Mouse said: “Love and Thunder is Ragnarok shoved down your throat until you choke along with random fistfuls of a completely different, much darker movie that got mixed up in all the rush. It’s not very good. Is that coming across? IT IS NOT VERY GOOD.”
#26: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Score: 36%
Mouse said: “Well dang. That was…quite bad.”
#25: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Score: 48%
Mouse said: “Pretty much cements the Ant-Man universe as my least favourite corner of the MCU. It’s not terrible. It’s just very meh.”
#24: Doctor Strange
Score: 50%
Mouse said: “As visually audacious and often stunning as Doctor Strange is, it’s downright maddening how formulaic it is as a story. “Iron Man but with magic and less charm” is the most underwhelming MCU movie so far. A genuinely satisfying and clever ending may send you home with some goodwill towards it, but it’s largely unearned.”
#23: The Incredible Hulk
Score: 53%
Mouse said: “The Incredible Hulk is the perfect example of a three star movie. It’s the film equivalent of a plumber who shows up at your house at roughly the time he said he would, fixes your pipes in a reasonable amount of time, charges you a fair price and then leaves. “Workmanlike” is the term. In its various elements, writing, acting and directing it’s solid, unshowey, and ultimately not all that memorable.”
Score: 54%
Mouse said: “Look, I know this movie is important to a lot of people and I don’t take any pleasure in crapping over it. If you enjoy Captain Marvel, good on you. I’m glad it exists. I’m glad Marvel finally got off the damn pot and made a movie with a lead female protagonist after twenty damn films. I just wish they’d made a movie that the character and their audience deserved.”
#21: Iron Man 2
Score: 58%
Mouse said: “In my review of Age of Ultron I namechecked Iron Man 2 as one of the weakest Marvel movies but called it “shaggy but still fun”. Watching it again after all these years, it feels like a whole lotta shag and precious little fun. “
#20: Ant-Man
Score: 59%
Mouse said: “Sure it’s got a bland villain and a script that would collapse if you so much as left your muffin resting on it, but it’s got likeable performances, oodles of fan service, some funny bits and basically doesn’t piss in your eyes. It’s enjoyable, but nothing amazing.”
#19:Black Widow
Score: 63%
Mouse said: “This is a movie with a load of very talented people doing perfectly acceptable work with absolutely zero heart.”
#18: Eternals
Score: 63%
Mouse said: “It’s sincere. Old school. Kinda dorky. Noticeably lacking in the “too cool for school” snark of its stablemates. That’s certainly not enough to make it a great film, but it’s more than enough to make it a pleasant change of pace.”
#17: Thor 2
Score: 68%
Mouse said: “It’s a curious beast, some of the strongest character beats and dialogue in the MCU in one of its weakest films.”
#16 Age of Ultron
Score: 68%
Mouse said: “Joss Whedon’s Avengers movies are like watching a man juggle eight chainsaws and a live bear. The first time your see it it’s jaw-dropping, thrilling and utterly unlike anything you’ve seen before. But it’s not really a show you can watch over and over again. Once you know he’s not going to drop that bear and cut his arms off, a lot of the thrill goes and you’re left with something that, while admittedly impressive on a purely technical level, doesn’t really have that much intellectual richness.”
#15 Spider-Man: Far From Home
Score: 69%
Mouse said: “Again, Marvel make a great Peter Parker movie and a so so Spider-Man movie.”
Score: 70%
Mouse said: “If it’s not the best movie space opera outside of the Star Wars franchise then it’s certainly close.”
#13 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Score: 70%
Mouse said: “Multiverse of Madness is about as good as Phase 4 movies get but, well, that’s kinda the problem right?”
#12: Iron Man
Score: 79%
Mouse said: “Looking back at Iron Man eight years on, it’s not exceptional but it is, very, very solid. Great performances, good special effects, witty banter. It’s not exactly ground-breaking, but sometimes you don’t need to re-invent the wheel. Sometimes you just need to build a really good wheel. In a cave. With a box of scraps.”
Score: 81%
Mouse Said: “It’s an airy little bit of fluff, this. It’s a fun and pleasant superhero yarn that’s not going to change anyone’s life. But as a way of bringing Spidey into the MCU, it does the job. N.B.D.”
#10: Iron Man 3
Score: 81%
Mouse said: “For me, it’s that rarest of movie fauna, a threequel that proves itself the best of the trilogy.”
#9: Captain America
Score: 85%
Mouse said: “Captain America: The First Avenger is, appropriately enough, a throwback in the best possible way. It evokes feelings of nostalgia for the classic Indy movies in its two-fisted Nazi smackin’ derring-do, and it channels Richard Donner’s Superman in its sweet and earnest portrayal of unironic heroism and courage.”
#8: Thor
Score: 86%
Mouse said: “Thor’s journey isn’t revolutionary or radical, but it is clear, well told, affecting and immensely satisfying. You understand every step of his journey, you see the god learning to be a better man and you buy it. You believe it. It just works.”
Score: 86%
Mouse said:“It’s still an absolute thrill ride.”
Score: 90%
Mouse said: A complete departure from its predecessor in tone and style, Winter Soldier is a smart, superbly crafted and politically engaged thriller.”
#5: Civil War
Score: 93%
Mouse said: “This is how you do it folks. This right here is the best Avengers movie and it’s not even officially an Avengers movie. The plot honestly doesn’t make that much sense if you think about it but it hangs together remarkably well and it all builds to satisfying conclusion, stopping only to indulge in some of the best superhero action ever committed to film.”
Score: 94%
Mouse said: “Even divorced from its massive cultural and historical significance, Black Panther is a damn fine film. No journeyman work this, every aspect has clearly had so much love and care and thought put into it, everything from the costumes to the music to the world building. And at the centre of it all, rich compelling characters grappling with a weighty, emotionally fraught narrative. Awesome stuff.”
#3: Infinity War
Score 95%
Mouse said: “By far my favourite Avengers movie and one of the best entries in the MCU thus far and, bizarrely, that’s mostly down to Thanos, the element I was most expecting to tank the entire endeavour.”
Score: 96%
Mouse said: “I really enjoyed this movie when it first came out. But now I actually love it. I feel a deep connection to it, and I’m fully aware that that’s as much due to recent events as the fact that it is probably the best version of itself, about as good a version of this type of movie that it’s possible to be.”
#2 (Joint): Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Score: 96%
Mouse said: “This one’s special, folks. Visually breathtaking, funny as heck and fulla the feels.”
#1: Thor Ragnarok
Score: 97%
Mouse said: “Ragnarok might not have the emotional heft of Guardians 2 but it is a sumptuous, effortlessly cool, frickin’ hilarious joy from start to finish.”
unshavedmouse 