Thursday, May 7, 2015

Summer of Marvel: Introduction

NOTE: check the Bottom of the comments for an update.

We have received a lot of requests to write some stuff on the Marvel movies. And, since just about everyone here except Andrew is a fan of the movies, we here at Commentarama Headquarters have decided to do just that. For the rest of the Summer we will be looking at various entries in the Marvel movie series.


Marvel Cinematic Universe

First, some terminology. The franchise is properly called the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” or MCU. From here on out we will be calling it just that. And here are the list of live-action properties.

Movies:
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor: Dark World
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron

And this summer we have Ant-Man coming out.

The TV shows
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agent Carter
Daredevil

The Review Series
Now, this won’t be your standard review series. No, “Marvel Movie Countdown” where someone goes through all the movies counting down from worst to best. For one thing, the franchise also spans three TV shows, with more on the way. Second, we’ve decided to split the duties because the views on the various movies differ and I think those differing views. So one week you might here me discuss why Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most enjoyable romps in cinematic history and then Andrew postulate on the one Marvel movie he likes.

They will instead be interspersed throughout the summer on Fridays in between regular movie reviews. I can't even promise we will review all of the Marvel movies but we will try to review most of them. But we will try.

So, any recommendations? Ideas? How about your favorite Marvel movies?

18 comments:

tryanmax said...

Well let me be the first to say I'm excited and looking forward to it. If I think of something more, I'll pop back in.

Kit said...

Thanks, Tyranmax!

Anthony said...

Sounds interesting.

One funny Marvel tidbit I recently read is Samuel Jackson's response to the writer who made Ultimate Nick Fury (who shows up in all the movies) a clone of him.

I edited out the profanity to make it SFW.

--------------

How did Jackson feel about having his likeness used without permission?

Millar told BI over email what happened when he finally met the actor on the set of "Kingsman: The Secret Service" (emphasis ours):

The first thing I said was I hope you don’t mind me completely exploiting your appearance in my book thirteen years back, and he said, "****, no, man. Thanks for the 9 picture deal."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/samuel-l-jackson-thanks-mark-millar-2015-4#ixzz3ZU2nDulD

djskit said...

Iron Man 2 wasn't that bad, was it?

Kit said...

djiskit,

I liked it okay. I think Andrew said it was his favorite.

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, I'll comment soon. Sorry for the delay. Long day... mucho hail.

Rustbelt said...

This series sounds like a lot of fun. Just what we need over the summer. (Besides, I need a break from WW1 for the first time in three years!)

As I mentioned last week, I'm still more of a DC guy due to growing up with- and being a fan of- Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's DC animated series during the 90's. (And, admittedly, I've only seen 'Avengers 2' in theaters.) However, I have no problem with a good superhero flick, Marvel or DC.
My highs and lows with the MCU, thus far:

High Point: 'Avengers 2.' Great story, great characters. I don't how the two 'Infinity Wars' films will compare without Joss Whedon's direction, but we'll just have to see. I also liked how this film was character-driven, and seemed to have a quasi-"smaller-story-set-in-a-larger-universe feel- well, for the MCU, aa least- rather than just try to top the previous film (of which I should admit I've only seen a few chunks of here and there). A good decision/risk with terrific payoff.

Low Point: 'Ironman.' Look, Robert Downey, Jr. IS Tony Stark and will be forever. He practically took a perennial mid-carder superhero and put him in the 'cool' ranks for all time.
However, when i first saw the movie with my cousins (who's already watched the film and were telling me how great is is), and we got to the montage detailing Tony's past, I saw the pictures of Jeff Bridges holding his head down and blurted out:
RB: "Oh, no. Don't tell me Jeff Bridges is the bad guy. They're not really going for the 'best-friend-you've known-for-your-entire-life-turns-out-to-be-your-worst-enemy cliche, are they?"
RB's relatives: (nervous stares)
RB: Aw, son of a b****!!!!

Rustbelt said...

And Kit,

I know you mentioned that Spiderman's rights are held by Sony, while Fox owns the rights to X-Men.
However, I think it would be helpful to also list the official Marvel films that are not included in the current MCU. (Like Ang Lee's 'Hulk,' for instance.)

Kit said...

Rustbelt,

I am thinking very much of doing a comparison between Ang Lee's Hulk and the 2008 Incredible Hulk.

Rustbelt said...

That sounds like a really good idea, Kit.

Another possible idea might be- in the spirit of "The Life and Times of Chief Martin Brody"- the many on-screen cameos of Stan Lee. Just for fun, of course.

tryanmax said...

I think it goes w/o saying that anything not on the above list is outside the MCU.

BTW, Netflix and Marvel have announced four more series: A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders.

tryanmax said...

And another thing readers will need to know about are the MCU phases. Phase 1 was Iron Man thru The Avengers. Phase 2 is Iron Man 2 thru Ant Man. And there are a spate of Phase 3 films already announced. That's all I'll say lest I spoil any discussion of what each phase accomplishes.

tryanmax said...

Correction: Phase 2 starts w/ Iron Man 3.

AndrewPrice said...

I look forward to the series, even though I do not love superhero movies. That said, Marvel is considerably better than DC.

Kit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kit said...

Andrew,

Fun and dumb is better than pretentious and dumb.

Kit said...

Change of Plans

I will be starting the Marvel reviews Monday. Later today you will get a review of the 1951 movie The Red Badge of Courage.

Anonymous said...

Sounds interesting, I've seen them all except the new Avengers which I will see this week coming up. And I've liked them all to varying degrees, with my favourite being GOTG.

Scott.

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