Comic Book Movies

[Spark Of Spirit]

Either way, it's supposedly the last X-Men movie (before they reboot/revamp/whatever it) so it should have some hype. And since I've seen the other movies in theater, including the bad ones, I'll probably see this too. My lack of hype is mostly because I have always hated Apocalypse in every single form he's ever been in, so it's hard to push past that.

[Foggle]

There's also the fact that practically half of the wold has already seen it and said that it was amazing and is simultaneously a great conclusion to the Cap Trilogy while also being the best Spider-Man movie that we've ever had, so it's a no-brainer that we should be excited to see it.

Well, yes, but I've been excited for it since before then.

And I do have faith in Apocalypse! I think it will be a great movie, I'm just not itching to see it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Either way, it's supposedly the last X-Men movie (before they reboot/revamp/whatever it) so it should have some hype.

The last few movies are already a soft reboot for the first trilogy, and Singer hints he wants to play the long game and allude to a Dark Phoenix movie, so nothing's ending yet. It might not even be the last time Mystique appears ever since Jennifer Lawrence flip-flopped on that position.

[Avaitor]

The X-Men movies are somehow under the radar in comparison to the MCU, Spider-Man, or even DCCU.

I'm still surprised by how many people I know who haven't seen a non-Deadpool movie in the franchise to date.

[Peanutbutter]

I think there are some people hyped for the film it just feels like its muted because its coming out between Batman vs. Superman and Capt. America: Civil War. Deadpool wouldn't have half the hype it had if it and X-Men switched places.

[GregX]

[Peanutbutter]

That tweet is hilarious. Well played.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Russos talk to Honest Trailers about the Winter Soldier.

It's pretty informative about the movie.

[Foggle]

Well, here's a very... interesting review of Batman v Superman that attempts to defend the film.

I have no particular reason to prefer Snyder's DC adaptations to Disney's Marvel ones other than the fact that the former are actually good whilst the latter are not because Disney are money-seeking whores.

Zack Snyder understands this mentality that I love his superhero films so much. He understands that portraying characters accurately and with a sense of fun should never be a priority compared to telling an actual story, and he understands that the concept of the superhero itself is inherently stupid.

With Watchmen, Snyder transformed the most well-regarded comic book of all-time into a tribute/criticism of the genre's "recent-at-the-time" turn into faux-grittiness with those X-Men/Spiderman films and Nolan's stuff whilst ditching the Cold War metaphors that wouldn't really connect with today's audiences.

I've read a lot of criticisms regarding Batman v Superman and it's pretty much just the reaction to Evangelion 3.0 all over again: some valid ones in regards to the performances and such, but most of them come off to me like they're reaching. More specifically, the complaints regarding the presentation and how confusing it is to follow. Maybe it's because I've seen Jodorowsky, Bergman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and am currently watching Concrete Revolutio as of this moment of writing, but Batman v Superman and its multiple out-of-nowhere dream sequences were as easy to follow as the 1989 Batman film if you ask me.

Then there's the criticism that this movie is a big advertisement for the Justice League movie, which I just had to laugh at upon hearing that that complaint was a thing. Whilst it may be true that Batman v Superman's main reason for existing – besides getting Batman to fight Superman of course – was for WB to advertise the thing, that doesn't automatically negate everything else you can read from it. Also, when have any of the other superhero movies not been more than long advertisements to a much bigger movie? Did the first Iron Man have any purpose in its plot other than to promise a future gathering of superheroes? Was Winter Soldier more than the characters getting betrayed by their organization and preparing to fight them in the future?

From the dour mood to the "stupid" characterization of our leads, everything is done for that purpose. And destroy, Batman v Superman does, to the point that it might even be considered Snyder's End of Evangelion

Batman v Superman doesn't just exist to introduce another big player in today's current trends. It wants us to question whether or not what we're getting right now is really all that satisfying.

In fact, I can just see the board meeting for the writing process of Batman v Superman right now. "Sorry fanboys, but Jimmy Olsen has no place here and we're not going to keep him around just to satisfy your desire for comic loyalty like that other company would do. However, I think we found a way to integrate him into our story naturally for a few moments. Boom! Headshot!" *laughter all around*.

This film is completely unapologetic about how much it refuses to play by the rules of what the mass market considers acceptable, and whilst that's often a bad thing because it tends to lead to nowhere but shallow hipster-ism, Batman v Superman has a goal and a reason to use its rule-breaking for said goal. And as a post-modern critique of our current pop culture and how it treats superheroes, I'd say Batman v Superman always stays on course with few – if any – deviations and comes together very well at making its point by the end.

At the end of the day, I think the meta-narrative that pervades the film's runtime is strong enough to overcome those flaws and narrative holes. I'd even advise people who like what Disney is doing to watch this movie with my viewpoint in mind. Hey, if they can't take criticism, then they shouldn't be criticizing movies to begin with. Batman v Superman is easily the best film I've seen this year and I doubt I'll see better unless Sion Sono has some unannounced project coming out soon that actually has a chance 0f getting subbed. I'd even go so far as to say it surpasses Snyder's previous attempts at superhero storytelling, and given how much they push the bar to begin with, that's saying a lot. With the movie not performing as well as Warner Brothers hoped, I can't say for sure whether the DC universe has a bright future ahead. But I'd rather take a good thing that's short-lived over one that overstays its welcome to the point of indifference. Dear lord, The Force Awakens is a lot lamer on rewatch; and if the following films don't try much harder, Star Wars is going to end up like the Indiana Jones franchise – a popular series we all love that we want no more of, and yet we're getting more anyways.

Minor Quips

    So how about the recent positive response to that Captain America: Civil War film, huh?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, it's a pretty awful review.

The money quote:

I'd even advise people who like what Disney is doing to watch this movie with my viewpoint in mind.

Because he gets it, don't you know? The only reason you hate it is because you just aren't smart enough to get it. It's one of those "You have to watch it the right way to understand its brilliance" folks that are more interested in appearing smart and sophisticated than actually being so. It only fits that the reviewer is one of those NGE fans.

Dude probably hangs out at the modern art museums and heaps praise on the stack of broken toilets as the peak of human achievement, too.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Was that review maybe meant to be published on April 1st by any chance?

[Peanutbutter]

Yeah, it's a pretty awful review.

The money quote:

I'd even advise people who like what Disney is doing to watch this movie with my viewpoint in mind.

Because he gets it, don't you know? The only reason you hate it is because you just aren't smart enough to get it. It's one of those "You have to watch it the right way to understand its brilliance" folks that are more interested in appearing smart and sophisticated than actually being so. It only fits that the reviewer is one of those NGE fans.

Dude probably hangs out at the modern art museums and heaps praise on the stack of broken toilets as the peak of human achievement, too.

Ugh, there is no such thing as "watching something wrong". That has got to be THE most pretentious argument on the entire Internet. This guy's just a stuck-up jock strap.

[Dr. Insomniac]

"Captain America: Civil War was pretty bad. In addition to the usual Marvel problems, there wasn't a single action scene without shaky-cam."

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just watched Civil War. I really liked it, but there's a few things to note:

-It really is more of an MCU film than a stand-alone Captain America film. Despite being a huge Cap fan, though, I don't mean that as a bad thing. It's still an incredibly well-made film in its own right. I would even say that it's in my top five MCU films.

-This film is definitely very continuity heavy, so be sure that you remember past MCU films well enough, because a lot of characters and big events come back and play a crucial role in this movie.

-Spider-Man is awesome. This is the best live-action incarnation of the character to date, IMO, especially if you're a fan of TSSM, but don't expect to see all that much of him in this film. He plays a relatively small part in it.

-The first third of this movie is surprisingly slow, but does a great job of setting everything up.

Putting those things aside, I really enjoyed just about everything in this film. Incidentally, my theater decorated half the seats with Iron Man's logo and the other half with Captain America's. Guess which side I sat on?

[Avaitor]

Anyone up to do a talkback for it this time?

I'm a little too busy right now to set it up.