Avengers

Avengers Endgame

I cannot be objective about this movie. At all. You get laughs, tears, the whole gamut of emotions. The screenwriters and directors manage to pay off every movie from the MCU. Every Movie. Even Thor: Dark World.

I cannot go into the opening scene. It is emotionally devastating. It is a gut punch to remind you people missing and what the remaining people are going through.

Spoilers – no Spoliers. The Avengers track down Thanos after the Snap. It does not go as well as they plan. Then we get a significant time jump. We see how the world has progressed in 5 years with half the population gone.

Ant-Man plays pretty heavily into the plot of Endgame. The Avengers prepare a Heist of epic proportions to gather the stones to undo the Snap. But like all plans, it does not survive contact with the enemy.

Along the way we get to revisit moments from all the previous MCU movies. So much character development. Every character gets their moment to shine in one way or another.

Phase 4 and Beyond are setup. But this could easily be the last MCU movie and tie everything up nicely.

I do not have just one favorite or stand out moment from the movie. But several. A lot from the final reel.

Two quotes to highlight a couple:

Thor -> “…I Knew It!”

Spider-Man -> “…Instant-Kill…”

Starring: Anyone and Everyone from previous MCU movies.

Captain Marvel

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. The origin story is sprinkled throughout until we get the payoff near the final act.

It opens with a nice tribute to Stan Lee. His cameo, while brief, was perfect.

This movie has easter eggs galore. We get a young character who may become Photon in present day MCU. We get young Fury and Colson. We get Ronan the Accuser as well as one of his henchman introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy. The movie also plays with Fury losing his eye.

Captain Marvel has many light and funny moments.

The theater I was in was filled with adults and children. Barring one child getting upset when the skrulls were on screen, most had a blast and were cheering Carol Danvers on .

Just like GotG, the souindtrack for this movie is an amazing throwback. This time to the 90s.

Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch, Clark Gregg, Rune Temte, Gemma Chan, Algenis Perez Soto, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Chuku Modu, Akira Akbar, Azari Akbar

Synopsis: The story follows Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. Set in the 1990s, Captain Marvel is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

I loved Ant-Man and the Wasp. I think it is better than the original – especially villain-wise. Ghost turns out to be a somewhat sympathetic villain. I like sympathetic villains. Villains that have more depth than a cookie-cutter villain.

Like Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp brings some laughs and fun back into the MCU.

We see Scott Lang almost finished with his house arrest he has been under for 2 years since Cap: Civil War. (This movie does take place right before the end of Avengers 3.) He’s playing with his daughter, doing work with his friends from the first movie. They have built a security company named X-Cons. Then he gets a weird dream/vision of Janet van Dyne playing hide and seek with a young Hope. He gives them a call and it becomes a race to rescue Janet.

This is where Ghost comes in. She needs the tech the Pyms are using for the Quantum Realm for her own ends. We also have a shady tech/arms dealer in the mix as well.

You do need the mid credits sequence. But the after credits sequence has no narrative impact – and it is in the trailers.

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tip TI Harris, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Douglas, David Dastmalchian

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Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War brings together the world we were introduced to in 2008 with Iron Man.

Characters from all but one movie are weaved in and out of the story. We get some funny. Some sad. Some angering. Some real sad.

If you have read the Infinity Gauntlet story, you have an idea where this story is headed.

I cannot stress enough that you should watch this in the theater.

I have watched this two times so far and the emotional beats hit me both times.

Watching Dr. Strange interact with Iron Man and Spider-Manwas a high light. But the true team-up to end all team-ups: Thor, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot (teenage version).

Avengers: Infinity War is a long movie. And it is weaving several simultaneous story beats. From a fight in Wakanda to one on Titan to Knowhere. But none of the story elements drag on or are shorted. And all are needed for plot.

There is only one post-credit scene at the end of a very long list of contributors. It is not essential, but a nice easter egg for a future movie.

I am amazed that Marvel Studios has been able to create a series of movies tied to each other with various themes that work together as well as they do. Not all of their movies have been huge hits (Iron Man 2, Thor 2 – imo) But they have all had a certain level of quality. This may have come at the expense of some directors’ creativity, but Marvel Studios has not let me down yet.

Starring: … Practically everyone from previous MCU movies. Check out IMDB for the full list.

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Black Panther

Like most initial solo Marvel hero movies, Black Panther gives us a nice introduction to the character and his motivations above and beyond his introduction in Civil War.

Black Panther introduces us to the MCU version of Wakanda, his family, love interest, and traditions. Also, where those same traditions can fail.

Wakanda as a society has always hidden who and what they are. The world at large sees Wakanda as a third world farming country. Not the technologically advanced, rich country they are. Some Wakandans believe they should go out into the world with their technology and help people while others wish to stick with tradition.

Claw returns and has a sonic hand cannon and is working with War Monger. They show little regard for human life while stealing a Wakandan artifact from a museum. Their attempt to sell it in South Korea to the CIA brings them in direct conflict with the Black Panther.

War Monger takes extraordinary steps (many evil steps) to get into Wakanda. You want to completely dislike the character. But. His backstory makes him a sympathetic character. Up to a point. War Monger’s ideals to spread Wakandan weaponry and begin an Empire are in direct conflict with the Black Panther and Wakandan tradition.

The fight between War Monger and Black Panther ultimately splits the Wakandan people over tradition and new ideals. There will be a lot of healing needed for the Wakandan people. And a change in tradition.

The mid credits scene lets us see how Wakanda will be interacting with the world at large now. The post credits scene gives us a nice update on characters last seen in Civil War.

My favorite character introduced by far is Shuri, T’Challa’s sister. She brought a fun lightheartedness take on the role. Okoye was just plain badass.

There were a lot of kids at the theater when I saw this movie. They all had a blast. This one group sitting near me had all of them picking which Marvel hero they were going to be. From Black Panther to Iron Man. Then the movie started….and all the kids were so engrossed in the movie. I have never seen a movie where kids were so behaved and engrossed in a movie.

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, John Kani
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