A recent IndieWire piece where they ranked all 32 Marvel movies got me semi-depressed about what we’ve had to endure these last 15 years.
And yet, as contrarian as I might be about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one cannot deny the sheer ambition of the whole thing.
A big chunk of the negative mail I get is for my criticism of Superhero movies. Why do you even read this column in the first place? What people don’t seem to get is that I’ve actually liked a handful of them … Even grouchy old Francis Ford Coppola admitted that he enjoyed “Deadpool.”
Coppola: "I liked Deadpool, I thought that was amazing,"
Fact of the matter is that of the 32 Marvel movies released since Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” in 2008, there have been some diamonds in the ruff. Whether you like them or not, these movies are groundbreaking in the way they utilized state-of-the-art special effects. Storytelling? Fuhgeddaboudit. With a few exceptions …
I’ve chosen seven MCU titles that I found to be absolutely worth watching. They never sacrificed storytelling for special effects and were their own wholly unique vision.
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Avengers: Endgame
Iron Man
Thor: Ragnarok
Captain America: Civil War
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & 2
Iron Man 3
You’re probably wondering “Iron Man 3??!” I actually liked Shane Black’s take on the MCU. It’s also one of the best Christmas movies of the last ten years. If “Iron Man 2” was a total and utter disappointment, the third instalment felt very fresh. Its screenplay was written in a way that went against the grain we were used to with MCU movies.
A film that never took itself too seriously, “Iron Man 3” was the litmus test for the sillier MCU movies to come such as “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Deadpool” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Over these last few years, I’ve been updating a list of all the directors that have publicly criticized Marvel movies. It’s become a very impressive list that includes Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Denis Villeneuve, Bong Joon-ho, Lucrecia Martel, David Cronenberg, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, James Gray, David Fincher, Paul Verehoeven, Terry Gilliam, Ridley Scott, Jane Campion, James Mangold, Martin McDonagh, Luc Besson, William Friedkin, Ken Loach, and John Woo.
The bigger question I have is which A-list filmmakers have actually come out in support of comic book movies? Off the top of my head there’s Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Mendes and Christopher Nolan. Who else?
However, these last few years, things have changed. Marvel movies have been making less and less money. Critics have even souring on them as well. The glowing reviews have turned into pans. What changed?
What’s changed is that people appear to have noticed that they are bad. They regret surrendering two hours of the only life they’ll ever live to something called Kang the Conqueror.
I credit Scorsese for starting this movement. It was around 4 years ago that he blew fanboys heads by saying that superhero movies are “not cinema”. His comments seemed to have woken people up, especially critics, who kept surrendering themselves to the latest MCU extravaganza.
The next MCU instalment is this fall’s “The Marvels.” Is anyone genuinely excited about that movie?
Originally, Cregger was reported to be directing “Gladys.” He then dropped out. He was also supposed to co-write the script with Zach Shields, and apparently now he isn’t.