Last year, this countdown only consisted of 20 chapters.  We have already visited six chapters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this year’s version, and we have only now reached #20.

The first time I saw Thor: The Dark World, I thought that I might have seen the worst superhero movie ever made.  Then, I remembered Batman and Robin and Catwoman.  And then, I remembered those last couple Christopher Reeves Superman movies.  Then, there was Ghost Rider, its sequel, and The Green Lantern .  Then, I remembered Daredevil and Elektra.  Then, I realized, Thor: The Dark World wasn’t even close to the worst superhero movie ever made.  It only felt that way because the only superhero movies I care about anymore, since The Dark Knight Rises (and more recently, the Zack Snyder DCEU movies) decided to thoroughly disappoint me, are ones in the MCU.  I mean it.  Even the X-Men movies fail to invoke my emotional investment…though Deadpool may have changed that a little. Continue reading →

For one of its unheralded short films to only drop two spots in a countdown that added six new chapters this year should be a testament to Marvel’s production quality, at least in a way.  For two of its unheralded short films to accomplish that feat is certainly worth pointing out.  That is the case with the next two entries in this list.

First, we have “All Hail the King” rounding out spot number 19.

Easily the most funny of the Marvel One-Shots, “All Hail the King” features one of the MCU’s most hilarious characters, Trevor Slattery (played by Ben Kingsley).

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Now, we come to the second short film in a row that succeeded in only dropping two spaces this year (and, surpassing two television seasons and two feature films), the finest of all the Marvel One-Shots: “Agent Carter.”  Why is this the best of all the One-Shots?  Why, let me tell you.

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The second season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was really good.  The producers and writers learned from their mistakes in the first season.  Unfortunately, less people tuned in to see it, disheartened by the lackluster first few episodes of this promising series.  At the end of this post last year, I said the only thing that Marvel had left to do was get more people to watch it the next season.  Well, I guess that happened, because the third season was a critical success and a fourth season has been slated.

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I’ve already established how obnoxious Kat Dennings is as Darcy.  I also think that Natalie Portman as Thor’s love-interest, Jane, is shallow and uninteresting (which is shocking, considering the fact that Natalie Portman is a very talented actress…could this be a rare instance where Marvel’s screenwriters are to blame?).  Stellan Skarsgård, though, is quite an enjoyable character.  So also are Thor’s “Warriors Three” and, to a lesser extent, the Lady Sif.  Another fine actor (a legend, actually), Anthony Hopkins, does an okay job as Odin.  Rene Russo hardly exists as Frigga.

But this movie isn’t about any of them.  It’s about Thor and Loki.  And, with this, the best sibling rivalry in the MCU, we are given our most powerful superhero as well as our most beloved villain.  There are certainly many weaknesses to this film (it’s ranked the third lowest out of the thirteen feature films that have been released up to this point), but what it does have going for it is that it, perhaps more than any other MCU film, changed everything.  This movie is the hinge point upon which the whole universe swings, opening more doors and introducing more plot elements than any other film in the history of this vast cinematic project.  And that includes its two key characters.

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Last year, this film was ranked, rather uncontroversially, at #9.  It is now at #15.  Since we’ve already seen Marvel’s Agent Carter: Season Two show up on this list, we can deduce that five of the new additions are ranked higher.  That leaves one from last year that, in my reconsideration, has surpassed it.  That film—apologies for the spoiler—is Iron Man 3, which continues to age well despite its lackluster ending.

Despite Age of Ultron‘s drop in rankings, I’m sure that half the people reading this still think it’s ranked too high.  The other half probably thinks it’s too low.  Like last year, I reiterate my stance: I think we’ve got a Goldilocks situation, and, I think, placing it at #15 is right where it belongs. Continue reading →

Here you find the second of six new additions to this countdown, and, like the last (Marvel’s Agent Carter Season Two), it’s a television show.  However, unlike Agent Carter Season Two, it’s ranked among the better chapters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Not the best chapters, just the better ones.

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In 1940s America, women were viewed as inferior and unwelcome in many “a man’s” world.  We get it.  This is a common trend in this “Golden Age” of American television: starting with Mad Men, we’ve had Pan Am, Agent Carter, and Astronaut Wives.  All telling the same story, as if to help to show just how far we’ve come since those dark, terrible years.

Marvel’s Agent Carter, as good a show as it is, could have done well to be more subtle.  We would have received the same message, and, I think, been more appreciative.  Surrounded by misogynists or not, Peggy Carter is the strong, smart, and well-composed woman that we’ve come to love from her turn in Captain America: The First Avenger as well as the “Agent Carter” One-Shot.  And that is, ultimately, what is most important. Continue reading →

One of my biggest issues with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was exemplified in something that occurred toward film’s end, when Batman storms through a building on the waterfront to save Superman’s adopted mother from certain death.  As he cradles her in his arms, making sure she’s okay, he explains, “I’m a friend of your son’s.”

“I could tell,” she says, motioning with her hands, “…the cape.”

There, ladies and gentlemen, is the only joke in the entire movie.

Contrast that with the MCU, and you get a completely different picture.  The MCU has built itself on comedy, sometimes to its detriment (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kat Dennings, etc.), but most frequently to its advantage.  These movies are almost more comedy than action film.  Even the darkest films, like Civil War and Winter Soldier, are rife with good nature and humor. Continue reading →

I’ve been asked many times how I feel about the current “Golden Age” of television.  I am fully in support of the movement to put great stories into the medium.  I love that TV is where it is today.  But, I will always be a movie guy.  There is a real difference between TV and movies, and the more you study them, the more obvious that becomes.  A lot of people see that television shows are an hour long while movies are two and say that there can’t be much difference.  But there is.

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