#anyways yay storyteller trifecta!

[dgrailwar]

Consider this a good will offering for our proposed alliance!

#submission #im sorry Avenger is so pink #i didnt have any purple ;w; #also idk if its actually a NASA craft Foreigner was in but it looked good #anyways yay storyteller trifecta!

[kalena-henden]

@onlymorelove said: Now I have to ask you: fave movie(s)? Fave Cap moments? Only if you feel like answering, of course. No pressure!

Yes, absolutely! I want to answer. I love Marvel too and not just the MCU. 

I grew up in a fanasty/sci-fi family. Our main trifecta was Star Wars/Star Trek/Doctor Who but there was always a healthy dose of superheroes in there as well. As a kid I watched superhero cartoons (Spiderman/X-Men/Batman/Superman) and live-action (b&w Superman, 60s Batman, 70s Wonder Woman, 90s Flash and Lois & Clark) shows, and of course some of the Superman and Batman movies. In the 2000s, I saw most of the Spiderman, X-Men, Batman & Superman movies. But the MCU has really outdone itself. I'm so impressed with the level of continuing connective storytelling that is usually reserved for tv shows. It's allowed for real character development. Also, it made me truly care and love characters that I had not been aware of previously. Since I've been watching these movies slowly unfold over the last decade, it's not hard for me to choose a favorite. Each time I would see one, the question I would ask myself was is this better than the last MCU movie I had seen? Early on the answer was often yes until the bar was set very high.

It stopped at Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This is my benchmark film. Civil War came close. The Guardians movies came close. Infinity War may be it's equal. I need more time to mull that over. Below is my whole list, in order (yay, I'm gonna do it):

My Tier 1: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers. 

My Tier 2: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, Black Panther, Iron Man 3. 

My Tier 3: Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man 2.

Won't be watching: The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton.

Honestly, I enjoyed all these movies. Even the Tier 3 (which is 3 out of 5 stars) are still good. They do such a fantastic job of making you fall in love with the characters even if the storylines might not be the greatest. That’s a pretty impressive thing to accomplish.

Okay, what makes The Winter Soldier my favorite movie? Where do I start? The storytelling is so tight! There’s not a moment wasted. There is tension, humor, amazing character development. This is the first movie I really felt like I got to know Natasha and Nick Fury as people. We got to dive deeper into Steve’s psyche and discover Bucky’s trauma. Sam comes in and immediately is a great friend and ally. It has intriguing moral questions which are discussed and debated becoming dilemmas requiring decisive action. All the characters make important choices about what to do with their lives. The fight scenes are amazing and retain their danger and intensity with repeated viewings which is a hard feat, in particular the elevator scene and highway scene. I LOVE all the hand to hand combat. It’s like a dance. In fact, there’s a wonderful video putting the highway scene to Britney Spear’s Toxic. The more I watch this movie the more little nods to past stories or insights into a character’s journey I discover. 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Steve rarely talks about himself. This is unlike most of the Avengers who can’t STOP talking about themselves. lol He talks about ideas, strategy, missions, beliefs, people, but rarely his life. Most of what we know of Steve is by watching his journey ourselves (so we know his history), friends talking about him or things they’ve done together, and by people asking him questions directly. The last one is most relevant to this movie. More than any other Marvel film this story is quite literally asked a TON of questions by the characters, revealing not just plot points but who they are and what is important to them. Also, I’m a huge fan of ensemble films. While they rightfully never take the spotlight off of Steve, they are also able to utilize him to shine a light on other characters. The way they balanced out all the characters’s development was truly impressive. 

It highlights why the Russo Brothers were the right directors to take on Civil War and next Avengers movies. (Though let’s not be too hard on Joss Whedon because there are now 4 people--2 directors and 2 writers--doing what he alone did for the first 2 Avengers films.) I’m a fan of Honest Trailers which playful poke at the plot holes of films. Interestingly, the Honest Trailer for The Winter Soldier is mostly praising the film cause it’s so good and has few plot holes, so instead they jokingly start nitpicking. When Civil War was about to come out, Screen Junkies (who makes Honest Trailers) had the Russos do a reaction video to The Winter Soldier Honest Trailer. They directors mentioned that they tried to “Honest Trailer proof” the story during the making of TWS to keep plot lines logical and also answered the questions the Honest Trailer asked.  

Some favorite things/moments about The Winter Soldier:

Steve’s angry petty snark “Neighbor” as Sharon walks past him in the hall at Shield. It’s rare that we get to see him like this. lol

Steve and Natasha’s friendly banter as she tries to find a date for him the entire movie. It shows how much she cares and wants a normal life for him. 

Sam’s “I do what he does just slower.”

Bucky’s calm lithe walk as carries out his missions. He barely says anything in this movie but his body language speaks volumes. I wasn’t a big Bucky fan in the first movie but I was absolutely entranced with him in this one. 

Bucky: “But I knew him.” Gah, rip my heart out why don’t ya?

Steve and Natasha’s parallel conversations about what they want in life and trust aka “you might be in the wrong business”. I love their friendship.

“On your left” hahahahaha

Peggy as his confident again. So much love there.

Natasha teaching Steve on the fly how to slip away in plain sight from the enemy surrounding you by using psychological spy techniques and Steve’s funny responses. “Walk don’t run.”/”If I run in these shoes, they’re gonna fall off.”  “Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable.”/”Yes, they do.”

“You’re my friend.”/”You’re my mission.”

[Note: Sorry this took so long. I don’t know why but it’s always so hard for me to sit down and write stuff. Anyway, I decided to post the first half now cause I don’t want to make you wait any longer. I’ll answer my fave Cap moments in another post eventually. I have too many Cap thoughts that have been percolating for a decade, they’re hard to condense. I feel like it’s going to come out as more of a meta.]

#marvel #marvel meta #steve rogers #my post #replies