Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 17, 2022 12:28:02 GMT -5
25. Spider-Man: No Way Home - Spidey Kinship Again, lots of great moments between the three Spider-Men, and I bet it was tough writing what would be that defining moment between them. And even though the line is a bit of a meme now, I think they made a great choice by how they're all connected through the "great power" line. It's almost mystical in a way. Or at the very least, in a way they're all the same person now. And the moment has the added punch of being after Peter's lowest moment when he could best use some friends and direction moving forward.24. Avengers: Endgame - I am Iron Man Same line, different moment. You know, it's very difficult to rank a moment that's arguably the climax of the franchise. The merits I'm ranking here are the emotional impact of him doing the snap, the GREAT use of dialogue, and the fallout involving his death. 23. Iron Man 3 - Saving falling passengers This is feeling very high after the last one. Oops. Anyway, really great action sequence where you feel the weight of the situation thanks to great camera work and real life stunts. it's nice when these movies remember their roots and just have superheroes saving people's lives. 22. Ant-Man - Finale / Quantum Realm Sometimes just everything comes together in a Marvel film. In this scene we have great, unique, and often hilarious action (done through the back and forth of sizes involved with a Thomas the Train set), coupled with the epic quantum realm scene where Scott has to come back. Truly one of the best finales of an MCU film. 21. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - Bus Scene What a fun treat this was. Maybe I would rank it lower in years from now as it ages, but honestly its still a marvel to watch even after a few times. There's this shot as the camera pans the bus from the outside, coupled with (and almost choregraphed and synced to) great music and martial arts within that I geek out to every time.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jul 17, 2022 13:39:55 GMT -5
Good picks. I'm also a big fan of the falling passengers scene.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 18, 2022 10:22:36 GMT -5
Can't argue with any of these. Good choices all around. Also, for me, Iron Man 3's action scenes really pop in general. Shane Black really brought a lot to that movie.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 18, 2022 18:11:38 GMT -5
20. Avengers: Endgame - Cap vs. Cap / America's Ass This is a combination of the fight scene and also the great final line "That IS America's ass." It's cute that Cap wins this fight by dropping knowledge about Bucky, but this is mostly a redo of the earlier mentioned "Hail Hydra" trick. Though I'm not saying it wouldn't have worked. Anyway, it's short, but the scene is a joy to watch.
19. Spider-Man: Far From Home - Trippy Mysterio VR
I really love the creativity that went into this scene to mess with Peter, with special Kudos going to making it so dark with Iron Man's corpse coming out of the grave to get him - a moment I never really hear about. And what makes this scene especially enjoyable is that unlike most "acid trip" scenes, this one is kind of really happening, and we get reminders of this with instances such as Peter trying to punch a bad guy, but hitting a real life pillar instead. It's also a great setup for Peter getting his "tingle" back later on, where this trick no longer works on him in London. 18. Captain America: Winter Soldier - Fury Ambush Winter Soldier's main highlight is probably its action, perhaps seen best in the ambush on Fury. It's based in reality (as opposed to on a spaceship or superheroes shooting eye lasers at each other), so it really packs a punch in its almost Michael Mann-esque intensity. 17. Avengers: Endgame - Hawkeye opening An inspired choice to start the movie, especially considering we never even saw him in Infinity War (as someone recently pointed out). I like the staging of this scene which is clearly setup to have people disappear after standing nowhere near any place to hide. They are in the middle of a flat field, then they are gone - how is this possible? We know, as we we watch in horror as he slowly figures out something is terribly wrong. 16. Iron Man - Reactor assembly / Escape There's a special place in my heart for this scene, and honestly I don't think we've ever seen anything like it since. Before this scene, he was just Tony Stark, then out of necessity (and on the fly and under incredible stress, mind you), he becomes a superhero. He accidently becomes Iron Man to save his ass, then it turns him into a different person after reflection. He did it with scraps, as Obadiah Stane would later say, and it's a very exciting, suspenseful, and rewarding sequence.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jul 18, 2022 18:32:01 GMT -5
I don't remember that Far from Home scene, but I will be rewatching that one next.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 19, 2022 18:31:19 GMT -5
More good choices.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 19, 2022 19:27:51 GMT -5
15. Avengers: Age of Ultron - Quicksilver death / Wanda reaction
Effective death scene (with the bittersweet "You didn't see that coming?" callback), and great reactions from Wanda. Sure, blowing up in red-fire rage is cool, but I mean the incredible scene where she pulls out Ultron's heart. Just a great sequence. (Whedon has writing experience of witches getting brutal revenge)
14. Thor: Love and Thunder - The power of Thor Love and Thunder on the list! Oh my God! Yeah yeah, it'll probably come down in the future, but the scene near the end where Thor evoked "the power of Thor" to all of the children to fight all the monsters, all to the best parts of Guns and Roses' November Rain, brought a tear to my eye. What a crazy scene and I can't wait to see it again. (I mean sure, it has implications, like why doesn't he always do this to never lose a battle again, but for now I'll allow it) 13. Captain America - Winter Solider - Elevator and Escape In retrospect, this may have been placed a bit high. But with the classic elevator scene, the great "Does anyone want to get off?" line, and the fight with the jet, it definitely belongs among the top. 12. Avengers: Endgame - "You will"
Another scene that I'm not sure how it got so high, but it's still a really badass moment. I wonder if they found themselves in a hole saying "You know, Scarlet needs a scene of revenge, but this isn't her Thanos" and then just kind of leaned into it and made it a bit funny.11. Spider-Man: Far From Home - CCTV MCU update Oh boy, I've been excited to talk about this one. It's usually obvious to decide if a "top scene" should go in the comedic list or not, but honestly I struggled with this one for a while. Because it is HILARIOUS. But I decided to keep it out because really of how big it is, as well, which fits better in this list.So this was the first movie after Endgame, remember. We finally got to see some aftermath, and what did the movie do? It opens up with Whitney Houston and a shitty high school tribute video to Tony Stark and others. I could not stop laughing in the theater - especially when I saw the "Getty images" watermark on their candle gif.This was our introduction to "The Blip," the greatest incident the universe has ever seen, as told by two high school students. One of them is doing fine, but after her classmate explains how his younger brother is now his older brother, it eventually cuts back to him in silence and you can SEE him having an existential crisis (see above in still #4). We also get a great instance of The Blip with the marching band coming back during a basketball game. Truly a classic and unique scene.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jul 19, 2022 20:19:52 GMT -5
Okay, you sold #11.
13 might be one of the most iconic marvel scenes?
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jul 20, 2022 17:37:11 GMT -5
I thought the Love and Thunder moment was incredibly lame but otherwise these are solid picks. 13 is one of the defining MCU action scenes, 12 is a highlight of the final battle, and 11 is a pretty bold way to open Far From Home.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 20, 2022 17:40:25 GMT -5
Oh boy, the top ten. You know what that means, right? That's right: every choice is either "well, duh" or "say what?!"10. Avengers: Endgame - Cap uses Mjolnir This one moved a lot in the listing. Honestly, as someone not a fan of the comics, I didn't connect to this as much as others, but of course it's still an amazing moment. Pretty good fake out too, because it kind of looks like Thor might be calling the hammer.
9. Avengers: Endgame - Assemble Finally, one from Endgame. He said the thing! This is a funny moment, because here's this moment we'll never really see again considering the magnitude of all the characters and movies, but also this moment is a huge cliché. How many movies have people in a rough spot and then the group you forgot about (although usually it's because they said they weren't coming or we think they'll be too late and it's not because they recently reanimated into the universe using magic rocks) shows up at the last moment to help save the day? And they had just done this with Black Panther (hey, I got Black Panther in the list!). But none of this matters. 8. Iron Man 3 - Suit called in sleep OK, here's a personal favorite, obviously. I will never get over how creepy and cool this scene is. Iron Man 3 is all about Tony's emotional trauma, and here he actually calls his suit in his sleep because of a bad dream, or what not. Tony Stark's subconscious and trauma is literally a danger to others in this scene and not metaphorical. 7. The Avengers - New York Battle A tough one to rank, for a couple reasons. It's kind of the iconic MCU battle scene, and also it's, like, really long. But it's a classic for a reason and it never gets old.6. Captain America: Winter Soldier - Iron Man vs Cap vs Bucky Ooof, the feels in this one. One of the darkest parts of the franchise. And of course the top 3 line: "So was I."
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jul 20, 2022 17:47:15 GMT -5
say what?!
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 20, 2022 18:00:20 GMT -5
Not enough Avengers and Spider-Man in the list?
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 20, 2022 19:21:19 GMT -5
5. Avengers: Infinity War - Thanos vs. Everyone This is what we signed up for, right? Many superheroes combining their wacky powers in teamwork against a common foe. It's crazy how rare it is in the franchise. Special shout out to the one-on-one between Thanos and Iron Man later on. With everyone else out of the picture, you can tell Tony is going to lose the fight, and you can only watch as Thanos removes one piece of armor at a time as Tony gets more and more desperate with his defenses.
4. Avengers: Age of Ultron - Cap moves Mjolnir Oh I definitely love this scene more than Cap actually using the hammer - no question. The movement of the hammer, Thor's reaction: it's a perfect 3 seconds. Thor definitely has some things to think about. 3. Captain America: Civil War - Airport sequence Pure superhero action joy. Lots of funny moments, too. Best action sequence of the MCU, still, I think. I could have done without some of the "we still like each other, right?" banter, but oh well.
2. Spider-Man: No Way Home - Spidey 3 saves MJ I've always been partial to Spider-Man, but I wouldn't call myself a megafan or anything. The Garfield ones were fine, I guess. Still. Enough cannot be said about how weird and transcendent this moment is. It's not quite redemption, but in this muddy middle ground where a troubled Spider-Man is revisited by his ghosts and...makes the best of it. Not sure what else to say: IYKYK. 1. Avengers: Infinity War - The Snap It has to be number 1, right? Everyone dies! (Except the OG Avengers, for some reason) Side note: that girl playing little Gamora absolutely kills it.
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 20, 2022 19:23:05 GMT -5
Hope you enjoyed my list. Only MCU movies ranked, left.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 20, 2022 19:27:43 GMT -5
Well, duh.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jul 21, 2022 0:31:19 GMT -5
Yeah, hard to argue with the snap. I also like the hammer scene, but I like the whole party scene around it. Its kind of fun seeing them just chill together.
The New York battle is hard to beat though
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Post by PG Cooper on Jul 21, 2022 10:43:19 GMT -5
Wow, that No Way Home moment is really high. Not arguing it exactly, the performance is quite good, just surprising.
I might rank the Civil War set-piece a bit lower just because the location is so drab and ugly but it's a very fun sequence.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 21, 2022 17:21:40 GMT -5
Fair points.
It's hilarious how often I moved things around. When you rank so many things that shouldn't be combined, there's like a +/-5 margin of error.
I guess the Spidey moment really got to me because they jumped franchises. It was so weird and great.
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 21, 2022 18:04:42 GMT -5
Top 29 MCU Films to DateMy internal rankings change every time I go through the films, and I'm sure they always will a little bit. But this is the first time I've really tried to rank and analyze them. At least, the first time since there were more than a dozen films.29. The Incredible Hulk (2008) I think a big problem with this already unassuming film is that it was a bit DOA. I assume they didn’t want to go “origin story” after having so recently had one with Ang Lee. Combine this with every character being recast (and then recast again with Avengers), and you have very low stakes. This isn’t a death sentence by itself, after all, movies existed on their own before the MCU, but they made the odd choice of having the film feel like a Bourne sequel that starts five minutes after the last one ended (Bourne did that, right?). After a whole bunch of exposition shoved in the credits, it begins with him on the run and never really stops for good reason. Then we have a few action scenes that all seem to start with the army messing up (and one time with General Ross actually admitting so), and all ending with Hulk looking deep into Liv Tyler’s eyes or some crap, I dunno, I wasn’t really watching. Then we get the Iron Man finale in the same year as Iron Man, except tough skin fighting instead of metal.
Best part: Final line nod to "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry," but in Spanish
Worst part: Hulk clapping to put out a huge car fire. Yeah, OK. *.5/****28. Thor: The Dark World (2013) So dull. What makes the first Thor bearable/decent in the Asgard scenes is gone now. The storyline, the characters, the hallways, they’re all dull. What should have been fun, bringing Jane to Asgard (unmentioned is her being the first human on another planet), is oddly used to have her walk around and be snappy. And there’s less Darcy. Granted, I’m not sure how I would have written Loki into this story, but alas, it didn’t work out great. He’s a mass murderer, but also family? Good writing could have made this a strong point. The finale is good – on paper. Scenes and objects going from one portal to another, but somehow it just never plays right. Best part: Thor hangs Mjolnir on a hook. Worst Part: Jane slaps Loki and says “That’s for New York!” Yeah. Got ‘eem. *.5/****27. Iron Man 2 (2010)
A mediocre plot, forgettable action, and a much more irritating Tony Stark. Plot holes like Ivan Vanko plotting to kill Tony on the race course when he only decided to drive about 5 minutes previous, and odd choices like faking Ivan’s death by killing someone else and giving him the same prison numbers (which I guess were to survive but not dental records?), and absurdities like Rhodes trying to deescalate a situation in the worse way possible, putting on a second Iron Man suit and attacking Tony. Also, hiding a model of an atom in the model of an expo doesn’t make a lick of sense. And “creating new elements” isn’t quite how elements work.
Tony Stark vs the government was a good idea in theory and the finale was decent.
Best part: While Tony finding the atom in the model was dumb, it was cool to see him in an adjacent scene having a conversation with his deceased father through the screen. Worst part: Party scene. I realize Tony losing it was the point, but it still doesn't resolve the cringe of seeing him as a DJ in his suit. And then there's the aforementioned poor choices from Rhodes. *.5/****
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 21, 2022 19:29:57 GMT -5
I thought I was the only one who ranked The Incredible Hulk dead last. Nice! I totally agree. And yeah, I think these are almost everybody's Bottom 3 in some variation.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Jul 21, 2022 20:21:07 GMT -5
I thought I was the only one who ranked The Incredible Hulk dead last. Nice! I totally agree. And yeah, I think these are almost everybody's Bottom 3 in some variation. There are a few people that HATE Iron Man 3. They are wrong. |
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Post by IanTheCool on Jul 21, 2022 20:24:17 GMT -5
Iron Man 2 actually went up for me the last time I watched it.
I will say new Thor I think is at the bottom of the list.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 21, 2022 21:12:21 GMT -5
I thought I was the only one who ranked The Incredible Hulk dead last. Nice! I totally agree. And yeah, I think these are almost everybody's Bottom 3 in some variation. There are a few people that HATE Iron Man 3. They are wrong. Amen. Iron Man 2 actually went up for me the last time I watched it. I will say new Thor I think is at the bottom of the list. Love and Thunder is actually darn close or not too far off from Ragnarok for me. |
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Post by Dracula on Jul 21, 2022 22:02:31 GMT -5
I also rank those three dead last, I think that's a pretty consensus opinion, but my ranking would be Thor 2 last, Iron Man 2 above that, and Hulk third from last. My memories are pretty hazy though, I've actually never re-watched a single MCU film after the fact.
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Post by Jibbs on Jul 22, 2022 17:52:15 GMT -5
26. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) Many have come close, but Thor is the first one to reach the four-movie mark in the MCU. We’ve gone from Shakespearean fantasy, to boring romp, and all the way to zany action-comedy. What’s in store for us in movie number four with returning director Taiki Watiti? Well, I would say there’s a strong argument to be made for this being the first comedy of the MCU. But it wasn’t a good one.
What’s the difference between an action movie with non-stop laughs (like say Guardians of the Galaxy) and a downright comedy? That’s something I’ve pondered since seeing this and I would say the difference in this movie is that comedy was in the driver’s seat the whole way. I have no problem with dark jokes that might involve cancer, but there’s a style to it that I didn’t see here. It’s more like they had a mere outline for your average superhero movie, and then went back with layers and layers of gags and jokes. Is Thor being in a love triangle with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker funny? Maybe. Could make a great meme. But it defies logic, even for this ever expanding franchise, for Stormbreaker to get jealous and float into frame. And the movie is littered with jokes that feel wrong, and with many that aren’t even objectively funny.
Then we have what you could call the highlight of the movie: Christian Bale as Gorr the Butcher. Or at least I’d feel more comfortable calling him that if it didn’t feel like he was tricked into this script. I was really excited after the cold opening to this film which could be argued to be the best scene in the movie (besides the November Rain sequence, of course). We have real emotion, the promise of considering what makes a god a God, loss of faith, etc., but it never follows up on this potential. Not even close. But going back to what makes a comedy a comedy, at least in this case they’re consistent. Because what do lots of comedies, especially those of the 80s variety have in common? The “straight man” to the wise crackers is always the villain. The “adult” in the suit that we laugh at for being so serious and managing to think he can outsmart our heroes. I’m being a little unfair because the finale to this movie was very adequate, if not maybe a bit rushed, but leading up to this all I can think of is the scene with Gorr and the children, a scene that promised to be chilling and terrifying, stepped on by the weird kicking-the-alien-head-around joke.
This movie is the perfect embodiment of what I expect non-MCU fans expects an MCU film to be like. Cheap thrills, saccharine emotion, and NON. STOP. JOKES.
Best part: Children of Thor destroying monsters to November Rain Worst part: Hmm, I don't remember for sure. All the bad jokes are a blur now. Maybe the goats. **/****25. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) I enjoy this movie less every time I see it. The magic in a bottle that was the first one was completely forgotten for bad jokes every few seconds and Drax has become a parody of himself. The storyline concerning Peter and his father is interesting and the best part of the movie (besides Baby Groot, of course), but just about everything else drags it down. And then there’s the Yandu issue. He grows this forced relationship with Rocket because they’re both jerks I guess? Then they pretend he was the father Peter never had because I guess this movie is about fathers. And then we end with this huge moment with his funeral as if it was supposed to be this cathartic moment built up over 5 movies. Instead its contrived and just bad writing. Best part: Ego tells Peter about putting a tumor in his mother’s head and Quill's reaction. Worst part: Drax laughing all the time. Or crashing through the trees. **/****
24. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) This is what I imagine non-fans of comic books imagine comic book movies to be - bloated with super strong guys beating up red-faced monsters with ray guns. To be fair, this is only the second half of the movie, but a half is a lot. I don’t know if Red Skull is a big deal in the Captain America lore, but he wasn’t interesting in the least. Chris Evans is good here and I like a lot of the lead up to him being Captain America, but the movie’s mostly a bore.
Best part: Steve Rodgers jumping onto the “live” grenade. Actions speak louder than words.
Worse part: Peggy going ape-shit because Steve kissed a woman. Even shot at him.**/****
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