Awards Time

End of Season Awards Ceremony

The reviews are now done, and it’s almost time to break up for the summer, but before that, it’s awards season. Coincidentally enough, this is also the 50^th post on this blog, so it’s fitting to do a retrospective at this point. It’s convenient how these things work out. Let’s look back at the various films, and see which ones go home with gold stars, and which ones have “Must try harder” written on their report cards…

Biggest “Holy Shit!” Moment:

Cut off one head, two more will take its place (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

It’s one thing to have a plot twist that casts everything in a story in an entirely different light. When the twist in question casts the series of an entire series in a different light, it’s even more impressive. The revelation that HYDRA had survived World War II and infiltrated SHIELD at the organization’s inception is a bombshell that turns the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe on its head. What a tweest! Bonus points for having Zola divulge this information in a monologue reminiscent of a cutscene from a climatic point of a Metal Gear Solid game, which adds to the coolness factor. Thinking about it, if Captain America was replaced with Solid Snake, HYDRA with the Patriots, and the three Helicarriers with Metal Gears, you’d have a perfect Metal Gear Solid film. Anyway, this revelation merits a reaction best conveyed via the medium of Jontron.

Nominees:

The Coming of Thanos (The Avengers)

The Toast of Croydon (Iron Man 3)

All Hail the Allfather and Enter the Collector (Thor: The Dark World)

The Rise of Apocalypse (X-Men: Days of Future Past)

Most Improved Sequel or Reboot

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The First Avenger was a solid if unspectacular effort. Winter Soldier, on the other hand, was in a whole different league, offering the quality entertainment we’ve come to expect from Marvel, but also substance that the other films lack. The film has ambitions to discuss themes of military involvement, tracking people’s behaviour and freedom of speech in addition to the superhero action. Iron Man 3 started exploration of topical themes, and Winter Soldier successfully builds on the groundwork that film established.

On another note, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer had a good shot at this title… at least until the whole enterprise falls apart in the final 20 minutes once GalaCloud shows up.

Nominees:

Spider-Man 2

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

The Incredible Hulk

X-Men: First Class

Most Pleasant Surprise

Thor

I expected to like Thor. I did not expect to like the film as much I did. That Marvel were able to move from their previous scientifically based films to one that is very different in tone and concept without dropping the ball was the first sign that we were onto something quite ambitious in my opinion. The film’s success and it’s strong portrayals of Thor, Loki and the relationship between them helped catapult the two onto the superhero A tier where the general public are aware of them through pop-cultural osmosis, which is a status the Marvel incarnations hadn’t enjoyed before.

Nominees:

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

The Incredible Hulk

The Amazing Spider-Man

Big Hero 6

Biggest Disappointment

Hulk

There were some films that I expected to have my opinions of them changed after seeing them again from another perspective. As I said in the initial review, Hulk was the film I most expected and wanted this to happen to, so it was a shame to discover that 10-year-old me’s memory of the film as dull and po-faced was bang on the money.

Nominees:

Blade Trinity

Spider-Man 3

Iron Man 2

Thor: The Dark World

Best Main Villain

Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2)

 

One thing that the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films did well was give the villains some aspect of their characters that reflected on Peter in some way, and Doc Ock arguably did it best, with the two admiring each other as scientists and their reactions to inadvertently acusing the death of a loved one.. His tentacles in the film also look really cool, and he provides the biggest challenge this version of Spidey faced.

Nominees:

Magneto (X-Men series)

Kingpin (Daredevil)

Loki (Thor series, The Avengers)

Yokai (Big Hero 6)

Best Side Villain

Winter Soldier (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

It may be weird calling Winter Soldier a side villain, considering that his name is in the title of the film, and the emotional conflict revolves around his identity, but I decided to count him because he’s working for the puppet master behind the film’s plot. With that out of the way, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is often criticised for having lacklustre villains aside from Loki. Winter Soldier finally changed that, as he exuded menace whenever he was on screen, and the dread of him hung over the film to make it very tense.

Nominees:

Quentin (Blade)

Bullseye (Daredevil)

Mephisto (Ghost Rider)

Paul Giamatti’s Russian Accent (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)

Worst Villain

Cloud – I mean, Galactus (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

 

Why are the Fantastic Four fighting Cloud? He’s a good guy! I can only assume that the film-makers never even played Final Fantasy VII because the film also has the four working with Norman Osborn Doom despite him being the head of Shinra’s Manhattan branch. Maybe Anti-Social Blogger Doom in the reboot is Sephiroth in disguise?

In all seriousness, Galactus in this film was very disappointing. I assume they were going for a force of nature interpretation, but a cloud is not intimidating or frightening at all, and the climax ends up being woefully anti-climactic because of that, spoiling what had been a surprisingly improved sequel up to that point.

Nominees:

Drakeula (Blade: Trinity)

Norman Osborn Doom (Fantastic Four series)

Venom (Spider-Man 3)

Malekith (Thor: The Dark World)

Best Supporting Character

J Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man series)

Whenever J Jonah Jameson is on screen in any of the three Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, he steals the scene, guaranteed. His portrayal here has become the definitive portrayal, to the point that there is significant demand for J K Simmons to reprise the role if the character appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as opposed to recasting. Even The Amazing Spider-Man knew better than to recast, with his e-mail cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 being one of the best things in the film.

Nominees:

Agent Coulson (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Microchip (Punisher: War Zone) (Wayne Knight for the win!)

Sif and the Warriors Three (Thor series)

Quicksilver (X-Men: Days of Future Past)

Best Opening Sequence

The Concentration Camp (X-Men)

This scene had the unenvious task of having to set the tone for the franchise to come, and it excelled to the point that superhero films were redeemed in the public eye despite having been considered a joke only a few years prior. The scene establishes the hatred Magneto feels from his youth for ordinary humans, and makes him a character whose motives are explained, but not justified. You can see where he’s coming from, even if he is in the wrong. The expanded version of this scene from X-Men: First Class didn’t work quite as well because it tried to expand on something that didn’t need to be expanded on and was fine already. An obvious choice it may be, but a deserving one nonetheless.

Nominees:

The vampire rave (Blade)

NIghtcrawler in the White House (X-Men 2)

Wolverine’s war montage (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) (Come to think of it, the X-Men films are pretty good in general with the opening sequences.)

Loki gets the Tesseract (The Avenger)

Best Stan Lee Cameo

 The Inspirational Bystander (Spider-Man 3)

There were many problems with Spider-Man 3, but Stan Lee’s cameo was not one of them. Most of his cameos either have him chasing tail or befalling some comical fate, but this one goes for a more heartwarming take, unknowingly sticking by Peter Parker when his friedns have turned on him. Having said that, if his planned cameo in the Collector’s collection in Guardians of the Galaxy hadn’t been cut, that could well have won.

Nominees:

Not invited (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

I hope his truck’s insured (Thor)

Superheroes in New York? (The Avengers)

Oblivious librarian (The Amazing Spider-Man)

Favourite Hero

Captain America

Sure, Iron Man, Thor and the rest are cool, but my favourite of the heroes from all the films covered is Captain America. This is because of what he represents as a character. He is the emotional core of the Avengers, he commands respect for him in others, and he is a symbol of inspiration and hope. That last one was even made into a plot point in The First Avenger, in which he was a propaganda mascot created to aid the US war effort during World War II. Cap’s status as a leader is part of why my anticipation for Civil War is so high.

Nominees:

Professor Xavier (X-Men series)

Iron Man

Thor

Baymax (Big Hero 6)