Rank the MCU Films, part 28

What criteria are we using to compare them? Casablanca and The Godfather are so different from one another that even comparing those two films is a challenge, let alone comparing them to a modern superhero film.

I think of films as independent entities. I don't base my assessment of any one film in relation to any other. My favorite film of all time is Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai." My second-favorite is Preston Sturges' "The Lady Eve." I don't like the former better than the latter because in some sort of heads-up comparison, Eve fell a bit short. Rather, I think both are outstanding films, but something about Seven Samurai pulls me in just a tiny bit more than The Lady Eve.

Casablanca is another fantastic film, and one of my favorites. I've seen it several times on a big screen, and many more times at home, and it never gets stale. There is not direct way for me to compare it to The Avengers other than to say I think they are equally great films in their own way. Both are gripping entertainments, alternating between humor in one moment and suspense in another. Neither has a weak moment, nor does either drag for even an instant. No matter how many times I watch either of those films, I'm never waiting for one scene to finish so we can "get to the good part." Both films are entirely "good parts."

The Godfather is another story. I definitely appreciate aspects of it, and from a film-making standpoint it's quite impressive, but it falls flat for me in some ways. Mostly because I'm from a Sicilian family, and some of the events of the The Godfather are loosely based on real events that included distant family members, but The Godfather feels like a Hollywood-esque, glamorized, over-the-top, and at times simply inaccurate, version of a mob story. Goodfellas, on the other hand, plays like a documentary of Sicilians and mobsters, and I hold that film in the high regard that most seem to heap upon The Godfather.