Sorry I haven't posted in a while. My laptop is busted and I don't really feel like writing a bunch of review on my phone. I was hoping to have my laptop repaired by now, but since it's not, I'll just leave some scores for the movies I've missed so far.

IM3: 4/10 - Actually starts quite promisingly, but quickly turns into a massive disappointment.
Thor 2: 5/10 - Completely mediocre in every way.
Cap 2: 9/10 - Probably the best Marvel movie yet in terms of storytelling.
GotG: 10/10 - Great music, great characters, great visuals, great fun....why nitpick

I'm roaring through these movies, and I just finished Iron Man 2.

All through it, I was rehearsing my criticisms in my head. I know it's generally considered to be one of the weakest in the MCU, the weakest of the Iron Man Movies, and not a particualrly great film...but after watching it I'm having a very hard time finding faults.

"Whiplash was poor" Not really. He was motivated, intelligent, and menacing when he needed to be, but the issue is that he wasn't the focus of the movie. This film was very clearly not about whiplash, but about Iron Man. or, more specifically, about Tony Stark.

See, the real reason I think people don't like this film is because it's not an action movie with character, it's a character piece with action. The focus is that Tony is struggling with mortality, he's having trouble fighting his demons, he has self-destructive tendencies, and it's slowly destroying his life. he has pushed people away, he's pissed off the government, and he's caring less and less. You could take out all of the action sequences, and I honestly think it'd be ALMOST as good as Logan, because then people would understand the focus of the film.

The marvel movies have always been about heroes first and villains second, which can be a legitimate gripe, but I think that - especially with Iron Man 2 - it makes sense, because Tony was more interesting than Ivan.

But honestly, I think Ivan was a great character, played very well by Mickey Rourke, and he served his purpose. He was not the primary antagonist, Tony was. Ivan was just another factor in Tony's burgeoning maturity. Between the government, Hammer, Whiplash, Pepper Potts, and Rhodes all sort of ganging up on him, he had to get his shit together.

I found that quite compelling.

Plus, I like how they slowly built the world around him. SHIELD got some love, nick Fury got some love, Black Widow got some love, and Coulson got some love. yeah, I guess you could complain that they focused too much on world building, but again I think that it's a bit misguided. People went to this film thinking it was gonna be super actiony and build on Iron Man by giving us something more dangerous and menacing.

Funny enough, I think they DID do that...but they still focused on Tony.

All through the film I was trying to find those flaws that I could use to mark it down. I was trying to internally convince myself that Vanko was a poorly utilized villain, or that it didn't have enough action, or that it focused on world building. While you could argue all of those points (any many do), I think they all miss the point of the film.

Iron Man 2 is a character study, a dissection of a man with self destructive behavior in the guise of a superhero action movie. I think people come at this from the wrong angle, and that once you come at it from the right angle, it succeeds on virtually every level.

I want to do pros and cons, but I honestly don't find any cons, and trust me, I tried. While it's character arcs aren't QUITE as good as Iron Man 1 in acts 1 and 2, I did enjoy act 3 more. I'm putting this just a hair below Iron Man 1 overall.

8.9/10

Rankings so far:

9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
6.1 The Incredible Hulk

I appreciate that! Thank you :)

I've updated everyone's personal averages up to this point. Just need to calculate the movie averages. Stay tuned!

Scores updated to this point. Added in a convenient ranker row also.

Alright, Thor is in the bag now!

Not a lot to say about this one. It's a fun, lighthearted snack of a movie. No real complaints, no real criticisms, just a lot of fun.

Pros:

Thor as a character has a nice arch and is a lot of fun both in his cocky arrogant phase and his more mature, worthy phase. He was a blast to watch interact with the locals in New Mexico, and honestly, he's super hot. That helps a lot. Nothing wrong with a little eye candy.

Seriously, lines like "This drink, I like it! ANOTHER" And "I am the mighty Th-" *Get's stabbed in the ass with a tranquilizer*, and "I need a horse...or something big enough to ride!" are all so much fun. Still quoted today.

Loki as a character is also a blast to watch. WE all knew that, though.

I loved the art direction and the cinematography. This movie doesn't get enough praise for its visual style!

It also helped to build upon the world by giving us more coulson, introducing us to hawkeye, and vaguely setting up the Avengers. we didn't know that at the time, but it was still a wonderful time at the movies!

Cons:

like I said, it's really light. Not the most meaningful of the MCU. Not a bad thing, really, but it's disposable. Also, some people don't like Darcy? I liked it a lot, to be honest. Fun character.

8.3/10

Like I said, not the most consequential of films, but I liked that. I liked that it was just a bit of fun in between the heavier moments of Iron Man 2 and the upcoming war of Captain America. I'm greatly happy to have this film in my collection!

Total Rankings:

9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
8.3 Thor
6.1 The Incredible Hulk

great idea, nice work! :)

Forgot to put ratings with my rankings.

1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 10/10
2) Guardians of the Galaxy - 8.5/10
3) The Avengers - 8/10
4) Iron Man - 8/10
5) Captain America: The First Avenger - 7/10
6) Iron Man 2 - 6.5/10
7) Avengers: Age of Ultron - 6/10
8) Iron Man 3 - 6/10
9) The Incredible Hulk - 5.5/10
10) Thor - 5/10
11) Thor: The Dark World - 4.5/10

Thanks! Would you mind rounding those half points up or down? We’re going with whole numbers. Welcome aboard :)

Avengers: Age of Ultron.

This is an odd one. The idea and premise was fine but something was lacking with this film. I will say writing wise it is an improvement on Avengers first film, which says something considering Whedon is still involved. Ultron himself was well done but also had issues, the perfect computer being that has access to the entire internet couldn't remember the word for 'children'. Thor's additional scenes felt shoved in to fit the bogging down. Deleted scenes mean Quicksilver's character wasn't expanded in anyway so his part near the end was lacking in feeling. They also had no idea what to do with Banner and Natasha so threw in a pointless romance which just doesn't work.

This all said as a spoiler-phobe I knew nothing about this film so seeing Vision and his entrance was great, Klaw was fun addition, Hulk Ironman fight scene was fun.

Sadly though it felt like just a 'setup' for the future and a filler film.

6/10


Fanboy time.

Where was Hank Pym? The reason Ultron works was because of Pym, his guilt over creating him is one of Pym's defining features. With Tony Stark, there is no guilt, he regrets it for like 2 seconds then it's all let's do it again with this thing instead this time. Tony has too much ego to regret what he did. Then on Vision, his attraction to Wanda is because of Simon, so any 'future' stuff is a little off as there was no Simon plus that thing on his head isn't his. That's Adam's. Give it back.

Just finished Captain america: The First Avenger.

Gotta say, this movie is wholly underrated. There are very few things I don't like about this movie, and I think it does a lot of things so well that even the few nags I do have are minor.

Pros:

Captain America as a character is just wonderful. He had a wonderful character arc - in that he didn't really have much of one at all. Steve Rogers was a heroic man even before he got his powers, he never gave up hope even when he was turned into a sideshow attraction. His entire character is wholesome and old-fashioned (And not in the racist, bigoted way. In fact he even says at one point that he doesn't want to kill anyone, he just doesn't like bullies). Plus, he's a total beefcake.

Care to put me in a thor/captain america sandwich? *Fans self*

anyway, onto the other pros.

The movie feels like an actual epic from start to finish. It feels like so much happened, like so much time passed. I'm recalling events from the first half of the movie and it feels like it was from a show I watched three days ago. This is not a criticism, but it makes the whole movie feel like an epic even if much of the filler and stuff was relegated to an admittedly awesome montage.

Just like Thor, the cinematography and art direction were magnificent, the grainy feel was perfect for the old timey look they were going for, and it just felt like a classic in the making.

In many ways it felt like Indiana Jones. It's not as good as that series, but it gave me the same sort of deep-rooted smile.

Almost all of the side characters were in one way or another memorable and fun. Tommy Lee Jones was awesome, Peggy Carter was awesome, Bucky was awesome, Stark was awesome, Stanley Tucci's character was awesome (Shuddap, I'm not good with names), and his team were all awesome.

Oh, and Red Skull is easily the best villain so far. I liked him in this movie more than Loki. But that's just me.

Only problem was that, yeah, act 3 falters a teensy bit. Still better than Iron Man 1, though! better even than Thor and Iron Man 2. Best act 3 of the MCU thus far. pretty good, but not outstanding or special, At least not until the final moments of Captain America's life.

We all know he doesn't die, but him chatting with agent carter as that plane goes down is something else. Got me choked up a bit even though we all know he's safe. That's good filmmaking. Seriously great all around.

Also, I'm noticing more and more that these films are making more strides to include more easter eggs, continuity drops, and world building in these movies. The confidence shown is admirable, and they're organically woven into the narrative well in a way that serves to best link everything in together, and that makes me very happy.

Cons:

Uh, the aforementioned slight dip in quality in act 3, I guess. Oh, and some of his team are forgettable.

Overall: Wonderful callback film, wholesome and positive, great characters, great filmmaking. So far my favorite in the series. That's about to change as I watch Avengers, though.

9.1/10

My rankings so far:

9.1 Captain America: The First Avenger
9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
8.3 Thor
6.1 The Incredible Hulk