4/25/2018

Best and Worst of the MCU - Part 3

And now the current and most recent Phase leading up to the showdown with Thanos.  This could be the best of all the Phases with all the quality movies in the MCU here.  There are still a few films to come out in this phase Ant-Man and the Wasp in fall of 2018 and Captain Marvel in 2019, but the last 10 years have built up to the battle with Thanos.  

Captain America : Civil War
Doctor Strange
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2
Spider-Man Homecoming
Thor Ragnorak
Black Panther

Best Movie
This phase also has the best lot of movies to pick from.  Thor is pure fun to watch, Doctor Strange, though a lot like the Iron Man as an origin is full of great views involving the magic, and also setting up #2, Civil War is almost Avengers 2.5 with the ensemble cast and fights among good guys, and Black Panther was great also, BUT my favorite of these is SpiderMan Homecoming.  Spidey comes home to the MCU and is mentored by Iron Man, and has to grow up.  He's not thrown into crime fighting right after Civil War.  Tom Holland is PERFECT as young Peter Parker and growing up.  Michael Keaton is an amazing villain, and just seeing Peter actually in school the whole flick unlike being rushed in the past series, this is what Spidey should be. 

Best Hero
Where I put him down in Phase 1 and Phase 2, Thor in Ragnorak was unlike any other version of Thor we've seen.  With Taika Waititi taking over directing Hemsworth, he was allowed to be fun and add some comedy and more fun to Asgard.  I think adding in the Hulk and having a buddy-buddy comedy helped.  And as good as Loki has been, Thor got to fight and interact with more than just his brother.  

Best Villain 
 This Phase has the best set of villains, Killmonger and Klaw in Black Panther, Hella, and Baron Zemo, but the best is the Vulture.  Michael Keaton is EXCELLENT in SpiderMan Homecoming.  He's driven to the other side of the tracks to support his family and he is fighting none other than Tony Stark.  Spidey gets involved and entangled in more ways then one.  He has a slight turn in an after credits scene, but also still probably has some unfinished business with Spidey

Best Moment
Peter picking up his date, Liz, in Spiderman Homecoming and opening the door is none other than Adrian Toomes, the Vulture.  


Worst Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 had a lot to live up to with the surprise success that was GotG Volume 1.  Now as different as the first movie was from the rest of the MCU, James Gunn made the second one the same way, and that's not a bad thing, but this one just missed with me.  It gave us more of Star Lord with the search for his dad, and Nebula's character was given more and a bigger focuse on Yondu too,  but what other character or moment was great from this?  Rocket and Drax felt pushed back from where they were in the first and Baby Groot was cute, but maybe over done. 

Worst Hero
Every flick in this list has a great hero or heroes so there will be theme in the 'Worsts' so I'm going with Rocket Raccoon and Drax.  Really they weren't given anything to further their story or character.  Both I felt were gems in the first flick and something different, but they weren't given enough here in the second I felt or did anything memorable.  

Worst Villain
Again, I'm going to stay with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 here, and go with Ego as the worst villain.  I felt his mission was kinda ehh, I mean it wasn't over a infinity stone so that was different, but the mind games I felt he played with Star Lord and Yondu and the team felt choppy after the initial meeting.  The final battle felt more like Pixels than a Marvel final battle too.  I mean if you look at Civil War, Baron Zemo was playing mind games too, but that never felt choppy in the flick.  

4/24/2018

Best of the MCU - Part 2

 After the monster that was The Avengers raking in over 1.5 billion dollars, Phase 2 was kicked off advancing the characters and moving them towards the next team up flick of Avengers 2.


Each of the main 3 got a new film in their trilogies and then the universe got bigger with the Guardians being introduced.  Then to round out the trilogy Ant-Man was brought into the MCU.


Iron Man 3
Thor : The Dark World
Captain America : The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers : Age of Ultron 
Ant-Man

Best Movie
Arguably the best movie of them all 18 MCU films, Captain America : The Winter Soldier is the best of these 6 films.  Take away the super heroes and its a great spy thriller.  Sebastian Shaw as Winter Soldier is a great antagonist for Capt.  Add in the Hydra angle, and Robert Redford, this film is re-watchable many times and could even stand on its on.  

Best Hero
As fun as Chris Pratt's Star Lord is in Guardians, the other Chris takes the cake in Phase 2.  Chris Evans IS and will always be Captain America as RDJ is Iron Man and Heath Ledger is The Joker.  He just embodies what is it that makes Capt, Capt.  And it comes out more in his struggles with fighting Bucky at the climax of the Winter Soldier.  Add in Ultron, he takes on the leadership role of the Avengers more so.  Also this is the best Capt costume he's had in any flick.

Best Villain 
Sticking with the theme of Phase 2, the Winter Soldier / Bucky Barnes is the best villain.  He takes out Nick Fury and helps Alexander Pierce to take out SHIELD form the inside.  He pushes Capt to diff level too though Capt doesn't wanna fight him.  In the end you get to see him turn though.  


Best Moment

Before we get started....does anyone want to get out?  The elevator fight scene at the Triskelion with Capt and a bunch of SHIELD/Hydra Agents.

Worst Movie
This Phase has some flicks that could have used some more work, IMO.  Thor : The Dark World feels like a need to push the Jane Foster relationship more.  It also has the worst villain in the arguably the MCU in Malekith.  It also feels like in this phase a lot of the films are forced to also include infinity stones to build up toward Thanos and this is one of them too.  As a positive, this does give us the introduction to the Collector.

Worst Hero
You could argue Thor again as his film is probably more memorable for Loki, again.  And again his appearance in Age of Ultron is kind of ugh too outside of the Party scene in the first 20 minutes.  Also there is War Machine/Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3. But I think the worst hero though is Hulk.  I didn't care for the whole relationship with Black Widow at all, again it feels forced.  And what about Betty Ross?  Is that forgotten now?  His fight with the Hulkbuster is his best part of Hulk's phase 2.  

Worst Villain
This Phase struggles with a lot of bad villains.  Iron Man 3 messed up the the Mandarin, Ultron I was disappointed it, the Yellow Jacket is another of the hinge guy in a suit (see Iron Man and Iron Man 2) and what is Ronan without the Power Stone?  But the worst is Malekith in Thor the Dark World.  Along with GotG this is forced to introduce another infinity stone that Malekith is going after.  He just seems bland and nothing to write home about. 



4/22/2018

Best of the MCU - Part 1

Arguably the biggest film since maybe Avatar, or the 1st Avengers movie comes out in 4 days.  What I'm going to try to do here is go through what I liked and didn't like about the MCU Phase by Phase.


Iron Man famously started the MCU and the machine that all these flicks have been on in 2008.  Along with Iron Man the following all showed up in Phase 1.

Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Thor
Captain America : The First Avenger 
The Avengers

Best Movie
My favorite movie of these is Iron Man.  The Avengers won my Summer Movie Award for Best Flick in 2012 but it all couldn't have happened with out Iron Man.  Downey Jr was perfect for this role and Favreau created something that it seems most Marvel origins copy.  The more that I watch it Captain America holds up great too, and has seeds through out all the phases.  And how much did everyone love the end credit scene with Nick Fury opening up the MCU.  

Best Hero
Again, this is going to Downey Jr and Iron Man.  He appears the most in this Phase with two Iron Man flicks and the team up Avengers.  His portrayal of Tony Stark is perfect and it rolls througout the MCU.

Best Villain 
Loki, more so for his role in Avengers but has seeds sown in Thor.  He has fun being evil and mischievous.  As great as Downey is as Iron Man, Tom Hiddleston shines as Loki. (Actually the whole MCU is really well cast) Along with Heath Ledger's Joker, these 2 may be the best villains in a comic book movie/series. 

Best Moment
The first of many after credits scene, Nick Fury shows up and let's everyone know that the world is about to get bigger.  


Worst Movie
Iron Man 2 - This movie was basically a set up for Avengers.  It was able to show Tony Stark with some flaws and ability to work through them.  And it is weak with Whiplash as villain.  Sam Rockwell is great as Justin Hammer, but gets shoved aside somewhat for Whiplash.  They also recast Rhodey with Don Cheadle and I think that is a bit of a drop off.  The movie does introduce us to Black Widow and gives us more Nick Fury.  


Worst Hero
Thor is dominant as a hero and strong being the God of Thunder, but his character is pretty bland and normal in Thor, the origin flick.  The relationship with he and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) seems more forced than natural.  Chris Hemsworth gets to open him up a little more and give him more personality in Avengers.  

Worst Villain
Whiplash - Iron Man 2.  Coming off The Wrestler, Mickey Rouke was cast as Whiplash in what should have been a great role and villain for Iron Man, but he was basically just put in another Iron Man suit for War Machine and Iron Man to fight in the end.  If he was given something more unique with the Whiplash character and the story/plot, he would have been able to shine more.

4/05/2018

2018 MLB Predictions

AL EAST - Red Sox
AL CENTRAL - Indians
AL WEST - Astros
AL WILDCARD - Angels
AL WILDCARD - Yankees


NL EAST -Nationals
NL CENTRAL - Cubs
NL WEST - Dodgers
NL WILDCARD - Rockies
NL WILDCARD - Brewers


AL Division Series
Indians over Yankees
Red Sox over Astros


NL Division Series
Cubs over Rockies
Dodgers over Nationals


AL Championship Series
Red Sox over Indians


NL Championship Series
Cubs over Dodgers

WORLD SERIES
Cubs over Red Sox