mutant teenagers, only one of which is in that original five group from the comics but the rest are interesting and diverse choices (who'd've thought that Havok and Darwin would make the new squad). It was also a bold enough statement that it's launched another X-Men movie franchise that has a new movie coming out this year and another one coming just a year or two afterwards. It's building an interesting world around new and different mutants. Hoping that the new ones don't go too dark; that's part of what DC is doing that's maybe not going to pay off.

7. Amazing Spider-Man
I said that Spider-Man lacked a developed personality for Peter Parker; he's a bit of a blank slate in that one. He's a nerd, sure, but only kind of? He's a nerd that looks like Tobey Maguire and that mostly just seems kind of awkward more than anything else. This Peter Parker isn't so much a nerd as an outcast. He's well-developed and you can see him fitting into the Spider-Man mythos as much as any interpretation of Peter Parker. Andrew Garfield is genuinely fun to watch in the role and you understand how he immediately took to the Spider-Man identity. Of course, Lizard looks pretty terrible and there are some moments that maybe could have been improved here and there, but it's a really fun movie and one that sets up a neat little world all to itself.

6. Thor
Thor gets a couple of bonus points because it was just the second movie in the new Marvel Cinematic Universe and it was Thor. Those italics are both because movie titles should be italicized but also for emphasis, guys. Thor, as a character, was a big ol' risk for Marvel to turn to, particularly to turn to second (emphasis). A world that had just liked Iron Man, a pretty fun movie about a snarky but very human character who uses science and engineering to be a superhero, and had just liked The Dark Knight about a normal human with above average fighting skills and resources fighting a psychopath, was now asked to embrace something straight out of fantasy. There are a lot of things that bug me about this movie when I watch it on TV (whoa dutch angles, some strangely goofy moments, a bit of a weak final boss battle) but there's plenty of really great stuff to it too. The portrayal of Thor, Loki, and other Asgardians, a lot of the writing, strong pacing and development, etc. All of that worked for me. I think, as you can see here, that Thor is the weakest of the Phase One movies, but it's certainly not a weak movie.

5. Spider-Man 2
After a really strong first entry with Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 perfected the tone and the characters we'd liked so much from the first movie while giving us a compelling villain with a heartbreaking turn from good to evil. Spider-Man is a character defined by his own personality and by his villains and this, though a little different than the classic representation of Doctor Octopus, was as good a defining piece as ever. Good action, good characters, good writing, and a movie that really just felt...well, good. It still holds up, too.

4. X2
This one was on TV just the other day and, I gotta tell you, it holds up pretty well. The effects, the story, the characters, they're all present and accounted for. It may not even be as good a movie as some of the ones it's outranked here but it lands a little better on this list because of how much of an improvement it was and the fact that it feels like it may have been released this year and would still work. Can't give it a lot more praise than that.

3. Iron Man
This is one of the big ones. It represents the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something so big that it's now generated billions of dollars in revenue (over a billion on Avengers alone, guys) and franchises within franchises. To do that requires a real A+ effort and it's not made any easier by the idea that they had to kick the whole thing off with a character somewhat foreign to mainstream audiences. It's not Spider-Man. It's not Wolverine. It's Iron Man. He's not exactly a household name before 2008. But here we are, three Iron Man movies later, not to mention the slew of other movies, and this one still works. It loses some points for the rather over-the-top final boss battle that has some bad dialogue and some "this is the best we can come up with for a villain" feel to it, but it's still a pretty great movie.

2. Captain America
It's legitimately hard for me not to pop this one down at number one. Captain America is not an easy movie to make, and certainly not an easy one to make well. Mainstream audiences don't know much about Captain America except as a reference for "PATRIOTISM" so to make a movie where he's eminently and unironically a good guy in a world where we like our heroes cynical and jaded was a bold move. At the same time, the movie doesn't miss a single beat. It's recently made its way on to cable and so FX has been running it pretty constantly and, frankly, I can't help watching it all the way through every time it's on. There's not a bad scene in the movie. I watch the origin part going "geez, this is the best part of the movie," then I say that for just about every part of the movie. I think Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter is the best love interest in any of the movies so far, a character who is independent and strong even without Extremis running through her veins. I think Chris Evans plays Steve with such heart and such understanding that it shines through just about any other character Marvel Studios has developed. If anything, I think maybe Red Skull is a little weak, but that's really searching for problems. God, I love that movie.

1. The Avengers
What, was I not going to pick the movie that made a billion dollars and seamlessly tied together all of the characters the movies had developed before? This movie was an INSANE risk, something that had never been done before in movies, and yet it worked amazingly well. It doesn't hurt that Joss Whedon was the brain behind it, sure (full disclosure: I'm watching Firefly as I write this list), but this was a risk even after they hired the much beloved director to helm it. In a world where we want our action dark and gritty, Avengers went out of its way to be just a shade lighter than everything else. It was action-packed and fun and smart and fully realized right from the start. The success of Avengers cemented the superhero movie genre for years to come. Every character (with the possible exception of Hawkeye but that's understandable) gets a fair shake here and, even more impressively, every single one leaves the movie stronger than it entered. Really great work and the obvious number one pick for any list like this.

Rating the modern Marvel movies (part two: 18-10)

Alright, moving on to the second half of this list. I feel confident that we shall almost certainly hit movies that can be called "good!" or, at least, "watchable!" in this part of the list. I'm looking forward to it.

18. Daredevil
I rather like Michael Clarke Duncan in it and Jon Favreau is an A+ casting choice as Foggy Nelson. Affleck isn't terrible in it but the rating, the effects, and the soundtrack all rather bring this one down. The director's cut, which cuts down some of the romance and adds some more crime-solving business, is a step above the theatrical version but that doesn't improve the theatrical version and, frankly, the director's cut still isn't really enough of an improvement. Plenty wrong with this one all the way through.

17. Punisher: War Zone
Still not a good movie by any means, but like the sequel to the boring Ghost Rider, this one tries to shake things up. This one is genuinely, on occasion, hailed as a great Punisher movie and that may be true. It's ridiculous, it's big, it's brutal, it's what Punisher should be. It's not at all toned down. Regardless, a perfect Punisher movie doesn't necessarily equate to a good movie. War Zone sits at 17 because I'm not sure it ever could have cracked that anyway.

16. Iron Man 3
I know I'm not particularly popular with this opinion but this one rather drove me nuts. It's pretty well-documented on this site (it was the first movie I reviewed after the blog started and even that nostalgia doesn't make me feel it's any better). This one was baffling to me the first time I saw it. I had to see it a second time to be sure of what I saw and, well, it didn't improve that time. This one was real popular with fans and critics alike but it just didn't sit well with me. Tony Stark had gone from snarky but complicated to just snarky and petty. They added a PTSD sort of element but eliminated it with NO solution, though presented it as if it was a solution. The villains were uninteresting and obnoxious and the movie ended with, after a special effects parade, an unbelievable deus ex machina meant to, presumably, elevate Pepper but it just made her worse than ever. I have problems with this movie, friends.

15. X-Men
This movie, as a couple of others on this list, was REALLY ambitious. This was the first Marvel movie (aside from the Blade movies, which won't be on this list because I don't care, you guys) of the modern age, kicking off in 2000, two years before even Spider-Man. With that in mind, the movie succeeded. Now that we can go back and look at it through the lens of movies like Avengers or Iron Man or even X2, we can safely say it's pretty boring. It's impressive for what it did and what it meant but, you know, it's still pretty boring. And Sabretooth. God.

14. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
This one is probably up higher (lower) on my list than on a lot of other ones. It's not well-liked and I totally get why. Like Punisher: War Zone, it went for something. For me, though, it's entertaining and eminently watchable. I don't like every scene or every line of dialogue or every character, even, but I'll leave this one on if it pops up on TV, which is more than I can say about just about anything this list has mentioned so far.

13. The Incredible Hulk
After an acting change and a directional change, Hulk returned to the big screen in the form of the ever-likable Ed Norton. Whole new set of problems but a Banner who seems to know himself a bit more after some time out of the spotlight. Certainly not a great movie and calling it an improvement over Hulk is very faint praise but it's a pretty well-acted movie and one whose intentions are certainly met by movie's end. It maybe tried to throw itself into the quickly developing Marvel Cinematic Universe a little too hard and it still suffered from the normal Hulk question of "what makes Hulk interesting?" but it's definitely still a watchable movie as Norton's Banner and Liv Tyler's Betty Ross try to evade Thunderbolt Ross before being forced into a team-up against Abomination.

12. The Wolverine
Like its predecessor (both in film and on this list), The Wolverine may not have been a great movie but it's certainly one that I'll watch if it's on. It's fun, it knows what it wants to do, and it sets out to achieve it. I think that it does, in a lot of ways. The acting isn't bad, the action is solid, and the plot moves well enough to keep things going. I'm not sure Wolverine can sustain too many solo movies but this one was a good shot.

11. Thor: The Dark World
This one was one that kind of sunk the more I thought about it after I'd seen it. It ranks higher than Iron Man 3 because I genuinely enjoyed it while I was watching it (parts of it, anyway, not parts with Kat Dennings in it which were ALL TOO MANY) as opposed to being perplexed. Afterwards, though, I couldn't help getting into how much I disliked the Natalie Portman role (what scientist sits around after making an insane discovery for two years because a guy she liked left?), how little the villain meant (and how little he spoke; you have Christopher Eccleston in the role, let him act), and, okay, yes, Kat Dennings and her character. A lot of the action was great but a lot of the humor fell flat (Dennings' character and the once interesting Stellan Skarsgård character).

10. Iron Man 2
This one is often viewed as the worst in the Iron Man trilogy. I can definitely see a lot of the faults in it (that scene where Tony gets super drunk and then fights with Rhodey to some DJ'd music comes RIGHT TO MIND) but I think it stacks up higher than what it gets credited. Not perfect by any means but definitely watchable. It's the start, of course, of the "Tony is a caricature of that guy we saw in Iron Man" that the movies continued to go a little crazy on but there's almost more of an excuse for it here as he believes he's dying. Solid props for a pretty good introduction to Black Widow and some extra Favreau action (that would, of course, turn into a rather obnoxious role in Iron Man 3), plus the always entertaining Sam Rockwell being entertaining despite a somewhat weak role. Not great but certainly not as bad as it's often called.



EVEN MORE, LATER TODAY.

Rating the modern Marvel movies (part one: 27-19)

HEY DUDES AND LADYDUDES. Been a bit of a while since I've made a Monday post (probably. Look, I can't be bothered to remember days) and I've never officially rated the available Marvel movies (though, of course, these ratings will change in just a few short weeks when Captain America: Winter Soldier comes out). So, you know, we're doing that today. Because I saw a list recently that rated them and, well, you know, every one of these sorts of things is obviously subjective but that one was objectively wrong so LET'S DO IT.

27. Ghost Rider
Guys. Nic Cage. A weird thing about jelly beans. Absolutely no personality. And obscenely boring, even considering the fact the protagonist is a guy with his head on fire. Bad and boring, really bad combination.

26. Punisher
In much the same fashion, Punisher is both boring and uninteresting. Again, a man who takes vengeance on criminals of every size and shape just because he hates crime and criminals and his family were killed and STILL I'M ASLEEP, you guys.

25. Fantastic Four
Readers of this blog are probably aware of how much I love Chris Evans but even he couldn't save what amounted to another boring and uninteresting movie. Of course, it doesn't help that it's the Fantastic Four and they're boring already. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

24. X-Men: The Last Stand
The only reason - the only reason - that this one made it past Fantastic Four is Madrox. Sadly, he didn't appear in more than maybe thirteen seconds of this movie. So, you know, that's problematic. Just real ugly plot and character moments and bad writing and everything. The writing, though, is worse on our next entry.

23. Spider-Man 3
I'm just as surprised as you are that this one ended up as high as it did. Or low. The terms are getting hard, you guys. This. Movie. Is. Garbage. It makes me rethink my love of Marvel every time I catch a piece of it on TV. There's literally a point where Harry Osborn says "I used to protect you in high school and now I'm going to kick your ass!" It's something like that and it makes me lose faith in writing and goodness as a concept every time I think about it which, as you can see, is too often.

22. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Also real bad, very much in the same way as the other Ghost Rider but it went for it just a little more. Everyone knew what this movie was going to be like after the first movie. It embraced the ridiculousness of it but, you know, while that earns it points it certainly doesn't make it good.

21. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Still boring. Still Fantastic Four. Add in the Silver Surfer and it's better. Add in a Galactus level threat but refuse to actually show Galactus because apparently a man bigger than the entire world with a silly world-eating hat is somehow too ridiculous for a movie that stars four people with powers granted by...space, I guess?

20. Elektra
Extra points go out to this one because they tried to make a female-led movie a decade before it would even enter the conversation. Of course, that earns it exactly enough goodwill to enter the top 20 AND NO MORE THAN THAT. Not a winner, you guys.

19. Hulk
Before Ang Lee won the Academy Award for Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and for Life of Pi, he directed Hulk, a really messed up movie that co-stars Nick Nolte, if that says anything about it. Ang Lee brings a lot of interesting decisions to the movie, including a lot of comic book layout feel to parts of it, but that doesn't, you know, make it a good movie at the end of the day.



Part two comes out LATER TODAY, PROBABLY!

Big day of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER news

I KNOW, I'm super biased about this movie. I may end up just skipping reviews entirely the week it comes out and just writing about the movie every day. ANYWAY, today has been a pretty big day as Marvel released a new clip from the movie (pretty spoiler-free, I'd say, and it gives us our first glance at Batroc) and CBR released a slew of new articles with interviews and the like. Check some of 'em out!

Co-Writers Markus and McFeely: "Winter Soldier" Will "Punch You in the Face"

Anthony Mackie As "Captain America: The Winter Soldier's" Falcon

[Directors] Joe and Anthony Russo Delve Into "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"

[Head of Marvel Studios Kevin] Feige Says "'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Plays On Multiple Levels"


Lot of neat information in here and the Mackie interview is particularly charming as Mackie talks about wanting to be in Avengers 2, a relationship subplot he decided was in this movie, and working with Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson. Fun stuff.

Thor: The Dark World review

Hey all my buddies, as ever with a movie review (or really any sort of review but particularly with movie ones) there are TONS of SPOILERS below. Read at your own risk.

Thor: The Dark World was released in America (who always gets these movies nearly last, much to the chagrin of comic book reviewers all over readmarvel.blogspot.com) on Friday, November 8th. Thanks to the magic of certain movies being allowed to release early, I got to see it on the 7th at 8 PM, which was reminiscent to me of when Amazon accidentally delivered Thor on blu-ray to my house the day before it was released. That is not where the similarities between the two movies end and, frankly, it's not really where they begin because that is a truly absurd and specific association to make. Probably where the similarities begin is right at the beginning of Thor: The Dark World. Like its predecessor, this movie opens with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) recounting for the audience a tale from Asgard's past. It's a little further back than the tale he opens the first movie with (which had to do with the war between Asgard and Jotunheim and the Frost Giants), giving us a look at Odin's father, King Bor (an apparently uncredited Tony Curran), and his Asgardian army taking down the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim and their leader Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who had created a weapon called the Aether which, when bonded to it, would make him nearly invincible and would give him the power to destroy the nine realms during the convergence, the event every few thousand years when the nine realms align. If that sounds like an absolute whirlwind of exposition, it's because it is. Within five minutes of the movie starting, we know a movie's worth of plot. It's a bold move, though not a foreign one. It's essentially "A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away..." What makes it a bolder move, then, is that it's the second movie in this series to open this way. In most cases, you'd expect the first movie to have told the story you needed to tell to continue the series. Here we're telling a very different story with the same characters and so there's a different backstory. I've seen the movie twice and I remember the difference in feeling the two different times. The first time I was a little taken aback that they'd start the movie with another history of Asgard. The second time I was grateful. It gives the movie and this world a sense of the epic, a sense that this world has existed for so long that this story that's coming up, as good as it may be and as current as it may be, just brushes the surface of things Asgard has done. And that's how you kick your movie off. Bold choice, I think it pays off.

I did not intend to spend that long on the first five minutes but here we are. Malekith was defeated by Bor and the Aether was taken and hidden away, too powerful to be destroyed or allowed out in the open. Now, millennia later, the convergence is upon us again, aligning the nine realms. Suddenly, in the points where the convergence happens (where the branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, meet) small portals are opening and gravitational fluctuations are occurring. Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor's love interest from the first movie, is investigating one such portal with the not-so-much help of intern Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and, inexplicably, Lewis' intern Ian (Jonathan Howard), when she finds herself face-to-face with the Aether. It latches on to her and suddenly several interested parties are aware of its existence again, most notably an awakened Malekith. Malekith, along with top lieutenant-turned secret weapon Kurse (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), attack Asgard, killing Odin's wife and Loki's only supporter Frigga (Rene Russo), but fleeing before they can obtain the Aether. After the funeral for Frigga, Thor comes up with a plan to lure Malekith out by bringing Jane to Svartalfheim where Thor can sneak-attack Malekith and the Aether while both are weakened. Odin refuses the plan, preferring the Asgardians fight Malekith on their home turf, no matter the casualties. This sets Thor off on a clandestine quest wherein he breaks out Loki and the two, along with Jane, and with the help of Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), and Fandral (Zachary Levi), escape Asgard and enact Thor's plan. It fails and Malekith obtains the Aether while Loki sacrifices himself to save Thor and destroy Kurse. Left with little time to mourn, Jane and Thor return to Earth and enlist the help of Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and soft science Malekith away. They trace the root of the convergence to Greenwich and realize that's where Malekith will come through, setting up shop to doom the universe. After an impressive, portal-hopping fight scene, Thor and the science gang win the day, splitting Malekith between the realms and eventually landing his own ship on him. Thor returns to Asgard where Odin plans to name him king but Thor refuses, wishing instead to protect the realms from the front lines, not with the pressures being king puts on someone. As Thor leaves, given Odin's reluctant blessing, Odin reveals himself to the audience to, in fact, be Loki in disguise.

That's a pretty long plot summary but you should have seen the first draft at this. Anyway, the movie is certainly an impressive one; the fight scenes are well done, Thor and Loki have an unquestionable chemistry and Loki continues to be handled extremely well. The plot itself is interesting and echoes, most recently, a 2010 or 2011 episode of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, written by...what's this, CHRISTOPHER YOST, CO-WRITER OF THOR: THE DARK WORLD. Don't act so surprised, you guys, I've been hinting at this for months. More than that, one of the things I found pretty interesting about Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, on top of how great it was, was that Marvel seemed to use it as a way to test out some ideas on young audiences, including the popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Skrull invasion. In that episode, "The Fall of Asgard," the Avengers get separated between the nine realms and have to find their way to Asgard to defeat Loki, who had previously worked alongside Malekith to try to conquer Earth. Anyway, that doesn't make the story any less intriguing. What I would say makes it a little less intriguing is the insistence, as in the first movie, to draw parallels between the world of magic and the world of science, meaning that there's a ton of soft science in here that, when you start to really think it through isn't particularly well-explained. Still, the writing largely covers for it and the action and characterization of Thor, Loki, and the other Asgardians (particularly Frigga and Idris Elba's Heimdall) certainly make for an enjoyable film overall.

Eagle-eyed readers might notice that I'm not saying too much in my positive section about the characterization of Jane Foster or Erik Selvig or Darcy Lewis. There's, uh, there's a reason for that, eagle-eyed readers. As with the first movie, it feels a little like the screenwriters aren't totally sure what to do with Jane Foster. I listened to a podcast recently with one of the screenwriters for Thor who said that Natalie Portman wanted to bring more of a poet/scientist feel to the role of Jane Foster. I'm not totally sure what that entails but I assume it has to do with her clinginess to Thor. Not to say she's necessarily all over him but there are certainly lines here that imply that she's done very little in the way of science since he left (we're told the events of the first movie happened two years prior, with The Avengers happening somewhere in-between though probably closer to this movie than to Thor). She's instead spent time at her mother's and, if Darcy is to be believed (big "if"), hasn't looked at least at the equipment she was using prior to Thor's arrival on Earth in the last two years or so. This is a scientist who we're supposed to believe is incredibly smart and inquisitive who has given up because her boyfriend (who she knew for like, three days, mind you) disappeared two years ago. I have some real issues with that characterization.

Fortunately for Jane, it's far overlooked by my sheer annoyance at Darcy Lewis who is inexplicably still hanging around with Jane. The first movie posited that she was an intern for Jane and Erik, though not particularly into whatever they were doing (she was a political science major but she was the only one who applied for the job so neither party necessarily wants to be with the other). Somehow now we find out she's been at this for an additional TWO YEARS, still as an intern and still knowing very little (and seeming to care very little) about the science Jane does. Perhaps more inexplicably, she has found some dumb British kid to be her intern. Darcy talks non-stop and is given plenty of obvious laugh lines but they mostly come off as annoying and mood-breaking. I was encouraged to hear, in the second viewing particularly, that people by and large were not laughing at her lines which told me it wasn't just me being snooty about it. Her character is a waste and unquestionably hurts the movie. It would be a smaller complaint but her role is larger even than the first film, which had the good sense to pretty much knock her out of the second half. Selvig too sees a bit of a character decline from the first film, going a little over-the-top crazy after the events of The Avengers. All of this, I think, hurts the film and particularly hurts the final fight scene which shows all of them hard at work to try to evade the Dark Elves and to help Thor stop Malekith's attack. The problem is that, with the possible exception of Jane, none of them have shown themselves to be remotely capable of this and still they get an absurd amount of screen time.

Overall, despite these complaints, the film holds up on the strength of the plot and effects and on the characterization of Thor and Loki. Thor is different than the Thor we saw in the first movie, the brash and arrogant would-be king of Asgard. Here he's learned his lessons in worthiness and wields Mjolnir deservedly. He's still somewhat arrogant on the battlefield but, while it's certainly earned, it feels a little like a show for troop morale. Back in Asgard, he's somewhat removed, even covering himself in plain clothes and presenting a bit of a more brooding hero. He's more distant with the Warriors Three and with Sif (who has far too little of a role in this, in my opinion) and he's removed himself from many of their celebrations. Presumably a big part of this is Jane but it also seems to have to do with his newfound love of Earth as a whole, lending itself to the Thor we see in comics, a Thor who spends the majority of his downtime on Earth because he just prefers it. It also gives weight to the final scene, where he tells "Odin" that he wants to patrol the nine realms and that it wouldn't matter if Odin said he could rule Asgard with Jane by his side, he still would prefer to be roaming. It's a nice decision to make Thor someone who's matured as much as this Thor has but who still clearly aches for Earth. His character is far less complicated than someone like Loki; Thor is good, Thor is right, in the same sort of way that Captain America is goodness and rightness (that's not the last time I'll mention him). That means his moral decisions aren't ever really going to be huge draws for a crowd. Instead, it's Loki who draws us to questions of "what will he do here?" Thor, then, has appeal here as someone who knows what's expected of him vs. what he wants to do and as someone who believes firmly in the way he wants things done.

So Loki. Loki, thanks to Hiddleston's portrayal of the character in both Thor and The Avengers has become a huge star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here's the thing: it's completely well-deserved. I found his interpretation of Loki in Thor to be dead on, right down to every minute facial expression and movement. There's something utterly charming and utterly slimy, all at once, in this Loki. Here we see him in a sort of different light. He's still angry about the secret of his parentage and he sees nothing wrong with what he attempted to do on Earth during The Avengers. He lashes out at everyone but he has a tender scene with Frigga, giving us the appearance that he isn't just some evil villain. It also plays to Loki as he and Thor put on a bit of a show for Malekith later to try to convince Malekith that Loki is on his side. The audience can speculate that this is all part of a plan for Loki but no one in the crowd can be totally sure because, well, because it's Loki. Loki delivers some of the best lines in the movie and the writers throw in the funniest part based around Loki, wherein he and Thor walk down a hallway in the palace and (SPOILERS YOU GUYS, I KNOW I SAID IT BUT THIS PART WAS SUPER GREAT AND I DON'T WANT IT SPOILED FOR YOU) Loki alters their appearances a couple times, eventually landing on Thor walking with one of his "new companions," Captain America. Chris Evans has a near-perfect cameo as Cap here with Loki-Cap spouting lines about truth and freedom and the American way. It's hilarious, it's well-timed, it's a great surprise, and it's probably the highlight of what was already a good movie.

Final thing to talk about, then, is the post credits scene (there are two to this movie, one in the middle of the credits and one at the very end; the one in the middle is the one that's important to talk about for the Marvel movie-verse). Sif and Volstagg take a journey to a very odd showroom of sorts and are led to none other than future Guardians of the Galaxy villain the Collector (Benicio del Toro). Sif and Volstagg have been sent to deliver the Aether, captured again, to the Collector, hoping that he'll keep it safe there. The Collector asks why Asgard wouldn't keep it themselves and Volstagg reveals that they already have the Tesseract in their possession and it's not wise to keep two Infinity stones too near one another. The Collector lauds this as wise and agrees to protect the Aether. Sif and Volstagg leave a little warily and the Collector murmurs "one down, five to go." YOU GUYS. The Tesseract and the Aether are Infinity Gems! Thanos, key villain for Guardians (though there promises to be a slew of them), is always after those pesky gems and here we've already seen two of them and it rather fits. What is a cosmic cube? Oh, an Infinity Gem! What is this crazy weapon Malekith seems to have created? Not too much, just AN INFINITY GEM. AND NOW THE COLLECTOR HAS ONE AND KNOWS WHERE ANOTHER IS. Geez, that's exciting. Marvel laying some more in-roads here and there to get people talking about their riskiest movie in phase two, Guardians of the Galaxy. Overall, definitely a good movie, lots of fun and well worth seeing.

Marvel partnering with Netflix for new original programming!

Oh man guys, this is a pretty big one. On the heels of the probable success of ABC's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and the ongoing success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Thor: The Dark World premieres in America THIS VERY EVENING), Marvel has announced a partnership with Netflix to produce four brand-new serialized programs leading to a mini-series event. The four live-action series will be focused on individuals Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, ultimately leading to the mini-series The Defenders which will presumably team the four to fight in Hell's Kitchen.

This is a bombshell of an announcement. Marvel has only recently reclaimed the rights to Daredevil after a long stint with Fox (that saw the creation of Daredevil in 2003 and Elektra, for some reason, in 2005 - check out the "How Did This Get Made" podcast this week for the HDTGM team's thoughts on Daredevil along with special guest and one-time Daredevil writer Ed Brubaker) and the company has been working out ways to celebrate that news. On top of that, rumors of a Heroes for Hire or Jessica Jones series have swirled for the last few years as both of those properties lend themselves more to a lower budget, serialized project than something like Thor or Iron Man. All in all, this is a huge announcement with extremely high hopes and what I would call an extraordinarily high ceiling. Of course, it could always go the other way but LET'S NOT THINK ABOUT THAT NOW, LET'S ALL JUST GET OUR HOPES REALLY REALLY HIGH.

New Winter Soldier Mini-Series Announced

Hooray! Another shot for the Winter Soldier! On top of appearing in upcoming issues of Secret Avengers and Captain America and being one of the leads in the just announced All-New Invaders, Bucky Barnes will return in February of next year for a mini-series entitled "Winter Soldier: Bitter March." The series will be written by Captain America scribe Rick Remender and will feature art from Roland Boschi. Taking place in the Cold War (so we have a Russian controlled Winter Soldier), this story plans to tie in heavily to events just down the road in Captain America. It also looks like it will pit Winter Soldier against 1960s SHIELD as the Russians and Americans look to secure scientists with potentially war-ending breakthrough weapons. You clever devils will likely also note that the release of this new five-issue mini will coincide nicely with the new Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie set to be released in early April in the US (why yes, I am bitter that we seem to get it later than nearly everybody else out there...sorry Germany and Brazil). The upside of this series for comic fans (other than it will be just another place to see one of the most popular characters created since the 1980s...I've heard the list is Wolverine, Deadpool, Winter Soldier but I heard that from Ed Brubaker so, you know, grain of salt) is that this will tie back to the Captain America ongoing so it doesn't seem like it will be merely a movie tie-in. Fun stuff abound!

First look at CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER

Hey guys, amazing. Just...amazing. More thoughts later, OBVIOUSLY.