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Jay

The camerawork is monotonously boring. I was really hoping to get something of interest from the first trailer...

theCapraAegagrus wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 5:54 am The camerawork is monotonously boring. I was really hoping to get something of interest from the first trailer...

Same here...not.impressed with the trailer. Something was amiss.

Dear Warner Bros. Discovery,

#RestoreTheSnyderVerse

Thanks,

Fans

The Suicide Squad is massively overrated.

Not bad, but not close to as good as current scores would indicate. Fairly average movie with some boring stuff but also some great moments.

theCapraAegagrus wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:49 am The Suicide Squad is massively overrated.

Not bad, but not close to as good as current scores would indicate. Fairly average movie with some boring stuff but also some great moments.

I agree 100%. I liked it. But, I didn't *like* like it.


I'd still like to see the Ayers cut of Suicide Squad, even though I know that will never happen. I imagine it's also pretty good but not great.

rousselle wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 12:29 pm

theCapraAegagrus wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:49 am The Suicide Squad is massively overrated.

Not bad, but not close to as good as current scores would indicate. Fairly average movie with some boring stuff but also some great moments.

I agree 100%. I liked it. But, I didn't *like* like it.


I'd still like to see the Ayers cut of Suicide Squad, even though I know that will never happen. I imagine it's also pretty good but not great.

I support The Ayer Cut in kind, but I'm not dedicated to it. There's still Leto's Joker, which blows, and what I've seen in screen shots from the director has not looked like improvements to the visual aspects lol. I would give it a fair shake if it ever got released.

Very good teaser. Definitely seeing this in December.

+1

We know that Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro are in NWH. Others have told me that both Sandman and The Lizard are also "confirmed". Who completes the Sinister Six roster?

Vulture would be my preference but I'm doubting that Keaton came back, and they teased Scorpion at the end of Homecoming, so I'm guessing that it's him.

My money would be on Vulture. Keaton was on board to be part of that role going forward, and having him would tie all three Spiderman live-action movie franchises together with regard to the villains. Otherwise, all the villains are "new" to this world, which I don't think would resonate as well.

rousselle wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:55 pm My money would be on Vulture. Keaton was on board to be part of that role going forward, and having him would tie all three Spiderman live-action movie franchises together with regard to the villains. Otherwise, all the villains are "new" to this world, which I don't think would resonate as well.

I couldn't agree with you more.

On the other hand, Scorpion or someone else new to the MCU, would avoid the entire S6 roster from being recycled.

Regardless, though, I'm getting pretty hyped for this. It's been a while since the last full-fledged MCU blockbuster, and the D+ series drip-feed can only satisfy me so much and for so long.

MagikFingerz wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:43 am On the other hand, Scorpion or someone else new to the MCU, would avoid the entire S6 roster from being recycled.

Something worth considering: In a movie playing with likely 3 Spider-Men, Doctor Strange, and all of these villains do they want to invest the time to develop Scorpion as opposed to bringing Vulture back?

theCapraAegagrus wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 10:36 am

MagikFingerz wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:43 am On the other hand, Scorpion or someone else new to the MCU, would avoid the entire S6 roster from being recycled.

Something worth considering: In a movie playing with likely 3 Spider-Men, Doctor Strange, and all of these villains do they want to invest the time to develop Scorpion as opposed to bringing Vulture back?

Is it really 3 Spider-Men though? I really want it to be, but if anything ever seemed like too good to be true...

MagikFingerz wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:12 pm Is it really 3 Spider-Men though? I really want it to be, but if anything ever seemed like too good to be true...

It wouldn't make much sense to bring back Dafoe, Molina, and Foxx to reprise their roles without having minimal appearances by Maguire and Garfield. I'm fairly sure that the Sandman and Lizard actors are reprising, too.

True, but I don't expect more than cameos.

Yeah, I'm not really sure how they're doing it, but I don't expect to see much of them.

They look to be avoiding the mistake Sam Raimi did in Spidey 3 by cramming in too many characters and still try to give them some back story. By bringing back the previous movies' S6 chars, their back story has already been told. So, no need to spend any time on their back story and just keep the focus on Spidey and the story.

MCU managed to do it well so far with Guardians and the Black Order. Giving enough time and development with multiple non A-listers and generally unknown villains. So I doubt Fiege will allow anyone to drop the ball with Spidey.

No buzz or news for Shang Chi? I've seldom had my wife been so excited to see a Marvel movie. (Cinemas are finally going to reopen after C19 lockdown since May 21) That's because her favorite actor, Tony Leung is one of the main stars. For those of us here in East Asia, Tony Leung's a mega star that's also super versatile. The initial buzz so far , from what I've heard from my wife going through the reviews, is that he steals the show and has made his mark with his long overdue Hollywood debut.

The VanityFair review seems to cover it quite well.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/20 ... tereotypes

Would love to hear what the other side of the world thinks about Shang Chi overall and how Tony played the Mandarin.

Eric Lee wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:14 pm They look to be avoiding the mistake Sam Raimi did in Spidey 3 by cramming in too many characters and still try to give them some back story. By bringing back the previous movies' S6 chars, their back story has already been told. So, no need to spend any time on their back story and just keep the focus on Spidey and the story.

Nailed it.

Eric Lee wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:14 pm No buzz or news for Shang Chi? I've seldom had my wife been so excited to see a Marvel movie. (Cinemas are finally going to reopen after C19 lockdown since May 21) That's because her favorite actor, Tony Leung is one of the main stars. For those of us here in East Asia, Tony Leung's a mega star that's also super versatile. The initial buzz so far , from what I've heard from my wife going through the reviews, is that he steals the show and has made his mark with his long overdue Hollywood debut.

Never cared for the Shang-Chi comics, and the trailers didn't convince me that it's worth seeing in theaters. I'll catch it for 'free' on Disney+ in a few weeks. Casting Aquafina was a negative for me.

Shang-Chi was a 4 out of 6 for me, solid entertainment but nothing really special. Positives: good fighting choreography, decent acting, connection to the MCU. Negatives: A few annoying plot holes, a bit heavy on clichés/tropes (no surprises in the script), and for some reason I particularly noticed a lot of "supporting character looking up in awe at the main character doing something heroic" camera shots (of which I'm aware there's an abundance of in superhero movies in general).

I enjoyed Shang-Chi well enough, and my kids thought it was one of the better Marvel movies, but one issue I had with it was the pandering. Every prominent female character is shown to be far superior to any prominent male character: Shang-Chi, whose training montage is absolutely brutal, has to have his butt kicked by his sister, who magically trained herself with zero help at all. Shang-Chi's mother kicked his father's butt, and later, she is shown to have killed, like, 40 dudes in hand-to-hand combat. Another prominent female character is given one archery lesson and then out-performs the master who taught her. I mean, it's pandering overkill.

That said, it's one of the better villains in the MCU, and the relationship between father and son has a really well-done arc.

So, I liked it better than Captain Marvel 1 and Thor 1, but I think Captain America 1 was a little better and it doesn't even hold a candle to Iron Man 1.

rousselle wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 12:11 pm I enjoyed Shang-Chi well enough, and my kids thought it was one of the better Marvel movies, but one issue I had with it was the pandering. Every prominent female character is shown to be far superior to any prominent male character: Shang-Chi, whose training montage is absolutely brutal, has to have his butt kicked by his sister, who magically trained herself with zero help at all. Shang-Chi's mother kicked his father's butt, and later, she is shown to have killed, like, 40 dudes in hand-to-hand combat. Another prominent female character is given one archery lesson and then out-performs the master who taught her. I mean, it's pandering overkill.

That said, it's one of the better villains in the MCU, and the relationship between father and son has a really well-done arc.

So, I liked it better than Captain Marvel 1 and Thor 1, but I think Captain America 1 was a little better and it doesn't even hold a candle to Iron Man 1.

Disney!!!!!!

You're one of the few people that I've seen bring this up. It was everywhere when Star Wars did it in TLJ, so the MCU must have done it better this time. Could be that Shang-Chi is a much better movie, so it's more-easily ignored, too.

I like Thor better than The First Avenger. I think a lot of people underrate the first Thor movie. Yeah, his eyebrows were whack and there were too many Dutch Angle shots, but I loved all of the characters.

rousselle wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 12:11 pm I enjoyed Shang-Chi well enough, and my kids thought it was one of the better Marvel movies, but one issue I had with it was the pandering. Every prominent female character is shown to be far superior to any prominent male character: Shang-Chi, whose training montage is absolutely brutal, has to have his butt kicked by his sister, who magically trained herself with zero help at all. Shang-Chi's mother kicked his father's butt, and later, she is shown to have killed, like, 40 dudes in hand-to-hand combat. Another prominent female character is given one archery lesson and then out-performs the master who taught her. I mean, it's pandering overkill.

That said, it's one of the better villains in the MCU, and the relationship between father and son has a really well-done arc.

So, I liked it better than Captain Marvel 1 and Thor 1, but I think Captain America 1 was a little better and it doesn't even hold a candle to Iron Man 1.

Didn't think about it when I watched it, but now that you've pointed it out it's really obvious in hindsight.

His sister magically training herself was a thing that bothered me, though. It almost invalidates Taskmaster as a character if anyone can just "watch what someone else does, and teach themselves to do it better", I think her line was (I realize TM does it way faster, but still).

Eric Lee wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:14 pm They look to be avoiding the mistake Sam Raimi did in Spidey 3 by cramming in too many characters and still try to give them some back story. By bringing back the previous movies' S6 chars, their back story has already been told. So, no need to spend any time on their back story and just keep the focus on Spidey and the story.

From what I hear, this was due to studio meddling, not Sam Raimi. I think he only wanted Sandman as the main villain and a little bit more development on Harry. The studio forced the inclusion of Venom.

Has anyone been watching What If? It started out a bit shaky and I didn't care for the first episode, but they started getting better and better after that.

EvilDuncan wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:32 pm Has anyone been watching What If? It started out a bit shaky and I didn't care for the first episode, but they started getting better and better after that.

I haven't cared enough to try watching it.

EvilDuncan wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:32 pm Has anyone been watching What If? It started out a bit shaky and I didn't care for the first episode, but they started getting better and better after that.

I've been watching (although I haven't seen the latest one, yet) and it's... I don't know. I'm enjoying them, ish, but while some of the stories are better than others, the dialog was clearly written by the benchwarmers in the writers pen who will never, ever make the varsity squad. While all of these stories are supposed to be alternate takes on the stories we already know from the movies, they are so paper thin that you really can't imagine extrapolating any of these into interesting, sophisticated full-length features like the movies that inspired them. So... yeah.

That sounds pretty damning. The fact is, for half hour or so bites, they're pretty okay entertainment. They suggest ideas that could have been fascinating in the hands of better writers, so it's kinda fun to ponder that. But, pleasant though they may be, consequential, they are not.

rousselle wrote: ↑Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:04 pm but while some of the stories are better than others, the dialog was clearly written by the benchwarmers in the writers pen who will never, ever make the varsity squad.

This was my biggest gripe about the first couple episodes. Many characters were written completely wrong and would do and say things that were completely out of character for them. This was mostly fixed by the third episode and I haven't really noticed it since. What I wanted most was for them to take these stories seriously, which they finally started doing with the Dr. Strange episode.

While all of these stories are supposed to be alternate takes on the stories we already know from the movies, they are so paper thin that you really can't imagine extrapolating any of these into interesting, sophisticated full-length features like the movies that inspired them. So... yeah.

That sounds pretty damning. The fact is, for half hour or so bites, they're pretty okay entertainment. They suggest ideas that could have been fascinating in the hands of better writers, so it's kinda fun to ponder that.

Well, that's pretty much what What If is like in the comics. They're mostly just one-off runs that show very similar ideas. The first couple I didn't really get in to, but after that I started really enjoying them. Maybe I got used to the fast pace and the art style.

But, pleasant though they may be, consequential, they are not.

I don't know, based on the last episode, these could very well play into the overarching MCU storyline moving forward.