The New Classics: Movies

When do recently made movies become classics? What makes a movie classic? What movie you predict would be become classic? In this post I will go over 5 movies that has come out since 2000 that I believe should become classics. This is my opinion on what movies will be (if not already) classics. If there is a movie that I missed leave a comment. 

Lord of The Rings

When I think of the best movie I have seen I think of Lord of the Rings (LOTR). No fantasy movie has come close to how well LOTR did. I am not the only one that thinks this out of 24 Oscars that LOTR was nominated for it won 17 of them. Even though they left out one of the best characters, Tom Bombadil, the movies were successful and amazing. When I watch the series, the extended editions are the only way to view its beauty. The practical effects were spot on, Boromir’s death was sad, Sam is shown as the hero, and so many fans have quoted Gollum's iconic lines in his voice. If these movies have not been deemed a classic, then they will.

The Avengers

This movie success helped expand the MCU and it is my favorite Avenger movie. This is the first movie that mixed iconic superheroes (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk) into one epic movie. Its success comes from having individual movies for these heroes prior to this movie and hinting towards a combined movie. There are classic lines like “Doth mother know you weareth her drapes” when Iron Man meets Thor or “There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that.” when Captain is conversing with Black Widow. If there was one Marvel movie that I am only allowed to watch I would choose this movie.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse

With Disney having no competitors with animation they have become idle using the same format for all there movies. Even though each animated movie is beautiful, its not memorable because they are not improving. Then in 2018 Sony brought us Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse. I thought it would be a flop, but after watching it I can say this movie is the best Spider-Man movie. The animation is something that hasn’t been done in theaters. The characters were well developed. Miles is awesome, and should have been introduced before. He is different than Peter Parker and it comes across funny. I laughed so hard when he climbed a high building to practice his newfound ability just to climb down and search for a smaller building because of basophobia. I liked that he has a good family relationship something that most superheroes don’t have. Both of his parents are alive and care for him. I honestly believe this should become a classic.

Inception

I am a big fan of Christopher Nolan’s Movies and in my opinion his best movie is Inception. One reason Inception is so good because of its use of practical effects. If you watch Inception, then Doctor Strange you will see a drastic quality of effects; even though Inception is older its effects are way better because of the lack of CGI. The buildings folding on top of each other, the rotating hallway scene were practical effects, and it was executed well. The second reason this movie should become a classic is because of the sci-fi story and ambiguous ending. Each person can have a different interpretation of the ending. Does Cobb end up going home to see his kids or is he dreaming? It’s for you to decide. I think Cobb is still in a dream because his kids are wearing the same clothes, they are the same age, and doing the same thing as they always do when he dreams about them. But you can have a different interpretation. The final reason this movie should be a classic is because of Hans Zimmer musical soundtrack. "Time" is one of the best soundtrack song I have heard.

Edge of Tomorrow

The last movie that I think should become a classic is Edge of Tomorrow. Tom Cruise is a classic action star, and in this movie, he finds himself in a time loop failing to beat invaders trying to take over earth. It’s like Groundhog Day, but better. Instead of going to sleep and starting the day again Bill Cage, played by Tom Cruise, dies and starts the events over again. The audience sees the psychological trauma as Bill Cage lives through the same battle over again helping us understand veterans' PTSD. Even though the movie focuses on one event and loops through it many times the action and story are amazing and doesn't seem too repetitive. I did not get bored as I was watching the movie.

I will be honest of all the movies I have listed I believe Edge of Tomorrow won’t become a classic, but I think it should be for its creativity and how fun it is to watch.

There are a lot of great movies out there. Some of them may be on this list. Even though some of your favorite movies aren't classics doesn't mean that they are not amazing. If you had to make a list of movies you would want to be classics what would they be? What movie would you want to keep watching as you grow older? What movies would you want your family or friends to watch with you years from now? Those will be your classic movies movies. 

4th of July Disney Movie Recommendations

(Guest Post by David T)

This Saturday, people across the United States will gather together with family and friends to celebrate America’s birthday with barbecues, fireworks, and activities. One such activity is movie watching, particularly films about freedom. If you are having a difficult time selecting a movie, or just don’t know what to watch, here are four Disney movie recommendations that are sure to get you into the spirit of this Independence Day.

Aladdin (1992) 

Some may not consider this animated feature film a flag waving tribute to liberty. However, Aladdin is a movie about freedom. It’s about Aladdin’s desire to be able to move upward economically and socially. It is about Jasmine’s yearning to have a choice in whom to marry, and have that marriage based on love instead of a restrictive law dictating she marry royalty by the deadline of her birthday. It’s about Genie’s ultimate wish to be free from the magical rules and servitude bound by the lamp. And it is about real liberty that comes from being yourself.

A Bug’s Life (1998) 

One of the themes of this film is that there is strength through unity. Near the beginning of A Bug’s Life it is made clear that the queen of the ants and her subjects are oppressed by Hopper and his grasshopper gang due to the latter’s large size. Believing that insects in equal proportion or even bigger is the key to liberating the ants, the underdog or under-ant, Flik, with the guise of approval from the colony council, sets out to find them. Through his journey, and at one point in the face of death, Flik realizes that the way to free himself and his fellow invertebrates is to stand up to Hopper and the other locusts. Inspired by Flik’s words and courage, the Queen, Princesses Atta and Dot, and the entire ant colony unite and, with the help of the circus bugs, fight the gang of grasshoppers. The diminutive ants gain and enjoy their new found independence.

The Rise of Skywalker (2019) 

ATTENTION: Spoilers are ahead for those who haven’t seen The Rise of Skywalker. A New Hope, The Return of the Jedi, and The Phantom Menace contain amazing battles between good and evil. With that said, The Rise of Skywalker is specifically recommended here because of the inspiring last stand between the Resistance and the Final Order. In the epic climatic battle on Exegol, when it appeared the Resistance’ fight was lost, Poe Dameron was ready to resign himself to defeat. This changed as ships piloted by species from numberless star systems led by Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon fill the skies of the planet. From this sight,  and after hearing his friend, Zori Bliss’ encouragement, Poe, Finn, and the Resistance’s faith and determination is renewed. They (with Rey’s help during her own battle on the planet with Emperor Palpatine), successfully vanquish the Final Order, restoring freedom across the galaxy.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) 

For those who want to watch a patriotic, freedom loving hero, Captain America is the movie to see. The origin story of scrawny, sickly Steve Rogers who through a super soldier serum becomes the brawny first Avenger, Captain America is an inspiring one. While physically Cap is an enhanced warrior who can best any adversary in combat, it’s the strength and purity of his heart that makes him such a beloved hero. It’s his service oriented heart that leads Steve to reject the celebrity life as a poster boy for the war effort and join with his best bud, Bucky, and fellow soldiers, in carrying out operations against Hydra. It is Cap’s courageous heart that propels him to stop Red Skull’s sinister plans for world domination. And it’s the First Avenger’s selfless heart that allows him to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save millions of people’s lives in the United States.

So on this Independence Day, between the eating, games, and fireworks, watch one (or maybe two) of these recommended Disney movies, and feel your appreciation renewed and strengthened for your individual and communal freedoms. Happy 4th of July!

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 3

Welcome back! I had a little hiatus with working so much overtime, but now I’m here today. I’ve got a chunk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to cover and this part is really great because it’s when the universe starts expanding outside just the movies and the four Avengers solo movies we’ve seen so far.

Avengers Assemble!

The Avengers

We start out with Nick Fury arriving at a SHIELD base to find out that the Tesseract (remember that mystery cube from Captain America and the post-credit scene from Thor?) is misbehaving. It ends up opening a portal letting Loki through and he proceeds to brainwash Dr. Erik Selvig and Clint Barton/Hawkeye with his staff. Fury and Agent Hill manage to escape and they finally decide that it’s time to reactivate the Avengers Initiative. It starts as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow escapes from a hostage situation (which she had completely under control) to recruit Bruce Banner/Hulk. Meanwhile, Agent Coulsen is recruiting Tony Stark/Iron Man to the cause and Fury is getting Steve Rogers/Captain America to help.

Once Cap and Banner are on the Helicarrier, Banner is able to track the gamma radiation from the Tesseract to Germany, where Captain America and Black Widow take on Loki and captures him with the help of Iron Man. While still in transit, Thor drops out of the sky, causing a raucous before they can convince him to help them get the Tesseract before hauling his brother back to Asgard. However, as SHIELD’s secret plans for the Tesseract start to come out (thank you, Tony Stark) the Helicarrier gets attacked, which leaves Iron Man and Cap busy trying to repair damages to the ship. Meanwhile, Banner has turned into the Hulk and starts fighting Thor and Black Widow.  Hulk ends up falling to the earth below while Black Widow is able to knock some sense into Hawkeye (literally). After Loki gets out of his cell, Coulsen attempts to stop him from escaping, only to have the Chitauri scepter stabbed through his heart.

By the end of the fight, the only ones left on the Helicarrier are Cap, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. They realize that Loki is opening a portal for the Chitauri warriors to come through in NYC. These four rendezvous with Thor and Banner (who willing turns into the Hulk) and take on the invasion. Easily the team is overwhelmed (though they do an amazing job) and it’s about this time that Iron Man gets a bit distracted, having to intercept a nuclear missile, which he throws into the wormhole as Black Widow destroys the portal. With everyone alive, though worn out and ready for some shawarma, the Avengers apprehend Loki and he’s taken back to Asgard. They part ways, but we know they’ll be back together again soon.

Random Trivia/Connections:

• Coulsen mentions the Destroyer in New Mexico, having witnesses Thor’s battle with it in the movie “Thor”.
• Loki mentions all the dark energy that Odin would have had to use to send Thor to Earth, since the bifrost was destroyed.

Thoughts:

Black Widow’s interrogation scene is one of my favorites. Just how easily she takes everyone down and how nonchalantly she handles getting a call while everyone else is just so confused. Funniest thing! I swear! Right up there with Darcy, Jane Foster’s quirky intern. I think it’s just how seriously she DOESN’T take her captors. She knows she has the upper hand and she ends up proving it.

Apart from Black Widow, there are plenty of other great moments. It’s hard to beat the team shot with all of the Avengers in New York City. Before I’d seen it, some people had made it sound like this movie was just a bunch of hitting stuff and things blowing up, but in reality there is great character building and the development of the Avengers team feels so natural. It’s the perfect culmination of the Marvel movies to this point and it set the precedent for lots of other great things that we would see in the future (including Avengers 2, Civil War, etc.).

Iron Man 3

After "the Mandarin" attacked Tony's house,
Pepper was left to believe he was dead.

Sometime after the events of “The Avengers”, Tony is having some post-traumatic stress after falling out of the wormhole. The stress keeps him from sleeping, so he’s now made dozens of Iron Man suits. Meanwhile, a terrorist called “the Mandarin” is causing bombings all over the country, one of which injures Tony’s bodyguard, Happy Hogan. Tony makes the impulsive decision to call out the Mandarin and basically invites him to bomb his house. Thankfully, Pepper makes it out and, while he seems to perish, Tony escapes as well thanks to the Iron Man suit and JARVIS.

After crash landing in Tennessee, Tony starts to track down some missing pieces of the Mandarin case with the help of Harley. Tony discovers that Extremis is unstable. So after fighting off a couple of Mandarin agents, he rushes off to Florida to confront the Mandarin, only to find out that he’s an actor. Turns out the real terrorist is Killian, a rival of Stark Industry, who has kidnapped Pepper and he’s injected her with Extremis to turn her against him.

So after Tony escapes captivity, he rescues Rhodey and the two of them work together to save President Ellis from an attack… but he gets kidnapped anyway. They go after Killian, securing the President, and rescuing Pepper using all of the Iron Man suits that Tony has made since the Battle of New York. Plot twist: Pepper is the one who ends up killing Kilian with his own Extremis formula. In the aftermath of the fight, Pepper is cured of Extremis and Tony finally gets that shrapnel out of his chest. At the very end, we find out that Tony was telling this whole story to Bruce Banner, who fell asleep at the very beginning.

Random Trivia/Connections:

• The Extremis chemical is later used as part of Project CENTIPEDE in Agents of SHIELD.
• We see many flashbacks of Tony’s fight during the Battle of New York, from the Avengers. As well, the movie gets referenced many times.
• Thor is referenced when Killian talks about when the “bigguy fell out of the sky.”
• There is evidence that there is another "Mandarin" who is not pleased that Killian's actor-for-hire used his name. That story is told in "All Hail the King".

Thoughts:

This was my favorite Iron Man movie. Maybe it’s just because of the difficult things that I’ve been through (some my fault and some not) that have caused me grief (for some reason I feel like trauma is too strong a word here), but for once I feel like I can relate to Tony. Usually with his arrogance and rudeness, I can’t relate, even though I enjoy his funny moments. However, in this movie, he seems to go through some intense development (not sure where that development went in later movies, but whatever). It was also very nice to see him fight someone who wasn’t in a metal suit. Just refreshing compared to Whiplash and Iron Monger.

In "Pilot", before offering her a job, Coulsen interrogates
Skye, who they have captured after she hacked in.

Agents of SHIELD: Season 1 (Episodes 1-7)

Agents of SHIELD brings together a group of misfit SHIELD agents (as well as a hacker who should be their enemy) to track down and handle supernatural and potentially alien phenomenon across the globe. The team is led by Agent Phil Coulsen, who we saw die in “The Avengers”, but was somehow revived (we’ll get to that in the second chunk of SHIELD episodes). This series incorporates the action of the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the action of “Thor: The Dark World” (which I’ll highlight in the next MCU post) and “Captain America: Winter Soldier” (which we’ll look at another time). For now, here’s a little summary of each episode in this segment.

1. Pilot: A synthetically super-powered man, Mike Peterson, is approached by a freedom-fighter hacker known as Skye. Before she knows it, Skye is enlisted as a consultant for a specialized SHIELD team, put together by Agent Hill and Agent Coulsen. The team consists of Agent Melinda May (kick-butt fighter and expert pilot), Agent Grant Ward (tactical specialist without many people skills), Agent Leo Fitz (SHIELD engineer), and Agent Jemma Simmons (medical specialist). Skye helps the team track down Mike Peterson, who has been a subject for Project Centipede, and they’re able to sedate him before he causes too much damage.
2. 0-8-4: The SHIELD team and Skye fly to Peru to investigate an 0-8-4 (an object of unknown origin). They track the 0-8-4 to a pre-Incan temple. However, after they get the 0-8-4 into the air and out of Peru, their supposed allies turn on them and they nearly blast themselves out of the sky to keep the dangerous device safe.
3. The Asset: Dr. Hall, a SHIELD scientist, gets captured and Coulsen’s team is sent to Malta to track down Ian Quinn, who is the prime suspect in the capture. So Skye sneaks into his home during a party to help Ward and Coulsen to get in to rescue Hall, who unfortunately has been persuaded otherwise by Quinn. By the end of it, Hall has been sucked in by his own experiment and Quinn has escaped.
4. Eye-Spy: In Stockholm, Akela Amador, a former SHIELD agent, steals diamonds from some masked men. The SHIELD team comes after her. After Akela trades the diamonds, the team discovers a video feed coming straight from Akela's eye, making them realize that she's doing someone else's work. May and Coulsen capture Akela and the team manages to take over the signal in her eye, in order to keep her handler from killing her. Ward (with the hijacked signal) goes to Akela's destination, while Fitz and Simmons remove the mechanical eye. With Akela safe and in SHIELD's hands, the team moves on.
5. Girl in the Flower Dress: A pyrokinetic named Chan Ho Yin is approached by a mysterious woman called Raina. As Chan was on the Index, the SHIELD team gets involved and they suspect that Skye leaked his location. Skye tries to win their trust back by tracking down who really leaked the information, leading to Miles, an old flame. Turns out that Miles leaked the information for some money that Raina promised him, leading them to Project Centipede. Raina manipulates Chan into helping them stabilize the Extremis in the Centipede Serum, by making him think he's becoming a super hero. SHIELD breaks into Centipede to rescue Chan, but he rejects their help and ends up burning the place.
6. FZZT: The team is brought to the site of a scout leader’s floating dead body. During the investigation, another dead body ends up floating, after an electro-magnetic disturbance. Skye discovers that both men helped after the Chitauri attack on New York. Finding a potential third victim, the team discovers that they are dealing with an alien sickness, spread by a souvenir Chitauri helmet, but not before Simmons is infected while on the Bus. Having been unable to develop a cure, Simmons jumps out of the plane to save the rest of the team, just as Fitz finds a cure. So Ward jumps after her and saves her.
7. The Hub: After an exciting mission, the team goes to The Hub for a briefing on a new mission that Ward and Fitz have been assigned to by Victoria Hand. While Fitz and Ward are gone, Simmons and Skye get panicky about their friends, leading them to hack in and find out that there’s no extraction plan, meaning their friends are set to die. While Fitz and Ward continue their mission, Coulsen leads his own rogue extraction team to get their team members, just as Hand had predicted.

In "FZZT", this is about where I
started shipping Fitzsimmons

Random Trivia/Connections:

• Multiple characters from Marvel movies appear in the series. In this portion of the series we see Phil Coulsen, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and Agent Sitwell.
• The events of “The Avengers” is referenced multiple times, including references to Coulsen’s death, the Chitauri invasion, and the Battle of New York.
• Centipede uses Extremis, last seen in Iron Man 3.
• Thor’s hammer is referred to as a previous 0-8-4.
• It is established that SHIELD has a list of enhanced individuals, called the Index.
• We are told that Coulsen, after his miraculous recovery, spent time in Tahiti.

Thoughts:

Agents of SHIELD had a slow start. These first few episodes definitely built characters, more than plot. Multiple episodes, including “0-8-4” and “The Hub”, show the team growing closer together and learning to work together. As a mismatched group of people, this really proves important later on in the season, especially after Captain America: Winter Soldier. If you want to watch these episodes (which I definitely recommend), just binge them. I was “fortunate” to watch the first two seasons of Agents of SHIELD over two grave shifts, so I got through them fast enough to appreciate them, but I can see how they’d drag on if you watched them one at a time. As we draw closer to Winter Soldier, it starts to get a bit more exciting, but I’ll save that for next time.

What were your favorite Agents of SHIELD moments? Who’s your favorite agent? I’ll definitely admit that I’ve got a crush on Skye, so she’s my favorite (though not technically an agent at this point). I liked Ward for a while, until stuff happened (spoilers). Come back for another post next week. I’m thinking either Classic Doctor Who or something random.

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 2

Aloha! Happy Finals Week, BYU.... Thankfully my finals are over now and only one class took until I'm officially done my bachelors degree (even though I'm walking this week). To celebrate I've got a post for you about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This week is about three big movies for SHIELD: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor.

The Incredible Hulk

Hulk/Banner saves New York from the Abomination

This Hulk movie (starring Edward Norton instead of Mark Ruffalo) starts with Bruce Banner already having become the Hulk and on the run from the military. While he's hiding out in Brazil, the military, led by General Ross and helped by Emil Blonsky, finds him. So he goes on the run again, all while trying to get help from Mr. Blue to take care of his little green problem. Once Bruce gets back to the United States, he reunites with his ex-girlfriend, Betty Ross, who is General Ross's daughter.

During a fight at Culver University, Bruce turns into the Hulk and ends up having to protect Betty, who had ended up in the line of fire of her father's men. Bruce and Betty go on the run, making their way to NYC to meet Mr. Blue who tries to get rid of Bruce's Hulk problem. Seemingly cured, Bruce and Betty end up in custody and Blonsky persuades Mr. Blue to use Bruce's blood to give him more power. Bad move, Mr. Blue. Blonsky, now the "Abomination", is rampaging in NYC, which persuades General Ross to let Bruce fight him. With some help, Bruce wins and then goes on the run. Finally in isolation, he tries to learn to control the Hulk experience. Meanwhile, Tony Stark comes to talk to General Ross about a "team" that's being put together.

Random Trivia/Connections:

•   The serum that Bruce was originally trying to replicate was the same Super Soldier Serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America in "The First Avenger".

•   General Ross, Bruce's initial nemesis in this movie, will reappear in "Captain America: Civil War", coming out next month.

•   In the post-credits scene, Tony alludes to the Avengers team, which concept was introduced to him during the events of "Iron Man 2", which occur concurrently with this movie.

•   In "The Avengers", Black Widow mentions that SHIELD has been keeping the army away from Bruce since the events of this movie.

Thoughts:

While definitely different from the Mark Ruffalo Hulk, I actually enjoyed this movie, despite hearing that it wasn't very good. One critique I have, which is actually more of a critique of "Age of Ultron" is that we haven't seen Betty Ross since this movie. Why is Bruce even considering anything with Black Widow when Betty is out there? Did something happen with her to push them apart or has it just been the passage of time since 2008 when this movie happened? Seven years is a long time, but I just wish they would address it. Maybe they will in "Civil War" when General Ross appears? I doubt it, but who knows. When it all comes down to it, this movie is worth watching. Even though the actor for Bruce Banner changes between this one and "The Avengers" it still fits as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (it's not like he's the only one who's been recast; just look at War Machine).

Fury gives Stark a good talking to.

Iron Man 2

Right on the heels of "Iron Man", Tony has announced that he's Iron Man. Meanwhile, Anton Vanko is plotting against Tony Stark. Six months after outing himself, Tony has helped establish peace in some powerful countries and he's opened the Stark Expo. However, he also has the government after him, questioning if the Iron Man suit is safe in the hands of Stark. They want him to hand it over, but of course that's not Tony's style. He ends up leaving the trial humiliating his rival, Justin Hammer.

However.... Tony also is dying. His arc reactor is slowly poisoning his blood. Accepting his impending death, he appoints Pepper Potts to succeed him as CEO and a Natalie Rushman replaces Pepper. Later, while Tony has a mid-life crisis (or end-of life crisis?) on a race track, Vanko attacks him. Long story short, Iron Man beats Vanko, Tony learns that Vanko's father works for his father, and Hammer hires Vanko to create suits for him. As the mid-life crisis continues, Rhodey shuts down Tony's birthday party, resulting in a drunken super suit battle (drunken on Tony's end). Humbled for once, Tony is able to save himself, with the help of Nick Fury.

Meanwhile at the Stark Expo, Hammer unveils Rhodey as War Machine, which turns out is controlled by Hammer. So while Tony rushes off to save Rhodey, his body guard Happy Hogan and Natalie Rushman (who is actually Agent Romanoff aka Black Widow of SHIELD) rush off to help stop Hammer. War Machine and Iron Man fight off Vanko and Tony rushes off to save Pepper from an explosion. And finally two share a kiss. Yay! As the movie ends, Fury says that they want Iron Man as a consultant for the Avengers Initiative. Finally, in the post-credit scene, Agent Coulsen arrives in New Mexico and finds a strange hammer that leads us into the next movie...

Random Trivia/Connections:

•   When Tony and Fury talk near the end of the movie, there's a news report about an incident at Culver University, the same incident involving the Hulk in the previous movie.

•   A prototype of Captain America's shield is seen in Tony's lab.

•   When Fury talks about Coulsen's absence, he mentions an incident in the southwestern part of the country, which we find out in e next movie is a small town in New Mexico.

•   Wakanda, Black Panther's home country, is seen on a map.

Thoughts:

I've heard lots of critiques on this movie (most of which come from my friend Justin). Honestly, it was a decent movie. Not my favorite, but I just think they were doing too much. We had the action with Vanko, Tony's blood poisoning, the Stark Expo, the stuff with SHIELD, and all the stuff between Tony and the US government. Just felt like there was a lot going on. In total though, a few important key points still affect other movies: Black Widow was introduced, War Machine was created, and the Avengers Initiative is introduced.

Thor

All those muscles put to waste.

Flashback to the 10th century AD, we see the beginnings of Norse mythology and we see Odin and his Asgardians defeat Laufey and his Frost Giants. In the present, Odin's son Thor is getting ready to become king. However, the Frost Giants attack. In anger, Thor goes to the home of the Frost Giants with his brother Loki and four friends, but instead of fixing things he makes things worse and he basically gets grounded... To earth... In New Mexico. Where he gets hit by a car. So around the same time that  Jane, Darcy, and Erik (who hit him with the car) get him conscious again, Agent Coulsen finds Thor's hammer. He proceeds to take all of Jane's research on wormholes. It's about at this point that Thor sneaks into the facility that SHIELD built up around the hammer, beating every SHIELD agent until he gets to the hammer, only to find that he can't lift it. He's permitted to leave the premise with the help of Dr Erik Selvig, but manages to nab one of Jane's notebooks on his way out.

Meanwhile on Asgard, Loki discovers that he's really a Frost Giant (kind of a runt of a giant) so when Odin basically goes comatose he takes the reins of the kingdom. He strikes a deal with Laufey and the Frost Giants in order to secure his reign. Meanwhile, Thor's friends travel to Earth to try to get him out of exile, only to have the Destroyer attack. Being willing to sacrifice himself for Jane's safety, Thor's power is restored and he's able to defeat the Destroyer before returning to Asgard to take care of Loki. Loki ends up double crossing and killing Laufey to try to prove himself to Odin. A fight ensues between the brothers with Loki trying to destroy the Frost Giants with the power of the bifrost, but Thor destroys it. With both brothers hanging over the abyss, Odin wakes up and saves them in the nick of time, except that Loki decides to drop to his apparent death. Meanwhile, not knowing that the bifrost was destroyed, Jane is left waiting for Thor to return, so she continues with her research. Some time later, Selvig gets taken to a SHIELD facility where he is shown a mysterious blue cube that he is to study. Unbeknownst to Fury, Selvig is being manipulated by Loki.

Random Trivia/Connections:

•   The prologue takes place in Tonsberg, Norway, so it's likely that this is when the Tesseract ended up on Earth, since that's where Red Skull found it.

•   Though a minor character in this movie, Clint Barton/Hawkeye makes his first appearance here at the SHIELD facility that was built around Thor's hammer.

•   Coulsen's activities in this movie occur just after his departure from Iron Man 2, explaining where he went.

Thoughts:

Not one of my favorites but I do have some highlights. Darcy, Jane's intern, is my favorite. "You hit him with your car." "You tased him." "Yeah, I did." She's just so funny and quirky. Highlight of the movie (and its sequel). Although the development of Thor from prideful jerk to humble hero was a bit fast, I did enjoy it. It sets the tone for all of Thor's heroic, selfless acts in the movies that follow. I'm also a fan of Thor's Asgardian companions. Nice round group of people and they kick major butt.

Alright, that's all for now. Next week I'm planning something Disney related. Something nice to celebrate graduating (even though I still have that one class).

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 1

I've been a bit MIA because of school and work and just general craziness, but I'm back and I'm here to talk a little about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I'm not claiming to be any sort of Marvel expert (I leave that to my older brother) but I do have some thoughts, so I'm gonna share those in a series of posts as I watch the movies/shows through again chronologically... So spoiler alert, since I'm giving short summaries of each movie.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Not counting flashbacks and such, this is where the series starts chronologically (it could be argued that the whole movie is just one long flashback, but I'm gonna put it here anyway). World War II and some scrawny kid named Steve Rogers wants to kill some Nazis. However, he's kinda not qualified, because of his long list of medical problems. Meanwhile, a German scientist, Schmidt, is trying to use a weird blue cube (called the Tesseract) that has some origin in Norse mythology to create weapons for the war. Back to America, Steve gets picked as a subject for the Super Soldier Serum experiment. Bibbity bobbity boo. Suddenly, Steve is strong, tall, muscular and basically had the body I wish I had. He even has suddenly gained the interest of the beautiful Agent Peggy Carter with his new pecs.

Fast forward through some embarrassing stage performances, Steve has been named Captain America (for publicity sake) and with the help of Agent Carter, Howard Stark, Bucky, and a select group of soldiers help take down Hydra bases, fighting the evil Red Skull along the way. After a SWEET fight scene, Red Skull accidentally kills himself (or so it appears) by touching the Tesseract. In a last ditch effort to save everyone from the explosives in the plane, Cap crashes the plane in the Arctic Ocean while having a super sad goodbye with Agent Carter. Fast forward 70ish years, and Cap has been found in the Arctic and he's been revived by SHIELD. Yikes. What now? Well, the Avengers.

Random Trivia/Connections:

·         Howard Stark is obviously Tony Stark’s father, having previously been featured (though by different actor) in Iron Man 2.

·         Jenna Coleman, better known for playing Clara Oswald in Doctor Who, briefly appears in this movie as Bucky’s date at the expo. Gotta say that Bucky has good taste in women. Personally, I have a little head canon connecting Doctor Who and Captain America here, but to avoid minor Doctor Who spoilers, I won’t post it here (message me and I’ll be happy to share it though).

·         Captain America had been hinted at for a bit. A prototype of his shield had been seen in Iron Man (when Tony is taking off his suit) and in Iron Man 2 (when Agent Coulson was talking to Tony).

·         Tony held the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2, obviously based off what his father did here.

·         Howard Stark shows a flying car here that closely resembles Lola, Phil Coulson’s flying car from Agents of SHIELD.

Thoughts:

            I’ve heard some criticisms of this movie, especially in comparison to The Winter Soldier (odd that a sequel is better liked than the original), but I’ve gotta give some credit to this movie. As far as I’m concerned, it did a great job of setting up Cap’s character and bringing him into our time period. His heartfelt goodbye to Peggy is beautiful and it fits his character well, that he puts humanity ahead of his own “happily ever after” with Peggy. (Spoiler alert) I am very glad that he got to reunite with her in Winter Soldier.

Agent Carter

Last year ABC started a series about Agent Peggy Carter, originally introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger. I don’t have a lot to say on this, but that’s mostly because I haven’t had a chance to watch it. If anyone knows a place online that I can watch it (preferably legally and preferably for free) please let me know.

Iron Man

Billionaire playboy. Not one of my favorite superheroes, but he’s had some character development over the years and I can’t exactly be too upset that he’s the one who got this whole Marvel Cinematic Universe started. This was the first movie in production order for the Cinematic Universe, telling the origin story of Tony Stark, who became Iron Man.

Tony Stark inherited the empire of his father, Howard Stark. While demonstrating some of their weapons in the Middle East, he’s captured. Made out of necessity, Tony Stark made the original Iron Man suit to escape capture of terrorists. Clunky and likely awkward, it’s a far cry from the Iron Man suit we see in later movies, but he didn’t exactly have a lot to work with. After returning home from the Middle East, Tony is preoccupied with perfecting his Arc Reactor to provide clean energy and making a new Iron Man suit.

Throughout all of this, Tony’s assistant, Pepper Potts, stumbles upon some evidence on the computer of Tony’s right-hand man, Obadiah Stane, showing her that he has been selling weapons to terrorists and he set Tony up to get captured. With his own suit, Obadiah and Tony end up fighting, but with Pepper’s help, Tony is able to stop him. In the aftermath, despite Agent Coulson’s recommendation, Tony outs himself in front of a room of reporters as this “Iron Man”.

Random Trivia/Connections:

·         As mentioned before, Captain America was foreshadowed here, when we get a glimpse of Cap’s shield (or at least a prototype of it) when Tony took off his suit. It would be a few more years until we got Captain America: The First Avenger.

·         Also, as mentioned above, Howard Stark, Tony’s father, is seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, working with the US army.

·         The actor for Rhodey changed between Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Maybe someone more versed with Iron Man can tell me why, but I thought it was worth noting. Ever since Iron Man 2, we’ve had the same Rhodey.

Thoughts:

            I’m not the biggest fan of Iron Man, but watching this the other month made him grow on me. I definitely disapprove of his morals, but I find his character development interesting. He changes his values in a way, but keeps the same snarky, obnoxious personality… but with a more humanitarian outlook. I enjoyed his relationship with Pepper, which was one of my favorite things about Iron Man 2 (but more on that later).

Alright, that’s all for the Marvel Cinematic Universe for now. Next time I write about the MCU, it’ll be Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, andThor (which all chronologically take place within a week of each other).