Black Panther

Is Marvel Mid?

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Hello movie and superhero lovers,

A friend posted this meme:

Two panels one on top of the other. First panel says, “You thinking the MCU is dead after Endgame and hating everything.” with a ninja turtle drinking a soda and looking sad. Second panel says, “Me knowing the MCU has always been mid and still enjoying it.” with the same ninja turtle looking smug.

It got me thinking, and I realized I class Marvel movies (all superhero movies really) into 5 categories: Excellent, Okay, Forgettable, Didn’t Age Well, and Bad. I’m adding Didn’t See Yet as a category too.

So here is my non-definitive ranking of Marvel MCU movies. Note that within the categories, they’re by release date not preference.

Excellent

These are the movies that balance fun, character growth, and a good story.

Fun

These movies aren’t great but they certainly are a lot of fun to watch.

Forgettable

These are the movies that didn’t do anything terrible, but didn’t do anything memorable either.

Didn’t Age Well

Both of these were in my top tier for a long time, but rewatching them made me very uncomfortable. They have some great moments, but the jokes and treatment of women and minorities is not great.

Bad

Some of these movies are good except for something that really brings down their quality, and others are hot messes all the way through.

Didn’t See Yet

Not much explanation needed. I’m not a big fan of the Guardians and haven’t seen the third. Everything I’ve heard leads me to think it’s a little too heavy and dark for my taste. The Marvels just came out, but I’m hoping to see it soon.

Obviously, tastes are subjective.

What do you think?

Éric

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Story

An epic playing on emotion, colonialism, family, and politics. There were a few flashback style sections that I didn’t like, why are you showing me what happened 30 minutes ago? But that’s not enough to cast a shadow on the impressive story.

Score: 1

Characters

There are a lot of characters and unfortunately without watching the first one again, I forgot who a few of them are. That being said, the arcs are satisfying and I didn’t feel cheated in anyone’s story and that’s impressive.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The movie was sadder without T’Challa’s quips. He had a charisma in his delivery that was amazing. That being said, the movie was a wonderful mixture of high drama, epic, and action dialogue.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The movie was beautiful, great special effects, choreography, and cinematography, when I could see it. We have a 4k OLED TV with excellent contrast and brightness, but a good 10-25% of the movie was so dark we could barely see.

The music is epic and amazing. I liked that the sirens sang something that sounded vaguely like a sea shanty.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The kids were bored in the emotional parts, and that made it harder to get into the emotion.

For the adults, we all agreed that it was both entertaining and thought provoking. I’d watch this again for that balance and to catch all the details I missed.

Score: 1

Overall

An emotional and sweeping story that takes the time to grieve Chadwick Boseman without losing itself in loss. There are some wonderful themes and ideas. This is a proper epic superhero movie.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

2018 Movie Rankings

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

This was a great year for movies. There were more than I got the chance to see. There are quite a few monster or Dwayne Johnson movies I missed.

This is the first time that Disney or Pixar didn’t take my first spot and the fourth year since starting this list that an animated movie has gotten top.

This is the ranking of movies I saw in theatres (or rented) that were released in 2018. This doesn’t include Netflix originals, made for TV Movies, or straight to DVD releases.

These are ranked by how much I enjoyed them and not their quality as “Films”.

Absolutely Loved

  1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Absolutely fantastic)
  2. Black Panther
  3. A Quiet Place
  4. Ralph Breaks the Internet
  5. Incredibles 2
  6. Aquaman
  7. Crazy Rich Asians

It was good

  1. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
  2. Ocean’s 8
  3. Deadpool 2
  4. Ant-Man and the Wasp
  5. Avengers: Infinity War
  6. The Spy Who Dumped Me
  7. Solo: A Star Wars Story
  8. Christopher Robin
  9. Tomb Raider

Meh

  1. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
  2. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

Yuck

  1. Bohemian Rhapsody

On first viewing I loved it but there were so many parts that were bi-phobic, gay-bashing, or just uncomfortable to think about. It also painted the rest of the band as perfectly angelic while Freddie was some sort of crazed drug fuelled horn dog.

2019 is shaping up to be the year of superheroes and animated movie sequels so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.

What was your favourite movie from 2018?

Later Days,
Éric

MCU, Infinity Stones, and Black Panther

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I am a big fan of superheroes. I’ve watched all the most recent movies and most of the TV shows. I gave up on Daredevil but that’s another post.

I saw Black Panther a few weeks ago and I have an interesting theory. Spoilers for all of the Marvel Movies below.

**Spoilers**

Read more

Black Panther Experience

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If you’re downtown at Winterlude this weekend, be sure to check out The Black Panther Experience in Confederation park! You can get your photo taken with Black Panther, see the inside of a vibranium mine, and check out the Wall of Heroes.

If you’re in Toronto later on this month, the truck will be there as well. Check out the dates:

Image from the Facebook post.

Are you interested in a stay-cation or visiting Toronto? You can contact Jennifer Desmarais through Orleans Travel. jennifer.desmarais@orleanstravel.ca