This isn't for you. it's for me.
Thor: The Dark World: Directed by Alan Taylor. With Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins. When the Dark Elves attempt to plunge the universe into darkness, Thor must embark on a perilous and personal journey that will reunite him with doctor Jane Foster. Not the strongest Thor film, but still not the worst Thor film, it’s solidly mediocre, which is a sad place to be for a god of thunder. Buy On Amazon!
The Muppet Show: Directed by Alex Timbers. With Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz. Kermit and friends return in a modern take on their classic variety show format, mixing nostalgic charm with new comedy bits while staying true to the Muppets’ timeless spirit. A solid test pilot with an odd choice in guests, this one featured Sabrina Carpenter who has an executive producer credit on the episode, which really makes me wonder what the story is there. I get Seth Rogan having a Producer credit, he’s been doing that for a while. Did she accept the credit in...
The Avengers: Directed by Joss Whedon. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo. Earth’s mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity. Such an amazingly solid film that brings together all the pieces that had been put into play by previous films. Buy On Amazon!
Bailey Hoskins has just discovered he’s a mutant. For someone who’s never been special, never stood out, discovering he’s “gifted” is truly a gift—entry into the halls of Xavier’s School for Gifted Children and into the ranks of the worldfamous X-Men! Unfortunately…Bailey might just be the worst X-Man ever. The concept is pretty cool and unique to me, but the implementation falls flat. The core concept is that the kid is a mutant that can blow up exactly once, then he’s dead. He does this in the final issue and it’s about as lame as it sounds. Buy On Amazon!
Thor: Directed by Kenneth Branagh. With Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston. The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders. A great continuation of my marathon of the MCU movies, as mandated by my wife. The best part of this is the Bifrost! It’s such a fantastic implementation of a goofy sounding concept: a rainbow bridge. Buy On Amazon!
Iron Man 2: Directed by Jon Favreau. With Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle. With the world now aware of his identity as Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with both his declining health and a vengeful mad man with ties to his father’s legacy. IMHO, this is still the best MCU stand alone character films with some of the best action scenes in the entire MCU. Two scenes in particular get me every time I see them: the racing scene with the suitcase suit, then the “kill zone” battle with Iron Man and War Machine just...
Captain Marvel: Directed by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck. With Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law. Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. As part of of my wife’s mandated MCU rewatch, Captain Marvel is a pretty ok film, but it could have been so much better. The bones of a trilogy are here but they’re not used, which is something we’ll see repeatedly with this character. Buy On Amazon!
The Wrecking Crew: Directed by Angel Manuel Soto. With Dave Bautista, Jason Momoa, Temuera Morrison, Roimata Fox. Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father’s mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart. A pretty solid movie about family, set it Hawai’i, and includes and excessive amount of computer generated violence that’s only just barely acceptable in a live action film. The plot is a familiar and safe one but it’s entertaining enough. One thing I was surprised about those was that Bautista allowed himself to be portrayed...
Iron Man: Directed by Jon Favreau. With Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges. After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil. On my wife mandated MCU rewatch, we’re skipping around a little bit to Iron Man, which remains one of my favorite characters in the MCU, which isn’t exactly a unique opinion to have. Buy On Amazon!
Captain America: The First Avenger: Directed by Joe Johnston. With Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson, Hayley Atwell. Steve Rogers, a rejected military soldier, transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a “Super-Soldier serum”. But being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down a warmonger and a terrorist organization. My wife has demanded that we do a full MCU rewatch, sans television shows, so here we are, sorta at the beginning. Turns out that the order we’re watching them in is a “in universe” chronology. The First Avenger is still by far...
