Top 10 Movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a good run for the past eleven years. Better than most would've ever expected when Iron Man hit the scene. Now twenty-two films later, and the first saga of its universe has come to an end. While revisiting the previous spin-offs and installments in preparation of Avengers: Endgame, I compiled what I consider to be the best of the MCU so far.

How would you rank the top ten movies? Feel free to let me know in the comments below! (This does not contain spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.)

Why Captain America's Decision in Avengers: Endgame Works

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Avengers: Endgame is one of the biggest movies of the 21st Century. So it'd be massively surprising if it didn't leave us with questions and ideas about its most beloved characters - especially Captain America and the road he's been on so far since Captain America: The First Avenger.

Having seen the film, and reading debates online about its plotholes, I wanted to explore what they mean for Steve Rogers and his journey throughout Marvel's finale for the Infinity Saga. This post contains massive spoilers. Read it your own risk.

Avengers: Endgame (2019) Is A Fine Finale But Not Marvel's Finest Hours

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

With The Snap of Thanos’s fingers, Avengers: Infinity War flipped from a typical superhero flick into an unforgettable event that no Marvel fan or casual movie-goer would ever forget. To say that Avengers: Endgame has been an event of its own is massive understatement. Its unbelievable hype has a lot to live to up since we saw half the universe dusted into oblivion in 2018. As Marvel draws its Infinity Saga to a close, this twenty second film is without-a-doubt a funny, action-packed and tender farewell. But in good ways and bad, it doesn’t necessarily capture the same magic of its sister flick.

As Paul Bettany once wisely said, “Snitches end up in ditches” if they spoiler Avengers: Endgame. Taking my fate into my own hands, I’m breaking with the requests from the Powers that Be (Marvel Studios and co.) to say: this review contains massive spoilers. Read it your own risk.

How Iron Man (2008) Changed Superhero Movies Forever

Superhero movies weren't new when Iron Man strolled onto the scene in 2008. Superman had been fighting kryptonite since 1976. Throughout the 1990s to early 2000s went either straight-to-video (Captain America and The Death of the Incredible Hulk) or were on their third sequels (X-Men, Spider-Man). Though Christopher Nolan's Batman overshadowed 2008 with The Dark Knight, a string of lukewarm movies (Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and Ghost Rider) made the superhero genre seem less and less like a gamble worth betting on.

But fast-forward ten years from 2008, and generations have grown up knowing and loving the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. With a slew of characters and multiple spin-offs on the way, Iron Man is where it all started and where it changed everything, and where it seems to remain as one of the most underrated Marvel films.

Underrated Women of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with hundreds of characters, all with little to memorable screentime to defend Earth from invaders and supervillains. With the debut of Captain Marvel finally having her own installment, and as the first Marvel film starring a woman, I was reminded of female characters who have flown under the radar. Here are five underrated women from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Am I missing someone on the list? Let me know in the comments below!

Ekaj (2015) Offers An Intimate Portrayal of Love and Hardship Among LGBTQ Youth

How do you find a sense of belonging when you’re not accepted by your own family, let alone society? Veteran fashion photographer turned writer and director Cati Gonzalez puts homeless LGBTQ youth under the microscope in a vivid portrayal of a too-often overlooked community.

After being kicked out by his homophobic father, a young teenager Ekaj (Jake Mestre) drifts on the hustling streets of New York City struggling to get by. When he befriends Mecca (Badd Idea), a thief and artist diagnosed with AIDS, the naïve Ekaj learns about the hardships of love, loss, and survival.

Top 11 Favorite Game of Thrones Characters

So many characters on Game of Thrones, so little time to rank all of them. While watching the series for the first time, I wasn't quite sure if I was going to be able to keep track of everyone. For a show of this size with at least a hundred characters, coming up with eleven (with honorable mentions) was difficult.  Throughout its eight seasons, certain heroes and even villains always caught my attention and made me root for them.

Like most adaptations, the storylines for a show or movie is immeasurably changed from the books. That said, I haven’t read George R. R. Martin’s series yet, so my choices are entirely based on the television show. The challenge of picking my faves and ranking them in some kind of specific order was hard, but here they are. Who do you love or love-to-hate? How would you rank your own list if you could? Let me know in the comments below!

This post mentions plot and character development from season 1 through seven, and may be considered spoilers. Read at your own risk!

15 Favorite Reactions of Epic Return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

LucasFilm / Disney

This weekend the 2019 Star Wars Celebration in Chicago wasted zero time getting fans pumped up for the next long-awaited installment. Opening the weekend ceremony with the title reveal of Star Wars: Episode IX and a teaser with the cast in person, our anticipation and hype was already on edge. While news of the latest actors to join the LucasFilm family was well-established for the better part of 2018, one surprise blew up the internet like the Death Stars being blasted into a million pieces.

In case you're avoiding spoilers for the next Star Wars film set for release in December 2019, this post contains info about one legendary character's epic return. Read at your risk!

Avengers: Endgame Trailers Breakdown

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

We're in the endgame now. After a year of waiting, we're only a few weeks away from finally discovering the fallout from Avengers: Infinity War. Can The Avengers make a comeback from the devastating loss after Thanos snapped half the universe away? Since December 2018, Marvel Studios has been steadily releasing more footage. We've all been expecting our favorite characters to retrieve the ones they loved, but it's hard to tell if expectations will match reality. Let's take a look at the trailers so far and talk about what is going on. Once we go through the easter eggs, I don't know if we're going to be able to handle it.

Are you ready for Avengers: Endgame? Let me know in the comments!

Meeting Brown (2019) Personalizes the Divide between Love, Race and Racism

What do you do when the one you love turns out to be the opposite of what you thought? Great relationships can feel like they’re built on honesty and trust, but one brief meeting with her fiance’s best man Richard (Andrew J. Cornelius) changes everything for Alex (Diana Gonzalez-Morett) – a hopeful Latinx bride who sees her white partner’s true colors about their cultural differences.

Meeting Brown draws attention to the complex lines drawn between love, race, and racism. Director and writer Ana Lydia Monaco, a rising Latina filmmaker, tackles diversity by bringing representation to women of color to the screen with experiences from her own community. Realizing how often she didn’t see herself and fellow people of color onscreen, Monaco’s transformed her observations with bicultural couples to create a distinct narrative about life as a woman of color.

Nervous yet excited for her doubtful maid-of-honor to meet her fiancé John (Sean Dube) and his best man, Alex believes John is exactly the man she wakes up to every morning. Life is seemingly smooth between the two of them until that fateful evening when the four of them spend time together – or rather, Alex and Rocio (Sonia Diaz) try to navigate Richard’s ignorant remarks about their heritage and identity while John goes along with the "jokes". His continual dismissal of his future wife's feelings and invites an alarming realization to Alex about his own excuses about Richard’s behavior. Monaco’s script paces well between the dreamy state of bliss Alex thought her life was and the slow realization of John's beliefs aren't what she ever imagined.

Even though the film’s primary focus of the cracks deepening in a romantic relationship, there’s a genuine relevance, especially in our current political climate, of how much we might be expected to accept other people’s behaviors as they are. It might be out of fear of losing or creating a rift between a family member, friend, or acquaintance, there's a personal responsibility of recognize what individuals of other communities withstand and persevere. How we treat someone’s culture in our own lives speaks to how society treats minorities on a whole – women, people of color, LGBTQ, people with disabilities. Meeting Brown is succinct and to the point of how what most consider microaggressions, small acts of ignorance, start to add up whether we are bystanders or in the direct line of dangerous judgement and attacks.

As a ten minute short film, Meeting Brown presents a thorough examination of what Latina women encounter. Her cast carries the story well with performances by Gonzalez-Morett, Sean Dube, Sonia Diaz, and Andrew J. Cornelius. Even though there is an increasing divide between the film's leads, the actors share a palpable chemistry together as their idyllic relationship starts to present true issues. Monaco’s attention to detail and the experiences she has witnessed in her own life creates a refreshing defiance of the typical roles women of color are presented with on-screen and shines a light on the daily conflicts they encounter in real life.

Please Note: I was provided with a screener of this movie in exchange for an honest review. Meeting Brown is currently making the rounds at film festivals this year. Check out more of Ana Lydia Monaco past and current work at her official website.

Rating: ★★☆

It Was Only A Matter of Time for WWE and #TimesUp to Smackdown

As a once fervently loyal WWE fan, who struggles with her love of wrestling versus its controversial state of affairs, I never thought I'd wake up to see John Oliver deliver a 23-minute hot-take about WWE’s abhorrent work conditions for its wrestlers. Even at the dawn of the #TimesUp movement, I often said to myself it was only a matter to time before someone put WWE owner's Vince McMahon's ego (or head) up on the chopping block. But this is where we are, it was only a matter of time before attention turned its spotlight on WWE.

For those not in the know, on a recent episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the tv host and self-proclaimed wrestling fan revealed that the independent clauses wrestlers “sign up for” to work for WWE is nothing but unconscionable. Performing 200+ nights a year away from their families and traveling the world, their wrestlers work so tirelessly they barely have a life to save up for when they're not in the ring. Contracted as practically self-employed, wrestlers perform exclusively for WWE facing no annual leave, no pension plan, responsibility for their own expenses for company-initiated appearances, and possible termination if an injury prevents them from working for more than six weeks. In 2016, fifty-three lawsuit former wrestlers who sustained life-threatening injuries filed that WWE wrongly mishired them as independent contractors instead of employees, leaving them to miss the benefits of important employment laws. On an equally a heavily substantial note, Oliver connected the dots between McMahon's monopoly of the industry to wrestlers heightened death rate in comparison to the general population as well as other sports industries including NFL.

As briskly in-depth as Oliver’s editorial was for a half-hour show, he missed key details about WWE's other practices to help wrestlers. From booking to payment, their contracts for talent are much more in-depth than a few highlights to cherrypick and read. In terms of working with talent, their WWE Sponsored Rehab Program assists wrestlers into facilities, provides coverage for in-ring injuries, and the company reimburses talent for educational purposes. Despite Oliver's call for stronger healthcare within wrestling, there's controversy over how the insurance would work for wrestlers and if the talent wants a collective union (as obvious as it may sound).

Additionally, Oliver also misconstrues reporting deaths caused outside of an organization's control versus the result of a wrestling injury. As recent as June 2018, wrestlerdeaths.com recorded that deaths stemming heart-related issues and cancer was 27.9% and 19.06%, respectively, while in-ring related injuries leading to death was 8.52%. Despite the statistics, medical experts still believe professional wrestlers suffer a higher mortality rate via cardiovascular disease due to non-stop physical activity and lifestyle habits such as substance abuse.

Trailer Talk: Stranger Things, Toy Story 4, Lucy In The Sky and More

Ready? Get set! Mark your calendars! Go! sums up how I'm feeling over the past week as several trailers dropped for movies coming up throughout 2019. Instead of doing a usual Trailer Reactions post to all of them (Avengers: Endgame will get its own post soon), I thought about just talking about the movies and tv series that are definitely getting some hype this summer.

What do you guys think about these movies? Are there any other trailers I should check out? Let me know if you're excited or disappointed in the comments below!

Captain Marvel (2019) Proves Her Power

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Fandom hatred for Carol Danvers was sparked long before she hit the screen. From Brie Larson calling for more inclusiveness with film criticism to her heroine being pitted as better or worse than Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel had “something to prove” to the haters, the box office, and the barriers Black Panther obliterated. Despite being underestimated, the film has been knocked down but fights to live another day.

On the planet Hala, Vers (Brie Larson) and her fellow alien race of Kree are fighting a brutal war against tyrannical shape-shifters called Skrulls. Curious and haunted by the mysterious dreams she has of another life, she escapes capture to Earth to uncover the truth about where she comes from and who the real enemies are.

Everything I Love About Captain America in Avengers: Infinity War

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

After a devastating smackdown against Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War, Steve Rogers relinquished the iconic shield and stepped away from the Accords. The 'Star-Spangled Man With A Plan' became the Nomad, living undercover alongside other rogue Avengers such as Black Widow, The Falcon, Scarlett Witch and Vision. Called to reunite with old friends, they rally with T'Challa, Bucky, and Thor to take down Thanos.

Appearing in Avengers: Infinity War alongside a dozen other superheros, Nomad's appearance caps in at six minutes and forty-five seconds. But that doesn't mean his limited time isn't intricate to the longstanding arc of his own series. In fact, pinpointing how deep his appearance is in Avengers: Infinity War was a fun challenge to accept while waiting for the next installment Avengers: End Game. In continuing my series about Captain America, here is a breakdown of his role and the connections to his past films. Hope you enjoy! (This post is gif-heavy and click on the image for credit).

Fighting With My Family (2019) Shines A Light on Sharing The Dream

Universal Pictures

Thousands of screaming fans. Electrifying feuds. Bold outfits. Audacious athleticism. Wrestling is larger than life. Taking the glitz and glamour down a notch, Fighting with My Family shows what happens when fans dare to walk the path their heroes paved and become icons themselves.

Based on the real life story, eighteen year old Saraya-Jade Bevis - popularly known as Paige - (Florence Pugh) who aspires to be a wrestler, is discovered by the WWE and becomes their youngest champion ever. Hailing from a small town in Norwich, England, Paige's dreams are not entirely her own. She shares them with her family - dad Ricky (Nick Frost) and mom Julia (Lena Headey) who runs their own wrestling association, and her brother Zak (Jack Lowden) who misses out on making his own fantasies as a WWE Superstar come true.

The Imperfect Complexity of Jackson & Ally

photographer Peter Lindbergh

When A Star Is Born was released in late 2018, it received acclaim by both critics and moviegoers. But a not-so-subtle critique about the film was how it didn’t change its messaging about the tragic love story or its characters: does a male lead have to sacrifice himself as a woman rises to the top of their industry? Is the relationship between the love birds toxic more than purely romantic? With my love of director Bradley Cooper’s latest version in mind, I wondered about Jackson Maine and Ally Campana both on the page and screen, and if anything has truly changed in eighty-four years. (This post is l-o-n-g. Thanks in advance if you take the time to read it. Hope you enjoy!)

Mount Rushmore of Hot Beards

m.brown at Two Dollar Cinema is holding a blogathon called Mt. Rushmore of Movies, where fellow bloggers pick four actors, performances, or themes that they think should replace the U.S. Presidents on Mount Rushmore.

I've never participated in the challenge before and thought it would be fun to give it a go. If you follow me on twitter, you guys will know I have a type. And that is a dude with a glorious beard. If an actor (on my radar or not) cranks out some scruff, he becomes worthy of being displayed in a museum, or in this case, on a mountain for the whole world to bow down to. My theme was fairly easy to choose after some inspiration from Rambling Film and Mettel Ray. I started questioning my life choices after seeing their magnificent selection, but these are my picks for the Mount Rushmore of Hot Beards. If you think there's a beard I missed including in this list or should check out, let me know in the comments!

5 Changes The Oscars Can Take to Improve Next Year's Ceremony

photograph by Craig Sjodin / People Magazine

The road leading up to the 2019 Academy Awards ceremony has been anything less than unexciting. In an effort to limit its air time to three hours, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made a scroll's-worth of decisions that drew backlash and criticism from the movie-going community as well as the industry's biggest names. From difficulties landing a host to attempting to break tradition with presenting all of the categories, there are a lot of elements the show got wrong and right this year. Let's keep my unsolicited advice column going, and talk about which steps the Oscars can take to improve next year's ceremony. What did you think about this year's Oscars? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Stars I Love: Emily Blunt

Richard Phibbs - Harpers Bazaar UK January 2019

Emily Blunt can do no wrong. While I’m sure this isn’t entirely true because we’re all human and have imperfections, every time I watch one of her films, I’m always taken aback by her pure talent and ability to mold into different characters and seamlessly move from genre to genre. We never quite know what direction she'll take her career next, and half the excitement is watching her filmography unfold year after year. For me (and her husband John Krasinski), I guess you can say, I think she can do no wrong. And it's mind-boggling to think that she almost didn’t become an actress.

The LAMB Devours The Oscars: A Star Is Born As Best Picture

Warner Bros. Pictures

After eighty-four years, it might be time to let A Star Is Born die. The story of an ingenue rising to the top of the music (or film) industry while falling in love with a veteran spiraling out of control has been told since 1937 (and again in 1954, and then 1976). Now with the massive success of the latest version by director Bradley Cooper and co-star Lady Gaga, there's no doubt that the saga can go out on a high, if also bittersweet, note.

When the production of this musical-drama started coming together in 2016, most people were left scratching their heads: the remake of A Star Is Born had been circulating for years, rumored to star everyone from Beyonce to Leonardo DiCaprio, with director Clint Eastwood, until Bradley Cooper finally signed on to helm the project and Lady Gaga to make her debut in a leading role. Many suspected in the film's earlier days that it would garner the worst the industry has to offer known as the Razzies versus reaching the pinnacle of film-making at the Oscars. As possibly the only other rendition that rivals the most popular 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason, everything that didn’t sound good through the grapevine managed to pull the film through to critical acclaim, memorable chemistry between its leads, and crowd-pleasing tunes.

The film follows aspiring singer Ally Campana (Lady Gaga) who falls in love with Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), a country-rock musician plagued by substance abuse. While her career takes off with the help of his belief in her talent, his begins to fall apart. Out of their attempts to love each other in the midst of fame comes a movie where almost every production element is the star.