This Site And Marvel Movies too!

[Barry]

 I must tell you how much I appreciate the reviews on this site!
My brother and I like good movies and good music and that is why we invested the time and money in our setups. We are not in love with the equipment, but with the movies sand music they deliver.
 
Yet , if we ever discuss our setups people think we only watch Star Wars or Star Trek, Fast and Furious (which I have seen none of) or other sci-fi or action adventure movies. But we here discuss the Fablemans, Devotion, Marry Me, I Want to Dance with Someone, Training Day and many different types of movies.
 
An additional problem I have is that since I contribute to the publication of old comics (1960-1977) many people think I automatically see every comic book movie.  I am not joking here, but people have said that I don’t like most of the DC movies not because they ae bad, but because I am a Marvel guy.  I always tell them two things: I pay my money to see a GOOD movie, I don’t care who made it.  And the big surprise to them is that a lot of the DC and Marvel movies have the same people making them! And starring in them!!!
 
But talking about the Marvel movies, I thought I give a breakdown of them, since most of the last movies have been below average.
 
Iron Man:
I really enjoyed the first movie and Downey not only help create a great character he help build the Marvel Movie Universe. He was good, but Iron Man II, which introduced the Black Widow and and III were not very good, although Downey is the reason to see III, especially at the beginning.
 
Incredible Hulk:
This was a good, but not very compelling, sci-fi movie.  Mark Ruffallo makes a better Hulk and he is the ONLY person to portray both Banner and the Hulk in a movie.
 
Captain America:
This is my favorite Trilogy.  Chris Evans captured the role so perfectly and the first movie really stuck to the comic book origins.  The next wo movies were such fin to watch.  And III was really a Avengers movie.
 
Thor:
My least favorite, possible because unlike Captain America, they took little from the comic. The best thing about the pictures was the portrayal of Loki by Tom Hiddleston who excelled in every scene and was very close to the comic book version.  I did, however, like Ragnarok, but the Dark World was not good and Love and Thunder was just passable.
 
Ant-Man
I was surprised that I like the light hearted first movie, which was basically a “heist” movie.  I enjoyed the second too.  But it was a bit burned out by the latest, which only Marvel Universe fans would enjoy.
 
The Black Panther:
The First Black Panther was just great. The cast, the script and the vision were wonderful. But reality took away the star and center of it’s universe. The second movie was fine, but it was missing what made the Black Panther unforgettable.
 
Captain Marvel:
This movie mostly invented everything about the character, borrowing from what went before. But this was a good movie and Bree Larson did a great job.
 
The Avengers:
The firs movie was very good and unique because it brought in several characters from other movies and established a team.  I really enjoyed it.  The second movie, Ultron, was not as good, but fun. The last two I kind of combine as one LONG movie and thoroughly enjoyed it, but on second viewing it does not always make total sense. But fun.

 
Dr. Strange:

I really liked the first movie, again, because they stuck close to the written character.  The second movie deviated from much of what I liked about the character, but was just okay.
 
Guardians of the Galaxy:
Another movie whose characters are not really taken from the Marvel Ag, although some of the story lines are. I enjoyed both movies but the plot for the second one was taken from a Thor story.  I wish they Thor that instead of the Dark World.
 
The Eternals:
Didn’t like, unlike the Avengers they tried to introduce too many characters and do to much in this long movie.
 
Black Widow:
Boring. And not well thought out.
 
Spider-Man (Homecoming)
I was not a fan of the first two “New Spider-Man” movies.  He was always a loner and all of a sudden he is a creation of Tony Stark. But I totally LOVED the third one, which also re-establishes his loner status and original costume, with no Stark enhancements.
 
 
In my opinion, the Marvel Universe is in a steep decline. They have used up their best characters, many appearing in 6 to 9 movies in just a few years. It took James Bond 60 years to do 25 movies, Marvel has done that in 12. There are too many, too soon. I am sure there will be a really good one sooner or later, but they need to slow down.
 

[David Vaughn]

Well said Barry and I agree with many of your takes. During the first summer of the Pandemic, my wife and I watched all of the movies in order up though Endgame and it was an awesome experience. Every since the last Spiderman film, I really haven't loved any of the films. They were OK to pass the time with, but not very memorable. 

[SRW1000]

I agree with so much of what you've written here, Barry.  Even if we might quibble about the order of the quality of some of them.

That first Iron Man movie was so magical, not just for the movie itself, but for how it showed that a serious movie can be made from comic book material.  I was strictly a Marvel fan growing up (OK, I'll admit to liking Batman from those "other guys"), but Iron Man just wasn't one of those characters that stuck out to me.  Although I was familiar with his origin (remember those great Origins of Marvel Comics and Sons of Origins trade paperbacks?), he was never more than a secondary character.

But man, did they do a fantastic job with that first movie. They were able to both pay tribute to his origin, while also bringing him into the 21st century.  And they did it with a combination of maturity, relevant themes, adventure, fun, and without taking its source material as a joke.  Much of its success was due to Downey's performance, but the script and direction also made it work. 

As a side note, I think they really missed an opportunity by not exploring Stark's alcoholism.  Downey's background certainly would have added an extra dimension to the role, and it really could have expanded the depth of the Marvel universe to maturing audiences.  Alas, the same could have been said for missing out on The Death of Captain Marvel, which really could have had an impact on the audience had they built up the character over time.

And they handled Captain America in a similar way, really doing a fine job of adapting his origin story and bringing him into the modern world. 

I'll depart with your view on The Hulk, though.  Mark Ruffalo comes across as a big old dope to me, and I have a hard time buying into him being a scientist.  Edward Norton fit the role better, from the physical build of Bruce Banner to the gears grinding in his head as he works things out.  I wish they could have kept him in the role, but The Hulk could have been better used in most of the movies, anyway.

Endgame really signaled the beginning of Marvel's downfall for me.  Infinity War set up such the stage for such a huge ending - powerful villain, chilling events, the greatest depth of despair imaginable.  Maybe it was too big of a setup, they painted themselves into too tight of a corner.

So, the way out was the Mulitverse.  While it works, it also feels like a cheap gimmick.  There's no real, cleaver answer to the situation, it's just a trick way out.  And even though there were ramifications to the events, most of the characters are brought back.  Sure, this isn't uncommon in comics, but this is a little different.  There aren't thousands of issues that leave the writers grasping for more ideas. It's a movie series that hasn't even begun to scratch the surface of what could be adapted.  The move was so bold that there wasn't a reasonable way out, so they settled on a rabbit-out-of-the-hat solution that really felt contrived.

All of the movies since then have been letdowns.  Formulaic scripts, lack of innovation, degradation of the original stories instead of elevation of them, snarky quips uttered by most of the characters, instead of just the ones where it fits, and just a general laziness.  The attitude seems to be that the audience will watch anything with the Marvel name on it.

And that's a shame because there is still a lot of good material that they could draw upon, but they're in danger of losing the audience.  I was eagerly awaiting a good adaptation of The Fantastic Four, which has the potential to be the World's Greatest Comic Movie (that one's for you, Barry), but I can't help but feel it will be another disappointment.

One has to wonder how much of the old success was due to Kevin Feige versus the others that built the Marvel Cinematic Universe with him.  He's still standing, but the magic is missing, so where did it come from and where did it go?  Can someone bring it back?

Scott

[Barry]

We agree on most everything except the Hulk. But, we can still have the death of Captain Marvel, but .No one dies in this universe. Loki died, then got his own series. The Black Widow died, then got her own movie. The Vision died and got to live with Wanda. Gormora died and came back and Thanos died at the beginning of the movie and came back in the middle.

You read Marvel comics pass the time that I did, and then your error. Tony Stark became an alcoholic. He wasn’t in the beginning and I don’t think the Comics code would have let him be an alcoholic before 1978!

We both agree, however that the Marvel cinematic universe is running out of steam. They’ve run out of the best characters and the best stories. In my error, ant man only lasted about 15 issues and he got his own movie. The Eternals went  18 issues and got a movie. Yes I look forward to an FF and X-men run.

[AVSCraig]

Well said Barry and I agree with many of your takes. During the first summer of the Pandemic, my wife and I watched all of the movies in order up though Endgame and it was an awesome experience. Every since the last Spiderman film, I really haven't loved any of the films. They were OK to pass the time with, but not very memorable.

My wife and I did the same thing - it was great watching all the movies in order, 2 - 3 a week. I haven't actually watched too many of the Marvel films that came after, other than Black Widow ( liked it but it should have come out way earlier since it's an origin story ) and Shang Chi.