Avengers: Age of Ultron

I love superhero movies. They're fun, unrealistic, and exciting. And even though you have to suspend disbelief with a lot of what occurs in superhero movies, there is a lot in said movies that is relatable. The characters, the politics, the idea of right and wrong. It's those aspects that make the movies so enjoyable even though aliens and superpowers aren't real. And if Avengers: Age of Ultron was anything, it was enjoyable.

Marvel does sequels very well. In my opinion, both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, while good movies, were weak. Their sequels, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, were much stronger movies and a great deal better. I think part of the reason is the first movies were introducing the characters so we had no attachment to them yet, while in the sequels we already knew the characters and loved them. However, The Avengers was strong from the beginning because we knew the characters from their individual movies. Now we get to see them interact with each other. All that being said, Age of Ultron was just as good as the first Avengers, if not better.

A little recap for those who may not know what the movie is about. And there will be spoilers. The movie begins with the Avengers attacking a base where they believe Loki's scepter is. The first scene is awesome. I love the action right off the bat, although I did wonder how they all came to be together from where we last left them individually. They retrieve the scepter and Tony realizes he can use it to create artificial intelligence. He and Bruce work on the "Ultron" program (science bros, which is totally awesome and adorable). They think it's not working but it accidentally does and Ultron "wakes" up with a twisted sense of peace. He believes the Avengers must be destroyed because they are not peaceful (he's not entirely wrong but it begs the question of good and evil). Ultron builds a robot army and they all share a single consciousness so you can't kill one body and kill Ultron. Ultron also tries to create a new body for himself, but the Avengers steal it and attempt to put J.A.R.V.I.S. consciousness inside the body. They succeed thanks to Thor, who realized that Loki's scepter held one of the Infinity stones and it was being used to create the body. The Vision, as they name him, says he is on the side of life and agrees to help them defeat Ultron. Obviously, they manage to and save the world.

Now, I left out several major details in that summary because I want to fully discuss a few things. First, I have a really girly moment that I need to get out of the way. Although I love these movies for many reasons, I will admit that the attractive men do help. And goodness, the biceps and Thor's hair. I love it. Moving on, I continue to love the chemistry of the team. They play off each other so well and I adore it. Part of it is Joss Whedon's writing and brilliance, but it's also the actors and how well they interact with each other. For example, the after party in the beginning. You probably saw parts of it in the advertising, where they all try to lift Thor's hammer. The way they tease and goad each other is great. I loved Thor's face when Steve tried to lift the hammer, because he was able to move it just a little. Thor lost his cockiness for a second there. Speaking of lifting the hammer, the laughing that went on when the Vision was able to lift the hammer. If the Avengers needed a sign that the Vision wasn't a threat, that is certainly a good one.

As for the other new characters, I love Scarlet Witch/Wanda and Quicksilver/Pietro. The twins are great. And they did a good job changing their backstory to allow them to be in the movie. As mutants, Marvel and Disney do not "own" Wanda and Pietro, but they are still a part of the Avengers. So the storyline was just twisted to give them powers and allow them to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really like Wanda. She may be one of my new favorites. And I loved how Clint didn't even give her a chance to mess with his head. He was not about to deal with more mind control. As for the visions Wanda creates, Natasha's may have been my favorite. I was very excited to see more of her backstory as she is such a mystery. It was very intense but I really enjoyed seeing a glimpse into her past.

One of the biggest surprises was learning about Clint's family. Yeah, he's married with two kids and a third on the way. Didn't see that coming. Age of Ultron really gave us a chance to learn more about Clint and see who he is. Plus, in the middle of the battle he is giving Wanda a pep talk and basically tells her "None of this makes sense. We're fighting robots and I have a bow." Regardless, Clint rocks and he's certainly a very sassy character, which is wonderful. The other major surprise dealt with Clint as well. Whedon definitely set the movie up to make you believe that Clint was going to die somewhere in the movie. Instead, Pietro dies while saving Clint. It was very upsetting and Wanda was certainly not happy about it. It should be interesting to see how she continues to handle his death (if he stays dead because it's Marvel). As for other dead people, Fury made an appearance but not Coulson, and I really want to know if the Avengers know he's alive.

Last couple things. I continue to find the new version of "I've Got No Strings" very creepy but I kind of like it. As for the ending, Tony, Clint, Thor, and Bruce have gone their own ways. Steve and Natasha are helping create the new Avengers, which is an exciting prospect. You see them enter a training area, where The Vision, Wanda, War Machine, and The Falcon are waiting for them. I'm interested to see where it's going to lead. We know Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok are both coming, which are certainly going to shake things up. And Infinity War is not going to be a picnic. Which reminds me, Thor mentions before he leaves that four of the Infinity stones have been found. Two more are needed for the Infinity gauntlet. In case you, like me, couldn't remember all the Infinity stones found, they are Loki's scepter/Vision's headpiece, the Orb from Guardian's of the Galaxy, the Tesseract, and the Aether.

I can already say that Age of Ultron is going to be one of my favorite movies this year. It was funny, action-packed, and pulled on your heartstrings just enough to make a truly good movie. I definitely recommend seeing it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Big Hero 6

Marvel has taken over the movie industry in the last few years, starting with the successful Iron Man in 2008 and all the way through to this year's Guardians of the Galaxy. From movies about single superheroes to movies with teams, Marvel has created a series of highly successful movies that are both fun and endearing. And now that they are a part of Disney, they have moved into a new format: animation. Big Hero 6 is the newest Marvel movie and the first that has been animated. And it has done exceptionally well. It's adorable and fun and just a great movie.

Big Hero 6 takes place in the imaginary city of San Fransokyo. It's about a 14 year old genius, four of his friends, and a personal healthcare robot. Like all Disney and Marvel movies, it starts off on a serious note. Hiro and Tadashi are orphans who live with their aunt, and then Tadashi is killed in a fire. Hiro and Baymax, his brother's robotics project, discover that Hiro's application project to the university was stolen and Hiro suspects that the fire that killed his brother was intentionally started to steal the microbots. Hiro turns himself, his friends, and Baymax into superheroes in order to stop the villain.

The last movie I saw that was as funny as Big Hero 6 would be Guardians of the Galaxy. And that was a Marvel movie as well. Clearly Marvel has their stuff together right now. What's great about Big Hero 6 is that it combines all the parts of other successful superheroes movies into a movie that's even more for children but is just as good. You still have the underdog hero and the unknown villain. You have the idea of revenge, of wanting to stop the villain more for what he's done to you personally than because he's bad. And you have the perfect balance of funny and sad. As Joss Whedon says "Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke." Big Hero 6 is all those things and more. With animated movies, there is already the perception that they're made for children. Sure, adults enjoy them but the success of Disney has made animated movies seem childlike. The previous Marvel movies have been wonderful but can seem too old for kids. Animating Big Hero 6 was the perfect decision to make it more "appropriate" for children but from a franchise that adults love just as much. And if anyone could pull off an animated Marvel movie, it is Disney.

It was hilarious and heartwarming. Watching Baymax try to move around and his repeated "On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" along with his giant marshmallow appearance is adorable. He is the cutest robot ever and I'm pretty sure thousands of children want their own Baymax now. Baymax is the heart of the movie and he's perfect. I just love everything about the movie. From Hiro and his friends to Baymax to Hiro's aunt. The sequence when Hiro and his friends are all learning to use their suits was great and very realistic. I think many of us would have the same difficulties at first. And of course, we can't forget the other robot in the movie, Hiro's bot for the bot fights. I love the big grin and then the very angry face as the little robot attacks you. Never underestimate those "smaller and weaker" than you. It never ends in your favor. Of course, I think one of people's favorite things was the fist bump that Hiro taught to Baymax.

If you didn't get the chance to see Big Hero 6 in theaters then you definitely missed out. It's a very adorable movie and a wonderful addition to the Marvel family. Plus, Stan Lee's appearance may just be his best one yet.

Guardians of the Galaxy

SPOILERS! Part of the reason I like The Avengers so much is that it's about a group of people who struggle to get along because they're constantly butting heads and arguing, yet they have to get along in order to save Earth. It's such a ragtag team of superheroes, several of whom think they should be the ones in charge or know more than everyone else, and yet it works. The chemistry between the characters is wonderful, and the movie is the perfect combination of funny and dark. My other favorite Marvel movie is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only was it better than its predecessor, it was just a fun movie. The cast was great, the dialogue was good, and the plot was spectacular. It was fun, it was dark, and it was amazing. Now, what does all of this have to do with Guardians of the Galaxy?

Well, you've probably heard people and critics say that Guardians is the best Marvel movie yet. I can honestly say that they're not wrong. Even my sister, who loves Marvel but wasn't that concerned about seeing Guardians in theatres, said that it is probably now her favourite Marvel movie. It's seriously that good. It's funny and dark and absolutely ridiculous and two of the main characters aren't even real, but it works. It works so well that at San Diego Comic Con they announced the release date for the sequel. And this from a movie that looked like it had the potential to be as completely ridiculous as Galaxy Quest. I also think it was brilliant to release it at the end of the summer. I know part of the reasoning was they were unsure how the movie would go over, but I think it's good to end with such a strong movie to usher the summer out. They start with blockbusters so why not end with one?

Let me start by saying that the cast was brilliant. The five main characters were perfect and even though one of the characters was a talking raccoon and one was a walking, talking tree, you had no problem believing they were all real. The animation for Groot and Rocket was great and they ended up being huge fan favorites. Drax was hilarious due to his inability to grasp sarcasm and metaphors. Gamora was awesome and further proof that Zoe Saldana is seriously badass. And for someone who hadn't really been a main character yet, Chris Pratt did a wonderful job as Peter Quill/Star-Lord. He was funny, he was a smartass, and he was relatable. And even though the 5 characters start the movie fighting each other, they were able to come together eventually.

As for the bad guys, you didn't really see them a lot in the trailers so you weren't sure what to expect in the movie. I loved Ronan's contacts and thought that he was a good villain, although he wasn't the real villain as he was working for someone else. I didn't expect to see Thanos in Guardians; our first glimpse of him was at the end of The Avengers and he was definitely a surprise in Guardians. And I loved Nebula. You could hear how they'd changed Karen Gillan's voice to be a little metallic but I didn't expect that to mean that her entire character was metallic and malleable. And the Collector was as creepy as always. I don't trust him and I knew that his appearance in this movie would not be a good thing.

Visually the movie was amazing as well. As I mentioned, Groot and Rocket were both incredible. So were the rest of the characters who were different colors and such. I loved the bright colors of some of the characters' skin, from Gamora's bright green and Nebula's blue to the bright pink of others. It's a cool and simple way to set humanoid aliens apart. And speaking of aliens, I loved how much of the galaxy we got to see. In Thor: The Dark World we got to see a little more but it was still centered around Earth and Asgard. And honestly, Guardians had almost no reference to the previous Marvel movies so it was almost possible to forget that it took place in the same universe. I also liked the whistle-guided arrow thing that Yondu had and thought it was cool how quickly he could trigger it. One of my favorite visual effects was the ship-net that the Xandarian's created to try to stop Ronan. It was really cool how their ships interlocked and formed a barrier, although I feared it would only work for so long and I was right. And Ronan's ship was pretty impressive and much larger than the Xandarian fleet so it clearly wasn't going to end well.

But my favorite part of the movie was the soundtrack. I'm being completely serious when I say that I'm going to buy the soundtrack. It was awesome. It's full of classic songs that are just fun and perfect for dancing. Other than Rocket and Groot, it was the highlight of the movie. Plus, the first time we see Chris Pratt as Peter he puts his headphones in and starts dancing around, and it's when he strikes a pose that the title of the movie comes up. The music was just perfectly incorporated into the movie. Heck, they used it at the end as a way to distract Ronan. The music helps make the movie and the movie is incredible.