I was lucky enough to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier 2 weeks early, then again 1 week early. While gazing upon it's awesomeness I thought I'd share with you my favourite CBM's.
7. Man of Steel
First of all, this isn't a remake of Donner's Superman, this is a complete reboot/re-imagining of the story from the comics. Man of Steel looks great and has strong performances all around, it unfortunately falls flat due to a bit too much action, but it makes up for what Superman Returns lacked. Russel Crowe turns Jor-El into a bad-ass ass-kicker, and Henry Cavill gives us a portrayal of Superman that sounds a lot like Tim Daly's animated man in red and blue. Yes, the red pants are gone, but this is a Superman for a new generation, and finally hints at a wider DC cinematic universe. Zack Snyder has made the best Superman yet, lets hope for a sequel with... a little less destruction.
6. Iron Man
The first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was critically praised, mainly thanks to Robert Downey Jr's fantastic performance as Tony Stark. It's hard not to love Iron Man, at the time of release it was a refreshing take on the Super-hero genre and gave us one of the best post credits sequences ever made.
5. Iron Man 3
I can hear the anger already... "IRON MAN 3?!?! A FAVOURITE CBM?!?!?!". The reason I loved Iron Man 3 was because it drifted away from the worn out 'machine vs machine' concept seen in the last 2 movies. Iron Man 3 takes a bold move and gives us a Tony Stark movie, sending him back to the cave, before he had the suit and offering us T-1000 style villains. It is essentially an 80's buddy cop movie, which is heavily implied with that awesome 80's style end credits. They also had the balls to twist Iron Man's greatest foe around completely, intelligently linking it to familiar faces from recent years, such as Bin Laden. I love Iron Man 3 because it successfully kicked off Phase Two in a ballsy way, and delivered a satisfying conclusion to the Iron Man trilogy. Hopefully 'All Hail The King' as calmed some fans down a bit.
4. The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight is a dark and gritty crime thriller. The best superhero movie ever made? In my eyes, it is not, it is also hard to even call it a superhero movie due to its realism, but what it lacks in comic book fun it makes up for in solid story telling. Unfortunately for Bale, the film is mainly praied for Ledger's portrayal of Batman's most iconic foe, the infamous clown prince, and what a performance it is.
3. Batman Begins
Batman Begins is essentially Batman Year One. After the campiness of Schumacher's films it seemed the franchise was dead, but out of the mist appears Christopher Nolan, rebooting an all new Batman universe, which is perfectly dark and gritty, and with obvious influences from Frank Miller. Batman Begins is the perfect origin story, not only does it gives us a brilliant depiction of the The Dark Knight (with Bales voice noticably not as OTT compared to the last 2), it also gives us a stunning vision of Gotham, an almost futuristic look, yet completely corrupt, it is a unique image. Batman Begins proved that there was still life in the franchise.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
What’s always so nice about Marvel films is that every entry feels different and unique; the ‘Iron Man’ series is science based, with number three having the buddy-cop vibe, ‘Thor’ gives us Fantasy-adventure and ‘The First Avenger’ had a nostalgic Spielberg-adventure feel to it. However, the overall tone of ‘The Winter Soldier’ is a lot more serious. It is an edge-of-your-seat, breath-taking political spy thriller, meaning it is light on the humour, which is refreshing, but when they do provide the audience with a laugh it doesn’t feel forced.
Once the credits have rolled you get the sense that director’s Anthony and Joe Russo have completely changed the MCU, and you cannot argue with Marvel wanting them to return for the third entry. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ is the best Marvel movie yet. This is the Cap movie we’ve all been waiting for, impressively pulling off a number of characters which should not work, yet the Russo’s adapt in a believable way. It also happens to be one of the best action movies in a long time; exploring Captain America’s fighting capability and offering spectacular blockbuster special effects.
You can read my full review for Captain America: The Winter Soldier here: http://www.thecultden.com/2014/03/film-review-captain-america-winter.html?m=1
1. Avengers Assemble
Joss Whedon pulled off the impossible. Avengers shouldn't work, there are too many characters with limited screen time, yet it does. Whedon managed to rip the pages out of the comics and paste them on to the big screen, it feels as if you are watching one big comic, he's not afraid of the source material, he knows it is a comic book movie. Yes the film has it's flaws, but it is the first team-up superhero movie, and so far the biggest superhero movie ever made.... emphasis on the "so far".
If I could I would have the Avengers, The Winter Soldier and Batman Begins all in the number one spot as I love them all equally. I'd would also like to give honourable mentions to X-Men 2, SIn City and Watchmen.
Thanks for reading guys! And I hope I didn't annoy too many people with my choices. These are my own personal opinions and I respect the views of others and can see why you would dislike some of my choices.