Comic Book Movies

[Spark Of Spirit]

Looks really good. I like Marvel mixing it up with every new character like this. Keeps things fresh.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Rolling my eyes yet again at white people complaining that the Doctor Strange film is whitewashing or orientalism or whatever synonym for racist they're using now, as if this were another Last Airbender scenario. Like, so the fuck what if Doctor Strange is white? Focus on those upcoming Death Note and Ghost in the Shell movies instead if you really want to improve Asian representation in media.

[Foggle]

Why is it more valid to complain about GitS or Death Note than Dr. Strange? I thought he was supposed to be Hispanic...

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Ancient One is supposed to be asian, as far as I know. Not hearing much complaining on that change.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Why is it more valid to complain about GitS or Death Note than Dr. Strange? I thought he was supposed to be Hispanic...

Because those are actually movies where Asian characters are being played by white actors, while Strange is just a white guy playing a white character. If they had Pedro Pascal or Tony Leung as Doctor Strange, then it would've been cool. But they didn't, which is just fine because it's not like Asian representation is being set back because there's yet another white superhero around. Hearing white people campaign for people of my race is appreciated if done well, but I've rarely ever seen that happen. I just see idiots complaining over every small detail. I see sycophants who think they can talk down to others while using their agenda as an excuse. And frankly, it doesn't help people of color. It makes them look bad.

[Foggle]

What I mean is, I always heard Strange was supposed to be Hispanic. Maybe that's not true, I can't find confirmation either way, but I can see why people would complain if they did actually change him to be white, since there are almost no superheroes of that ethnicity.

It's a pretty big deal whitewashing actual Japanese stories about Japanese characters, though, yeah. And who can forget the white people complaining about kimonos at that history museum...

[gunswordfist]

Rolling my eyes yet again at white people complaining that the Doctor Strange film is whitewashing or orientalism or whatever synonym for racist they're using now, as if this were another Last Airbender scenario. Like, so the fuck what if Doctor Strange is white? Focus on those upcoming Death Note and Ghost in the Shell movies instead if you really want to improve Asian representation in media.

Pretty much. I am not even sure I am desensitized from the similar Iron Fist debacle or I just don't care.

[Daikun]

Doctor Strange trailer is finally out! https://youtu.be/wwcSki7r9cQ

I got a huge Christopher Nolan vibe from this trailer. Heck, most of the imagery looks like it was ripped straight from Inception (especially the bit with the upside-down city).

[Dr. Insomniac]

Rolling my eyes yet again at white people complaining that the Doctor Strange film is whitewashing or orientalism or whatever synonym for racist they're using now, as if this were another Last Airbender scenario. Like, so the fuck what if Doctor Strange is white? Focus on those upcoming Death Note and Ghost in the Shell movies instead if you really want to improve Asian representation in media.

Pretty much. I am not even sure I am desensitized from the similar Iron Fist debacle or I just don't care.

At first, I felt a little annoyed that Iron Fist would be played by Loras from GOT, but I just got more and more disillusioned by the arguments and inability to look at anything no matter how small without bringing racial politics to the situation. Plus, it just seemed most of those lecturing me about corrupt white people getting their hands on everything... were just more corrupt white people getting their hands on everything. It was just the next generation of pompous assholes who thought they knew everything looking down on others for abiding by every single rule of theirs. And I don't even say it as a social justice thing, because I'm pretty liberal. I think it's just an excuse for people to bully, mock, or condescend to others and then hide behind a progressive message so they look like the good guys.

[Peanutbutter]

The thing that gets me the most with the forced Tron Fist controversy is these nitwits think because of the setting and whatknot that he should be changed to an Asian character, when all that would do is raise a lot of grief from other nitwits because of how stereotypical Asian Kung Fu Guys are. These people make no sense.

Rolling my eyes yet again at white people complaining that the Doctor Strange film is whitewashing or orientalism or whatever synonym for racist they're using now, as if this were another Last Airbender scenario. Like, so the fuck what if Doctor Strange is white? Focus on those upcoming Death Note and Ghost in the Shell movies instead if you really want to improve Asian representation in media.

Pretty much. I am not even sure I am desensitized from the similar Iron Fist debacle or I just don't care.

At first, I felt a little annoyed that Iron Fist would be played by Loras from GOT, but I just got more and more disillusioned by the arguments and inability to look at anything no matter how small without bringing racial politics to the situation. Plus, it just seemed most of those lecturing me about corrupt white people getting their hands on everything... were just more corrupt white people getting their hands on everything. It was just the next generation of pompous assholes who thought they knew everything looking down on others for abiding by every single rule of theirs. And I don't even say it as a social justice thing, because I'm pretty liberal. I think it's just an excuse for people to bully, mock, or condescend to others and then hide behind a progressive message so they look like the good guys.

That's why I hate SJWs. They claim to be anti-racists and will bring out the torches and pitchforks when the truth is none of them are any less racist than the fundamentalist Christian politicians they love to snark at on Twitter. Hypocrites, all of them.



As a Christian moderate, I feel more and more like a unicorn.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I found this quote floating around RT:

The Marvel Cinematic Universe on the whole is filled with great films and blockbuster gems, but between The First Avenger, The Winter Solider and now Civil War, it's been firmly proven that they have a better grip on Captain America than any of their heroes, and it can be said with confidence that the three movies come together to create the greatest superhero trilogy of all time.

I'm pretty excited.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If Captain America: Civil War is even half as good as the early reviews indicate that it is, then DC is in deeper shit than they already are now.

Having Batman V. Superman bomb with critics big time and do such a mundane job at the box office despite having virtually no competition for multiple consecutive weeks is bad enough as it is, especially after the mixed reception to Man of Steel a few years ago. But add on to that the fact that just a mere month prior to its release, Deadpool did amazing in both aspects which BVS failed with, and just over a month later, Civil War may do the same, and it'll be a case of a shitty DC movie sandwiched directly in-between two great Marvel movies. Now consider this from the general movie-going audience's point of view: a big-budget DC movie with the two most iconic superheroes of all time was shit compared to an R-rated, significantly lower budget movie about a less well-known character, as well as another Marvel movie that has a very similar "versus" set-up and does the same concept infinitely better. Despite being movies from three different studios, this will make the general public think that DC is just crap all-around, and that Marvel can do no wrong.

You see, most casual viewers don't care about or pay attention to details about writers, directors, and various aspects of the behind-the-scenes staff and process that goes into making these movies, so it won't register to people that a lot of DC's missteps so far can be blamed directly on people like Zack Snyder and the rest of the creative team behind DC's films. This can be more harmful to DC than just having future films from them underperform, because it will also effect important sales of merchandise and comic books, which they also heavily rely on from a financial standpoint. Every new Marvel movie attracts new people to start buying and reading their comics, and the toys and licensed material associated with that universe and those characters. If the movies sucked, then the fandom would dwindle to only the more serious fans, who make up a much smaller percentage of all of the people who pay money for Marvel-related products. This is basically what could happen to DC if they don't get their act together fast.

It'll be very telling to see how Sucide Squad performs now that BVS has already started off DC's year with insanely shaky footing.

[Dr. Insomniac]

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

[GregX]

An interview with Zach Snyder from 2008 about Watchmen that reveals a lot more about his mindset:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First 300, now Watchmen — have you always been a comics fan?

ZACK SNYDER: I came to comic books through my mother. I loved fantasy art — I love Frank Frazetta [the famed illustrator known for adult-oriented, sword-and-sorcery, and sci-fi imagery]. I went to boarding school. You weren't allowed too many posters up, and everything I set up was slightly inappropriate. Frazetta's naked girls, ripped up guys — the kids were like, "What the hell?!" They had their Boy George posters up, I had crazy Frazetta. My mother saw I was into this comic called Heavy Metal magazine, so she got me a subscription. You could call it "high-brow" comics, but to me, that comic book was just pretty sexy! I had a buddy who tried getting me into "normal" comic books, but I was all like, "No one is having sex or killing each other. This isn't really doing it for me." I was a little broken, that way. So when Watchmen came along, I was, "This is more my scene."

And the funniest part in hindsight:

EW: Several filmmakers have tried to turn Watchmen into a movie and failed. One issue Hollywood has always had with the material is that it requires an intimate familiarity with the superhero genre in order to fully appreciate it. Does the fact that Watchmen is finally being made into a movie indicate something has changed in the culture?

ZS: The average movie audience has seen — well, I can't even count the amount of superhero movies. Fantastic Four, X-Men, Superman, Spider-Man. The Marvel universe has gone nuts; we're going to have a fricking Captain America movie if we're not careful. Thor, too! We're on our second Hulk movie. And Iron Man — $300 million domestic box office on a second tier superhero! And not to demean Iron Man — my point is that we all know about superheroes now. I can ask my mother, "Mom, when the Hulk isn't the Hulk, who is he?" "Bruce Banner. Why? What a weird question." I could ask her, "What happened to Bruce Wayne's parents?" "They were killed at an opera." You're getting to that saturation level where superhero movies, it's hard for them to figure out what more to do.

EW: Well, one new point of difference is make them more grim and gritty, like Hancock or The Dark Knight, which seems to also work in Watchmen's favor —

ZS: Everyone says that about [Christopher Nolan's] Batman Begins. "Batman's dark." I'm like, okay, "No, Batman's cool." He gets to go to a Tibetan monastery and be trained by ninjas. Okay? I want to do that. But he doesn't, like, get raped in prison. That could happen in my movie. If you want to talk about dark, that's how that would go. I believe that pop culture is just, like, so ready for Watchmen. We tried so hard to ride that wave between satire and reality, and all the things that make you still care about the character, but you don't miss the commentary about them. Nite-Owl is Batman. The guy has a fricking cave under his house! No doubt a fanboy will look at the movie and not get it. "He looks just like Batman!" Precisely. When people saw our version of the Ozymandias costume on the Internet, some were like, "It's like a Joel Schumacher Batman movie! The costume has nipples! That's crazy!" And I'm like, "Yeah, but that's the point!" With their comic, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were saying, "Superheroes are kinda funky, aren't they?" We build upon that with a movie that acknowledges that superhero movies have affected pop culture.

Dude's a hack.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I had a buddy who tried getting me into "normal" comic books, but I was all like, "No one is having sex or killing each other. This isn't really doing it for me." I was a little broken, that way. So when Watchmen came along, I was, "This is more my scene."

we're going to have a fricking Captain America movie if we're not careful.

But he doesn't, like, get raped in prison. That could happen in my movie. If you want to talk about dark, that's how that would go.

We've got Edgy McEdgerson, the eternal eighth grader, over here.

Whoever decided this was the right guy to even touch superheroes really has no idea what they're doing. But considering this is WB's movie division, I'm fairly convinced there's nobody there who does.