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So in preparation for Infinity War I have been doing a MCU rewatch. I just finished (most of) phase one, it's been a few years and it was interesting to see the origins of everything. Iron Man - This film holds up. Though it's strange the things you forget. Like Rhodey is played by Terence Howard who kind of sucks. Or things like, after Tony, Pepper, Obidiah, and Rhodey, one of the secondary characters with the most amount of screen time is a reporter from Variety Fair. Watching it now, I don't think it's as compelling as a Black Panther or Spider-Man Homecoming but is still an impressive first entry right out the gates. The Incredible Hulk - Gotta be honest, I couldn't bring myself to watch this one. Doesn't really connect with the other films due to Ed Norton getting recast and Marvel kind of sweeping this one under the rug. IIRC Tony Stark shows up in the post-credits scene but it looks like he's recruiting Thunderbolt Ross which still doesn't make sense. Iron Man 2 - This film does not hold up. The bad stuff is somehow worse than I remember. Tony competing in Nascar (or whatever it was) felt too showy. Rhodey and Tony fighting to "It Takes Two" is just pure cringe. Justin Hammer is annoying. Mickey Rourke is really bad. It feels like a film where they took the wrong lessons from IM1 and cranked the parts up that didn't need to be cranked, instead of relying on cool robot suits and RDJ's natural charisma. This was a weird era for Marvel. Lately they've been on such a kick with hiring the perfect writers/directors for their projects, Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, Russo Bros, you forget that while this movie was directed by Jon Favreau who obviously did good with IM1, it was written by the fucking dad-cop from The Leftovers. What? Literally his only writing credit previously was Tropic Thunder. No proper screenwriters wanted a crack at an Iron Man movie? It's too bad it's such a wreck of a film since it's the only movie of phase one that feels like it's part of a shared universe (besides obviously The Avengers). Black Widow is great. Nick Fury is great. Coulson ties into Thor really well. You even have young Peter Parker, allegedly. Thor - There's definitely times where you can feel the elements Taika Watiti lifted for Ragnarok, and then there's other times where the film just takes itself too fucking serious. Never let Gilderoy Lockheart direct a movie... Seriously, why are 90% of the shots in this film dutch tilts? There's no reason for it!!! It's hard to watch and distracts from great performances from Hemsworth and Hiddleston. Captain America: The First Avenger - Wouldn't Thor technically be the first Avenger since he was born in the 900s? Anyways, this film is the weakest of the Captain America films but it's fun. It does drag on a lot with Cap going on tour before getting to Europe. I can't help but feel like if Cap got to WW2 a little faster we could have more time with Bucky which would make his death more impactful. And probably make the Winter Soldier stuff in the later movies more impactful. For the most part the technique they used to make Chris Evans look smaller in the opening act still looks great. Over all this film holds up as much as it can. The Avengers - This film holds up. While the movie itself isn't necessarily the GOAT it does have spectacularly great moments. None you won't remember, like "I'm always angry *Hulk transformation*" and stuff like that, but they're still great now. It's a movie with a lot of heart and charisma that I'm now very curious if Age of Ultron has as well. One thing I didn't notice at the time that now sticks out like a sore thumb is how much the second act slows. First act moves at a great pace, Loki steals the cube, all the Avengers are recruited, Loki turns up in Germany, Cap and Iron Man team up to arrest him, Thor shows up and they duke it out a bit. But as soon as they all get on the Hellicarrier the film grinds to a halt. It's basically 45 minutes of people talking to each other until Hawkeye shows up. That's not necessarily bad but I can't help but feel they could have mixed it up a bit. Onwards to ...ugh.. Iron Man 3 and Thor 2.

Oh man that person on the side who is touching the screen of the Switch is pure evil.

If we're getting '90s Coulson this seems like the best opportunity to bring in Melinda May.

Spirited Away So my wife, when we were just dating, really wanted me to watch this movie with her, probably back in 2009 or 2010. I had agreed but on a night I knew I was really tired and would fall asleep (gentlemen, this might seem like a brilliant move but it actually really pisses her off, I can't recommend it. I also did this with Trainspotting, one of her favourite films and she's still pissed about that). Fast forward to 2018, it comes up in conversation and we end up watching it on Saturday. I have to say it actually wasn't that bad at all. It reminded me of what a Disney film would look like from Japan, minus musicals, and princesses. But it was beautifully animated (despite the fact that they clearly based their composition for 4x3 screens, so not a lot was going on in the far left and the right and as soon as I realized it, it annoyed me because shots would all be very centre heavy and not follow the rules of third BUT I digress). It was made by a company called Studio Ghibli who I guess helped out on the first Ni No Kuni, not sure why they aren't involved with Ni No Kuni 2. I have to recommend it if you want a family friendly film.

Portlandia finished tonight (at least in Canada, I think it airs a few days earlier in the US??). I'm glad they got The Mayor in such a big role for the last episode and his ending was great. Some episodes aren't as strong as other but over 8 seasons I think it might go down as one of my favourite sketch comedy shows.

This arrived today: Funnily enough I'm going to Montana this summer, Missoula which they talk about in the opening and doesn't sound far from here. Hopefully I don't run into any Christian extremists. I played the opening and liberated the first area, feels a lot like Far Cry, without crafting. I got real into Far Cry 4 and Primal (I believe I platinumed both) and I could feel this one starting to sink it's teeth into me, but I'll probably put it on the backburner for now until I get through Ni No Kuni 2. 2018 is the year of TCP playing games again. Last year I basically 100% Zelda twice until Mario Odyssey came out, the year before that I just played Pokemon. Nice to be back with console games again!

I can't believe Rise of the Tombraider came out 20 years ago!

Fringe is a great series! I also love this scene, it's clearly filmed in Science World, I use to go there all the time when I was little. Never got to meet a mad fringe scientist though

Got a 20% off code on PSN. I've been itching for another RPG since I beat Persona 5 earlier this week.

This is my favourite post ever.

Dragon Quest Builders You know, I was expecting a Minecraft clone. It definitely looks like Minecraft, but it plays a lot more like a 3D Terraria, with an emphasis on base building and (slightly) less on mining. I'm a sucker for building games in general and this one's pretty great. It's also a great fit on Switch, play it while listening to a podcast, or play it in bed before sleep. Looks and performs great on in the dock as well. I think there's a lot of room for minor improvement with a sequel, and everything I've seen (flying, swimming, co-op) looks great, hopefully it comes west this year.

PERSONA 5 (mild spoilers ahead) Man. I loved this game. It was frustrating at times, with it's handholding, but overall I loved it. I guess what I'm trying to say is.... GAME OF THE YEAR!!! ...if it had been released this year (well and if Red Dead gets delayed). Because while it's great it's nowhere near as great as Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey. As much as I grew to love all the characters (Ann is my waifu) and the story genuinely had a few good twists, it also had horrible sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. I know there's a bit with Zelda where you could argue there's some homophobia/transphobia, but that was one instance and this was a problem throughout the entire game. I kind of wish there was a way to continue relationships past level 10 if you choose to romance. I ended up dating 6 women, Ann, Makoto (how didn't they figure it out, we're in the same friend group!!), the shogi player, the doctor, the teacher, and the journalist. But as soon as we ended up in a relationship, except for the maid, that was the last time I ever really spent time with any of them (except for three instances with Ann). It would be more interesting, if you choose to enter a relationship, if it basically starts over your levelling, keep the perks, but give it a new levels to grow. Sucks that the canon sequel to this will be a dancing game. I look forward to an enhanced port of this on a handheld (Switch?? since Sony doesn't do portables anymore) in the next few years. So many cool instances I wanted to screenshot, what the hell Atlus?? 128 hours well spent.

I can see the marketing executives "What if Led Zeppelin was less talented and also millennials?". At least Jack White used Led Zeppelin as an influence and created his own sound.

Sorry, I meant more binge than marathon. Watch all films over the course of two weeks or something like that. But without Black Panther, what's the point?? EDIT: oh look

I wanted to marathon all the Marvel films before Infinity War but then it dawned on me Black Panther won't be on blu-ray/VOD before Infinity War. Cool your roll, Marvel!! Updated, moved around some of the mid-tier Marvel films that I was once hot on and now am less hot: 10/10 tier: Guardians of the Galaxy Captain America: The Winter Soldier Captain America: Civil War The Avengers 9/10 tier: Spider-Man: Homecoming Thor: Ragnarok Black Panther 8/10 tier: The Avengers: Age of Ultron Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Iron Man Doctor Strange Ant-Man 7/10 tier: Thor Captain America: The First Avenger 6/10 tier: The Incredible Hulk Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 3 Bad tier: Iron Man 2

Oh shit really? I assumed we were getting it on the Flix right away

Black Panther That's how you do a super hero film. A lot of hype going into this film but I think it was deserved. This was the 4th Marvel film in the past 12 months but I think it might have been my favourite. Now, onto Infinity War!

Have you seen Suicide Squad?

Justice League Hey it was ok! I didn't laugh at it like I did with "SAVE MARTHA!". Some parts were actually enjoyable!! Yeah some parts were "meh", other parts rushed, and then it just sort of ends unceremoniously. But it could have been a lot worse. I even laughed at some jokes. I find Batfleck to actually be pretty good, too bad we'll never seem him again. Man, what a mess.

@TheMightyEthan plz explain what you meant!!

He is. That's what I meant.

I was rolling my eyes after that unnecessarily long Splatoon DLC trailer, and now some more Splatoon garbage? (Nintendo, seriously, you're going to make me hate Splatoon). But it was redeemed by showing BotW Link.

I'm so sorry Atom She left knowing she had a family who loved her.

"Of the three Marvel films to come out this year, it's at least the third best" - Ethan's hot take