Comic Book Movies

[Avaitor]

I finally saw The Suicide Squad, and I have to say that this is probably my favorite DC film now, and I think I like it as much as the Guardian films. It's a lot of fun!

And I should get around to Super as well, I completely missed that.

[Dr. Insomniac]

A strange realization that Bloodsport is the first Superman villain to appear in movies who isn't another iteration or associate of Luthor or Zod.

[Foggle]

James Gunn shouted out Suda51 and Lollipop Chainsaw as inspiration for Harley's big fight scene in The Suicide Squad and it makes me smile like you wouldn't believe.



I love them so much!

[Daikun]

Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer

Got any thoughts on it?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Annoying these MCU Spidey movies feel more like Marvel Team-Up stories (Spider-Man and Iron Man vs The Vulture! Spider-Man and the Skrulls vs Mysterio! Spider-Man and Doctor Strange vs the Sinister Six!), and we've still yet to get one that's just Peter and MJ grounded in New York. Sure, it's the tone these movies are aiming for and getting mad about it is like criticizing Brave and the Bold for not being a solo Batman show, but I think Holland needs at least one street-level Spider-Man movie to even out all the ones where he hops all over the country/world/multiverse. Give me Spider-Man: Stuck at Home or Spider-Man: Homework.

And just show me Maguire and Garfield already.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'd argue that Homecoming is still a solo Spider-Man movie at it's core. Tony Stark only has a collective 8-minutes of screen time in that movie and never actually teams up with Spider-Man in any scene. He works as a background character without stealing the show from Peter.

Far From Home definitely feels like a Spider-Man and Nick Fury/SHIELD crossover story, though, but that's not my biggest problem with it. That one has pretty weak writing on the whole, IMO. I still maintain that Homecoming is pretty good, though.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I thought Homecoming was good too, and Far From Home had glaring missteps (Tony gifts Peter with an army of kill-drones?). I just think there should've been a Spider-Man movie where Holland's Peter gets to ground himself some more before we do the wacky multiverse one.

Speaking of Spider-Man, now that we have photographic proof Andrew Garfield's back thanks to leaks, his tenure feels like such a trainwreck but I'm still curious what its legacy is. Unlike Maguire or Holland, he never got a great Spider-Man movie. I thought ASM 1 was boring, and I hated its sequel. His era comes off as such a middle step-child in between the other two Spideys that it's kind of a blur to me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You can also tell from interviews how genuinely disappointing it was for Garfield himself. He clearly wanted to do this role beyond just a paycheck (much like how Robert Pattinson is doing Batman because he genuinely likes the character). The whole experience and backstage politics really affected him and he has stated that the experience left him a bit weary of big blockbuster roles going forward. That's likely why he had established himself far more as a character actor since then.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, I read that one where he was angered that Sony pressured him to apologize for suggesting the ASM MJ could be a guy and his iteration of Peter could explore his sexuality. And that Sony was apparently going to recast him even before they considered a deal with Marvel Studios. Garfield had a vision for Spider-Man that was at odds with Sony's, similar to when Raimi quit Spider-Man 4 because he was exhausted by the company's demands.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I definitely got excited hearing Dafoe's laugh as the Green Goblin and seeing Molina as Doc Ock, and I'm not even that nostalgic for the Raimi trilogy. Doctor Strange's motivation for helping Peter seems kinda flimsy but maybe it'll come across better with more context. Personally, even though we know Maguire and Garfield are gonna be in the movie, I don't want to see them in any trailers. I would rather their appearances in the movie be a surprise going into it, so even though we know it's going to happen, we won't have any context to judge when it will, which I think would just make their appearances feel more exciting and special, but maybe that's just me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I do hope that they are just extended cameos in this movie. It's neat to see them, of course, but they shouldn't overshadow the MCU Peter Parker in his own movie.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I kinda agree. I think it would be neat to see a team-up in the last act of the movie, but yeah, I do think it would be better for the film to not go full Spider-Verse and just keep the focus squarely on Holland. 

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'm on the fence with that. While they shouldn't overshadow Holland at all, I want them to have something to contribute in the movie besides the team-up pose. Not saying they should go "Okay, let's wrap up whatever loose threads were in the Raimi and Webb films and conclude those Peters' character arcs", but these are Spider-Men with unfinished stories (ASM 2 ended on a cliffhanger, Spider-Man 3 ended more on a reconciliation than a big conclusion) and there should be some resolution for both of them now there's a chance. Show Maguire Peter married to Dunst Mary Jane. Show if Garfield Peter's still in grief over Gwen's death and the big mystery revolving around his parents.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just saw Shang-Chi, which I admittedly wasn't expecting much from based on the trailers. It was a pleasant surprise and much better than I expected overall. It's nothing you haven't already seen before from other superhero origin films, but it's still executed pretty well for what it is. Like a lot of other people have said, the action is a lot better here than in most MCU movies, and the villain is among the more memorable and emotionally nuanced ones in the MCU. Still, it does fall into more than a few genre trappings which, even for me are getting to be a little too old-hat at this point.

That said, it's the kind of superhero flick that has an unironically fun and mystical tone, and isn't ashamed of that fact. It's kind of refreshing with all of the cynical takes that have become so prevalenf lately, even including some of the better done ones.

I'd say that this is upper-mid-tier MCU. I like it far more than Black Widow or Spider-Man: Far From Home, slightly more than Doctor Strange or the first Ant-Man, but not quite as good as the original Iron Man, the first two Cap movies, Guardians, or The Avengers/Infinity War/Endgame. Still, it's the most I've enjoyed an MCU movie in a while.

[Dr. Insomniac]

It needed less Awkwafina and more Tony Leung.