Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 65

So, in preparation for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force...

So, in preparation for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie releasing soon, I went back and finished watching my 6 disc set of Star Wars Blu-Rays. I’d started watching them way back at the start of school, but I’d fallen away from them. I went from 1-4 (using Lucas’ numbering scheme), but needed to finish 5-6 (The Empire Strikes Back & The Return of the Jedi) for the uninitiated. Over the past two weeks, I finished these two movies and they rekindled my love for all things Star Wars and Science Fiction and Fantasy in general.

Child of Star Wars

I saw The Empire Strikes Back (ESB) first when I was a child. Heresy, I know, but when Star Wars came out, I was only 4 years old and my parents didn’t think that I would like it. As a matter of fact, we weren’t much of a movie going family per se. That changed in the early 1980s, when my preference for all things Sci-Fi & Fantasy began to emerge. My mother and stepfather took me to see ESB and I was immediately hooked. So much so, that they took be to the bargain theater the next weekend to see SW and the X-Wing trench run had me talking about it that entire summer.

When I was a kid, my grandparents used to subscribe to an oversized magazine called Life and in it, there was an extended interview with George Lucas. It talked about his early life, his car accident that nearly cost him his life, the movie American Graffiti and his making of Star Wars. I remember devouring that article.

In one interview, not sure if it was the one I mentioned above, Lucas mentioned that he kept the subtitles in his movie because he wanted to inspire kids to read. He wanted them to be so fascinated by the visuals that they would want to learn to read the text to figure out what they were missing in the scene. Or so was the gist of what I remember from the interview. I already was reading and reading well, but what Lucas’ movies did for me was show me that there was a niche of media available to me that focused on the futuristic and the fantastical. I began to search out those avenues wherever I could find them–in the library, on TV, in games (the Atari 2600 & Commodore 64 were my console and “PC” respectively).

Lucas took, for me, what was simply a preference and turned it into a passion. I can (& will) read non-genre works, but given the choice between a contemporary work or a genre work, I’ll almost always choose the genre (Sci-Fi/Fantasy) work.

Creating Science Fiction and Fantasy

Like many creators, I want to create my own works because (except for a few exceptions) people don’t seem to be writing the kind of things that I want to read/watch anymore.

I recently tried to read a fantasy work by an author whose cover art and cover blurb looked promising. When I started it, however, the F-Bomb was littered all through it. It completely turned me off–there’s no way that a “fantasy” milieu would use a vulgarity like the F-word in the same way and context that we would in today’s society, but that’s exactly what happened in the story. It was as anachronistic as playing the song “We Will Rock You” at a joust. At least the movie A Knight’s Tale used that ironically, but the author didn’t seem to even know how anachronistic his use of the word was. Its always dangerous trying to pretend to know the mind of an author, but it was almost like he thought, “Hey, this is how my friends and I all talk to each other, so sure, its okay that my characters in my fantasy novel talk this way too.” Um, no, it’s not okay. Even in Sci-Fi, if you’re going to use vulgarities, you need to take into account how the language might have shifted over time in your universe. Just shoving a contemporary vulgarity into your story because we (as a culture) use it now is, in a word, lazy. I loved Stephen King’s Dark Tower series for a while, but the vulgarities (among other things) eventually drove me away. King thinks we Americans talk like that, but in reality, we don’t (or at least we don’t in contexts that King writes about). In public spaces, we tend to moderate our vulgarities. It is only in small groups or online where anonymity reigns do most of us seem to cut loose.

Another area that I’ve talked about is the rise of the “Anti-Hero” in Fantasy. I stopped reading much of the Sci-Fi written in the 90’s because there was an “anti-Star Wars” reaction where everything had to be dark and gritty. The same movement is happening in Fantasy at the moment (the rise of Game of Thrones is evidence of this phenomenon). I’m beginning to read more Science Fiction now because it is more in-line with my own tastes due to the resurgence of military Sci-Fi at the moment.

I’m hopeful that the Force Awakens heralds a resurgence of the type of Fantasy and Sci-Fi that I personally like. Perhaps then, my stories will be able to find an audience and I’ll be able to read/watch more of the media in the genre that I love. I suppose only time will tell.

Creativity–Sleep and the Writer

So, this is only my 2nd blog post of a very long month because I haven’t really been creative.  I’ve been stressed, sleep-deprived, challenged, and many other things during this month that are the stuff of nightmares.  Thanksgiving Break was MUCH needed.

I have a clipping from the Times-Freepress (my local newspaper) that talks about creativity and how important sleep is to the equation.  Supposedly, the periodic table came to its inventor in a dream as to did the riff for the song “I Can’t Get (No) Satisfaction.”  In that article, it talks about how the memories consolidate in the brain and allow the brain to make connections that would otherwise be impossible without (enough) sleep.

This month my sleep patterns have changed.  I find myself going to bed extra early sometimes before 8:30 pm and waking up extra early (often as early as 3:30am -4:00 am).  I’ve found that my creativity (for creative writing) was completely lost during this month.  I tried to work on a short-story, but it has not “slotted in” for me.  I have, however, managed to work on the applications for graduate school, but I haven’t really done much of anything else.

The Star Wars Equation

So, I also haven’t really been watching any movies or anything that I would normally do.  I have a pretty sizable bluray collection and I regularly watch a movie at least once a week, but this month I didn’t really do that.  For the first time this month, I grabbed a movie off the shelf (The Empire Strikes Back) and watched it.

Sleep, plus the movie, really made the difference.  I wrote down an idea for a short-story that’s been in my head for a long while and while it may not be the next thing I write, I do know that I WILL write this story (even for no other reason than to get it out of my head and on to paper).

It is like the dam has been broken and I now the ideas feel like they are able to flow freely.  I think the next thing I will write will be a short story, but I think I need to try and spread my wings and attempt longer works.  I also need to be more conscious about my sleep choices, especially on weekends.  The extra rest that I was able to get really helped me get back my creativity.

I will make sure to watch Return of the Jedi next week and probably the original Star Wars the week after (& of course the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens the following week after that).  If there is anything that can spur creativity for me, it is the Star Wars movies.  After all, I am a “child of Star Wars” (my most favorite trilogy of movies of all time).

 

 

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Concepts

CONCEPT CARS

Check out this fabulous Audi 2016 concept car.  I happened across a Wall Street Journal video on their app on Apple TV covering the 2016 Japanese car show and they showcased quite a few concept cars.

I started thinking about the idea of concept cars and how car makers use them as a “test bed” to test out various ideas and technologies.  I wondered why I, as a writer, couldn’t try something similar.  I have multiple ideas for projects in various different genres–short stories, novels, graphic novels, and screenplays.  However, the only thing that I’ve put together consistently are short-stories.

CONCEPT WRITING

I have notebooks full of ideas (what writer doesn’t, after all?), but they are all still just ideas.  I’m not really happy with not writing even though I know that the GRE and applying for Graduate programs are important, but I feel like I just figured out how to tell a great story with “Here Be Monsters,” and I don’t want to lose what I’ve learned.

I’m going to see if I can’t take half an hour (about all the time I can really spare these days :( )and try to generate as many “Concepts” as I can each day–probably only 1 per day if I’m realistic.  This way I’m still writing and creating, even if I’m not formally working on a draft, and if one of them really strikes me, I can work on a rough draft while prepping for the GRE and Grad school admissions.

ANNE MCCAFFREY

Now this idea isn’t really novel or unique.  I feel that I must give a shoutout to the late Anne McCaffrey as this idea is really just an extension of her “Tunings” that she Melony explain in her Harper Hall Trilogy.  What?  Haven’t read this trilogy by Anne McCaffrey?  Run, don’t walk, to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the library and find this trilogy.  I put it far above the depressing stuff that passes for fantasy these days (yes, Song of Fire & Ice, I’m looking disapprovingly at you when I say this).  Anyway, my “Concepts” are a lot like Melony’s “Tunings,” just little practice pieces that will allow me to get a handle on themes, characters, settings, plots, and emotions that I want to display in the piece.  Possible epigraphs, snatches of dialogue, potential scenes, and hinted resolutions should find their way into these “Concepts,” so that when it is time to start writing again, I (hopefully) won’t have to relearn all the lessons that I learned from HBM all over again. :)

Potpourri ( . . . a little bit of everything)

So this blog post contains a little bit everything (hence the title).  I will try to keep this post shorter than normal; it (hopefully) will be just an update post.

WRITING

I was really happy with the way “Here Be Monsters” (HBM) turned out.  I haven’t heard a response from the 1st market that I sent it to yet, but having the setting allowed me to focus on the characters in a way that I haven’t been able to since “Dragonhawk” (DH).  I actually like HBM a quite a bit more than DH although they have a lot in common.

READING

Finished “Conquistadors” (finally) after struggling to read it all summer and fall.  I shouldn’t complain because it gave be the initial idea and setting for HBM.  I loved learning about the Conquistadors and the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca.  It’s just that I’m so stressed from teaching that it is hard to pay attention to an in-depth non-fiction work. For the past couple of years, I usually read Fantasy (David Eddings, Brandon Sanderson, and Diane Duane) or Science Fiction (David Weber, Elizabeth Moon) in order to “de-stress.”

Picked a new “history” book from the back of the Conquistadors.  It is the Condottieri. Hopefully, lightning will strike twice and I’ll be able to find an awesome story from this time period.  I just ordered a used copy from Amazon.com today.

REVISION

I plan on revising Rocketman for my next project.  It will follow the same 3 act structure (beginning, middle, end) as HBM, but I think I need a short half a page prologue/epilogue to completely get it where I want it.  I think I’ve settled on an epigraph to highlight the theme.  More on this later.

SCHOOL

I really want to see if I can raise my game and go back to school.  I’d like to perhaps teach in Higher Education and for that I’ll need a PhD.  I’m going to apply to PhD programs this year in hopes that I will be accepted.  Much of my “free” time will be spent studying for the GRE and preparing applications for various schools, so my writing output will be reduced temporarily as I try to accomplish this goal.

NEW STORY

The creative process will not wait, however.  I’ve begun to write down ideas for my next story.  I don’t have a title yet (although I have a tentative grasp of some of the characters and some of the plot.)  All I can say at this point is the inspiration that inspired me to start planning out the story.  One was a dream that I had last night with a gunslinger.  The other was a phrase that I wrote down about a month ago while still working on HBM: “Jedi Gunslingers.”  More on this later!

That’s all I have at the moment!

Author’s Note: Here Be Monsters

I finished a new short story!  It is entitled “Here Be Monsters.”  I tried several new things with this story, so I wanted to do an in-depth Author’s Note about the story to detail some of the things that I tried.

AUTHOR’S NOTE – HERE BE MONSTERS

Title

“Here Be Monsters” is the title of the story that I said that I was working on under the name “Project Monster.”  I’ve always had HBM in mind as the title of the story, but I used Project Monster as a code-name in case I decided to call it something else during the creation of the story (I rarely change titles once I decide on one, but it has happened.)  My concern that the title, when paired with the epigraph, may make the story’s theme too on the nose, but I like the way it works with the theme, so I’d rather not change it if I can avoid it.

Theme

This is the first story that I’ve called out what I think the theme is based on an epigraph (quotation of a famous person at the beginning of the story).  I’ve only used an epigraph once before–an article that I wrote on rough drafting–but I like the fact that Brandon Sanderson uses made-up epigraphs in his Stormlight Archive books.  Every story that I can find a suitable epigraph for it will probably have a epigraph from now on out.  I will definitely create a theme for every new story in the Rough Draft phase–I really like the way I create when I know the theme ahead of time.

Length

So, this story isn’t the shortest that I’ve done, but it is the shortest that I’ve done recently.  This story clocks in at approximately 4,100 words.  HawkeMoon was 5,600 words by comparison.  Considering that quite a few markets have a 5,000 word cap, this story would be able to be submitted, while HawkeMoon wouldn’t.  It has a beginning, middle, and end, and that is the way I created it.  I didn’t try to do a 5 scene structure and I think the story works better for it.

Time to Create

So, this took as long to create as other stories–but that was because I was sick for most of the month.  I finished the 1st scene right after Labor Day and then didn’t come back to it for nearly 3 weeks.  I finished it in the last week of Sept., and 1st week of Oct.  I think that I would have finished it in about 2-3 weeks.

Research

So I’ve mentioned it before, but this book is one that I’ve been reading that directly influenced this story.  I minored in History, but I don’t think that I’ve really used my history degree.  I have quite a few books on history, but this is the shortest one that I own, so I thought I’d try to give it a read to cut down on the stress of teaching.  I really liked the book and the series and I’m looking to buy more on Amazon.  I have a book on Florentine history (much longer) and a book on Scandinavian history, so I can definitely try to mine those for ideas, but this was a revelation.  Instead of trying to create everything from scratch and ending up with a generic pseudo-european mishmash fantasy, I was able to give specific names to armor and weapons, the setting was influenced by real life and I was able to really get into the characters and their emotions.

Characters

So, I limited myself to 3 characters–the protagonist and his 2 companions.  I tried to keep the enemies fantastical, but keep the characters grounded in reality.  As I mentioned above, I wanted to really go deep into my characters and emotions.  I think these characters are as complex as the ones I wrote for Dragonhawk.  The characters have an arc and they seem to react appropriately based on their natures.  What I didn’t want to do was be disrespectful.  The culture is not my own, so I wanted to portray the conflict in an “everyman” kind of way, so as not to be disrespectful to another culture.

UP NEXT

I liked writing this way so much that I plan to revise a story (Rocket-Man) and put it in this 3 scene structure and give it a theme (already looking for an appropriate epigraph).   Once finished, I’ll start submitting it again.  Then I’ll start on a new project (probably a Weird West project that has been percolating since I started Here Be Monsters).

Apologies for not posting for the most of September, but...

Apologies for not posting for the most of September, but as you can probably tell by the image above, I’ve been under the weather for most of the month.  I started to feel ill the Saturday before Labor Day and I finally got over whatever I had only to get hit by some sort of sinus infection.  Essentially, I’ve been either sick or recovering from being sick for the past 3 weeks.

Writing while sick is a drag.  I kept thinking about writing this post to give an update, but I was so listless from both the illness and the medicines that the post never got written.

One good goal is that I was forced to get a LOT of rest.  So even though I haven’t done much writing this month, I’ve done a lot of thinking about writing (aka “Brainstorming”), so hopefully, as I try to transition back into my normal routine, I can write more and be more focused during my (limited) writing time.

Sometimes life puts out stop signs and in this case, this was a pretty big one.  Teaching is stressful, writing (which should be fun) is also stressful, trying to reorder my time so that I can start filling out Applications for PhD programs is stressful.  Trying to get everything done that school and life demand from me is stressful.  I think this is my body’s way of saying, “hey, you’re doing it wrong.”

So, I will try to “destress” as much of my life as possible.  Still going to apply to PhD programs, still going to try to study for the GRE, still going try to write, still going to grade papers and do lesson plans, but I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on “homework” (by getting up an hour early and going to bed an hour later among other things) and my body is having none of it.

PROJECT MONSTER UPDATE

I was able to complete the 1st section of the story before I fell ill.  Since I’m only doing 3 sections, the story is 33.33 percent complete :) .  I managed to rough draft the other 2 sections while sick, so I just need to sit down and write them (Tues. & Thurs. for the next 2 weeks if I don’t get sick again).  I know the setting, I know the plot, I know the emotions–now I just have to do the hard part and get it all down on paper.  Wish me luck (& good health!)  If I can stay well, I’ll have an update next week!

New Month, New Project

It’s a new month and so far I’m still on track with my writing goals (yay!).  So I’ll be starting a new short-story this month.  It is a Fantasy story set in a made up secondary world based on the time period of the “Conquistadors.”

I think I have a title for it, but for now I’m calling it “Project Monster.”  It is an entirely new story inspired by a book that is on my Goodreads Currently Reading Shelf: The Men-At-Arms Series #101: The Conquistadores by Terence Wise and Angus McBride.

I’ve already done the “rough outline” for it and will begin the “rough draft” after I submit Skin Deep.  I have the theme, characters and plot fleshed out in my mind, so I’m hopeful that the creation of the story will be strong.

New Story, New Style

I’m noticing a new trend.  It is much harder to sell longer stories.  Many sites have a firm word limit and these word limits tend to be shrinking.  I know of at least 3 markets that will not take stories over 3,000 words long.  For me, 2,500 words is about the bare limit that I can do.  About half of the markets are about 5,000 words firm and then the other half let you go up to 7,500.  I can only think of a few that will allow 10,000 words or more (and they are very slow responding markets, some take as much 9-10 months to respond).

I normally write stories in 5 scenes (kinda’ like a 5 act play).  With “Project Monster,” I’m going to shorten my scenes to 3 (beginning, middle, end).  I don’t intend to be locked into this; I’ll let the story dictate the ultimate form of the story, but “Project Monster” definitely lends itself to this form.  I want to experiment to see what the word count is on this story because if it is under 4,000 – 5,000 words, I may find myself gravitating to projects that lend themselves to 3 parts to maximize my chances of selling them to markets.

Author’s Note: Skin Deep 2.0 (Rewrite)

I finally finished Skin Deep’s rewrite this morning, so I wanted to take a moment and do an Author’s Note on this project, so here goes:

AUTHOR’S NOTE: SKIN DEEP 2.0 (REWRITE): 

I finished the original draft of Skin Deep a while ago, but never submitted it because I thought that the character wasn’t as strong as she could have been (she had a generic name) and that the story’s setting was totally generic.

As I mentioned when I started the revision, I know of two people who are from Jamaica and they had told me about the island in conversation.  One thing that I took from what they said about the island is that there is almost a “small town” vibe to it in that most people on the island know what is happening in their neighbors’ lives.  While they may not know everything that’s going on, they would know more than a typical big city community might.  They know where the good parts of the island’s towns are and where the bad spots are and so forth.

I wanted to set the story here for this reason.  I moved it to 2086 to explain the advanced science in the story.  I changed the protagonist’s name and expanded the story so that it made more sense.  It grew from 3,500 words to 4,000 words and seems to be a stronger story.

I will start submitting it next week when I send it for submission to Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menagerie series: Sirens.  I’m not sure that it has a chance as she’s looking for Fantasy stories and this is sci-fi, but it does seem to fit her guidelines, so I plan to try anyway.  I intend to spend the next week polishing it and making sure that it is as good as it can be before I submit it to Rhonda Parrish.  Wish me luck!

Fatigue and the Writer (or, How Writer’s Block Actually Works For Me)

So, this will be a shorter blog post.  School has started for me and I’ve been “dog tired” over these past two weeks.  One thing that I’ve learned is that fatigue affects my writing.

Normally, when I’m rested, any time when I concentrate, I see “movies in my head.”  My stories play out in the back of my head as if there is a movie projector spooling a film (old school) or a blu ray player playing movie discs (new school) inside my mind.  My challenge as a writer is to try to replicate what I’m seeing behind my eyes with words on the page.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: This why I’m so abstracted when socializing or why I seem so “scatterbrained” or “absent-minded.”  In most social situations, I’m disengaged and at least part of my brain is working on whatever story I have playing inside my head at the moment.)

When I’m tired, however, all of that goes away.  Imagine that someone has taken off the film roll from the projector or taken the disc out of the blu ray player.  Yet, the projector/BR player is still projecting a blank screen.  Worse, there’s an actual physical “pressure” (not unlike a low-grade headache/fever that takes the place of my “inner movie,”) when I’m fatigued.

For me, fatigue = Writer’s Block.  Stress & worry = Writer’s Block.  Conventional wisdom says that you should put your behind in your chair every day and write.  But, for me, that won’t work.  All I end up doing is sitting in front of the computer, iPad, writing pad, and sitting and sitting, not getting but maybe a word or two down.  Then I end up getting frustrated because the movie’s not playing and words aren’t flowing and from there, it becomes a vicious cycle.  I get even more stressed because I feel time flowing away but I’m not being productive.

That’s why it is so important to “know thyself.”  Conventional wisdom, especially when applied to creative endeavors, MUST be tempered with an understanding of your own unique creative processes and MUST be altered as necessary.  I’m much more productive when rested and working on/completing sections rather than trying to force myself to work daily when I’m fatigued and then getting frustrated when I can’t put words on the page.

Ranking Marvel’s Cinematic Universe Movies–My Take

Last week, IGN did a feature on ranking the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in light of the fact that Marvel has finished its “Phase II” movie slate.  Mine differs from theirs however, so I thought I’d do my own take on the list.  Now I’m fully committed to seeing the new Fantastic Four reboot, so I will probably assign a new number to it and then “push” all the other movies under it down by 1 number.

A Note on Spoilers: Now, I tried to be as “Spoiler Free” as possible and not get into too many specifics and just give a general impression of why I felt it belonged where I placed it on the list.  I tried not to go into any plot discussion whatsoever (just in case), but I can’t guarantee that if you haven’t seen the movie, that these listings will be completely spoiler free.

12. Iron Man 2:  On this one, both IGN and I agree.  This one was the weakest of the Marvel Universe films.  IGN says that it is because they were trying to set up other movies in the Universe, but for me, they lost the through line of Tony Stark’s character.  Tony finding out that his life’s work was causing misery in the world in Iron Man 1 was one of the revelations of the character.  Not having that type of character introspection was a missed opportunity.  It was like the filmmakers wanted to do the whole “Demon in a Bottle” storyline here, but decided that it was too dark and then stripped it out while leaving Tony’s erratic behaviors in place.

11. Thor: The Dark World:  Missed this one in the theaters and saw it on Blu-Ray.  For some reason, this one missed with me.  I loved the 1st Thor, but the storyline on this one just seemed to not make a lot of sense.  I pride myself on being able to follow plot, but many of the scenes seemed to lurch from one “element” to another without the tight narrative flow throughout the movie.

10. The Incredible Hulk: I liked this one more than the critics and if not for the strong showing of other Marvel Universe movies, this one would be much higher.  I liked the “Hulk on the run” motif as it mimicked the TV show from the late 70s-early 80s (which I watched religiously as a child).  I also liked the Hulk vs. Abomination fight.  What really sold the deal for me with this movie was the awesome cameo by Lou Ferrigno and the fight choreography that called back to the Playstation 2 era Hulk video game.

9. Iron Man 3: Actually, liked this one quite a bit when I saw it in IMAX 3D.  Several scenes lose their punch when viewed 2D via Blu-Ray, but it is still a great movie.  This one worked better because (unlike IM2) they actually did use elements from the storyline “A Demon in a Bottle” (albeit they substituted PTSD for alcoholism) and that worked to explain Tony’s increasingly erratic behavior.   I didn’t like the Mandarin’s portrayal all that much, but if you are not going to allow Mandarin to have his rings then a significant change to the Mandarin character is necessary.

8. Ant-Man: Now we’re starting to get into territory where ALL of the following movies are good, but it just depends on individual preference.  Even in this grouping, I’m making fine distinctions between the movies.  Let’s just say that if any of the movies from here above are playing on TV and I have the time, chances are good I’d just sit and watch to the conclusion.  I liked this story–it was a fun movie.  It was also a “heist” movie and I’m not personally a big fan of those.  Luckily, the heist was part of the movie’s climax and it was pretty interesting.

7. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron: Okay, I was expecting to like this one a whole lot more than I did.  I think that the final climax and set-piece was fine.  For me, the interactions did not ring as true as they did in the 1st movie.  This one was more set piece to set piece, but the interactions seemed forced for some reason.  Take the hinted Widow/Banner romance for instance.  Widow seemed to have much more of a rapport with Captain America based on the chemistry and camaraderie displayed in The Winter Soldier than she had with her interactions with Banner in both of the Avengers movies.  I think, though, what ultimately I didn’t like is that Ultron was “creepy,” almost horrific like a good classic horror villain.  Just like Winter Soldier was a mix of superhero and political thriller, I think Age of Ultron should have mixed superhero movie with horror movie elements, with Ultron “picking off” the Avengers one-by-one.

6. Thor: So the first Thor movie doesn’t get a lot of love, but it set’s up the first Marvel Avengers movie, it features great performances from the leads (Tom Hiddleston owns the role of Loki), and has some great comedic moments.  I really like the earnest approach to the story–both in terms of acting and the story itself.  It is the “Fall from Grace” story, but because it isn’t a Tragedy (aka GrimDark), the hero is given the chance to redeem himself and learns what it means to be a hero.  The cynic in me says that this why the movie isn’t universally loved–it is hard to be a hero because a true hero isn’t a jerk or an anti-hero.  A true hero has to be willing to sacrifice.  And in America (and the world at large), that just isn’t a very popular idea (Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones, I’m looking at you).

5. Captain America: First Avenger: I really like this movie.  This is mostly a period piece movie, but I like it more for its message than its out-and-out action sequences.  This the quintessential American movie–the little guy with a heart of gold who becomes not so little and stands up to those who would oppress others.  Again, not a popular sentiment these days.  I didn’t grow up in the time period the movie describes, but as someone who minored in History, I love the period piece behind the movie.

4. Iron Man: This one’s special to me as it is the first time that I realized that Marvel was really serious about “Universe-building.”  I’ve always been a Spider-Man and X-Men reader (on the Marvel side), but it was impossible ignore the other heroes.  I would see references in other comics about Iron Man and had a comic that was the precursor to the Marvel Handbooks that described the tech of Marvel’s heroes.  It diagramed how Spider-Man’s web-shooters worked, how Falcon’s wings and flight apparatus worked, how Mandarin’s rings did their thing, and so on.  As I recall, the comic showed several variants of Tony Stark’s armor, including the “gray Iron Man” suit.  Seeing that suit on-screen and then seeing Tony reworking it into the “contemporary” suit blew my mind!  If nothing else, I realized that this batch of Marvel movies (unlike the 1st batch in the mid/late 80s) intended to get it right and treat the source material with respect.  I was hooked on Marvel’s movies with this one.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy: So this one was one of those movies that I decided that I really loved the Trailer and that I was going to see no matter what.  To understand my reasoning, you have to understand that I had been talked out of seeing World War Z at the theaters by the lukewarm reviews.  When I saw WWZ on Blu-Ray, I loved it and wished that I’d seen it via Imax (as I’d intended before watching/reading reviews).  I made up my mind that if I ever saw a trailer that I liked, I was going to see the movie no matter what.  I saw the trailer for GG in March/Apr. and liked it.  I expected the critics to hate this one or at least be lukewarm with it like WWZ, but to my surprise they liked it and so did I.  WWZ taught me that if I’m already predisposed to like the movie, to go see it, otherwise I might miss out.  I was doggedly determined to see GG no matter its critical reaction–and I’m glad I did.  It was both a good Marvel movie and a good Sci-Fi movie as well.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Just watched this one again recently.  If not for the 1st Avengers film, this one would definitely be my favorite.  It had everything that I look for in a movie.  Spectacular fight sequences and choreography, tight plotting, reversals, betrayals, secrets, spy vs spy, secret organizations, two leads who work well together, cats and dogs living together in harmony (okay, so I threw that last one in there from Ghostbusters, but I wanted to see if you were paying attention).  For me, this one paid off the promise made in the first Captain America film.  A man of a different era now has to come to grips with the modern world and all its perceived faults.

1. Marvel’s Avengers: Off all the Marvel Universe movies released so far, this one is my favorite.  It has all of the elements that I enjoy (strong characterization, tension between teammates, heroism, and teammates banding together against a common foe).  The fight sequences were astounding and more importantly, seemed real and engaging, and the character interactions were spot-on.  The final sequence was jaw-dropping in its scale and intensity.  I almost ALWAYS stop and watch this one out to the end whenever I run across it playing on TV.  They got this one perfect for me.

There you have it–my top Marvel movies, so far.