2022 Summer Movie Awards Watch List

 The popcorn movies are back!  The pandemic is mostly over and we can get back to getting the Summer Blockbusters on the big screen.  They are starting earlier more and more each year, or at least I stretch this awards season out more each year with flicks I want to see.  

So what's on tap?  Again the summer is full of Sequels and Super Heroes and well usually a combination of both.  Here's what is on our radar this year.

  

  

 

I'm definitely most excited about the Marvel flix, take those out of the equation then I'm thinking Top Gun Maverick will be my most anticipated of this list followed by Jurassic World 3.  What are you most looking forward too.

So we have a good list of 8 and will probably add more.  Get out there and get back to normal and have some fun with these.  

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.  

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. 

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.

Thor : Ragnorak - Son and Dad Instant Review

 

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

2011 Summer Movie Awards

It's that time of year again, football is starting along with school and my time at the theater is going to be declining.....and also time for my 3rd Annual Summer Movie Awards.  I was able to 7 summer movies this year.  In order they are Thor, Bridesmaids, KungFu Panda 2, XMen First Class, Transformers 3, Cars 2 and Captain America.  This Summer definitely has a SUPER HERO feel to it with the 3 Marvel movies and the Green Lantern too.  With out further ado here are the 2011 Awards.

Best Movie 

XMen First Class

Best Dude

James McAvoy : Charles Xavier : XMEN First Class

Best Dudette

Melissa McCarthy : Megan : Bridesmaids

Best Scene

Magneto as a young boy with Sebastian Shaw in Poland Nazi Concentration Camp  - You really see what builds Erik’s 

personality. : XMEN First Class

-Honorable Mention - Charles and Erik recruiting mutants and the cameo by one Wolverine. : XMEN First Class

-Honorable Mention - Sam watching the execution of Bumblebee…the connection between the two is seen there. : Transformers 3

Best Fight

Optimus Prime vs Sentinel Prime vs Megatron…could have been longer with all 3…something the WWE would have been jealous of. : Transformers 3
-Honorable Mention - Captain America vs Red Skull in the Valkyrie : Captain America The First Avenger

Biggest Dud

Cars 2 - Cars was such a great movie, this one just fell flat, a miss by Pixar

Anticipated Sequel

XMen - I want to see this expand and tell more stories.  There are so many more XMen stories to tell..Wolverine 2 needs to be its own story arc…keep the XMen Story line characters and Wolverine characters separate.

Summer movie not seen that I want too

Fast Five

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.

Grab your popcorn...

The snow has melted….well for some of us, the NCAA tournament is over and the Sun is coming out.  Also with that trailers are starting to hit the airways.  So I took a quick gander at the calendar and what movies will be rolling out this summer that I’m going to be marking on my calendar that I want to go see.

It all starts out on May 6^th with THOR.  One of Marvel’s singular films that helps set up the super hero montage that is The Avengers.  I think this movie will be decent, but the one question I have is how are they going to tie a mythical character like Thor into the real world that is already set up with Iron Man and kind of The Hulk?

Next is the 4^th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean on May 20^th.  A cash cow for Disney, I hope this one is more like the first pirates than the 2^nd or 3^rd.  They were a disappointment for me, but the first one was amazing.  Please be more like the first. 

May 27^th is a double feature weekend or sequels.  Kung Fu Panda 2 (which apparently is 2 of 6 Panda films to be made?) is going to probably steal the box office with all the kids wanting to see this.  I loved the first one, hope this one continues it.  I’m sure it will.  Then the Hangover 2 comes this weekend also.  Really can you get better than the first?  I think they are taking a big risk at damaging the first with the second.  If it flops, I think it hurts the first one.  Hope they know what they are doing.  That being said, still hope I laugh my ass off at this one.

A week later, X-Men:The First Class.  Jump back about 30 years from when X-Men came out when Charles Xavier and Magneto are buddies and just building the X-Mansion and school.  As an X-Men fan I’m going to question this one a bit.  The first X-Men were Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey and IceMan.  That changed a bit with a young IceMan in the first 3 movies.  Then apparently Emma Frost is in this movie and older than when she was in Wolverine?  How’s that fly?  Also they have 2 sequels possibly green lit after this movie too? 

June 10^th comes Super 8.  JJ Abrams (Star Trek) teams up with Steven Speilberg for a movie I really know nothing about.  The trailers don’t show much but I like that, don’t show us the whole movie in a trailer.  Will be interesting to see what this one is all about.

Another week, another movie..here comes Green Lantern.  DC Comics gets away from Superman and Batman and puts another star on the big screen.  Ryan Reynolds (also plays Marvel’s Deadpool) dons the green ring in from what I’ve seen from trailers, looks like a fun movie, I’m going to say kind of like the first Fantastic Four movie.

June 24^th I’m sad to say has what I’m going to target as looking to be the most disappointing movie of the summer that I’ll be seeing…Cars 2.  Mater and Lightning travel the world and racing but then become spys?  I’m not sure how this one is going to fly.  But since my boy loves Cars, we will be seeing it.

Transformers 3 Dark Side of the Moon comes out on July 1^st.  This one has to be better than T2 mostly because it can’t be any worse.  The first Transformers was a huge hit, 2+ hours of awesomeness.  The second film I didn’t really care for, the story sucked, some of the jokes were bad….it was like the Megan Fox show off show and to many robots that didn’t get enough air time to get more in depth into the story.

The final movie I’m looking forward to this summer (as of right now) I have the highest hopes for.  It was screened and got rave reviews apparently.  Another Marvel film that is to lead up to the super hero montage, the Avengers….Captain America.  Chris Evans takes the role of Cap and Hugo Weaving the Red Skull.  Tied into this movie is bits from Iron Man and the Hulk.  Which makes me confused as to how Thor is going to tie into it.

Again at the end of summer (around the middle of August) I’ll again be doing my Summer Movie Awards so hopefully I’ll get to all these 10, and maybe a few more. 

2010 Summer Movie lineup

·         Thor – May 6

·         Pirates – May 20

·         Hangover 2 – May 26

·         Kung fu panda 2 – May 27

·         X-Men first class – June 3

·         Super 8 – June 10

·         Cars 2 – June 24

·         Green lantern – June 17

·         T3 – July 1

·         Capt America – July 22