I was sitting in the library at school, thinking about what I might want to write when school is out. I'd like to focus on some short stories since those would be easier to get published and they take less time. Mostly they take less time.
And that got me thinking about what I would want to write. I didn't know. I don't know who I am as a writer. Or if a distinction is even necessary. I think back to the novels I've started:
One a story about a world destroyed by people suddenly given super powers, and the realization of one "villain" that things can't go on this way. The story would follow him as he tries to rebuild his own piece of the world and the challenges that follow. I like this story for a few reasons. First being I love comics. I've been thinking about drawing a lot recently and think this would be a fun project to work with. Not drawing the whole thing, just designing the characters and world. Second, I love comics. What person that loves comics hasn't thought about creating their own heroes and villains? Third, because, as I've said before, I want to write a story about how powers affect people and the world. It isn't about the powers, it's about what happens. What does it do to a society when there are people who can shapeshift and destroy entire city blocks as easy as whispering. I think that sounds awesome.
I wrote a short story about a teenage girl named Faye. She was a suicidal girl going through some stuff. What didn't come out in the story is the mythology. In norse mythology, valkyries can turn into swans, and if you catch a valkyrie and pull a feather while she is in "bird form," she is honor bound to grant you a wish. My valkyrie, call her Ally, had this happen, and the man, as in fairytales, was so enraptured of the woman, that he could only ask for one thing. As a result, Ally has a child who she names Faye. A daughter that she loves grudgingly and never wanted. Ally was a favorite of Odin's, but once she has a child, she's required to remain on Earth. She can't go back to Valhalla until she dies, which is another thing she sees when she look at Faye. Faye doesn't know why there's this distance between mother and daughter. Faye in the story I wrote uses her mother's distance to seek trouble. None of the mythology stuff came out in what I produced. It felt like the story worked without it, but I don't want it to, and I want to go back and make the mythology stuff so integral that I can't imagine taking it out.
I started a novel about a man named Swift. He was a troubled youth, smart, but stuck in the wrong neighborhood, with the wrong friends. I consider him a bizarro-me. It's my attempt at social commentary, and how some people are just born into the wrong life and can't escape. I think, if I do say so myself, that my first line is brilliant, "It rained the day they put me out of jail." He's an extremely difficult character to write since any lapse in voice is telling immediately and doesn't sound right. He's surrounded by complex characters. But his story is one I want to write because I don't think it works out well for him. That's probably just my cynicism talking, but it's how I feel. Things don't work out for most people, no matter how hard they try. This one has more of a literary bent to it.
And then I've got my memoir, and a fantasy novel, and a bunch of fairy tale ideas. And...I just don't know what I want to write. Or if I even have to write any one thing. I'm just going to write what I want.
#writingisdumb
Monday, November 10, 2014
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Why I'm not doing NaNo this year.
It's about this time of year that I remember I have a blog. Where I'll make a post about how I have an idea for a novel, and that I'm going to try NaNo. I'd say something about how hard it will be, how I have class, life, etc. The normal reasons tons of people attempt NaNo and fail, or commit and "win." These things are true every year for most people. It's part of the reason it's in November, afterall. I could try NaNo again. Get to about 16,000 words and get busy, or have my story peter out on me, or get tired of feeling guilty that I'm not writing my 1,667 words per day and just stop.
This semester isn't particularly difficult for me. I'm only in two classes. My only homework is writing. I could attempt NaNo this year and likely do very well. But I don't want to. I have tried...5 years in a row, maybe six. I have at least four novels with very generous starts. Four novels that I am immensely interested in finishing. I did "win" one year, which tells me that I could do it. I could buckle down and write. But that year also showed me that I didn't produce anything I wanted to look at again. The novels with generous starts are actually only ideas that I'll end up having to revise. NaNo gets me writing, which is excellent. But I'm at a point where I don't need the impetus of November to get myself writing. I need to be writing every day (which I am, mostly).
The prospect of starting another novel doesn't interest me. I'd much rather go back to any one of the several pieces that I've started, that have been sitting in my scrivener folder, in my dropbox, on my desktop, and look at those. It's something I've traditionally been very bad at. Going back to my old stuff, reading, revising, editing. So instead of attempting 50,000 words of something new, I'm going to continue to write things for the creative writing class I'm in. I'm going to build a portfolio to use for my applications to an MFA program (which is coming up here within the next 6 months). I'm going to go back to a novel or two and take notes on what I like, what I didn't. I might distribute them to friends, get their input, and push forward on an idea or two. I'm going to go back to some of the short stories I've written and revise and edit. I'm going to send some stuff out for publication. Get some rejections, maybe get accepted. Who knows.
I love that I've attempted NaNo so many times. I learned, and continue to learn, more about my writing only through, you know, writing. The most important thing is to put something on paper. To actually write. But I do that pretty regularly now. I need to focus on finishing, polishing, and submitting. I think NaNo is great for aspiring writers. It's great for me since I work best with a deadline. But I'm going to try something different this year. Focus on existing content and getting that readable rather than producing any amount of words of questionable quality that will take time away from the questionable quality I've already written.
Michael Ferguson
This semester isn't particularly difficult for me. I'm only in two classes. My only homework is writing. I could attempt NaNo this year and likely do very well. But I don't want to. I have tried...5 years in a row, maybe six. I have at least four novels with very generous starts. Four novels that I am immensely interested in finishing. I did "win" one year, which tells me that I could do it. I could buckle down and write. But that year also showed me that I didn't produce anything I wanted to look at again. The novels with generous starts are actually only ideas that I'll end up having to revise. NaNo gets me writing, which is excellent. But I'm at a point where I don't need the impetus of November to get myself writing. I need to be writing every day (which I am, mostly).
The prospect of starting another novel doesn't interest me. I'd much rather go back to any one of the several pieces that I've started, that have been sitting in my scrivener folder, in my dropbox, on my desktop, and look at those. It's something I've traditionally been very bad at. Going back to my old stuff, reading, revising, editing. So instead of attempting 50,000 words of something new, I'm going to continue to write things for the creative writing class I'm in. I'm going to build a portfolio to use for my applications to an MFA program (which is coming up here within the next 6 months). I'm going to go back to a novel or two and take notes on what I like, what I didn't. I might distribute them to friends, get their input, and push forward on an idea or two. I'm going to go back to some of the short stories I've written and revise and edit. I'm going to send some stuff out for publication. Get some rejections, maybe get accepted. Who knows.
I love that I've attempted NaNo so many times. I learned, and continue to learn, more about my writing only through, you know, writing. The most important thing is to put something on paper. To actually write. But I do that pretty regularly now. I need to focus on finishing, polishing, and submitting. I think NaNo is great for aspiring writers. It's great for me since I work best with a deadline. But I'm going to try something different this year. Focus on existing content and getting that readable rather than producing any amount of words of questionable quality that will take time away from the questionable quality I've already written.
Michael Ferguson
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Wherein I rank and not-review the MCU movies.
I've been reading comic books since I was 10 or 11. I've been going to the same comic shop as long as I've been reading them. I'm 33 now, and have far too many comics. They mostly just sit there, doing nothing. Collecting dust. I'd never get rid of them, though. My boxes mean something more to me than a bunch of superheroes, crazy stories, deaths that only last as long as the current writer, and overall general silliness that comes with men or women in tights. They're time with friends. They're ridiculous conversations about who would beat whom. Sometimes they're sad, and show me the meaning of character in my writing. When Ultimate Parker died, I was sad. Sometimes they're amazing. I just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman. At its end, I thought, and still do, that it is one of the finest pieces of literature (yes, literature) I have yet read.
So comics are important to me. And as such, what Marvel is doing with their "Cinematic Universe" is particularly happy making. It is the kind of thing nerds like me dreamed about as a child. The kind of thing I used to talk about with my friends on the playground, and then with my friends in the kitchen, because everybody ends up in the kitchen for some reason. We would talk about who would beat him, how broken Thanos is, what hulk would do with the mind gem. I now live in a reality where some of the craziest theories will come to fruition on screen. I live in a world where Guardians of the Galaxy movie is a thing. A popular thing, one that lots of people have paid money to see. A year ago, these were obscure characters, and it's only a matter of time before we have a dancing baby Groot toy.
Which I will buy.
Immediately.
I mean, look. How could you resist?
Anyway, I started this blog because my fiance said, "You should put your thoughts about the Marvel movies into the universe," and I thought it would be fun to not-review them. That is, to blather about them in a particular order because it's my blog and I want to, and also because I haven't posted anything here in almost a year. Again.
Soooo....
#10
Iron Man 2
By far the worst and most disappointing movie to come from the MCU. The premise was there, Mickey Rourke as a villain should have been awesome. RDJ had already cemented his place as awesome in the role of Tony Stark. The addition of Justin Hammer and Hammer Tech as a rival to Stark Industries could have been pretty cool. The payoff was just a generic war machine and some Iron Man suit wannabes that looked like the Go-Bots to Stark's Transformers. Many elements were obviously shoehorned in by Marvel to build their cinematic universe. The "key to unlocking Stark's heart" and Fury's appearance in the movies were unnecessary and added far too much fluff in a movie already way too long. Stark spends a lot of the time sitting and looking at things. I remember him sitting on top of a donut staring off into space. There was a fight scene at a party that lasted longer than the anticlimactic battle with Whiplash (that was the villain's name, right?) for the end of the movie. The movie lacked focus and was obviously more concerned with setting up future events in other movies than dealing with Tony Stark and being Iron Man.
RDJ is always awesome, so I still enjoyed the movie, but I don't felt it added anything to the character. If I were to watch the MCU movies over again, I'd definitely skip this one.
#9
Thor
I thought the movie did a wonderful job introducing the Asgardians. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is the 2nd best villain (anti-hero?) in the series. Hemsworth's Thor does an excellent job of being handsome and yelling things. He also smashes mugs really well: a true asgardian. Also, Idris Elba is in the movie, so that's awesome. I love the mythology the movie sets up. I read somewhere that, "Magic is only technology we don't yet understand," or something like that, and I thought the MCU Asgard was the perfect example. But once we get past that and see Thor get expelled for being too cocky and the viewer is given a basic heroe's journey. My issue is that I don't buy the redemption. Thor is going to sacfrice himself for his friends. It's a very touching scene, yes, and it's sad that he almost dies, but Thor always would have sacrificed himself for his friends. He would have put his life before others in an instant. I know that the point is he learned humility, he attacked the huge thing without his powers, etc., but we rush through the entire movie to get to this point. There's no time taken to explore Thor's character. What must it have been like to be, literally, a god, and banished to Earth, basically powerless? Why no interactions with the humans he finds wondering how they live without the technology they possess in Asgard? Thor adjusts incredibly well to his sudden affliction and then does what he pretty much would have done regardless of the circumstances because, you know, he's a warrior, and is given back his powers. The movie didn't offer any breathing room for reflection. He ends up a hero again and it makes sense because that was the obvious conclusion, but the journey there isn't fleshed out nearly well enough.
Hiddleston is the the bomb, though.
#8
Thor: The Dark World
I don't much to say about this one. Loki is still awesome. Thor is pretty cool, but here I remember beginning to feel like I don't really know how powerful these characters are. There aren't many moments that show that. I thought the villain was really one note. Far I LIKE BEING EVIL, not relateable at all. It's always better when you can understand and sympathize with the villain's motivations, but there was none of that with Malekith. The ending with Loki on the throne has me excited for whatever movie that particular plot thread will continue.
Thor's mom showed how awesome Asgardian women. That was an awesome scene.
#7
Captain America: The First Avenger
Origin stories are always rough to do. I understand that some people might not know that Steve Rogers was a scrawny dude who got injected with a serum and turned into Mr. America, but I don't really want to see it, or read it. So we do that, and then get to the middle of the movie where Captain America is actually doing stuff and instead of showing us him actually doing stuff, we get news reals and spinning newspapers that give headlines of the cool shit he just did. Boo urns on that. There was nowhere near enough Captain America being a Super Soldier in this movie. Red Skull wasn't utilized anywhere near enough. It did give us Stark's dad, which was cool.
I dunno, maybe I'd rate this one lower. Those newspaper reels were dumb.
#6
The Incredible Hulk
Maybe you could swap this and Cap. The problem with Hulk movies is most people only care about the green guy and smashing. That's cool, but I prefer the struggle of Bruce Banner. I'm one of the few people in the world that liked the Aang Lee Hulk. I felt like they really nailed the struggle (it's real). Hulk was well done in that movie, but so was Bruce. I liked that more than this movie, but anything with Ed Norton is going to be pretty good.
The villain, Blonsky (I think), was pretty cool. I did not like that he took a full Hulk Foot to the chest and lived to tell about it.
On the whole, I enjoyed watching this more than everything I've listed before it, but don't think it added much to the overall MCU.
#5
Iron Man 3
I've seen a lot of people say they hated this movie. Similar to Hulk, a lot of people seem to just want Stark to suit up and go blow stuff up. That's fun for about 3 minutes, and then I get bored. RDJ is a phenomenal actor, and so I appreciated this more intimate take on the character. Tony Stark is a scientist, and after the events of Avengers, has to come face to face with the fact that their are aliens, potentially other dimensions, that the norse pantheon exists, is real, and has what he can only understand as magic. I loved that he was emotionally and psychologically fucked up. It's the first movie to show me how the interconnected-ness of the MCU. The others haven't really shown any cause and effect, but this one did.
I think a running problem with the majority of these movies is a terrible villain. They aren't really characters at all. They're put in the movie because writers know that the hero needs an obstacle to overcome. Mandarin reveal was cool, but overall there wasn't much more to deal with after that. I did enjoy the interpretation of the Extremis arc from the comics and wonder if it will have any effect in Avengers 2 when that comes out next summer.
On the whole, I enjoyed that this wasn't just Tony Stark suiting up and taking out bad guys. Dude obviously has a problem he needs to deal with and the suits are part of it. This felt like a journey to overcome an addiction. Instead of alcohol, he started building suits.
#4
Iron Man 1
I hate origin stories. I've read them before. Usually more than once. I've seen them on TV, in cartoons or whatever. This, though, was awesome. RDJ as Stark was as perfectly cast as Patrick Stewart as Prof. X. Again, the villain was anticlimactic, but the build up to that point was sharp and well written. I loved the dynamic between Penny and Stark. Jarvis, who I suspect will become something more in Avengers 2, was awesome. The scene where Iron Man takes out the village of terrorists is one of my favorites in any of the Marvel movies. Iron Man 2 is a shorter movie by about two minutes but feels like it's 20 minutes longer. There are few wasted scenes in this movie. So good.
#3
Avengers
Hiddleston as Loki is always great to watch, but they managed to make him a type of mindless minion in this. His goal, in stereotypical fashion, brought an army to a large city, caused tons of destruction and collateral damage, and was ultimately defeated. Between Avengers, Winter Soldier, Man of Steel and others, it would really suck to live in a world with superheroes. Anyway, there was nothing really special about the story. So why rank it so high? For what the movie accompished. It brought together all of these disparate strands between several movies and put them on screen. It built a superhero team movie. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow. All together, all showing awesome teamwork. My comic nerd cannot contain its glee at this fact. There is now a movie universe with Marvel characters. The movie had some of my favorite character moments in comic movies as well. Black Widow running from Hulk; terrified. The moment of silence before Hulk finds her. It was so cool to see how absolutely helpless a normal human would be when Hulk does his thing. Hulk doing the Droopy to Loki. The scene showing Captain America and Iron Man fighting side by side, using shields and beams together.
It wasn't the best story, but I like it more for what it accomplished. I enjoyed watching it from beginning to end (a couple times), but I expect Avengers 2 to make this look like a very amateur attempt if Winter Soldier is anything to go by.
#2
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
A comic movie that majorly shakes up the status quo. A good villain (finally). Captain America looking more like a super soldieer and less like a guy that just knows how to fight. The opening scene on the tanker made me realize how relatively weak Cap had been in the other movies. The shield, strength, and speed were all on display; things I didn't even realize I'd missed. When Winter Soldier stood in front of Fury's SUV, unafraid, I thought he was badass. When he turned around and caught Cap's shield, I knew he was a threat. Because I read comics, I knew who he was, but for the first time in one of these comic movies, I didn't know exactly what was going to happen. The revelation of Hydra, the fall of SHIELD, the repercussions this will yield for both the MCU (I hear that the Agents of SHIELD starts to get good after the Winters Soldier) is awesome. In comics, all too often do we see some major event or character death, only to have it reversed about a year later (and more recently, around the time a new movie starring these characters is due to release). The nature of movies means that the downfall of SHIELD should have longlasting effects.
The end of the movie was pretty ridiculous; taking out these flying death machines is as simple as putting random cards into special slots. We have more wanton destruction of cities. But I'm willing to overlook these things since the rest of the movie was so solid.
#1
Guardians of the Galaxy
This movie was pure fun. From the opening scene with James Pratt dancing through ruins, to the introduction of Starlord. All of the characters were good. Even Bautista as Drax. I think Groot is Vin Diesel's best role to date. The movie introduced a lot of people to the Guardians for the first time, and it did it without any of the trappings of an origin story. It didn't retread old stories. We were placed in an active universe and the characters were allowed to tell their origins more organically. Gamora is the weakest link in the group. I don't feel like she was given enough to become an actual character. It's weird when Bautista is more memorable. The movie managed to introduce the Cosmic Marvel universe, complete with Celestials, and it didn't feel too long or too short. I never got bored, or felt anything was rushed.
The villain was weak, as usual. We had another starship fall and destroy a city, as usual. I'm hoping for a hero movie without this one day. But the rest of the characters, the movie, and THANOS, was so good. So fun. I went in knowing nothing about these characters or the series and left with a desire to read every Guardians of the Galaxy comic. It is INSANE to me that Marvel is able to make a movie as high quality as this with characters people don't know and yet DC with some of the most iconic characters in the business is unable to get a Justice League movie off of the ground. I think that says tons about the strength of this movie. I can't wait for part 2.
And more Thanos.
So comics are important to me. And as such, what Marvel is doing with their "Cinematic Universe" is particularly happy making. It is the kind of thing nerds like me dreamed about as a child. The kind of thing I used to talk about with my friends on the playground, and then with my friends in the kitchen, because everybody ends up in the kitchen for some reason. We would talk about who would beat him, how broken Thanos is, what hulk would do with the mind gem. I now live in a reality where some of the craziest theories will come to fruition on screen. I live in a world where Guardians of the Galaxy movie is a thing. A popular thing, one that lots of people have paid money to see. A year ago, these were obscure characters, and it's only a matter of time before we have a dancing baby Groot toy.
Which I will buy.
Immediately.
I mean, look. How could you resist?
Anyway, I started this blog because my fiance said, "You should put your thoughts about the Marvel movies into the universe," and I thought it would be fun to not-review them. That is, to blather about them in a particular order because it's my blog and I want to, and also because I haven't posted anything here in almost a year. Again.
Soooo....
#10
Iron Man 2
By far the worst and most disappointing movie to come from the MCU. The premise was there, Mickey Rourke as a villain should have been awesome. RDJ had already cemented his place as awesome in the role of Tony Stark. The addition of Justin Hammer and Hammer Tech as a rival to Stark Industries could have been pretty cool. The payoff was just a generic war machine and some Iron Man suit wannabes that looked like the Go-Bots to Stark's Transformers. Many elements were obviously shoehorned in by Marvel to build their cinematic universe. The "key to unlocking Stark's heart" and Fury's appearance in the movies were unnecessary and added far too much fluff in a movie already way too long. Stark spends a lot of the time sitting and looking at things. I remember him sitting on top of a donut staring off into space. There was a fight scene at a party that lasted longer than the anticlimactic battle with Whiplash (that was the villain's name, right?) for the end of the movie. The movie lacked focus and was obviously more concerned with setting up future events in other movies than dealing with Tony Stark and being Iron Man.
RDJ is always awesome, so I still enjoyed the movie, but I don't felt it added anything to the character. If I were to watch the MCU movies over again, I'd definitely skip this one.
#9
Thor
I thought the movie did a wonderful job introducing the Asgardians. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is the 2nd best villain (anti-hero?) in the series. Hemsworth's Thor does an excellent job of being handsome and yelling things. He also smashes mugs really well: a true asgardian. Also, Idris Elba is in the movie, so that's awesome. I love the mythology the movie sets up. I read somewhere that, "Magic is only technology we don't yet understand," or something like that, and I thought the MCU Asgard was the perfect example. But once we get past that and see Thor get expelled for being too cocky and the viewer is given a basic heroe's journey. My issue is that I don't buy the redemption. Thor is going to sacfrice himself for his friends. It's a very touching scene, yes, and it's sad that he almost dies, but Thor always would have sacrificed himself for his friends. He would have put his life before others in an instant. I know that the point is he learned humility, he attacked the huge thing without his powers, etc., but we rush through the entire movie to get to this point. There's no time taken to explore Thor's character. What must it have been like to be, literally, a god, and banished to Earth, basically powerless? Why no interactions with the humans he finds wondering how they live without the technology they possess in Asgard? Thor adjusts incredibly well to his sudden affliction and then does what he pretty much would have done regardless of the circumstances because, you know, he's a warrior, and is given back his powers. The movie didn't offer any breathing room for reflection. He ends up a hero again and it makes sense because that was the obvious conclusion, but the journey there isn't fleshed out nearly well enough.
Hiddleston is the the bomb, though.
#8
Thor: The Dark World
I don't much to say about this one. Loki is still awesome. Thor is pretty cool, but here I remember beginning to feel like I don't really know how powerful these characters are. There aren't many moments that show that. I thought the villain was really one note. Far I LIKE BEING EVIL, not relateable at all. It's always better when you can understand and sympathize with the villain's motivations, but there was none of that with Malekith. The ending with Loki on the throne has me excited for whatever movie that particular plot thread will continue.
Thor's mom showed how awesome Asgardian women. That was an awesome scene.
#7
Captain America: The First Avenger
Origin stories are always rough to do. I understand that some people might not know that Steve Rogers was a scrawny dude who got injected with a serum and turned into Mr. America, but I don't really want to see it, or read it. So we do that, and then get to the middle of the movie where Captain America is actually doing stuff and instead of showing us him actually doing stuff, we get news reals and spinning newspapers that give headlines of the cool shit he just did. Boo urns on that. There was nowhere near enough Captain America being a Super Soldier in this movie. Red Skull wasn't utilized anywhere near enough. It did give us Stark's dad, which was cool.
I dunno, maybe I'd rate this one lower. Those newspaper reels were dumb.
#6
The Incredible Hulk
Maybe you could swap this and Cap. The problem with Hulk movies is most people only care about the green guy and smashing. That's cool, but I prefer the struggle of Bruce Banner. I'm one of the few people in the world that liked the Aang Lee Hulk. I felt like they really nailed the struggle (it's real). Hulk was well done in that movie, but so was Bruce. I liked that more than this movie, but anything with Ed Norton is going to be pretty good.
The villain, Blonsky (I think), was pretty cool. I did not like that he took a full Hulk Foot to the chest and lived to tell about it.
On the whole, I enjoyed watching this more than everything I've listed before it, but don't think it added much to the overall MCU.
#5
Iron Man 3
I've seen a lot of people say they hated this movie. Similar to Hulk, a lot of people seem to just want Stark to suit up and go blow stuff up. That's fun for about 3 minutes, and then I get bored. RDJ is a phenomenal actor, and so I appreciated this more intimate take on the character. Tony Stark is a scientist, and after the events of Avengers, has to come face to face with the fact that their are aliens, potentially other dimensions, that the norse pantheon exists, is real, and has what he can only understand as magic. I loved that he was emotionally and psychologically fucked up. It's the first movie to show me how the interconnected-ness of the MCU. The others haven't really shown any cause and effect, but this one did.
I think a running problem with the majority of these movies is a terrible villain. They aren't really characters at all. They're put in the movie because writers know that the hero needs an obstacle to overcome. Mandarin reveal was cool, but overall there wasn't much more to deal with after that. I did enjoy the interpretation of the Extremis arc from the comics and wonder if it will have any effect in Avengers 2 when that comes out next summer.
On the whole, I enjoyed that this wasn't just Tony Stark suiting up and taking out bad guys. Dude obviously has a problem he needs to deal with and the suits are part of it. This felt like a journey to overcome an addiction. Instead of alcohol, he started building suits.
#4
Iron Man 1
I hate origin stories. I've read them before. Usually more than once. I've seen them on TV, in cartoons or whatever. This, though, was awesome. RDJ as Stark was as perfectly cast as Patrick Stewart as Prof. X. Again, the villain was anticlimactic, but the build up to that point was sharp and well written. I loved the dynamic between Penny and Stark. Jarvis, who I suspect will become something more in Avengers 2, was awesome. The scene where Iron Man takes out the village of terrorists is one of my favorites in any of the Marvel movies. Iron Man 2 is a shorter movie by about two minutes but feels like it's 20 minutes longer. There are few wasted scenes in this movie. So good.
#3
Avengers
Hiddleston as Loki is always great to watch, but they managed to make him a type of mindless minion in this. His goal, in stereotypical fashion, brought an army to a large city, caused tons of destruction and collateral damage, and was ultimately defeated. Between Avengers, Winter Soldier, Man of Steel and others, it would really suck to live in a world with superheroes. Anyway, there was nothing really special about the story. So why rank it so high? For what the movie accompished. It brought together all of these disparate strands between several movies and put them on screen. It built a superhero team movie. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow. All together, all showing awesome teamwork. My comic nerd cannot contain its glee at this fact. There is now a movie universe with Marvel characters. The movie had some of my favorite character moments in comic movies as well. Black Widow running from Hulk; terrified. The moment of silence before Hulk finds her. It was so cool to see how absolutely helpless a normal human would be when Hulk does his thing. Hulk doing the Droopy to Loki. The scene showing Captain America and Iron Man fighting side by side, using shields and beams together.
It wasn't the best story, but I like it more for what it accomplished. I enjoyed watching it from beginning to end (a couple times), but I expect Avengers 2 to make this look like a very amateur attempt if Winter Soldier is anything to go by.
#2
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
A comic movie that majorly shakes up the status quo. A good villain (finally). Captain America looking more like a super soldieer and less like a guy that just knows how to fight. The opening scene on the tanker made me realize how relatively weak Cap had been in the other movies. The shield, strength, and speed were all on display; things I didn't even realize I'd missed. When Winter Soldier stood in front of Fury's SUV, unafraid, I thought he was badass. When he turned around and caught Cap's shield, I knew he was a threat. Because I read comics, I knew who he was, but for the first time in one of these comic movies, I didn't know exactly what was going to happen. The revelation of Hydra, the fall of SHIELD, the repercussions this will yield for both the MCU (I hear that the Agents of SHIELD starts to get good after the Winters Soldier) is awesome. In comics, all too often do we see some major event or character death, only to have it reversed about a year later (and more recently, around the time a new movie starring these characters is due to release). The nature of movies means that the downfall of SHIELD should have longlasting effects.
The end of the movie was pretty ridiculous; taking out these flying death machines is as simple as putting random cards into special slots. We have more wanton destruction of cities. But I'm willing to overlook these things since the rest of the movie was so solid.
#1
Guardians of the Galaxy
This movie was pure fun. From the opening scene with James Pratt dancing through ruins, to the introduction of Starlord. All of the characters were good. Even Bautista as Drax. I think Groot is Vin Diesel's best role to date. The movie introduced a lot of people to the Guardians for the first time, and it did it without any of the trappings of an origin story. It didn't retread old stories. We were placed in an active universe and the characters were allowed to tell their origins more organically. Gamora is the weakest link in the group. I don't feel like she was given enough to become an actual character. It's weird when Bautista is more memorable. The movie managed to introduce the Cosmic Marvel universe, complete with Celestials, and it didn't feel too long or too short. I never got bored, or felt anything was rushed.
The villain was weak, as usual. We had another starship fall and destroy a city, as usual. I'm hoping for a hero movie without this one day. But the rest of the characters, the movie, and THANOS, was so good. So fun. I went in knowing nothing about these characters or the series and left with a desire to read every Guardians of the Galaxy comic. It is INSANE to me that Marvel is able to make a movie as high quality as this with characters people don't know and yet DC with some of the most iconic characters in the business is unable to get a Justice League movie off of the ground. I think that says tons about the strength of this movie. I can't wait for part 2.
And more Thanos.
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