2018 Summer Movie Awards

Movies Seen : Avengers : Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Solo, Ready Player One, Incredibles 2, AntMan & Wasp, Jurassic World 2:Fallen Kingdom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Teen Titans Go to the Movies 

Not Seen : Oceans 8, Mission Impossible : Fallout, Christopher Robin

Best Flick - Avengers : Infinity War

Best Dude – Josh Brolin : Thanos : Avengers Infinity War – Yes I’m giving it to a villain.  Infinity War is Thanos’s film, and you get a sense of what he wants to do and what he will do to get it done.  He has some backstory to his goals and the treachery he goes to do that, including some heartbreak he delivers it excellent.

Chris Hemsworth : Thor : Avengers Infinity War – How far has Thor come in the MCU.  He was looked at as a character who’s arc was overshadowed by that of his brother, Loki, in these films and then after how Hemsworth and Waititi changed him in Ragnarok, you really just want to see more.  He I thought was the best Avenger in this flick. 

HM – Chris Pratt : Star Lord ;  Robert Downey Jr : IronMan ; Donald Glover : Lando Calrissian

Best Dudette – Elizabeth Olson : Scarlet Witch : Avengers Infinity War – Of all the female characters in Infinity War, I felt hers was the best and the most emotional and heart breaking.  Having to kill Vision, then see him being killed again.  And her action sequences were awesome to.   Olson’s 2^nd win as Best Dudette

Best Scene – IronMan, SpiderMan and Star Lord discussing their plan.  The best of this was when Drax said “Mention the dance off to save the universe”, Spidey responds “like Footloose?”  Star Lord – “Exactly like footloose!  Is that still the best movie ever?”  Spidey – “It never was”

                  – AntMan & the Wasp End Credit Scene – as much as the movie didn’t blow me away, this was EXCELENT and ties to Infinity War perfectly

Best Fight – The first fight for Vision’s mind stone and the reappearance of Captain America and his Avengers crew.  AND Iron Man, Dr Strange, Wong and Spidey fighting for the Time Stone.

Biggest Dud – Teen Titans Go To the Movies : I can normally take this show in small doses in the 15-30 minute time frame, but I really just didn’t like this movie.  There were some funny moments but nothing that made me wanna go see it again

                    – Incredibles 2 : Pixar gave us a lil bit of the Cars 2 hangover with focusing too much I felt on Jack Jack, instead of the whole crew.  It was a lot better than Cars 2 and a decent sequel but I think it could have been better.

Anticipated Sequel – Captain Marvel (prequel) & Avengers 4

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.  

The Avengers

Friday afternoon I took a half day and went to go see the Avengers!  I've been pumped for this movie since Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America came out.  How they would tie them all in and their worlds together.  Iron Man was created in more of a real world...Captain America kind of but with a little stretch of a fantasy and then Thor is mythical and being tied into all of this.  Then add in Loki, Hawkeye, the Black Widow and Nick Fury, on and the HULK.

The whole thing was amazing from start to finish, and past the credits.  It was fun watching the 4 main characters grow a little bit more and also try to grow as a team and the pains that came with it.  In my opinion Robert Downey Jr and the Hulk stole the show.  Not saying that the Chris's weren't great because they were but I think Downey Jr's Iron Man is more established and the Hulk also needed to be reintroduced.  There was also the addition of Hawkeye in here and Black Widow and more Nick Fury.  Tom Hiddleston was great too as Loki.  

The credits scene sets up an Avengers 2.  I can't wait for that, and Thor 2, Iron Man 3 and Captain America 2 and may end up going to see this one again in the theaters!  That'd be a first in a long time seeing a movie twice in the theater.  Right now its a clear leader in the club house too for my 2012 Summer Movie Awards and Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man have a big hill to climb.

4.5 / 5 Stars

THOR

THOR

Friday afternoon I was able to go to see the newest Marvel movie, Thor, on opening day.  I got off early, was excited to get to a movie with out kids and by myself, just nice and relaxing.

As for the movie, I really enjoyed it as a movie in itself.  It's a fun diversion from the real hero setup that is in Iron Man.  I never really knew of Thor and his history.  To see how Marvel will intertwine the Hulk, Thor, IronMan and Captain America will be interesting.

Chris Hemsworth was excellent as the God of Thunder.  He had the size and strength to pull of Thor and he was great.  Anthony Hopkins was great as Odin, Thor's father.   We got to see more of Clark Gregg as Shield Agent Coulson as he was a supporting character rather than just a little blip on the radar in Iron Man.  I really liked Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Dr Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard).  My one complaint on the casting is Natalie Portman (and I love her), but it seemed like she was trying to hard to fit in that role.  We also get introduced to another fellow SHIELD member Hawkeye in the film.

If you are going to the movie remember to stay for the secret scene after the credits!

3.5 Stars out of 5.  Was really good.