Topic: The Movie Thread

@kyleforrester87 I'm curious what you made of Terminator 3, as I quite like that film...?

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@nessisonett Thanks! I wanted to love the Spidey films more than I perhaps did (Michael Keaton stole the show in Homecoming, though, hands down). I think because a big Spidey retrospective led me to the MCU, my enthusiasm for Tom Holland's take was dampened somewhat. I'd rank him below Tobey Maguire and Yuri Lowenthal, but way above Andrew Garfield; that being said, he's the perfect Spidey for the MCU, fit right in and played off the other heroes really, really well.

Do you mind if I ask why you actively dislike Iron Man 3 so much? I've seen some criticism of the film's unique approach to the Mandarin thrown about, but I'm curious (and you're absolutely right, this is what opinion is all about, so please don't hold back).

Not sure about the TV shows. The desire is there, but I wanna avoid burnout. I feel really hollow today, now that it's all over. I think I need a bit of superhero space!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Awesome timing! What did you think of Endgame?

I agree that Black Panther's debut in Civil War was the character's definite highlight. When it came time for his own film, it was the other elements around him which elevated it for me (whilst Civil War dragged itself down with its jarring split personality). I liked the Bondian elements early on, and Killmonger made for a compelling villain.

Shave five minutes off the obligatory "they fight" finale, and actually bother finishing the CGI work, and it might've been in a dead heat with Doctor Strange.

@RogerRoger obviously it’s got nothing on T1 or T2 (T1 is inside my top 10 favourite films) but it’s not an awful follow up. This is only the third time I’ve seen it, it’s still the best of the newer bunch IMO. I like the ending.

@RogerRoger Since I do love the comics, the way they handled the Mandarin really did annoy me, he’s a great villain with loads of history and I’m glad they’re revisiting him in Shang-Chi, with the real Mandarin this time. I’m not a big fan of Tony Stark either, all things considered, probably similar to your thoughts on Star-Lord. Add in elements such as pointless female character #2 in the form of Rebecca Hall who was woefully underused and Guy Pearce becoming just a really silly baddie at the end and the whole film felt quite messy. Adapting such an iconic story like the Extremis storyline and then doing it such a disservice just never sat right with me, same as how they ruined Malekith in Thor 2. It’s really not one of my favourite movies ever made 😂😂

It was actually your thoughts of the previous marvel films @RogerRoger that kickstarted me into finally getting Endgame to watch (I might do my own little MCU viewing myself in fact)

I thankfully only knew the one thing about Endgame. The big (but somewhat predictable) spoiler. I hadn't seen any trailers, reviews or the likes for it so thankfully it was fresh and nearly unspoiled to me.

I quite enjoyed Endgame. Not entirely sure how I feel about the whole go back in time deal with Cap but it was very enjoyable indeed.

There was some good jokes sprinkled in there and some nice interactions I kinda wish Cap had gone to Vormir to meet Red Skull. The opening half hour or so was also a bit slow I thought as well.

I think I like Infinity War a bit more personally (The downer ending and that particular shot of Thanos right at the very end with the music really struck a cord with me) but I have only just watched Endgame and need to give it another viewing or two

I may give BP another look at some point down the line Didn't help the one thing I did like about it, Andy Serkis, was rather unceremoniously killed off.

I thought the Agent Carter TV series was a fairly decent spy/thriller/super hero... Marvel show I was really surprised Jarvis turned up in Endgame if only for two seconds!

James D'Arcy (Jarvis) was rather enjoyable alongside Hayley Atwell. They had particularly good chemistry together as the main leads in a nice platonic way plus Dominic Cooper as young Howard Stark is always good too! (Shame it only got two seasons and ended on a cliffhanger though)

@RogerRoger Bravo, sir! I’m happy to see that your MCU experience was a positive one. And your list is really interesting. I mostly agree with your reactions and impressions and I think that’s a notable take on Iron Man 3 and it’s shifting focus. Did you notice the little boy (I forget his name now) was present at Tony’s funeral at the end of End Game? That was a nice touch. I loved Iron Man 3 mostly because of all the different suits that debut, but I do appreciate the showing of Tony’s vulnerable side. Not sure if you saw my take on the whole MCU where my theory is that the whole series can be seen as the rise, fall, and redemption of Tony Stark, and so IM3 is pivotal in that tale as well. Like you, I’m not a student of the comics, so the apparent mistreatment if The Mandarin didn’t register with me, but I can see how that may bother some.

But yeah, I’d put GoG, Ragnarok, and Civil War up higher and Ant-Man and the Wasp and Capt America TFA down lower, but as you say, even the worse in the series are solid 7’s for me.

I’ll be curious to see what you decide to follow up with. You’ve probably been superheroed-out at this point. 😄

@LN78 Yeah, I think it’s important to note that those were the days before trailers truly started ‘lying to us’. I can’t remember trailers actively inventing scenes or building hype around a character only to completely subvert it on delivery before then. Now look at how much it happens with especially the wider Disneyverse. I’m half expecting a new Indiana Jones movie where we see him donning the hat and whip in the trailer only for poor Indy to be in a nursing home in the actual movie and replaced by Chris Pratt as his time-travelling future grandson á la Trunks in Dragon Ball Z.

@kyleforrester87 Sounds like you enjoyed Terminator 3 for what it is, which is cool. I agree that, without its ending, the whole endeavour would've felt a little more cynical.

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@nessisonett That's fair enough; as Sol says, I've never picked up a Marvel comic in my life, so my entire education on their heroes and villains comes from Hollywood (and the occasional game). I laughed my butt off at the Mandarin, and love Ben Kingsley whenever he turns his hand to comedy. It was only afterwards when I realised that there was this broad sense of betrayal, not only concerning him but also concerning the whole Extremis plot. I can totally see where you're coming from there, particularly when I've seen poor adaptations of a fair few Batman comics in my time.

Sorry to hear that Tony is your Star-Lord, though, particularly given his central role throughout all three phases thusfar! You've already mentioned Shang-Chi (which I'm also excited to see) but are you looking forward to the MCU continuing without him? I respected Far From Home dwelling on his legacy, but feel like that was more than enough. I'm curious to see what happens next.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Glad you liked it! Although you're right, as soon as I saw Red Skull had survived, I was kinda hoping for a reunion with Cap; shame they didn't manage that, although I'm not gonna complain too much, because it was just cool to see Hugo Weaving again. Cap's whole ending thing was very schmaltzy, but I think I liked it for that very reason, because that's very him.

Thanks for the heads-up about the TV shows. Agent Carter is the one I'm most keen to see, as I loved Hayley Atwell and the whole cast from the WW2 era, but it's annoying to hear that it ends on a cliffhanger; I usually won't watch something unless I know it has a proper ending (I've been burned by too many good shows suddenly ending, without resolution). It's only two seasons, and I suppose the actual ending doesn't matter now, because Cap goes back and changes history... yeah, if I think about it like that, I could probably give it a shot. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be the bigger undertaking, but I really love the character of Phil Coulson, so he'll pull me through however many seasons it's up to now!

@Th3solution Thanks, buddy! Not just for your reply, but for your previous posts about the MCU, which I do remember and kept in mind whilst watching; those, reinforced by the urging of another friend, are what got me to sit down and start this whole endeavour. So I'm very grateful!

And yeah, I did notice the kid at the funeral. That was a really sweet touch! I'd agree that Tony's arc is the most substantial of the MCU. I think, crucially, he was given time and focus under multiple writers and directors, which helped to expose different layers of his personality. My disdain towards Star-Lord waivered in Infinity War, for example, because he was handled a little differently in that film, and somebody was (finally!) allowing me to see beyond his douchebag exterior for the briefest of instants. Tony got three standalone films and a starring, central role in six others. He had to be the core of the ongoing story. He made a lot of major mistakes, but he was always given the opportunity to learn from them, and demonstrate that learning. He changed, which is more than I can say for some of the others (both good and bad; heck, I'd say Ant-Man is my favourite hero, and he's as light and fluffy as they come).

Anyway, I'm rambling, sorry! What was it about Ant-Man and The Wasp you didn't like so much?

You know, I glanced at my outstanding Blu-Ray pile yesterday, and it's 98% superhero films. I probably won't sit and watch anything for a good couple weeks. Might start playing The Last Guardian, as it's the furthest I can get from superhero stuff in my gaming backlog.

Ahh... It wasn't Hugo Weaving as Red Skull/The Gatekeeper in Infinity War or Endgame @RogerRoger but an actor known as -Looks at Wiki- ... Ross Marquand. I did happen to notice that myself when watching 😄

Well if you do manage to do the mental gymnastics to convince yourself with Cap's time travel shenanigans in Endgame retconning/concluding the events of the show then I hope you enjoy Agent Carter!

@LN78 @nessisonett @Th3solution @RogerRoger Yeah I wasn't keen in the bait and switch they pulled with Iron Man 3 and was quite hyped on seeing The Mandarin in the MCU. And i disliked the ending as if felt I was watching a Transformers movie. I think that was the point I started not to watch as many trailers as I did for films and games, as I was finding i was getting more disappointed, mostly due them spoiling the final product.

@JohnnyShoulder Did you ever see Batman V Superman? The one that was out a few years ago? What did you think of that? I know that's DC but yeah. Maybe your not a fan of DC? Or do you like that universe as well? Did you ever read any of the Alan Moore DC Comics?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Oh no, I didn’t realize that about Red Skull’s actor in End Game. Bummer. I’ll have to pay attention the next time I watch.

@RogerRoger No apology necessary. I’ve very much enjoyed reading your thoughts and pleased that I (and your other friend) didn’t lead you too far astray. I hope the same for The Last Guardian. It would be a perfect palate cleanser actually. No superheroes (at least of the humanoid variety), no explosions and firefights, just a relaxing (yet intense in its own subtle way) journey of discovery. Ueda’s style is a little bit of an acquired taste so it may take a little to get used to with his minimalist storytelling. You didn’t play Ico, did you? I remember your trepidation with SotC but I can’t remember if you took his earlier PS2 game for a spin ever.

As far as Ant-Man and the Wasp (and to get back on thread subject), it’s funny because I’m not entirely sure why if fell flat for me. Like you, I place Paul Rudd’s rendition of Scott Lang very high in the pantheon of superhero character portrayals. His Robin Hood-esque ‘noble guy making amends for bad decisions done with good intent’ is quite relatable. The humor is well done too. I even like Evangeline Lilly, having fallen for her back during the show Lost, but I know some people can’t stand her.
But for me AMatW was mostly a victim of its timing. Being sandwiched between the cliffhanger of Infinity War and the epic conclusion of End Game did it a bit of disservice probably. Your being able to watch them all back-to-back probably helped but back when I was watching them on release I knew this was just going to give a footnote to the larger narrative so I had a hard time getting into it as fully. The same would apply to Far From Home. It seems just a stepping stone to a larger plot, so I just didn’t get as excited about it. Furthermore, I’ve never been a Michelle Pfeiffer fan, actually, and I can’t take her very seriously as a quantum physicist. Also, the way my brain works is fundamentally broken with some of these kinds of movie situations because I keep asking myself - what has she been eating this whole time? how did she keep her sanity with being alone for all these years in the subatomic quantum realm? And a lot of the science was just in general a little fuzzy. Which, I know.. I know, it’s all Sci-Fi / fantasy and you can’t think too hard about it, and usually I can disregard a little inconsistencies, but the plight of Janet Pym was a little much. Again, I think I was just annoyed that the only part that moved the greater narrative of the Infinity Stones forward was the last 5 minutes and I was just champing at the bit to get to End Game. Captain Marvel suffered slightly for the same reasons, but at least I knew that based on the film taking place back in the 90’s it wasn’t going to push the story of the stones and so I didn’t expect much beyond the stand-alone that it was.
But yet again, even though AMatW was toward the lower third of the MCU in my book, it was still great in its own way.

@LN78 You mentioning The Nice Guys earlier reminded me a of mash up trailer of The Clone Wars and The Nice Guys I saw a few days ago on YouTube. You should check it out if you fancy a chuckle!

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I have liked DC films in the past such as the Burton and Nolan and Batman films, but not been keen on the recent DC output and thought B v S was as dull as comic book movie could get. I wouldn't say I prefer Marvel over DC, just that Marvels recent films I've enjoyed way more than the recent DC films. And even then I think I'm beginning to get a bit fed up of the Marvel films and the forthcoming ones it is the least I've been interested in the films since they started phase 1.

I will answer your question about comic books in a separate thread as I don't want derail this one and need to check a few things out. But the short answer is yes but don't remember which one!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Was it not him? Blimey, they did a good job finding a soundalike, then! Thanks for that bit of trivia; I shall listen more closely next time!

@JohnnyShoulder There were quite a few scenes I came across which I knew from trailers alone, and others which were in trailers, but played out differently, or used different angles. There were also scenes I remember seeing, but which didn't show up in the final cut, so they must've been trailer exclusive or deleted quite late in production. Trailers are works of art in and of themselves nowadays.

@Th3solution As far as I'm concerned, you're batting a thousand, so I'm confident I'll enjoy The Last Guardian which, yeah, I reckon I'll start later this week. I didn't play Ico, no. Outside a brief demo of Shadow of the Colossus I once played on PS2, this'll be my first experience of a Ueda game.

Some of your Ant-Man and The Wasp thoughts read familiar, so I'm semi-sure we had a similar conversation after I first watched it, well over a year ago. I remember loving it precisely because it was mostly standalone, and was just a good time you could almost lift clean out of the ongoing MCU shenanigans (aside from the context of Scott's house arrest, and the mid-credits scene). Now that I have a wider understanding of the continuity, I can totally see how, at the time, you might not have left your local cinema entirely satisfied. I'm a big fan of slowing things down, of occasionally stopping to smell the roses, so to speak; that being said, those moments usually come after a huge payoff, and not after a major cliffhanger, so that's fair.

Probably why I like Iron Man 3 so much, thinking about it. That, and the fact that it's the only MCU film we get told to us entirely from the perspective of the hero, embellishments and exaggerations and all. I always wondered what a Thor movie would be like if we saw the entire thing through one of his victory stories, but that'd probably be too unbearable for two whole hours, so I'll settle for a tall Tony tale!

I so wanted Captain Marvel to be higher, because I really loved it, but out of the two "Quick, we have to establish this so that Endgame works!" movies it felt the most desperate.

@RogerRoger I feel like some sorta weirdo for actually really enjoying Captain Marvel. Sweaty basement dwellers are still out for Brie Larson’s blood so it’s hard to actually discuss the movie but I really liked the direction they took. The 90s setting gave it a pretty unique feel compared to the rest of the MCU and I loved the bait and switch with the Skrulls, it was handled way better than the Mandarin.

@nessisonett Oh, I totally agree with everything you've just said. Being a 90s kid, I loved the 90s references (made such a wonderful change from the overused 60s, 70s and 80s pop culture material crammed in elsewhere) and you're right, the Skrulls were handled really well (Ben Mendelsohn is an asset to any movie he's cast in). I also rated Brie Larson's performance and liked the character, and all fears about a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson either A: looking weird, or B: feeling clunky, are totally unfounded.

And the cat is adorable.

It's just that, in the wider context of its placement, it unfortunately feels like "We need plot acceleration for Endgame, so let's bring her in!" rather than a natural evolution, like some of the preceding films managed. That's a necessary part of the MCU, though, so it isn't even a criticism; more an observation.

Like I said, things were moved about on my list for random reasons, and they're all great movies!

@RogerRoger Yeah, it was especially frustrating not getting Endgame when they were just coming out! I was in my last year of high school when Infinity War came out and then in Uni when Endgame came out so it’s a shame I couldn’t really get the conclusion to the story before we all went our separate ways.

@nessisonett Same as you in regards to Captain Marvel, plus by the time I watch films these days I've usually forgotten whatever fakerage was surrounding it when it was released. If I ever bother to look it up afterwards I'm usually wondering what all the fuss was about.

I wasn't expecting great shakes, but I just gave Venom a look-see.

It was... fine, I guess? Took a long while to get going and, whilst I really like Riz Ahmed, I thought he was unfortunately miscast as a cookie-cutter billionaire CEO villain. The highlights were the action sequences, all crammed in the second half, as well as the witty banter between Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote, which elicited a few muted smiles and one verbal chuckle. I'm not usually a Tom Hardy fan, but his performance was strong enough to carry the whole endeavour, I thought.

Overall, it just lacked energy, and felt like more of a box-ticking exercise more than anything. The sequel tease interested me, if only for the opportunity to see Woody Harrelson play an unhinged serial killer, but otherwise I reckon I'll have forgotten most of this movie's events within a week.

Perfectly average moving wallpaper for a Sunday afternoon, I suppose.

@RogerRoger It’s one of those films that I deem ‘so bad it’s mediocre’. A lot of it was absolutely terrible and unintentionally funny but then there wasn’t enough of that to make the film interesting at all. I legitimately couldn’t tell you what happened in the last hour of the movie.

@RogerRoger @nessisonett Really wish they went more with a horror vibe, like they had originally planned before the studio intervened. Instead it felt like something halfway in between and really did not know which direction to take.