Topic: The Movie Thread

I just got back from Avengers: End Game and feel inclined to drop some thoughts.

I know much has been said about it already, but I want to leave my take. I’ll try to not be as verbose as I usually am in these impression posts, since I know some people might be sick of hearing about End Game so much.

All in all, it was a really good movie. I wouldn’t personally rank it as the MCU’s best, but likely in the top third.
One of the basic things about the film that sticks out in my mind was how much heavier on exposition, plot, and characterization it is, as opposed to previous entries. Especially the “Avenger” mash up films (Avengers, Age of Ultron, Infinity War, Civil War) are chock full of the fun interaction of all these characters finally getting together and big fight scenes and loads of action, explosions, and combat scenes showing off each hero’s superpowers. And these intense visual and auditory displays of flashing light, color, and motion have been a joy to behold, although some people find them exhausting to watch. End Game, on the other hand, has much less of this. Especially considering its 3 hour run time there is remarkably little action. Granted the final battle versus Thanos and his minions does bring a huge amount of CG spectacle, with no holds barred — but this is one of the few fighting or action sequences in the film, outside of brief occurrences like Capt America fighting his former self and Hawkeye fighting the gangster in Japan, among others. Still, I was expecting more of these types of things scattered throughout, so the movies slow but methodical pace threw me off guard.
Now, just because I expected more action and a quicker pace doesn’t mean it was bad or wrong to follow the course they did with the film. It probably makes it a stronger film to depart slightly from convention.
The fact that they resisted the temptation to jump straight to the time travel and spent so much time developing relationships and building drama to make the pay off bigger at the end probably makes the movie better for those of us who have followed from the beginning, but makes the movie less appealing to the uninvested and to the ‘summer popcorn action flick’ seeking community.

The focus of the story so much on the surviving original Avenger group and Rocket, War Machine, and Ant Man, was fine but then strangely so little time was spent on Captain Marvel. After really liking her character in her origin story movie, in this film she’s nothing more than a convenient plot device to Deus Ex Machina the group out of trouble when needed and then disappear again. Virtually no emotional investment in her at all unless you saw her stand alone movie. So there was a little inconsistency there.
Other than some eye-rolling moments, a narrative inconsistency or two, a few immersion breaking attempts at political correctness, a couple episodes of forced humor, and a few times when the emotional aspects of the film felt a little manipulative for example, having Pepper Potts suit up for the final battle felt pretty cringeworthy, but I guess they had to set up the big emotional death scene of Tony Stark, so that was an eye-roller — so despite a small number of these trivial criticisms, the movie is a good way to have the story wrapped up. I definitely want to see it again, as I’m sure a subsequent viewing will help me appreciate some aspects of it more.

Looking forward to John Wick 3 and Godzilla: King of the Monsters this month.

Also the new Spider-man: Far from Home trailer just released.

@Th3solution Captain Marvel kind of needed to be absent in this movie. She's too powerful. Most of the other heroes have limited, well-defined powers, but the only limit of her powers seems to be whatever is required of her by the script. She's sort of like Superman, in that regard.

By political correctness, do you mean that really ham-fisted "gurl power" scene during the big battle with Thanos' forces at the end?

@WanderingBullet Man, screw Endgame. As far as I'm concerned, King of the Monsters in the 2019 blockbuster to beat. I'm ridiculously excited to see a smackdown between so many famous kaiju on a massive Hollywood budget.

@Ralizah Yeah, you’re right as it relates to Capt. Marvel But still, you’ve gotta find a way to include one of the most interesting characters in a more integrative way. I feel like I needed a better explanation than “There’s a lot of other problems in the rest of the Universe.” or whatever her excuse was for being AWOL for the last several years.
And yes, the “girl power” sequence did come across as PC film making 101. It was just so blatant as to be almost patronizing. I’ve got no problem with the message or intent, but when it’s just stuck in like that, I don’t know — it defeats the purpose and comes across as a transparent attempt to satisfy some agenda. As opposed to, say, Wonder Woman and the Amazon army, which feels a more natural display of “girl power” that fits in the context of the narrative. Anyway, it’s fine. It didn’t break the movie, it just would have been a more effective message promoting diversity if it was not such an obvious effort to shoehorn something in as what seems like almost an after-thought. Like they realized a lack of some checklist requirement they hadn’t met yet and so made up that scene. Still a fantastic movie though and I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t like it. Nearly all movies have one or more scenes that don’t quite work.

As far as other movies I’ve watched lately, I decided I wanted to rewatch the Nolan Batman trilogy, as it’s been a while for me. Batman Begins was of course where I started and it really is an enjoyable film. I won’t break it down, other than to note that I never realized Geoffrey (sp?) from Game of Thrones is the little boy in it. I’m not a GoT fan per se, but I know enough to have seen a few scenes with him and it’s pretty funny to go back and see him play a cute innocent little wide-eyed boy. I always get a chuckle when I recognize actors or actresses in their early childhood roles. 😄

Wonder what's going on with the New Mutants movie. If been delayed three times already. The new release date now is April 2020.

@JohnnyShoulder Watched it at the weekend.

Enjoyed the performances for the most part - the 'twist' was pretty obvious from the get-go unfortunately.

I felt like it could have been... more. I like the concept, and the planning stages and interactions with the team were definite high points. The pacing felt a bit odd too.

Reason for the delay of the New Mutants is because of creative differences between the director and the studio. Rumor is that they might re-shoot 50% of the movie.

Also, Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse 2 is the works. Noice!

Seeing the end of Ender’s Game on TV again. Good movie until the end. They managed to “accidentally” have a prolonged war with a sentient intelligent species then felt bad afterwards. Wow, you really cared if you didn’t check or didn’t check until the end of the war, or really realized after you were defeated. Being desperate they’d come back to Earth or just attack another intelligent planet carelessly. It’s also hard to feel bad for a hive mind that really amounts a few sentient consciences. It does t exactly scrams a Mcintosh thinking intelligent species so much as one mind-controlled by a very secret few.

@Jaz007 It’s been a while since I saw the movie and even longer since I read the book series, but —
I don’t think humanity in general felt bad about the war afterwards except Ender and later his followers as he attempts to relay the thoughts of The Queen. The humans had no way of communicating with the Formics until Ender speaks to the Hive Queen at the end. And ironically, the Hive Queen states she had no intent to harm the humans until they kept attacking. And I don’t think humanity felt bad about the genocide as much as Ender, who was the unconscious deliverer of their demise. Some of the point of it is that this generational child prodigy Ender, the boy who was supposed to have never been born because of population control laws, ends up being the executioner of a species. Of course he was tricked into thinking he was playing a game and was driven to blow up the hive in his final “test” as a means to get expelled from the program, but he discovers he did exactly what the military wanted him to do and “won the war” in real life. He is the main person who feels bad and guilty. He is a victim of mankind’s treachery. But at the same time he is the slayer and destroyer of a species. The remaining books in the series follow his attempts to rectify his actions and bring the Hive Queen’s egg to a safe world to populate.
Anyway, I’m not sure the movie portrayed the whole story quite as well as it could have, but the end still packs a punch. It’s a great book and the series was pretty good too.

Eureka Seven: High Evolution 1 (Amazon Prime Video) - The first entry in a planned film trilogy to retell the story of the Eureka Seven TV anime, and as a huge fan of said series, I found that this missed the mark. It opened up at a point 10 years before the start of the series, showcasing an event that was central to the series' back story for the first time, and while this segment was a feast for the eyes, it's an absolutely terrible starting out point as it's full of in-universe technobabble that's not at all welcoming to newcomers, and even series fans who haven't watched it in recent memory. Then it decides to jump to an arc in the middle of the story, when Renton was living with Charles & Rey, while occasionally jumping back to the events of the first episode, that again would probably be confusing to newcomers, and also isn't optimal for a rewatch as well. Worse, this segment of the film (which is the bulk), is simply cobbled together by reusing scenes from the TV anime. Now, the series still looks good IMO (especially with how it's been remastered), but it's still a bit of a jarring transition moving from the modern film quality animation, to touched up scenes from the original TV series (especially considering the 4:3 aspect ratio).

I was pretty satisfied with Detective Pikachu. It wasn't the best movie ever made, but it absolutely sets a new standard for video game-based cinema, features a STUNNING mix of real humans with often convincing CG pokemon, and integrates more "adult" subject matter in a way that doesn't feel overly dark or jarring. The very beginning of the film seems like a pretty deliberate call-back to the beginning of Pokemon: The First Movie. There are lots of easter eggs and whatnot in this as well. Very much a movie designed to please Pokefans.

Never followed the Pokemon anime or played any of the games. I'm also not a fan of Justice Smith. That being said, I still want to watch it but I'll wait to till it's on Netflix or something.

@WanderingBullet Same here with Pokeman. Even if I was still going to the cinema I'd give it a pass and wait till it hits home viewing.

Batman: Hush Trailer

Looking forward to it even though they didn't use Jim Lee's art style.

Finally took the kids to see Detective Pikachu and was overall impressed. I've never played Pokémon before so some of it went over my head but I thought it was above average. Was rather touching at moments too which I really wasn't expecting.

They played the Sonic trailer before the movie and I dunno, I wasn't as repulsed seeing it on the big screen as I was when I watching on my phone. Dunno why. Will most likely end up watching it eventually, def not in theaters but it'll be a $1 rental sometime I'm sure.

Just watched John Wick 3: When Dogs Bite Back.

For me, action wise I think it's the best among the three movies but story wise it's the weakest. Having said that, it's still good and worth watching.

I’ve been on bit of a Batman and DC spree lately. I started Injustice 2 and I finished watching the Nolan trilogy last week as a kind of comfort food for the soul. I’ve always really liked those movies. They certainly stand the test of time (mostly) although they are far from perfect. One of the aspects of the films I like is the actors — I like Bale, Ledger (of course), Neeson, Hardy, Murphy, Hathaway, Caine, Eckhart, Oldman ... Probably the only one I can’t stand is Gyllenhaal. I cringe a little bit when she’s on screen. To be fair, Holmes wasn’t much better as Rachel in the first film. But overall, I have enjoyed the performances.

And, almost like a cruel joke being played on me by the Universe, I hear about Robert Pattinson. Please, no. I just got used to Affleck in the role and actually quite enjoyed his portrayal after I came to grips with how he approached being Batman. An older, more experienced Bruce Wayne, with a subtle and stoic feel. It worked. ....But honestly, I just can’t see in my mind’s eye Pattinson as the Dark Knight. Robin, maybe, Scarecrow or Deadshot, or maybe even the Riddler... but please not Batman. My brain just can’t make that jump. 😫

@Th3solution I saw the same news about Pattinson. All I keep telling myself is that both Keaton and Batfleck were destroyed by fans and media alike, and ended up being amazing (although I'm also lucky in that I've never watched Twilight, I guess). So I'll reserve judgement until a trailer or, indeed, the film's actual release.

I hear the casting isn't final yet, and it's down to Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult, a.k.a. Beast from the young X-Men films. In a coin-toss between the two, I think I'd actually prefer Pattinson. Hoult most certainly isn't what I think of when I think of a young Caped Crusader.

Oh, and you're absolutely right about the Nolan films having an incredible cast. Perhaps the greatest cast a superhero story has ever received. I may not like Bale's performance (or Ledger's actually, sorry) but everybody gave it their all and were beyond entertaining to watch, regardless of your overall opinion of the story, characters or direction. Caine's Alfred and Oldman's Gordon were highlights for me, as well as Liam Neeson, who's always wonderful.

Proof that the casting folk over at WB and / or DC deserve a little trust, perhaps.

@RogerRoger Yeah, I might warm up to the idea of Pattinson. I barely know Hoult, but my memories of Beast in X-men do not endear me to the idea of him as Wayne either. And I, thankfully, also have never watched a minute of Twilight. But I know the internet memes and reputation. The fans are out in full force already, so we’ll see if WB succumbs to social media pressure.
The comments are rolling in —
“Will the Batsuit sparkle in the sunlight?”
“Movie’s title released — Batman: The Glitter Knight”
“Hell has officially frozen over...”
“At least George Clooney is about to not be the worst Batman anymore”
Etc, etc ....
😂 I thought he was okay as Cedric Diggory, but the Twilight thing is just hard to overcome.

@Th3solution Why do I know the name Cedric Diggory... wait, he was in Harry Potter?! My word, DC are really trying their best to alienate me from my favourite superhero!

Sorry, I know you're a Potter fan. I'm only kidding!