Avengers - 9/10

It is accepted now as normal, but the undertaking at the time seemed impossible. Mixing a whole bunch of heroes in one ultimate team up movie been building to for years? So much could have gone wrong and Wheden understood this wasn't meant to be a complex narrative, it is basically a fun thrill ride. All the heavy lifting was done before, so we could hit the ground running with action and fun. For what it is as wish fullfillment of childhood fantasies it succeeded and launched the MCU into the stratosphere among the general populace.

Out of the MCU so far this is the highest one. I would rank CA:WS and Civil War ahead of Avengers though.

Good write up. The film is exactly that, dumb and fun. On these 2 points though.

Hulk in the film and previous Hulk films, even in Avengers 2 when it comes, isn't seem as Hulk, he's seen as Banner. This is obviously very different to what we know of what Hulk is. If he is a comic version of Dr Jekyll an Mr Hyde, why do they refer to Banner/Hulk as though Hulk doesn't exist as a separate person? It isn't until Thor 3 that this is actually shown. Before they kind of had him as the 'raging' Hulk all the time but even then Hulk would not harm those do didn't deserve it. None of this ever comes across in the films except for one moment in the first when he saves a pilot from crashing into a bridge.

Loki's part seemed to be more "Loki was the reason the original Avengers formed. Let's put him in this too." He made a deal with Thanos to rule Earth, it sounds like a general bad guy thing with very little 'trickery' involved. Very unlike him.

Well, I have some work to do, so I'll start with Iron-Man 2.

I'm not really a fan of this second part, but I think there are some things that are done right. I actually enjoy Tony Stark's character development in the movie. He shows his most self-destructive, erratic way in this movie. More than in any movie in the MCU (except for, maybe, Avengers). And, well, I'm one of those guys who find Hammer hilarious. He's just so incompetent and silly and I think he's fun to watch on screen.

Now, the bad. The villain is just plain awful, and, really, it's a shame to have a great actor like Mickey Rourke in this role. It could be so, so much more, and it's just really undeveloped. I can't say I was actually invested on the main plot this time, I was just more interested on how Tony Stark could fucked up things more xD. The film doesn't have any kind of tension... not even in the climatic (I'd say anticlimatic tbh xD) battle in the Stark Expo. And the movie just tries to do an AWFUL lot of things without developing any of them a lot.

So, I think I'll rate it with a 6/10, just because Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark and Hammer's silliness make the movie fun to watch. I think it honestly doesn't deserve this score, but I can't help but have fun with it, so... That'd be like self-denial xD.

Now, let's go into Thor.

Going it with an open mind and knowing it might be tied with Hulk in my list of worst MCU films, my mind still hasn't changed a lot about it. Now, the good points. What I really like about this movie is the part of Thor coming to Earth and the comedy behind it. There's something pretty hilarious about a "viking God" coming into terms about the Earth's costumes and daylife. It's more hilarious when you add a bunch of "viking partners" into the mix. I think that part was handled pretty well. And I really like Darcy and specially Selvig, I found them charming. And, well, Loki. He's a phenomenal villain, probably the best in the MCU (according to reviews that might change with Black Panther, let's hope so!).

Now, the bad. Natalie Portman was totally a miscast. There's no chemistry at all between her and Thor. The Hulk romance is like a masterpiece of romance writing compared to this, which is hilariously awful. Part of the movie is focused on this, and the results are pretty bad. And, as much as I like the Thor's "coming to Earth" part as a character, the actually plot is boring as hell, and not thrilling at all. The movie just focuses a lot in that part, and it was probably more thrilling and visually pleasing when they focused in Asgard. Also, everything is predictable as hell. 

So... I think I'll give this movie a 5/10. It's still pretty entertaining and Chris Hemsworth does a fantastic job portraying Thor. Now, I know that some people prefer this over Dark World, but... Well, you'll see that I actually really like Dark World, and it's one of my guilty pleasures in the MCU. Thor:Ragnarok, on the other hand, is fantastic and I think I'll rate it pretty high. 

And last, but not the least, Captain America: The First Avenger.

What I like the most about this movie was Evan's acting. Hell, he IS Captain America. I must admit I was perplexed when I found Evans was going to be Captain America, but, hell, he really ditched all of my doubts. The retro vibe and the atmosphere was nailed. Also, I don't know how Captain America comics are, but at the beginning I was waiting to have a more... "Long live America!" focus about the movie. But I didn't find it really patriotic, it was more the tale of a good guy wanting to do good things. The part of the movie when they make fun of it with all the "cabaret" number was pretty hilarious.

Now, I think that Red Skull was poorly handled (I think I say this about almost every villain in the MCU, but that's a common complaint xD). It lacks an emotional punch when Bucky "died". They haven't developed pretty well that relationship to make it worth it. Well, thanks to this Winter Soldier exists so I can't complain xD. 

Still, I think it's a pretty good first Cap film, and a nice introduction to the character. I was doubting about giving it a 6 or a 7, but today I'm generous so a 7/10. Specially because I love the next two movies in the franchise and my Cap's love grew. Still, it has nothing to do against Civil War or Winter Soldier, which are, imho, among the best superhero movie ever made. But let's wait for that. 

By the way, who's hyped with Black Panther? Everyone is raving about it! 

I'll get around to watching Avengers later today, though I think you guys have said pretty much everything that need be said about it.

Iron Man 3

Just watched Iron Man 3.  Here are my thoughts with lots of spoilers.  (Don't read if you haven't seen this movie.)


Pluses:

Loved seeing Tony in the middle of the movie without the armor.  He shows that he is still extremely resourceful, and I feel that Iron Man is in real danger without the armor.  Also liked seeing him suffer PTSD from the Avengers movie attack on New York.  It makes him seem extra vulnerable.

Also, loved seeing Tony with the kid.  He is kind of a dick to the kid, but they end up bonding anyway.  It's believable while breaking the tradition of "hero whose heart goes out to the kid whose father left him".

The Air Force One "Barrel of Monkeys" scene is great. 

Several other great action scenes like Tony fighting the "fire" people in Tennessee, and also Tony infiltrating the Miami base with gadgets he built from hardware store supplies.

Post credits scene is hilarious.

Minuses:

I felt the "twist" involving the Mandarin was a huge middle finger to the people watching.  I don't even know that much about the comic book character other than he is one of Iron Man's main villains.  I am still really pissed about it though.  I mean, from a plot point of view the Ben Kingsley character could have been named anything.  They name him Mandarin to punk the people watching.  Also, Iron Man is a great character, but he never gets a really good super villain.  I was hoping for some epic final showdown with the Mandarin.  Instead we get punked by the film makers.

I really, really loathe the ending to this movie.  He spends the entire movie without the armor.  Then at the very end he calls in a huge army of suits with advanced programming so that they can fight on their own.  That broke my suspension of disbelief.  I mean why did he do all of that stuff without armor if he can call in a robot army at any time?  Jarvis was not even down for the whole movie.  And even with Jarvis down, I have a hard time believing he couldn't have gotten one of these suits earlier considering they all have advanced programming.

He never really becomes Iron Man.  Tony never had just one scene where is simply in one fully functional suit piloting the armor.  I liked that he had to be without armor in the middle, but I didn't want that for the entire movie.  A good story would have been Tony being forced to be resourceful, so that he is even more awesome as Iron Man.  Instead it shows him being resourceful, so that he doesn't have to be Iron Man anymore?  WTF?

This movie does so much to wrap up the trilogy at the end, that they don't give a good conclusion to the movie itself.  Everything about this ending says, "Tony is not Iron Man anymore!"  They blow up all of the armor, and take the shrapnel out of his chest, and he moves somewhere else.  It's like Iron Man was just a phase that he outgrew.  When you consider that he is still appearing as Iron Man all over the place in the MCU, this makes Iron Man 3's ending totally pointless.  Hey director!  Instead of wrapping up the trilogy, you could have just given us a satisfying ending to Iron Man 3!  What I really wanted in one of these movies was a good final showdown with Tony Stark in one, non-disposable Iron Man suit, against an interesting and threatening villain.  Now that the trilogy is over, it is sad that we are never going to get this.  Really the Avengers ending is really more like an ending we would have liked to see in an Iron Man movie, considering Iron Man is the one that sends the nuke to the Chitauri fleet.


In conclusion, most of Iron Man 3 is an extremely fun and enjoyable movie that builds up to a frustrating, disappointing and infuriating final act.

6/10

Right, so again, I agree with most of what has been said about Avengers already. It's ironic that the plot of the movie isn't very smart (to put it mildly), and yet the movie as a whole is very smart, because Whedon recognized that the most import thing bringing all these heroes together for the first time, is that it should be fun for the audience. This was an event a long time in the making, not just because the solo movies had been building up to it for a while, but because comic book fans had likely been dreaming of seeing a huge team up like this happen on the big screen for god only knows how long. So you gotta make a splash, and you gotta make sure people leave this thing with a smile on their face.

Now, I didn't actually watch this in theatres, because frankly I wasn't all that invested in the MCU at the time. I really thoroughly enjoyed the first Iron Man, but the movies after that didn't do much for me, so I wasn't exactly in a rush to go see Avengers on release. When I did eventually watch it though, it did bring that smile to my face, and it did this so well in fact, that I considered every following Marvel movie the next few years a must see, even when they often still disappointed me in the end.

I could say a lot of things about Avengers, as have you, but in the end, what it comes down to is that it makes you smile. Beyond that, it's the rock that the MCU has built their house on. Iron Man was a great start, and a better overall movie, but Avengers brought it home. It made you forget about all the mediocre movies you had to put up with since Iron Man, and made you look beyond Robert Downey Jr, to see that this collective ensemble could have staying power. It's the movie that showed you they could make this work.

Can I pick it apart? You bet. Wouldn't even have to try very hard. But that would be missing the point. This movie could easily have been Xmen (pick your number besides 2), and if it had, it wouldn't have made nearly the impact that it ended up having. The MCU could have imploded over this movie. Instead, it broke through to ridiculous new heights.

It's a solid 8/10 in my book

I haven’t rewatched it yet and believe me I have PLENTY of issues with that final battle, but I do believe there’s a line of dialogue about how due to the destruction of Tony’s house, the doors to the storage area with the suits were blocked and once the cleaning crews uncovered it, Tony had JARVIS initiate the House Party protocol which sent all the suits into battle

Hmmm...I'll have to go back and watch that part.  Of course I still hate the final battle, because what I really wanted with a showdown with Iron Man (and one suit of armor) on one side and an interesting villain on the other.  But this might clear things up a little bit.

Scores updated to this point.