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quirrelli · 1 year

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Marvel Rewatch Thread

Originally posted: 25.02.22-14.03.22

Haven't seen most of the Marvel movies since they came out but I have a sudden urge to rewatch them like a TV show, with Endgame as the season finale. And to tweet about it. (Feel free to mute this thread if you're only here for the art.)

Iron Man still fucking rules. It has so much of what I like to call buzz porn. I will never get tired of the suiting up sequences.

Evil Jeff Bridges with a cigar on a Segway. A king.

We've all gotten used to it by now but the way they show Tony's face in the 3D-void with the digital interface over it is actually pretty ingenious.

Speaking of Tony, RDJ may always play himself, but the man oozes charisma from the points of his funky goatee to the bell bottoms of his suit pants.

And Jarvis too! I've never not loved a Paul Bettany performance. I predict I may say this several more times, but the casting carried this franchise from the start.

That final battle is like, what if Transformers but good?

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Ah, the famously maligned Iron Man 2. It's true, it's not as good as the first but nevertheless, the War Machine suit FUCKS. (And so does the song).

I like Whiplash, it's Hammer that's the problem. Everyone, but especially he talks so much that the quippy bickering that is 90% of the dialogue stops being amusing like it was in 1 and becomes draggy.

Also, the narrative structure is much less clean. Iron Man 1's plot is a tight piece of ass, where 2 needs to do some more squats.

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The Incredible Hulk certainly is an odd little duckling in the lineup. Its connection to the rest of the MCU is so tenuous as to almost not be felt at all, especially with Norton's recasting. It's also the only one without a post-credits stinger.

I will say I like Norton!Banner, but there is something off about this Hulk's face. Maybe the technology just wasn't quite there yet in 2008.

Certainly appropriately green color palette throughout though. I'm also noticing a certain grimy, tactile nature to these early entries that's gradually lost as more and more of the sets and even costumes get replaced by pure CGI. Some jumpy editing here and there too.

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Again, the casting in these movies is stellar across the board but man, Chris Evans is such a perfect Captain America in every way. Certainly the best bod in the biz, come at me, rival Chris stans.

That replacement effect they did with pre-serum Steve's body is surprisingly good, especially remembering much more recent travesties like the Super-stache.

The first Cap suit is still lowkey my favorite one. That functional military aesthetic is just my vibe.

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Thor is better than I remember. Everyone, but especially Jane is super likeable actually. Also, I would trust Heimdall with my life savings, my first born, my soul and my browser history.

Besides Tony, Loki arguably carried this franchise more than any other character and he proves yet again that family makes the best villains.

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The Avengers takes me back. It might be old news now, but this is the movie that invented the concept of the "cinematic universe". Like, that wasn't a word before. It was thrilling.

I remember when I got into Marvel after the first Iron Man came out, reading rumors about a potential Avengers movie and thinking that it was never going to happen. It would be too big, too expensive, too much to set up, just unfeasable on every level. And then it... happened.

That first arc of the MCU might have also been the best execution of a cinematic universe to date, bc it was at that point still Tony's story at its core and his arc finishes here. But we'll see as we go along.

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Thor 2 is the first of these that really feels like it only exists to be part of the larger franchise. That is not a good thing. It's what sank the DCU before it even left the shallows.

There's a very noticeable lack of verve compared to the first one, the cinematography and editing is so unexciting, the plot so basic. I mean they whipped out the ol' "when the planets align" chestnut. The only fun idea is the wacky gravity but they don't do enough with it.

Jane, despite being more directly involved in the conflict feels much less like an active agent than the first one and what did they do to rapier-man's hair?

I don't mean to pretend like these movies are high art or anything but this is well below the standards set, like b-tier fantasy at best.

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I have to admit IM3 is better the second time around. The big twist obviously loses its impact but there's some good moments and it's thematically more coherent than I originally gave it credit for.

Having said that, that theme and its resolution requires that this be the end of Iron Man as a character, which it obviously won't be. It's sort of the opposite problem from the last one: Where Thor2 can't exist outside the MCU, IM3 can't exist within it.

What made me absolutely livid when I first saw this movie is that Tony gets the reactor removed. It still doesn't sit right with me, though the reasons have shifted. Then, it was bc Tony and the suit are a unit, if it's not part of him he becomes exactly what cap says he is in A1

Now, contrary to what IM3 posits, the reactor to me symbolizes accepting the wounds of the past as a permanent part of yourself and growing from them, which breaks down as a metaphor if Tony could always get rid of the shrapnel and just didn't, for some reason.

Also, the mark 42 is still fugly.

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CA: winter soldier has some really good hand-to-hand combat and I really like the bromance with Natasha. They make a good team. Same goes for Wilson.

Because the themes of mass surveillance and corruption are more relevant than ever I'm not a huge fan of the conspiratorial bent this movie takes. It's a bit too real a subject to go full wacky Hydra long-con, you know.

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Guardians 1 does a remarkable job being good, considering all the new stuff it has to fit in. I'm not particularly attached to any of the characters but yeah, it works, it's just a solid flick all around.

I'm having flashbacks to baby groot mania

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Guardians 2's opening slaps. Also, de-aged Kurt Russell looks surprisingly convincing.

It's the sequel that's just better in every way. G1 laid a solid foundation that this one builds on a lot. It really digs into the characters' hearts (and makes me mix my metaphors apparently). They even manage to make the goofy tone thematic in that it's Peter's coping mechanism

Ego is the rare antagonist who isn't a foil but a natural evolution of the protagonist. Definitely in the upper echelons of Marvel villains.

I really like the ship with the little movable laser balls. Creative.

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Avengers 2 time! Vision: Awesome! Hulkbuster: Awesome! That shot of Cap ripping a log in two: Awesome! Natasha calling herself a monster bc she can't have children... a choice.

I'm glad they acknowledge from the start how OP Wanda is. I'm less glad her powers are basically reduced to telekinesis when they're so much funkier than that.

Why did they give Ultron so much... face? Especially combined with Spader's expressive performance it would have been much more unsettling to have a motionless mask.

This movie really takes IM3 from a mixed bag to utterly pointless.

It could be on my end but the audio mixing is off. Some of the sfx are weirdly quiet in places.

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Ant-Man is definitely a breath of fresh air after all relentless power escalation of the previous batch of movies. Slows down a little, brings down the scale (hah), you know

Although I do remain a touch salty that they didn't go with original ant-man/yellowjacket, especially since they already transplanted the Ultron storyline to Tony. I would have liked to have seen mad scientist Pym and his merry circus of fucked up alter-egos.

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Movie civil war is better than comic book civil war bc it ties into the characters way more and bc the inciting incident actually directly involves an avenger, and one who is famously volatile to boot. Still perhaps a touch contrived though.

Black Panther!!! The only hero who may out-cool Tony. RIP, king.

Why are the police in Bucharest speaking German? That really threw me, to the point I was unsure where that part was taking place. Pretty serious oversight honestly.

And why did steve kiss this random side character who doesn't matter? In a movie as long as this you can't really afford to keep dead end plot lines like that around.

My aesthetic is steve rogers' biceps.

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Listen, Toby Maguire will always have a special place in my heart, but Holland is the best package as far as spider-men go. Even though obviously no-one here looks their age I do buy Holland as conceptual teenager. Like, the energy is correct, in a way it never was before.

I really enjoy dad!Tony's ineptitude too. There was a touch of that IM3 (keep coming back to that one, huh) but it works better here.

Did they cast Michael Keaton as the Vulture bc of Birdman? I'm gonna choose to believe they did.

If I may nitpick for a second here: The new Avengers HQ was introduced after Ultron, two years before Homecoming takes place, so why would they just now have a "moving day"?

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I really like the tech in Black Panther. The beads, the sand, the cloaks. Really adds to Wakanda's identity separate from the rest of the universe.

Who gave Michael B. Jordan the right to be this attractive and compelling and generally a highlight of the franchise?

WAR RHINOS!!!

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Do I have lingering trauma from being on tumblr in the years 2012-17? Yes. But I still have to admit Cumberbatch is a decent actor. My favorite thing about his casting is that there's probs no one else whose name is as evenly matched in joke potential to their character as him.

The trippy shit is great. Like Inception on LSD. Just fun to watch even if, like me, you're not super invested in the story.

Rachel McAdams is so pretty <3

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Thor Ragnarok summary The aesthetic: impeccable The cast: hideously attractive The humor: so good The tonal shift compared to previous entries: lurching

I guess it only makes sense that the most unique, mould-breaking, complete stories have the most trouble fitting into such a behemoth of a franchise. Ragnarok might be the best MCU movie outside of the context of the MCU.

When Thor lands on the rainbow bridge all electrified, a lightning arch connects between his eye and his chest circle thingy and I love that particular frame so much.

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The size fuckery in Ant-man 2 is even better.

I don't like the ghost's acting. Nothing wrong with the character, but her body language is stiff and awkward. Now scott's daughter, there's a real mvp.

Watching the first after credits stinger before having seen infinity war makes it super ominous actually.

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Captain Marvel aka I'm gaaaaaay, the movie. And not just me. Carol and Maria will get married eventually and finish raising their daughter together, you cannot convince me otherwise.

Aww, I forgot about the Stanley montage. That's sweet.

I do love the mohawk.

Larson leans into the cocky badass persona a bit too far but what I like about Carol is how much joy she finds in her powers. Like so many heroes they get foisted on her but she doesn't get caught up in any "but what if I'm a monster" or "I didn't ask for this" angst.

She discovers she can fly and is like "fuck yeah I can fly! Watch me gooooo!" You know, the correct response. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when she starfishes straight through a spaceship just for shits and giggles.

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The remarkable thing about Infinity War is that while not everyone gets an arc, everyoen at least gets a beat or two and it all makes sense and hits. That's the pinnacle of what can be achieved with a well-designed cinematic universe.

The only thing that feels a touch underdeveloped is Wanda and Vision's relationship. It's a shame bc Wandavision is such a good ship with so much history. At least they have a TV show now. Also, I notice Wanda lost her accent.

Do Strange and Tony have... chemistry? Not to get all shippy for the finale but like, I might have to check AO3 and see if there's anything good.

Why is it that all of my faves specifically have to die :(

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Is Infinity War/Endgame the best two parter finale? A case might be made, I think.

This movie really makes me cognizant of how well structured the power escalation in this franchise is (leaving aside the fact that the sorcers are supremely OP).

Time travel and universe rearrangement is game-breaking and about as far as you can reasonably go in scale. The stakes just lose touch with what's humanly imaginable/ empathizable after that, which is why it's good that they saved it for the very end.

Endgame has a touch of the ol' "too many endings" disease but I'd say it's earned them at this point.

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Wrap up time! First, the perhaps obvious: there's a difference between watching 22 movies and 22 TV eps. They flow different and the movie marathon does get exhausting in a way the equivalent of ~2 TV seasons wouldn't have done.

They are, for the most part, fun flicks in their own right but I'm left wondering if the individual heroes wouldn't have been better served in a semi-canon CU, where weirder titles like Dr. Strange and Ant-Man would have had more freedom to experiment.

Then again, the existence of the MCU doesn't preclude future iterations that do push the envelope a little more. In fact, Wandavision, the only one of the TV shows I've cared to watch, does go in that direction, to the point that it ends up straining against its MCU obligations.

Anyway, I'm not gonna do a ranking of the movies. Instead I'm gonna do sth much more fun and at least 5% less overdone and rank each movie's main villain! It's possible they might correlate more strongly with overall enjoyment than the heroes even. Let's see here:

1. Loki 2. Killmonger 3. Vulture 4. Hela 5. Ego 6. Winter Soldier 7. Obadiah Stane 8. Ultron 9. Thanos 10. Yon-Rogg 11. Kaecilius 12. Yellowjacket 13. Ghost 14. Red Skull 15. Aldrich Kilian 16. Whiplash 17. Zemo 18. Colonel Ross 19. Ronan the Accuser 20. Malekith

#marvel #mcu #text post #my stuff

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royadventures · 2 years

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march 14th, 2022--4:31pm

previous log

hello! good afternoon!! it's monday again... my classes go in person this week and we have no time to go to campus in advance to find our classes, so i guess we just figure it out as we go, as it's been with all things :]

on march 12th, we did end up going to myeondong (eventually T.T). there, in the underground market (cheap place for albums!), T found the second gen robong and i found a teulight ! the teulight is so cool,, you connect it to your phone and everything T.T i also finally bought the second step: chapter one aka jikjin album :D MY PULLS ARE AMAZING it brought tears to my eyes !

we then walked around the mainstreet and went into Music Korea. it has everything but is overpriced, so it's a give/take situation in some ways. we also found a HBAF store which had such cool flavours of almonds,, we need to go back cause there was such a cool sale :]

the street kind of reminded me of england, specifically London where all the shops are. very big n roomy + lots of 'high end' brand stores.

T tried a mochi-coated strawberry and loved it! (i couldnt have it cause i was fasting T.T). with time to spare, we headed to the jamsil olympic stadium to see if we could hear bts performing :D and sure enough, we could! it was a touching experience, hearing their old songs and what made me first enjoy this music genre. it was also cute seeing armys outside with their army bombs--most were international people, since only locals were allowed to purchase concert tickets.

an ahjussi told us to follow him to a better spot and a crowd of us ran after him to the other side of the stadium where through the stadium doors, you could get a small glimpse of a screen showing bts as they performed. people were growling, barking, and yelling. it was a little insane and i was over it, especially since i was hungry.

we ate in the area and had dumpling soup--it wasn't that good but that's okay. it was a warm, comforting way to break my fast. we then headed home after that.

that's where we received some bad news. the astro concert was cancelled because half of the members have caught covid. even if it wasn't cancelled, MJ wouldn't have been there due to health issues. we were fully refunded, but it was still bittersweet :(

so on march 13th, the day that was supposed to be astro d-day, T and i wandered around the streets, unsure of what to do. we did see this Hyunjin and i yelped right out of my seat ! i saw it as a good omen, but right after, T ate tteokbokki and spilled sauce all over her pants T.T it was also way too spicy for her so she struggled a lot. the place had rosé tteokbokki though--i was jealous i couldn't eat T.T

we went home so T could change before we went to hongdae from hyehwa station (the one closest to our house). we take the line 2 to dongdaemun (i think it's line 2 ?) and from there, go straight to hongdae. we went to the line friends store first, where i bought a romy to hug! he feels like a marshmallow :") it was Jihoon's birthday the next day, too, and he designed romy, so i think it's destiny!

we also went to the kakao friends store--they have a collab with care bears but we didn't find much we liked :O the goodies in the kakao café looked so good T.T but because of my fast, i couldn't touch a thing. it's good because i get to save money :P

T then took me to M playground so i could buy some clothes, but because i was so hungry, i couldn't really focus. i did end up finding a vest i liked for ₩15, 000, though!

there were so many stairs in that store and we kept going up and down; i don't think Tracy realized i felt like passing out T.T

finally after that, we ate kbbq at a place along the busking street in hongdae, just above a budaejjigae place. the atmosphere was so good. so loud and full of people! that kind of environment when eating, especially eating something like bbq, is the best. it was all-you-can-eat for ₩14, 500, which is really good for bbq!

after that, we had strawberry bingsu at a place called cream,, something? it was across the bbq place and mostly had coffee, so the bingsu was bad, i won't lie. for ₩13, 000, you can get bingsu at sulbing that is so much better. that was literally just shaved ice with strawberry jam thrown on top.

we took the subway back home but the night was still young (as T would say), so at 10pm, we went to our local coin karaoke and sang in a small room right by the front door where the mics were broken. we were kicked out right at 11pm because of the curfew and on our way home, i bought a strawberry magnum type ice cream from GS25 to make up for the bad sulbing. it was really good!

the next day, march 14th, T and i had class until 4:45pm. so, we studied hard (or tried to) and then went to hongdae again to meet a friend of T's who would take us to some Jihoon cupsleeve events!

(cupsleeve event/birthday café event = where fans rent out a café, decorate it and special drinks+desserts are served in customized cups to celebrate a birthday or debut anniversary)

we went to 4 and i spent ₩22,000 in total. it was so pretty, though >.< here is the first café~ i will post the others separately ^-^

we then went to the budaejjigae place below the kbbq place we went to on march 13th to eat! it was around ₩13,000 per person (on the pricier side) and it was bland as hell because they saw we were foreigners. honestly, i was mad. i like my budae jjigae spicy :(

T's friend is a bit of a alcoholic and made me drink even when i said i was at my limit. i ended up tipsier than i wanted to me and i really hated it. in a way, i'm glad for the experience, though. i've realized i don't ever want to feel like that again, especially around people whom i've just met and in a place so far from home. even if i'm with people i trust, i don't want to make anyone have to take care of me. plus, the tipsy feeling isn't even enjoyable. i feel dizzy but also like sonic the hedgehog, i feel super conscious of everything and like i could fall over at any second.

i felt fine after i used the bathroom, but still. never doing that again. never drinking when in the presence of T's friend's again. sumaek (soju and beer) is too strong of a combo, especially on an empty stomach.

we got home and now as i write this (on march 15th, 1:39pm) i am on campus in SK future hall--a newly built study-space on campus! i like it here ^-^ it's convenient, accessible, and there's food places if you wanna eat (which i can't T.T). we came here during my 9am class (i was using my phone to attend lecture) so we could locate where our in-person classes will be,, in person starts tomorrow! we had to do it at such a weird time because T and i are a bit busy for the rest of the day. i have one more lecture to attend at 2pm, and then we'll try to find a Jinjin cupsleeve, then go to the lotte mall.

can't believe T left me alone yet again to meet some new person T.T didn't even invite me to study with them! rude !!

i'm joking... maybe :")

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#in korea #royalog #royart gallery #music box #14.03.22

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