Missy

The other day Shana and I were trying to recall if we saw The Incredible Hulk together. We never figured it out. That's how memorable it is as a movie. Not to shit on it, but it does little to stand out. And it's barely an MCU movie. Endgame is Endgame. My only real complaint with it is the technobabble explanation of the time travel. It's wonky and muddies the movie. They needed to be more clear about what time travel in the MCU looks like.

The villain of Ant-Man has a device that turns people / things into goop, yet somehow doesn't see the value in that? Thanks to Paul Rudd's charm, the force of nature that is Michael Peña's Luis, and unique visuals, Ant-Man is lifted up from a mid-tier entry to something more memorable. I'll even give it its meta-ness. Meaning, Scott knows he's not an A-lister, the movie knows Ant-Man isn't one either, so they made it part of his character; he's always striving to be better because he knows in life and superheroics he's rarely if ever someone's first choice. That's a great, relatable theme to give someone who's standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Captain America. On the other hand, the themes presented in GOTGv2, especially those of fatherhood and family, hit me in the gut every time. Every single character is developed with a caring hand, especially Nebula and Yondu. The way the music is weaved throughout the movie and used to inform Quill's life and emotions is seamless. And the entire production opens many doors for future movies in the cosmic corner of the MCU. For me, its only flaw, and it is a big one, is exactly what Donovan said; the treatment of Mantis is disgusting. The character is able to rise above it, but someone seriously needed to be looking over James Gunn's shoulder during her scenes. So yeah, GOTGv2 gets my vote.

Iron Man 2 has some interesting ideas, does a decent job developing Tony, and has a version of the Silver Centurion armor, but Thor: Ragnarok is easily one of the best MCU films to date. It's fun, has epic stakes, does more for The Hulk than his own movie, introduces the badass that is Valkyrie, continues to really dig in deep to Thor's psyche, and, of course:

And go!

And go!

And go!

Just finished Thor: The Dark World for the first time. It was a perfectly fine Thor move. But I really didn't connect with anyone, was actively annoyed by Darcy, could not care less about Thor and Jane, and felt no weight when Frigga died. I did, however laugh at the Captain America cameo, and the "mew-mew" gag did make me chuckle. Despite these things, I gave it my vote. Ant-Man and The Wasp did a great job realizing The Ghost, but that's all I remember from the film.

After finally watching Far from Home this evening, I'm voting for Captain Marvel. And there is one very simple reason: Far from Home is slow and, frankly, boring until Peter hands the glasses over to Beck. And that's an hour into the movie. Once that happens FUCK YES THE MOVIE IS AWESOME! Mysterio is perfectly realized as a foe, and his tech is built off of preexisting MCU terminology. So that's awesome. As is the moment when Spider-Man enters the illusion and destroys the drones. And the Spider-sense scene: *chef's motherfucking kiss*. Peter grabbing the gun. DAMN! But again, it took forever to get there. And honestly the humor is too Iron Man. Spider-Man humor should be diametrically different than all other humor -- be it in the MCU, 616, or any adaptation. The humor here, especially that around the Peter/ MJ romance, is the start-stop-start stuttery stuff we saw with Tony and Pepper. That's. Not. Spider-Man. Captain Marvel is far from perfect, but it's laser-focused from the jump, adds elements to the MCU cosmic universe pre-GOTG, has a theme that will always be relevant, plays with preexisting characters, sets up the Skrulls and Kree, it doesn't fuck around with its time, the soundtrack is amazing, and it doesn't have the MCU forced humor. Normally I don't mind that, but there's clearly a tone to these movies. Captain Marvel has quips, but it does not have that same (though I love it) tired quipiness.

Might have to check that out. The images he's posted all over the internet seem like a good bit of sexy fun.

With a lot of perspective, I think I finally figured out why Aliens of London and World War Three are so troubling to me. If you can look past the "Tee-hee! I pooted!" aspect of the episodes, there's a solid story in place. Aliens have infiltrated the UK government with the intent of causing World War III just so they can sell off the radioactive slag to bidders. That's terrifying. The complete disregard for all life on Earth makes the aliens some of the coldest bastards we've ever meet in Doctor Who. And in a lot of ways, I could see this being a Jon Pertwee story. Maybe even in the same season as The Claws of Axos. Add in the fact that The Doctor, Rose, and Harriet Jones are trapped, and the only tools The Doctor has at his disposal are his wits, his words, and a reluctant alliance with Mickey, and you have the makings of a thrilling political episode. So why does it bother me? Yes, the farting. But it's not exclusively the farting. It's that all of the aliens in human form are heavyset people. This two-parter continues the bullshit joke that larger people are always flatulent. Even though the episode explains the "gas exchange" between the aliens and their human skins, it's just there to justify the hurtful idea that only heavy people fart, and do so constantly. Nearly uncontrollably. And we're asked -- no, told -- to laugh at this. It's not funny. And for a show aimed at a younger audience, it's harmful.

While I know Ragnarok has its detractors, I'm thinking that contest will be rather heated. This assumes Ragnarok beats Iron Man 2.

I've been thinking about Rose's timeline with The Doctor: Rose This episode takes place over roughly 36 hours: 7:30 AM to dusk the next evening. Rose has spent maybe five of those hours with The Doctor. The End of the World Following directly on from the previous episode, this one pretty much takes place in real-time. So we'll add another 45 minutes to the clock. The Unquiet Dead This too follows on the back of the last one. From the poster for Charles Dickens' Christmas Eve performance, we know it began at 7:30 PM. Rose and The Doctor landed before then. Say, an hour beforehand. This would give Rose enough time to change into her period-appropriate outfit, and the duo time to walk around before happening upon the so-called ghosts. They leave after midnight, as we know it's now Christmas Day. So add another six hours. We'll pause here. In total, Rose has known The Doctor for 12 hours, tops. Aliens of London / World War Three Though never explicitly said, my belief is that this two-parter follows directly on from The Unquiet Dead. So we're continuing this uninterrupted jaunt with Rose and The Doctor. This one starts in the (possibly late) morning, spans an entire day, and ends in the evening. So we'll say 36 hours. This brings their time together at an estimated 48 hours, or two full days. That's just nuts to think about. In the first five episodes of modern Doctor Who, Rose and The Doctor have only been together for 48 hours. And if I recall, they continue this trend with Martha; Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code, and Gridlock are all one long adventure for the duo.

This fall, DC is releasing DC Showcase - Batman: Death in the Family, an interactive prequel to Batman: Under the Hood. This looks very interesting, and it'll give me an excuse to revisit my favorite DC animated movie.

That dude looks like he's having so much fun!

The third episode is a hoot. Ralph Hinkley Hanley learns he can turn invisible, and has to hunt down an experimental fighter jet -- all while trying to find the time to meet his girlfriend's parents. It's completely forgettable, but absolutely enjoyable TV.

Gonna have to have a think on this. While I'm leaning towards Captain America, the way Strange is able to subdue Dormammu is a brilliant use of his mind, powers, and stone.

Homecoming is a fun, enjoyable Spider-Man movie with an exceptionally solid, somewhat relatable blue collar villain. It goes a long way to re-ground the MCU; it reminds us that real people are having their real lives majorly upended by superheroes. And Peter has to straddle both sides of the fence here. It's a wonderful look at what it means to be an everyman as well as a superman. The car scene demonstrates this perfectly. Peter's more than fast enough to grab the gun from Adrian, but: He's nervous as hell, because he's a kid who's never had a gun pulled on him like this (RE: everyman). Attempting to disarm Adrian means possibly endangering everyone at the dance (RE: superman). It also reminds of "with great power there must also come great responsibility" without every saying it. Apprehending Toomes is the responsible thing to do, but it must be weighed against how it will ruin Liz's life. It's all there, and it's so wonderfully acted, paced, and pulled off. But it just cannot top Winter Soldier. I mean, it has Georges St-Pierre as Batroc the Leaper.

Like Far from Home, I have to hold back because I have not seen The Dark World. Hopefully I can fix that before the poll closes.

Still haven't seen Far from Home, so I can't vote. Yet.

The Round 1, Group 1 results are in! Please check Update 1 in the original post. The brackets have been updated to reflect the winners, too.

And go!

And go!

And go!

And go!

😎