Top 5 Marvel Movies

(Up to and including Endgame, but spoiler free!)

These movies have become a cultural phenomenon and defined my 20's almost as much as Harry Potter defined my childhood. In fact, it wasn't until recently that I realised they would have been a Harry Potter-like experience for many people, who started watching them at 10 would easily be 20 now.

I like positivity, so I don't rank all movies from worst to best. Instead, I like to pick my top five, the ones that stood out to me in some way over the rest. There are some movies in the MCU that I don't like as much as the others, but the fact that they all come together to make a cohesive universe is something to behold.

Also... this is my personal opinion on them! I shouldn't really need to say this, but if you think I left out a movie, write your own list. We all have different preferences, and that's okay, because that's what keeps life interesting!

5. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2.
Surprised to see Vol. 2 on this list but not Vol. 1? I actually prefer it. I think that as we knew the characters better in this one, they could get right on with doing what they do best - cracking jokes and snarking at each other. I love the soundtrack for both of these movies, too. And the bright colour palette, too. Proof that not all sci-fi needs to be in muted tones. I love movies that use a lot of colours in every shot, I think it makes them a real visual treat. And speaking of...

4. Black Panther
Every shot in this movie looks amazing. Many are shot in the daylight, and the night scenes are well-lit. I really like when movies show cities lit by several tiny lights. There's so much colour, too, in the clothing, the jungles of Wakanda, and even the Seoul scene. To add to that, this was the movie that gave us (Disney Princess) Shuri, Nakia and Okoye. And it does what sci-fi does best - becomes a way for us to reflect on our own world and the reality we live in.

3. Captain America: The First Avenger
I love historical fiction, and this is almost a WW2 movie with a little alternate history thrown in. Also a catchy musical number. I love Peggy, and Cap is my favourite Avenger, so maybe this is slightly biased. But you can also see a lot of thought and detail put into things like the fashions of the time (Victory Rolls!) and it also introduced us to one of the overarching plot points of the whole MCU, the Tesseract. And there's a World Fair in it!

2. Avengers: Endgame
To be fair, I think focusing on a smaller group of people benefited this movie compared to it's predecessor, not needing to have 3,000 plot threads going at once. But it tied up the franchise amazingly well, taking risks I wasn't expecting it to. While there are a few minor quibbles, I think it was my favourite Marvel movie since 2012's Avengers. It certainly felt more like it, and showing a few scenes from that movie was a treat. There were some epic moments in the final battle, and even with the bleak premise, they managed to keep humour going throughout. This rank may be liable to change as time goes on, since it's still fresh in my memory at this point, but as of right now, this is where it stands for me.

1. Avengers (2012)
I think this movie is an absolute masterpiece of a team movie, and is the one I will rewatch more than any other. It's one of my favourite movies of all time. We get to see the Avengers come together, with help from Nick Fury and Agent Coulson. After a rocky start, they really gel. The chemistry between the original six just clicks. And the humour is bang-on, hitting just the right notes at the right points. New York is a very personal place to see attacked for a lot of people (I get the same way in Thor: The Dark World) which just drives home how terrifying a threat like this would be in real life. The movie was epic in scope, but it wasn't trying to top anything else. It did that on it's own, and set the standard for the other movies in the MCU. What a movie, what a franchise, what a cinematic experience.

Honorable mentions to Captain America: Civil War, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Iron Man 2. (Yes, 2. Yes I know. This is my list.)

Now, if you need me, I'll be working out how soon tickets for Spider Man: Far From Home will be on sale.

Top Five: Studio Ghibli Films!

Studio Ghibli movies always make me think of spring! The greens, the flowers, the water, the cute characters and heartwarming storylines. They are one of my favourite film studios ever, right up there with Disney. I thought it would be good to share my top five favourite Studio Ghibli films with my readers. (all, like, two of you)

1. Kiki's Delivery Service - Kiki's is an absolute masterpiece. A thirteen-year-old leaves home and finds a place for herself somewhere else. Along the way, she learns about the value of hard work and friendship. Kiki, and almost every other character, are utterly endearing. Perhaps my favourite thing about Ghibli movies is how they present morals in ways that don't come off as OTT or sappy. The entire town is beautifully animated, looking like a real chocolate-box town.
2. The Secret World of Arrietty - I love the detail in this one. Keep an eye out for all the little things in Arrietty's house. Of course, since they are small, the extra attention to detail in their house makes sense. The way the perspective on the larger house changes really helps to show the difference between the residents and Arrietty's family. It also has one of my favourite songs of theirs. (Also - see if you can find the British dub! It uses some famous British actors, and as it's based on a British series, it feels like the correct way, to me)
3. From Up On Poppy Hill - one thing I notice is that I tend to like the movies with less supernatural aspects. I like My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away, but I'm sure a lot of Ghibli fans would find their omission from my list interesting. Poppy Hill has some of the nicest food shots in the whole Ghibli library, and a great message - you don't have to forget the past to move onto the future. I also like the romance aspect, and the idea of all the students coming together to save the Latin Quarter.
4. When Marnie Was There - This recent one is a real gem, and deserves to be spoken in the same way as Studio Ghibli's most beloved classics IMO. The viewer will end up growing attached to both Anna and Marnie, even as they start to realise that things may be more complicated then they appear. It also contains such a nice message for adopted children, and another of my favourite Studio Ghibli songs!
5. Whisper of the Heart - unlike a lot of Ghibli movies, the romance here is front and centre. As someone who writes for fun, I liked seeing Shizuku finding joy in her writing, but learning, of course, that she has to keep practising and improving. Many Ghibli protagonists have some kind of talent they are working on, something which I love. And I really like the idea that you don't have to go to school to perfect yours! It can certainly help in some cases, of course, but it's so rare in fiction for it to not treat school as the be-all-end-all, that it's nice to see.

That's my list! What's yours? I'll finish this off with links to the two songs I mentioned as some of my favourites above.

Arrietty's Song:

Fine on the Outside:

Top Five Disney Movies!

In honour of Moana’s release (sometime this week, or yesterday depending on where you live) I have compiled my list of top five favourite Disney movies!

1.  Lady and the Tramp: this was actually the first film I ever saw in the cinema, on a rerelease, and I do like it because of that level of nostalgia. I also hold this film responsible for my childhood love of both dogs and spaghetti and meatballs. I also like how surprisingly dark it is for a Disney movie, too. Try and imagine this film with humans. That’s a plot that Disney would not go for, and also would not be acceptable in the time period this film was released in. Since the main characters are all dogs, though, people don’t tend to realise that. On the other hand, so many scenes in this movie are utterly charming and sweet that I can’t help but get happy when I watch it.
2. Mulan: I can also remember seeing this at the cinema, when it first came out! I really liked it even then, but I may not have fully understood its nuances. It’s another one with a surprisingly dark plot, with whole villages being massacred and the main character killing almost the entire enemy army on her own. I like movies that could fall into more than one genre, and this one qualifies – comedy, action, romance, drama. I also find Mulan’s desire to find somewhere she fits in quite relatable. “To prove I could do something right” as she puts it, and I think everyone can relate to that in some way. Mulan is also a fantastic heroine. I don’t believe she was the only – or even the first – Disney heroine to be the hero of her own story, but she was a hero in her own right.
3. Sleeping Beauty: Fantastic animation, and one of my favourite villains in all of Disney. Some beautiful song. I’m struggling to come up with another reason for it to be on this list, but honestly, do I need a reason other than those three?
4. Cinderella: I like Cinderella as a protagonist. She is a lot stronger than people give her credit for, and surprisingly sarcastic. You know how people talk about “The first Princess with personality?” Well, I believe that started with Cinderella here. She didn’t just wait around for the Prince to save her, she tried to work so she could get to the ball in time. She wanted to go to the ball to enjoy herself, and I don’t even think meeting the Prince crossed her mind. She never gave up hope, and kept dreaming. She kept her good-natured optimism the whole time while stuck in an abusive house, and that takes some serious strength.
5. Frozen: I know, I’m putting the most popular Disney movie of recent memory on this list, sue me. It has three of my favourite songs in Disney. I love the movies focus on female friendships. Olaf may be the best Disney sidekick ever, or at least my favourite, and doesn’t annoy me like some do. Hans as a villain feels like he crawled out of Game of Thrones. And the snow and ice animation is awesome, particularly the scene where Elsa builds her ice castle.
   
   Honourable mentions: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Hercules. So, what are your top five favourite Disney movies?

Places I Want to Revisit

This is sort of a second post to my post on Sunday. It's all places I've been to before, that I would like to go back to at some point in my life.

1. DisneyWorld – when I went to DisneyWorld, I was seven. I’d like to go back now to experience it in a different way, and be able to do my own thing. With my parents, we stayed offsite and rarely ate in a Disney restaurant. I'd like to go and plan out a full Disney experience, and combine it with a visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
2. Paris – I’ve been to Paris twice now. Once when I was 12 on a school trip, and once very recently. As it turns out, there’s still a lot in Paris I haven’t done yet (for example, the Palace of Versailles and Notre Dame) and a lot of what I’ve done before I want to do again. Plus, so many of the streets are incredibly beautiful even just to walk down. And I know a lot of people rave about French cuisine, but it is the originator of some of my favourite food (moules mariniere, macarons and quite a few other patisserie dishes)
3. New York City – another one I did when I was very much younger, and with my parents. I just like to have the opportunity to re-experience things on your own (I am very much an advocate of travelling on your own).  This is a city that changes almost as fast as it moves, and the city would probably be unrecognisable to me now as the one I went to when I was younger. It really is a place where you can eat in almost every country in the world without leaving the city, and I'd love to go for the food alone.
4. London – is it weird to list your own capital on a list like this? Still, London is my favourite city in the world. Just passing through it tends to put a spring in my step. There’s so much to do that every time I go, I get to do something new. I love watching a West End musical and rather like strolling down the South Bank.
5. India - The reason this is a whole country is that I visited a few different parts of India on my last trip (New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Manali) but only visited most of these places briefly. Also, it was on a school trip, which didn't give me as much freedom to look around by myself as I like. I'd like to visit the places I'd been to before and 

        Do you have any places you would like to revisit? 

Places I Want to Visit

   Here is my kind of cliche post of places I really want to visit at some point in my life.

1. Tokyo – Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to go to Tokyo? I’ve wanted to go since I was in my early teens. Harajuku and Shibuya for the shopping. Fantastic restaurants (I want to eat at Jiro’s sushi restaurant) and adorable cafes. Going up Tokyo Tower. Tokyo DisneyLand and DisneySea. Viewing the cherry blossoms (why I’d like to go in April.
2. Rome – I’ve wanted to go to Rome for so long, and it’s so close that it’s a shame I haven’t gone yet. Imagine me, eating pizza and gelato every day and strolling in front of the coliseum. Well, that might be a romantic view, but you know, why not. Also to toss a coin in the Trevi fountain and make a wish. Just walking around the old city would fascinate me.
3. New Orleans – I can’t put my finger on exactly what fascinates me about this city. Maybe it’s Mardi Gras. Maybe it’s the food such as gumbo and beignets. Maybe it’s the French quarter. Maybe it’s because of its birthplace of jazz history. Maybe it’s the romanticised view of it in media. Whatever the reason, I’m sure it would be a trip I wouldn’t ever forget. 
4. Berlin – I’ve enjoyed trips to Germany ever since I started learning the language in school. However, I’ve never managed to see the capital. I’d like to see the historical sites such as the remains of the Berlin Wall and the Checkpoint Charlie museum.
5. Rio de Janeiro – I’m going to add an addendum that this is a maybe not at the moment. But it’s another one that has been on my list for a while. I’d love to visit during Carnivale! There’s quite a lot of South America I’d like to do, actually. Macho Picchu, Buenos Aires. One day, hopefully.

So, there’s that (Honourable mentions to Vienna and Dubrovnik)! When (well, if) I go to these places, I’m sure I’d discover things I’ve not heard about before. That’s one thing I like about traveling, that most people only discover things about a country once they visit. I will say that if someone gave me a ticket, there’s almost nowhere in the world I’d say no to visiting, but these are a few that have been on my list for ever. What’s on your list?