Prime Mover and Shaker

I binge watched the 12 MCU movies I own on Blu-Ray over the last week. As a result, I don't think I'd change this rating, other than to move The Dark World into the middle of the gap between Age of Ultron and IM3. The Dark world was a bit better than I had remembered it.

Obviously everyone has their own opinions, but it floors me that IM3 isn't in the bottom two of everyone's list!

Something went very right with SS and PoA. CoS was decent, but somehow it drags a bit... it's overly long, but admittedly follows the source material fairly well. Heck, the first three films do well enough by the books (which I realize isn't the be-all, end-all of filmmaking, but it matters to me with a series this well crafted). I enjoy the rest of the films well enough, but GoF set the trend of being influenced by the flashier parts of the books at the expense of (in my opinion) the things that really make the series interesting. Almost everything that makes Voldemort an interesting villain is glossed over or omitted from movies 4-8. Key elements of his "rebirth", the subtleties of the prophecy, and the import of the horcruxes all point toward the things that make the final confrontation as meaningful as it is in the book.... and these items are dumbed down in the movies. I have to remind myself that the movie universe is different than that of the books; when I am successful with this, the movies are more enjoyable. So, if I keep that in mind, I'd rank them: PoA - this is a whodunit, done right. SS - great intro to a world of magic. DH1 - growing on me. Wonderful beginning. Can drag a bit, but that's kind of the point; there's a desperation to the monotony of what the characters are experiencing. HBP - now they've figured out how to act! Relationships done well; overall story suffers, though. GoF - lots of fun. Great action moments. Acting is sometimes distracting. DH2 - great build, weird execution of the ending. Very hard to not compare it to the book here. OotP - great moments, but there are some acting issues (growing pains of transitioning from kid acting to a more polished craft) that detract. CoS - too long. Drags. FWIW, HBP and PoA are my favorite books. OotP is sort of my least favorite, but some of that is dealing with it being the moodiest of the lot.

In the right hands, this could be very good.

It surely plays a factor in any successful movie. ...but ultimately my struggle with the success of Titanic and Avatar stem from my view that they are good, but not fantastic films... this is all just my opinion, as Baumer rightly pointed out. Fair enough.

Titanic and Avatar were decent movies. But really not great in the same sense that the first two Terminator movies were. Some will confuse extremely well-played marketing with good movie making. Think of all the other things that many, many people chose to consume. These two films are the Wal-Mart of cinema. Exactly what the masses call for, but not exactly the best the experience can be.

Just watched GotG again. Better repeat value than any other MCU flick to me. 1. Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Winter Soldier 3. Ant-Man <---Originally I'd have ranked this below AoU, but it's grown on me. 4. Age of Ultron 5. The Dark World 6. IM3

Will Inhumans move to Phase 4? Or is it toast?

...and what happened to Inhumans?

I realize there is only room for so much in any given phase, but I really feel like they're missing an opportunity by not pushing for RDJ to do one more Iron Man, facing off against the real Mandarin. Maybe I'm just still bitter about the basically useless, and frustratingly successful, Iron Man 3. If I had my way, IM4 would happen in 2017. Of course, that would make 2017 very Marvel-crowded.

It's not terrible with the Kanye song, but the remix with the AC game music is better. I've played a few of the games, but not enough to beat one. Looks decent enough to me. But man... does seem like a hell of an ambitious release date...

I thought it was Passion of the Christ.

I'd argue that the things that most define something like Deadpool are hard R. Not so with Assassin's Creed. AC's best features are its storytelling and character complexity, and there is comparatively little gore when compared to other games like Mortal Combat.

Couldn't have said it better!

Yep - if you liked the first one, I think you'll like this one. I did! Our theater was only about 75% full, 6:45 Friday.

Don't screw this one up. It's a favorite of mine...

Maybe Cameron is holding out for "Pocahontas 2" before writing a script?

Man, for a movie series to now have five films in the top 20 adjusted list.... amazing.

The only way any part of Han survives is if the explosion of the planet threw his barely alive soul through some sort of space time warp, and said soul (with amnesia) gets planted inside a young archaeologist on Earth sometime in the 1930s.

Old man time (well, I'm 43.. not THAT old...) I did see the OT in the theaters, as they were released. I was quite successful in keeping away form spoilers, other than knowing that Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie were returning, and a few inconsequential form the trailers. Watched this new one with my son at my side today. To watch Han Solo unexpectedly die... my first and favorite antihero.... after "knowing" him for 38 years..... wow. It was indeed sad, but not in a movie-killing sot of way. Like Han, I've grown, I have a son who has some issues with making life decisions.... to see Han die trying to help save his son from himself... wow, I'm still kind of coming to terms with it. But it was a great way to go. Yeah, I know it's just a movie, but it hit me, really. I'm not sure I remember the next minute or so of the film; I missed exactly how they blew up Galacticus (or whatever that thing was called ). I walked out wondering if Rey might be Han & Leia's kid as well... but that obviously doesn't make much sense, the more I think about it. Maybe you guys are right & she's somehow Luke's kid? Anyway, I thought it was done quite well (although my first viewing of a film that hits me like this is usually biased to the positive end). I liked that Kylo Ren wasn't just another Vader. He's much less in control, much more vulnerable even in somewhat normal circumstances. I liked the de-emphasis of C3P0 and R2D2. They were fine in the OT, but their presence was one of the many problems with the prequels. And the new little round robot was cool & cute without being overused & gimmicky. The material for Leia was a bit underwritten and/or misacted IMO. Really liked what they did, and did not, do with Luke. The overall feel was a bit darker, like the OT, which I preferred. I will see it again in theater, for sure!

Prometheus was, to me, a beautiful exotic woman who somehow agreed to climb in bed with me.... I was so excited... so dazzling to behold and gaze upon... ...and then she turned into Michael Moore.

When my friend and I first heard there was going to be a Battleship movie, we asked the same questions. We had an entertainingly stupid script idea worked out for Sorry. Something to do with gladiator teams of guys wearing color coordinated shirts, sliding around on slippery catwalks, occasionally bumping into competitors and sending them falling to their doom. Just terrible!

Tues or Wed Katniss takes the #1 spot for 2014. But if AS eventually takes Katniss, that would be two changes in the #1 spot after the year ends. I wonder if that's ever happened before.

I didn't know you were a Toronto guy. Probably my favorite city - I visit once a year, always a great time. It helps that the friends I see there are fellow Rush nerds.

This whole Alien universe and story fill me with wonder and piss me off to no end. Some of the ideas - and their execution - are writing and cinematic genius. Then some of it is so terrible that I want to scream (not in a good way). I can't wait for Prometheus 2. But I'm sure I'll hate some of it!