Comic Book Movies

[Daikun]

Deleted scene from Into the Spider-Verse.

[Avaitor]

I finally saw Aquaman tonight, and I'll be honest, I much preferred the first act to the rest. It started off almost like an Arnold movie or something, but slowly started becoming more of a boilerplate super hero film, and was really starting to lose me with the road trip and samey final action sequence. It also doesn't help that it's a very similar plot to Black Panther, but with weaker acting and story structure.

Still though, it's got to be better than any of the DCEU movies with more of Snyder's touch, even if it's a step below Wonder Woman. I do hope that Shazam is a stronger alternative, however.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This is a case where I feel bad for the director (though, not too bad considering that this movie just joined the billion dollar club) since he clearly tried his damndest to make this movie great. I do still firmly believe that James Wan was the right choice for this job, and his handling of the visuals and scene composition was as good as you could get for a movie like this. The problem is that he was limited in what kind of quality he could put out by a (let's be honest here) pretty bad script. The writing was the main thing dragging this movie down.

[Dr. Insomniac]

It was interesting how the movie quietly pretended Justice League never happened, like how it contradicted the previous movie saying Aquaman hated his mom for leaving him on a doorstep by showing her raising him in a mutually loving relationship here. I also noticed a weird racial allegory, where almost all the prominent Atlanteans were played by white people, and Orm seemed really pissed off at Aquaman for his half-human heritage. And it never gets delved into enough to be a strong theme, so it's just there.

[Daikun]

The Fox Marvel movies will indeed be cancelled after Disney purchases the company. Dark Phoenix and New Mutants will be the last of them.

[Dr. Insomniac]

The Fox Marvel movies will indeed be cancelled after Disney purchases the company. Dark Phoenix and New Mutants will be the last of them.

That sucks. I know they were never going to get FF right, and the X-Men Cinematic Universe had its series finale of sorts, but there were some films there I was interested in like Hawley's Doctor Doom.

[Foggle]

I really enjoyed Fox's approach to the Marvel movies in that they definitely had their own cinematic universe but they also didn't give too much of a shit about it, like they were about the movies first and the timeline second. Very 90's/early 00's way of doing things. I'm glad Deadpool is (supposedly) safe, but it sounds like they're speaking exclusively about his character/actor, meaning they might try to reboot characters like Domino and Cable or even his entire story...

[Dr. Insomniac]

I hope this will let some of the directors/writers reveal what their scrapped plans were for the future of the franchise. Mangold said something about writing a post-Logan pitch for Laura, and I want to hear what that would have been about.

[Avaitor]

I'm a little mixed. On the one hand, I do really like a lot of the X-Men movies, and was liking how some of the more recent ones have gone in different directions than your average superhero movie, like Logan's western roots and the supposed horror spin New Mutants will have. But Fox has never really got a handle out of the non-Xverse characters, and if Apocalypse and what we're seeing of Dark Phoenix are any indication, they're not really doing great with the core X-Men as of late either.

I do want to see what the MCU will do with these characters, but I also don't want them to come off as samey as the movies sometimes get.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, Captain Marvel comes out tomorrow.

I'm a fan of superhero movies. I don't think that they are killing cinema and as a non-pretentious admirer of film who's head is not rammed firmly up my ass, I see no problems with having a "fun" time at the movies.

I also like the MCU. It has it's flaws, but what it has managed to accomplish and get right over the past decade far outweighs it's shortcomings, IMO. And Endgame (which I am incredibly excited for) is just around the corner, with Captain Marvel serving as the penultimate episode to this decade-long saga....

....And I just can't seem to bring myself to give a shit. This movie looks so mediocre and boring that it almost feels like a chore for me to take the time to watch it. I'd love to be wrong, but I'm not really expecting much of anything from it, to be honest.

[Mustang]

I'm in the same boat for the most part. However, for me, this feels like Guardians of the Galaxy. What I mean is I have no interest in that movie(s) at all, nor the characters (extra brownie points for Capcom/Marvel forcing them into MvCI). The only reason I'm even remotely interested in Captain Marvel is to see how she ties in with the Avengers. Also, if this is Carol Danvers that'd make me a little more interested as well.

I, too, am a fan of superhero movies (only Marvel though) and while I have no idea where that stuff about superhero movies are killing cinema is coming from (I try to ignore critics at all cost these days), but for me it's the only form of action left in movies (I am absolutely thrilled about Triple Threat). If there weren't any superhero movies I wouldn't be watching movies at all these days.

[Avaitor]

The reception is making this sound like another Doctor Strange-esq boilerplate origin story, but with some 90's nostalgia polish. I'll still give it a shot, but I'm not expecting Winter Solider-level quality here.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Same. Still don't get why Marvel in general wants to push Carol in place of their other female characters. Like a Black Widow movie, or a Scarlet Witch one. Or they could have done a Kamala one to plant the seeds for the next generation of MCU superheroes. Or if you wanted to plug it as an intermission between IW and Endgame, make it about Valkyrie and what happened to her.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I have no idea where that stuff about superhero movies are killing cinema is coming from

Mostly from elitist filmmakers and actors along with your typical wasteland of modern academic film snobs.

The reception is making this sound like another Doctor Strange-esq boilerplate origin story, but with some 90's nostalgia polish. I'll still give it a shot, but I'm not expecting Winter Solider-level quality here.

And even then, I'd argue that Doctor strange at least had the talents of incredibly charismatic actors like Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Mads Mikkelsen (albeit with the standard MCU villain role not giving him much to work with) to help elevate a decidedly mediocre script. If Captain Marvel at least had that going for it I'd still be interested. As it stands, Brie Larson seems to have about as much charisma as a brick wall.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Same. Still don't get why Marvel in general wants to push Carol in place of their other female characters. Like a Black Widow movie, or a Scarlet Witch one. Or they could have done a Kamala one to plant the seeds for the next generation of MCU superheroes. Or if you wanted to plug it as an intermission between IW and Endgame, make it about Valkyrie and what happened to her.

I'd personally be up for using Captain Marvel to help set up Rogue by having her take Carol's powers whenever Marvel gets around to their MCU X-Men movie.