Topic: The Movie Thread

@KALofKRYPTON I remember the media practically lynched the poor dude who gave the first negative review to Black Panther and "ruined" its perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. I skipped it at the time because of the toxic (it really is an apt weird choice here) atmosphere developing around it. I saw it months later in a Disney theater, though, and it was actually quite good!

Critics and "cultural figures" did the same thing with Ghostbusters: hyping it up because of feminist identity politics and out of a need to 'stick it to' misogynistic trolls. It was only later, once the culture war moved on to something else, that a lot of these same people were willing to admit that the film actually sucked.

Just wanted to drop in to say Captain Marvel is in my top 3 of favorite Marvel superheroes. DeConnick's run of Captain Marvel (2012-2015) was brilliant, by the way, if you want to read more about the character.

I'm pretty hyped about the film because of my love for the character, but also because of Brie Larson, who should be perfect for the role. And that's coming from someone who's pretty bored from all the superhero movies - who hasn't watched one of those flicks for the last couple o' years.

@Ralizah Black Panther was alright, Mid-tier Marvel with some pretty forced and confused messaging though. Also, it really didn't reinvent the wheel.

@Kidfried I hope you enjoy the film. As I say, it's very little chance of actually being bad.

On the Captain Marvel topic, maybe I’m living a little bit of a sheltered existence given I pretty much avoid broadcast television and most media in general, but the hype seems a little muted to me. It’s only recently that I heard much about CM and the film releases in a few days. It’s definitely a set up for a social commentary, akin to Black Panther, but hopefully it’s not overtly trying to make a political statement. I don’t mind films delving into moral examination and analysis of it’s done artistically, in fact I welcome it, but in a big budget popcorn flick that’s not the primary outcome I’m looking for.
The Marvel gravy train is likely running out of steam, so a misstep would derail the momentum. I don’t think they’ll risk that. And I know that the movies keep making bank, but I feel the wind is shifting a little bit and the superhero well is bound to run dry eventually. Maybe I’m reading the tea leaves through the lens of the cancellation of the Netflix Marvel shows; maybe I’m just expressing my own and my friends concerns about the oversaturation of the market — but the point is, all it will take in my opinion to usher in the ‘beginning of the end’ for the MCU is to shoehorn excessive social justice narrative.
I never saw the Ghostbusters reboot (mercifully) but I get the feeling it was just the popular media that tried to frame it as a ‘feminist identity politics’ film rather than the film itself having any overt political narrative. (I could be wrong though and I don’t plan to actual watch the apparently awful film to find out.) It will probably be the same here. I plan to go and see Captain Marvel as a run-of-the-mill moviegoer wanting a good piece of entertainment, devoid of any pre-existing political expectations, and it will probably be fine. If I come out feeling like I just watched an episode of Crossfire, or having been shamed that I have a Y chromosome, then I will be really disappointed.

@Th3solution The social commentary regarding CM is all utterly outside of the film itself. I've had a good peek at Rotten Tomatoes today and you can see that even the myriad of apparently 'feminist' (though the dirge a lot of these people are spouting about 'Girl Power' being 90's feminism is pretty laughable) reviews start to slip as they can't help but comment on the formulaic nature of the film and shallow characterisations as a result of being little more that an Endgame stepping stone.

The Disney/Marvel social Justice narrative is usually rather deftly handled - as with Black Panther - the posturing and messaging largely takes place outside of the film, they use progressives in the media to create whatever they want the narrative to be (however nonsensical or inaccurate -'first black lead superhero movie', 'groundbreaking female lead superhero movie'); within the film you get just another Marvel movie.

Regarding Ghostbusters - the entire effort was a reactionary effort to make SJW dollars with a franchise that shouldn't fail to find an audience but had languished in a development quagmire. Popular media ran with it because of course - anyone who wasn't on board could only be a sexist bigot.

The film itself could've worked too if not for the premise, story, director, casting, effects, script, marketing, costumes, car..... Actually no, it's an unfunny hot mess of a thing. Multiply that by soul crushing rage if you've any affinity for GB/GB2.

@KALofKRYPTON Yeah, it’s like with Star Wars and how people touted The Force Awakens as a trailblazer for having Rey and Finn, completely ignoring 30 years prior to that we had Leia and Lando. It’s what becomes a bit tiresome. I’m all for diversity, believe me - myself being mixed race and personally belonging in some definite minority spheres - but what annoys me is how we have to make it like modern iterations are reinventing the wheel here. It seems to propogate division rather than advance cultural equality when so much artificial attention is brought to it. Anyway, I’m veering into politics and I try to avoid that 😂. I will say, that I’m not surprised that CM looks to be be primarily functioning as an End Game set up movie. That’s too bad.

@KALofKRYPTON Considering how cookie-cutter most of the MCU is, Black Panther was pretty unique. The African superhero vibe was really interesting. I quite liked the main antagonist, too, despite his lame adopted name ("Killmonger" is WAY too on-the-nose for me). The action scenes were satisfyingly visceral in a way that Avengers fights never are. To be honest, it's a top three Marvel film for me.

I wasn't necessarily on-board with all of the messaging, but that's not going to stop me from appreciating a decent film.

As you can probably tell, though, I don't read the comics. At all. Besides Batman, my experience with American comics is limited to a few of the series published by Image (I've been collecting Monstress for a while now; it's excellent!)

I just got back from seeing Captain Marvel
The short version — I really liked it. It probably even exceeding my expectations a little bit. It’s still probably a middling tier for the MCU, but not near as bad as it could have been.

Now, the detailed version —
The movie is by no means a perfect film. My biggest gripe is that it suffers quite a bit from pacing issues. There is an overall crescendo toward the last half where things finally come together in interesting ways and the conflict resolution becomes more exciting and satisfactory. I had a hard time staying engaged for the early part of the film but it eventually was worth it. The other main complaint is the film suffers from a lack of soul, especially as it relates to fostering a connection to the characters. Again, the pacing and how they unfold the story events is much to blame for this, but I wish I could have really ‘gotten to know’ the protagonist and antagonist more viscerally.

As far as how it looks on the screen, there is enough visual flare and the movie looks good, but nothing nearly as much a CG spectacle as say, Guardians of the Galaxy or Doctor Strange. But it has plenty of eye candy. Some of the effects are wonderful and some of them fall short and just don’t look quite right.

I really appreciated the ways that the film connects to the rest of the MCU. I think we all expected Captain Marvel to be tethered to the plot of Avengers End Game, but I was pleased to see other connections appear so prominently in the film.

In reference to our discussion a few days ago about social justice posturing, @KALofKrypton was correct that the film did feel free of political commentary. Any talk of it having a progressive social message is pretty much created by the media. The movie didn’t seem to make having a female protagonist unusual or bring extra attention to it, which is how I feel it should be (think Aloy and Horizon Zero Dawn — the protagonist’s gender is mostly irrelevant to the context of the story)
Carol Danvers is portrayed as flawed, relatable, yet with an inner strength that mirrors her outward superpowers. It’s typical origin story stuff, and we’re not seeing a reinvention of the wheel here, but it entertains and inspires nonetheless.
The acting is solid, and I enjoyed Brie Larson. I really don’t think I had ever seen her work before and she did admirably with just the right touch of attitude without seeming fake. The supporting cast is serviceable, and at times very good. I will refrain from listing any specific characters so as to avoid spoilers, but I was quite pleasantly surprised at the cameos and returning personalities.
The hallmark Marvel humor is present in full force, even if it did often fall flat. Nevertheless, just like in GotG, when the jokes do connect, they had the whole theater laughing with enthusiasm. Seeing a movie on opening weekend in a packed house probably amplifies things like this — when you hear the crowd guffawing away, it sure makes things seem funnier. But I was laughing right along anyways.

I’m a bit of a sucker for the Marvel fare, so take this all with a pinch of salt. Despite this movie not doing anything revolutionary per se, I left feeling entertained and excited to see more. The post-credits scenes are fun and tease the upcoming events very well. I knew virtually nothing about Captain Marvel before tonight, but now I consider her a worthy member of the MCU and one I definitely want to see more of.

I didn't had high expectations going into it because I thought the trailers and teasers were kinda underwhelming, tbh. Having said that, I thought Captain Marvel was not bad (6.5/10). Seeing how powerful she is, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what she does in Avengers: Endgame. I have to say that the de-aging thing they did with Nick Fury was quite well done. Not so much with Agent Coulson, though. Also, the Stan Lee tribute right at the beginning as well as Carol Danvers's interaction with him during the movie was a nice touch.

I watched Captain Marvel this morning. I'm not a fan of most comic book movies, but this is one of the rare exceptions where I really enjoyed it. That said, I think Brie Larson is an absolutely fantastic actress and love her to bits (thanks to Room) — so my opinion might be somewhat biased. A lot of the comic book fare, specifically the movies, just never clicks with me and I often find it's attempts at seriousness laughable. Captain Marvel is exactly the kind of tone I have enjoyed in the past with these comic book movies and continue to enjoy, wrapped in a good story with a great plot twist and a fun supporting cast. It's not a high caliber movie in any way, shape or form, but it's easily the most I've enjoyed a comic book movie since 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy. Just very well executed in most areas, even if nothing extraordinary. The directing was probably the weakest point of the movie to me. It often felt entirely off with it's framing and movement, but nothing terrible enough to completely take away from the movie. I also did not enjoy Jude Law's character and relationship with Carol much, making him - in my eyes - probably the weakest part of the cast. Luckily he doesn't have that big of a role, so it also didn't manage to tarnish any of my enjoyment. Just a really solid, fun, well done comic book movie, which is more than I can say for most.

Decent feedback for Captain Marvel. I'll probably not go to the cinema for it though.

I got around to watching Aquaman - not quite sure what to make of it. It does avoid feeling too much like superhero origin film, despite including the majority of those tropes.
Parts of it look almost 'budget' while other sections are genuinely stunning.

It is an enjoyable watch overall, and I certainly hope we get a sequel with more Black Manta.

After watching Captain Marvel this is what's gonna happen in Avengers: Endgame. Plot twist! Goose the cat shows up and eats Thanos and that's how The Avengers win! XD

@WanderingBullet I have it on good authority that Goose gets notions and moves to take over Wakanda and destroy the Black Panther legacy. Thanos gets careless with the Infinity Gaunlet and Goose decides that it looks like great hidey hole - thus the universe is then dominated by the dangerous and fantastical musings of an all powerful cat!

Saw Captain Marvel opening day with my kids. Thought it was terrific, can't wait for Endgame! Definitely teared up a bit at the Stan Lee tribute, wasn't ready for that at all lol. Overall really enjoyed it. Not near as good as Black Panther, Spiderverse or the Avengers movies but definitely in the top tier of Marvel movies so far.

Well that's pretty troubling - BP is as bang average as Marvel gets!

@KALofKRYPTON I do wonder if the Infinity Gauntlet would still be fully functional since it was damaged after Thanos snapped his his fingers.

I thought Black Panther was not bad. Definitely not as good as the critics made it out to be. My issue was that it was way too hi-tech which wasn't what I was expecting. Also, the CGI in the movie was quite poor.

@Tjuz @Th3solution You really make me want to go out and eat this one. Great impressions.

Captain Marvel is one of my definitive favorite heroes and it sounds like she is finally getting the attention she deserves.

@KALofKRYPTON I respect your opinion however for my BP is in the top 3 of Marvel movies so far

Not a fan of captain marvel, think it’s tied with ant man 2 for weakest phase 3 film. The deus ex Machina of her “getting stronger” was ridiculous and I didn’t enjoy Brie larson’s performance. If she ends up leading the avengers, it doesn’t feel earned in the slightest.

@Spider-Cop By “getting stronger” do you mean when she was exposed to the explosion of the light speed engine which granted her powers, or when she realized the implant on her neck was a limiter that was holding her back and they were controlling her with and tore it off to unleash her full power?
I totally respect your opinion, I was just wondering. I pretty much felt it was standard fare for how these superheroes tend to “get stronger” — bit by a genetically engineered super spider, get accidentally exposed to gamma radiation, get injected with a super strength building serum, etc, etc. It’s pretty typical that they either get exposed to some crazy scientific miracle or they are just born with or inherit their abilities. It’s also pretty typical that there is some kind of “pulling your power from within” type of coming of age moment where the hero digs deep inside and unleashes their power (Guardians, Thor, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, Superman, etc, etc.) I actually thought the inclusion of the twist with the Kree and Skrull switcharoo on good guy/bad guy and the tearing off the AI’s controller device was actually a pretty unique method to unleash her powers. I guess they all resonate differently with each of us. But honestly it is the same basic set up repeated on a lot of superhero stories. But I love them anyways 😉