Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Thread starter Triggermv
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Been working my way through a timeline re-watch on all the MCU movies and TV Shows (only Marvel Studios ones) and I figured I'd post a few quick observations so far. Keep in mind that I've at least seen every MCU movie twice prior to this re-watch.
Captain America: The First Avenger - Like it always has for me, the first half of that movie is maybe my favorite first half, especially origin-wise of any MCU movie out there. It truly gives you the feels and is what establishes Captain America's character as a fan favorite from the get-go. As for the second half, its mostly just decent and always will be what keeps this movie from being one of the overall best MCU movies out there.
Captain Marvel - This has always been a bottom-tier MCU movie for me with a mediocre story and what I consider a pretty poor performance from Brie Larson. HOWEVER, I will say that I have enjoyed the overall story a bit more and more with every re-watch, so this third go-around for this movie was my favorite. It's still probably a bottom-third MCU movie, but at least it is slowly rising.
Iron Man - This movie still holds up for me about as well as it always has. Is it my favorite MCU movie? No, but it will likely always be a top-tier MCU movie. Man, watching both Iron Man and Iron Man 2 really made me miss the days of all the mechanical and practical suits. I've always just thought seeing that Hall of Armor and all the different suits was just so cool, especially with how all the different versions install onto Tony. I get it, but I've just never been the biggest fan of all the purely CGI nano-tech suits.
Iron Man 2 - Screw everyone, I still really like this movie probably more than most out there. Is it pretty formulaic, does too much setup of future movies, and not make sense at times? Sure, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a ton of fun to watch with a bunch of cool visuals and scenes. Love seeing how Shield and Black Widow jump into the mix in this movie. The Iron Man suits are at some of their finest in this movie too.
Thor - Just a decently solid movie throughout that does a good-enough job of setting up the character. For someone who is such a galaxy-expanding character, this movie has always felt so unusually lower-budget and small-scale to me, probably because it somewhat was. I'm even talking about how small the world of Asgard feels in the movie. Anyway, this movie is and probably always will be a bottom-third tier movie for me, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it for what it is. Love the introduction of Hawkeye in the movie.
The Incredible Hulk - This is one of those MCU movies that I keep thinking I'm going to like more after every re-watch, but for some reason, I just don't. In fact, I probably liked it a little less with this latest re-watch. It's fine, but I think this movie will always be hindered both by me never really loving Edward Norton in the role and me not liking the initial design of the Hulk character. Good to see they fixed both in later installments. The story is good-enough for me to be glad it is still a part of the MCU, but it will always probably be towards the end of my MCU rankings list. Also, due to the recast and redesign, this movie will likely always be one of those afterthought MCU movies, which is fine.
Anyway, I hope at least of few of you appreciate this update. I'll maybe try to give some new updates like this one periodically throughout my whole re-watch. I am really enjoying this whole re-watch process, especially since I've acquired 4K UHD discs now for all the MCU movies. Therefore, for many of these movies, this is my first time watching them in all their 4K UHD HDR glory, which is pretty spectacular.
Captain America: The First Avenger - Like it always has for me, the first half of that movie is maybe my favorite first half, especially origin-wise of any MCU movie out there. It truly gives you the feels and is what establishes Captain America's character as a fan favorite from the get-go. As for the second half, its mostly just decent and always will be what keeps this movie from being one of the overall best MCU movies out there.
Captain Marvel - This has always been a bottom-tier MCU movie for me with a mediocre story and what I consider a pretty poor performance from Brie Larson. HOWEVER, I will say that I have enjoyed the overall story a bit more and more with every re-watch, so this third go-around for this movie was my favorite. It's still probably a bottom-third MCU movie, but at least it is slowly rising.
Iron Man - This movie still holds up for me about as well as it always has. Is it my favorite MCU movie? No, but it will likely always be a top-tier MCU movie. Man, watching both Iron Man and Iron Man 2 really made me miss the days of all the mechanical and practical suits. I've always just thought seeing that Hall of Armor and all the different suits was just so cool, especially with how all the different versions install onto Tony. I get it, but I've just never been the biggest fan of all the purely CGI nano-tech suits.
Iron Man 2 - Screw everyone, I still really like this movie probably more than most out there. Is it pretty formulaic, does too much setup of future movies, and not make sense at times? Sure, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a ton of fun to watch with a bunch of cool visuals and scenes. Love seeing how Shield and Black Widow jump into the mix in this movie. The Iron Man suits are at some of their finest in this movie too.
Thor - Just a decently solid movie throughout that does a good-enough job of setting up the character. For someone who is such a galaxy-expanding character, this movie has always felt so unusually lower-budget and small-scale to me, probably because it somewhat was. I'm even talking about how small the world of Asgard feels in the movie. Anyway, this movie is and probably always will be a bottom-third tier movie for me, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it for what it is. Love the introduction of Hawkeye in the movie.
The Incredible Hulk - This is one of those MCU movies that I keep thinking I'm going to like more after every re-watch, but for some reason, I just don't. In fact, I probably liked it a little less with this latest re-watch. It's fine, but I think this movie will always be hindered both by me never really loving Edward Norton in the role and me not liking the initial design of the Hulk character. Good to see they fixed both in later installments. The story is good-enough for me to be glad it is still a part of the MCU, but it will always probably be towards the end of my MCU rankings list. Also, due to the recast and redesign, this movie will likely always be one of those afterthought MCU movies, which is fine.
Anyway, I hope at least of few of you appreciate this update. I'll maybe try to give some new updates like this one periodically throughout my whole re-watch. I am really enjoying this whole re-watch process, especially since I've acquired 4K UHD discs now for all the MCU movies. Therefore, for many of these movies, this is my first time watching them in all their 4K UHD HDR glory, which is pretty spectacular.
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Just wait until you get to GOTG 2 and Doctor Strange. Those movies are beautiful in 4K UHD glory..
Everyone has a Covid collection, mine ended up being all of the MCU steelbooks in 4K.
Can't wait. I'm such a visual movie/TV nerd and surprisingly not the biggest sound system concerned fan. Don't get me wrong, I still love the movie theater experience and a lot of the things about it, its just not for the visuals. When you get down to visual technical details, I'm a big advocate that the 4K UHD HDR blu-ray experience on a good TV experience is ultimately superior visually in the end. Unless you are in a laser-projected 4K Dolby theater, which most are not, the colors, HDR, brightness and quality just never will be as good as you can get at home. Shoot, even when I see movies in the my local Marcus Theater "premium" Supercreen DLX theater, it isn't even laser-projected and their bulbs there are clearly old, need to be replaced, and losing their brightness. It kind of pisses me off. Again, this is only compared to quality high-end TVs, which are 4K HDR TVs 65 inches and up. I'm not even counting the ability to pause, rewind, and take bathroom breaks. Movie theaters for me anymore are mostly just about the communal opening-night going-out experience rather than the superior visual experience. I just wait to get the super visual experience later after I buy all these movies.
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That is never great, although I still have hope since Sony ended up moving the release date forward instead of delaying the film until 2022. I have to think there is some tie-in to Spider-Man: No Way Home and that's why Sony is getting this out ASAP. Even if the film is so-so I'll be curious to see Andy Serkis' influence as a director - this could be a film worth purchasing just for the behind the scenes extras and directors commentary.
Yeah, isn't an absolute that it will be bad, but definitely not a good sign. At least there was that Europe early fan screening a little while back with all the positive reviews which gives some signs of hope. I also agree that there may be a small chance it is due to that mind-blowing post-credit scene people have hinted at which could be very spoiling if it gets out too much, even though it hasn't held studios back from early embargo drops in the past and also critics are pretty good at not spoiling stuff. This movie ultimately could end up kind of like the first movie too, which was not very well reviewed, but pretty well liked by fans. I also have heard some behind-the-scene reactions from critics who have seen it and were shocked this movie didn't end up with an "R" rating after what they just saw. That has me intrigued.
Curious what your thoughts are of disc-based vs streaming? Do you notice a difference in quality (video, audio or both)? Also, when it comes to the MCU-series like WandaVision, Loki, FATWS will you purchase those in 4K steelbooks (do they make them?) or continue to stream those series for repeat viewings?
Disney+ offers most, if not all, the MCU films in 4K HDR. I stopped purchasing disc-based films around the time Dr Strange came out and have either purchased films via iTunes or watched on a subscription service like Netflix or Disney+. I'm just curious if anyone has compared disc-based video quality to streaming?
Also, of the movies I've watched so far, Iron Man 2 was probably enhanced the best from a brightness of colors perspective. However, with all the dark scenes in both Captain Marvel and especially The Incredible Hulk, those movies benefited greatly from the HDR upgrade. The Incredible Hulk has a ton of really dark scenes where you can finally see everything that is going on really well.
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I just did the timeline thing last year. Some of these movies are showing their age already with how long the MCU has been around and how much has happened. At some point, I want to do timeline watch, but with specific characters. Thinking of starting with Nick Fury, so only watching the movies he appears in and getting his story. I think it would provide a new perspective on his character.
Captain Marvel - Despite believing this is a bad movie and Brie Larson was a horrible cast choice, this movie always pleasantly surprises me. I think the review bombers got its rating so low, that I always go in thinking it'll be Hulk 2003 bad and its not.
Iron Man 2 - This movie is bad and you should feel bad for liking it.
Whiplash, Hammer, and the Drones were all uninteresting. The movie only has some life because of SHIELD, his struggles with death and his friends. The suitcast armor was awesome and yes better than nano-tech. Strawberry thing was funny! Ok, I'll give you a pass for liking it. It still isn't very good.The Incredible Hulk - I like, not love, this movie. Probably how you feel about Iron Man II. It suffers from Edward Norton is not the same hulk we know and love anymore. I know General Ross has been in the MCU often, but its not enough. Betty Ross shouldn't have been ignored after this movie. They set up the leader, why didn't they use him? It just makes this movie feel totally disconnect from the franchise and makes it not as good. Hoping She-Hulk can right some wrongs for this movie the way Shang-Chi helped fix that terrible Iron Man III fake out.
Most of your takes are excellent and I'd be happy to take recommendations from you!
4K UHD Discs versus 4K streaming is a very complicated question where you are likely better off googling some in-depth articles to get the full comparison picture. I think you'll find most argue that 4K UHD discs with the correct 4K blu-ray player and the correct TVs is the more consistent better picture experience than any 4K streaming. A lot of it comes down to the fact that you are guaranteed the picture quality of what you are going to get from discs based on the specs of your player, your discs, and your TV. However, with 4K streaming, your quality is going to be very variable based on your internet speed at the time and the streaming program you are using. It's many times hard to even know what quality you are actually streaming outside of doing some pretty complex tests. Its likely at all times though that you are having some type of data compression going on to a varying degree with streaming.
I actually buy a variety of both discs and just straight digital copies for movies. For movies I really care about and collect like Marvel, Star Wars and DC films, I still buy the disc and digital combos. However, for most other movies I want to buy, I just buy 4K digital copies for cheaper through either Vudu sales they have going on or through UV Spider. I will say this, unless you are a big visual nerd like me, you likely aren't going to be able to tell too much difference between 4K streaming versus discs. Also, as of now, all the MCU shows are NOT available on anything outside of Disney+. That isn't to say they eventually won't release that stuff for purchase at a later date, or maybe not.
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Two things really stand out to me with the disks and appropriate setup that I wasn’t expecting.
1. white light generation is crazy with the disks. My pitch black basement will look like daylight in some scenes.
2. sound quality takes another big jump over streaming
My young daughters still look at me with a baffled look every time I walk to the room behind the TV to pop a weird circular disc in. It just doesn't compute to their one-click on-demand world.
Just bought my tix to the opening Thursday night showing of Venom 2. Can't wait!! Figured I'd do a roll call to see if anyone else was going opening night.
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE Critic Reactions Promises A "Wild-Ass Movie Of The Highest Order"
A select number of critics have finally been allowed to share their reactions to Venom: Let There Be Carnage on social media, and it sounds like we're definitely in for a treat with Andy Serkis' sequel...
Looks like Sony allowed some social media reactions to be released that are all quite positive. I'll admit that I'm still suspicious of how they are handling the review embargo on this thing. For instance, its not abnormal for a social media embargo to lift before a full review embargo, but this social media embargo seems to only be for a select few reviewers, which always makes me suspicious. Also, it typically rarely good when the overall review embargo doesn't lift until opening day, which it seems Sony is sticking with for this movie.
As for the the reviews listed on here, I'm getting the sense that this movie is mostly Venom one amped up some more and maybe a little better than the first one. I find it interesting that one of the reviewers hated the first one but liked this one. However, another reviewer stated that if you liked the first one, you will like this one, but if you didn't, you probably won't like this one.
Honestly I liked it a lot. Took a turn I didn't expect to see I'll say that for sure.
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE Critic Reactions Promises A "Wild-Ass Movie Of The Highest Order"
A select number of critics have finally been allowed to share their reactions to Venom: Let There Be Carnage on social media, and it sounds like we're definitely in for a treat with Andy Serkis' sequel...www.comicbookmovie.com
Looks like Sony allowed some social media reactions to be released that are all quite positive. I'll admit that I'm still suspicious of how they are handling the review embargo on this thing. For instance, its not abnormal for a social media embargo to lift before a full review embargo, but this social media embargo seems to only be for a select few reviewers, which always makes me suspicious. Also, it typically rarely good when the overall review embargo doesn't lift until opening day, which it seems Sony is sticking with for this movie.
As for the the reviews listed on here, I'm getting the sense that this movie is mostly Venom one amped up some more and maybe a little better than the first one. I find it interesting that one of the reviewers hated the first one but liked this one. However, another reviewer stated that if you liked the first one, you will like this one, but if you didn't, you probably won't like this one.
Agreed that typically review embargos are usually not good. In fact Watchmojo listed it as #6 sign a movie will suck:
Latest What If episode is really cool imo. Marvel is going to do it again to us. Doing something that seems kind of fun and one-off, almost pointless and then BOOM hit us with tying things together and into the next set of movies or phase. This episode has me excited for what they may tackle with Dr. Strange 2.