#honourable mention to GoTG and Avengers

[ahopelesspedantic]

Top 7 Comfort Movies 🎬

Thank you for the tag @indigosunsetao3 !❤️

In no particular order:

Hunger Games Catching Fire

Howl's Moving Castle

Mulan

Tangled

Zootopia

How to Train Your Dragon

Rise of the Guardians

If it's animated and has good music, trust that I will be sat 🫡 (Hunger Games hurts me, don't know if I'm allowed to call it comfort, but I love it so much I couldn't not put it on the list)

[akajustmerry]

What are your top five favorite mcu ships? (And why)

hi! these aren’t in order because at various times i’ve also hated them. plus, mcu romances aren’t written well at all but if I had to pick five from the films i’d go with:

gamora/starlord: truly love how their damage as individuals makes this utterly dysfunctional, but in doing that also makes them kinda raw and really sweet?? love the way they sort of just steal moments together without realising. loved the slow burn of gotg 1 and 2 before infinity war/endgame ruined them.

valkyrie/thor: really just love how wholesome they are. i am just a sucker for that mutual respect and admiration as a foundation for love, even tho it arguably hasn’t happened yet. like, marvel is homophobic af so my hopes for a wlw romance for valkyrie aren’t high, but I think seeing a Black woman get to be the love interest of a main Avenger as well as a king in her own right is just as important. 

ant man/wasp: the most criminally underrated pairing in the mcu imo!! scott and hope are a great team with great chemistry with all the sass of tony and pepper, but they actually respect one another. ant man 1 does sideline hope a bit, but its more than made up for in ant-man 2

mj/peter: i’ve never made a secret of my lack of love for mcu!spiderman, but one thing i’ll give spider-man: far from home is how well peter and mj work. they nail the frienemie > bestie > crush dynamic. zendaya has great chem with tom. they’re just so wholesome i love them

t’challa/nakkia: the only pairing on this list I have no complaints about because they’re the only pairing that actually seem to function like adults and I just love them. they’re so solid and comfortable with their relationship and once again chemistry off the charts. i’ll miss them so much

honourable mentions go to magneto/prof x, and peter/gwen and daredevil/elektra in various other marvel media because I also love them. but my main marvel ships are wolverine/deadpool, wolverine/storm, storm/t’challa and ESPECIALLY bucky/natasha but all of them are sadly only romances in the comics. x

[buttercookie-art]

Disclaimer: I’m just a fan. Not a critic or a reporter, this is not my job.

Here’s the review you guys asked. Enjoy!

This time I’ll try and write a review like a normal person, without listing the things I liked and the ones I didn’t. Mostly because the things I didn’t like are spoilers and cause I genuinely liked this movie? Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy vol1 are the best MCU movies in my humble opinion and I think Infinity War is very close to them. The CGI is great most of the time, the shots look good, it’s a dark movie but it still has plenty of colours. They managed all the major characters we’ve seen in these past 10 years perfectly fine; you can see major development in some of them. The interactions are funny and the “teams” get along very well. Talking about funny… The movie is a very dark movie, filled with tension and seriousness. For once, the Disney jokes are useful: they help lighten the mood, otherwise it’d be too serious and tedious.  As the Russo Bros already told us, there are some major characters deaths, can’t really talk about it, but brace yourselves: your favourite character it’s most likely to be one of them. Talking about deaths, I can’t help but write a few words about Thanos. We’ve been waiting for him, fearing him. Mostly because the previous villains weren’t that good, exception made for the latest ones. Usually, the villain is that character that is bad and never steals the show of the good ones. Thanos is an exception. He is powerful, has his charm (even though he looks like a smashed grape) and you can easily understand his point of view. At some point I was surprised I agreed with him. The best villain so far, hands down. Not to mention the Black Order: we’ve seen them in the trailers and just like Thanos they’re powerful and ready to follow his orders. Honourable mention to Bruce Banner character development, it was really good to see him in certain situations. Also, the Stan Lee cameo: very funny; won’t tell anything about it but it’s one of my favourites so far! And all the battle scenes: they were very good, never messy, all clean shots, very enjoyable!  That being said, I can state the end of this movie will leave you in a state of shock and if you’re wondering if this is a part one of two, well, go see the movie and you’ll find out.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Let’s start from the beginning i.e. the opening scene: we all supposed it’d be Thanos killing all the Asgardians and we were all right. Thanos knew Loki had the Tesseract and went to claim it. Loki. Some of us knew he was gonna perish, I was certain about it myself, but couldn’t help and cry when Thanos actually did it. He died as a hero, you can’t change my mind. During the movie I got scared more the once some character would’ve died but I never thought they could actually do what they did.  I knew Vision was one of those who was going to leave us because he has one of the stone on his head. I never expected Gamora to die, it genuinely shocked me. It also scares me because they confirmed Gotg vol 3 and I can’t imagine seeing a mourning Quill in it.  Her death leads me to another character, an old acquaintance if you don’t mind: Red Skull. When I heard his voice and his thick German accent I had some trouble recognising him and when I did, before he took out the hoodie I couldn’t believe it. Yeah, it makes sense he’s there, “mentoring” Thanos about the Soul stone; but if they brought him back just for this scene it’d be a little of a disappointment. Still one of the best twist of the movie, alongside the end of the movie. End of the movie that left me staring at the rolling credits wondering what am I gonna do with my life. I assumed Thanos collected all the stones and won but him actually wiping out half universe just with a snap? Nope, didn’t see that coming. Nor the actual deaths. Seeing Bucky, Falcon and Wanda go was pure pain. Also, her smiling, thinking she’s meeting Vision again was heartbroken. But the fact that Black Panther, Strange and Peter died too gives me a little bit of hope; they’re the new ones and there are their solo movies coming up. Yes, Peter death was horrible, half of this forsaken website predicted it (me included, even though I didn’t want to believe it); him holding on to Tony crying he didn’t want to die was a punch in the stomach and felt like someone put their hand into my chest and ripped off my heart. Same thing when he said sorry and then vanished.  I’m going to lighten everybody’s mood by mentioning Bucky and Rocket teaming up, even if only for a very brief time. Loved the interaction and Rocket asking how much Bucky was willing to earn for his arm, first, then assuring he was gonna steal it anyway. Team-ups are great! Loved the Guardians + Tony, Strange and Peter; Thor, Groot and Rocket were great; I expected a little bit more from Team Wakanda but maybe it was me.  As you can imagine I’m livid at the absence of Clint (and Ant-Man), but it was a clever decision. This threw away all my theories about him or his family dying. Not really though, cause there’s still Avengers 4 and I don’t think Clint will be Ronin without that backstory. That’s why I think Avengers 4 will be even bigger than Infinity War.  In conclusion, the post-credit scene: Nick Fury and Maria Hill are back on business, gave me a hint of hope that got killed 0.2 seconds after but… Captain Marvel is coming to help us all!

P.S.: The Cloak of Levitation is still one of my favourites  

[theprocrastinatingalien]

2017 Superhero Movies

We have four big superhero releases coming this year, one entry from 20th Century Fox, two from Warner Bros for the DC Cinematic Universe (or 'Extended Universe' as it's apparently being called) and 2017 marks the first time we get three entries for the MCU.

So, what have we got?

LOGAN

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Hugh Jackman is finally hanging up his claws.  Jackman has played Wolverine in every film to from the first X-MEN back in 2000, to the most recent X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.  He's only missed an appearance in DEADPOOL, which was a bit of shame, but in his 17th year of playing the cigar-chomping Canadian mutant, Jackman has decided enough is enough.  Director James Mangold returns from the last solo outing for the character (THE WOLVERINE), but this film looks like a very different beast. 

The trailers and pictures popping up here and there online, show something more arty, perhaps?  There's an aged tension there, with a beared Logan looking after a weakened Charles Xavier (played once again by Patrick Stewart, possibly in his last appearance for the franchise too).

For a simple explanation I'll now attach a poster, that Jackman himself put up on his twitter.

Whilst I completely understand Jackman's decision to retire (he's an aging actor that plays a character that's essentially immortal (*essentially*), but 20th Century Fox but realise they're about to suffer a huge loss.  Sure they've now got Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, but we don't know how effectively they can sync the 'merc with a mouth' in with the rest of the X-Men team.  They seem to be putting a few eggs in the Channing Tatum starring GAMBIT film (that was originally slated to debut in 2016 btw), and those rumours of Jennifer Lawrence making some solo turns as Mystique seem to have dissolved.  Let's hope Jackman's last swan song is a fitting tribute to his previous appearances.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2

I'll be straight up with this one - THIS is the film I'm looking forward to the most in 2017 (at least when it comes to the big SH franchises).  GOTG was a massively entertaining film and will certainly be a hard one to top.  Director James Gunn certainly seems up to the task, with the first couple of trailers showing little, but entertaining a lot.  Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista reprise their roles has Star-Lord, Gamora and Drax respectively.  Bradley Cooper also returns as the voice of Rocket Raccon, but already the star of the show looks to be Baby Groot (again voiced by Vin Diesel)

Michael Rooker (Yondu) and Karen Gillan (Nebula), both villains in the first one are reportedly to join the gang this time around, and we have lots of new characters to look forward to - Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha and Kurt Russell as Ego the living planet. (although, apparently we won't be seeing him as a planet?).  There are also rumours that fanboy favourite Nathan Fillion will appear as Wonder Man, and Sly Stallone has a role!  I, for one, cannot wait - and let's not forget, this is only the first of this year's MCU offerings! (Also remember, next year we finally get the team up we've all been waiting for, as the guardians appear in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, so it'll be very interesting to see when Gunn leaves these characters at the end of this film.  Exciting!)

WONDER WOMAN

Okay, let's be honest, BATMAN V SUPERMAN was not the film anyone hoped it would be.  One positive to come from the film though was Gal Gadot's turn as Diana Prince. 

The DC Extended Universe has got off to a rocky start so far, but WONDER WOMAN may turn that around.  It's certainly been a long time coming, but Gal Gadot does have the honour of releasing the first proper female-lead superflick.  It's fitting that it should be WW.  The trailer's look like we might be getting a sort of Captain America/Thor cross, with some dark and dank war-torn scenery contrasting some beautiful Amazonian imagery. STAR TREK actor Chris Pine gets to play Diana's love interest, and we have major roles for Robin Wright (HOUSE OF CARDS), Danny Huston (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE) with Connie Nielsen playing Diana's mother Queen Hippolyta. Comedy will be coming from Lucy Davis (THE OFFICE - the UK version).  With WONDER WOMAN the last entry before JUSTICE LEAGUE, it'll be interesting to see how direct a lead in it will be... and whether Ben Affleck has filmed any secret cameos?

Note: Director Patty Jenkins was originally meant to direct Marvel's THOR: THE DARK WORLD, but it didn't pan out for whatever reason. 

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Well, it's been a rocky road for our friendly neighbourhood webslinger, hasn't it?  First Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN and SPIDER-MAN 2 were loved by all, but then SPIDER-MAN 3 didn't live up to expectations.  Rather that soldier on, and make the best SPIDER-MAN 4 they could, Sony cut and run... running straight into an ill-advised reboot, with Andrew Garfield replacing Tobey Maguire in a much darker toned take.  If there's one good thing from it, it was the very workable onscreen chemistry between Peter Paker and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, but the dismal THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 shattered the studio's hopes of a 'shared universe' and the two sequels and possible spin-offs very all scrapped.  It was sad, but also... lead to the most famous Marvel character being allowed to play in the same sandbox as the majority of all the other Marvel characters (minus X-Men and Fantastic Four, of course). 

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING will be the first co-adventure between Sony and Marvel Studios, with Tom Holland having had a little try out in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR.  To prove that's a two-way process, Robert Downey Jr will be appearing as Iron Man (joined by Happy Hogan - Jon Favreau returning to the role for the first time since IRON MAN 3).  Marisa Tomei will continue to play the hottest Aunt May we've seen on film, and whilst little is known about the story, we do know that Michael Keaton (BATMAN) will be playing the main villain, Vulture. 

Of course, the main USP of the MCU's take on Spidey, is that they've actually cast a teenager as Parker, allowing for more school-time adventures... so it should come as no surprise a lot of the announced cast are 'young adults'.  There are plenty of known actors in the mix too - notably Bokeem Woodbine, who will be playing Shocker, and Donald Glover, perhaps a nod to the fact he voiced Miles Morales, the next Spider-Man! (Don't expect him to play that character though).  No sign of J Jonah Jameson yet, surely a character Marvel would wish to bring in asap.  Or maybe have they already?  They've been known to take liberties with race and gender (RE: Tilda Swinton in DOCTOR STRANGE), and let's be honest... we don't know who Tyne Daly is playing yet?  Just saying...

THOR: RAGNAROK

I really liked THOR, it was a nice surprised.  THOR: THE DARK WORLD, though... lacked something.  So far though, everything points to RAGNAROK as being the best of the trilogy... and an all round solid entry for the MCU.

'Ragnarok' is, essentially, known as the Asgardian apocalypse, where pretty much all the Asgardians are likely die... all except Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and possibly Loki (Tom Hiddleston).  That's a pretty big promise.  Another promise is that we're not likely to spend as much time on Earth as we have in the previous films. This is good.  It also means though we can expect no appearances from Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard or Kat Dennings on this occasion.

But don't be too upset, because who we're getting instead is far more impressive.  Thor's fellow Avenger Dr Bruce Banner aka The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) will be featured heavily, in what very much sounds like a loose adaption of PLANET HULK, a popular story in the comics.  Yep, we're going to see Thor v Hulk in a gladiatorial style arena.  Brilliant.  Also brilliant, as hinted at in a previous film, Benedict Cumberbatch will be appearing as Doctor Strange!

Aside from returning actors Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins and Jaimie Alexander (Heimdall, Odin and Sif, respectively), we get new blood in Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Karl Urban as Skurge, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster and Cate Blanchett as Hela!

Everything points to this film being epic, and a very important entry as we move closer to the epic AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.  Rumours continue that Blanchett's Hela may stand in for Death... ie, Thanos' true love, the one he wants to get the Infinity stones for etc... interesting.  Very interesting.

But on to our last Superhero entry for 2017...

JUSTICE LEAGUE

As I've already mentioned, BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE was a bit of a disappointment.  Too dark for it's own good, little humour, and some silly plot devices.  Apparently director Zack Snyder and writer Chris Terrio have learnt their lessons and JUSTICE LEAGUE will be lighter in tone... but will still be BIG.  And so it should be!

For many, this is the big one.  This is the one Warner Bros and the DCEU need to get right.  Joss Whedon delivered one hell of a film when he turned in THE AVENGERS for MCU, and now Zack Snyder needs to do the same.  As you can see in the picture, we've got Ben Affleck returning as Batman, Gal Gadot back as Wonder Woman, and our first true looks at Ray Fisher's Cyborg, Ezra Miller's Flash and Jason Mamoa's Aquaman.

Let's not forget Henry Cavill's Superman will be back from the dead, and we've got a lot of other familiar faces returning too... Amy Adams' Lois Lane is likely to play a key role again, Jeremy Irons returns as Alfred, Diane Lane will be back as Martha Kent and Jesse Eisenberg is confirmed to return as Lex Luther (*grumble*, serious the worst casting it annoys me to even write it).  We have new characters too, such as Amber Heard's Mera, Ciaran Hinds' Steppenwolf and JK Simmons brings us Commissioner Gordon, amongst others. 

We don't really know the plot yet, but that's okay.  Fingers crossed they nail it.  Quite frankly, the rest of their film franchise may well be resting on it.