Continuing with my public service announcements for the MCU’s television series, this is where Jessica Jones premiered, between Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War. It’s my personal pick for best series with one of the greatest MCU villains, David Tennant as Kilgrave. I know I still owe an Ant-Man review, but I may also post a rewatch post of the JJ pilot. On to Phase Three and the final stretch!

Thor 2 - 5/10. I can't rate this positively or negatively because even though I just re-watched it I can't remember anything about it.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 8/10. I have to admit I never thought this was as amazing as everyone else but this is still a very well-done Bourne esc take with Captain America.

Guardians of the Galaxy - 10/10. I love this movie, it's about as perfect as these types of movies get. The characters are great, the humor actually works and is hilarious and the pacing is top-notch all the way through.

Age of Ultron - 7/10. Messy, but in some ways I actually think the plot is a lot more interesting than the first one and is a more satisfying in ways that don't involve action.

Ant-Man - 6/10. Not as good as I remember. It's not a movie that has a lot of bad things but the villain and story are by the books even more than usual. Although I think the heist aspects work well.

Civil War - 9/10. A fantastic MCU film with the most interesting conflict.

I'm ALMOST caught up on these movies, with only Guardians 2 and Dr. Strange to watch before Infinity War. In the last 6 weeks, I've watched Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, and kicked things off with...Ant Man. I like it well enough, about the same as you. Maybe slightly more. @bolded. OMG. Exactly. There was a line he delivered to Hank Pym....I'm paraphrasing, and there was slightly more to it..."You're the past, and I'm the future!" ....such a cheesy, worn out line, I'd heard too many times in my life, made all the cheesier by the "perfect" delivery. I think I actually saw stars. 

Ant Man 6/10
the actions scenes are fun and Paul Rudd is great , love the comedy,however this feels like a one time watch kinda deal , and doesnt hold up to rewatches and doesnt make me feel like I want a sequel either.
Of all the MCU movies this seems the most formulaic..

Oh, Ant-Man. I’m going to try really hard not to turn this into the airing of grievances. I still think this is one of the laziest scripts I have ever seen. I’m not sure what happened after Wright left: if this was his script that got botched or his script was just bad. But this film lays out the bare minimum for its plot. A lot of it doesn’t make sense but the action scenes are fun and inventive and have a playful quality to them. I just wish the rest of the film put in more effort.

The casting is good. Rudd, as always, is likable and I’ve always been a fan of Michael Douglas. Lilly was, unfortunately, wasted and hopefully gets more to do in the sequel and and Avengers 4. She also is put into the worst romance of the MCU yet. Rudd and Lilly have zero chemistry and have almost no interaction other than contentious throughout the film. Suddenly they’re kissing at the end because . . . reasons. Oh right. The abs. The abs always make the woman fall in love.

The characterization is non-existent. This film is the epitome of “tell, don’t show”. From Scott’s history to the fallout at Pym Tech, all of these subplots we get through exposition sound more interesting than what’s on the screen. Scott is given a daughter as motivation but other than her introduction, she only appears again to be the target of the villain’s wrath. His judgmental ex-wife is cliched along with her jerk boyfriend. Why haven’t you paid any child support while you were in prison and then unemployed?!? The film is scared to make him a dead beat dad so he’s given likable conditions for his plight so the audience will connect with him but robs the other characters of any justification for how they act. Wouldn’t she be more upset that he threw his life away for some Robin Hood thievery than a lack of child support?

The villain is one of the worst in the MCU. Not just zero motivation, but evil for no other reason than because he is a villain. There’s a throwaway line about how the particle is affecting his brain. Except he hasn’t used it on himself at that point. He murders a guy twenty minutes in just so we understand he’s evil. If you didn’t get the message then he moved onto cute animals soon after. To make things ever sillier, HYDRA is in its weird “global corporation” phase where they just show up as if it’s normal while SHIELD agents are on the run elsewhere in the MCU.

The humor is very hit and miss. I don’t think the heist crew adds much to the film. I do like the idea of an MCU film built around a heist. Coming off Age of Ultron, it would have been a nice change of pace to do a smaller film on the scale of Iron Man. Except it seems the producers got gun-shy and the stakes had to be raised to a silly degree. Cue HYDRA.

I’m torn on this film. It’s not the worst in the MCU. But I have more respect for a film that sets out with lofty goals (like Iron Man 2) but just does a botch job of it rather than not trying at all. Marvel knew it was getting business no matter what and put in the least amount of effort in what could have been a quirky, oddball film possibly even more than Guardians. You’re guaranteed a profit. Take some risk! Doctor Strange has a similar feel. I’ll going to be generous with a 5. Although I could see myself giving this a 4 but that would make it the worst (for me). Phase Three, here we come!

Current Rankings:
1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2) Iron Man
3) The Avengers
4) Guardians of the Galaxy
5) The Incredible Hulk
6) Avengers: Age of Ultron
7) Black Panther
8) Iron Man 3
9) Captain America: The First Avenger
10) Ant-Man
11) Thor: The Dark World
12) Thor
13) Iron Man 2

Jessica Jones is my pick for best series in the MCU. If you were only going to watch one, this would be it. You don’t need to see Daredevil to watch it (unless you’re OCD like I am), however a character from that series does pop up down the line and I think some reference is made to the end of that series’ first season. But don’t let that scare you away from a gripping, deeply engrossing series.

JJ has a noir feel (one of my favorite genres) which is embodied in the private eye investigator title character. There’s some voiceover but it lends to the overall ambience. The pilot takes its time to introduce the major players and Kilgrave (deliciously played by David Tennant) is a ghostly figure who haunts Jessica as she takes on a new case of a missing girl. From that case, and from Jessica’s hard drinking, we feel the after effects of our villain before we ever properly see him on the screen. It’s evocative and highly effective in both creating a mystery and showing us what our heroine is up against.

The casting is top notch. Ritter conveys so much without having to tell us what goes through her head. This is a woman who suffered a great trauma and is working her way through it (for better or worse). There’s a moment where she tries to comfort a worried father but it’s fleeting and she goes back to her sarcastic, dour persona when it does not immediately pay off. Colter is all charm as Luke Cage (who later gets his own series) and Taylor is great as the sister trying to help while being kept at arm’s length.

I can’t say it enough. Please watch this show if you have the chance. Like most Netflix series, it can be a little padded at 13 episodes but it’s a rich and worthwhile experience. There are powerful female characters (which is a missing ingredient in the MCU), a fantastic villain and a film noir atmosphere that evokes the seedy underbelly of films past.

My favorite series so far is Luke Cage, but Jessica Jones first season would be a close second.  The guy who plays Cottonmouth on Luke Cage is what really pushes the series over the top for me.  Although the first half of Luke Cage episodes are a lot more interesting than the second half.  

Nothing wrong with Jessica Jones first season though.  I haven't watched it in a while, but I remember loving every minute of it.  I just watched the second season of JJ and it is not nearly as good IMO.  I haven't watched the Punisher yet, but if I were to rank the other series it would be

1) Luke Cage
2) Jessica Jones (season 1)
3) Daredevil (season 1)
4) Defenders
5) Daredevil (season 2)
6) Jessica Jones (season 2)
7) .
8) .
9) .
10) Iron Fist

Iron Fist just sucks so much.

Luke Cage comes in second for me. So we essentially are the same. Daredevil season 2 was a hot mess. Too much going on. I haven’t seen the Defenders or Punisher yet (or season 2 of JJ). Iron Fist I would rank worst but I actually kind of liked it. Probably because I went in with super low expectations. I just don’t like the Hand. Once they took over the story, it did kill it for me

Guardians of the Galaxy is outstanding. 9/10

Perfect balance of comedy and sentimentality. Great themes of family and unity, outstanding visuals and cinematography, great acting, wonderful characters, etc. Really no true flaws. I love the space aesthetic and the colours, and to me, it felt like the Star Wars movie I always wanted. Yes, I liked this movie more than any one Star Wars movie (A franchise I've always loved but I do think is quite overrated.) 

I guess you could argue that Ronan was a boring villain, but I found him interesting and I honestly believe this movie was more about the heroes than the villains, as are all the MCU movies.

Personal rating:

9.5 The Avengers
9.4 Guardians of the Galaxy
9.4 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
9.3 Black Panther
9.2 Captain America: The First Avenger
9.1 Iron Man 3
9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
8.7 Thor: The Dark World
8.3 Thor
6.1 The Incredible Hulk

Avengers: Age of Ultron - 10/10

Perhaps I'm being too kind on this one, but I really do think it was every bit as good as the first Avengers. Sure, there are some dangling and disconnected plot threads, but those are so minor compared to the things this movie does right.

The character work is among the best in the franchise, with their playing off one another as a highlight of the movie.

The whole scene with Thor's Hammer was brilliant and subtle and led to a later scene.

Ultron is probably my favourite villain in the entire MCU so far, as he was interesting, nuanced, menacing, and fun while also being just the right kind of sinister. Sure, he wasn't all that dangerous, as it seems he was barely a step ahead of the Avengers at every turn, but that didn't detract from his aura.

The entire scene in Africa from the bit with Klaue to the Hulkbuster vs Hulk was a tour-de-force of character and action, and it had me in tingles from beginning to end.

The final sequence in Sokovia was thrilling, even if it was pretty similar to the fight vs the Skrulls or Kree or whatever they were in the end of Avengers 1.

The themes in the film were also quite well integrated, from the hubris that comes from ambition and the different views on how to save the world and how that could manifest as good or evil. Lots of stuff going on underneath the surface here.

Honestly, I absolutely love this movie, and I cannot understand why it's considered by many to be one of the weakest in the franchise.

So yeah, 10/10 on the marvel scale, but here's my rankings on the global scale:

9.5 Avengers: Age of Ultron
9.5 The Avengers
9.4 Guardians of the Galaxy
9.4 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
9.3 Black Panther
9.2 Captain America: The First Avenger
9.1 Iron Man 3
9.0 Iron Man
8.9 Iron Man 2
8.7 Thor: The Dark World
8.3 Thor
6.1 The Incredible Hulk