Ranking the MCU Films: April 2015 Edition

This is going to be a short post because I’ve already talked about these movies a lot in the past. With that said, here’s how I currently rank the 10 films (pre-release of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I guess you can say this is a ‘Top 10’ list because, in my opinion, there’s yet to be a ‘bad’ MCU film. Sure, there have been some ‘mediocre’ entries in the franchise but none that were ‘stinkers’.

10. IRON MAN 2

While it’s nowhere near as ‘bad’ as some say it is, the writing is still a bit of a mess, ultimately resulting in a case of ‘sequel-itis’; a film that tried to do a bit too much.

9. THE INCREDIBLE HULK

I do still prefer this film over the 2003 ‘Hulk’ and I like the film’s effective (maybe a little over-done) use of emotional moments. But, with the recasting of Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo in the role of Hulk, this film ultimately is the least connected of the MCU nowadays. Not as messy of a story as ‘Iron Man 2’, though.

8. THOR: THE DARK WORLD

‘Thor: The Dark World’ does some things better than its predecessor, namely smoother action sequences and polished visuals. But in the end it suffers from having the weakest of the MCU villains, mostly because the film gave more screen-time to Loki due to his increasing popularity, and for playing things a little more safe, especially compared to the other Phase 2 films. It’s still a lot of fun to watch, which if you ask me is what really matters.

7. THOR

What could’ve been a disastrous entry in the MCU lineup due to it potentially coming off as being cheesy ends up not falling victim to that at all, being the first to truly expand the MCU beyond Earth and benefitting from solid direction from Kenneth Branagh, a brilliant lead performance by Chris Hemsworth, and above all else a nice balance in tone as it shifts between Earth and Asgard.

6. IRON MAN

It may seem shocking to some of you that I rank the first ‘Iron Man’ film so low, but ultimately this just goes to show how far the MCU has come since its early days. That’s nothing against ‘Iron Man’ though as it’s a well-directed, well-written, and well-acted superhero flick with an excellently set-up origin story for arguably the MCU’s most popular hero.

5. IRON MAN 3

Easily the most underrated MCU film to date, mostly because it gets a lot of unfair flak, mostly due to the Mandarin twist, WHICH ACTUALLY WORKED!!!

4. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

Chris Evans’ earnest and charismatic performance as the Cap makes this a fun, old-school summer blockbuster and one with one of the greatest non-Avengers ensemble casts in the entire MCU.

3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

But suffice it to say, ‘Winter Soldier’ took Captain America, and the MCU, one step further. The bold routes taken in this film made a huge impact on the MCU as a whole but ‘Winter Soldier’ is also a well-constructed homage to the spy thrillers of the 70’s with excellent direction by the Russo Brothers and a great ensemble cast.

2. THE AVENGERS

All of the great build-up of the MCU’s Phase 1 led to this… a truly epic team-up of the MCU’s well-established heroes under the great direction of Joss Whedon. What’s not to love?

1. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

So why do I like this film more than either ‘Avengers’ or ‘Winter Soldier’? Because while I was initially hesitant about this film due to it focusing on a much more obscure superhero team in the Marvel Universe, I was thankfully proven wrong as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ had much to love about it; great direction from James Gunn, a phenomenal ensemble cast, and, as I noted yesterday, a highly underrated villain, first of all. But then you factor in the fact that this film is the funniest of the MCU films while also effectively balancing the humor with genuinely heartfelt emotional moments. And that’s why ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is my favorite MCU film to date.

Ranking the Marvel Cinematic Universe Villains

With the release of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ almost upon us, I was looking into doing a post related to the MCU. But of course, since I’ve already talked about all of the 10 films that have, at the time I am writing this, been released here in the U.S. (‘Iron Man’ to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’) in a very considerable amount of detail over the past few years, I realized that there weren’t many ideas for me to work off of without retreading too far into material that I’ve already written about in the past. Ultimately, I decided to do a list, but not of the films though for the record, a brief post of my current rankings will be released tomorrow. Instead, I’m going to look at one of the major aspects of the MCU; the villains. With that said though, it’s safe to say that there are a lot of people out there who feel that the villains are actually the weakest part of the franchise save for one; Loki. As I noted before in my Spoiler Post of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, I feel that we should stop comparing other MCU villains to Loki because I fear that Loki’s turn as the villain in the first ‘Avengers’ film set the bar so damn high that now other MCU villains are, in my opinion, getting unfairly compared to Loki. Not every superhero movie needs a ‘stand-out’ villain and in the case of the MCU, I feel that the great amount of character development for the main heroes more often than not makes up for their villains’ shortcomings.

Now with that said, I do agree that there has definitely been some ‘weak’ MCU villains. Not all comic book movie villains are going to be great and some of the MCU villains have definitely been proof of that. But I don’t think that all of the non-Loki MCU villains are, quote on quote, ‘bad’. In fact, I find that some are even a little underrated, again this being due to the fact that I don’t hold them all to the high standards set by Loki. So today I’m ranking the 8 main villains of the MCU so far. Why 8 even though there’s been 10 MCU films to date? Well first off, when I get to Loki, I’m accounting for both of his two turns as the main villain in an MCU rather than just splitting them up into two separate entries. But not only that, I’m not going to include ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ on this list because I feel that there isn’t a ‘main villain’ in that film, per se. Technically speaking, HYDRA are the ‘main villains’ of the film but I’m focusing more on the singular character ‘villains’ just to keep things fair. And no, I don’t consider ‘The Winter Soldier’ as a ‘main villain’, even though his name is in the title of the film, because he’s more of a ‘henchman’ for HYDRA. So now that I got all of that out of the way, it’s time to rank the main villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from worst to best.

8. Malekith- THOR: THE DARK WORLD

At the end of the day, the weakest MCU villain to date is easily Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston, from ‘Thor: The Dark World’. While this film is nowhere near as bad as some might say it is, unfortunately Malekith’s role in the film kind of serves as the shining example of why many feel that almost all of the MCU villains are weak and while of course I disagree with that notion, there’s no denying that Malekith is an incredibly mediocre main villain. I’ve heard that a lot of his backstory in the film ended up on the cutting room floor, including a whole subplot about his family. If it’s real, then that stuff is never brought up once in the entire film and it’s just a case of him seeking revenge against Asgard after Thor’s grandfather Bor defeated his forces of Dark Elves many eons before the events of the film. So okay, the villain’s under-written… that wouldn’t be such a big deal if the villain at least had an entertaining screen presence. But that’s not the case here; Eccleston is hindered not only by all of his character’s makeup but also the fact that he speaks most of his lines in the Dark Elves’ dialect. And ultimately he really wasn’t that intimidating as he was easily defeated by Thor and his friends at the end. It’s sad that a great actor like Eccleston was wasted here, primarily due to the fact that the filmmakers decided to give Loki a far more substantial role than originally intended due to his increasing popularity in the wake of ‘The Avengers’. So in other words, because Loki was so damn popular, it resulted in Malekith becoming the MCU’s weakest big baddie as a result of being pushed aside.

7. Whiplash- IRON MAN 2

We go from one weak villain wasting a potentially awesome casting choice to another with Ivan Vanko AKA Whiplash, the main villain of ‘Iron Man 2’… or to be more specific, the main villain for the first third or so of the film who then becomes the pawn of the other ‘villain’ in the film, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), in the second act, and then puts himself back in charge again for the finale. Suffice it to say ‘Iron Man 2’ was a bit of a mess in terms of its story, and Whiplash’s overall role in the film is proof of that. Even Mickey Rourke was pissed at Marvel for how they handled his role in the film. Unlike Malekith, Vanko’s back-story is actually set up generally well for the most part. It’s shown that his father Anton used to work with Tony’s father Howard, who had him deported to Russia when he tried to sell the arc reactor invention that they both developed. So because of this set-up, establishing that he probably had a rough life due to his father losing all of his credibility after being deported, Whiplash had potential to be a memorable villain. But, as I just noted earlier, he becomes the secondary villain for the second half of the film and because of it never really gets the chance to shine. Justin Hammer is a more memorable villain than he is. A sad disappointing turnout for what could’ve been a really fun villain but if anything, he wasn’t shoved aside just because another villain was highly popular like Malekith.

6. Emil Blonsky- THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Now we’re getting into the MCU villains that I did like, starting with Emil Blonsky, AKA Abomination, from ‘The Incredible Hulk’. Now while I’ve heard some people list Blonsky as the weakest of the MCU villains, or near the bottom for the most part, I’d say that he’s actually a bit of an underrated villain. First of all, Tim Roth’s presence in the role is pretty damn memorable (“If that thing shows up again, you’re going to have a lot of professional tough guys pissing in their pants.”). That in my opinion is why most of these Marvel Cinematic Universe villains are better than what most give them credit for; their overall screen presence more often than not makes up for their shortcomings in terms of character development. With that said, I do think that Blonsky’s still an interesting villain. He’s a soldier who’s ‘past his prime’ who finds an opportunity to recapture his former glory when General Ross enlists him to help track down Bruce Banner. It soon leads him into taking a small dose of the ‘super soldier’ serum but it doesn’t stop Hulk from pretty much decimating him in battle. However, Blonsky ends up surviving this little encounter and slowly becomes insane, which leads to him transforming into another giant monster; ‘The Abomination’. First off, I love the visual design for Abomination; he’s basically a tan-colored version of the Hulk but with bones protruding from his back. The finale between Abomination and Hulk is pretty awesome as they smash through Harlem. So overall, I’d say Blonsky is an entertaining MCU villain; nowhere near the best, hence why he’s only at Number 6 on this list, but nowhere near the worst either.

5. Obadiah Stane- IRON MAN

Leading off as the first villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Tony Stark’s mentor/business partner Obadiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges, in the first ‘Iron Man’. Nowadays, it’s pretty interesting to look back upon the first ‘Iron Man’, first released at a time where no one would’ve ever guessed that Marvel would be able to create a successful ‘Cinematic Universe’ that would bring together Marvel’s greatest heroes. Of course we all know how that has since turned out but while there have been better MCU villains that have come in the years since ‘Iron Man’, Stane is still a pretty memorable adversary for Tony Stark. Of course you can’t go wrong when your villain is played by a charismatic actor like Jeff ‘The Dude’ Bridges. There’s some solid build-up for his character too, as we slowly but surely see how he’s going behind Tony’s back, orchestrating his kidnapping by the Ten Rings and developing his own ‘Iron Man’-like suit after recovering Tony’s Mark 1 suit that he used to escape imprisonment. While the finale of ‘Iron Man 2’ rehashed the ‘Iron Man suit vs. Iron Man suit’ final battle, the finale of the first ‘Iron Man’ is still pretty memorable even though it of course has since been out-shadowed by other MCU film finales. So ultimately I’m mainly basing this around the fact that ‘Iron Man’ was the first MCU film back when the MCU was in its infancy. A lot has happened since then but I still find Obadiah Stane to be a memorable ‘first villain’ for the MCU… things were only going to get better as time went on.

4. The Red Skull- CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

Taking the award for being one of the best, arguably the best, cast MCU villain to date is Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull, the main adversary in the first ‘Captain America’ film. Weaving of course had already made quite the impression as the villainous Agent Smith in the ‘Matrix’ trilogy and that translated well into the character Johann Schmidt, head of the Nazi science division known as HYDRA. It is revealed that he also took the same ‘super soldier’ serum that Steve Rogers takes but at the time the serum hadn’t been perfected yet and it resulted in some permanent side-effects, namely the red-colored skull that earned him the nickname ‘Red Skull’. The makeup work for Red Skull is quite excellent and Weaving’s performance helps make something that could’ve been cheesy look pretty darn intimidating. And on that note, another great thing about Red Skull is that he has such a great presence. He may not actually do ‘that much’ within the film itself but you can certainly see his influence on major events throughout the course of the film. While it seemed like Red Skull was killed off at the end of the film, dissolved by the Tesseract, there have been rumors that he could return for a future film. I even saw some people speculate that it was going to be revealed in ‘Winter Soldier’ that Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) was the ‘Red Skull’. Of course that was proven false but unfortunately it doesn’t look like Weaving is going to reprise his role in a future MCU film. Regardless, he did make quite a good impression in ‘First Avenger’ and that’s all that matters.

3. Ronan the Accuser- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Now here is where I majorly disagree with critics. Lee Pace’s Ronan, the main villain of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, has generally been considered to be the weakest part of the film, with reasons ranging from the usual ‘underdeveloped character’ argument to him being too serious in a film that was much more light-hearted and funny in nature. Not only that, but James Gunn did say in an interview with Screen Junkies that he did have to cut some of the stuff with Ronan. Despite that, though, I think Ronan’s a severely underappreciated villain. And there are three main reasons for this, which I’ve talked about before in the past in my Spoiler Post for the film. For one thing, there is at least a clear motivation for his character; he’s a radical Kree who seeks to take over Xandar in retaliation against the recent treaty between his people and the Nova Corps of Xandar. To do so, he allies with Thanos to go after the Power Orb, which of course we learn is actually an Infinity Stone, so that he can bring it to Thanos who would then help him destroy Xandar. I mean, if anything, it’s a better motive than just being evil… because! And at least he got more to work with than Malekith in ‘Thor: The Dark World’.

Also unlike Malekith, Ronan is actually a pretty intimidating adversary for the Guardians. Case in point? During the finale, he actually does manage to get back up after seemingly being defeated not once, but twice in the span of about 10-15 minutes. As I noted earlier in this post, you didn’t see that with Malekith. But then there’s one more major reason why I think Ronan is a far better villain than most people give him credit for; HE DEFIES FRIGGING THANOS!! Yes, after stealing back the Stone back from the Guardians, Ronan takes it for himself in an act of defiance against the Mad Titan. Yes, he’s still defeated in the end by the Guardians but going up against Thanos, and no I don’t care about the fact that he’s yet to do anything major in these films, and basically saying ‘screw you’ to him? That takes guts; you didn’t see Loki do that in ‘Avengers’ now, did you? That is why I’m much more positive about Ronan and Nebula than most, even though the latter was screwed over by the fact that she wasn’t given anything to do in the first half of the film, because they did something that no other MCU villain has ever done. Could there have been more done with them? Yes, and thankfully Nebula did survive the final battle so hopefully she’ll be brought back in future films, maybe even ‘Avengers: Infinity War’. But as is, Ronan is far from being a ‘weak’ villain and in fact, I’d say he’s one of the MCU’s best villains. ‘Guardians’ wouldn’t be my favorite MCU film if I thought that he wasn’t a memorable villain.

2. Aldrich Killian- IRON MAN 3

‘Iron Man 3’ is easily the most underrated film in the MCU… as such its villain, Aldrich Killian, is a pretty damn underrated MCU villain. Now of course, we all know what happened with this film in regards to the controversial twist involving the Mandarin. The person who we thought to be the Mandarin as advertised in the promotional material for the film was actually a drunk British actor by the name of Trevor Slattery who was merely a pawn in the master plan of Killian. During the final battle, Killian proclaims that ‘he is the Mandarin’ though, as revealed in the MCU One Shot ‘All Hail the King’, there still is a real ‘Mandarin’ out there and suffice it to say he ain’t happy about what Killian and Slattery have been doing. Hopefully this isn’t a result of the backlash against the controversial twist. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the twist did actually work from a story perspective and was actually a nice little bait-and-switch that, to paraphrase the iconic line from Slattery, ‘we never saw coming’. As for Killian, first of all it’s great to see Guy Pearce continuing to get good work in Hollywood because he really is quite the underrated actor. Pearce makes Killian a great foil to Tony and yes his whole villainous plot is very much reminiscent of Syndrome’s in ‘The Incredibles’ right down to the same general specific beats of the plot. But that’s okay because Pearce still manages to make Killian a pretty damn compelling/charismatic villain. I know that there are people out there who are still pissed about the whole Mandarin twist but I implore those folks to let that frustration go and give this film, and its entertaining baddie, a second chance.

1. Loki- THOR/THE AVENGERS

At the end of the day, though, despite all that I’ve said in defense of most of the other MCU villains, there’s no denying that Loki is still the greatest ‘film’ villain that the MCU has ever had; I say ‘film’ because, as I mentioned earlier this month, I feel that Kingpin, through ‘Marvel’s Daredevil’, has actually overtaken Loki’s space as the best MCU villain to date. But of course Loki’s turn as the big bad in ‘Avengers’ is still a highly iconic supervillain performance, even if it now results in everyone unfairly comparing other MCU villains to him. Of course this wasn’t the first time that Loki had been the main villain of an MCU film as he originally started out as the main villain in the first ‘Thor’ film. However I hate to say it, but despite Tom Hiddleston’s excellent performance in the role and a really solid amount of set-up for the character in regards to his relationship with Thor and his overall scheme (get Thor banished so that he could become king of Asgard), I didn’t really find him to be that much of a threat in the first ‘Thor’ film. I mean it’s probably just because this was a film centered on a literal God of Thunder but despite all that Loki did in that film, he was ‘sort of, kind of’ easily defeated by Thor.

In ‘Avengers’, however, with his newfound ability to take control of the minds of his enemies, which he uses on Dr. Selvig and Hawkeye, and his army of Chitauri soldiers, suddenly Loki became much more intimidating. Now he was a legitimate threat, one that required more than just his brother to stop him; this was a job for ‘The Avengers’, setting the stage for one of the most epic superhero films of all time. And here was where Hiddleston really started to get into the role, oozing charisma more than any MCU villain that came before or after him. He was so popular that his role in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ was expanded upon… at the cost of the character development for that film’s villain, Malekith. See what happens when you build something up like that, folks? It can ruin other things, like a villain that could’ve been awesome but ultimately was shoved aside in favor of the far more popular one. Still, who doesn’t love Loki? And with the ending of ‘Thor: The Dark World’ showing that he was now secretly in control of Asgard in place of Odin, it’ll be very interesting to see what happens next with everyone’s favorite ‘God of Mischief’.

So that’s how I rank all of the major MCU villains to date. Thanks for reading and check back tomorrow for my updated rankings of the first 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Top 10 Films of 2010

Since we are nearing the end of 2013 and I’m already starting to develop lists for both my Top 10 Best and Worst films of the year, I decided to take a look back into the past and do Top 10 lists for the best films of the year for both 2010 and 2011. I chose these years in particular because these were the first two years where I really started to get into the ‘film critic’ business. I have done lists for both of these years in the past, but these lists have no doubt changed since then. First up, here are my picks for the Top 10 best films of 2010; overall, this was a very good year of movies overall thanks in part to some great sequels, surprising remakes, and compelling dramas. Before I get into the actual Top 10, I have three honorable mentions.

Tron: Legacy

1982’s ‘Tron’ is well regarded as a cult classic of the 80’s but it took 28 years to make a sequel. However, in the end, I think the sequel does manage to be as good as the original. The visuals are spectacular, the film’s techno-based soundtrack by Daft Punk is one of the best film scores in recent memory, and while the writing may not exactly be great, the acting is pretty good all around, primarily from Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, and Garrett Hedlund. Like with this year’s ‘Oblivion’, director Joseph Kosinski does an excellent job at setting up the universe of ‘The Grid’. However, also like with ‘Oblivion’, he needs better writing.

The Karate Kid

This was a film that, at first, I wasn’t particularly interested in; maybe because it was a remake of a classic underdog story or because it didn’t really appeal to me. Thankfully, I was proven wrong as this movie is one of the rare remakes that are just as good as the original. This film has incredible cinematography, which is mainly thanks to the film’s backdrop; China. Both Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan do terrific jobs in the lead roles and the film does a great job at detailing the relationship between student and master in which they work together in order to succeed. I have to give this movie a lot of credit because it truly did catch me off guard.

Unstoppable

Here’s another movie that sort of caught me off guard, but in the case of this movie, it was in the sense that this film actually got really good reviews from critics when it was released, which I really wasn’t expecting from an action movie about a runaway freight train. In the end, this was a very entertaining popcorn flick. It has you at the edge of your seat from beginning to end, and Denzel Washington and Chris Pine both do excellent jobs; the two have great camaraderie. It’s the final film from director Tony Scott, two years before he tragically committed suicide, but it’s perhaps one of his best efforts.

Kicking things off at Number 10 is a sequel that, while not as good as the original or its successor, is still a very entertaining entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

10. Iron Man 2

From a series standpoint, ‘Iron Man 2’ is the weakest of the ‘Iron Man’ movies. That’s mainly because the filmmakers went a little too far in ‘upping the ante’ for the sequel. The main problem with the film is that there are just too many characters in it, meaning that some don’t get the proper character development they deserve, particularly the main villain Whiplash. However, despite this, the movie is still very entertaining as a whole and Robert Downey Jr. is still excellent as always in the role of Tony Stark (although this film plays up his arrogance just a bit too much). In the end, while the writing could have been better, this is another entertaining entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and another step towards what would come later with ‘The Avengers’.

At number 9 is the most underrated film of 2010, as it performed pretty poorly at the box office despite solid reviews from critics. It’s a real shame because this is a really creative and entertaining film.

9. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

First off, let me just say three things about this film. Yes, it is incredibly weird. Yes, the first 30 minutes or so are rather slow and boring. Yes, the main character is rather unlikable because he abandons his sweet and caring girlfriend for someone else. Despite all of these ‘disadvantages’, the movie is just awesome. Director Edgar Wright’s slick and kinetic direction is perfect for this adaptation of the graphic novel series of the same name. As for the slow opening, once the first of Ramona’s evil Exes appears, the film picks up the pace and immediately improves as a result of it. The film’s many references to video games make it one of the best ‘video game’ movies out there. The irony about this is that it’s not even based off of a video game. Again, it’s too bad that this movie didn’t perform well at the box office because it’s another excellent film from the director of some of the best comedies in recent years; ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’, and ‘The World’s End’, three films that could also sort of be called ‘underrated’ because they didn’t really perform well commercially here in the U.S.

In between ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, Christopher Nolan made this awesome movie, which earns the Number 8 spot on this list.

8. Inception

As a director, Nolan has been known for movies with complicated plots and storylines and this film is no exception. You really have to pay attention during the movie; otherwise you’ll get lost pretty quickly. Thankfully, the movie is incredibly entertaining from beginning to end with some incredible action sequences, the standout being the scene where Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character Arthur fights off bad guys in a rotating hallway. Acting is rock-solid all around and Leonardo DiCaprio is excellent as usual in the lead role of Dom Cobb. My only real complaint is that at times the movie is a little slow. It’s only 2 and half hours long but when I saw it in the theater, it felt like four hours. But in the end, Nolan delivers an exciting and overall very smart sci-fi film; one of the best of the last decade.

Number 7 is a film where, technically speaking, it mainly consists of its lead actor being the only one on screen for the majority of the film. But in the case of this movie, is that really a problem?

7. 127 Hours

‘127 Hours’ is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s accident in 2003 when he was trapped by a boulder while traveling through a canyon in Utah, ultimately having to cut off his arm in order to survive. That scene in particular is obviously not for the faint of heart, but the whole movie in general is backed by a terrific performance by James Franco as Ralston and director Danny Boyle’s top-notch direction.

From one movie that’s not that easy to watch to another, Number 6 is ‘a love story’ that is anything but one.

6. Blue Valentine

Let’s be honest; this film is rather tough to watch. It’s about a married couple whose marriage is in heavy decline. Not exactly the best film for a romantic ‘date night’, is it? In fact apparently this film is sometimes put in the ‘romance’ section of video stores; talk about misleading. Trust me guys, you don’t want to watch this movie with your loved one unless you want to be sleeping on the couch for the night. But despite that, this movie is still very good mainly because of the execution. Yes, it’s a movie that focuses on a declining marriage but director Derek Cianfrance also does a great job of showing what happened before all of this, when main characters Dean and Cindy first fell in love. But the best part about this whole film is the performances from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as Dean and Cindy. Because the film was shot in a way so that the two of them can get more acquainted with each other during shooting, their performances feel even more real. This is one of the best dramas to come out in recent years though, like I said, it’s not the best recommendation for ‘date night’.

Starting off the Top 5 is the film that may have come out more than a decade after its immediate predecessor but nevertheless it was a fitting conclusion to one of the best trilogies ever.

5. Toy Story 3

It’s rare when the third film in a trilogy manages to be just as good as the first two films, but ‘Toy Story 3’ succeeds at doing that. The writing is once again excellent and also very mature at the same time; none of the emotions that are conveyed in the film feel cheap; they feel very real (and this is a movie about living toys, for crying out loud). Of course, this film isn’t afraid to take some dark turns, namely the ‘fake-out’ near the end and yes the ending of this movie is guaranteed to have you fighting back tears. It ends the series on a high note and while it’s not really the best in the series, this is probably the only true trilogy where every entry in it is fantastic.

As I mentioned earlier, ‘The Karate Kid’ was one of those rare remakes that managed to be just as good as the original. In the case of Number 4, dare I say it, this film might actually be better than the original.

4. True Grit

The original ‘True Grit’, starring John Wayne, Glen Campbell, and Kim Darby, is a classic in the western genre but in a way, the Coen Brothers’ remake is superior because of the change in overall tone. For lack of a better term, this version is ‘grittier’, with a more determined Mattie Ross, a more pathetic but still badass Rooster Cogburn, and an ending that is far from being a happy one. My only real complaint is that the villains were rather lackluster compared to their counterparts from the original film, despite very good performances from both Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper. Still, this remake succeeds by taking the bold route and not going with a traditional happy ending.

When it was first announced that the final entry in this famous series would be split into two movies, I was rather hesitant but in the end this ended up working in the series’ favor.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

This film is proof that you can split a film into two parts if you have enough material to work with, unlike other certain films (I’m looking at you, ‘Breaking Dawn’).  Compared to ‘Part 2’ and the final battle of Hogwarts, ‘Part 1’ may seem rather uneventful seeing how most of it consists of Harry, Ron, Hermione on their travels to destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes. But as a whole, I like that this one was a change of pace from the previous films where it was always them going to Hogwarts and then fighting Voldemort and/or his evil forces at the end. This film also gives leads Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson a chance to shine in their respective roles, especially seeing how they’re usually the only ones on screen for the majority of the film. The film serves a great set-up for the finale and another fantastic entry in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.

At Number 2 is the film that proved the following fact; Ben Affleck’s career was back on track after it was on a severe downturn in 2004.

2. The Town

On the surface, ‘The Town’ is sort of your traditional heist/thriller film but with Affleck behind the camera as the director, the film holds your interest from beginning to end. It’s also very well acted; in the lead role, Affleck proves that he’s improved as an actor by giving a very reserved but strong performance as career criminal Doug McRay. But the one who steals the show here would have to be Jeremy Renner as Doug’s ‘loose cannon’ best friend and co-partner James Coughlin. Thanks to films like this, ‘Gone Baby Gone’, and ‘Argo’, Ben Affleck has become one of the best directors working today.

Finally, at Number 1 we have the film that manages to be something more than just being about the beginnings of its eponymous creation.

1. The Social Network

The idea of a movie about Facebook seems rather ridiculous, but director David Fincher succeeds at bringing one to the big screen. How? Basically, it’s by making a movie that manages to be more than just the story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook. It’s also the story about how Zuckerberg made many enemies in the process of becoming the world’s youngest billionaire, whether it’s ‘stealing’ the idea from the Winklevoss twins or getting his friend/business partner Eduardo Saverin’s shares in the company diminished. Add in Fincher’s unique visual style, Aaron Sorkin’s superb writing, and terrific performances all around and you have yourself a movie that may not be entirely accurate but is easily one of the best dramas in recent years and my pick for the best film of 2010.

Check back later this week for the top 10 films of 2011.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Retrospective

The next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Thor: The Dark World’, is set to hit theaters this upcoming weekend. So, instead of just doing a single review on its predecessor, I decided to do a look back at the entire Cinematic Universe as a whole from the first Iron Man film back in 2008 to ‘Iron Man 3’, which was released back in May. Since I started this blog back in May of 2012, I’ve actually only covered two of these films; The Avengers (which was the very first review that I posted on this site) and Iron Man 3, for which I did both a regular review and a Spoiler Post regarding the film’s controversial twist. So now it’s time for me to talk about the other five films that were released before ‘Avengers’; Marvel’s ‘Phase One’. Since I’ve talked about Marvel’s success in creating this Cinematic Universe multiple times already, I’ll leave it at that because otherwise you’ll know what I would say next. So, let’s take a look back at the past seven films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

IRON MAN (2008)

I can easily sum up the reason why this movie is so good in three simple words; those three words are ‘Robert Downey Jr.’. This is easily one of the best casting decisions in the history of superhero films, if not the best. If it wasn’t for him, I have a feeling that this movie wouldn’t have turned out as good as it did. Don’t get me wrong; this is still a really good movie, but it is Downey’s performance as Tony Stark, billionaire turned superhero, which really elevates the material. Admittedly, there’s really not much I can say about this film other than it is a top-notch superhero film and it did its job at establishing what was to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It hit all of the right notes in terms of story and character development and as such, it certainly stands as one of the best superhero films of the last few years.

Rating: 5/5!

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)

Marvel first brought the character of the Hulk to the big screen in 2003 with Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’. However, the film was sort of a flop at the box office so Marvel decided to reboot the franchise, which would now be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This Hulk film, directed by Louis Leterrier, is much better than its predecessor for one key reason. Lee’s film was more focused on the drama than the action. I’m not necessarily saying that’s a bad thing because I do think that the dramatic material was at least well-written, but it made the film rather boring at times. This one takes a more ‘action-packed’ route and while that might mean that the screenplay is a little lacking at times, it is still a very entertaining film. Edward Norton and Tim Roth both do excellent jobs as Bruce Banner and Emil Blonsky (the latter becoming ‘The Abomination’ by the end of the film), respectively. While Norton was eventually overshadowed by his successor, Mark Ruffalo, in ‘Avengers’ in terms of their respective performances, he still does a great job at displaying the character’s struggles and emotions. As for Liv Tyler and William Hurt as Betty and General Ross, they do okay jobs but I think that Jennifer Connelly and Sam Elliott were better in the roles in Lee’s ‘Hulk’. Still, this ‘Incredible Hulk’, while not perfect, is at least better than the previous ‘Hulk’ film. I do look forward to seeing another Hulk film with Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. However, that film unfortunately might not happen for a while, at least until after ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’.

Rating: 4/5

IRON MAN 2 (2010)

It’s common knowledge that sequels are never as good as the original. Iron Man 2… is one of those movies. Now, while I do rank this film at the bottom when it comes to ranking all of the Cinematic Universe films, I don’t think it’s a bad movie; far from it in fact. It’s very entertaining as most superhero films are and Robert Downey Jr. is still fantastic as Tony Stark. So what’s the main problem, then? Well, it seems like the filmmakers went a little too far in terms of ‘raising the bar’, as is usual with sequels. There are just too many characters in this movie, which means that some get less development than others, namely the main villain Whiplash. Mickey Rourke is very good in the role, but at one point he is reduced to being the pawn of another villain, Justin Hammer. On the bright side, Sam Rockwell steals the show whenever he’s on screen but unfortunately that means that Whiplash gets thrown to the sidelines. One thing that could have helped was if S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t really overused in this film, which I feel they are. I’m fine with the inclusion of Black Widow but I feel that Nick Fury should have just stayed as a brief cameo. There are some other minor gripes that I have, one of them being that Tony is a bit too arrogant in this film. Now, I can see where they were going, because there’s this other plotline that Tony’s dying from palladium poisoning because of the substance’s use in his arc reactor, but I’m not sure that plotline went far. Still, despite its flaws, ‘Iron Man 2’ is still an entertaining superhero film but it could have been much better.

Rating: 3.5/5

THOR (2011)

This film was easily the biggest risk that Marvel was taking during ‘Phase One’ because this could have ended up being a very campy film, which would not have been good for Marvel if Thor was to be one of the Avengers. But in the end, this film turned out to be much better than expected, mainly because of two reasons. One is director Kenneth Branagh, whose experience with Shakespeare translates to this film. The themes of honor and family are constantly present in the film and are very well-handled. The other is the performance from Chris Hemsworth in the titular role, who flawlessly displays both charm and arrogance as Thor. The rest of the cast is great as well, although some could have been given a little more to do, including Natalie Portman as Thor’s love interest Jane Foster and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, though for the record in the case of the latter that’s just in this film. Obviously, that changes with ‘Avengers’. Another positive about the film is the surprising amount of humor in the screenplay and it works very well. My only major complaint with the film is that if feels like it is mostly setting up what’s to come later. For a film that takes place in a universe like the Nine Realms, we only see three of them; Asgard, Jotunheim, and Earth… and we spent more time on Earth than in the other two worlds. The one thing that I want to see in the next film is that they explore this universe more. Thankfully, the trailers seem to indicate like that will be the case. But as a whole, the first ‘Thor’ movie is another great entry in the Cinematic Universe.

Rating: 4/5

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)

Out of all of these films, ‘Captain America’ probably seems the closest to an old-school summer blockbuster, being set in the 40’s during WWII for the majority of the film while still having some of the more modern storytelling aspects from the other Cinematic Universe films. This film manages to find the right balance of the old and the new; director Joe Johnston is at his best whenever he does period films, like ‘Rocketeer’ or ‘October Sky’ and this film is no exception. Like with the other Marvel films, the filmmakers did a great job at casting the lead hero, in this case Chris Evans as Captain America/Steve Rogers. As Rogers, Evans is extremely likable and charismatic, and his ‘never give up’ attitude is very admirable. Even after he becomes Captain America, he maintains that likable persona throughout the film. This film has perhaps the best ensemble cast (aside from ‘Avengers’ of course) of Phase One. How can you go wrong with a cast that includes Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, and Stanley Tucci? This film also one of the best, shall we say, ‘superhero couples’ in Cap and Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell). Their chemistry feels genuine and this helps make the ending scene of the film quite emotional. All in all, while I can’t say ‘The First Avenger’ is the best of the Phase One films, it is my personal favorite.

Rating: 5/5!

THE AVENGERS (2012)

For a more ‘detailed’ review of the film, here are links to both my original review and the post where I listed this film as the best film of 2012 (which I still stand by, for the record):

Review: http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-2012-review.html

Top 10 post: http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-top-3-films-of-2012.html

Do I really need to talk about this one? You probably know what I’m going to say, seeing how I named this my number one favorite film of 2012. So, I‘ll keep it short. ‘The Avengers’ is one of the finest superhero films to date. You really have to hand it to Marvel on this one. They took their time, developed their universe and the characters, picked the right cast to play these heroes, and finally brought them all together under the direction of Joss Whedon for one of the most epic films to date. Whedon, a director who does a great job at working with a large cast, gives equal time and development to each of the main heroes. No single hero is more important than the others and some get better development that what they had in previous movies, namely Black Widow and Hawkeye. Tom Hiddleston also establishes himself as a premier super villain in the role of Loki. Admittedly, it takes a while for the film to get going but once it finally does, it’s incredible. The screenplay is full of witty dialogue, leading to a lot of funny moments. My personal favorite scene; when Hulk and Thor crash a Leviathan down into Grand Central. Once they get up, Hulk suddenly punches Thor off-screen. It’s so unexpected and yet so funny at the same time. The bottom line is that if you haven’t seen this film yet, I strongly urge you to do so because it is one of the best of the superhero genre.

Rating: 5/5!

IRON MAN 3 (2013)

Here are the links to the two ‘Iron Man 3’ posts I did back in May:

Original Review: http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2013/05/iron-man-3-2013-review.html

Spoiler Post: http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2013/05/iron-man-3-spoiler-talk.html

Like many 2013 summer blockbusters (e.g. Star Trek Into Darkness, Man of Steel), ‘Iron Man 3’, despite receiving solid reviews from critics and becoming the second Marvel film in a row to gross over 1 billion at the box office, has received a rather mixed reception from audiences. From what I’ve seen, some of this negativity is a little unfair, namely from those who hated it just because of the controversial twist surrounding the film’s ‘main villain’. Yes, it is a big change from the comics, but it actually did work from a story perspective. As for another ‘complaint’ about where S.H.I.E.L.D. and the other Avengers were during the events of this movie, I can answer that… they had their own s*** to deal with. Remember that the biggest reason why ‘The Avengers’ worked so well is because Marvel took their time and developed their universe and the characters in it by doing solo superhero films. Not every Marvel film can be ‘The Avengers’ and directed by Joss Whedon; solo superhero films are still effective. Besides, aren’t the ‘Iron Man’ films the highest grossing solo films in the Cinematic Universe?

Okay, rant over, back to ‘Iron Man 3’. The reason why the film works so well is because it has a solid character-driven story, as Tony tries to deal with the anxiety from his near-death experience at the end of ‘Avengers’. This is perhaps Robert Downey Jr.’s best performance in the role; he still maintains the arrogant attitude that Tony is known to have, but it’s dialed down (which is a huge improvement over ‘Iron Man 2’) because of what he went through. This is a Tony Stark story; the fact that he’s not in the Iron Man suit as much doesn’t hurt the movie (another sort of unfair criticism if you ask me). The suit doesn’t make the man. It is the man who makes the suit. The ending, while definitely raising questions of how Tony will play into the next two Avengers films, serves a fitting conclusion to both this film and the whole trilogy itself.

Another big improvement over 2 is that Don Cheadle finally gets time to shine in this film and his camaraderie with Downey Jr. is much better. The whole cast is terrific, particularly the two main villains. As for Ben Kingsley, he succeeds at working with the major twist surrounding his character, being very intimidating while he’s The Mandarin, and goofy when he’s the actor Trevor Slattery. As for Guy Pearce who, spoilers, is basically the main villain, he’s also great. I like how the character was set up as an effective ‘demon’ for Tony. My one complaint about the film is that the female parts are rather underwritten. Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow still has fantastic chemistry with Downey Jr. and she does don the Iron Man suit for the first time in the film… for about 2 minutes. Aside from that moment and the finale, she’s once again stuck in the damsel in distress role the whole time. Rebecca Hall is stuck in a similar situation; not given anything to do. In fact, the movie really doesn’t make it clear about whose side she’s really on, especially considering that they kill her character off. But in the end, ‘Iron Man 3’, while not the best Iron Man movie, comes pretty damn close to being on the same level as the first film.

Rating: 4.5/5

As an added bonus, here are my further thoughts on ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ now that a few more episodes have aired and my thoughts on the first trailer for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’.

Agents of SHIELD- 5 Episodes In

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a very positive review of the pilot for ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, where I praised the show’s more humanistic approach to the Cinematic Universe and for its terrific cast, especially Clark Gregg as Coulson (obviously) and Chloe Bennet as Skye. Now, there have four more episodes since the pilot and at the time I am posting this, the next episode will be airing tonight. Unfortunately, this show has now been hit with the same curse as ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’; pretty solid critical reviews, but audiences have been mixed and, like ‘Into Darkness’, I’ve been hearing more negative reviews than positive.

Overall, I stand by my thoughts on the series. Sure, it may not be the best TV show ever but it continues to do a great job at developing its characters and the universe that they now live in after the events of ‘Avengers’. As far as the main cast goes, the only characters I think who haven’t really got much opportunity to shine in the show so far have been Fitz and Simmons. Both De Caestecker and Henstridge are doing great jobs, but for the most part, they’ve only played minor roles so far in the series. On the other side of the spectrum, Agent May, Agent Ward, Skye, and Coulson have been given more to do so hopefully they give more to Fitz and Simmons down the road. I do like that this series has actually started to establish future villains; one of whom being the character of Graviton (played by Ian Hart, who you might recognize as Quirrell from ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’). I also appreciate how the writers are still using the Extremis serum plot-point from ‘Iron Man 3’. It’s good to see that this series is continuing to establish its place in the Cinematic Universe.

Like in the pilot, the writers continue to do a very good job in developing its characters and, more importantly, some of the mysteries surrounding them; the biggest being whether or not the Coulson we know really died in ‘Avengers’ and the reason why he somehow miraculously survived. In Episode 4, ‘Eye-Spy’, the team tracks down a thief who turns to be a protégé of Coulson. At the end of the episode, the protégé speaks with May and mentions that ‘something’ is different about Coulson, giving further speculation to what really happened after Coulson was stabbed by Loki. Could he be a life-model decoy, perhaps? Another interesting storyline is revealed in Episode 5, ‘The Girl with the Flower Dress’, where Skye reveals to Coulson why she joined his team. She’s looking for her parents, who were connected with S.H.I.E.L.D. When Coulson mentions that she might not like what she finds, I get the feeling that this could spell trouble down the road. Could this possibly lead to some future villains on the show?             

Admittedly, the second episode was a little lackluster compared to the pilot (except for the awesome cameo from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury), but recently the show has really started to take off and it’s become one of my favorite shows currently on television. I’m excited to see what routes the writers take in future episodes and how they might connect with the upcoming Marvel films, namely ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ because of how big of a role S.H.I.E.L.D. will play in that film. I do hope this series stays running for a while. The show did get a full-season order from ABC, but with the decreasing ratings and the increasing ‘meh’ response from audiences, a second season may be doubtful. I for one hope it does happen, especially considering how unlucky Whedon shows have fared in the last decade (‘Firefly’ after only 1 season and ‘Dollhouse’ after 2).

Speaking of Winter Soldier…

Captain America: The Winter Soldier- First Trailer Review

The first thing that hit me about this trailer is that it seems to eliminate the biggest fear I have about this movie; if directors Joe and Anthony Russo could handle a big summer blockbuster (albeit one coming in April, but that’s beside the point) when they have been mostly known for television work. On that note, the action looks really incredible and the film looks great from a visual standpoint. My other big praise about this trailer is that the film really feels like a true sequel to ‘The Avengers’. No offense to ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World’ (I’m guessing not much S.H.I.E.L.D. involvement in the latter, though I won’t hold that against it) but considering the level of involvement that S.H.I.E.L.D. has in this film, this one feels the closest to being the follow-up to ‘Avengers’. I’m also interested in seeing how they handle the more political aspects of the story because Cap is not entirely supportive of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s methods as we saw in ‘The Avengers’.

My sole complaint is how they portray the Winter Soldier in this trailer. For those of you who haven’t read the comics, the Winter Soldier is actually Captain America’s best friend James Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who apparently died in ‘First Avenger’. As you can see, he actually survived and is brainwashed to become an assassin. The trailer doesn’t make any mention about how Barnes is the Winter Soldier so unless you knew about it going in, you might not recognize who the Winter Soldier is. However, I’m pretty sure that they will establish the relationship between him and Cap in the movie. But aside from that, the movie looks very good and I think it actually has the potential to be the best of the Phase Two films.

A review of ‘Thor: The Dark World’ will be out soon.