Bryan is the Host and Producer of After the Hype. He loves talking. About everything. But mostly Batman, Star Wars and Green Lantern.
He also lives in Los Angeles and works in TV Post Production
Now that Phase 4 is totally wrapped up and phase 5 is set to start this week, I thought it would be an excellent time to rank ALL OF THE MCU! As a constant critic of all things Marvel, my list might differ from some. Still, I can honestly say I don’t think they have released a truly bad product yet. Even if your favorite is way down the list, remember even at its worst, MCU delivers entertaining movies. So let’s get to it!
Note this list will only consider things that are still canon, so no Netflix shows or Agents of Sheild.
Being a fan can really suck sometimes. You find something which speaks to you on a level you yourself don’t fully understand, it brings you joy. You start buying stuff related to it. You own the movies, the comics, you watch the videos of the games because you don’t have time to play them all. It becomes part of your identity, loving anything even remotely related to it. You see more people start loving it, or maybe they already did, and people with money notice. Now they start pumping serious money into it. The real test begins, do enough people love it for the same reasons you do? If so, you are in luck, you are going to be getting so much content you won’t be able to keep up, I promise. If not…well, then you are in a tight spot. God help you if the general audience doesn’t just “not care” but actively condemns what you love. Now you can get ready for an onslaught of, you’re wrong, I don’t trust your opinion, and the general assumption that you don’t know what you are talking about.
***If you haven’t finished playing The Last of Us Part II, and would be upset at the INSANE amount of spoilers below, this article isn’t for you. You can gohere***
Thirty minutes ago credits rolled on my playthrough of The Last of Us Part II. I’m sitting at my desk looking up reviews, ending theories, and the like. It’s a weird moment where I’m feeling sort of like my bell was just rung. I almost want someone else’s point of view to replace my own so I don’t have to think about any of the feelings that the freaking game just made me feel. But that’s not the right way to go, so how about I write a quickfire review instead!
With the final season wrapping up, I hope that you are unlike me. You, the clever viewer, have been watching and enjoying this gem of a show for years. You’re not a crazy person like me. Schitt’s Creek is, of course, your favorite show. No?
A year and a half ago my entire life changed. I became a dad. It’s the best thing that has ever happened in my life, and I couldn’t be happier. But being a dad really takes a lot of time and work, and that leaves little room for things that I used to spend all my time doing, seeing movies, watching TV, reading comics, playing video games, and digging through the internet for new music. With all of that in mind, I’m going to have to my end of year list a little different than the past. This year, each category gets one winner and no runner ups. I’m also so out of the loop that I won’t bother saying what is the best, just my favorites. All set? Ready? Let’s go!
We have written a few articles on this site about fandom, nerddom and the like, but I feel that we often spend the majority of the time condemning fans for wanting things they love to match their expectations- without ever really trying to think about things from their side.
I’m going to do something out of character: I’m going to try to see how I’ve been wrong and dive into why the angry fanboy is right- even if what they do with their anger is wrong. No matter how much you hate any piece of media, you can trust that people (not all of them, sure) poured their blood sweat and tears into it and any personal attacks are not only a waste of time, but outright cruel. To do this, I’m going to be looking at some recent films and TV shows and spoil the hell out of them, so be warned….
To fully review a movie like Captain Marvel you need to spoil some things. It’s inevitable and necessary. For those of you who wish to go in as blind as I did, I’ll keep this first part spoiler free. My version of spoiler free, which means ZERO plot and character details.
Anyone who has ever listened to my podcast or read any of my work knows I’m very critical of Marvel. I feel that too many people grant them a pass on all their problems and grade on a curve. When movies like “Ant-Man and the Wasp” are getting 7s and 8s out of 10, I feel like I missed a round of kool-aid. Not saying that it was a bad film at all; it was a blast. Was it Captain Marvel? Absolutely not. Captain Marvel is exactly the movie I wanted and avoids nearly all the pitfalls I was afraid of. I haven’t been this impressed with a Marvel outing since the first Avengers.
A LOOK BACK AT A MOVIE THAT, WHILE FUN, DOESN’T QUITE HOLD UP.
Twenty years ago a little movie from reportedly douche bag director, Troy Duffy, hit the scene. For years to come shitty posters have lined the walls of undergrad male’s dormitories, while they all scream about how great this movie was, and how you should see it, because only they have seen it, and they want to introduce you to its amazingness… If you listen to them, and sit down with a brew to watch the movie, you’ll be entertained, sure, but that’s about it. I still don’t get what was so damned special about this movie, and I was TOTALLY caught in the storm of it.
For my research, I’ll look the trailer. Like the majority of you, I only ever saw the
trailer on the DVD copy my mom bought me.
At the time, I thought it was awful.
It shows the whole movie! It
shows the best scenes! It gives nearly
everything away! And to the 16 – 25 year
old crowd this movie is singularly targeted for, this is horrible. To everyone else, thank god the trailer shows
as much as it does, or no one would ever watch it. The movie is a hard sell to the most receptive
crowd, so in my opinion, the trailer does its job. This isn’t some religious propaganda movie,
nor is it insulting religion, we get that.
This movie will have fun violence that is shot differently, we get that
too. The movie has a pretty good sense
of humor, we kinda sorta get that. All in
all if this was a movie coming out today, and I saw this trailer I’d see
it. I’d wait for video, but I’d see it.
I realize I came across really negative on the movie… uh… I
regret nothing.
Back when trailers had no rules and totally ruled!
Man I love old trailers. They didn’t have any rules and no one really cared about them. Just show 3-5 min of the movie, have a guy who smoked an entire carton of cigarettes talk the whole time, and tell me the name of the movie. That’s it. My favorite old trailer of all time is Taxi Driver. That thing is just a short 4 min summary of the entire movie, gives away everything from the movie. Halloween is no better, and somehow, SO MUCH BETTER.
Everyone I’ve ever known who was into comics has said a version of this at some point in their lives – myself included, and to some extent, I get it. Much like the old Coke vs Pepsi argument, while being essentially the same product, they have a slightly different flavor. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve sort of started to soften on my edges and ask why? Why, if I love Star Wars is it forbidden to love Star Trek? Xbox vs Playstation? Chicago Hope Vs E.R.? Okay that last one is a bit of a throwback, but you get what I’m saying.
It’s very strange to love something, so much that you’ll fight with your friends and family for hours about it, when from an outside perspective, it’s all basically the same thing! Personally, I think the ultimate argument is DC vs Marvel. It’s a huge rivalry, and it’s entirely stupid. Throughout the history of both of these companies, they have ripped each other off so many times that the argument of who is better is moot; they are the same. I’m going to go through some of the big arguments and see if I can poke enough holes to try to end this crazy rivalry.
