Best movie you've seen

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
I didn't like Daredevil Season 2 as much as the first season. I think the writing for the Punisher was pretty flat and there was a missing human element from not having the Ben Ullrich character around. There also aren't many ties to the other Marvel Cinematic properties and there's no clear big bad over the course of the season. It's still highly enjoyable and I can't fault the production design or fight choreography. If anything, I'd say the writers didn't work as hard as they could have to create tension through the 13 episodes.

I'm particularly unconvinced that Daredevil can see the Punisher as "a good guy" in spite of his being an admitted murderer. Comic Book Daredevil has a much more nuanced relationship that I really feel got dumbed down. It's never more apparent than in Episode 3, when the two characters just keep restating the same positions over and over instead of actually having some kind of conversation. I don't think the actors did a bad job, but adult human beings don't speak to each other in that way, even in comic books.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
I don't like Superman as a character and Zack Snyder has made exactly one decent movie (Watchmen), so I don't have any interest in Batman vs. Superman. Since Wednesday (four days at time of writing), its critic score on Rotten Tomatoes has dropped from 40% to 29% and Metacritic has it at 44%. I already know the plot and I feel comfortable saying it's about as far from the portrayals that most people would be familiar with at this point, the Timm/Dini Animated versions, as it could be. My friends wanted me to go last night and even not having to pay for my dinner or the ticket, I chose to stay home and putter with my PCs.

WB can't really put a halt to its Justice League or Wonder Woman movies but Hollywood trade press seems to think that plans for post-2017 franchise movies might be off the table now and/or Zack Snyder and David Goyer might need to find other employers.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
You are a "single loner-type" with "friends"? I wonder what that makes me? As you are more socially connected than I'll ever be.

Most of my friends are dancers. I can pretty much always find one or two or four of them if I want to go out and do something, but that doesn't mean I have end-of-evening bedroom company.

Will Rickards said:
Saw the new batman vs superman movie. It was good. Critics are too critical.

What I understand to be the problems boil down to these things:
1. Batman doesn't act like a detective. He's just a brute who hurts people to get what he wants. That's basically true to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns (Batman at the end of his career, basically acting like Judge Dredd) comic, but it's totally at odds with every other version of the character.
2. Superman hardly does anything except look stoic and be a Jesus analogue. And Henry Cavill has already played Jesus, but this Jesus is kind of a dick.
2.1. The thing that gets Batman and Superman to stop fighting is deeply moronic.
3. Jesse Eisenberg tries too hard to be Heath Ledger
4. It's basically one two and a half hour trailer for the Justice League movie

Putting aside the "Comic Book Nerd" complaints, the overall feel I've gotten from reading about it is that these versions of the characters often don't feel like solid foundation for more movies.
I understand the movie made a lot of money this weekend, but the expectation is that word of mouth is negative enough that it's going to have a disproportionate drop-off over the next couple weeks.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
I didn't like Daredevil Season 2 as much as the first season. I think the writing for the Punisher was pretty flat and there was a missing human element from not having the Ben Ullrich character around. There also aren't many ties to the other Marvel Cinematic properties and there's no clear big bad over the course of the season. It's still highly enjoyable and I can't fault the production design or fight choreography. If anything, I'd say the writers didn't work as hard as they could have to create tension through the 13 episodes.

I'm particularly unconvinced that Daredevil can see the Punisher as "a good guy" in spite of his being an admitted murderer. Comic Book Daredevil has a much more nuanced relationship that I really feel got dumbed down. It's never more apparent than in Episode 3, when the two characters just keep restating the same positions over and over instead of actually having some kind of conversation. I don't think the actors did a bad job, but adult human beings don't speak to each other in that way, even in comic books.

I'm in agreement with you about not liking Daredevil Season 2 as much as season 1. I'd much rather have seen them focus more on Punisher and DD rather than introduce or focus at all on Elektra. I really am apathetic to her and their story and in most fight scenes just want her to get killed off so we can move on.
 

Will Rickards

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
2,011
Location
Here
Website
willrickards.net
Spoilers maybe.

1. Batman doesn't act like a detective. He's just a brute who hurts people to get what he wants. That's basically true to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns (Batman at the end of his career, basically acting like Judge Dredd) comic, but it's totally at odds with every other version of the character.

There isn't much mystery to be solved here. But the one that does need to be solved, what lex is up to, is solved by bruce wayne.
So I'd say this criticism isn't really valid.

2. Superman hardly does anything except look stoic and be a Jesus analogue. And Henry Cavill has already played Jesus, but this Jesus is kind of a dick.

I think humanizing superman is what they did correctly in the first movie and continues in this one. I personally like cavill's superman.
It shows where he is trying to do the right thing but other forces have conspired against him.
I believe it shows how he is going to transition from naive superhero to true force for good.

2.1. The thing that gets Batman and Superman to stop fighting is deeply moronic.

Indeed. The premise for the fight is weak. At so many points it could have been avoided with more dialogue between them.
I think this is largely why it is getting criticized. But I think heroes making mistakes is the point of the film.

3. Jesse Eisenberg tries too hard to be Heath Ledger

His dialogue is so weird most of the time. I'm not sure he could have played straight genius gone mad. So he just plays it like he did.
I think casting here was a bit off (like with Lois).

4. It's basically one two and a half hour trailer for the Justice League movie

While most of the inserts for the justice league foreshadowing were not distracting from the main story, some were.
Then we're just supposed to believe wonder woman will join up and help find/recruit metahumans because of a feeling from batman.
I think her motivation is the weakest point.
Why is batman having premonitions? The nerds picked up on the darkseid imagery.
So they know the league will be needed to defeat him.

Putting aside the "Comic Book Nerd" complaints, the overall feel I've gotten from reading about it is that these versions of the characters often don't feel like solid foundation for more movies.
I understand the movie made a lot of money this weekend, but the expectation is that word of mouth is negative enough that it's going to have a disproportionate drop-off over the next couple weeks.

I think they've got the villain already and his scope will require a league of heroes. I don't know much about the next movie.
As for the money it has made, it topped every march opening. The monetary performance was great. I think the overly critical reviews are dampening expectations, not the movie itself.
You get to see batman vs superman. It is fun regardless. I think Cavill is great casting for superman and plays it well. The batman casting was a bit weird but he pulls it off just fine. Wonder woman can fight but we don't get much as far as character development from her.

Honestly what they are trying to do in this movie was a lot. Rebooting batman for one. I'll accept the criticism that they tried to do too much in one movie.
As such it isn't going to be able to resonate with audiences as well as one with just one story. It was still good.
Go see it.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
Not that it isn't all over the internet but here's the first full trailer for Star Wars: Rogue One.


And for Lunar's benefit, this one happens in between the 70s/80s movies and the Prequel films. It's doesn't involve characters from the other movies (well, Senator Mon Mothma) and the plan from Disney is to alternate between making sequels to the main franchise and stand-alone movies set in the same universe at a rate of one movie per year until they stop making money.

I hope the Imperial guy in the white uniform is a Grand Inquisitor. I'd like to see something from Rebels show up in the movies.

The cliffhanger for the end of this season of Rebels was all kinds of awesome, by the way, though it does give an out to explain how Ashoka could still be around past the end of the Clone Wars.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,737
Location
USA
That trailer and storyline looks more interesting to me than the latest movie that was released.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
Disney seems to have perfected the art of making this blockbuster genre films.

I'm not in "need a change of underwear" territory but that looks like a Star Wars movie and I want to know more about everything that's going on, like who the hell the guy in the black robes is and what Forest Whitaker is supposed to be. That's kind of a perfect teaser.
 

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
5,278
Location
Chicago, IL
YouTube screw up the mobile view. Instead of going directly to the anchor of the latest post it always scrolls to the top.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
So I finally saw The Force Awakens for the first time tonight on Blu-ray. I really wanted to like it, but it was kind of meh. The amount of plot reuse from 4-6 surprised me. It was like they couldn't come up with a single new original idea.

Are they going to mimic the plot of the prequels for #8? :rolleyes:
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
I believe the point of the new movie is to reinforce the cyclical nature of the force and the Skywalker family's role in its fate. Anakin and Luke unified the two sides, but it could not remain whole. It fractured and the cycle had to start again.

I'd say someone basically filtered out all the story content from the A New Hope script and tried to match its dramatic tension at any moment from point-to-point in the new film, but I also don't think that's a bad thing.

I do kind of wonder what the New Order is thinking with building another planet-sized superweapon, particularly when the larger Star Destroyers are already supposed to be planetary siege tools.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
16,624
Location
USA
I believe the point of the new movie is to reinforce the cyclical nature of the force and the Skywalker family's role in its fate. Anakin and Luke unified the two sides, but it could not remain whole. It fractured and the cycle had to start again.

I'd say someone basically filtered out all the story content from the A New Hope script and tried to match its dramatic tension at any moment from point-to-point in the new film, but I also don't think that's a bad thing.

I do kind of wonder what the New Order is thinking with building another planet-sized superweapon, particularly when the larger Star Destroyers are already supposed to be planetary siege tools.

It's all for money. The kids and the Chinese have not seen all the movies in theatres.
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
I believe the point of the new movie is to reinforce the cyclical nature of the force and the Skywalker family's role in its fate. Anakin and Luke unified the two sides, but it could not remain whole. It fractured and the cycle had to start again.

I'd say someone basically filtered out all the story content from the A New Hope script and tried to match its dramatic tension at any moment from point-to-point in the new film, but I also don't think that's a bad thing.
So after thinking about it a bit more another thought that went through my head is that J.J. Abrams wanted to create an homage to the original, hence the heavy similarities. Like the trench scene. However, you could have had some tributes via mimicked shots without mirroring the larger plot elements.

I do kind of wonder what the New Order is thinking with building another planet-sized superweapon, particularly when the larger Star Destroyers are already supposed to be planetary siege tools.
And this one seems really poorly thought out. It's a planet and is therefore stationary. But it takes it power from the star nearby. So, once it zaps all the energy from the star, what is it supposed to do? From memory I believe at least the Death Stars could move.
 

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
5,278
Location
Chicago, IL
Once the star's energy was gone couldn't the planet use the the energy to move out of the gravitational well somehow?
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
Once the star's energy was gone couldn't the planet use the the energy to move out of the gravitational well somehow?
No idea... The whole thing is an excessive amount of hand waving. You can't just take the energy from a star. The energy is a side effect of the fusion reaction going on in the core. If you were to siphon the "energy" you'd also have to take the mass and plasma which would greatly increase the mass of the planet, decrease the mass of the star which would completely mess up the orbit of the planet by altering the gravitational balance and ultimately would send the planet flying off into space once the star was basically gone. Additionally, the reactive force (recoil) on the planet from firing the weapon would also cause issues. Then, there's the matter of aim. The weapon can only fire in a ring and the rotation of the planet about it's axis controls the aim at any given moment... Better hope all your potential targets are in that ring.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
A lot of Star Wars does not encourage careful thinking about Physics. Hyperspeed and the like, no just planet destroying directed energy weapons or invisible, projected shields that protect an object the size of a small moon.
On the other hand, canon sources say things like "The Galactic Republic perfected its understanding of physics 10000 years ago..." so, you know, advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic and all.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
Is that considered canon?

It's complicated, but the rules boil down to the absolute canon being the films, then the in-canon TV shows (Clone Wars and Rebels), then the comic books and the newer series of novels. The movies have precedence over everything, so if there's a contradiction, the movies win. Any secondary source that pre-dates the Disney purchase is no longer relevant to the current property.
Some stuff from the Knights of the Old Republic games made its way in to Rebels, so they're not completely invalidating everything.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
There was a new Marvel movie. That means, as usual, that I went to the first public showing.

This is the thirteenth Marvel movie. And we all have favorites, but there's at least some consensus on top-tier outings. The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier are usually right at the top of the list.

Civil War is like those two movies made sweet sweet love and had a beautiful baby.

How much so? Well, there's probably 20 big-name characters in the cast. None of them feels like an afterthought. Everyone has a distinct voice. Everyone gets a moment in the sun and usually several.

Also, the fight sequences are at least on par with the Winter Soldier and the Super-Heroics are... really super. A lot more done in the vertical plane, and there's an effort very early in the movie to show just how much different Cap and Winter Soldier are from mere mortals. The fight sequences are brutal, bone-jarring affairs and at times there's a real whip-saw between comedic beats and some kind of hardcore violence. But if you want to see a guy palm a motorcycle, this movie has got you covered.

I want more of Hawkeye. And Ant-Man. And actual 15-year-old New Yorker Spider-Man (instead of 32 year old British hipster douche). Spider-Man's origin as presented in the movie (not a spoiler, because we ALL already know it): "Yeah it's complicated..." There. Done. Beautiful. And we get about 20 minutes of screen time for that character, and also a completely plausible reason why he's not running around Manhattan with all the Defenders (The Netflix characters) but still clearly a super-hero whom Tony Stark might somehow know about.

Are there bad things to say: I don't think so. Not without being REALLY nit-picky. The first act takes a while to build into something. MAYBE the conflict will seem forced, but given the groundwork that was laid in EVERY Captain America, Iron Man and Avengers movie, I'd say it's a reasonable reason that they'd be concerned about the matter. Maybe I didn't like Black Widows hair? Is that really a problem?
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
Oh and also, there are two stingers. The first is after the graphical portion of the credits, the second after the complete credits roll. My second viewing was at a $5 matinee filled with older couples. They didn't find the movie as funny as the opening night crowd, but there was also a lot more gasping over some of the CG and some of the stunts.

I don't think IMAX is worth what it costs. That's typical for a Marvel movie. I do think it's worth going for the opening-day experience of being in a room with other people who made a point to be at an IMAX showing on opening day. Amazingly, for the first time in a long while, I had the option to see an IMAX movie that didn't require 3D, but even with that, it's not so grand a spectacle that it needs the extra-huge screen and associated extra-high prices.
 

sedrosken

Florida Man
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
1,590
Location
Eglin AFB Area
Just saw Civil War today with a couple of my friends and while I found it entertaining while I was in the theater, I didn't really remember much of it once I left. I found the nods to earlier Avenger films pretty cool.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
21,564
Location
I am omnipresent
My friends like to do this thing where no one can go at the same time but they all like seeing super-hero movies with me. So I'm at three viewings now because of COURSE I want to go again. I'll be happy to break down what's going on in as much or little detail as anyone would like. Also, related to the very end of the movie in as non-spoilery a fashion as I possibly can, I suspect very strongly that a next Captain America appearance will involve something that Coulson was seen using in last week's episode of Agents of SHIELD.

Something else I realized last night: Someone loses a hand in every one of the phase 2 movies.
 

Howell

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
4,740
Location
Chattanooga, TN
I finally saw the Deadpool. It was unpleasant and sad, not at all what I expected. The main character really needed medical attention and psychiatric treatment.

Lololololololol. Rofl. I think you missed part of the movie explaining his healing ability.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
16,624
Location
USA

I remember seeing that at the time. It certainly has a lot of memorable lines. :rofl:

Debbi: Duke, let's go do some crimes.
Duke: Yeah. Let's go get sushi and not pay.

Miller: The more you drive, the less intelligent you are.

The whole scene about John Wayne was ridicluous as well.
 
Top