The MCU in movies and TV — Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Agents of SHIELD, etc.
We went to an actual movie theater! It was fun!
Black Widow is a fine action flick and a decent (if overdue) wrap-up and send-off for Natasha Romanoff. It doesn’t pay off some of the stuff it sets up, but it’s definitely in the upper half of MCU films.
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A look back at what I watched this year.
We watched a lot more movies this year than usual — though only one in a movie theater. That was due to the pandemic lockdown, indirectly — that we had the Boy home with us from college after mid-March, as well as my mom living with us for a number of months early in the pandemic, meant lots of opportunities and impetus to watch stuff, whether streaming or on disc.
Looking through my Letterboxd diary, I have 57 entries for the year (compared to 33 in 2019). Of those 57, 45 were rewatches of something I’d seen before, sometimes recently. 44 were flagged with a “♥”; 13 were not.
Let’s look at the best and worst (subjective). The links are to my Letterboxd review for each flick.
Films I watched that I rated lowest:
Films I watched that I rated highest:
Oldest Movie Watched: The Thin Man (1934) ♥
Only Movie Actually Watched in a Movie Theater: Birds of Prey (2020) ♥
Some new stuff, a lot of old stuff.
According to Letterboxd, I watched (or at least recorded watching) 33 movies this year, 5 of them in a movie theater.
Of those, the ones I ranked at 5 stars (for what that’s worth) were Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and a rewatch of Fellowship of the Ring. There were a lot of 4.5 stars, though, and a lot at lower scores that I flagged as being a favorite vs being well-crafted (though the two are sometimes difficult to separate).
Looking forward, the movies I’m most anticipating seeing in the theater in 2020 are Black Widow, No Time to Die, and Wonder Woman 1984 — which probably says all about me you need to know. Other films I might see in theater when they release in 2020 (as currently scheduled): Birds of Prey, New Mutants, Onward, Dolittle, Eternals, and Dune.
Beyond that, I expect much streaming and disc-watching in the New Year.
A fun movie, very Spidey, with some interesting themes layered in
I think this was a great installment in the MCU, Tom Holland continues to be worth his weight in Spidey-Gold; I definitely look forward to what is coming up next for both the hero and the setting.
Overall rating: 
Worth going to see!
Want a more spoilerish review? ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ review by Dave Hill • Letterboxd
Do not read if you are one of the dozen people in the world who have not yet seen “Avengers: Endgame”
The Russo Bros. indicated that two Mondays after opening weekend was time enough to have a spoilery discussion, so that’s when I started this. Of course, there’s been a lot out there already, but I haven’t had a chance to mention any of it, so …
I still stand by my initial, somewhat gushing review of the movie. To be sure, a lot of people have pointed out a number of flaws and opined a number of ways that the movie didn’t do all it could have, or even (gasp) disappointed. So I want to tackle some of those items.
But first … SPOILERS BELOW!
Continue reading “My SPOILERIFFIC “Avengers: Endgame” overly-long ramble”
The climactic movie of the MCU cycle to date
(No spoilers in this post. I can’t vouch for the comments.)
I enjoy the Marvel super-hero movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has almost always managed to please, to a great or lesser extent. There have been films I’ve been less enchanted with (Iron Man 2 and Thor 2 come to mind), but even they had some bright moments.
So I went to Avengers: Endgame expecting to enjoy myself, thinking that this climatic Avengers movie will hit the needed emotional notes, blend tragedy and triumph, sacrifice and heroism, and probably wrap up one or more of the iconic characters in a satisfying, contract-closing, oh-my-god-no-more-extreme-conditioning way. There would be a few cameos, a few call to mind of past films, the good guys would triumph, there’d be a funeral, and we’d end on a note of hope for the future.
I trusted Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and the actors and Alan Silvestri and all the production crew would give us that.
They gave me that, cranked up to 12.
And not in a “loud, obnoxious” fashion, but as in hitting every single note they needed to, and the several more that I really hadn’t realized I wanted, and a few additional ones I never thought I’d see, and doing it in virtuoso fashion. I’ve never seen a franchise movie that more organically integrated the cameos it felt it had to have, to the extent that they weren’t just shout-outs, but key parts of the plot. I’ve never seen a franchise movie that called back to its predecessors in a way that wasn’t a cheat or fan service, but as a necessary and delightful way to make this movie’s plot all the richer.
We’ve got characters — heroes and villains — acting intelligently, reasonably, in line with their motivations. We have heroic, epic goings-on that most of the time feel like that’s exactly how it should happen.
While not everything is perfect in Avengers: Endgame (and surely I’ll be having those debates with folk in the future), even the imperfections are still okay, and the rest of it is wonderful.
The movie ran for three hours and one minute … and it didn’t feel like it. They used the time to establish mood, to explain motivation, to provide a chance for action to be balanced with consideration, and to give the cast members the time they need to bring their characters forward or to an end. Characters follow a path that makes sense for them — some of their stories come to a close, while others have new beginnings opened up for them, in a variety of ways. If Marvel never made another movie again (no!), I could find this a fitting conclusion for most of these people.
My hat’s off to the creative team. I expected to enjoy myself. I didn’t expect something this good.
Overall rating:
(Note: the immediate post-movie credits are a lot fun. There is no post-credit scene, thought here is a … brief … thing at the end, which I’m sure people will be debating about. It’s worth sitting in the cinema while the credits role, both to appreciate the talent that went into the film, and to unwind a bit.)
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What’s the minimum MCU watch list for a total noob?
So I met with some friends the other day over lunch to answer some questions about Captain Marvel, from the perspective of someone who’s watched all the MCU movies and is a huge comic book geek.
And I discovered that they had never watched an MCU movie before watching Captain Marvel. Which provide an interesting perspective, to be sure, on how self-contained a story it was (and wasn’t).
Thing is, they are now looking forward to Avengers: Endgame, and want to know what they actually have to watch before that happened. Which intrigues me, because while Captain Marvel was kind of a stand-alone film, Avengers: Endgame is going to be a lot more difficult to understand without some sort of MCU knowledge. It’s literally like coming into the final chapter of a story and starting with “Um, who’s that guy dressed up as a flag?”
I cannot realistically suggest that they watch all the previous MCU movies, and I don’t even think it’s necessary (though, certainly, it would be fun to do). So if I trim down the list, how much do I trim it down?
So here’s my answer, bounced off the Internet to see how people recoil. This is a list of all the MCU films, in chronological order. The letter grades are (definitely) not about quality, but about essentiality to the story, to figure out what’s what and who’s who in Avengers: Endgame. I.e., if you have only a minimal amount of time and opportunity to watch these, go for (in chronological order) just the A films (4 films). If you have more time to devote, go for the B films, too (3 more) . Even more binge-watching? Do all the C films as well (7 more). Etc.
Thoughts?
One who was first called it isn’t any more. One who is now called it wasn’t before.
I knew pretty much all of this, but it’s still a fine analysis of “Captain Marvel” — the origin story(ies), why the original isn’t called that any more, why the one called by that name isn’t the original even in their own comic book company, and why the story is entangled not just with two comic book companies but with others foreign and domestic.
But the story of the Captain Marvels begins decades before Marvel Comics was even calling itself “Marvel Comics,” and it’s much, much wilder than you could ever expect. Among other things, it involves Superman, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, the UK’s Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act of 1955, the word “atomik” spelled backwards, and preeminent United States legal scholar, Judge Learned Hand.
And I liked this:
They say that life is stranger than fiction, but I know it to be true; because both Marvel and DC Comics have characters known as “Captain Marvel,” and in 2019, both of those characters have feature films out within a month of each other.
The tangled stories of the Captains Marvel is darned fun. Enjoy: Shazam & Captain Marvel are forever linked. This is the wild story why – Polygon
What Carol’s success might mean for the X-Men and FF, oh, and what about her romantic life?
[Possible spoilers for Captain Marvel, but, really, you should have seen it by now.]
As the movie approaches the $1 billion box office level, Marvel’s Captain Marvel is, along with Black Panther, demonstrating that the MCU’s films (and, perhaps, movies in general) don’t need to primarily focus on white guys as heroes.
Which, honestly, I have no problem with, and in fact, applaud. There are a lot of characters in the Marvel Universe who are not-white and/or not-male, and this only frees up the opportunity to see more of them center screen, too. I would prefer not to see white guys disappear totally from the MCU — but that hardly seems likely. Heck, even the Snap didn’t do that.
(And, yes, there’s even the possibility that some characters might be cast with people who don’t align with their complexion or even gender in the original comics. Nick Fury’s a kinda-good example of that being workable, as are changes with Mar-Vell. If done well, in a way that doesn’t significantly change something essential about the character, I don’t have a problem there.)
Beyond that, it’s noted that the success of these two heroes that are slated for prominence in the post-Avengers “Phase 4” movies, along with the movies already slated, indicates that Marvel need be in no big hurry to incorporate the massive properties they just inherited with the Fox deal: the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
I mean, I’m as anxious as anyone else to see a decent film rendition of the FF, but I’m totally cool with both properties, esp. the X-Men, getting a few years of rest and reset, and then potentially centerpiece another phase down the line. Aside from the risk of super-hero flicks going out of style (which has been predicted multiple times over the last decade) before they circle around to those sagas, a break makes a lot of sense. Though in the meantime we can get some “hints” (news stories about mutations on the rise due to cosmic radiation or Infinity Stone leftovers; a NASA representative name-dropping Reed Richards; weird shenanigans on the news going on in the Sokovian neighbor nation of Latveria, etc.) to help tee up some excitement.
Another interesting thread of discussion that’s come up lately, viz Captain Marvel, is the question of Carol Danvers sexual orientation. It’s a little weird that it’s being brought up in large part because the character doesn’t have the traditional “boyfriend” in her origin movie, which is supposed to be a good thing because not every woman’s story has to be focused on her relationship with a man — but that’s, in turn, made people wonder if Carol’s relationship with Maria Rambeau or (and this would be an interesting twist) Mar-Vell might be more than just friendship.
I’m, honestly, non-committal. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s nothing particularly compelling about it, either. To be sure, I don’t have a personal stake in that particular representation, and I agree that getting some LGBTQ folk into the MCU picture (a million unofficial memes about Steve/Bucky notwithstanding) would be a positive thing in principle. I may just be a bit concerned at a meta level about the amount of heavy-eyerolling-See-it-was-all-a-feminist-plot that would ensue if it turned out that Captain Marvel was a lesbian, or even bi, but that seems inevitable no matter what happens with the character.
Honestly, the question of any sort of relationship for Carol is a more interesting one to me: a highly duty-driven person, whose memories have been messed up, who’s been betrayed by her closest friends, who’s just spent a few decades in deep space (has it actually been that long for her, or 3sd-are we talking some light-speed time contract compressing the interval for her?) … trust issues and understanding how to relate to people at all might be a serious uphill road for her, regardless of which way(s) she swings.
In short, on this as with other things, I’m more interested in good story than in particular agendas. If they want to have Capt. Marvel and Valkyrie as the hottest gay lovers in space-time, great. If she ends up in domestic bliss with Doctor Strange, well, that might be interesting. Heck, if she decides that Rocket Raccoon is her type, I’m cool with that, too. Just give me a good story about it.
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Movie trailers on a Monday aren’t quite the same as opening night
Went to Captain Marvel tonight — the second time for me, the first for Margie (who was sick) and James (who wasn’t in town). It remains enjoyable, perhaps even more so in that I could observe the structure of the mysteries and reveals more easily the second time around.
Anyway, here are the trailers we were given, which were a bit different from what I saw opening night … a combo of a week-and-change passing, the different prominence of opening night vs a week later, and a Monday night at that.
Best of Enemies* — This based-on-a-true-story tale of a civil rights activist and a KKK member isn’t my cuppa, but it still looks interesting.
Hobbs & Shaw* — A Fast-and-Furious-related outing. Looks like a fun film to rent or watch on a long plane flight some day.
The Hustle — Buddy film about a pair of female con men. The humor looks a bit more, um, broad (no puns intended) than my preference.
Long Shot — Rom-com with Seth Rogan (as a scruffy journalist) and Charlize Theron (as a presidential candidate). I’m sure there are people who will find it more interesting than I found the trailer, let alone the concept.
Rocketman* — This Elton John biopic doesn’t wow me, but it looks interesting nonetheless.
Missing Link* — Odd little animated film about an adventurer helping reunite a Sasquatch with their Yeti cousins. Doesn’t quite do it for me, but it could be quite charming.
Shazam — Aside from the irony of this appearing in front of Captain Marvel, I’m trying to figure out if this looks like a really funny, fresh take on super-heroes, or just general silliness. The trailers aren’t quite doing it for me, but I’ll probably watch it eventually.
Dumbo* — Those who find slightly creepy and rococo Tim Burton films will probably find this something they like. Not for me.
Frozen II* — This is looking visually interesting, and the soundtrack presented is also interesting. Might end up seeing it.
*Also shown on opening night.
Trailers that were on opening night that were missing this go-around: Spider-Man: Far from Home, Late Night, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Dark Phoenix.
While I had my own minor issues with the movie, I’m delighted to see it’s doing even better than the studio had predicted.
Part of that delight is pleasure that the MCU brand continues hold strong, as we reach a new phase going forward.
But a good chunk of that delight comes from thinking about the broflakes who were vocally certain that such an uber-feminazi anti-male movie (which it most definitely is not, unless you think that “female super-hero” intrinsically means male-bashing) would crash and burn under the weight of its grim SJWness.
‘Captain Marvel’ Box Office: Brie Larson Lands $153 Million Debut – Variety
With the release of Captain Marvel, we now have 21 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One can look around on the Intertubes and find all sorts of force-ranking of worst-to-best of those films. I figure I should probably do something similar to that.
That said, I hate force-ranking, both because it lacks gradation and because my rating of something has a certain plus-or-minus on any given day or viewing. So instead, I’m going to lump these films into four tiers. Even here, I can be swayed, or can appreciate that a given movie is hardly a uniform blessing or curse — Thor: The Dark World is overall a plodding disappointment, except for any scene where Loki is on-screen.
So, here we go, the movies (I’m leaving out TV/streaming service shows) with release year and MCU “Phase”. There’s no particular order within any given tier, and keep in mind that, even with this ranking, I lurves ’em all.
FOURTH TIER – Problematic, despite some good moments.
Iron Man 2 (2010) I
Iron Man 3 (2013) II
Thor: The Dark World (2013) II
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2014) II
THIRD TIER – Entertaining but not memorable
Incredible Hulk (2008) I
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017) III
Captain Marvel (2019) III
SECOND TIER – Perfectly respectable, enjoyable, noteworthy, and well-done
Doctor Strange (2015) III
Ant-Man (2015) II
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) III
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) I
Captain America: Civil War (2016) III
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) III
Thor (2011) I
FIRST TIER – Exemplify (in a variety of ways) what a super-hero movie can be
The Avengers (2012) I
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) II
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) III
Iron Man (2008) I
Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) II
Black Panther (2018) III
The only one not listed above is Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) III, which, for a variety of unessential reasons, I haven’t yet watched.
Feel free to critique any given rating. This is my opinion, obviously, and I would expect anyone else’s mileage to vary.
Short NO-SPOILER version: Captain Marvel, for me, is an entertaining and enjoyable MCU film, but not a great one, largely because it never quite engaged me with enough emotional or narrative stakes to keep me at the edge of my seat.
Brie Larson (along with everyone else) is likeable and strong and interesting, and I don’t feel at all like I got ripped off buying a movie ticket for this (versus, say Iron Man 2), and I even think it’s (just) worth seeing in a theater vs waiting for home release. But if this is the character that Marvel is planning on hinging the next phase of the MCU on, then her anticipated activities in Avengers: Endgame had best be a tick up from what we get here.
Rating: ★★★ ½ of 5 (with a ♥)
Note: The movie has two in-credit scenes, a “big picture” one after the initial animated credits, and then a charming denouement after the credits are over. Worth sitting through.
If you want a few more spoilers, here’s my Letterboxd review.
I’ve seen a lot of “movie cuts set to music” videos, but this one not only has some great MCU imagery, but it’s both nicely clustered and the timing on it is exquisitely matched to the music. Bravo to the creators (as well as to the MCU and Barns Courtney).
[h/t James]
RIP, Oreo "Rocket" Raccoon. #gotghttps://t.co/Hr13Tku78R
— Dave Hill (@Three_Star_Dave) February 8, 2019
RIP, Oreo “Rocket” Raccoon. #gotg
https://t.co/Hr13Tku78R
(And, just to be clear, I’m talking about the Marvel movie by that name, not the Shazam movie coming from DC, starring a character who used to be called “Captain Marvel” but now is called “Shazam.” Got it? Though I’m looking forward to that one, too.)
The pix make it clear that Marvel is taking quite a few liberties in Carol Danvers’ origin / early story, instead tying her into much more active participation with the Kree back in the 1990s, as well as having participation an early SHIELD desk jockey named Nick Fury.
How it all works, how it all ties into GotG (and Avengers 4), let alone Kree shenanigans on Agents of SHIELD (assuming any level of interaction between Marvel’s movies and TV any more) — we’ll have to wait until next March to see.
The pix, at least, look interesting. Carol’s suit is more complicated than even the comic book one, and she’s lost the hip sash (which is somewhat iconic for the character, but, yeah). Marvel is investing a bundle into having this bridge the current and next phase of the MCU, so I hope it all works out well.
‘Captain Marvel’ Photos Reveal the Skrulls, Ronan the Accuser, and Young Nick Fury
The first Captain Marvel photos have arrived, and they introduce us to Marvel’s most powerful superhero, a young Nick Fury, the Skrulls and much more.
International travel is a time when I get to actually catch up on movies that I missed or couldn’t bring myself to spend money on watching previously. At least that’s what I like to do after the inflight entertainment system reboots …
On our Delta flights to / from Europe, here’s what I watched. (Scores are out of ★★★★★; links are to longer reviews on Letterboxd)
A Wrinkle in Time (2018) ★★½
Glitzy adaptation that falters the more it strays from the source book.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/a-wrinkle-in-time-2018/
Inside Out (2015) ★★★★½ with a ♥
A truly delightful Pixar psychocomedy that I’m kicking myself for not having seen before.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/inside-out-2015/
Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) ★★½
Why Batman: The Animated Series needed the network to keep them from going down a self-indulgent rabbit hole, apparently.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/batman-and-harley-quinn/
Darkest Hour (2017) ★★★★ with a ♥
Remarkable if sometimes uneven biopic about Churchill at the start of WW2.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/darkest-hour/
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) ★★★★ with a ♥
Rewatch. Still funny. Still sometimes too funny for its own good.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/thor-ragnarok/1/
The Jungle Book (2016) ★★★
I was far less charmed than most people, it seems.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/the-jungle-book-2016/
Game Night (2018) ★★★½ with a ♥
Far funnier than it ought to have been. Frothy fun.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/game-night/
Tomb Raider (2018) ★★★½
Run, Lara, run! A good, if humorless and increasingly improbable, adventure.
https://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/tomb-raider/
So here’s what various companies thought were the movies that would appeal to Incredibles 2 movie-goers.
Smallfoot — Humorous romp about when a human (a “smallfoot”) ends up amongst a tribe of Yeti, from their perspective. Looks amusing, but not enough to get me to a movie theater.
Hotel Transylvania 3 — Every one of these movies has had me rolling my eyes in the trailers, and I’ve always found them damned funny in the actual watching. So … probably not a theater experience, but I expect I’ll watch this (with +James Hill) sooner or later.
Dog Days — The Heart-Warming / Feel-Good Movie of whenever it comes out. Doggers! A big glurgey for my taste.
Bumblebee — Okay, at long last, a Transformers movie that doesn’t make me want to punch someone in the throat. That’s … about all I can say.
Lego Movie 2 — Lego Meets Mad Max, with space aliens. Looks very fun. I should probably go see it. And the first one, too.
How to Tame Your Dragon 3 — Looks like a good adventure. I should go see it. I should rewatch the first one and watch the second one, too.
Ant-Man and the Wasp — Still looking good. Still feeling excited.
Wreck-It Ralph 2 — Wow. That’s a lot of unabashed brand placement. To be fair, it’s nice to see a fantasy about the Internet being grounded that way. Also, this looks like a funny movie. I should rewatch the first one, and go see this one.
So, lots of sequels and spin-offs, and a fair number that I have an interest in seeing, sooner or later. Not bad.
The argument that pops multiple times can be summed up in … a Star Trek reference: do “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one” … or vice-versa? Or, as Cap puts it: “We don’t trade lives.”
The article suggests that, by highlighting that moral conflict, the new Avengers movie both realistically ups the stakes and sets the ultimate resolution as an answer to the question that will be very difficult to satisfy anyone with.
The irresolvable moral dilemma at the heart of Avengers: Infinity War
Say a prayer for those who will write the sequel.
The Kamala Khan comic book series has been tremendous fun, picking up the issues of a youthful hero, while taking on family issues in the context of an immigrant, unconventional family, all of it with good humor and hopefulness.
I look forward to Kamala’s inclusion in the MCU, and in more than a cameo.
Plans are ‘in the works’ to add Muslim superhero Ms. Marvel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
In an interview with BBC, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that there are plans “in the works” to introduce Ms. Marvel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
