Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn)
So, this is it, the last movie on the list. 2015: A Capeshit Odyssey is officially done and dusted. Despite the fact that I found most of the films either okay or mediocre, the overall experience has been an enjoyable one, and there are some really fun movies in there, stuff I wasn't expecting to like at all. Iron Man 3 was the big surprise, since I had given the worst reviews of the entire Odyssey to the previous two films in that particular series, but I really liked it. Captain America: The First Avenger surprised me too, and I really enjoyed its goofy 1940s wartime escapism in conflict with the realities (well, with some extreme liberties taken in regard to the definition of the word) of war itself. The third highlight, I am happy to report, is Guardians of the Galaxy, which isn't so much capeshit as a space romp in the manner of Star Wars, although I have to say I enjoyed it much more than any Star Wars film.
Right from the start with the cold open I wasn't really sure what to expect, I think the fact that the film does mislead the viewer tonally at the start does work well, because the surprise of first meeting Starlord is a really good reveal that wouldn't have worked so well otherwise. The overall levity of the film combined with its gleeful violence, which certainly does outdo anything prior in the MCU, really works for me, and I think it suits the characters very well indeed. The Guardians are a disparate bunch of outlaws who have good chemistry and their group-based humour really works because of it, at least ~90% of the time, while occasionally a one liner will fall flat, usually because it's unnecessary. This superfluity does infect other parts of the film at times, and many of the action scenes suffer because of this, having to them a similar aesthetic as those of The Winter Soldier, in which shots cannot be held for more than one second without the director apparently getting bored. This is a shame as shots are occasionally held, usually for comedic effect, and they work much better whether as jokes or as straight action than the constant motion of the camera in most scenes.
So, I don't like everything about the film, but I'm more than willing to overlook these admittedly minor problems and say this is one of best films I've seen all year. It rips along, it's full of good humour, the villains and side characters all add something to the growing lore of the MCU, especially nice to see Josh Brolin as the imposing Thanos and Benicio del Toro reprising his role as the gloriously flamboyant Collector (it's kind of hilarious to think they were making this and Inherent Vice together around the same time), and you know, John C. Reilly is always good. So, while this is the last film on the list, I'll probably be sticking around to see if Guardians of the Galaxy 2 can live up to this.