Ranking the Franchise - The Avengers

I’ve already rewatched and ranked the “Iron Man” and “Thor” series, so now it’s time for the assembly: The Avengers. And however I did rewatch them, again, it’s not a punishment because all the movies have so much to love. If I had to rank all the MCU movies, they would probably all make it to my top 10. But just between the four of them, here is my official ranking (and like with “The Lord of the Rings”, there really isn’t a bad one).

4. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
An entertaining sequel to “The Avengers”, in which heroes Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye, supplemented with a bunch of sidekicks, have to save the world from evil again. This time it’s Ultron, voiced excellently by James Spader. He is a runaway supercomputer that manifests itself as a robot army. The formula hasn’t changed much, especially the relativizing humor remains fun. Maybe the more calm an personal moments feel a bit out of place and take the tempo out of it, which make it my least favorite of the bunch. But I still love this film.

3. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which started in 2008 with “Iron Man”, promised us to end the first decade with a resounding, emotional climax. And they kept their promise. The Marvel recipe of action, drama and humor is very well-balanced. After the grim cliffhanger of “Avengers: Infinity War”, the remaining heroes do everything they can do to undo the victory of super villain Thanos. Ingenious time leaps and references to previous films give the story a ‘greatest hits’ of characters. It’s long, but for the fans an extremely satisfying farewell to an era.

2. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
“Avengers: infinity War” was an epic film, with a lot of ambition. It did the almost impossible. Dozens of Marvel characters come together in an epic battle that has been going on a long time. In this film the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy compete against their greatest opponent to date: Thanos. He wants to use the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life in the universe. A mission in which he spares nothing and nobody and is willing to do anything. The build-up is great and I love seeing all these different heroes from all the franchises come together.

1. The Avengers (2012)
Can you even remember being excited about the fact that the Avengers assembled for the first time, when it was still just the six of them? We’ve been spoiled with all these epic assembly battles, but when it was just Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye these battle were epic on a smaller scale. And that this is still satisfying after seeing all those bombastic battles in the later films, make it an unforgettable film and modern day classic. I simply cannot fault this movie. Where the other three are all close to perfect, “The Avengers” that started this superhero team-up is perfection. From them meeting, trying to figure out how to work, struggling to work together, colliding and eventually saving New York City. Still my favorite of the four.

Movie Reviews - Avengers: Endgame

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 181 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, Tessa Thompson, Evangeline Lilly, Pom Klementieff, Tom Holland, Jon Favreau, Elizabeth Olsen, Dave Bautista, Sebastian Stan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katherine Langford, Tilda Swinton, Letitia Wright, Kerry Condon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chadwick Boseman, Winston Duke, Frank Grillo, Ty Simpkins, Sean Gunn, Emma Fuhrmann, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong

Description: After the devastating events, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe.

Review: “Avengers: Endgame” isn’t only the finale to last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War”, it’s also the end of the journey that film studio Marvel started eleven years ago together with its many fans. “Avengers: Endgame” is supposed to be a tribute to all the experiences and memories we have from the past years in this universe.
Thanos left a dystopian world behind with the snap of his fingers. The titan completed his mission, perfectly balanced out life and the Avengers have been defeated for the first time. And it paid its toll, because the superheroes have obviously suffered from it. They are broken, damaged. Nonetheless the team is determined to defeat their nemesis once and for all, after a new sign of hope.
The Marvel universe grew over the years, but “Avengers: Endgame” focuses on the six original Avengers. They don’t need any introduction and are the praised characters it all started with. The playing field is known and the returning directing Russo brothers don’t pay a lot of attention on background stories. This film is simply for the fans.
“Avengers: Endgame” is a true Marvel film. Humor, sharp dialogues, extravaganza, spectacle. And it has sky high ambitions. Somehow some elements feel uninspired. No introduction to Captain Marvel and Tony and Nebula’s return feel unsatisfying. And some developments don’t live up to our expectations or rules of logic.
I didn’t like what they did to Bruce Banner/ Hulk. It felt weird and I really don’t understand the choice for this. I did like the sacrifice one character made. Thinking it was going to be the other one, it was a cool twist that it eventually turned around. And Scott Lang’s role in the story was pretty cool.
During the end fight, they go all out. It’s a fantastic moment and the definite highlight of the film. The moment where Captain America says ‘Avengers assemble’, that just gave me goosebumps. An epic fight, a great finale.
In “Avengers: Infinity War” the focus was on Thanos, but here the attention had to be divided over several characters. Some protentional plot points have been sacrificed because of that. The end of the film is really strong and it feels like a perfect ending. And it is one final tribute to the Marvel universe. But from the last minutes of the film, you can also conclude that Marvel is not done with new stories yet. So it’s not really the end, but a new beginning.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movies to Look Forward To - April 2019

I'm so ready for April to arrive. It has some of my most anticipated films and I can't wait to see them!

April 4th – Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Lena Heady, Nick Frost
Description: A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.

April 4th – Hotel Mumbai
Director: Anthony Maras
Starring: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Jason Isaacs
Description: The true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families.

April 4th – Pet Semetary
Director: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Starring: Jason Clarke, John Lithgow, Amy Seimetz
Description: Louis Creed, his wife Rachel and their two children Gage and Ellie move to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie 'Pet Sematary' located nearby. After the tragedy of their cat being killed by a truck, Louis resorts to burying it in the mysterious pet cemetery, which is definitely not as it seems, as it proves to the Creeds that sometimes, dead is better.

April 4th – Shazam!
Director: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong Description: We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson's case, by shouting out one word - SHAZAM! - this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi).

April 11th – Captive State
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: Vera Farmiga, John Goodman
Description: Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, Captive State explores the lives on both sides of the conflict - the collaborators and dissidents.

April 11th – Hellboy
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: David Harbour, Mila Jovovich, Thomas Hade Church, Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim
Description: Based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola, Hellboy (David Harbour), caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human, battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge.

April 24th – Avengers: Endgame
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larsson, Josh Brolin, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Pm Klementieff, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Jeremy Renner, Tilda Swinton, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo, Chadwick Boseman, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch
Description: After the devastating events, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' (Josh Brolin) actions and restore order to the universe.