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"Blog Harbor" ![]() This one's a no-brainer for me, and not just because I happen to work for the company that makes the movies. ![]() ![]() But for me, it's not just about the money. It's amazing to see my childhood super hero fantasies come to life; in the 80s and 90s, who could have imagined that just a few decades later we'd be seeing photorealistic effects that would make Doctor Strange's magic, or the interstellar space battles of the Guardians of the Galaxy, or the movements of all-CGI nonhuman characters like Thanos or Rocket and Groot seem plausible? The fact that technology is finally catching up to our imaginations and allowing us to make a motion picture out of the panels of the original comics makes it an exciting time to be exploring these movies. Additionally, the whole shared universe thing is really mind-blowing. We've seen shared universes in television. We've seen tangentially shared universes either over a very limited number of films (Alien, The Matrix, the Star Wars trilogies, etc.), or where the narrative isn't necessarily interwoven (Mission: Impossible, James Bond). This much interconnectedness has never been done with high budget studio features to the tune of eighteen consecutive films and counting. Finally, and what I love perhaps most about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is that we're not afraid to make different kinds of movies. While they have certain commonalities (the tone, visual style, etc.), the team isn't afraid to take risks with different types of stories. Captain America: Winter Soldier is a political thriller. Ant-Man is a heist comedy at heart. Guardians of the Galaxy is a classic sci-fi space opera. Thor: Ragnarok is a buddy comedy. With over 8,000 characters in their repertoire and a team that isn't afraid to take risks, I think there will always be interesting stories entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even as articles continue to be written about the assumed or impending demise of the super hero film genre. For years, my two favorite Marvel Studios films were Captain America: Winter Soldier (political thrillers are my jam, and then add super heroes to the mix? Aww yeah...) and The Avengers (seeing all of these characters assemble on screen for the first time was a dream come true). But I truly think that Black Panther is giving both of those films a run for their money. I think it's one of the most poignant, important movies we've made to date... and it happens to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch too. It's a remarkable film that deserves every bit of its record-setting accolades and recognition, in my opinion. The least favorite films are a little tougher. Until Thor: Ragnarok, the Thor franchise was probably my least favorite character as a whole, and Thor: The Dark World is probably one of my least favorite Marvel Studios films. And even though it pains me to say it because I love Shane Black's other films, I think Iron Man 3 was interesting, but a pretty big miss. I mean, it's an Iron Man movie where he spends the vast majority of the film outside of his armor! ![]() |