TLDR: This is part 2 of at least 4 of watching the entire MCU with my family for the first time. Just completed MCU Phase 2 tonight. Enjoy more nostalgia! Here's a link to my reactions to Phase 1: https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/3278723/1]https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/3278723/1]https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/3278723/1
Rankings:
6. Iron Man 3
5. Thor: Dark World
4: Ant-Man
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
1. Captain America: Winter Soldier
Long Version (like REALLY long):
Oh boy. Oh boy. OH BOY! Good grief did things get crazier in Phase 2. I won't re-type the idea behind this as that's all mentioned in my original post on Phase 1. So let's jump right in to it!
6th Iron Man 3
Boy was this movie the hidden raisin in a perfect batch of brownies. Honestly while I'm writing this tonight I'm having a difficult time even remembering what the hell happened in this one. I actually just got done reading the Wikipedia plot for Iron Man 2 because I couldn't remember if it was this film or the previous one where he gets drunk at his birthday party. Turns out it was 2.
Wow this was bad. So due to the events of Avengers Tony Stark has PTSD…ok he did rocket himself with a nuke through an interdimensional portal assuming imminent death…might be a tad messed up from that. But…REALLY? Drunk actor half way through is the bad guy and we get a super rich dude who throws a fit cause Stark ghosted him at a New Years Eve party? And people can…..turn red and over heat to explode?
If you liked this movie, then hey, more power to you. But this was me through most of the movie:
5th Thor: Dark World
First off, even though this is 5th on the list it was WAY better than Iron Man 3. Way. Better.
Probably the best part of this whole movie (and something that I really hope gets explored more) is the relationship between Thor and Loki. The entire time during the 2nd act where both of these guys were on screen at the same time was just great banter back and forth. And while that was entertaining, you're always left wondering what Loki's true intentions are.
Asgard is still an amazing place to see. And I loved that the villians in this movie were elves. And not your Legolas, nice accented, LotR elves….no no these are alien elves with ray guns that can blow crap up. Was a fun little twist on the character type.
Thor as always is a lot of fun as a character. And it was nice to see his Earth squeeze actually have a stronger purpose in the film and develop her character a bit more. But just like the first Thor they had to screw it all up with…wait for it…another crappy run-of-the-mill love interest. But this time it's even more pointless cause it's Thor's Earth squeeze's science friend getting tail (I don't remember her name and I promised myself this whole type up would be without getting reminders from the Internet and I already screwed that up with Iron Man 3 so can't do it again).
And they also had old man science guy running around Stonehenge naked because….lazy writing?
Action: awesome! Thor: awesome! Loki: awesome! Red cloud of power: awesome!
Everything else:
Speaking of which…..
4th Ant-Man
Wow. Um….Wow. Knew this was going to be a different one when our villain shrunk a guy to a pile of red goo in the bathroom then flushed him down the toilet. Would've loved to have been an ant on the wall when that scene was first pitched and read to the mouse.
Seriously though I really enjoyed this one. Quite possibly next to another film yet to be named on this list was the most well done while being insanely bizarre movie so far in the MCU. With the most insane thing being Michael Douglas actually plays a good guy. I didn't know he had that type of range as an actor.
You could tell they had a lot of fun with the action scenes on this one. Every time Paul Rudd had the suit on I was glued to the screen cause I was expecting something imaginative and every time I frieking got it. Especially the final fight scene. I straight up can't remember smiling/laughing that much through the final good guy vs bad guy fight scene in a movie since Undercover Brother. The train tumbling over was just….just hilarious.
Alright so what were the problems with this one? Mainly it was the villain. It didn't help that every time I saw this guy on screen all I could see was a whiney Howie Mandel. But whenever I see this clich in a movie I just roll my eyes….so we have a CEO of this massive company who's got all the money in the world and what's his evil plan??? Sell a weapon to evil people so he can get…more money????
The only other problem I had was how it abruptly ended. We get this weird explanation from chubby John Leguizamo impression and then bam. Over. Was hoping after all the build up with Paul doing all this for his daughter and her future that there would have been a little more interaction at the end rather than dinner at the table (with a giant ant no less) and he ups and leaves cause he gets a call on his cell phone. But maybe that's the father of 3 in me talking.
Overall this movie had me smiling/laughing through most of it and even a tiny bit emotional from Douglas finally explaining what happened to mom/original wasp.
Good flick.
3rd Avengers: Age of Ultron
Boy I wanted to rate this one higher. I really did. But this one just didn't add up to nearly as much as the first Avengers movie. Not that it didn't have its high points as it's always fun to see these characters on the big screen together. But this movie just had me too many times going:
So why was that?
1. The entire plot was JUST DONE in Winter Soldier (and way better in that movie). As soon as Stark was trying to pitch to Banner the whole "super smart A.I. that will make everyone safe" I thought didn't we just see this? And of course (big surprise) it doesn't go well. Shocked.
2. Hulk still doesn't have his crap together? Seriously? Again, he's just chilling under a rock hanging out with his girlfriend (where the hell is she by the way) in his debut movie with no problems. And still in this one he's "scared to bring out the green guy" every time. And ok, yes the Scarlet Witch screws with his memories but so did all the other Avengers and they were able to lock it up and get their crap back together. Let Hulk smash.
3. Vision. Ok, I love the actor that plays him and never realized it was him doing the voice of Jarvis this entire time. But the mind stone basically gave live to Jarvis and it's a dude named Vision? Not saying he's not a cool character cause he is…..just gotta read up on this guy more to wrap my head around it and if anyone has any SPOILER FREE explanations that'd be awesome.
4. Speaking of Jarvis….this Ultron thing is supposed to be this super smart A.I. So….if it's super smart A.I. you're after….then…..WHAT THE HELL IS JARVIS? Is that not enough A.I. for you dude? He practically builds all your suits for you (you even pretty much say so yourself at the beginning of the movie) but nope….that's 500 free minutes of AOL cd-rom software compared to Ultron. And isn't the base of Jarvis what creates Vision?
So if I'm complaining this much then why is it #3? Cause the characters overall are awesome as hell yet again and sometimes that's enough. Captain America isn't as high and mighty which is refreshing (and yes the dang hammer shifted a tiny bit when he grabbed it). Hawkeye is in this a lot more and I enjoyed that….of course I can't wait to see his family tragically get killed so he can have a reason re-join the Avengers (sarcasm and while I don't know if this actually happens I'm calling my shot). Seeing Banner and Widow having some love interest was fun to see. And even Ultron surprised me a little being a robot with some sass. I was pleasantly surprised with his interactions with the characters and him being humanized a bit.
Speaking of Ultron, another compliment here was his first appearance to the Avengers. Something about the way he spoke but no lip movement and from a broken-down machine with missing parts. That was very menacing to see. While that scene played out, I took quick glances at the rest of my family watching and I could see just how tense they were seeing this creepy faced machine that can barely stand and move appear to be a legitimate threat to our heroes.
And while the Vision character still has me confused….I cheered…I literally cheered when after that entire conversation of "how do we know we can trust you" was done he just picks up Thors hammer and goes, "no idea but let's go anyway." So good. Oh man that was so good.
But what shocked me the most (in a good way) was the death of Quicksilver. I straight up did not see that coming. The build up to it. The line delivery. The reaction from his sister. All of it carried this big emotional weight that caught me way off guard and I let out an audible gasp when he first showed up on screen with all the bullet holes in him. That friekin sucked. And the way they showed Scarlet Witch reacting to it with the slow motion scream and then taking revenge on Ultron….man…..
2nd Guardians of the Galaxy
I have no idea where to start…..so I'm just going to start at the beginning….
Who is this kid? Why is he in a hospital? Oh that must be his mom. No hair and she appears to be dying of cancer. Sad. I barely know these characters and the mother just died. So why in the hell am I fighting back tears from characters I don't know??? I'm supposed to be watching a fun movie about a smart-ass trigger happy, mutant racoon with his pet tree and I'm dang near crying over a woman who I don't know who just died of cancer and her son who is now without both parents having an emotional breakdown over it. Good grief.
Oh look it's Chris Pratt pretending an alien lizard is a microphone. Funny. Oh must be the same kid from the beginning because even in alien space there appears to be an endless supply of AA batteries for tape players.
Wait, didn't realize the racist dude from Walking Dead was in this. Oh crap! Thanos actually has some dialogue in this one. It's getting real now. And he has kids? Wait the green chick is a bad guy?
Oh THERE'S the racoon and his pet tree. Wait they're bounty hunters and they don't like Chris Pratt either? I thought these guys were supposed to be a team.
You get the idea.
I had so much fun with this movie I was smiling through dang near all of it. And I feel this scene with Drax sums up the entire movie perfectly:
In the wrong hands, this line by Drax would be insanely corny and dumb as hell. But somehow the line is delivered in a way that makes it insanely awesome and funny. And that's essentially this movie. This could have been the biggest flop ever. And yet all these crazy concepts were brought together to make a perfectly awesome super hero movie filled with misfits.
And the climax. OMG the climax to this movie was incredible! Action was awesome! Character interaction was awesome! Villain was awesome! And just when I thought it was over…."We are Groot."
Seriously. I'm getting choked up over a talking tree. Are you friekin serious!?
But no, they had to punch me in the balls yet again. You have Rocket crying and holding parts of Groot on the ground, and Dave Bautista petting him. Dave Bautista is petting a crying wise-ass racoon that isn't even there, and I'm getting emotional yet again. Good grief what the hell is this movie anyway?
And who the hell is Star Lord's dad??? Obviously, he's not from Earth the story established that. So it's got to be a character we haven't seen yet. Right? Cause if it's not the way the line was delivered from blue whistle head it really limits our options to:
1. Thor: but very unlikely as I don't see him as the kind of guy that would hit it and quit it.
2. Loki: actually this could be possible seeing how he is kind of a dick.
3. Thanos: just….no….
4. Howard the Duck: 0% chance. But I wanted to have more than 3 names listed.
Anyways this has me intrigued as hell and very curious to see when we get the reveal on this one. I believe Vol. 2 of Guardians is in Phase 3 which we will be starting soon so hopefully we'll get the answer there.
1st Captain America: Winter Soldier
This is the most I probably ever yelled at a TV while watching a movie. And I mean that in a good way.
"Wait! Rewind that!"
"Holy crap did you see that!"
"He's in this!?"
"Where did that come from??"
"WOAH!!!!"
Seriously this movie was just a few blood spatters away from being rated-R. Right after viewing this I had to lookup the release date and see when Disney acquired the MCU because I couldn't believe Disney would be cool with a movie with this high of a body count. And clearly they are ok with it. Please take note of this in the future creators of Book of Boba Fett….
Cap in this is just….awesome. Just awesome! I love that he questions everything and isn't this boy scout character anymore. I love that he questions Fury over the whole plan from the start and turns out to be right. And dang….Hydra don't play games!
This movie is as if someone said, "Hey. Do you think we could do a Mission Impossible/Jason Bourne type movie in the MCU?" And turns out you can. And turns out it's the best thing ever.
The way they made Hydra so threatening in this was the most believable of any villain plot in the MCU thus far and by far the best executed. I never once felt comfortable for any of the characters in this movie and found myself leaning forward in my chair half way through because I just couldn't sit back and watch I was so engrossed.
But here's the most incredible part of this movie. I'm watching this knowing (for the most part) who's going to live through it. I know Nick Fury is going to live. I know Cap is going to live. I know Bucky is going to live. I know this because while I haven't seen the other movies, I remember the trailers and I remember (vaguely) their plots. So because of that I'm going to be a harder audience to entertain through it all. But even with knowing what I do, I still loved this movie from start to finish.
And yes we've still been going through the credits of every movie we've seen to make sure we don't miss any of the extra scenes. While it's hard to remember them all, I'll give it my best shot here:
1. Howard the Duck is with the Collector. Weird.
2. The red cloud of crap is also with the Collector thanks to Thor's buddies.
3. Bucky now knows he was once a good guy.
4. Thanos realizes if you want a job done right you've got to do it yourself…so the gloves coming on.
5. Cap and Falcon have Bucky who's apparently stuck in something.
6. Wasp 2.0 is about to join up.
I'm sure I'm leaving out a few end credits scenes but those are the main ones I can remember.
Anyways it's late as hell and I've been writing this up for over an hour. Time to crash and I'll most likely think of more to add once I've slept.
Alrighty! On to Phase 3 which I believe starts with Civil War. Oh crap.
Rankings:
6. Iron Man 3
5. Thor: Dark World
4: Ant-Man
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
1. Captain America: Winter Soldier
Long Version (like REALLY long):
Oh boy. Oh boy. OH BOY! Good grief did things get crazier in Phase 2. I won't re-type the idea behind this as that's all mentioned in my original post on Phase 1. So let's jump right in to it!
6th Iron Man 3
Boy was this movie the hidden raisin in a perfect batch of brownies. Honestly while I'm writing this tonight I'm having a difficult time even remembering what the hell happened in this one. I actually just got done reading the Wikipedia plot for Iron Man 2 because I couldn't remember if it was this film or the previous one where he gets drunk at his birthday party. Turns out it was 2.
Wow this was bad. So due to the events of Avengers Tony Stark has PTSD…ok he did rocket himself with a nuke through an interdimensional portal assuming imminent death…might be a tad messed up from that. But…REALLY? Drunk actor half way through is the bad guy and we get a super rich dude who throws a fit cause Stark ghosted him at a New Years Eve party? And people can…..turn red and over heat to explode?
If you liked this movie, then hey, more power to you. But this was me through most of the movie:
5th Thor: Dark World
First off, even though this is 5th on the list it was WAY better than Iron Man 3. Way. Better.
Probably the best part of this whole movie (and something that I really hope gets explored more) is the relationship between Thor and Loki. The entire time during the 2nd act where both of these guys were on screen at the same time was just great banter back and forth. And while that was entertaining, you're always left wondering what Loki's true intentions are.
Asgard is still an amazing place to see. And I loved that the villians in this movie were elves. And not your Legolas, nice accented, LotR elves….no no these are alien elves with ray guns that can blow crap up. Was a fun little twist on the character type.
Thor as always is a lot of fun as a character. And it was nice to see his Earth squeeze actually have a stronger purpose in the film and develop her character a bit more. But just like the first Thor they had to screw it all up with…wait for it…another crappy run-of-the-mill love interest. But this time it's even more pointless cause it's Thor's Earth squeeze's science friend getting tail (I don't remember her name and I promised myself this whole type up would be without getting reminders from the Internet and I already screwed that up with Iron Man 3 so can't do it again).
And they also had old man science guy running around Stonehenge naked because….lazy writing?
Action: awesome! Thor: awesome! Loki: awesome! Red cloud of power: awesome!
Everything else:
Speaking of which…..
4th Ant-Man
Wow. Um….Wow. Knew this was going to be a different one when our villain shrunk a guy to a pile of red goo in the bathroom then flushed him down the toilet. Would've loved to have been an ant on the wall when that scene was first pitched and read to the mouse.
Seriously though I really enjoyed this one. Quite possibly next to another film yet to be named on this list was the most well done while being insanely bizarre movie so far in the MCU. With the most insane thing being Michael Douglas actually plays a good guy. I didn't know he had that type of range as an actor.
You could tell they had a lot of fun with the action scenes on this one. Every time Paul Rudd had the suit on I was glued to the screen cause I was expecting something imaginative and every time I frieking got it. Especially the final fight scene. I straight up can't remember smiling/laughing that much through the final good guy vs bad guy fight scene in a movie since Undercover Brother. The train tumbling over was just….just hilarious.
Alright so what were the problems with this one? Mainly it was the villain. It didn't help that every time I saw this guy on screen all I could see was a whiney Howie Mandel. But whenever I see this clich in a movie I just roll my eyes….so we have a CEO of this massive company who's got all the money in the world and what's his evil plan??? Sell a weapon to evil people so he can get…more money????
The only other problem I had was how it abruptly ended. We get this weird explanation from chubby John Leguizamo impression and then bam. Over. Was hoping after all the build up with Paul doing all this for his daughter and her future that there would have been a little more interaction at the end rather than dinner at the table (with a giant ant no less) and he ups and leaves cause he gets a call on his cell phone. But maybe that's the father of 3 in me talking.
Overall this movie had me smiling/laughing through most of it and even a tiny bit emotional from Douglas finally explaining what happened to mom/original wasp.
Good flick.
3rd Avengers: Age of Ultron
Boy I wanted to rate this one higher. I really did. But this one just didn't add up to nearly as much as the first Avengers movie. Not that it didn't have its high points as it's always fun to see these characters on the big screen together. But this movie just had me too many times going:
So why was that?
1. The entire plot was JUST DONE in Winter Soldier (and way better in that movie). As soon as Stark was trying to pitch to Banner the whole "super smart A.I. that will make everyone safe" I thought didn't we just see this? And of course (big surprise) it doesn't go well. Shocked.
2. Hulk still doesn't have his crap together? Seriously? Again, he's just chilling under a rock hanging out with his girlfriend (where the hell is she by the way) in his debut movie with no problems. And still in this one he's "scared to bring out the green guy" every time. And ok, yes the Scarlet Witch screws with his memories but so did all the other Avengers and they were able to lock it up and get their crap back together. Let Hulk smash.
3. Vision. Ok, I love the actor that plays him and never realized it was him doing the voice of Jarvis this entire time. But the mind stone basically gave live to Jarvis and it's a dude named Vision? Not saying he's not a cool character cause he is…..just gotta read up on this guy more to wrap my head around it and if anyone has any SPOILER FREE explanations that'd be awesome.
4. Speaking of Jarvis….this Ultron thing is supposed to be this super smart A.I. So….if it's super smart A.I. you're after….then…..WHAT THE HELL IS JARVIS? Is that not enough A.I. for you dude? He practically builds all your suits for you (you even pretty much say so yourself at the beginning of the movie) but nope….that's 500 free minutes of AOL cd-rom software compared to Ultron. And isn't the base of Jarvis what creates Vision?
So if I'm complaining this much then why is it #3? Cause the characters overall are awesome as hell yet again and sometimes that's enough. Captain America isn't as high and mighty which is refreshing (and yes the dang hammer shifted a tiny bit when he grabbed it). Hawkeye is in this a lot more and I enjoyed that….of course I can't wait to see his family tragically get killed so he can have a reason re-join the Avengers (sarcasm and while I don't know if this actually happens I'm calling my shot). Seeing Banner and Widow having some love interest was fun to see. And even Ultron surprised me a little being a robot with some sass. I was pleasantly surprised with his interactions with the characters and him being humanized a bit.
Speaking of Ultron, another compliment here was his first appearance to the Avengers. Something about the way he spoke but no lip movement and from a broken-down machine with missing parts. That was very menacing to see. While that scene played out, I took quick glances at the rest of my family watching and I could see just how tense they were seeing this creepy faced machine that can barely stand and move appear to be a legitimate threat to our heroes.
And while the Vision character still has me confused….I cheered…I literally cheered when after that entire conversation of "how do we know we can trust you" was done he just picks up Thors hammer and goes, "no idea but let's go anyway." So good. Oh man that was so good.
But what shocked me the most (in a good way) was the death of Quicksilver. I straight up did not see that coming. The build up to it. The line delivery. The reaction from his sister. All of it carried this big emotional weight that caught me way off guard and I let out an audible gasp when he first showed up on screen with all the bullet holes in him. That friekin sucked. And the way they showed Scarlet Witch reacting to it with the slow motion scream and then taking revenge on Ultron….man…..
2nd Guardians of the Galaxy
I have no idea where to start…..so I'm just going to start at the beginning….
Who is this kid? Why is he in a hospital? Oh that must be his mom. No hair and she appears to be dying of cancer. Sad. I barely know these characters and the mother just died. So why in the hell am I fighting back tears from characters I don't know??? I'm supposed to be watching a fun movie about a smart-ass trigger happy, mutant racoon with his pet tree and I'm dang near crying over a woman who I don't know who just died of cancer and her son who is now without both parents having an emotional breakdown over it. Good grief.
Oh look it's Chris Pratt pretending an alien lizard is a microphone. Funny. Oh must be the same kid from the beginning because even in alien space there appears to be an endless supply of AA batteries for tape players.
Wait, didn't realize the racist dude from Walking Dead was in this. Oh crap! Thanos actually has some dialogue in this one. It's getting real now. And he has kids? Wait the green chick is a bad guy?
Oh THERE'S the racoon and his pet tree. Wait they're bounty hunters and they don't like Chris Pratt either? I thought these guys were supposed to be a team.
You get the idea.
I had so much fun with this movie I was smiling through dang near all of it. And I feel this scene with Drax sums up the entire movie perfectly:
In the wrong hands, this line by Drax would be insanely corny and dumb as hell. But somehow the line is delivered in a way that makes it insanely awesome and funny. And that's essentially this movie. This could have been the biggest flop ever. And yet all these crazy concepts were brought together to make a perfectly awesome super hero movie filled with misfits.
And the climax. OMG the climax to this movie was incredible! Action was awesome! Character interaction was awesome! Villain was awesome! And just when I thought it was over…."We are Groot."
Seriously. I'm getting choked up over a talking tree. Are you friekin serious!?
But no, they had to punch me in the balls yet again. You have Rocket crying and holding parts of Groot on the ground, and Dave Bautista petting him. Dave Bautista is petting a crying wise-ass racoon that isn't even there, and I'm getting emotional yet again. Good grief what the hell is this movie anyway?
And who the hell is Star Lord's dad??? Obviously, he's not from Earth the story established that. So it's got to be a character we haven't seen yet. Right? Cause if it's not the way the line was delivered from blue whistle head it really limits our options to:
1. Thor: but very unlikely as I don't see him as the kind of guy that would hit it and quit it.
2. Loki: actually this could be possible seeing how he is kind of a dick.
3. Thanos: just….no….
4. Howard the Duck: 0% chance. But I wanted to have more than 3 names listed.
Anyways this has me intrigued as hell and very curious to see when we get the reveal on this one. I believe Vol. 2 of Guardians is in Phase 3 which we will be starting soon so hopefully we'll get the answer there.
1st Captain America: Winter Soldier
This is the most I probably ever yelled at a TV while watching a movie. And I mean that in a good way.
"Wait! Rewind that!"
"Holy crap did you see that!"
"He's in this!?"
"Where did that come from??"
"WOAH!!!!"
Seriously this movie was just a few blood spatters away from being rated-R. Right after viewing this I had to lookup the release date and see when Disney acquired the MCU because I couldn't believe Disney would be cool with a movie with this high of a body count. And clearly they are ok with it. Please take note of this in the future creators of Book of Boba Fett….
Cap in this is just….awesome. Just awesome! I love that he questions everything and isn't this boy scout character anymore. I love that he questions Fury over the whole plan from the start and turns out to be right. And dang….Hydra don't play games!
This movie is as if someone said, "Hey. Do you think we could do a Mission Impossible/Jason Bourne type movie in the MCU?" And turns out you can. And turns out it's the best thing ever.
The way they made Hydra so threatening in this was the most believable of any villain plot in the MCU thus far and by far the best executed. I never once felt comfortable for any of the characters in this movie and found myself leaning forward in my chair half way through because I just couldn't sit back and watch I was so engrossed.
But here's the most incredible part of this movie. I'm watching this knowing (for the most part) who's going to live through it. I know Nick Fury is going to live. I know Cap is going to live. I know Bucky is going to live. I know this because while I haven't seen the other movies, I remember the trailers and I remember (vaguely) their plots. So because of that I'm going to be a harder audience to entertain through it all. But even with knowing what I do, I still loved this movie from start to finish.
And yes we've still been going through the credits of every movie we've seen to make sure we don't miss any of the extra scenes. While it's hard to remember them all, I'll give it my best shot here:
1. Howard the Duck is with the Collector. Weird.
2. The red cloud of crap is also with the Collector thanks to Thor's buddies.
3. Bucky now knows he was once a good guy.
4. Thanos realizes if you want a job done right you've got to do it yourself…so the gloves coming on.
5. Cap and Falcon have Bucky who's apparently stuck in something.
6. Wasp 2.0 is about to join up.
I'm sure I'm leaving out a few end credits scenes but those are the main ones I can remember.
Anyways it's late as hell and I've been writing this up for over an hour. Time to crash and I'll most likely think of more to add once I've slept.
Alrighty! On to Phase 3 which I believe starts with Civil War. Oh crap.
