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User
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Album Edits 49
Album Ratings 298
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Last Active 02-16-11 5:19 am
Joined 09-02-06
Review Comments 1,220
| Doctor Strange + MCU Top 10
Doctor Strange was okay. Watched it last night, to get an added baseline of prep for Infinity War (which I'm seeing Sunday, so no spoilers). Nothing great, but also not as lackluster as I thought it would be; really neat visually, and if nothing else, it has me excited for the inevitable sequel with (spoiler) Mordo as antagonist, since Ejiofor has proven with both Serenity and Children of Men that he can play the hell out of a villain who fully believes he's in the right. List is a rough top ten ranking of the other MCU movies I've seen (for the record, everything except the first two Thors, Iron Man 3, and that Hulk movie with Edward Norton, if that one even still counts). Also, accompanied by some recent music acquisitions and listens. Feel free, as always, to tell me where and just how wrong I am. | | 12 |  | nothing,nowhere.
Reaper
Honorable Mention 2: The Avengers - In all honesty, the Avengers movies themselves have felt like the weakest of the MCU franchise, at least so far, with Age of Ultron being a particular nadir. Optimistic Infinity War will change that. This one skirts by largely on the strength of its quips (Whedon, an acquired taste to begin with and problematic as he's become, is definitely a wordsmith, for whatever else he is), but overall, bloated and cumbersome in a way that seems unfortunately necessary for these crossover projects.
Album notes: Only gave this one spin, so far. It's certainly interesting, but not sure how I feel about it/this genre as a whole yet. | | 11 |  | The Amazing
In Transit
Honorable Mention 1: Iron Man 2 - This movie gets a bad rap, but I always thought it was better than many seemed to at the time. Haven't revisited it anytime recently, but remember Rourke making for a pretty solid villain, and good old Sam is (Rock)welcome in any context. But again, like its eventual follow-ups, maybe a little too overstuffed for its own good, though we did get Black Widow as a result.
Album notes: Fittingly, the CD is on its way to me now, but I'm looking forward to it, been listening to a few of the band's older albums a lot in anticipation. | | 10 |  | Jason Sharp
A Boat Upon Its Blood
Ant-Man - It's always suspect at best to judge something against what it's *not*, but truthfully, while this is a fun and breezier entry in Marvel's roster, it also suffers by the very public specter of Edgar Wright's dismissal and what could have been had he stayed at the helm. Paul Rudd is as charismatic as ever, though, and Michaels Pena and Douglas great in smaller roles. Another textbook case of Marvel's pervasive weakly-written, lackluster villain problem, though (to the point I actually had to look up who played Yellow Jacket: Corey Stoll, for those curious) which withholds this from placing a bit higher.
Album notes: An interesting listen, to be sure. Need some more time to fully digest it, but from initial impressions, some meticulously constructed, post-rock-tinged jazz. | | 9 |  | The Weeknd
My Dear Melancholy,
Spider-Man: Homecoming - A nicely, somewhat lower-key installment, one buoyed by the duo of fine performances from Tom Holland and Michael Keaton. The former, given a not-incosiderable leg up by his youth, is the most believable Peter Parker yet (and this is coming from a firm fan of Tobey Maguire; the less said about Andrew Garfield's time in the suit, the better--although I'll still go to bat for the inspired casting of Denis Leary as Captain Stacy; I digress...). Meanwhile, Keaton, in particular, makes a meal out of a relatively, almost purposefully minor villain, possessing a clearer motivation than most in Marvel's rogues' gallery.
Album notes: Definitely benefits from its brevity. Still, there's a saminess to this EP that's a bit discomfiting, which is a new look; Starboy and BBtM, hit-or-miss as they each were, at least offered up a pretty wide sonic palette. Still, could be a grower, especially since I dig this moody sound more than the pop-club-banger side of things. | | 8 |  | The National
Boxer
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - A solid continuation of the biggest surprise in the MCU since Iron Man, but something feels a little lacking in comparison to the first volume. There's some clear pandering here (Dancing Baby Groot, anyone?), which docks points from the more interesting unpacking of parental influence with Kurt Russell (great in his role, though the third act shift is pretty obvious from the outset) & Michael Rooker (never better, but at the cost of his character losing some of its edge from Vol. 1). Trio if you count the Thanos-Nebula subplot. Still, far more pros than cons on the whole, and one of the few Marvel movies that saw me leave the theater thinking "I wish that was a little bit longer" (which, at 2 hours, 20 minutes already, is no mean feat).
Album notes: Revisiting a classic. Just snagged the live vinyl at Record Store Day, and while I'm working to unearth my turntable, boning up the source material in the meantime. "Fake Empire" is such a perfect opener. | | 7 |  | Burst
Prey on Life
Captain America: The First Avenger - One of the most unique entries in the MCU, and even though there's some questionable time-travel finagling to ultimately square this circle, what comes before is a very fun adventure feature. Ironically, feels fresh by being similar in tone to the likes of Indiana Jones and the severely underrated Rocketeer (and, I suspect, those films' own parent breed of whiz-bang serials). Also helped prove, especially on the heels of his turn in Scott Pilgrim, Chris Evans was more than just a pretty face.
Album notes: Another revisit, been on kind of a Burst kick lately (as you'll see). This was their first 'great' album, in my opinion, though I'll have to spend some more quality time with Conquest: Writhe soon. | | 6 |  | The Amazing
Picture You
Thor: Ragnarok - My first (and, so far, only) foray into Thor's corner of the MCU, but boy, what a ride. Such a goofy (in a good way) romp, and while my lack of context surely played a role in my favorable reception, I'd hope that even fans of this mini-trilogy could appreciate its evident change in stylistic choice and creative voice. Hemsworth has more fun than I've ever seen him have in the role, Hiddleston is reliably mirthful, Tessa Thompson is never a bad thing, and Jeff Goldblum (unsurprisingly) steals the whole show. Really only bogged down by yet another thinly sketched villain in Cate Blanchett's Hela--but again, the good far outweighs the bad.
Album notes: Found this used recently, and it (alongside the follow-up Ambulance, which I already had) are two very underrated pieces of gorgeous, shimmering, shoegazey indie rock. Haven't delved more into their predecessors (yet), but this makes me very excited for finally getting my hands and ears on #11. | | 5 |  | Burst
Origo
Captain America: Civil War - Honestly, more of an Avengers movie than Cap, which puts an asterisk by my argument in #12, but! The film is fleet of foot in a way that its progenitors typically aren't, thanks in no small part to some much-needed fat-trimming (sorry, Thor). Coupled with the surprisingly affecting backstory about Tony Stark and his parents, maybe one of the most emotionally resonant superhero films I've seen, which is absolutely not what I was expecting walking in.
Album notes: As I said, been spinning Burst a good bit. This may well be my favorite album from them, definitely distills a lot of what works on #7 into an even more potent and impactful--but deceptively melodic--form. | | 4 |  | Nils Frahm
Solo
Black Panther - Possibly some recency phenomenon at work, here, but this is almost surely the most effective self-contained story in the MCU. Legitimately earns the far too oft-bandied about descriptor "Shakespearean," with a tremendous debt in that regard owed to Michael B. Jordan as the tragic Killmonger. Andy Serkis is also great as a sillier villain (a good Polonius to Killmonger's Claudius, as an equally nerdy friend of mine recently put it). If anything, the biggest flaw of BP is that its hero, rather than its villain, is somewhat one-note--though, to be fair, there's only so much to be done with duty, stoicism, and responsibility as chief attributes; frankly, even this swing of the pendulum could be a strength, representing as it does a refreshing change of pace.
Album notes: My first Frahm album, but one that's been on steady rotation since I grabbed it a bit over a month ago. Very peaceful, fantastic music to listen to while reading--comics or otherwise. | | 3 |  | Closure in Moscow
First Temple
Iron Man - Not just giving credit where credit is due to the one that started it all, this is a supremely well-crafted film in its own right. In retrospect, Iron Man (the movie) can feel comparatively slight (again, I haven't watched in a while), but that's arguably a feature rather than a bug, since it--in tandem with a uniformly excellent cast--helped create the mold that's too often brandished as a cudgel against it. Similarly, by now it's easy at this point to take Robert Downey, Jr.'s caliber for granted, but this is some damn fine character work, impressively setting the tone for the entire MCU's blend of commanding gravitas and sly irreverence.
Album notes: Did manage to uncover the turntable just last evening, and had also recently gotten the vinyl remaster of this (in my opinion) classic album. Spoilers: It holds up. Soon to come: Boxer Live! | | 2 |  | Burst
Lazarus Bird
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Not unlike #7, Winter Soldier does a good job feeling special by donning the trappings of a different genre of film than is business as MCUsual--in this case, the spy thrillers of the 70s. It even has a very game Robert Redford to boost its street cred. But all that borrowing would feel like mere dress-up if it weren't also for a well-executed, byzantine (in a positive way) story full of twists and turns. It's even, to its credit, one where being a comic fan and being in on one of the Big Reveals ahead of time actually enhances rather than cheapens it, especially since there's still so much movie left to go once it occurs. A worthy follow-up to an already impressive start of this mini-trilogy, definitely the strongest overall of Marvel's subsets.
Album notes: Told you. I'd forgotten how much of this album is pure instrumental, which is a pretty good look for the band. Need to definitely give it even more listens, alongside its bookend. | | 1 |  | The National
Alligator
Guardians of the Galaxy - If the MCU prides itself (at times a bit blindly) in its ability to surprise, this may be the most rousing success yet. It's certainly my personal favorite, with its blend of laugh-out-loud humor, palpable heart, and expansive yet deeply humanist sci-fi. It takes the space opera trappings of Man of Steel's Krypton-set opening (easily the best portion of that much lesser film) and filters them through wry comicality rather than self-seriousness, in the process making one of the MCU's most "epic" stories actually feel like its most personal. Quibble about Ronan the Accuser (an admitted weak point), but even he feels like a necessary, stern counterpoint to most of the movie's rollicking absurdity. If Iron Man changed the game, Guardians revised the rulebook, and the MCU is all the better for it.
Album notes: Another classic. Revisiting #8 gave me that "when in Rome" spark, and I feel like I too often neglect Alligator in favor of its follow-ups at my own peril. | |
Papa Universe
04.27.18 | lovely write-up. not really crazy about the MCU myself, but I can see people enjyoing it. must admit that out of those mentioned here i only remotely enjoyed the first act of Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2, Ragnarok and literally the very final scene of the First Avenger. literally everything else (especially Ant-Man, Black Panther, Winter Soldier and the first The Avengers film) went way over my head.
but do tell, cause i couldn't really pick up on it from reading the write-up, what exactly you think makes the First Avenger unique? | thecheatisnotdead
04.27.18 | Fair points all around. As for Avengers 1, I feel like it at least does a decent job blending its inherent grandiosity/spectacle with some good character-level interactions (basically, those trademarked quips), which help keep things crisp and moving along at a hum. The cast ultimately suffers from there being so many characters to keep track of that some inevitably get short shrift, but it still all tallies up to a fun popcorn movie, and definitely doesn't bear the same staggering bloat that ends up undoing Age of Ultron, at least by my reckoning.
Which, as a sidenote, is also kind of funny, because if you'd asked me, I would've guessed Ultron was the longer of the two, and probably by a good 20 to 30 minutes; turns out, it's actually a few minutes *shorter*. I guess it's a testament to A1's script that, despite being nominally longer, it ends up going by more swiftly than its sequel. That may also be partly attributable to the latter having even more characters to keep track of, and evidently devoting less time to each of them, so it ends up feeling even more scattered and non-cohesive as a consequence. Makes me worry for Infinity War, which legitimately *is* 20 minutes longer and has more characters than ever to manage, but I'm still optimistic. | CygnusX1
04.27.18 | I dig the current MCU movies and all, but Spider-Man 2 is just better than everything. Thanos is cool but not Doc Ock cool | thecheatisnotdead
04.27.18 | Oh, easily. That and X2 are probably still my favorite superhero movies on the whole. (Shame both of those original trilogies ended on such sour notes.) | Papa Universe
04.27.18 | well, try looking at it positively: longer runtime = more time to explore the characters | thecheatisnotdead
04.27.18 | Very true! In that way, it could very well work out and still end up not feeling too unwieldy. | Papa Universe
04.27.18 | then again, Justice League had a fourth of the amount of characters and approximately same runtime and managed to fuck eeeeeverything up. | thecheatisnotdead
04.27.18 | Haha so I've heard. I've actually steered clear of pretty much everything post-Man of Steel on that side of things, except for Wonder Woman. From what I've been told, I haven't missed much. | Papa Universe
04.27.18 | you haven't. it's literally the same film over and over again with DC, with the same problems, but all different levels of laughability. | dathvada321
04.28.18 | Really good list. Mine is very similar, with 1 and 2 switched, Ragnarok up a spot, and Infinity War at the top. | thecheatisnotdead
04.30.18 | Nice. Yeah, just saw Infinity War last night, as a matter of fact; very good stuff. I'd absolutely put it in the top five, just unsure whether it'd be 4 or 5. |
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