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Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
Pretty good origin story
I am fairly new to the Marvel world knowing more via the movies than the comics compared to diehard fans. While I only know the basics about Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, this movie was a good origin story for me to learn more. Or at least the more the MCU wants us to know.

Carol has no memories of her past, only flashes when she goes to the supreme intelligence. The woman she sees was apparently important to her but she can't remember why. When she gets kidnapped by Skrulls and her memories cut into she sets out to find out where she came from.

Finding herself on Earth she meets up with Nick Fury and together they try to find out about her past. Fighting off Skrull invaders has Carol and Nick on the run along with Goose the cat. Carol comes to realize all she has been told about her past has been a lie manipulated by the Kree. She then takes on the role her mentor Mar-vell had of protecting the Skrulls.

She leave Nick Fury and Earth with a way to contact her in the future if needed. And Nick comes up with the Avengers initiative based on her call name of "Avenger".

It was a typical origin story, though knowing or thinking she was going to be an important part of the Avenger storyline had me looking for more action I guess. Will have to wait to see how she figures into the MCU future phases and Endgame.
  
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
2016 | Action, Sci-Fi
Everything! (0 more)
In my top 5 Marvel movies
Contains spoilers, click to show
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because I did not care for the Baron Zemo angle. His reason for revenge was related to his family getting killed due to the actions of the Avengers. In the comics Zemo was a power and despot that was on the same level as Captain America when it comes to battle. This story was similar to the story arc in the Civil War comics. The government wants to control heroes because innocent people get killed in their battles trying to save mankind. The last battle they had with Ultron was the catalyst for the Sokovia accords. Oversight by the allied nations. We finally see Cap and Bucky reunited as friends but it is a little tricky at first. Bucky gets blamed for a terrorist action that he is innocent of. Zemo gets a hold of a old Hydra book that was used to brainwash Bucky and he uses it again on Bucky to carry out his plan. The "Civil War" begins when Tony agrees with oversight from the UN and Cap disagrees. The highligjt for me is seeing Spider-Man finally in the MCU. The action was great, the story was great and it had a profound impact on the MCU. It ended with Tony and Steve not being the best of friends and you see that affect in Infinity War. This movie is highly recommended by me
  
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
2015 | Action, Sci-Fi
This second outing for the full Avengers ensemble is a bit messier than the confident and tight first film, but still manages to be fun and exciting in spite of its flaws.

Once again, the huge positive is the great cast, and the chemistry they all share. The core six Avengers return, and provide the films humour (rightfully scaled back from the all out comedy tone of Guardians) and generally remind everyone why they're the solid backbone of this mammoth franchise.
There are plenty of new faces joining them, most notably Scarlet Witch (Elisabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and all integrate smoothly.
The villain is the titular Ultron (voiced by James Spader), a classic Marvel Comics villain that unfortunately ends up being another one-and-done MCU antagonist. This films main focus is the relationships between the Avengers, and sewing seeds for Civil War, and sadly, Ultron sort of gets pushed aside for this. It's a shame because Spader does a great job of making Ultron a sinister presence, but he ends up being little more than a CGI commander, of a CGI robot army.
Some of the set pieces are great though, particularly the Hulk vs Hulkbuster scene, and the climactic finale, and the child me who grew up reading these comics was nothing short of thrilled to see Vision in action.

Age of Ultron is somewhat underwhelming for a full blown Avengers entry, but still manages to be entertaining. Hopefully, we will see Ultron return in a future installment that has some more depth to it.
  
Arrow  -  Season 1
Arrow - Season 1
2012 | Drama
What DC really needed at the time
Arrow season one was definitely one of the best seasons and really helped DC since they were kinda struggling along at the time this came out compared to Marvel who was put ping out media left and right.

I absolutely loved the cast and characters they all had such great chemistry and really helped to suck you into to the show. While they had plenty of hidden and not so hidden things for long time comic fans you didn't feel like you had to know anything about the characters or the plot before watching but at the same time as a long time standing fan of the comics it was fresh and fun enough where you didn't feel bored.


The only thing that would get to me and that carries on into later seasons which ultimately led to me stop watching the series is it would get very soap opera-y to the point of rolling your eyes at the screen.
  
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The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) Apr 5, 2018

I enjoyed season 1 for what it was, it went south after season one for us though.

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) in Movies

Jul 3, 2019 (Updated Jul 3, 2019)  
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
Seventh Spider-Man movie gets off to a slightly wobbly start, almost seeming to have been slipped a real hospital pass by Endgame: clearly it feels obliged to address the rather messy state of the MCU, in addition to making a big fuss about being a proper MCU film (much more than the non-Sony MCU films do). However, once Spider-Man and his moderately amazing friends head off to Europe the film perks up considerably, especially with the appearance of Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio (Gyllenhaal is very good value).

The film is genuinely funny and benefits a lot from a clever plot - the problem is that the nature of the plot is extremely guessable, even if you're only passingly familiar with the comics. Still, good jokes, nice performances, and the best Tower Bridge-based VFX sequence since Gorgo in 1961. I think it would be unwise to try and intuit the whole future direction of the Marvel project from this one film, but this is still good (if slightly uneven) fun.
  
Venom (2018)
Venom (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
It's... Ok, I guess...
There's not really much to say about Venom to be honest. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, it just sort of exists.

It's a pretty by the numbers origin film, that veers fairly sharply from the comics due to there being zero Spider-Man.
If you've seen the trailer, then you know the plot. There are no surprises (with the exception of an extremely on the nose tease for future installments near the end).
No one in the cast seems to be too bothered that they are there either, with the exception of Tom Hardy, who does a pretty sterling job of playing Eddie Brock - the dialogue between him and Venom is pretty entertaining throughout.

Surprising absolutely no one, the films climaxes in a CGI heavy face off, with both parties being dark grey in colour - making for a pretty bland showdown.

Venoms ok, worth a watch, even if it's just the one time - the Marvel nerd in me just really wishes that these characters were under the same MCU umbrella (one day... One day)
  
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LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Captain Marvel (2019) in Movies

May 14, 2019 (Updated Jun 22, 2020)  
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
Captain Marvel delivers a solid and safe chapter into the MCU
Contains spoilers, click to show
After 10 years of connected movies, Marvel are finally introducing one of their most powerful characters into their cinematic universe, and there's plenty to be excited about.
It's Marvel's first truly female led movie for a start, and the decision to forgo the original Mar-vell from the comics, and dive straight into the story of Carol Danvers is a wise move.
This decision routes the film in a 90s setting, with plenty of nostalgic call backs (Blockbuster anyone?), and a solid grunge filled soundtrack, that compliments a world that is yet to see The Avengers.

It's fun to see a non jaded Nick Fury, blissfully unaware of the extent of the cosmic universe, and a pleasure to see Clark Gregg return to the MCU as Coulson (a short but sweet roll). Side roles for Anette Benning and Lashana Lynch are nicely fleshed as well.
At this point, I'm still not 100% sold on Brie Larson, but she carries the film well enough for it to be an above average origin story, but honestly, the supporting cast outshines her at times (even Goose the cat threatens to steal the show at times).

As for the villains, well, the trailers painted the long anticipated Skrulls as the main threat, but the movie pulls a right turn midway through, and reveals that Talos and his Skrull followers are actually refugees, trying to escape the clutches of Jude Law and his murderous Kree death squad.

The Skrulls are a welcome edition to the MCU, and sets up a possible Secret Invasion storyline in the future, however, the direction of the story and the script pummels Jude Law into one the most underwhelming MCU villains we've had so far.

By the same merit, this film is all about it's titular character, and I would imagine the writers never wanted that focus to stray - Carol Danvers is here to stay after all.

Captain Marvel is a low stakes, colourful comic book adventure that nicely and safely fills a gap in the MCU, and sets us you nicely for post Endgame stories.