Last year, I ranked this film at number 6; and it was, by far, the most controversial decision that I’ve made in the history of this blog. But, I still stand by it. Granted, it has dropped somewhat this year because of new additions to the rankings (and one film has moved up past it). With that being said, it still stands strong among the better movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Last year, I said that I didn’t think that Marvel would make another TV-MA series on Netflix. Clearly, I had no idea what I was talking about.
Just like how the The Incredible Hulk has a tendency to seem out-of-place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2014’s blockbuster smash Guardians of the Galaxy seems equally out-of-place. And, just as is the case with The Incredible Hulk, I couldn’t support that out-of-place-ness enough.
You’ll notice that this one is in the exact same space it was last year. New additions having come in and shifted the whole landscape, Captain America: The First Avenger was able to leap-frog some films that it lost out to in last year’s countdown (Guardians of the Galaxy and The Incredible Hulk) to keep its strong hold on spot #7.
Whether or not you’d like to admit it, Captain America is everyone’s favorite superhero. I know you want to say your favorite is Iron Man, or Spider-man, or Batman, Wolverine, or, of course, the all-powerful Superman. But Captain America is the one that we all love the most. Because Captain America didn’t ask for any of it. He was just trying to do the right thing. And of all the characters in the MCU, he’s the one that most tried to ensure that his powers didn’t change him. Continue reading
I was nervous going into this one that I wasn’t going to like it. Obviously the main reason was because I had never read a Jessica Jones comic book. I had only passing knowledge of who she was. I was nervous that Marvel was going to make her story one of the more angst-driven feminist tales that are all-too-common these days. There’s a delicate line between talking about the issues and getting political, and too often, that line gets crossed. I was afraid that Jessica Jones would do just that.
If TV-MA is the equivalent of an “R” rating (which it is), then Daredevil, Marvel’s first foray into Netflix territory, is the first “R” rated programming in the history of the MCU. At the time of its release in 2015, we had yet to see the darkness to which corruption in the world of superheroes and supervillains could reach. Its rating, though, and its darkness, don’t matter all that much. Because it’s good. It’s so good, that I even put it ahead of the first Iron Man movie in last year’s list. This year, it wasn’t so lucky. Perhaps it was the fact that I had just finished it, or maybe was the fact that I needed to rewatch it, but, it drops two spots this year. The first Iron Man film returns to where it probably should have been last year, and the last of the six “new additions” moves it down yet another notch. But, like its TV-MA rating, it doesn’t matter. Daredevil is good. While the other Marvel television shows have been good at times, bad at others, and spotty all times in between, this is one series that deserves to be included in this “Golden Age of Television.”
It took some shuffling around, but, ultimately, here it is. The one that started it all, right where we found it last year, at spot #4. And this truly was the one that started it all. Did any of us have any idea what was happening? Maybe people older than me, who were aware of studio plans and Hollywood rumors knew; but I sure didn’t. I was just a high-schooler at the time of Iron Man‘s release. I didn’t know much about Iron Man going in, but, boy, was I obsessed when I was going out. And that little Avengers plug at the end, after the credits? Was that supposed to be serious?
This year’s mammoth addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was far better than last year’s. As a matter of fact, it was far better than most any other film, show, or short that Marvel has ever put out. What could have been a complete and utter failure turned out to be a superhero masterwork, a true contender for the title “best superhero movie ever”, and a lasting and influential contributor to a universe of films that has turned the entire world on its head.
Is there any question now that the Captain America Trilogy is the best comic book movie franchise of all time? I don’t think that there is. Not only has it dominated the most complex expanded universe in film history, but it has gone three-for-three (a heretofore unaccomplished feat) with all of its movies standing among the best superhero movies ever made.
It all came down to this: the true culmination of years’ worth of fan-boy fantasies that few ever thought would work. The last movie that tried to squeeze multiple characters into its story was Spider-man 3, a movie that received terrible reviews as well as universal disgust from die-hard fans. Would this attempt at an even bigger collaboration fall flat on its face, too, unable to hold itself up under the crushing weight of the Incredible Hulk and Thor’s Hammer? A lot of people were nervous, even the world’s biggest comic book fans. They didn’t want the movie to fall apart. They didn’t want to be disappointed.
A Slice of Cake 