OVP: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Film: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Stars: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, Tony Leung

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Visual Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I'll be real-coming out of Spider-Man: Far From Home, I was a bit over the obligation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  I knew that I wouldn't entirely be able to escape it-projects like the OVP and just general osmosis were going to keep me coming back even if I decided to skip some installments, but I wasn't thrilled about what a post-Thanos world would look like for the organization.  Something happened, though, during the pandemic when I couldn't see any major blockbusters-I developed a hunger for them.  In retrospect, for me the MCU became a place of nostalgia that it couldn't have been in its ubiquity.  Most of the product since Avengers: Endgame, though, has been lacking.  Spider-Man and Black Widow were too dry, Falcon & Winter Soldier and Loki were a snooze, and What If has yet to live up to the fun of its potential.  Only WandaVision, a complete departure from the MCU's traditional formatting, has shown itself to be truly worthy.  That is, until Shang-Chi, currently lighting up the box office & totally defying convention, potentially changing some of the "evolution to streaming" conversations (supposedly Shang-Chi has convinced Disney that they should release Eternals exclusively in theaters as well).  Shang-Chi is doing this not just through exclusivity-it's also one of the best films in the MCU, showing that even if it's sticking to the formula, it can find ways to drive a fun action-adventure that doesn't need a name-brand to keep it afloat.

(Spoilers Ahead) Taking place in the years after Avengers: Endgame (though weirdly it's never explained which characters were blipped or not), the movie is about Sean (Liu), a valet driver who speaks multiple languages but doesn't aspire to much more in his life other than hanging with his friend Katy (Awkwafina).  Things change, though, when a man on a bus tries to steal Sean's necklace, and rather than giving it up, Sean fights the man in a blistering whirl of martial arts, to Katy's shock.  It turns out that Sean is actually Shang-Chi, the son of a ruthless crime boss named Xu Wenwu (Leung) master of the mystical "ten rings," who is attempting to steal these magical necklaces from both Shang-Chi and his sister Xu Xialing (Zhang) in order to take on the home village of their mother, whom he believes is trying to keep her captive, despite them understanding that she was killed when they were children.  They initially are captured by their father, then escape and go to the village, lead by their aunt Ying Nan (Yeoh).  Nan leads them in battle against their father, who in turn awakens the Dweller-in-Darkness, whom Shang-Chi and Katy ultimately kill.  The film ends on something of a cliffhanger, with Shang-Chi and Katy joining up with Captain Marvel, the Hulk, and Wong, presumably joining the Avengers in the process.

Shang-Chi suffers in some regard from some of the problems you get from the Marvel franchises.  The third act is a bit sloppy (they really are not great with ending their films), throwing too much CGI into the battle with the dragons (it made it a bit blurry & washed out, which is the case for a lot of the Marvel films where they simply have too much CGI to make it look realistic), and I will admit that there is maybe not enough information in the pre-Shang-Chi period of our main character's life (I would've liked at least one scene of him as "Sean" without Katy there so we could understand what he was like while he was alone).

But these are small complaints, as Shang-Chi is the best MCU film since Black Panther.  Casting Simu Liu in the lead turned out to be a stroke of genius, as he is totally prepared to play the slacker qualities of this figure, while also believably rising to his destiny as the film continues (also, it must be said, Liu is the hottest addition to Marvel's universe since Thor took off his shirt).  Awkwafina's character might need a bit more explaining in a future film (like, does she have a superpower other than being good at shooting arrows...and isn't that Hawkeye's thing?), but she proves to be one of the most reliable comic reliefs currently in movies, totally nailing the the "comic" part of this and giving us a playfulness that has been lacking in a lot of recent Marvel product.  The remainder of the cast is superb, particularly Leung & Yeoh, both icons of Asian cinema for decades, proving their movie star chops in a big-screen American product.  About the only thing I wanted out was Ben Kingsley's unnecessary connection to the larger Marvel universe (was anyone really clamoring for him reviving his work as "the Mandarin?").  Combined with some terrific stunt work & fight scenes (the fight on the bus is epic, as is the sequence where we first meet Xialing), Shang-Chi is a spry shot-in-the-arm for the MCU films headed into a consequential fall, where both Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home come with sky high expectations...it's proof that Marvel can believably achieve such levels still.

OVP: Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Film: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Visual Effects)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Some films are made to be high art.  Others are meant to make money.  The idea that the two can't merge has always bugged me.  After all, many films that we consider a "classic" today were intended to be blockbusters of their era.  Look at something like yesterday's The Adventures of Robin Hood for a good example of a movie that combined commerce with art in its era, and is now regarded as a classic.  Then you have something like Kong: Skull Island, which unlike two of its predecessors (the 1933 & 2005 versions of the story) is not intended to be a "classic" of its filmic genre, but instead feels like an all-star cash grab, and something of a franchise-starter.  Indeed, it appears that Kong: Skull Island will have a sequel next year called Godzilla vs. Kong, combining the franchise with the recent Godzilla one, though with the anemic numbers for that franchise this year, it's hard to imagine that Warner is pumped about this 2020 release.  As is evidenced by how little story matters from one movie to the next, it doesn't look like any of the main actors in this film are actually going to show up for the next movie.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is not exactly a retread of the King Kong legends about a film crew headed to Skull Island in hopes of finding giant beasts.  Instead, 29 years after two men are seen getting killed by a giant ape on Skull Island, an expedition happens at the tail-end of the Vietnam War headed by Bill Randa (Goodman), who works for a secret government agency called Monarch.  Headed by a Lt. Col Preston Packard (Jackson), he goes to the island and wants to prove the "Hollow Earth" theory correct, that there's a secret world within the planet that houses unknown creatures.  Also along for this journey are British Air Service Captain James Conrad (Hiddleston) and an anti-war photographer Mason Weaver (Larson), because you have to have a motley crew if you're going to pull together an all-star monster movie.  Once they get there, of course, all hell breaks loose.  Kong attacks the air units, conveniently leaving alive all of the actors we recognize and killing every single other one, and then retreats into the background, with Packard now obsessed with revenge but Conrad/Weaver both hoping to find an actual explanation for Kong.  They do, from one of the two men who landed on the island 29 years prior, Marlow (Reilly), who shows that Kong is actually defending the island from a series of creatures called "Skullcrawlers" who would destroy the people of the island (and possibly escape off of the island) if it weren't for Kong keeping them safe.  Weaver & Conrad try to convince Packard not to attack Kong, but to no avail, which results in Packard dying at Kong's hand, and then Kong having to take on the largest Skullcrawler before eventually emerging wounded but victorious.  The survivors leave, with Kong left behind, and during a post-credits scene Weaver & Conrad both learn that Kong isn't the only monster hidden beneath the earth's surface, and in fact figures like Godzilla, Rodan, & Mothra are among us, setting up the sequel.

The film is not great, and this is coming from someone who generally likes monster movies (genre bias is probably what's going to save this from being a 1-star film, so if you are prone to dislike monster movies, steer clear).  The Kong action sequences are really impressive-I get why this was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, but the story is pretty tired and convenient.  We never quite stray into Michael Bay territory, but we come close, especially when it comes to the treatment of Jackson's character, who basically tries to get his Apocalypse Now on against Kong himself.  But the scenes with Kong, especially the air battle against the planes, is darn impressive, and might be worth checking out if you like big-budget action flicks.

The acting, though, is subpar.  You'd hardly know that the film features a trio of Oscar nominees (and John Goodman, no thespian slouch).  It's as if all of the actors in the picture just sort of decided to mentally check out, and give relatively forgettable performances, or at least ones that are over-the-top.  With a story that's pretty formulaic, you need some solid movie star work from the leads to ensure that we aren't just watching an effects spectacle, and none of them bring something special to the roles.  Jackson's at least trying with Packard, but can't ground him in any way to make him seem like a believable person, and the likes of Larson, Goodman, and Hiddleston are coasting on memories of better work and hoping you don't notice (but you will).  All-in-all, it doesn't feel like an elevated story like Godzilla a few years back, but instead more like a disposable 1960's monster movie, without the camp.  I'm part of the problem (I'll be seeing the next two movies as well because I love this genre), but I wish that Hollywood would try harder before even my die-hard love wanes.

OVP: Actress (2015)

OVP: Best Actress (2015)

The Nominees Were...

Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

My Thoughts: Despite some people's protestations, there are good years and bad years for films.  This is particularly true when you look at field-after-field of nominees from a given year for the Academy Awards.  The Best Actress race of 2015, however, is a really good year, and just staggeringly better than Best Actor, to the point where I wonder if this might be the biggest gap in quality ever amassed between the two fields.  Case in point, the least of these five nominees would place at least second in the men's field, and the remaining four would knock my Best Actor choice (Michael Fassbender, see links below for that race and a whole host of other 2015 contests) out of the field.  This might not be the best field of actresses Oscar ever assembled, but it's (in my opinion) the best field of performances we have yet to profile in this series after nearly a decade of write-ups, beating even 2010's Best Actress.

We'll start with, therefore, the woman who actually managed to win in such a field, Brie Larson.  Larson's work in Room is the type of performance that would win in most Oscar seasons.  Robbed of vanity for the first half, she has remarkable chemistry with young actor Jacob Tremblay, essential since they're the only two people they've seen other than a violent kidnapper in years.  Larson's best parts of her performance, though, come in the back-half of the movie, when she encounters the perverse celebrity of a kidnapping victim (the scene with the television interview, made necessary by her legal & medical bills, is unflinchingly hard to watch), and has conversations with her mother (played by Joan Allen) that she's been bottling up for years, not able to express them to anyone as she tried to create a world for her son.  It's a towering achievement, and a worthwhile winner in such a field.

On the opposite end of the "Oscar newcomer" list is Charlotte Rampling, 43 years Larson's senior but also enjoying her first nomination in 2015.  Rampling's work in 45 Years is (I'm trying really hard to avoid hyperbole but failing here) one of the truly great acting creations of this young cinematic century.  The way that she unfolds a thoughtful woman who never really pondered the beginnings of her relationship is stupendous, as is the way you can tell what she is thinking from the slightest of shifts in her gaze or the rearranging of her hands.  It's a soft, subtle performance, one filled with mystery (what will she do with her life?), but Rampling plays all of her cards.  One of the finest actors of her generation, she is that rare person to get an "old age" nomination for the best performance in their career.

We continue on this list of "best she's ever been" with Cate Blanchett, someone whose two decades of fame affords her lots of competition for that title.  But Carol (and Carol) is Blanchett firing on all cylinders.  The line readings, the way that she seems to be saying goodbye to the love-of-her-life from the moment they meet, is magical.  Carol is a romance with a ticking clock, but it's the rare one where the leading actress clearly knows that there will eventually be an ultimatum, because she's been there before.  Blanchett brings a layered calm to her Carol, knowing that she must speak in code not only for her own safety but also because she doesn't want to scare Therese away.  The scenes with Chandler & Paulson, where she lets some of her guard down and you see what's real and what's just there to entrance is brilliant.  It's the sort of role that potentially no actress of her era (or any era) could have played so well, and Blanchett never scenery-chews in order to steal a scene.  Flawless.

Saoirse Ronan is probably not giving her career-best work here (I'd give that nod to Lady Bird two years later in her young career), but that shouldn't be confused with her not giving a truly seismic piece-of-work in Brooklyn.  Given an introverted character still inclined to study the world, her Eilis is the rare character study at the center of an epic.  The way that she falls in love, first with Tony & then with Jim, is pure joy.  Perhaps the best scene of the movie, and one that only works because of what Ronan has done before, is when Eilis is confronted by her nosy neighbor over her marriage to an Italian-American even though she's been seen with the local Irish boy.  The way she states that she's proud of her husband, but leaves a shred of doubt in her voice (that perhaps, given the chance, she might just pick Jim to stay in the country she loves), is devastating and a tour-de-force of acting.

Which brings us, finally, to Jennifer Lawrence.  Lawrence got a lot of ire from me that year (and a lot from a lot of people in the wake of this nomination...worth noting she hasn't been back since) considering that there were better performances to cite that year rather than a 25-year-old getting her fourth Oscar citation.  However, her work in Joy is good, it's just not up to the level of any of these other women (or Lawrence's past nominations).  The scenes with Bradley Cooper are splendid, and I loved the ways that Lawrence hinted at the eventual magnetism that Joy Mangano would bring to her TV personality.  The script is more at fault than Lawrence, giving us a host of one-dimensional side characters and a meandering plot that should just be focusing on Joy's rise, not the inherent need to continually take her down.  But Lawrence is good, and this performance is better than you remember.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes of course split their nominations between Drama and Comedy/Musical, but even with that split we still are missing one of the eventual nominees (Rampling). Larson took on the Drama field, besting Blanchett, Ronan, and Oscar's Supporting Actress nominees Rooney Mara (Carol) and Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), while Lawrence took the Comedy/Musical over Melissa McCarthy (Spy), Amy Schumer (Trainwreck), Maggie Smith (The Lady in the Van), and Lily Tomlin (Grandma).  SAG took a weird tactic with a rich year by putting Helen Mirren (Woman in Gold) and Sarah Silverman (I Smile Back) for bad movies alongside Blanchett, Ronan, & the victorious Larson, while BAFTA also went with Larson, but substituted out Ramplin & Lawrence in favor of Smith & Vikander.  All-things-said, unless Alicia Vikander's The Danish Girl was in sixth place, my money is that it was Smith, who was at the height of Downton fever at the time, had just had massive hits with the Marigold Hotels, and normally gets in when she's a contender.  In 2014 or 2016, she almost certainly would have gotten her seventh nomination.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: Perhaps no year is better to illustrate the "snub" problem than 2015's Best Actress field.  Every year magazines will proclaim a field of "snubs" which are really just actors that were floated as potential nominees, rather than finding people you'd put in in place of someone else.  Melissa McCarthy, Alicia Vikander (Testament of Youth) & Blythe Danner (I'll See You in My Dreams) are definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination, but as they aren't better than these performances save Lawrence, I couldn't include them since I'd have to put in Juliette Binoche (Clouds of Sils Maria) as an aging, mourning actress in a complicated relationship with her assistant in the Top 5.

Oscar’s Choice: Larson won easily.  Second place probably would've been Ronan considering Lawrence & Blanchett had recently won (and Rampling's political comments had made giving her the trophy at the time impossible), but no one was beating Brie Larson.

My Choice: I have to go with Rampling, giving possibly the best performance of the decade.  Blanchett follows, with Larson, Ronan, & Lawrence at the back (but there are no losers here).

Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours!  Are you with me on Team Rampling or are you staggered I didn't follow the crowd with Brie Larson?  Despite being good work, anyone actually want to defend Lawrence's nomination being one of the year's five best?  And if not, who would you throw in her place?  Sound off in the comments!

Also in 2015: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Documentary Short, Live Action Short, Animated Short, Previously in 2015

Past Best Actress Contests: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

OVP: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Film: Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Stars: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin
Director: Anthony & Joe Russo
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Visual Effects)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I wrote when Captain Marvel came out that it had become impossible for me to judge the films in the franchise without seeing how they ended, and so I (like every person on the planet, apparently) went out the first week Avengers 4 was in theaters and caught the final(?) chapter of the movie franchise.  The film is destined for a slice of immortality, certain to overtake Avatar as the highest-grossing film (a title it may hold forever considering global box office trends-like Avatar and Titanic before it, it’s hard to imagine what kind of movie would eventually trounce such a film).  But the better question is-is it any good?  After 11 years and 22 films, what was the series finale like?

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie picks up almost exactly after we left off, with an opening eerily similar to The Leftovers (a series that is heavily borrowed from in terms of aesthetic, though not in gravitas by this picture).  Hawkeye (Renner) watches as his entire family goes up in smoke (similar to Carrie Coon's Nora on The Leftovers), and soon we find out what life is like in a world where half the planet has disappeared. Each Avenger that got left behind takes their lives in different directions.  Iron Man (Downey) settles down with Pepper Potts and has a child, Black Widow (Johansson) takes on the Nick Fury role, Hawkeye becomes an assassin, the Hulk (Ruffalo) becomes a kinder, gentler being, Captain America (Evans) runs grief sessions, and Thor (Hemsworth) just is a drunk who lets his Adonis-like figure go in favor of a Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski sort of aesthetic (though he’s still hot, and anyone who says otherwise needs corrective lenses).  The return of Ant-Man (Rudd) gives them hope that they can go back-in-time and stop Thanos, but Nebula (Gillan), Thanos’s daughter accidentally informs her father in the past that they are trying to undo his work, and as a result they have a gigantic battle where literally every character you can think of from the MCU pops up to fight Thanos.  This journey ultimately ends in the death of not only Thanos, but also Black Widow & Iron Man, and Captain America becoming too old to be an Avenger.

Here’s the deal-there’s a lot to really like about Avengers: Endgame.  The casting budget on the film had to be just impossibly large (when you’re willing to spend money to, say, just have Michelle Pfeiffer & Marisa Tomei stand at a funeral, you know you’ve entered new territory), but it’s a joy to see something so spectacular. The fight scene with Thanos is wonderful, with major moments from Captain America (people cheered in my theater when he took Thor’s hammer) and for girl power (it was hokey as hell, but I loved the “Women of Marvel Assemble” sequence, and so did the packed theater I was in).  In my opinion we have Evans, Hemsworth, & Gillan as the movie’s MVP’s (the movement to get Robert Downey Jr. an acting Oscarcitation feels a stretch, and more a nod to a truly remarkable comeback than a true acting achievement).  Gillan is giving a strong performance, and Evans/Hemsworth have carved out such wonderful dimensions with these noble guys (and have such great chemistry with everyone) that it’s terrific to get to see them together for the last time.  And there’s something to be said for the movie feeling permanently over.  The next franchises are clearly set up (Spider-Man in a few weeks, but also there’s obvious potential for a future Captain America (with Anthony Mackie as the star), Black Panther, Captain Marvel, & Guardians pictures), but it also feels like an end to at least the chapter that started in 2008, a true achievement in a world where we have to stretch movies until their story breaks.

But there’s also a lot of slog here.  Trying to fit 40-odd characters into a movie is a tough task, and certain people (Black Widow & Hulk especially) get the short end of the stick in this picture.  The movie is overlong, predictable, and doesn’t have the emotional heft of the last film’s surprise snap.  Everything in this movie feels exactly how you would have expected it to turn out.  That might be the sign of a good finale (everything was as it was supposed to be), but a movie should have at least some unexpected twists, and it might have been more interesting if we’d had characters die whom we thought might actually exist in the MCU in the future.  As a result, I’m giving this movie a 3 star rating, and think it rates under Infinity War, which felt more epic and more urgent. As a franchise, it’s hard not to commend the achievements of Kevin Feige over the past 11 years, and I’d probably go with a 4-star for the 22 parts as a whole, even if only a couple actual movies in the series rose to that same level.

Ranking the Marvel Movies

Next week, we will see the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's current chapter (phase-I don't know what we call this).  For roughly 11 years, we've been getting nearly nonstop movies from the studio, every few months yet another massive hit from Disney.  Individually, the series has had ups-and-downs, with no proper, truly terrible films in the bunch but, honestly, no truly unstoppable masterpieces either (I'm decidedly a Marvel fan for comics, and yes, I bought comics religiously as a child, but I still think The Dark Knight is better than any movie on this list, and I'm not even a Nolan fanboy).  I'm not sure if I'll stick around past this collective list of movies for "Phase 4" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe-I think stories have to be able to end to qualify as stories and not just rambling tales, and in a lot of ways Avengers: Endgame feels like a series finale while the next phase of the MCU (whether that be Spider-Man or Black Panther 2) is a spinoff I'm not sure I'll sign up for.  But in honor of this 22nd film and a closing of the Thanos chapter of the series (and likely the departures of actors like Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Robert Downey Jr. from these collective roles), I finally got around to seeing Thor: The Dark World (the only missing piece in this puzzle for me) and instead of writing a traditional review of the picture, I thought I'd buy into the trend over the next two weeks and give my personal rankings of the different films.

21. Iron Man 2 (2010)

By-far the weakest entry in the series, not even Downey's schtick (which even in 2010 was starting to show signs of repetitiveness) could save this boring slog of a movie.  Mickey Rourke was coming off such a high with The Wrestler, it's a pity that his comeback stalled after giving the quintessential "boring villain" performance, something that has plagued most of the series (certainly compared with DC).

20. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I mean, it feels like a cheat to even include this since the titular role was recast, and let's be real here-this is only included because it technically came after Iron Man, otherwise we'd likely leave it off of the list.  That said, Edward Norton was the least of the three Hulks (I actually didn't mind the strong artistic license Ang Lee took with the 2003 version), and Liv Tyler brings really nothing to the love interest role.

19. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

I'll be honest here-while I'm genuinely a fan of both in real-life as celebrities, and actually think that Hemsworth has done the best work outside of the series, I'm decidedly in the field of Captain America within the confines of the quality of their actual stand-alone films.  This is the least of the Thor outings, with a convoluted villain plot and Natalie Portman basically phoning it in as a love interest she likely had no interest in playing (notice how she has yet to show up again in the series).

18. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2 (2017)

Backlash to the first installment always felt a bit extreme to me, with people I think just forgetting that the movies can occasionally be a good time.  That being said, the second film is a bit off-base, with a lot of the same jokes from the first film being repeated, and with no one saying anything new, not even Kurt Russell as a nice-guy villain.

17. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2014)

The actual Avengers movies themselves have always felt a bit of a paint-by-numbers approach.  Perhaps most shocking because of the number of stars that they fit into one film (what is the casting budget on this movie-$100 million, $150?) we also see a lot of ego on display as they attempt to shove every character into enough scenes to warrant 7 or 8-digit pay days.  Combined with James Spader as an eye-rolling villain, and you get a bloated picture.

16. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

I was so smitten with the first movie, it was always going to be a letdown when they brought back this character, as how could it possibly be as much fun?  Even by bringing Michelle Pfeiffer on board, we struggle to make this one work, with the Ghost villain story feeling totally ancillary to the plot, and perhaps they'd have been better off just letting the unknown be the villain here, rather than having a traditional comic book plotting.

15. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

This is inarguably the silliest film on this list, somehow even surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy, and is the one I wish I liked more.  The cast is superb, possibly the best of any of the films, but it's too random, sporadic, and ridiculous (the entire Jeff Goldblum subplot seemed only there to create memes).  Us finally getting a proper female villain in the series (and played by Oscar Winner Cate Blanchett, no less) is about the best I can recommend here.

14. The Avengers (2012)

We jump from Thor 3 to Avengers 1 where we now have 3-star movies (ie movies that I'd actually recommend based on the rules of this blog).  This is fun, and cool, but never as fun & cool as it should be.  Loki is a good villain, but there's not the right level of chemistry yet between the six main characters, as Hemsworth & Evans in particular are still finding their bearings as matinee idols against an established star like Downey.

13. Doctor Strange (2016)

I can't really figure out how I feel about Benedict Cumberbatch, who always feels a bit too eager in his cinematic work, and seems intent on mugging in a way that recalls a British Justin Timberlake.  That said, this is a good movie, one that just avoids the cliches of an introduction to a character enough to not feel boring.  Tilda Swinton joins the long pantheon of Oscar-winning actresses who have randomly appeared in MCU movies (Portman, Bening, Blanchett, Tomei...it's a longer list than you'd think).

12. Iron Man 3 (2013)

Much better than the sequel, Iron Man 3 actually challenges Downey a bit as an actor in a way few others in this series have done.  We see him fight a villain that feels worthy of him in a way others in the series haven't (Guy Pearce's creepy Killian), and we get arguably the best work out of Gwyneth Paltrow we've had this decade.

11. Thor (2011)

Chris Hemsworth might be my favorite discovery from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of actors who hadn't already proven to themselves at that point.  He's so debonair, funny, charming, and DAMN sexy, and all of that comes out when he basically brings Thor from the comic book pages to life here.  He's considerably better than the film, but that's true pretty much every time he's onscreen.

10. Captain Marvel (2019)

The first of the movies to be headlined by an Oscar winner, and it shows.  Larson is hamstrung by us spending most of the movie looking for clues to what will happen in Avengers: Endgame, but she actually has a fun popcorn movie here, and though he's hidden behind distracting CGI, Sam Jackson gives his best work in the series here as a young, pre-eyepatch Nick Fury.

9. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Thor is probably my favorite of the actual superheroes in the films, but Captain America is the best leg of the franchise.  Arguably the weakest of the three mostly because of the messy ending to the film, this is still fun and considerably better than the two Avengers films that preceded it (for all intents and purposes, this was the third Avengers movie-look at who it starred in that photo!).

8. Iron Man (2008)

The film that started it all, Robert Downey Jr. going from basically uninsurable to a matinee idol will eventually be one of the great Hollywood comeback stories.  He's great in this movie, a role he was born to play, and the lack of over-confidence in his work (though thankfully not in his character) is spectacular movie star fun.

7. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

It is literally impossible to gage this film without seeing the sequel (increasingly, it's hard to gage this entire series without seeing the rest of the series) since they are so interconnected, but most of the film gets it right.  The film is grand in scale, there are some strong performances (particularly Tom Holland), and Thanos is a well-executed villain.  It all depends on what the nexy film does, though, over whether this movie stays on its perch considering the cliffhanger.

6. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

This movie works really well on its own, and arguably doesn't need the rest of the series to elevate it at all.  Fun, with a great motif & scheme for the characters (I loved the pre-war scenes and the ridiculousness of Captain America's new body), Chris Evans nails this part & sets up a complicated character that in the comic books was always underwritten.

5. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

I didn't want this movie, and I distinctly remember at the time of its announcement saying "I'm not going to see it" after the terrible reboot with Andrew Garfield proved to be such a disappointment.  However, Tom Holland is the best of the three live-action Peter Parkers, playing with a lack of confidence that is endearing and works so well it's impossible to deny him his place in the Top 5.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

I don't care that you don't like it anymore, or that Chris Pratt has become problematic in the years since (I actually do care about that one, but as a classic film historian, I have dealt with problematic film stars for decades so my tolerance level is high).  This is the first of the quartet of films I gave 4-stars to, and it earns it with great humor, unlikely heroes, and a new swagger to the MCU.

3. Ant-Man (2015)

By far the most visually innovative of all of the movies, and perhaps the funniest, everything about this movie works.  Paul Rudd is great as the unlikely hero, Michael Douglas hasn't been this good in 15 years, and what could have been a joke of a movie ends up being one of the best installments in the series without ever being too silly.

2. Black Panther (2018)

Marvel goes prestige with this movie, the first superhero movie to ever compete for the Best Picture Oscar.  Armed with the series best villain (Michael B. Jordan is sexy & dangerous as Killmonger), we see an expanded universe that shows that the MCU might just be able to survive after the first class of superheroes (Evans, Downey, ScarJo) hang up their capes.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

The best Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, and next to The Dark Knight, the best comic book movie of this century, period.  Johansson was on a creative high at the time, and you can see that in her work here, and Robert Redford's warm, movie star charisma (very similar, in fact, to Chris Evans') is eerie because he's so nasty as an Edward Snowden-style figure, a villain whose point you can kind of see even if it's totally evil.  Add in Toby Jones' Arnim Zola making a freaky cameo (still my favorite scene in literally any Marvel movie), and you have arguably the best picture in the series (to date).

Captain Marvel (2019)

Film: Captain Marvel (2019)
Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, Jude Law
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan K. Fleck
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I'm having mixed feelings about the upcoming Avengers: Endgame cinematic event, and they could not be better encapsulated than in watching Captain Marvel this past weekend with my Marvel-going movie buddy.  The 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the movie itself works as a weird diversion before we go into the literal end game of a saga that has been on our big-screens for over ten years.  Watching the film, I was struck by how much of my opinion of this film, which should theoretically work as a standalone product, felt like an episode of a television series toward the end of its run rather than a single movie.  Perhaps more damning and interesting for the movies post-Avengers, I feel like the movie doesn't necessarily work as a stand-alone film anymore, which is going to be bad if (as expected) most of the original Avengers are about to be replaced by a new class of superheroes in a non-ending tale.

(Spoilers Ahead) But before we get into that discussion, let's talk about the movie at-hand.  The film centers around Vers (Larson), who is really Carol Danvers, being trained as a soldier in the Kree Empire, and has unusual powers that her trainer Yon-Rogg (Law) is trying to help her control and master.  Through a series of fights, she is brought to Earth in the 1990's (we know this because she crashes into a Blockbuster Video), and meets up with a pre-Avengers Initiative Nick Fury (Jackson), whom she convinces to help her in finding Wendy Lawson (Bening), who was once a mentor of Carol's when she was on Earth, and has discovered a way to travel at the speed of light.  Carol eventually realizes that the Kree are the bad guys, and she's been brainwashed, eventually joining sides with Earth & the Skrulls (their leader played by Mendelsohn), defeating Yon-Rogg.

This is all well-done, and a fine action film.  Larson has been one of the more promising actors of her generation so far, with brilliant work in Room and Short-Term 12, and fits into the mold of action-hero movie star like a glove.  She's charming, has great chemistry with Jackson, and underlines the feminist importance of her character without it every feeling like she's exploiting the historical nature of the film (both the first Marvel movie to feature a female lead, as well as the first Marvel movie directed by a woman).  The supporting cast is good-Law is great in villain mode, I love the instant gravitas that Bening's character demands (which is needed even if the character would've felt "too much" in the hands of a lesser actress), and Jackson hasn't been this good in a while, showing that underneath the "I'll take anyone that clears my asking price" nature of the past twenty years, he's still got the talent that launched him into this stratosphere twenty years ago.  It's a 3 star, maybe 3.5-star, movie if you take it on its merits.

The problem, though, is that this is being framed entirely against the Avengers movies.  Many of the jokes in the picture don't work without acknowledging it against other films (particularly those surrounding a young Nick Fury).  And let's be real here-the moment all of the fans were most excited about in this film is the end credits sequence, where an uncredited Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, & Mark Ruffalo appear as their Avengers counterparts in "modern day" post-Thanos world, summoning Captain Marvel through Nick Fury's pager.  This is a problem because Avengers: Endgame is not the end of the movie series-if it was, this would be a really cool episode, much like "Across the Sea" in Lost, showing us where our final savior came from.  Instead, it's hard not to wonder how a constantly stretched and molded story without proper stakes (if a story never ends, there's always the chance that characters will return) should be judged as a singular entity.  Marvel has, with its last couple of movies, so made this a "previously on..." type of story that you almost have to judge it as a whole, in which case Captain Marvel might not be particularly good if it doesn't work to the end of the larger story.  I've made no qualms about not liking the "TV-ization" of films, but as a critic I have to state that it's getting harder to judge any of these style of movies without knowing how they'll end.  And if they never end, at what point does this become a franchise like Modern Family or The Simpsons that would have been a lot better if they'd stopped while they were ahead?  Something to consider if, as I suspect, this story doesn't end with Avengers: Endgame but just tries to re-up the stakes over-and-over again to lessening effect.

Two thoughts before I go.  First, I loved the ode to Stan Lee's cameos over the opening credits, and Brie Larson's little wink at Lee felt so sweet considering his recent death.  This was a well-done moment, and while I haven't checked to see how many more movies Lee filmed his cameos for, if this is the last one, what a fitting tribute.  Secondly, I want to talk about the de-aging of Clark Gregg & Samuel L. Jackson.  I have not been a fan of this for a couple of reasons, namely that it feels like actors shortsightedly (and narcissistically) signing their own death warrants (in many ways it feels like a travel agent giving you a link to Travelocity), but mostly because it never looks realistic.  Previous instances of this in the Avengers series have looked washed out, as iconic stars like Michael Douglas, Kurt Russell, and Michelle Pfeiffer looked plastic and "off."  One could argue this is the best instance of de-aging we've seen so far, and the most aggressive (Jackson is de-aged the entire film), but let's be real here-this is good on a scale, not good.  You see scenes where Jackson stands next to Brie Larson, and you instantly can see the tells between the two characters.  This isn't a Gollum or Paddington situation where they're supposed to look different-they're supposed to look the same, but Larson's face has freckles and feeling that is simply lacking in Jackson's character.  You can tell the directors realized this considering the way the film is edited (frequently close-ups of Jackson are done with no other actors in the shot to avoid comparison), making the editing slightly choppy.  Jackson's really good work here makes you want to dismiss criticism (I think it's his best MCU performance to date), but it has to be said-if this is the future of film, I hope at least the technology gets better.

Top 10 Films and Performances of the Decade (So Far)

The Film Experience, one of my favorite blogs and a daily part of my routine, recently put out a list of the Top 10 Best Performances of the decade so far.  I decided to take that a step further and actually do both my favorite performances and my favorite films of the 2010's (have we decided what we're going to call this decade yet?),  Weigh in with your own in the comments.  First the movies:

10. Carol (2015)

9. Pride (2014)

8. Gravity (2013)

7. Drive (2011)

6. Brooklyn (2015)

5. Short-Term 12 (2013)

4. Weekend (2011)

3. The Social Network (2010)

2. Boyhood (2014)

1. The Tree of Life (2011)

And now the top ten performances...

10. Viola Davis (The Help)

9. Garrett Hedlund (On the Road)

8. Cate Blanchett (Carol)

7. Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

6. Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

5. Brie Larson (Short-Term 12)

4. Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)

3. Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)

2. Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

1. Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life)

The Best and Worst Dressed at this Year's Oscars

While I will be continuing on with the OVP for 2015 and finishing up a few reviews from some of the nominated films (including the Live Action Shorts, of which I did catch Monday to continue my streak!), this will be the last review regarding the actual Oscars themselves.  If you missed it earlier this week, here was my review of the ceremony in general, but now we're going to dive into that other aspect of the Oscars everyone loves so well, the fashions.  This year, while it wasn't nearly as exciting for me fashion-wise as it usually is (despite having some of my favorite fashion plates there), there's always something to love (and something to eyeroll) so let's take a look.

Best-Dressed

10. Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive

I know this was one of those love-it-or-hate-it dresses, but I was in the former's camp.  I loved the coloring, the way that Blanchett is constantly just going for broke in terms of fashion (name me anyone else who could pull off a dress this complicated so well on the red carpet), and her continual push to break up the solo-shade, strapless army of dresses that cascade through the red carpet.

9. Tina Fey in Versace

I'm going to be honest here, I don't recall ever putting Tina Fey on a best-dressed list, as usually her red carpet looks aren't my style, but this va-va-voom dress (of course from Versace) is a treat and a great way to stand-out since it's so a-characteristic of Fey's usual.  Bonus points to making the necklace pop with an up-do.

8. Kate Winslet in Ralph Lauren

The other love-it-or-hate-it dress that I was enamored with, Kate Winslet's "oil-slick" dress, as others were calling it out, was eye-popping and may have been the first time in years that an unadorned black dress on the red carpet actually worked for me.  I love the long tresses in a year where up-do's were everywhere, and the color in the earrings popped nicely against the neutral coloring of the gown.

7. Priyanka Chopra in Zuhair Murad

Chopra made a splash in her first Oscars appearance.  The white translucent gown is gorgeous and ties neatly with the costume-jewelry style rings, but I think what really sets this apart for me is the belt.  I'm not wild about belts and gowns intertwining, but it's so striking and doesn't feel added-on but as part of the dress that it was a big win for me.

6. Margot Robbie in Tom Ford

I'm in love with this Margot Robbie gown.  Combining "hey Oscar notice me!" gold with a gorgeously sexy cut ala Dynasty, and then tied together with a handbag that has a sleek black trail. Black-and-gold is such a tough combo to tackle without looking gaudy, but for me this was a romping success.

5. Brie Larson in Gucci

I know some have called this a prom dress, but teenage girls should be so lucky.  The skirt is elegant and I love the way it feathers, the belt ornaments the dress nicely and keeps it from not being washed out, and I like that we actually get straps here as I feel like no one goes there anymore.

4. Jennifer Garner in Atelier Versace

Looking good is the bet revenge, and every year we see at least one jilted actress on the red carpet get a chorus of "what was he thinking?" and this year it was Garner, who looked sexier than I've ever seen her in an asymmetrical Versace.  Bonus points for the jewelry, which make the look even more regal.

3. Dev Patel in Burberry

Proving that, yes, men should also be asked whom they're wearing Chris Rock, Dev Patel took male-best-dressed in this sleek and modern Burberry.  I didn't quite think that I'd love the suit not matching the shoes, but the tie keeps a great balance and I'm obsessed with the more unkempt hair and beard.  I have no idea why Patel was at the ceremony this year (does he have anything to promote coming up?), but he at least looked the part.

2. Isla Fisher in Marchesa

Gorgeous.  The makeup is perfect, easily the best of the night, and I loved the vintage-meets-princess sort of styling of the dress, which matches Fisher's rom-com sort of persona.  Bonus points for going with a pattern in a night where almost no one else attempted one successfully.

1. Naomi Watts in Armani Prive

Perfection.  The chic box handbag with the intense diamond necklace are grand accessories to Watts' flowing indigo-and-magenta gown.  If you're not a nominee or a presenter and want to stand out on the red carpet, take a risk, and that's what Watts does flawlessly here.

Worst-Dressed

5. Amy Poehler in Andrew Gn

Every year there's at least one person who wears a dress that makes it look like it was made from your Great Aunt Ruth's curtains.  That would be Amy Poehler this year, who also picked a dress that made her look heavier than she is, which is hard to do for someone so pixie-like.

4. Olivia Wilde in Valentino

One of my most-hated morning-after dress comments is "she looked beautiful" because this is Hollywood-everyone is beautiful in an almost impossible way, and that's more than true for Olivia Wilde.  However, the dress is hideous and looks like it is put on backwards with the high-waist and J. Lo-style decolletage.

3. Kevin Hart in Dolce & Gabbana

Kevin Hart looks like he borrowed this from an old Siegfried & Roy act.  The shiny shoes on-top of the shinier lapels is a gigantic swing and miss.

2. Heidi Klum in Marchesa

Klum, no stranger to worst-dressed lists went for a prom dress that looks like it went through a deli slicer when it was tailored.  Even the coloring is bad, considering how it washes out the blonde supermodel.

1. Jared Leto in Gucci

Never, ever, EVER should a tie be substituted for a fake mum.  Never.  This is the most hideous thing I've seen a guy wear on a red carpet since...well, probably Jared Leto last year.  The hair is also a gigantic miss, as it is pulled back so tightly it calls into question his botox usage.