Marvel Cinematic Universe

 We never did a review of any Marvel films after Thor 2. So, by way of a correction for that we'll provide a brief entry here for each film to date.

Guardians of the Galaxy overall was pretty good. It was a bit slow in a couple spots plodding through some backstory, but that was required as the GOTG were a relatively unknown quantity when the film came out. That said, good film with nice action and stuff and it built on the Infinity Stone storyline.

Avengers: Age of Ultron was also a pretty good film. It had several issues itself, mostly involving continuity with the previous films, but ended up being a pretty good addition to the MCU. Ultron himself and the way he came about has had some controversy. Personally,  I don't see why all the other characters blame Stark for that as he and Banner had no success themselves. The AI in the Mind Stone didn't come out until after they'd left (most people don't see it that way however, but that's how it looked to several of us when we first viewed the film). It seemed to skim over a few relevant things, and also plodded along in a few spots, but overall was also a good edition to the MCU.

Ant-Man was just a fun change of pace. This didn't do anything for the Infinity Stone storyline, but was a pretty good introduction to a new character and pretty solid story in itself. A few scenes or situations seemed to be forced, put there more for convenience of the plot than anything else, but it was and still is an entertaining film and a nice little cap on the MCU Phase 2.

Captain America: Civil War threw a lot of things at us and left many details to follow and keep track of through the film. A few confrontations seemed very forced, especially at the end between Steve and Tony, but it set the stage for the fall of SHIELD of the Avengers splitting up. I would've tweaked this story just a bit to place Thanos or one of his agents behind that breakup as it serves to further his overall purpose in the end. This is essentially a self contained story as it doesn't affect the Infinity Stone story at all (beyond the fall of Shield and the breakup as mentioned). Good film, entertaining, and serves to introduce some new characters that we'll see again down the road.

Doctor Strange brought us another Infinity Stone, and brought another type of magic into the MCU. It was a mind bending and trippy film, but quite entertaining and something of a small spectacle to see. It too introduces more characters that we'll see again down the road, and served as a good vehicle to introduce them.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: This had nothing to do with the Infinity Stones, but was a fun romp around the galaxy. It brought us Quills' father and much info on his origin story and how he came to be where we see him now. It also gave us more backstory and development on other characters and groups within that area. And everyone loved little baby Groot.

Spider-Man Homecoming was the reboot we needed. It folded Spider-Man into the MCU rather neatly. We didn't get an origin story this time around as that was already covered briefly in Civil War, but to be honest we didn't need it anyway as its already been done to death in recent years. Good film, entertaining, engrossing to a degree. 

Thor: Ragnarok was something of a weird film, and that was attributed mostly to the Director. It brought us to a new world, brought us a new version of the Hulk, brought Loki into the fold somewhat, and was a pretty entertaining film. The ending seemed a bit rushed in my opinion with Thor and friends suddenly needing to get back to Asgard without delay, but then when you realize that the film takes place over only a couple of days (in MCU time) then that sense of haste kinda disappears. Good, fun, brought us loads of new locations and characters to enjoy.

Black Panther: Another introduction to new characters and locations that end up being key in latter films. It felt slow initially, but a rewatch shows it was actually just maintaining a steady pace for the first half. I didn't at all like how Klaw was treated in the film, relegated to a small part of the really big picture after all is said and done. He became more of a plot device than a character, but served his purpose pretty well. Awful waste of a good actor though. Still a good film that brings Wakanda and all it possesses into the MCU.

Infinity War. Geez, lots of things happening here, and it starts early. Everyone of the major characters we've seen in MCU films before this gets involved and stays involved, before many of them end up turning to dust at the end. The group of people we saw it with in the theater talked about it all for hours afterwards. It was a good film, and did very well at setting the stage for the second half.

Ant-Man and the Wasp was another stand-alone film, though at the end it tied itself to Infinity War. A pretty good film by itself, certainly rewatchable, but I found it slightly less entertaining than the first film. We get to find and meet Wasps' mother finally, and potentially make a new friend in the end (though to date we haven't seen her again).

Captain Marvel: I hat to say it, but this is the first film that felt off and weird to me. I'm familiar with the character already before seeing the film, so had some few expectations going in. That wasn't the problem for me though. Our lead actor seemed a bit wooden or one dimensional through the whole thing and it constantly threw me off. She was outpaced by other actors with more engaging scenes in almost every case. That said, and putting that criticism aside, it was also largely an entertaining film. It was fun seeing our favorite Shield agents from an earlier time, and getting to see the Kree at all (including a notable character from an earlier GOTG film). That all being said, the film felt a bit disjointed. It spent a lot of time an character flashbacks in lieu of actual character building, and that was disappointing on the whole. It did however clarify a few things we saw from the Infinity War film (for those people that didn't recognize them initially). 

Avengers: Endgame started quick and ended up in the death of Thanos within just a few minutes. Then it plodded through a 5 year time jump, after which we had to wade through a smelly sea of the characters trying to get the Avengers back together to pull an Ant-Man style robbery throughout time. After that though is what everyone has been waiting years for: The fight to end all fights. It wasn't a disappointment, and brought a bunch of things hinted at in earlier films to blossom, like Steve handling Thor's hammer like a pro. It also brought the ridiculously huge army vs army fight we all were begging to see at the end. We lost a couple key characters after it was over, but the film was well worth it. (if you can, check out the deleted scenes for an extra treat or two)

Spider-Man: Far From Home is almost an epilogue to Endgame in many ways, and we see Spider-Man finally accepting who he is, the responsibility that goes with it, and the consequences of that. Entertaining, though the 'false' plotline with Mysterio seems to drag on for awhile longer than it maybe should have. The reveal at the end was just about pointless as we won't be seeing Spider-Man in the MCU anymore after this (that was the agreement between Marvel and Sony). Still a fun film and I've watched it a couple times since catching it in the theater the first time around. It was also a semi-decent ending or closer to Phase 3.

And that brings us up to today, waiting on the start of Phase 4 with Black Widow coming sometime in 2021. We've also learned there will be a third Spider-Man film in the MCU after all, so we'll get to see the outcome of the ending from SP2. We know a second Doctor Strange film is coming, and Scarlet Witch (Wanda) is a big part of that one. We have Thor 4 coming, along with another Black Panther, Ant-Man, and GOTG as well. There are a couple other films slated in Phase 4, but we honestly don't know much about them at this point so we don't have much by way of excitement or expectation for them. We do know that another Captain Marvel film is coming, and we've heard rumors around that the main character has been recast as the first actress ending up being a problem for Marvel and Disney and they decided they just didn't want to deal with her and her crap any more ('m paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it). We're all-in for Phase 4 and can't wait to get started with it.