More Marvel movies with my daughter:
Ant-Man was just as much fun as I remember. I love a good heist movie and, while there could have been more of that and less action oriented stuff, it still scratched that itch. Was genuinely funny and charming and my daughter loved it. Paul Rudd was the perfect casting and Michael Douglas killed it as Hank Pym too.
Captain America Civil War was great as an ensemble cast, big action flick, but it was a bit shit as a Captain America film. They really should have had the balls to make this an Avengers movie. Surprising amount of nuance in the way it deals with the themes of regulation of unlimited power. In that way it really is the sequel to Age of Ultron.
Doctor Strange is another in a long line of "origin" films that only really serves to introduce the mystic arts into the MCU and another Infinity Stone. Absolutely wasted Mads Mikkelsen as a villain. Surprisingly, this is my daughter's favourite so far.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was a meh follow up to a great first film. Some decent character development for the side characters and some fun action scenes, but the overall story was just...who really cares? It could have gone a little more into the theme of what actually makes someone a father.
Spider-Man Homecoming was just a teen flick dressed up in superhero clothing. Standard fare and was absolutely shit on from a great height by Into the Spiderverse. My daughter was bored and so was I.
Thor Ragnarok was as amazing as I remember. Taika Waititi really breathed new life into Thor, Hulk and the MCU with this. It's fun, genuinely funny, and really developed two of the most stagnant characters in the MCU. Great villain who was given some room to breathe and feel genuinely threatening and also featured a shot of the building I work in, which was fun to recognise. My daughter loved it too.
Black Panther was ok. I liked it much more the first time, but it's just a little predictable once the coolness of wakanda wears off. The second viewing really shows the ridiculousness of wakanda as a setting as well. A feudal kingdom full of technological marvels where the king can be overthrown in ritual combat? Ok. Killmonger was one of the few genuinely threatening villains though and it did feel like the superhero was under threat, unlike most of these films where the plot armour is impenetrable.
Avengers Infinity War was so much better than fucking Age of Ultron. The tension was right up there and even though I knew what was going to happen I was still expecting the heroes to win in the end. Thanos's motivations are still very much wtf? though. Paper thin and pointless and only explained by saying he's the "mad" Titan. Kind of hard to believe that an alien race capable of space travel couldn't stop itself from consuming and destroying its entire planet
Anyway, on to Ant Man and the Wasp next, which I remember fondly for a sequel. Also going to watch Captain Marvel for the first time ever.