MCU Watch pt 5

This is it, friends!  It took a three-day weekend but we managed to push through the rest of the MCU.    Holy crap, was it exhausting!

Ant-Man - This is still one of the best standalone stories in the MCU.  It's beautifully self-contained as an introduction and story yet still merges seamlessly into the larger universe.  Michael Peña is a treasure and T.I. was an unexpected delight.  I forgot just how funny he really was here.

Captain America:  Civil War - Ant-Man only really becomes important in Civil War.  This is where the internal conflicts of the previous movies like Age of Ultron and Winter Soldier really start to bear fruit.  Cap is leery of any sort of large government program after seeing HYDRA hide in plain sight while Tony is completely driven by his fear-based need for control and a little bit of his guilt complex after creating a murder-bot that killed a whole lot of people.

Doctor Strange - After the emotional hardship of Civil War, it's nice to take a step back and see a new facet of the world we already know.  Introducing the mystical side of the universe is also important for how it sets up the Quantum Realm for Ant-Man and the Wasp.  Otherwise, it gives us a new Infinity Stone and introduces us to the Cloak of Levitation, the best nonverbal character since the flying carpet from Aladdin.

Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2 - From the mystic realms, we return to the cosmos for a heartbreaking journey with the Guardians to discover what family truly means.  Yondu's funeral scene is still one of the most emotional moments of the series.  Also, I really want Kraglin to be part of the team from now on.  Disney, grovel if you have to but Get. James. Gunn. Back and get started on Vol. 3 ASAP.

Spider-Man:  Homecoming -  I was so grateful this wasn't another fucking origin story.  Having the film begin with Peter's impressions of Civil War and moving on from there was brilliant and I still love Michael Keaton's portrayal of Adrian Toomes.  With only a minor change, Toomes could have been the protagonist of this story:  a dedicated family man willing to risk everything to provide for his wife and child.  Even still, he was much more compelling than any of the Iron Man villains.

Thor:  Ragnarok -  Everyone talked about how silly and light-hearted this film was, but watching it again made me realize that it's nowhere near as over-the-top as I remembered it being.  Yes, there are many slapstick moments but there are just as many heartwarming ones, plus a greater development in Thor and Loki's relationship as well as more of an insight between Hulk and Banner.

Black Panther -  Black Panther made a huge splash in Civil War and his solo outing was everything we could have hoped it would be.  A lot of comic book movies try to say something about the state of the world in real life but very few capture the nuances of people's experiences like Black Panther.  Killmonger wasn't just an excellent villain, he was the embodiment of very real feelings about the African American reality in this country and abroad.

The Avengers:  Infinity War - And so we've come to the end.  At least until 2019.  Tyler pointed out during this watch that one of the aliens under Thanos is wearing Captain Marvel's sash.  That is not an Easter egg I would have noticed but now I'm even more excited for Brie Larson's outing next spring.

This was a worthwhile experience and I'm looking forward to trying something similar again.  Christy has asked me to do a 31 days of horror in October, where I try to watch a horror movie a night for a month.  Logistically, I'm not sure how I'd handle the posts.  I can't seem to even manage to get posts out on Mondays unless it's a holiday any more so I seriously doubt I could handle posting every day.  Plus, I'm not generally organized enough to plan out 31 horror movies to see.  It's something that I'll be considering over the next month, however, so stay tuned.