Head back to Wakanda, where tragedy has struck its people. It just so happens the same tragedy has struck the real world as well. The follow-up to the massively successful Black Panther is here and it’s not without saying that this movie comes with all sorts of emotional baggage.
The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T’Challa.
It’s been over 2 years since the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, and his death is no question at the forefront of this movie. A tribute to his name and what he stood for, this movie is not only dealing with the passing of King T’Challa in the MCU, but the actors themselves mourning with the death of their friend. Those emotions are felt throughout the entire movie and it’s that emotion that really propels the movie forward.
Shuri (Letitia Wright) is hurting more than anyone throughout this movie. She doesn’t know how to deal with grief and guilt and it’s swallowing her alive. Unable to move on from her brother’s death, she is determined to help the world with her technology and distract herself by any means necessary. Even when Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) tells her about a ritual that will help her move on with her life, she turns it down. She’s not ready to say goodbye and doesn’t exactly know how. Wakanda is without a Black Panther for the first time in centuries. When a new threat Namor (Tenoch Huerta) rises from the water, literally, this is Marvels Aquaman. He wants peace for his people underwater and wants the help from Wakanda. Nor friend or foe at that point, it’s up to Shuri to decide the future for Wakanda. Namor is by far the best part of the movie. A great new MCU villain, who is officially the first “mutant” of the MCU, he was badass, well-acted and had a sympathetic backstory. Finally, a memorable villain for the MCU, something lacking as of late. Whenever he was on screen I was invested in the movie, and I’m excited to see where they take his character next.
Black Panther is highly regarded as one of the strongest MCU movies to date, so any sequel was a daunting task, given the circumstances at play, this movie had such a tough task ahead of it. At the end of the day, Wakanda Forever is a stylish sequel, that lives up to the name, but ultimately felt over bloated and overstuffed. The biggest problem with the MCU right now, connectivity. They need to remind you that this is part of a much larger story (we already know this) and characters that serve no purpose to the story at hand keep popping up, again to remind us that this is the MCU! We are almost 30 movies in, the audience knows this and in an already long movie, dealing with the death of Chadwick, tossing in more screen time for a few people that had zero business being in the movie, felt like a terrible idea. It’s Evertt Ross and De Fontaine, they just take you out of the movie every single time they pop up. That was my biggest gripe with the movie, and a lackluster third act, the movie as a whole is fine, but I can’t prop something up because of the story behind the movie, that’s not fair to anyone. You also felt the absence of Daniel Kaluuya, who couldn’t be in the movie because he was filming NOPE at the same time, he could have elevated this movie even more.
Much like the first, the cast is stacked. Angela Bassett gives a powerful and raw performance. Showcasing some of the finest acting in the MCU to date. Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Danai Gurira are all back and thriving. Duke provides most of the laughs in the movie and remains one of the best characters within Wakanda. The newest addition, young inventor of sorts Riri (Dominque Thorne) is a really fun addition to the movie and a cool new side kick for Shuri. Letitia Wright also gives a great performance here, and without spoilers I won’t really say much else. The movie is long and at times it feels long and there certainly is a difference between a long movie and a movie that feels long. I was also hoping for a really great third act and it didn’t happen, it actually felt like the most MCU part of the movie. CGI stuffed, fake backgrounds and poor action. They barely showcase the new Black Panther and it felt like a misstep to do so. This was going to be an impossible task to begin with, but I do think in the end up Ryan Coogler pulled it off. But I would love to see him go smaller and step aside from the MCU.
For the first time since 2008. The world will not be entertained by any new MCU content. Sadly, but in the meantime, let us run through the entire MCU run, from start to finish!
Well, here we are. 23 movies down, in the most impressive franchise runs in cinema history. So why not take a stroll down memory lane? Starting at the beginning. Just a few thoughts about each flick, followed by a review (out of 5 stars!)
Iron Man. Director: Jon Favreau. Box Office 585.2 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 94%. Release Date: May 2nd, 2008
The movie that started it all! Can you believe they originally wanted Tom Cruise to play the playboy billionaire? How crazy would have that been? Is the MCU as successful as it is today? I can’t really see Cruise playing Iron Man nearly as well as Downey Jr. in fact I think the execs over at Disney and Marvel probably get down on their hands and knees every day and thank god he got this role. Well, it was Favreau who convinced them that he would be perfect after he saw RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Actually directed by Shane Black, more on that later. Plain and simple, this is the most important movie of the century. It literally changed how we as an audience watch movies. It was a herculean task, the idea of the MCU, but with proper guidance and the perfect casting, everything worked out. It even started the “stinger” craze, the little snip-it at the end of the credits. Iron Man has aged beautifully and is among of one the best MCU movies in the entire run.
I’m sorry but I don’t see Tony Stark being a Burger King kind of guy. That never sat well with me.
5/5 Stars
The Incredible Hulk. Director: Louis Leterrier .Box-Office: 264.8 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 67%. Release Date: June 8th, 2008.
Kind of the black sheep of the MCU family? The long and forgotten solo Hulk film. The only solo Hulk film to date in the MCU, and don’t plan anymore in the future because of some copyright issues. I’m going to say it, this is vastly underrated and under-appreciated. There’s a lot of good in the first half of this film. Norton is ripe for the role, and Tim Roth as Blonsky/Abomination is fantastic. Just creative differences really faltered this into the ground. The Hulk still remains a staple in the MCU and it will be interesting to see where they take his character next. Feels like Ruffalo is getting checked out of his role.
How does he manage to stretch his pants? Maybe he’s been in touch with a certain individual who is a little fantastic……..
3/5
Iron Man 2. Director: Jon Favreau. Box Office: 623.9 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 73% Release Date: May 7th, 2010
When you’re following up the most important movie this century, well those are pretty big shoes to fill! Iron Man 2 suffers from what I call, lack of preparation. They had no idea what to expect from Iron Man, and when it became a worldwide phenomenon they start prep on its sequel rather quickly. I think this movie suffers from a lackluster plot and a rush script. But even in the weakest of times, the MCU remains top-notch. It’s like pizza, even when pizza is bad, it’s still pizza. They really start to world build here, with the tease of Caps shield and the great stinger of Thor’s hammer at the very end. It just felt so rushed and wasted the great Mickey Rourke and the finale of this movie is mere seconds long. If you blink it’s over. Honestly, it might have the least amount of action out of any MCU movie to date.
Justin Hammer played by the legend Sam Rockwell, is the bright spot here, and I truly hope that bird was taken care of. All Ivan wanted was a friend and his pet bird.
I NEED A HORSE! One of the best lines delivered in the entire MCU. A Shakespearean tale, directed so beautifully by Branagh, who really encapsulates the essence of Asgard, their power, size, and mortality, but also can show the humble and more dignified part of their existence. Chris Hemsworth much like every original member of the Avengers was so perfectly cast, right alongside his brother, the God of Mischief Loki. Both play off one another so well, Hiddleston stealing the show, without him and his portrayal of Loki, I’m not sure what happens with the MCU. Thor’s “clueless” side is the driving force in the second half and that’s really where Hemsworth shines. This movie truly is like a fine Asgardian wine, it keeps getting better with age.
Do you think they had pancakes on Asgard?
4/5
Captain America: The First Avenger. Director: Joe Johnson. Box Office: 370.6 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 80%. Release Date: July 22nd, 2011
The first outing for the unanimous MVP of the MCU! It’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Chris Evans and his Captain America was going to be special. From his boyish charisma, and world-class heart, it was another role that the actor who landed it was born to play. I would say his growth is among the best of our heroes and each time we see him on screen, he’s almost a completely different Cap. His friendship with Bucky is special and he hates bullies, most importantly Nazi bullies with a Red Skull. It’s sad we never got another showdown between these two, but we now know it’s possible. By far the most violet MCU flick, and has the most shocking a violent death in the series, when a man is inhaled by an airplane propeller. You just didn’t see much more of that in the MCU.
The biggest question throughout all of the MCU and it is an important one. Is Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, a virgin?
4/5
The Avengers. Director: Joss Whedon. Box Office: 1.519 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 92%. Release Date: May 4th, 2012
How much is that group shot worth? A billion? Two billion? The true team-up movie the world had been waiting for. Planned for 6 long years after Nick Fury stood in Tony Starks living room telling him about The Avengers Initiative. This is the MCU at its finest, one of the best comic-book movies Disney and Marvel have ever produced. It gave us the ultimate tease with their best post-credit stinger ever with the all mighty Thanos. We wouldn’t see him in action for years to come, but it reminded us that Marvel had a plan and they were going to stick with it. The 3rd act is peak comic-book movie making and The Avengers is a very important movie for popular culture lore and what it meant to go to the movies.
I’ve always wondered what Pepper whispers into Tony’s ear in the beginning…..?
5/5
Iron Man 3. Director: Shane Black. Box Office: 1.215 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 79%Release Date: May 3rd, 2013
Hollywood is a circle man. If it wasn’t for Shane Black, maybe RDJ doesn’t even become Iron Man. Considering he wasn’t even the highest-paid actor in the original and now he was making whatever amount he asked for and got to handpick the director for the end of the trilogy, speaks volumes for how important he was to the MCU. This movie comes down to one thing for most fans. How do you feel about the Mandarin twist? For me, it just didn’t sit well, and the movie is just all over the place tonally. Shane Black adds some of his charm and comedy into the mix but overall this just again feels so inferior to Iron Man. But hey, where your movie grosses over a billion, who cares right?
You know how I know you’re still reading this? Because we’re connected….
2.5/5
Thor: The Dark World. Director: Alan Taylor. Box Office: 644.4 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 66%. Release Date: November 8th, 2013
Someone has to finish last in a race and unfortunately for Thor: The Dark World, they are that person. I wonder what this movie would have looked like if Patty Jenkins would have stayed on and directed? It just loses everything that made it special from the first and it’s due to the change of director. This just feels like one big shoe-horn to introduce another Infinity Stone into the MCU. Which is fine but at least makes the movie somewhat entertaining. It’s one of the lone duds of the MCU and when you make 23 movies, it’s hard to hit a home run each time. Weak villain, terrible pacing, and not enough Thor being an idiot.
Chris Evans probably made like 500K for his 30 second bit.
1.5/5
Captain America: The Winter Solider. Director: Anthony & Joe Russo. Box Office 714.3 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 89%. Release Date: April 4th, 2014
Again here comes the MVP! Phase 2 of the MCU wasn’t off to the start they were hoping for. With back to back so-so films and they needed a pick me up. Enter, The Winter Soldier. This movie feels like the MCU homage to the brilliant Heat. It’s a fantastic spy thriller that sets us the best friendship of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Buck and Caps relationship is such an important cog that moves this universe. We get introduced to another pair that would steer the MCU into a new director, the Russo brothers. Responsible for some of the best content they came in hot and delivered one of the best comic-book sequels ever. The most rewatchable MCU movie in my opinion.
When I’m out on runs, I always say “on your left” when running by someone.
5/5
Guardians of The Galaxy. Director: James Gunn. Box Office: 773.3 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 91%. Release Date: August 1st, 2014
The misfits are the MCU! You know you’re on a serious roll when you can have a successful movie that involves a talking tree and a maniac racoon. But Marvel knew what they were doing at this point and nothing would slow them down. Add in another perfect round of casting and a director that actually cared about the source material. The reason why GOTG works so damn well is the chemistry between all of these fascinating characters. They each are unique in their own way and all get a moment to shine at some point. Weaker villain but the Guardians carry this thing, along with its kick ass soundtrack. We also get to see Thanos in action a little bit, building on the suspend of his power.
I think this is my favourite Groot so far.
4.5/5
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Director: Joss Whedon. Box Office: 1.405 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 75%. Release Date: May 1st, 2015
The boys are back in town! The trailers for Ultron are some of the very best in the MCU cannon. I remember thinking, this movie is going to be dark and maybe someone might not make it out alive. Don’t get me wrong, Ultron is vastly under-appreciated and undervalued. It just didn’t coincide with the tone of the trailers. Ultron seemed like he was going to be a tough task to take and at least menacing. But neither of those things occurred and I think that’s where the movie lost itself. The addition of the Maximoff twins and Vision are great and this is just a ton of fun, but being the sequel within the movie realm, sequels tend to be much darker and this just isn’t that.
When you can make Ant-Man cool and enjoyable, you know what you’re doing. Paul Rudd shines as Scott Lang, he even gets a little ripped! The most unique movie so far and it’s actually not a bad re-watch. A better than average villain with some of more funny/ impressive fight sequences. The film sets the stage for arguably the most important aspects of the MCU, the quantum realm. We all know how important that will ultimately become. So it’s kind of like one giant shoe-horn that happened to be squished between a few Ant-Man movies
Baskin Robins anyone?
3.5/5
Captain America: Civil War. Director: Anthony & Joe Russo. Box Office: 1.153 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 90%. Release Date: May 6th, 2016
The movie that altered the entire landscape of the MCU. It’s like a mini-Avengers movie. Instead of a big bad guy, it’s just all our favourite heroes kicking the living snot out of one another. Of course they took away the two strongest Avengers at this point, Hulk and Thor have nowhere to be seen, probably for the best. How the Russo Brothers incorporate and introduce two MASSIVE comic-book characters, Black Panther and Spider-Man into the mix and make it seem to effortless and seamless is so impressive. This is one of the most emotional movies in the MCU, especially between Cap and Tony and the final showdown just always hits you right in the gut.
You were either Team Cap or Team Iron Man, which one was it?
5/5
Doctor Strange. Director: Scott Derrickson. Box Office: 677.7 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 89%. Release Date: November 4th, 2016
The Master of the Mystic Arts! Another Superhero that would have not even sniffed a movie theatre a decade ago is now getting a sequel. Kind of the low-key most powerful Avenger that doesn’t really flex his guns all that much. The man can control time and he was the soul reason they even defeated Thanos in the first place. Now that’s power. But for this movie, it’s just overall well done. Great villains, Benedict is so damn good in this role. There aren’t any real flaws, but when you’re competing against all the other MCU movies, it’s hard to be at the top, considering this followed Civil War. You just know that whatever they have cooking up in the MCU lab for his next outing will be special.
You think Wong is a Beyonce fanatic by now?
3.5/5
Guardians of The Galaxy: Volume 2. Director: James Gunn. Box Office 863.6 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 82%. Release Date: May 5th, 2017
The idiots are back and you know that means trouble. I misjudged this movie the first I saw it. Looking back at my initial review, I was kind to GOTG 2. It’s grown on me so much over these last few years, because they characters have grown on me. Maybe it’s because how great the Guardians are in Infinity War and I realized how special this group of heroes really is. This movie really is driven by its tremendous heart and all the little emotions packed throughout it. So many relationships blossoming and crumbling and finding out what the true meaning of what a family is. Chris Pratt is so good in this and follows it up with such a phenomenal performance in Infinity War. The Guardians are expanding and their newest member is well……Thor!
Some how they gotta incorporate Mary Poppins into Vol 3.
4/5
Spider-Man Homecoming. Director. Jon Watts. Box Office: 879.7 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 92%. Release Date: July 7th, 2017
The best part of the MCU Spider-Man is when he is part of a team. Civil War and Infinity War are among his best showings, because I think they are struggling with how to deal with his character in his own little universe. Everything with MCU Spidey revolves around one thing, Tony Stark. That’s just not what we have come to expect from this character and we want his own universe to build because of him, on his back, not on the back of Tony’s. That being said Homecoming is a ton of fun and by far the better of the two solo Spider-Man flicks. Michael Keaton as Vulture is really great and his twist always gets you. Tom Holland is making a great case for best live action Spider-Man.
Talk about a 180 from the last time we saw Thor. Everything changed, even his hair. From one of the lowest of MCU lows, to a pretty big high with Thor: Ragnarok. Even Hulk decided to show back up after being absent for quite sometime. After this movie and the epic run that would follow for Thor, for me, he is by far the most compelling character in the entire MCU. He’s changing every film and Hemsworth just goes along for the ride. Everyone in this movie is having an absolute blast making it, Hela is terrific villain who brings out the best in both Loki and Thor. We even get a little cozier with Loki has we see him in a new light. Awesome soundtrack, some fun action and one of the more hilarious MCU movies, Hulk being just dumb and big and angry is the highlight for me when it comes to his character. Because it’s about to be all down hill for the big green guy.
Just when you were starting to like Loki…….
4.5/5
Black Panther. Director: Ryan Coogler. Box Office: 1.347 Billion. Release Date: February 16th, 2018
This movie just hits differently now with the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman. The MCU will be forever altered. It’s an epic tale of sacrifice, family, loyalty and what it means to truly be a King. It’s so full of heart and beauty and emotion and that stems from the films villain. Michael B Jordan gives us one of the best comic-book move villains ever, because he’s so invested in the role. Killmonger is incredible and even his motive makes you wonder if he has a point. This movie means so much to so many people and it feels wrong that we will never get to see Chadwick in this role again, I’m not sure where they go from here with the character but I know it will be a tough decision to make. Black Panther remains the heart of the MCU for now and forever.
Can I get me some of his royal sandals though?
4.5/5
Avengers: Infinity War. Director: Russo Brothers. Box Office: 2.048 Billion. Release Date: April 23rd, 2018
The moment we were all waiting for. It was inevitable. Much like Thanos. This movie kicks off with a bang. One of the best opening scenes in any comic-book movie, holy crap they wanted to showcase Thanos straight away. Even his four horseman are awesome. This is the best of the MCU, it’s crowning jewel. It doesn’t get any better than this right here. It may never get any better than this. The entire roster is present and everyone is fighting for their lives. We get team ups we never knew we wanted, new friendships are made, bonds are broken and we were left with the best ending. After the dust was settled on screen and in your eyes, you knew the MCU would never be the same again. Infinity War is perfect.
Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good……
5/5
Ant-Man & The Wasp. Director: Peyton Reed. Box Office: 622.7 Million. Release Date July 6th, 2018
Who knew that this little guy would go on and save the entire universe? He didn’t know the gigantic role he would ultimately play in saving humanity, but before that, he needed to be trapped in quantum realm. Crazy enough we got one Ant-Man movie, even crazier that we got a worthy sequel. It’s fun, it hits all the MCU beats, Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are really quite the pair. They work so well together and it’s their chemistry that drives this movie forward.
I think the next Ant-Man is going to be epic and another huge step for the MCU going forward.
3/5
Captain Marvel. Director: Anna Boben & Ryan Fleck. Box Office: 1.128 Billion. Release Date: March 8th, 2019.
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Honestly, how many giant portals in the sky needed to happen on Earth in order for Captain Marvel to show back up? I think that’s the most frustrating thing about this character in the MCU. She’s so powerful, and the ultimate warrior, played perfectly by Brie Larson, but she wasn’t around at all? It’s just one plot hole that is simply unforgivable in the MCU cannon. As for her origin, it’s just a ton of fun. One of the more down-to-earth film considering she’s an all powering space cop. But this story is meant to tell her humility and her heart rather than showcase her power, that comes later. Goose steals the show, the very best kitty in the MCU!
Going to see this in theatres was a rock concert. There’s no other way to describe it. Everything that was being built since 2008. Since Tony Stark uttered the words “I am Iron Man.” It was all building to this. So many memorable moments, Cap picking up Mjolnir, Thor turning into a party dude, the Black Widow sacrifice. Moments you wont forget as a movie goer. It’s so difficult to follow up your most prized possession with Infinity War, but Endgame does an excellent job closing all the doors, while opening new ones that will drive the MCU forward for years to come. It’s a movie that reminds you how epic this entire journey has been, sort of a like a “best of” rundown of so many cool moments that have transpired over the last decade. So curious to see where the MCU goes from here!
That portal sequence is all time movie moment.
4.5/5
Spider-Man: Far From Home. Director Jon Watts. Box Office: 1.132 Billion. Release Date: July 2nd, 2019
The first Post-Endgame movie. It was somber seeing Peter trying to deal with the fact that five years have passed in his life and also his mentor and best hero Tony Stark is no longer with us. It’s a battle of him discovering that he is more of a hero than he knows, and much more like his own hero than he realizes. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a quirky performance has Mysterio, and some of the altercations between the two are stunning to look at. It’s clearly building to Spider-Man versus the Sinister Six. His relationship with MJ grows as her finally tells her about his secret identity. We get an amazing stinger at the end of the credits, and Spider-Man 3 plans on being completely BONKERS!
I hope Ned becomes a future bad guy for Peter. Would be interesting to see.
3/5
What a magical journey this has been. On the movie screen and right here on this blog! The MCU is still so strong, 4 out of their last 5 movies have grossed a billion dollars or more. The future of movies is currently up in the air, but one thing that remains certain. The MCU is the Royal Family of Hollywood and expect many more amazing moments and movies to come!
Marvel raises the bar once again for the Superhero genre. Creating their greatest achievement yet. It’s perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
I laughed, I cried, I cheered. And that was all just in the first 10 minutes. I had to wait until Sunday night to finally see the much anticipated Avengers: Infinity War. Do you know how difficult it is to stay spoiler free from the biggest movie of the last decade? It’s extremely hard, I did my best to stay off social media, so when Sunday night rolled around I was ecstatic I was walking in spoiler free. So after a decade and 18 movies later, did Marvel hit a grand slam? Yes, yes they did. I’m not really sure where to start, this will be a spoiler free review, I’m going to write another piece about the future of the MCU and how I really thought about EVERYTHING that happens in Infinity War, but for now, here’s my review! Also just congratulations on this becoming the highest grossing movie ever domestically in a single weekend. It deserves it, this is bar none the best MCU movie ever made.
Boy did Marvel not hold back, from the very opening moments of the film, this felt like something epic. This review might be all over the place, because it will be extremely hard to write something spoiler free, which this will be! We are immediately introduced to Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his trusty side kicks – The Black Order. For sidekicks, the Black Order were pretty goddamn awesome I thought. Hats off to Tom Vaughn-Lawlor who played Ebony Maw, because if you tossed him into any other MCU movie, we could be talking about one of the best MCU villains here. Just so happens he was standing next to Thanos for the entire movie so it’s hard to really consider him truly great, because well Thanos climbed to the top of Mount Rushmore of comic book movie villains after this performance. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, it’s not like we have been waiting since 2012, when he first reared his big ugly purple head. Since then they have been building the MCU for this very moment. When everything finally comes together, crossovers you didn’t know you wanted, team ups we could have never imagined and more importantly the Avengers coming face to face with the Mad Titan Thanos. For the last 6 years all we have heard about is the 6 infinity stones and the unimaginable power they all contain. Put them all together and that person has the power to accomplish anything. Well Thanos is looking to round up all these stones and it’s up to our heroes to stop him. That’s almost the strongest part of the entire movie. It’s not an overly complicated plot, it’s simple. Thanos wants the stones, our heroes are trying to do everything and anything they can to stop him.
Thanos was such a terrific villain, we are coming off such a strong one with Killmonger in BlackPanther, but Marvel stepped their game up even more with Thanos. What makes a truly memorable and great villain performance, is well, they need to have layers, and the character kind of needs to be flushed out throughout the movie. We get a ton of background and history about Thanos, we get to see inside his mind, what makes him tick and everything he truly loves. For being the most evil person in the entire universe, there are parts of the movie where you almost are rooting for him to get all the stones. Like if someone asks me, “Was Thanos a good villain?” Well, he’s unstoppable, terrifying, sadistic, at times polite and like i mentioned, in a few brief moments, sympathetic. He’s just not a power hungry mad man who has no sense or sense awareness to everything around him. He’s so much more complex than that, and you almost see where he’s coming from. He’s the most badass villain to ever show up in a comic book movie, and with that comes the fact he’s almost the most sympathetic villain to ever grace the big screen. So if you haven’t figured out by now, I really enjoyed Thanos, he makes the movie and I was glad that he got the most screen time out of any character in the entire movie. Frankly, us fans that have been waiting all this time for him to show up deserved it.
As for the rest of the team they all work so well together. Yes they all don’t have the most screen time, but if you love these characters and watching them, then you won’t care. The interactions between characters, like Rocket and Thor, Tony and Dr. Strange are all things I didn’t know I needed so badly in my life. The Russo Brothers picked the perfect little teams to divide into, and I think that was really important. If that doesn’t work, the whole movie doesn’t work. I thought Dr. Strange, Thor and Gamora were the MVP’s of our heroes. Thor has evolved into the best MCU character in my opinion and I can’t wait to see how he will keep evolving. The whole movie really flies by, they don’t really pussyfoot around at all. You’re in waist deep before you know it, and instantly the stakes are at an all time high. I saw a lot of people saying this was just another “funny MCU movie” and yes of course it’s funny. I’m happy this movie is funny, but when it wants to get down to the nitty gritty and be serious, it’s actually bone chilling serious. There are moments in this movie that I never saw coming, things that maybe I saw coming. Things I thought might happened, happened. Things that could happen, happened. A ton of available evidence and suspicion confirmed that, in the end that thing would happen. I WAS NOT PREPARED AT ALL TO WATCH THAT THING HAPPEN. This movie tugs on your heart strings and when the screen fades to black, you are gut punched. You are looking around searching for answers, you want to know what the hell just happened. I think that’s my favourite part about this whole thing. I have no idea where Marvel is going to take this thing. Well I have some thoughts and wild ideas, but I actually don’t really know the future direction of the MCU and for the first time in a long time, I am so intrigued about this whole thing.
Like I can’t even say much more, because all I want to do is talk about everything that happens within the movie. But I can’t, not here at least. What more do you want me to say? This is the movie of 2018, no other comic book movie will come close to making me feel what I felt during Infinity War. It’s damn near perfect, I can’t wait to watch it again. I saw it back to back nights, because I needed that in order to really process everything. Go see this movie, don’t be that weirdo that sits this one out. I will say this – It’s perfectly balanced as all things should be.
Check ya later
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Avengers: Infinity War = 98/100
If you still haven’t seen Black Panther, shame on you.
(MARVEL)
The world has spoken, and it is indeed Wakanda forever! Grossing the 5th highest opening weekend of all-time, everyone is in love with Black Panther. So it only felt right to do a follow-up post about it. I asked fellow blogger Jason Kerin, who you can check out on WordPress at jasonsmovieblog.com. He does fantastic work, so if you’re ever looking for a well-written, insightful movie review, please go give him a follow and read his work! We thought it would be fun to do a little exit survey and ask ourselves a few questions about Black Panther!
Tweet Length Review of Black Panther?
Jason: T’Challa returns home to Wakanda to be crowned King. However, trouble soon begins to brew for the newly crowned King as an old enemy emerges and with it a new challenge that soon becomes clear that could alter Wakanda’s future.
Nathan: A worthy addition to the ever-growing MCU, in which we see the most compelling villain since Loki. Maybe too much Black Panther and not enough Killmonger.
Best Part of The Movie?
Jason: The three well-rounded women that surround T’Challa (Okyoe, Shuri, and Nakia). Loved all three of them. Okyoe was a badass, Nakia brought an interesting point of view to the political drama of the narrative, and Shuri was my personal favorite…. she had the best lines….” What are those!!!!”
Nathan: For me, going into Black Panther I knew Michael B Jordan was going to be great as Killmonger. He’s a terrific actor and seeing him play the villain was a new to everybody. We are custom to seeing him play the good guy (Creed) or the baby face in a rom-com. He exceeded my expectations without doubt, but the best part of the movie was hands down Letitia Wright who played Shuri. T’Challa’s younger sister, and science tech guru, she stole every scene she was in, and this is going to be a breakout role for her.
Worst Part of The Movie?
Jason: Despite having a strong theme and message, the actually narrative beats during the second half of the film were quite predictable as I guessed what would happen before it did.
Nathan: The movie is a smash hit, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Like every comic book movie this movie has some flaws, and for me, the worst part of the movie was the lackluster CGI in certain moments in the movie. Especially during the last action sequence between Black Panther and Killmonger. It at times can take you out of the movie, and for a movie so good, that’s the last thing you want.
Who Wins In A Fight, Batman or Black Panther?
Jason: Definitely Black Panther, especially since he has new suit that could absorb kinetic energy
Nathan: I hate to say this, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s Black Panther. I don’t think Batman would be able doc counter his Vibranium suit; he just wouldn’t have an answer for it. Breaks my heart to say, maybe with a ton of prep time and knowing what he’s getting himself into, but he would be too much for the Dark Knight to handle.
Where does Michael B Jordan stack up in the MCU villain hierarchy?
Jason: Hmmmm…. well, I have mixed thoughts about him. The character of Killmonger was very rounded and the most compelling villain in the MCU, but I just couldn’t buy into him (as an actor). I do like him, but I couldn’t see him as a bad guy. However, I think he’s definitely one of the better MCU villains.
Nathan: He’s almost right at the top of the list. If we are talking one-offs here, it’s Killmonger then Loki. But since we’ve seen Loki four times now, he’s grown on us so much, and Tom Hiddleston does such a fantastic job, it’s hard to argue with anyone but him. In terms of impact, Killmonger was just relatable and you almost stood for what he believed in. Like all great villains he pushes the hero to be better and is always flawed in the way he does things. He just wasn’t evil for the sake of being evil, he had a real purpose, and that goes a long way in making a true great villain.
Can you believe Ryan Coogler is only 31 years old? Where does he go from here?
Jason: Damn…. didn’t know that! Wow! With Black Panther deemed a success, much like Fruitvale Station and Creed, I think the skies the limit for Coogler. He certainly does a have promising career as a director and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Nathan: Without doubt the best young director in Hollywood today. I can’t recall the last time a director this young has had three impactful, meaningful and successful movies to open up his career. He can do anything at this point, I’m sure his phone is ringing off the hook right now with job offers. I wanted him for Creed 2, that’s not happening, I know he will be doing Black Panther 2 soon enough, but I want him to tackle a drama. Something that is Oscar caliber, because he needs to start being recognized, being 31 years old and having the command behind the camera like he does is very inspirational. I look forward growing old and watching Coogler movies, kind of makes the world a better place.
Haven’t seen Black Panther yet? “Wakanda” do about it? You can get your butt to the theatre and enjoy this movie, that’s what!
(DISNEY)
“T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T’Challa’s father’s mistake.”
The latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is none other than Black Panther, which was written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It continues the story of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) after the events of Captain America: Civil War, where he is set to become the King of his country Wakanda. After Civil War came out, there were a few standouts of the movie and Boseman and his portrayal of Black Panther was one of them. So when they attached Ryan Coogler to helm his first solo movie, everyone was excited. First things first, the hype surrounding this movie is massive, and I understand that, but this is also a movie, and like every movie, it has flaws. This is important to discuss, because I believe that if people dissect this movie and talk about the good (which there is so much of) but also the flaws, they might fear repercussions. Which isn’t fair, because like most movies, especially comic book movies, they are bound to have flaws in them, it just comes with the territory. So I think it’s best to view the movie as a whole and just enjoy it for what it is. A terrifically directed, well acted Marvel movie, which will please audiences everywhere and make a boatload of money.
What does it take to be King of a nation? What responsibilities comes with it? For T’Challa he is about to find out about all of these things, and what it truly means to be a great ruler and leader of a nation. Going into Black Panther, I knew there would be a strong political message, and strong social commentary, which there was. But Coogler found a way to do it so seamlessly and naturally, that it really tied the movie together. Wakanda is the most technologically advanced country in the world, yet they hide in plain sight. Built on the backbone of Vibranium, they have the means to do so much, but they keep all of these secrets to themselves. They do not help the outside world, and millions of people could use their help. T’Challa is conflicted when he becomes King, because unlike previous rulers, he believes Wakanda can be doing so much more. They have the power and tools to help so many of those that suffer; yet they do nothing, and that starts to eat away at him. This is where Michael B Jordan’s character Killmonger comes into play. You see, he is of Wakandan decent but was raised in America, so he didn’t have all of this technology and a safe space to grow up in. Now an adult, he wonders why they sit back and do nothing, while their kind is struggling in the outside world. So when he challenges T’Challa to the throne, he wants to be King, so he can use their technology to essentially rule the world. Or take back what was rightfully theirs. Michael B Jordan is such a great young talented actor and when he was cast as Killmonger, and I saw he was going to be playing the villain, I knew this had serious potential to be a special performance, it was. He gives a charismatic performance, the best villain since Loki, and the craziest part about Killmonger is, you feel for him. Like I said, he wasn’t raised in the protective bubble that is Wakanda, he was raised in the outside world, and had to deal with all the hardships that come with that. Stuff we know to be true and see everyday on the news, and he is extremely pissed off that they have done nothing about it. So when he shows up in Wakanda and starts asking all of these questions, it makes all the other characters start to question their own beliefs, and that is what makes the movie so damn good. What makes a truly great villain is when he makes the hero question his own belief system and what it means to be a hero, and Killmonger does just that. Because deep down, you kind of believe in what he believes in. Why doesn’t Wakanda help the outside world? Why aren’t they using this incredible technology to help those in need? So you start to see where he’s coming from, but like every great villain, he goes about it the wrong way. He questions the entire existence of Wakanda and what it means to be the world’s most powerful nation, and they start to listen. Michael just gives such a powerful performance, like I knew he would and continues to just knock it out of the park. That brings me to the biggest flaw of the movie, not enough Killmonger. He has such a cool introduction and you are instantly connected to him, then we go about 40 minutes without him. The movie needed more, because whenever he was on screen, you couldn’t look away, and every one of his scenes was intense.
Michael B Jordan isn’t the only standout in this superb cast. Again this movie is being celebrated because of the massive African American cast, which it should be. The movie is so rich in black culture, but Coogler also uses that to build a culture of his own, which is that of Wakanda. The world building here is incredible, and you leave the theatre wanting to see more and to understand more. They could have just said, look at this magical place we have made up, and not given any insight to their beliefs or culture, but they dive so deep into it, you almost begin to think it’s a real place. That is truly the work of a great director. Letitia Wright who plays Shuri, the little sister to T’Challa was the breakout star of this film. She gives one heck of a performance, where she can be fierce and feisty, yet provides some of the biggest laughs in the entire movie. A star making performance in my mind, and I expect to see her in many things down the line. I can’t wait to see her in upcoming MCU movies, because she was so great. The whole cast is awesome, and I know they all had so much fun making this movie together and knew what it would mean to the world. This really is a special movie, during a time when we need a movie like this. Because the themes and the messages behind it are so relevant today, that it makes it that much more important. Marvel could have just made another stereotypical comic book movie. About a guy in a costume and have a ton of stuff blow up. Yes stuff goes boom and there’s a guy in a costume, but it’s about so much more, and that’s why it’s so important.
In the end I really enjoyed Black Panther, it was a fun ride, with plenty of action, the CGI in some parts was a tad underwhelming, but overall it’s was fine. I prefer a better-told story and a strong message behind something than having incredible CGI. Ryan Coogler is now three for three in directing and he’s only 31 years old. That’s a very inspirational thing, seeing someone so young create such incredible movies. He has such a bright future ahead of him, and personally I can’t wait to continue watching him make movies for decades to come.
After saving all my movie tickets from 2017, I can officially say, I have a movie problem.
Another movie going season is in the books! Time flies when you’re at the theatre, and for me, that was pretty much every week. Upon further review, I believe I sat in a movie theatre seat roughly 50 times in the year 2017, by far the most in a single year for me. But hey, there were a ton of great movies this year, and some of the very best of 2017; I haven’t even had the opportunity to go see, because my local theatres haven’t gotten them yet. That’s why I haven’t written my top ten movies of 2017 list, because I feel some of the movies I haven’t seen yet are going to make the list! 2017 was full of incredible movies, but every time I went, it certainly wasn’t a home run. In fact, I think 2017 was full of the most disappointments that I can remember (I’m looking at you JusticeLeague and Alien: Covenant), but that’s all in the past. We are looking to the future now, 2018 to be exact, and boy oh boy are there some goodies coming up. The very first blog post I did on this site was “Most Anticipated Movies of 2017,” some lived up to expectations, while others fell flat on their face. Last year I did 10 movies, well this year, I’m doubling down because I’m going BIG! 20 movies are about to be listed, and I’m even going to do it in order! If you were upset, or underwhelmed with the movies in 2017, I think 2018 could be the year for you, or if you are like me and see roughly 50 movies a year, well start saving your pennies now, because 2018 is going to be awesome. Just like last year, I will miss some movies on this list, well some movies haven’t even be announced yet, but these are the 20 movies right now, that I cannot wait to see.
(FOX)
20.) X-Men: Dark Phoenix. director/ Simon Kinberg. 2/11/18
The wonderful band of misfits is back. The fourth entry into this new X-Men saga will be the follow-up to 2016 X-Men: Apocalypse, which wasn’t met with great reviews by fans and critics. This time we get the story of Dark Phoenix, Jean Grey’s split personality, where we will see her go to the dark side. This was explored in the first X-Men trilogy, but it wasn’t done very well, so I’m excited to see them tackle it again. This is director Simon Kinberg’s first time up to bat, being a producer on pretty much every X-Men movie ever made, he should have a good feel and understanding on what the fans want to see. These movies always have a fantastic cast, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, and Evan Peters and now add in Jessica Chastain to play the villain role, sounds good to me. They just need great execution on that villain part, because that was the major flaw in Apocalypse. I dig these X-Men movies, but after the last outing I’m a little skeptical, so that’s why I have it last on my list! This will also be the last X-Men movie done by FOX, seeing how Disney bought them, so if you really love these movies, well this will probably be the last one, until we see these characters reintroduced into the MCU. For the love of god, send a garbage truck full of money to Hugh Jackman’s house so he can play Wolverine again.
(PARAMOUNT)
19.) Bumblebee. director/Travis Knight. 21/12/18
I bet at first glance you thought this was a sequel to Bee Movie didn’t you? Well if you did I’m sorry to disappoint you, it’s actually the first spin-off of the Transformers franchise! Now before you start to roll your mechanical eyes at me, you need to know that I am indeed a sucker for these movies. Guilty pleasures, but I will say the last two installments have just been awful, and I’m hoping this movie provides a much-needed spark to this franchise (That was a transformers pun, in case you missed it). Bumblebee for me at least, was always the best part of these movies and now you’re telling me he gets his own movie? That’s pretty cool. We’re also going back in time, because this is taking place in the late 80’s, everyone’s favorite time, and we will see John Cena and Hailee Steinfeld (Charlie Watson) team up with this loveable robot. If director Travis Knight, who did the fantastic Kubo & The Two Strings, can keep things simple, and make the action easy to follow, I think Steinfeld and Cena can carry this movie together, I’m really interested to see how this turns out, because it could actually be the worst movie of the year, Autobots, roll-out.
(MARVEL)
18.) Ant-Man & The Wasp. director/Peyton Reed. 6/7/2018
If someone would have told me, that back in 2015 when Ant–Man was released, that I would have watched it once, forgotten about it, and now we are getting a sequel, I would have said, “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Jokes aside, I did enjoy Ant-Man when it came out, it had great humor and Paul Rudd was fantastic as Scott Lang. He even had a great moment in Captain America: Civil War, but now this will apparently be the first “Rom-Com” Marvel movie. That’s right, they are going Rom-Com on us folks, and we will probably all love it. Kevin Feige and the people over at Marvel are about to deliver the greatest love story every told. Move over Romeo and Juliet. Ant-Man is struggling being a Dad and a Super Hero, so when a mission comes along about his past, he needs to team up with The Wasp. I’m a big fan of Evangeline Lilly who plays The Wasp, her and Paul had great chemistry in the first. They added Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne to the cast, I’m sure this movie will be great. On a serious note, we now have more solo Ant-Man movies then Batman movies since the year 2012 what a strange and wonderful world we live in. Fun fact, this movie and Bumblebee have something in common, actress Vanessa Ross, who plays “The mean girl” in Bumblebee and “The hot jogger” in Ant-Man, you go girl!
(NEW LINE CINEMA)
17.) Rampage. director/ Brad Peyton. 4/20/2018
“I was just thinking, the only thing missing is a giant crocodile”
Coincidence that a movie about giant animals smashing through buildings is being released on 4/20, I think not!! Seriously the trailer alone sold me on this goofy concept. Like what more do you want? Dwayne Johnson kicking ass, check. Giant monsters running around Chicago destroying everything in sight, check. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, check. This is looking like the leading candidate to be the best video game movie of all time people; the curse could finally be over! Video game movies are like airport sushi, you think it’s a good idea, until about 90 minutes later. If this movie turns out to be a huge pile of well, monkey shit, I won’t be shocked. But it’s got a great cast, toss in Joe Manganiello, Malin Akerman and Naomie Harris, alongside Dwayne. Here’s the thing, the trailer is so awesome, and they didn’t really even show anything, it helps when you have a Smashing Pumpkins song playing during the trailer, but I think this movie is going to be a ton of fun. Wouldn’t it be nice if this was the turn around video game movies needed. I will also see anything with Dwayne Johnson in it, because that’s the bottom line, because Nathan Wallace said so.
Okay so very little is known about this movie so far. But, I’m fairly confident they are just re-making Diehard, but replacing Bruce Willis with Dwayne Johnson. If that doesn’t make a little pee trickle down your leg, then I don’t really know what will. Seriously nothing on IMDB about the plot, it stars Dwayne and Neve Campbell, who never really had the career I thought she would, but we all know she can throw down if she has too. I didn’t purposely put the two Dwayne Johnson movies back to back, I actually don’t know which one I’m more excited for. One has a trailer the other movie does not. Judging from his social media though, Skyscraper appears to be one epic movie, tons of stunts and explosions going on. Rawson Marshall Thurber, who might have the best directors name going, did Easy A, so I have high hopes for this, because that movie is awesome. I’m hoping for this to be a little more serious in tone as well, I like to see Dwayne act a little more, and be in some tense and serious scenes would be a nice change.
This movie should probably be a lot higher on my list, but that’s just a testament on how good some of the movies are in 2018. It also doesn’t help that I HATED the trailer, and I think this movie is going to flop at the box-office. I don’t know, they seem to think, “bigger is better” with these new Jurassic Park movies, and that shouldn’t be the case. I love Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard is great also, and I think she won’t be running away from a T-Rex in high heels in this one (lets pray). I’m just so uncertain about this movie, I really hope I’m wrong about it, because I want to love it, I want to go back to 1993 and feel the same way I did when I saw the original. Just make it rain, have it be dark and make humans try and get away from scary ass dinosaurs, it’s not complicated. We don’t need hybrids, we don’t need humans and dinosaurs being friends, just stick to what works. A guy getting eaten when sitting on the toilet is a fail-safe plan. J.A Bayona has pretty big shoes to fill after the historic and massive success of Jurassic World, that can be a lot of pressure for a guy. The last one made over a BILLION dollars, so I’m sure they are going to try and one-up everything from its predecessor. I don’t even think the return of Jeff Goldblum will be enough to save this bloated and forgettable sequel. Sorry Chris Pratt, I still love you.
(PLATINUM DUNES)
14.) A Quiet Place. director/ John Krasinski. 4/618
If you make noise, you die! I would be screwed, because I am a very loud chewer. That’s the premise for what appears to be 2018’s breakout horror film. Real life husband and wife, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are teaming up! When I first saw the trailer I was hooked, after the success of IT this past year, I have tried giving the horror genre another chance, and this looks really good. Krasinski even has a pretty awesome beard in it, so you know it’s going to be serious as hell. Like I said, you make noise, something comes out to try to kill you. Seems like a pretty difficult task, and when some dipshit kid knocks over a lantern, well all hell breaks loose. The trailer just leaves everyone very intrigue about the concept of the film. Why can’t you make noise? What are those creatures that come out when you do? When was the last time anyone in this movie farted? All these questions I’m sure will be answered in due time. The two stars of the movie are a real life couple, the chemistry will be undeniable, and I think this movie is going to crush it at the box-office. Krasinski is even directing this, so you know this is a passion project for him, which makes me believe that this movie is going to be really special.
13.) Super Troopers 2. director/ Jay Chandrasekhar. 4/20/18
Okay I definitely know this one isn’t a coincidence being released on 4/20. Am I happy to have a Super Troopers 2 in my life? Yes. Do I wish it were Weed Fest instead? Absolutely. I’ll settle for some more Car RamRod fun though. I love these guys, they work so well together and this was something they wanted to make for a really long time. They even got some fan feedback about what they wanted in the sequel. I’m sure they will even bring back some of the old jokes we have all come to love, after watching this movie a hundred times over the last 17 years. That’s right, 17 years since SuperTroopers was released, that is crazy talk. I know it’s kind of a cult classic at this point, but die-hard fans can’t wait for this one, and everything these guys put out is really good. Sometimes you got to root for the little guys, because in a world chalk full of blockbusters this one certainly won’t be on many people’s radars. And if you haven’t ever seen SuperTroopers, well shame on you.
I bet you one million dollars, that at some point during this movie, Tom Cruise will be running. It’s a Tom Cruise movie tradition now, and I love it. He also does all his own stunt work, and I’m sure like most Mission Impossible he will go bigger in the latest installment. If you thought Henry Cavill looked stupid in JusticeLeague, you can blame this movie. That’s right, they added Superman to the already packed cast of this franchise, and I couldn’t be happier. Plot is unknown at this time, but I’m sure that Ethan Hunt will be saving the world with a little help from his friends. The Mission Impossible franchise kind of reminds me of the Fast & Furious franchise. It was kind of dead in the water and forgotten about after the third, and then Ghost Protocol came out and everyone was blown away by it. 5 years had passed since MI3, but that kind of jump-started the franchise back to life. These are always just really well made, fun action/adventure movies, Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg work so well together, and I’m really curious to see Henry Cavill’s role in this movie. I hope he becomes a regular addition to this franchise, Ethan Hunt kind of needs some muscle on his side. The movie also boasts a stellar female cast; Ethan Hunt might have his hands full.
(PIXAR)
11.) Incredibles 2. director/ Brad Bird. 15/6/18
“You have powers! Yeah baby!”
A sequel 14 years in the making. What I love most about the fact that we are finally getting a sequel to the greatest Pixar movie ever made, is that, well 14 years have passed, but they are starting right where they left off. That’s right its been a long time since we last saw the Parr family, and honestly I thought they were going to do a time jump, but I’m really glad they aren’t. Jack Jack is so awesome, and now he’s got powers and that’s going to be really cool to see. I love the first one so damn much; I’m really nervous and excited all at the same time for this. I just want it to feel right, not over done, and I pray they just don’t ruin a good thing. They told such a great story the first time, and I know Brad Bird, the director cares so much and has so much passion for these characters that I know this won’t be a waste. Everyone does such fantastic voice work, I’m excited to see Frozone back, and my guess is, they will have a female villain this time around. I have extremely high hopes for Incredibles 2. Just remember, no capes!
(LEGENDARY)
10.) Pacific Rim: Uprising. director/ Steven S. DeKnight. 3/28/18
PacificRim all the way back in 2013 is a movie going experience that I will never forget. I thought it would be a loud, clunky mess, which featured cool looking robots and gigantic monsters. That wasn’t the case at all, watching Guillermo del Toro’s monster movie epic. Was like watching poetry in motion. It was simply beautiful to look at; something that chaotic, yet you could fully comprehend what exactly was going on, and it really blew me away. It was one of my favorite movies of the year and I couldn’t wait for a sequel. Well here we are 5 years later, and John Boyega is trading in his light sabre for a Jaegar. It looks like 10 years have passed, he’s playing the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first, and I bet giving bad ass speeches about the world ending runs in the family. Charlie Day is back as well as Rinko Kikuchi, and adding Scott Eastwood. I’m fearful about Del Toro not coming back to direct, but hopefully he left this franchise in good hands, because my expectations couldn’t be any higher. It’s cool looking larger than life robots fighting these incredible looking monsters, it won’t take that much to please me, and the trailers have even been really good. They used a giant submarine as a ninja sword in the first one, can’t wait to see what they use in Uprising!
(DISNEY)
9.) Black Panther. director/Ryan Coogler.16/2/18
Yes another MCU movie is on my list, and it certainly won’t be the last. Black Panther is finally getting his own movie, a comic book movie centered on a black character, about time. Who better to do it than Chadwick Boseman, who’s Black Panther ripped his way onto screen in Civil War back in 2016. The cast is simply brilliant, and I’m not going to name the 20 or more incredible actors and actresses appearing in this movie. Ryan Coogler is behind the camera and he does fantastic work. I loved Creed so I know this will be something special, some say this could be the best MCU movie to date. This movie looks hip, it’s got all sorts of style and it appears to be different from any MCU movie that has come before it. It looks like Marvel and company just let Coogler make the movie he has envisioned for a long time. When you have a terrific filmmaker behind the camera you want them to be able to spread their wings on the project, and that appears to be the case for Black Panther. Really excited about this one!
(SONY)
8.) Venom. director/Ruben Fleischer. 10/5/18
If you could create a time machine and replace Tom Hardy with Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3, that would be really nice. That can’t happen, so we are getting a Venom movie, Hardy is playing Eddie Brock, and very little is known about it. I’m fairly confident that Spider-Man, or even Tom Holland won’t be showing up in this movie. Which is a really weird thing to say, because I feel like you need those two people together in the same movie to really make it work. Don’t get me wrong, I think Hardy is going to crush this role, he did a fantastic job as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, and he’s a phenomenal actor, so I think he’s really going to dive deep into this role. Venom is one of my favorite characters in all of comics, so to think we are getting a standalone movie about him, wets my beak a little. Michelle Williams, Woody Harrelson and Riz Ahmed round out the cast, and it’s been rumored that Riz could be playing Carnage. If that happens, boy oh boy. I just don’t see them passing up the opportunity to introduce Spider-Man as well in this, I think it would be a failure if they don’t. This is a trailer I’m really curious to see, because I really have no idea which kind of direction they are going to take this movie. It can’t possibly be worse than the version we got to see in Spider-Man 3.
(FOX)
7.) Untitled Deadpool Sequel. director/ David Leitch. 6/1/18
Here’s the thing, I’m pretty sure that will be the actual title to the movie. Which makes perfect sense given the movie. Deadpool was a colossal box-office hit back in 2016. It was the reason for Logan, and it’s the reason for any rated R Super Hero movie you will see going forward. It broke so many boundaries for movies like these, and on top of that, it’s one of the best Super Hero movies ever made. Josh Brolin was added for this sequel, he’s playing Nathan Summers, AKA Cable. Who is a complete and utter badass, and I can’t wait to see the chemistry between Reynolds and Brolin. The comedy in Deadpool was perfect, the whole movie was pretty much flawless, now they have more money, and I’m sure a really good story to tell. Ryan Reynolds was born to play this role, and he loves playing Deadpool, he’s pretty much Van Wilder, but a Super Hero. Nothing really has come out yet, plot wise, and there hasn’t even been a real trailer yet, but you don’t need to sell people on this movie. I just hope it doesn’t suffer from sequel fatigue, but since there is so much passion behind this project, I highly doubt that will happen. Like they brought back Dopinder, this movie cannot fail!!!
(FOX)
6.) The Predator. director/Shane Black. 3/8/18
Predator was released before I was even born. I saw that movie maybe a little too early into my childhood, but hey, it’s one of the reasons why I fell in love with movies at such a young age. I’m talking like 6 years old here, and Predator is a hard R movie, thanks Grandpa! I love the Predator so goddamn much, they are bad guys, but I always want them to win. I actually love seeing them get the best of the human characters in their movies. All three “Predator” movies that have come out, in my opinion are fanfuckingtastic. The AVP movies, not so much, but again the Predators are the best things about those movies. So when Shane Black (director) who also happens to star in the 1987 original, he’s the first guy to meet the Predator, yeah not good. So you know a couple things, one Shane Black is an extraordinary filmmaker, he even helped write the original, and like I just mentioned, he was in it. So you know he’s got a taste and a ton of passion for this character and this franchise. The cast is chalked full of incredible people that I can’t wait too see meet their demise in this movie. Reek from Game of Thrones is in this and if he thought getting his wee-wee chopped off was brutal, well just you wait pal. My one big fear about this movie, is doing what all movies seem to do these days, some how find a way to make it “BIGGER AND BETTER.” We don’t need a modified Predator, which the government has cooked up in a lab. We don’t need a new and improved Predator, drop some people somewhere and have them be hunted one by one, pretty simple. Toss in some jokes, which Shane Black is known for and you’re golden. He’s been part of this mythology since the beginning; there is no way he screws this up right?
(PARAMOUNT)
5.) Annihilation. director/Alex Garland. 23/2/18
I don’t know what it is about this movie. Perhaps it’s the insanely strong female cast? Maybe it’s because Alex Garland makes it? The fact that I still don’t know what the hell is going on in the trailers? Whatever it is, I’m fully onboard with Annihilation. Shrouded in mystery, like most good science-fiction stories, this one is no different. Something wicked has come to Earth, and we still can’t explain it ourselves. So when Natalie Portman’s husband (Oscar Issac) comes back from the “Shimmering” he is infected with some sort of disease. I’m getting some District 9 vibes, and a little Aliens, if that’s not a compliment, I don’t know what is. I think it’s so high on my list because of just the secrets involved in the movie, and I can’t wait to see them play out on the big screen. The acting will be top notch, I’m not worried about that, I just hope the story doesn’t become some crazy web of messiness, I guess is the best way to describe it. For science-fiction junkies, where it seems the laws of nature have been tossed out the window, Annihilation might be their most anticipated movie of the year.
(WARNER BROS.)
4.) Ready Player One. director/Steven Spielberg. 30/3/18
“My name is Wade Watts. My Dad picked that name because it sounded like a Super Heroes alter ego”
There’s a saying, that when a movie is adapted from a book, it’s never as good. That is the case yes, but it doesn’t mean that the movies aren’t just as fantastic. Example, ReadyPlayerOne. Without doubt, one of the most enjoyable reads of my entire life, I felt like I myself was rushed off to the Oasis, and disappeared from reality. The legend himself, Steven Spielberg is helming what appears to be a masterpiece. I know it will vastly differ from the book, I understand that, but it’s the concept of the book that will make the movie so intriguing. The trailers have even been really well done; Ernest Cline (author of the book) is going to be really proud of the film that gets released. I just can’t wait to see all these different characters from so many different things I love come together. Iron Giant, Chucky, Joker and Harley Quinn and that is honestly 1 percent of the characters we will see in this movie. It’s going to be a ton of fun, and I highly recommend reading the book, because well reading is good for you. This has all the potential to be my favorite movie of 2018.
3.) Creed 2. director/Steve Caple Jr. 21/11/18
That’s right! Apparently I can see into the future, that tweet is from 2 years ago. Moments after I saw Creed, which was one of my favorite movies of 2015, I just knew the direction the sequel had to go. Adonis Creed needed to fight Ivan Drago’s son, because well why wouldn’t you bring back Ivan Drago, and now have his kid be a boxer as well. It all made perfect sense, to me at least. Now here we are, Creed 2 is in the works, and guess what? Adonis looks to get revenge against the man who killed his father. BOOM! Now there is no way he’s actually fighting Dolph Lundgren, that would be insane, but rather he will get his revenge by beating his son. Sly Stallone and Michael B Jordan are both back, but unfortunately, Ryan Coogler is off making Black Panther, and so Creed 2 is falling into the hands of Steven Caple Jr., who seems up to the task. Now I love Creed so much, I love the entire Rocky franchise and universe so damn much. I love Rocky 4 more than almost any movie ever. So when you tell me Ivan Drago is coming back into my life, please don’t screw this up! There is so much potential and incredible story telling that can happen here, and I’m so curious to see where they take this. I can’t possibly be wrong about his son getting involved, so who will play him? Will they get an unknown? So many questions, so many possibilities, but one thing is certain, this movie is going to kick so much goddamn ass. Sage Northcutt a UFC fighter auditioned for the role of Drago’s son, and my god, he certainly has the look. He’s a genetic freak, who happens to look like a mini Ivan Drago, so if he’s got the acting chops to stand in the ring with Michael B Jordan, that’s my pick.
(WARNER BROS.)
2.) Aquaman. director/James Wan. 21/12/18
Did Justice League kind of suck? Yes it did. Do I blame the studio for interfering and destroying Zack Snyder’s original vision? Yes. Was Aquaman totally badass and I can’t wait to see his solo film? Yes again. Justice League is a thing of the past; let it go, let the past die. Aquaman has all the makings to be a terrific solo movie, much like WonderWoman. You have a passionate and fantastic filmmaker behind the camera in James Wan. The star of the show LOVES playing the titled character, and I mean he loves being Aquaman. Jason Maoma looks like be could live underwater and be King of Atlantis. Everything we saw from Aquaman in JusticeLeague was incredible, and I can’t wait to visit Atlantis again, and learn more about Arthur Curry. Amber Heard is back as Mera, who little screen time that she got, was pretty kick ass. She looks like she will have great chemistry with her co-star Mamoa. Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, William Dafoe, Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II round out this amazing cast. Lets talk about Yahya for a second, because he is playing Black Manta, who is honestly one of the most badass characters in DC comics, for me at least. I pray they get his look right, because he’s a pretty powerful villain for Aquaman, and I can’t wait to finally see him on the big screen. I get it; the DCEU is on its last legs. This is the next movie they are releasing, so to say there is a lot riding on Aquaman, is an understatement. They need not only for this to be received much like WonderWoman, but it also needs to crush it at the box-office. Personally I have a ton of faith in this project because all the people involved, and believe that Warner Brothers is going to let James Wan make the his own movie and not get to involved. That’s what they did for Patty Jenkins and that turned into a massive success. Everyone sleeps on Aquaman because they think he isn’t cool or has stupid powers, I’m telling you this right now. Remember how big Aquaman was in Entourage?Well think of that but actually good. Another trailer I can’t wait to see!
(MARVEL)
1.) Avengers: Infinity War. director/Russo Brothers. 4/5/18
Cliché I know. I can’t help myself when it comes to the MCU. Back off because this movie looks like the bees knees. I’ve been waiting a decade to see Thanos come to Earth and really mess some shit up. It’s all hands on deck for his epic showdown and its only part 1! Let me tell you something, people will die. This movie looks to pack an emotional punch. A lot is at stake here, and that’s something very uncommon in an MCU movie. I can’t wait to see it all play out. Nothing ever seems to be at stake in these movies, because they certainly play it off like everything is hunky dory. There are far too many characters to even list, but anyone who is anyone who has shown up in an MCU movie will appear in Infinity War. Actually a pretty ballsy task if you ask me, that’s a lot of characters for probably a movie that will run 2 hours and 30 minutes long. Unlike this years JusticeLeague I know going in that this movie will be great, they do such a fantastic job with these movies, and this is the end of everything, no one will be safe. I just hope they don’t play it safe, I want to see blood and carnage and legit heroes dying. I want a “Holy shit – did they just do that!” kind of moment in this movie. I’m just excited to see Thanos on screen; no villain has been built up like him in movie history. It’s been 6 years since we first saw him smile at the end of Avengers, and ever since I wanted to see our heroes throw down with this guy. It just makes me sad at the same time, because I’m a DC guy through and through and I wish this were a DC property we were talking about. I wish the DCEU had this much success; I just want them to get it right. Marvel makes it look so easy, and if this movie is as good as I think it’s going to be. DC is never catching up to Marvel. Rocket Raccoon and Spider-Man better have a scene together or we riot!
Well that’s all she wrote. My 20 most anticipated movies of 2018! So I know for a fact I will be seeing at least 20 movies this upcoming year, plus multiple viewings of some add in the movies I didn’t put on the list and the movies I don’t even know about yet. Add all that together and I think reaching 60 visits to the theatre isn’t out of the question. Writing this and saying it out loud back to myself, makes me realize one thing……I’m awesome!
Holy Santa Claus shit. Christmas has come early folks! I’m sorry for cursing.
Comic book fans rejoice. Remember at the beginning of AmericanPie, when Jim is trying to watch the illegal porn? And it’s all fuzzy and distorted? That was every comic book fan watching the leaked Infinity War trailer from San Diego Comic-Con. For the last four months since that trailer wowed audiences at SDCC, simpletons like myself have been begging Marvel to release a trailer for the highly anticipated conclusion to the Avengers trilogy. Well it’s finally here, they finally listened to all of our complaints. The Infinity War trailer has arrived, and my god is it glorious. Put away those tube socks, because before you know it this will be in front of our very eyes in a theatre near you.
“Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe. But this, this does put a smile on my face” – Thanos.
So that was pretty amazing right? It only took Marvel 4 months to finally drop a trailer for Infinity War, and they did not disappoint. So many questions to consider after watching it. Let’s just get it out of the way. I’ve been waiting almost ten years to see Thanos and it lived up to the hype and build up. I really don’t see anyone beating that guy. He’s menacing, he’s pissed off and most improbably he seems to give zero you know whats. They certainly packed this trailer full, considering it is only 2 mins and 24 seconds. We get to see all of our heroes, some more than others, but remember the movie doesn’t come out for another six months….WHY GOD WHY!?
Thanos is on a mission to collect all the infinity stones it looks like and he doesn’t care who or what gets in his way. No armoured Spider-Man. Not the Hulk, Iron Man or whoever else the Avengers can throw at him. Sorry Vision your time looks to be up, Loki is doing Loki things and handing over a stone to the Mad Titan himself. There appears to be an all out war going on in Wakanda. My guess is that’s where the final infinity stone will be located so they will stop at nothing to protect it. Captain America has an incredible beard, so you know that means this movie will get serious. Thor looks like he has made some new friends, meeting up with the Guardians, not by choice I’d imagine.
Again it looks like Tony Stark will be the focale point in the movie and it almost looks like he’s given up the Iron Man persona, but that is just me speculating. Maybe he semi-retires after the events of Civil War. I just can’t get over how incredible Thanos sounds and looks, kudos to you Josh Brolin. He even looks like you!
I can’t wait 6 months for this movie to come out, I will watch this trailer about 100 times today. Infinity War is shaping up to be everything the MCU has promised it would be for the last decade. Really well done Russo Brothers.
On today’s episode, Kenny and I are breaking down all the MCU movies in anticipation of Thor: Ragnarok! We rank all the movies from our least favourite to what we feel is the best MCU movie to date! One of us is feeling a little under the weather, bet you can’t guess which one!
Been waiting 11 long years, just to see Thanos kill Captain America
(DISNEY)
Mild spoilers? Well that’s my guess anyway, Cap will bite the dust by the hands of the Mad Titan in the up-coming Infinity War. It’s been a good run for Captain America though, it’s been 11 years since I sat down in the theatre about to watch Iron Man. At the time much like everyone else, I didn’t know too much about the titled character. I’ll admit I didn’t really know anything about Iron Man or the rest of the Avengers, because I always considered myself as a DC fan rather than Marvel. But 16 movies later, I have seen every MCU movie in the theatre and have come to appreciate almost all of them. Some are better than others and some of them are even some of the very best comic book movies. Sometimes MCU movies can follow the same cookie-cutter formula, but when it ain’t broke don’t fix it. They have something really special going on with their universe, and this upcoming May, things are really going to get interesting when all these characters will finally come together to take on Thanos and try and save the world. With that being said, this week Thor:Ragnarok is coming out, and I’m going to break down all previous MCU films and rank them! So here we go! Side note: I’m not going to include The Incredible Hulk, I know technically it’s part of the MCU but with Edward Norton no longer being the Hulk and they kind of just disregard that, I’m just going to not rank it, even though I think it’s a pretty awesome movie!
15.) Thor: The Dark World. Director: Alan Taylor. Box Office: 644.4 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
(DISNEY)
The worst of the worst. Sorry Thor, but in my opinion the weakest of the MCU films. It has the lowest RT score, and it’s crazy to think this movie is 66% and Batman vs. Superman sits at 27%. For me that is mind boggling. I know people didn’t love BvS, but at the same time, these two movies are easily comparable and sometimes I think that critics were just really rough on BvS. The only good thing to really come out of this movie, was the fact that the first director of choice was Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) but she ultimately dropped out and that was the best thing to ever happen to her. We got Wonder Woman out of it and well we all know how that turned out. This movie also has by far the worst villain in the MCU and I bet if you are reading this, you don’t even know his name so I’m not going to tell you! The crazy thing is, this movie probably has one of the most emotional scenes in the entire MCU run. When Loki appears to be okay in his cell after his mothers death, yet he is tortured and just lost. Sitting there and then screaming out that he lost the one person he cared about. For me it’s honestly one of the few real heartstring moments in the entire MCU.
14.) Iron Man 2. Director: Jon Favreau. Box Office: 623.9 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
(DINSEY)
When I think back on all the MCU films, Iron Man 2 has the most wasted potential. Coming off the stellar Iron Man, I think the sequel was a little rushed, because they were really trying to get this universe started. When you bring in an actor like Mickey Rourke to play your villain; Whiplash and hardly use him, that’s wasted potential. When Whiplash actually turned out to be really cool, and I think Mickey was all in for this role and the last encounter between him and our heroes is 90 seconds long, again wasted potential. I was just so disappointed when I saw this, I remember this was back in the day of Thursday midnight showings, so I waited all day and night to watch this, and it turned out to just be “meh.” Terrence Howard left this franchise of the role of Rhodes and entered Don Cheadle which was great and I think in the long run it worked out. Also we got introduced to Black Widow aka Scarlett Johansson. This is just a lacklustre movie, with zero to no action sequences and a really big waste on probably a great villain idea. I don’t think I can ever forgive Marvel for the last battle scene in this movie, its a shame really.
If someone told me ten years ago, there would ultimately be an Ant-Man movie, I would have called them crazy. Scott Lang, the weirdo of the Avengers, I guess he really isn’t an Avenger yet? Anyways this movie was fun, it had a ton of laughs and overall it was another solid outing by Marvel. I really like Paul Rudd in this role, I think this was almost perfect casting, because he can be a bit gritty but at the same time bring that humour and charm that this character needs. Michael Douglas as Hank Pym was a great choice as well, I loved him in this movie, and I look forward to seeing him again. Yellow-Jacket as the villain wasn’t so bad either, with some of the action sequences being really fun and unique, but at the same time being something that we really hadn’t seen before in a comic book movie. I think the sequel Ant-Man and The Wasp will be much improved, and I think it will stand out a little better than just Ant-Man.
12.) Iron Man 3. Director: Shane Black. Box Office: 1.215 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
(DISNEY)
The first MCU movie following the events of the Avengers. Holy shit this movie made a ton of money. Incredible feat considering well Iron Man 3 just wasn’t good. I couldn’t decide which Iron Man sequel was worse, but this movie was all sorts of messed up. I’ll never forget the excellent trailers for this and how I was so excited to finally see the Mandarin – especially because Sir. Ben Kingsley was playing the role. We all know how it worked out in the end, that twist or reveal at the end of the movie, was not well received by myself or fans of the character. Rebecca Hall was also up for the villain role but her role in the movie kept getting smaller and smaller. This was revealed later on in interviews with her. Instead we got Guy Pierce playing the bad guy, the inventor of the Extermis virus and soon calls himself the Mandarin. I was just so disappointed with this movie, because the trailers made it seem like something was at stake and that Ben Kingsley’s character was going to be a real threat to Tony Stark. That never happened, and I don’t know, I love the character of Iron Man, but man, they have a hard time with his stand alone movies. Seriously this had some of the best trailers for any Marvel movie to date, with the Kingsley voice over. Not to mention the whole thing with Pepper Potts, and boy thinking back on this movie, it really was just a giant mess.
11.) Guardians of The Galaxy: Volume 2. Director: James Gunn. Box Office 863.6 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
(DISNEY)
Boy was this movie just plain old average. After the success of the first GOTG, coming into the sequel expectations couldn’t be higher for this sequel, and for me, it just fell flat. Crazy to think, because it was kind of the same material as the first, and adding Kurt Russell into the mix as Star Lords father, it just didn’t hit home for me. The last act of this movie is a complete and utter mess, and it felt so out of place, with Star Lord pretty much becoming Superman and having an all out slug-fest with his dear old Dad. This is a tough one to digest because I love all the characters so much, yet the story wasn’t the greatest and I feel like the relied to much on humour. I am looking forward to the third installment and seeing the Guardians interact with the Avengers in the up-coming Infinity War. I think Tony Stark and Star Lord are going to mesh really well together and will have some really good scenes with one another. This movie however just wasn’t Marvels best, but they all can’t be home runs, that’s just impossible to ask.
Three different Spider-Man’s since the year 2000. Can you believe that? We had two incredible Toby Maguire movies and I don’t really want to talk about the Amazing Spider-Man Movies. Let me be clear, when I say that Tom Holland is a really good Peter Parker/Spider-Man. There’s no doubt about that, but this movie was just AVERAGE AT BEST. It’s really hard to keep pumping out Spider-Man movies and trying to have them be different and unique from one another. Enter The Vulture, the villain in this movie. If he wasn’t played by Michael Keaton, boy this movie could have been one big pile of shit. They also needed to add in Iron Man to peak interest and to juice up the movie. I don’t want to see the Vulture against Spidey, I don’t think anyone wanted that, but you can’t do Green Goblin for the third time and I guess it’s to early for Venom or Carnage. The movie was just boring, and I don’t know, just not a lot went on. There are some great moments in the movie, but I’m just tired of stand alone Spider-Man movies that aren’t about the villains we want to see. We need a proper Venom, like make this happen, it’s not too difficult, not some guy flying around in a mech-suit. One of the rare MCU movies that I have only seen once and really have no desire to watch again. Tom Holland is great, and I hope big things are on the horizon for this franchise, because Spider-Man fans deserve that.
The King of Asgard! Thor actually gets better with age, just like a fine wine. This movie is always on cable and when it is, I find myself being sucked into it. Chris Hemsworth does such a great job at capturing Thor’s “clueless” side in this movie, not knowing Earth things. One of my favourite lines from any MCU movie is “I need a horse!” when he enters the pet shop. I just really enjoy Thor, and I’m excited for the third installment coming this week. By far the better of the first two installments, I think this franchise kind of gets a bad wrap, but it really shouldn’t. One great thing about the first Thor, was it made it clear that the MCU is a big universe that will surpass Earth, and it really touched on the “mythical” side of the MCU. The MCU has had some pretty bang on castings, but its been 7 years now and I still don’t think anyone could play Thor other than Hemsworth, it’s just perfection. I can’t talk about Thor and not mention Loki and how well Tom Hiddleston plays him. If it weren’t for him, the run of the villains would be absolutely pathetic. Now it seems he may turn into an anti-hero, at least in the upcoming Thor. Who knows what will happen with Loki once Thanos shows up.
8.) Captain America: The First Avenger. Director: Joe Johnson. Box Office: 370.6 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
(DISNEY)
How awesome was Chris Evans in Not Another Teen Movie? Or as Johnny Storm in the god awful Fantastic Four movies. Who knew, he would become almost the best part of the entire MCU. He’s come along way since joining the Avengers and the MCU. Another MCU movie that over time as grown on me. I remember walking out of the theatre and thinking “that movie sucked” but over time I have really come around to Captain America. The movie and the character himself. I just thought it was super cheesy and I thought the ending was just lame. I remember laughing when Cap is about to crash the plane into the water. One thing I liked right away was Red Skull, like come on Hugo Weaving playing a villain in your movie? What could go wrong. We haven’t seen Red Skull since, which in my opinion sucks, because he’s such a great foe for Captain America, and I don’t think we will see him pop back up. I’m really going to miss Cap, because I don’t think he will be making it out of Infinity War alive.
7.) Doctor Strange. Director: Scott Derrickson. Box Office: 677.7 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
(DISNEY)
Probably the coolest MCU to date. Again another super hero, that 10 years ago would never get released and now, it’s one of the most successful MCU movies. We have Thor exploring the mythical aspects of the MCU and now Doctor Strange dives into the “magical” aspects. This movie can be a little confusing for causal fans, but overall it was really well done. Casting is great, Benedict Cumberbatch kills it as the cocky doctor turned superhero. The visuals are some of the best within the MCU, and that is a huge compliment. I can’t really think of a single problem, the villain was great and the reveal at the end making Chiwetel Eijofor the next baddie to face the doctor will be fun. He’s one of the most, if not the most powerful Avenger, considering he can bend time and space so it will be really interesting to see what kind of role he will play in Infinity War.
6.) Iron Man. Director: Jon Favreau. Box Office 585.2 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
(DISNEY)
The movie that started it all! Can you believe they originally wanted Tom Cruise to play the playboy billionaire. How crazy would have that been? Is the MCU as successful as it is today? I can’t really see Cruise playing Iron Man nearly as well as Downey Jr. in fact I think the execs over at Disney and Marvel probably get down on their hands and knees everyday and thank god he is in this role. No one knew about this character before the movie hit, nor really cared much for Iron Man, but they were certainly talking about him after this movie dropped. I love this movie, I think it’s one of the strongest stand alone comic book movies ever. Its slick, its cool, its got style and it’s just overall really well done. Jeff Bridges as Iron-Monger is so perfect, he was really good in this role, and I think its just been so long since Iron Man came out, that they forget how good of a villain he played. This movie also started the whole “after credits scene” and no one knew that was coming, but to see Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) talk to Tony Stark about the Avengers initiative was a really cool movie moment for everyone. It didn’t make nearly as much money as other MCU flicks, but if this movie wasn’t a hit and wasn’t appreciated and loved by the fans, I don’t think the MCU would be standing today. Honestly one of the most successful films ever, just in terms of what came after it and whats still to come, hats off to Kevin Feige for knowing this road map way before anyone really knew the possibilities of the MCU!
5.) Avengers: Age of Ultron. Director: Joss Whedon. Box Office: 1.405 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 75%
(DISNEY)
Personally I don’t think this movie gets the credit it deserves, because well, its the follow up to arguably the most loved and successful comic book movie of all time. I remember watching the trailer for this over and over again, with the Ultron voice over. Done by the legendary James Spader, who again credit to Marvel was so perfect, his voice was so menacing and it really captured the spirit and the essence of the character. Was the actual follow through of the character that well received, no not really, but I still think Ultron was the best villain in the MCU – so far. There was just so much hype and the expectations were so incredibly high for the follow up to The Avengers – that it was next to impossible to meet all of those expectations. After going back and watching this movie, I really do love it. The Hulkbuster scene is awesome, I loved the introduction of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (still hoping Quicksilver can come back). Joss Whedon was ousted from the MCU after this movie, and I’m not sure why. Thankfully he will be helping Zack Snyder with the upcoming Justice League movie, because if anyone knows how to make a superhero team up movie, its Joss. I saw another rankings list and they had this as like the third worst MCU movie, which for me is just blasphemy. I know some gripes with the movie is the story line and stuff just not adding up, but when it comes to comic book movies and certainly big team ups, that can be really hard to do at times. Clearly it was a success it made over a BILLION dollars, so again this is one movie that I scratch my head at when people tell me they don’t really like it.
4.) Guardians of The Galaxy. Director: James Gunn. Box Office: 773.3 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
(DISNEY)
The most lovable group of misfits the MCU has to offer. By far the biggest surprised hit of the bunch. But when you have an incredible soundtrack, amazing cast, the right amount of humour and just a great story, that is a recipe for success. Considering it has a talking tree and raccoon, well I think some people thought this movie would fall flat on its face, that wasn’t the case, in fact, at the time, this was arguably Marvels most well received movie. Even myself, I had a blast sitting in the theatre, I remember laughing my ass off a ton and at the same time really enjoying the action and the characters. I’m a huge Chris Pratt fan, so seeing him in this role seems perfect and again it will be really interesting to see interact with everyone else, because I think he will certainly take a big leadership role in trying to take down Thanos. I think this was the movie that I finally realized that Marvel can make any kind of superhero movie and I will be in the theatre watching it and I know it will be fantastic.
3.) Captain America: Civil War. Director: Anthony & Joe Russo. Box Office: 1.153 Billion. Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
(DISNEY)
Talk about Avenger on Avenger crime. As a huge fan of the graphic novel, when this was announced by Marvel I was so excited and it didn’t disappoint. Yeah, it couldn’t follow the exact formula as the graphic novel, but overall this is one of the best comic book movies to date. Who side were you on? Did you flip-flop through out the movie like I did? Who are the bad guys in this movie, because the actual villain was maybe the worst in the whole MCU. Helmut Zemo is actually a really cool character from the comics but in Civil War they just really dumbed down his character and he didn’t even put on his signature purple ski mask! They introduced two new characters into the MCU which could be hard to do, considering the amount of people we have in this movie. Black Panther and Spider-Man, both highlights of the movie for me, were so awesome in this and each brought their own sense of favour to the film. Clearly like most people walking away from this movie, Tom Holland as the web-head was the stand out and everyone wanted more Spidey! But the same can be said for Black Panther and with the King of Wakanda getting his own movie next year, which looks incredible by the way, both of these characters were worthy additions to an already stacked roster. The airport fight scene, which takes place during the day! We always get these big battles in the dark and I hate that, was so fun to watch and everyone has their own moment and it was just so well executed, something that could be tough to juggle, because of just how many people were involved. This might be a Captain America movie, but the best part of the movie was Tony’s story arc. Finding out about his parents and how Bucky was responsible for their deaths, makes for one of the best emotional scenes the MCU has to offer. I’m not too sure whats to come with Cap and Iron Man, and trying to put aside their differences, but they will have to when the Mad Titan shows up to Earth.
2.) Captain America: The Winter Solider. Director: Anthony & Joe Russo. Box Office 714.3 Million. Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
(DISNEY)
I think this is the most serious and grounded MCU movie, and I believe that’s what makes it so successful. I almost think this has the most rewatchability out of any of the MCU movies. The first Captain America was kind of serious, but this movie just felt really personal, just like Civil War did. But this had some much on the line, because you didn’t know how you felt about Bucky, and Cap was trying to figure out how his best friend can now be a bad dude. I think The Winter Solider is such a bad ass character with his metal arm and just his calm and serious presence. He doesn’t need to say much for you to realize he means business. Black Widow is terrific and so is Nick Fury. I say this is the most grounded MCU movie, because it doesn’t really have much “super powers” it’s almost like a spy thriller and you are right there along for the ride. The chase scene on the highway which leads to the encounter of the streets was awesome and fun to watch, and I just really love this movie. You don’t need a boat load of CGI or super heroes to make a great super hero movie. Just a really compelling story and all around great performances. Frank Grillo is so great in this role and this movie also introduced Falcon. Who I have really taken a liking too, and his cameo is Ant-Man is one of the all time greats. It’s funny because you know that can’t be Iron Man, so Marvel is thinking “who can we get for cheap, to be in this movie for 5 minutes?” Answer – Anthony Mackie Bucky is such an interesting character and I can’t wait too see what happens with him going forward, because I’ve now mentioned three times, that I just don’t think Chris Evans will be making it through Infinity War alive. So does that mean Bucky will take up the shield and be the new Captain America? Only time will tell I guess.
Can’t have a photo for the movie and not put in the still of one of the most iconic scenes in comic book movie history. The pan-around of the entire team, standing there, waiting to face their foes gets me every time. Known as the “hero shot” now, it was just something we had never seen before and when it’s tried to be replicated, well it just doesn’t pop quite like this does. What can I say about The Avengers, it was 5 years in the making, it was the first movie of its kind, and in the end it was a gigantic success. We got to see the NYC battle, Loki being Loki, the team coming together, and at the time, the best on screen Hulk. Like without doubt the best on screen Hulk, watching him jump around NYC smashing Chitauri to bits is always a treat. We even get two great Hulk moments, the punching Thor and smashing Loki are huge standouts for the movie. It was just so incredible well done, it is damn near perfect this movie. We also got our first look at Thanos, which for everyone was awesome to see. That’s another thing, it will be 6 years in the making to finally see Thanos in action with Infinity War, and I just pray it lives up to my expectations. I want Thanos to finally kill an Avenger and them not be brought back to life, I want their to finally feel like something is actually at stake. He can’t show up and be defeated in 20 minutes, it’s not fair to us fans. He needs to really come and sorry – fuck shit up. I can’t wait to watch it and I really think it will live up to my expectations, because after writing this, you can never take the MCU for granted. They know exactly what they are doing, so we can all sit back, relax and enjoy Thor: Ragnorok and Black Panther until all hell breaks lose.
Well this certainly cured the Monday blues. Sunday scaries were hitting pretty hard last night and this was a nice little treat to wake up too. Black Panther is ultra badass and this entire trailer is truly something unique and something we really haven’t seen from a Marvel movie before. Is the Rocky universe part of the Marvel universe? Because that would be a crossover I would love to see. Ryan Coogler the director is really putting his stamp on this movie, and making it his own. It’s very urban looking, insanely colourful, and just all around world building.
Tons of action is going on throughout the trailer, but very little about the actual story line is known up to this point. I pointed out that this trailer feels very “world-building” where we are not in a modern city like most Marvel movies or in space for the GOTG and Thor franchises. We are seeing things we have yet to uncover and discover in this trailer and everything just looks spectacular. We have gotten a slew of trailers lately and I think this is really close to being my favourite one. It’s right there with The Last Jedi trailer.
The cast is just fantastic but I can’t stress enough how excited I am to see Michael B Jordan tackle the role of a villain. He’s one of my favourite actors working today, and I’m really excited to see his take on this character. Seriously this is one of the best all around casts in a comic book movie that I can remember, there are so many talented people working on this movie, it really is something special. I’m not really sure what’s going on with the suits, but it looks pretty awesome, I’m excited to get to learn more about Black Panther and where he comes from.
Ryan Coogler cares deeply about all of his projects and the fact he also is getting a writing credit for Black Panther speaks volumes. I know there is going to be a ton of passion and heart behind the camera and in the script, so that’s why I have tremendous faith in this movie. He’s coming off Creed which was one of my favourite movies of that year, so he’s got a great track record. There’s just too much to love about the entire project for me not to realize that Marvel has another home run on their hands. Look for this one to break the mould on the cookie cutter formula we are all so accustomed too when it comes to these Marvel movies, I think this one is going to be special.
