My Top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe Films

 

Ladies and gentlemen this year marks the first year since the late 2000's where there hasn't been a new film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a list that I really haven't thought about that much and so I can't really say how well this post will turn out and just for some ground rules i'm only counting the films that i've seen quite alot of just because i'm a forgetful person and so it wouldn't make sense for me to include films that i've forgotten about and the films have to have been released so no upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe films will be counted for obvious reasons and so anyways enjoy the post everyone.

10) Captain Marvel

If anything this film should have been a home run for Marvel since they were not long gone of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame was there next film to be released. However what we ended up with was something that was more bothered with shoving politics down our throats then giving us a hero that we can care about which for your first solo is something that should have been a top priority and it doesn't help that the writing for not only the character of Carol Danvers but the film as a whole was really bad with the film telling us to care about Carol and telling us that she has emotions instead of giving us a reason to care about her and showing us her emotions.

9) Ani-Man

For me personally this film didn't live up to it's potential because it had all the potential to be one of the greatest Marvel Cinematic Universe films but for some reason it just couldn't live up to it. Which might be why the film just wasn't that good for me personally and hell for years this was my first Marvel Cinematic Universe film but over time I have slowly warmed to the film but it's taken years for that me to even start to warm up to the film and so who knows in five years time this might crack my own personal top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

8) Iron Man 3

This film tired to fix something that wasn't broken the formular for the Marvel Cinematic Universe worked and yet this film tried to be darker. Which for the character of Tony Stark and everything that he went throw in the first The Avengers / Avengers Assemble makes alot of sense but it doesn't make sense for every character to act and behave how Tony is acting and behaving I give the makers of the film credit for trying something new but that something new has to also make alot of sense which sadly isn't the case here.

7) Thor

Now just like with Ant-Man I'm slowly warming up to this film and hell out of all of the great Phase One films this is one of the better ones. However with that said this film could have been alot better like they could have developed the romance between Thor and Jane alot better as well as better establish the friendship between Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Thor but as it is the film can't go any higher then number 7 om this list.

6) Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Don't worry guys and girls we get into the much better films after this one because the reason why this film is as low down as it is. Is because it suffers from having a director having to much control over the film and because of that there are alot of things that while they would go onto have bigger roles in future Marvel Cinematic Universe here they don't add up to anything which is a shame because two of characters introduced in this film will be starring in a Disney+ called Wandavision which starts streaming this January.

5) Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

So far the only sequel to Guardians Of The Galaxy this film did a good job of advancing the characters as well their relationship with not only each other but also the supporting cast from the previous film. What also works well in my opinion are the films more emotional moments and those work because we've had a whole film up until this point to get to know these characters and to care about them and so when something heartbreaking happens to these characters we really do feel it.

4) The Avengers / Avengers Assemble

This film did the impossible for comic book movies because it proved that not only can an entire cinematic universe work but it all proved that a team up / crossover movie can also work. What makes this film work is the characters because it's so much fun seeing these characters with conflicting personalities work of each other so well and the same is also true for Avengers: Age of Ultron and it goes to show that writer and director Joss Weadon really knows these characters inside and out or in my opinion it does anyways.

3) Avengers: Infinity War

This film had so many characters from previous films in it literally all of the heroes from the previous films are in this film and Avengers: Endgame. As such no one would have blamed this film if it crumbled under it's own pressure but not only did it not crumble under all of that pressure but it thrived because of all the characters that are in this film we get to see alot of fun and new combinations and team ups which help make the film 3ven more enjoyable then it already is in my opinion.

2) Guardians Of The Galaxy

The closest film that I can compare this film to is Star Wars: A New Hope because like that film this film was a huge risk for Marvel Studios and Disney. Since no one part from a small select group of die hard comic book fans knew about Guardians Of The Galaxy and so giving them a film didn't really make sense but it's film that works and it works due to how well written the film is and how well written the characters are and it helps that the film doesn't take itself to seriously either with there being plenty of laugh out loud moments all of which make the film more fun in my opinion.

1) Avengers: Endgame

Take everything I just said about Guardians Of The Galaxy and apply it to this film because while all of the characters were really well known at this point. It was still a fantastic film and hell even before this film came out my all time favourite Marvel Cinematic Universe film was Guardians Of The Galaxy but this film just blew me away with how good it is and how shocking and heartbreaking and uplifting the film is as well.

All of the mages and I do mean all of the images that I used in this post were gathered from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page. Since i only used one website to get all of these images I have no choice but to recommend tat you use the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page due to the fact that all of the images on that website are really high definition which for me at least when i'm making a post is a very important thing.

 

 

Guardians of The Galaxy: The Animated Series "Road To Knowhere" And "Knowhere To Run" Review

 

Marvel fans the company has put out alot of animated content over the years but ever since Disney bought them they've seen to be putting more and more animated shows out.  Some are pretty good and some are flat out bad but they all have one thing in common there all released a year or two after a live action movie a great example of that is Guardians Of The Galaxy where the movie debuted in 2014 and the show debuted in 2015 and so here is my review of the first to episodes of Guardians Of The Galaxy: The Animated Series called "Road To Knowhere" and "Knowhere To Run" respectively so enjoy everyone.

The plot of the episodes is the Guardians discover an object that only Peter can open and have to hide the device from Thanos. That's most likely the vaguest plot summery i've ever given but it's also the only one that I could give since these two episodes are really lacking in terms of story with there being very little actually going on as such I don't really see why this had to be a two part episode this story could have very easily have been told in just one episode.

Starring in the episodes are Will Friedle as Peter Quill / Star-Lord , Vanessa Marshall as Gamora and David Sobolov as Drax. Also starring in these episodes are Kevin Michael Richardson as Groot and The Broker , Trevor Devall as Rocket Raccoon , Dave Fennoy as Korath , The great James Arnold Taylor as Yondu and Cosmo and Isaac C. Singleton Jr. and the mad titan himself Thanos. For once I don't have to get a cast list for both episodes because every character who appears in the first episode appears in the second.

As for what I thought about the acting in these two episodes it's honestly not that bad but it's also not that good either. The main issue that I have with the acting is that barring a few performers the actors don't really sound right for there characters take for example the actor playing Korath the voice he uses for that character doesn't fit the character and it's the same with Rocket and that to me is very distracting but tho in the case Rocket the performer actually does a solid job even with the voice that doesn't fit the character.

                                                                            

Doing the animation for these episodes and the rest of the series is Studio Mir who people will know for there work on The Legend Of Korra. I honestly feel that the animation in these episodes is one of the best animation seen from the current Disney Marvel animated shows which i'm not quite sure if that's a good thing or not since the animation here does look fairly average at times espically during the scenes where the characters are standing still but when it comes to action the animation in my opinion is really good.

As you can no doubt work out by the poster but these episodes and the show uses designs based on the 2014 film Guardians Of The Galaxy. Which I guess makes sense since that movie was awesome but at the same time it stops the show from having an identity all it's own since it's reminds people that they could be watching something better hell the first song that they play in the episode is Hooked On A Feeling which is now more well known for being in Guardians Of The Galaxy then being a song released decades before the film was even made.

Now before you all say anything yes I know that alot of the images i'm using aren't from these episodes but in my defense none of the fandom pages have alot of images for this episode and there's not that many HD images on Google so i'm doing the best that I can. That being said I liked the fact that we got to see a bit more of Knowhere in these episodes which I liked because the idea of Knowhere is such a cool one and the first movie didn't give us alot of time on Knowhere and so to it come back and play a big role in these episodes was a good thing in my opinion.

Unlike the first movie these episodes actually give Cosmo something to do which is great because after re-watching these episodes I like this character. To me what makes the character of Cosmo so likeable aside from the fact that he's a cute doggie who is most certainly a good boy is the fact that you can have him team up with any character in this show and the interactions that they could have would be different each time and that makes him fun to watch as well as a fun character.

One of the things that I didn't like about these episodes is that even thor Thanos is the main villain for both episodes he doesn't really play that big of a role in the plot. Which is a shame because as the movies show us he can be a cool villain and so it's a shame to see him wasted in these two episodes hell when it comes to these first two episodes we don't even see him in person until the final act of the second episode with alot of his screen time being present via hologram which really isn't as good as seeing him in person.

The other thing that I didn't like about the first episode is that they turned Groot back into a baby for no reason whatsoever. There's no reason given in the story as to why Groot had to be a baby again and him being in baby form has to impact on the story he's in hi baby form for a few seconds and then due to the events of the episode is really tall and then in the second episode is back to his regular normal form and so I have to ask what was the point in having in his baby form when your not going to do anything with him and it's not going to play a role in the story , to me it seems like the creators of the show saw a rough version of the movie and so included baby Groot just to appeal to people who thought that version of the character's cameo was cute and nothing more which is stupid as hell reason to include that version of the character.

The show started airing on September 5th 2015 and finished airing on June 9th 2019 with the series airing on Disney XD. I will always say that three seasons is good run for any animated show good or bad and the same is true here they had a solid run with seventy seven episodes under there belt which regardless of what you think of the show that's an impressive amount of episodes for any show in my opinion.

Now then since this is an action show that does mean that we have to talk about the action that's in these episodes. Like I said the action is where the animation is at it's best for me since everything just leaps of the screen and is stunning to look at during the action scenes it's just a shame then that the action itself is pretty tame we don't get to see the guardians punching or kicking anyone at best we see them shooting the bad guys and that's it which is fine for one or two action scenes but when it's the majority of them it get's boring to watch fast.

Overall these episodes despite there many faults are still fun to watch which for a Guardians Of The Galaxy product is an important thing for me. Even tho i've just said these episodes are fun to watch they do still gave there faults all of which i've covered in this review and i'm sure there's a few of you out there who will tell me that i'm wrong for liking this show but I do feel that it's the best animated show from Marvel under the Disney banner as such these episodes get a combine score of a 7 out of 10 from me.

All images that I used in this review were gathered from either official Guardians Of The Galaxy The Series fandom wiki page or the official Disney fandom wiki page. I honestly cannot say which is the best website to use for images from either this show or these episodes since the Guardians Of The Galaxy The Series fandom wiki page doesn't have that many images and the ones on the Disney fandom wiki page aren't that HD so use either website.

 

                          

Some Of My Favorite Comic Book Movies

Guys and girls it seems like forever that we have been getting comic book movies regardless if they were good or not and now it seems like there's one released every five minuets and since others have done something like this in the past i'm going to list of some of my favorite comic book movies so let's go and just to set some ground rules i'm only listing of films that got a wide theatrical release.

Batman 1966

I'm going to warn you all right now there might be alot of Batman in this post this film is featured here because it was one of the first Batman films I saw heck I even now own the DVD it also helps the chemistry between the late Adam West and Burt Ward is really great this version of the character is one that you cannot take seriously and I like that.

The Entire Blade Trilogy

You might as well include all three films here since all of them are pretty much the same but without this film comic book films wouldn't be taken as seriously today since back when the first Blade came out they were still seen as campy films this film stood up and told people that you can make a serious comic book movie and it can be successful.

Batman Begins

This film single handily saved the Batman film franchise is it perfect heck no but it's a good start to a great trilogy of films and it proved that Batman can survive on the big screen all he needs is the right creative team to make it so and Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer have proven themselves to be a great creative team.

Guardians Of The Galaxy

The best word I can use to describe this film is fun this film is fun from start to finish and part of that is due to the great writing from James Gunn and no i'm not going to mention the fact that he was fired by Disney for jokes that even he himself said were done in bad taste and was ashamed of. This film for me is one of if not the best film in the MCU and yes that means it's better then both Ant-Man and Ant-Man And The Wasp.

Wonder Woman

There are no words to describe how good this film is this film had such an uphill struggle it was being released after the dreadful Dawn Of Justice and it was being set in the still very shaky DCEU and so far this is the best film in that universe it is everything you want in a Wonder Woman movie and then some and i;m glad that the same people who worked on this movie are currently working on the sequel.

Logan

This film is to date one of the few superhero films that have made me cry the other one might be showing up on this list but if not just look at the title and you'll see why. Again like Wonder Woman this film had an uphill struggle because while the X-Men films have been fairly solid the Wolverine films have been pretty bad so imagine everyone's shock when this one comes out not only blows the other two out of the water but is also a fitting tribute to the character.

The Dark Knight

Going into this list I knew that there would be a few films that would have to be included and this is certainly one of them so you die hard fans can out down your touches and pitchforks. All I can say is believe the hype about this film because it really is good it's not the best representation of Batman ut there indeed my next DC entry has that title but it has a great story mixed in with great acting and action sequences.

The Avengers Franchise

Again this is one of those film that I knew would have to make an appearance on here and there really is nothing more I can say about the film that really hasn't been said it truly does earn all of the praise that it got and like the rest of you i'm not only excited for Captain Marvel but also for Avengers 4.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

 

This is to date the only Batman animated feature to get a theatrical release and it's also the film that best represents the character and honestly it's shocking that we are only now getting a blu-ray release for this film heck if I were to rank all of the films that have featured Batman this film would go right in at number 1.

Deadpool

I don't know about everyone else but I prefer this film over the second one which while not bad it didn't feel as fresh as this one was this film proved to people that an R rated comic book film could not only work but could also make a lot of money and like Mask Of The Phantasm this is the best representation of Deadpool as a character.

Superman 1978

This film right here is the best comic book movie ever made hands down not only did it get the character of Superman down perfectly it also proved to studios that comic book characters can indeed work on the big screen and while yes by today's standards the film might seem slower that doesn't make it a bad film because it takes it's time to develop it's characters and to develop it's story both of which are important when your making a film and yes this means it's better then The Dark Knight in my eyes.

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cosmic Avengers Volume 1 Review

Guardians fans the team has found great success on the big screen and I guess you could say the small screen as well altho that depends on who you ask but before they were household names they were a little known comic book team of heroes and in 2013 the team along with a whole host of characters where apart of the Marvel Now which was a relaunch of several comic books and here is my review of the first volume from the 2013 Guardians Cosmic Avengers.

The plot of the book is Earth is now officially of limits to all alien races and it's up to the Guardians and Iron Man to find out what's going on and to put a stop to it. Honestly the plot is well actually is hard for me to say if it's good or bad since I cannot make up my mind either way since it's a typical Guardians plot line but then there are things that are in there which just don't add up but i'll go into those later on since I have alot of thoughts on those.

Making up the team for this book is Star Lord , Drax , Gamora , Rocket and Groot and for some really odd reason they are joined by Iron Man and not the Riri Williams version either it's Tony Stark and it's just weird seeing him with the Guardians i'm not opposed to it since it does lead to some good banter with Rocket but when you think of Guardians Of The Galaxy you don't think of Iron Man so it seems like an odd thing to make him apart of the team.

Speaking of Iron Man they give perhaps the laziest reason as to why he's in space they just say that he's on vacation from Earth and that's it no one questions it and i'm sat here thinking "Tony your an Avenger if anything you need to be on Earth incase it's under attack" and what happens right when Tony leaves earth it gets attacked it only makes me wish that they had come up with a better excuse to have Tony join the team like maybe for example he wants to see what's out there and thus he joins up with the Guardians because they travel all over the galaxy.

The art for this story was done by Steve McNiven who's worked on the original Civil War book as well as many others and honestly I chose the above image because for me it's the best example of his art and the art in this book is pretty good i'm no expert artist by any means but I felt that the artwork in this book was good that at times I wouldn't need to read the speech bubbles in order to understand the story I could just see the pictures and understand what's going on.

For those that don't know the Cosmic Avengers only covers the first three issues of the 2013 Guardians run but the collection also added Tomorrows Avengers number 1 which for me was a strange thing to do why not just leave it with Cosmic Avengers don't try to confuse me by adding in a different issue from a different series it doesn't even connect to Cosmic Avengers in anyway what so ever.

Now lets get onto those issues that I mention before for some unknown reason they made Peter come off as a bit of a douche bag in this story and it serves no purpose at all and it makes him seem very unlikable as a character there was just no reason at all to make him come across as this unlikable yes he saw his mother get killed and he wasn't aware that his dad was a king but that's still no excuse to have him acting in this way what so ever.

The other major issue I have is more story based when the Guardians plus Tony are captured two of the guards mention that Gamora is the daughter of Thanos so instead of letting at least her go to keep daddy sweet they keep her locked up because yeah that's what i'd do if I found out one of the mad titans daughters was going to jail they could have had pretend to be knocked out and then knock the guards out and let her friends out at least that would have been in character.

I will say that the action is honestly really well done and for me that's nothing new since the Guardians films have great action in them but for some reason I never knew that the comics did so for me it was great to see that it wasn't just the films that had good action and unlike the films the action in this story helps advance the story and that's something that I see so rarely be it in film or in comic book.

I picked up both this book and Deadpool Vs Thanos for £5 each and for me given that most comic book collections go for at least double that price i'd say is a freaking steal and I actually had a choice to either review this r Deadpool Vs Thanos and I think I might have made the wrong choice for all the reasons i've listed above but I chose this because I was honestly more familiar with Guardians then I was with Deadpool.

Overall story wise the book is pretty interesting but since it's the start of the new run of books you know that the team will make it out ok so there's no stakes but if you like the comic book feel of the first film then I see no harm in picking up this book for me tho it scores a 6 out of 10.

Guardians Of The Galaxy TV Series Review

Hello there Marvel fans this is a review i've been toying with doing for a while now and finally here it is and just by pure chance it's come not long after my review of Avengers Assembled so here is my review of the pretty fun Guardians Of The Galaxy TV series.

Like Avengers Assemble each season of this show has a different plot the first season has the guardians trying to find and destroy something called The Cosmic Seed before Thanos gets his hands on it and uses it to wipe out the galaxy. Season two on the other hand has the Guardians looking for a strange sarcophagus which contains something really powerful and it also has them trying to defend that powerful object.

Now what I found great about the first season's story was that it lasted the whole twenty plus episode season they really did take there time telling that story and that made the pay off much more rewarding but it's a shame then that in season 2 them trying to find the sarcophagus only lasts until episode 10 that whole plot line could have lasted a whole season.

Starring as the guardians we have Ron Stoppable as Peter Quill , Hera as Gamora , Trevor Devall as Rocket , Lion Turtle as Groot and David Sobolov as Drax. Yes I know the actors have names but lets face it those are the names you'll most likely no them by but tho all kidding aside the actors playing the guardians do a really great job even if it was hard for me not to hear the live action actors at the beginning and even tho Yondu is in this series he's not played by Micheal Rooker and he is the only person who is aloud to play him I have now decided. 

What I forgot to mention before is that unlike Avengers Assemble which changed it's title pretty every season for this shows first two seasons it's just called Guardians Of The Galaxy it's only getting a subtitle for it's upcoming third season which is due to premier next week on Disney XD and I think they said the premier episode will be an hour long.

What I found while doing some Avatar research was that Studio Mir did the animation for this show but only the first season and I cannot find out who did the animation for the second unless Marvel Animation took over since that would save them alot of money. 

The animation for the show it self I thought was really well it looked like it existed in the same world as Avengers Assembled there's lots of great fluid looking movements and stunning backgrounds I think that's the one thing that even people who hate the current Marvel animated line up can agree on the animation is really good.

I admit when the series was first announced and they released the character designs I like most of the world thought this was set in the MCU I mean how could you not they all look like there live action counterparts but nope this has nothing to do with the MCU it instead takes part in the Marvel Animated Universe but then I have to ask why did they make the characters look like how they did in the movies why not make them look different kids would still watch the show because of how good the movie was and the same reason goes for the adults even Thanos kinda looks like Josh Brolin.

This is a question I asked myself during the first season finale since it took place on earth why the hell didn't either The Avengers or Spider-Man come in to offer some help it took place in there backyard and they didn't even cameo even in the season two premier where the avengers did appear they don't even mention it.

I can safely say that the action scenes are one of this shows big selling points for me personally they were really well animated and for me personally they were pretty creative and they don't always boil down to who can hit who the hardest there are times in this series where one of the heroes has to use there brains to win the fight and that was something that I really liked.

This show has a pretty sweet soundtrack and i'm not going to lie I might have sung a song or two during this series but in my defense they played both Hooked On Feeling and Don't Stop Me Now the actual score for the show for me was pretty bland but that might be because I was more interested in what ever song was playing during that episode then the actual music.

Overall this was a really fun show and I hope that it gets more attention since it's miles better then the new Spider-Man cartoon and it has fun with it's characters and setting plus the soundtrack is pretty sweet it gets an 8 out of 10 from me.