[Movies] MCU: Phase 3 And Beyond

If I was 15-20 yrs younger, I'd probably know all the internet darkness. :minionevil:
Or if you lived in Toronto. Last winter, an asshole incel drove a van up onto the sidewalk and aimed at the women in his way. In the summer, another incel asshole went on a shooting spree on a neighborhood full of restaurants, specifically targeting women.
 
This guy sounds like he'd be really into reaction videos on Youtube.

As a side note, I am also into reaction videos on Youtube, but generally speaking only if the reactor is a hot girl.
 
Or if you lived in Toronto. Last winter, an asshole incel drove a van up onto the sidewalk and aimed at the women in his way. In the summer, another incel asshole went on a shooting spree on a neighborhood full of restaurants, specifically targeting women.
And in November, yet another asshole incel shot up a yoga studio in Florida.

There are plenty of other guys who can't get a date or who struggle in relationships. But they don't take out their anger and insecurities on women. These bums are the lowest of the low.
 
So I'm seeing some "meh" reviews and some "Awesome!" reviews... but nothing truly negative yet. The "worst" one I saw so far talked about how the reviewer is tired of superhero movies and criticized the film for using brands, logos, and songs popular from 1996-1998 in a 1995 setting. I feel like that reviewer wasn't going to be a fan from the get-go.

Overall it looks to be another good Marvel movie, although it won't be Black Panther good.
 
So I'm seeing some "meh" reviews and some "Awesome!" reviews... but nothing truly negative yet. The "worst" one I saw so far talked about how the reviewer is tired of superhero movies and criticized the film for using brands, logos, and songs popular from 1996-1998 in a 1995 setting. I feel like that reviewer wasn't going to be a fan from the get-go.

Overall it looks to be another good Marvel movie, although it won't be Black Panther good.
I don't think anyone expected it to be THAT good. I figured it'd be about Dr Strange or Ant-Man range. Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible but solid.
 
I don't think anyone expected it to be THAT good. I figured it'd be about Dr Strange or Ant-Man range. Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible but solid.
It sounds like "Ant-Man" levels of quality, which is good but not great. But a lot of people apparently had sky-high hopes for it. When criticizing it I often see complaints that it doesn't elevate women the same way that Black Panther elevated people of African decent. Also, apparently it's a "step backward" because it was expected that the MCU maintain the quality levels of Black Panther and Infinity War from here on (no, I'm not exaggerating).
 
It sounds like "Ant-Man" levels of quality, which is good but not great. But a lot of people apparently had sky-high hopes for it. When criticizing it I often see complaints that it doesn't elevate women the same way that Black Panther elevated people of African decent. Also, apparently it's a "step backward" because it was expected that the MCU maintain the quality levels of Black Panther and Infinity War from here on (no, I'm not exaggerating).
That's just unrealistic expectations.
 
And it's also the reason why everybody says the matrix sequels sucked. They were just as good as the first one, just everybody expected them to be as much more mindblowing than the first as the first was than the baseline.
Yep. Although, I really liked the sequels, I wouldn't put them exactly on par with the first. Still very good, just not as great. (See also: Back to the Future and Pirates of the Carribean versus their respective sequels; solid, fun movies with great moments, but not QUITE as good as the original).
 
And it's also the reason why everybody says the matrix sequels sucked. They were just as good as the first one, just everybody expected them to be as much more mindblowing than the first as the first was than the baseline.
I don't know that they were just as good, because the action, instead of feeling thrilling or revolutionary, was actually kind of boring. I mean, the "Neo vs 100 Smiths" brawl was not fun to watch, poorly animated, and ultimately didn't advance the plot or the characters all that much. The freeway chase was a big set piece, but functionally, it was just kind of padding and having some of the combatants be literally invincible by turning "ghost" or whatever kind of took me out of it. The expanded mythos with the Merovingian and independent machines really didn't matter to the protagonists overall, and everything about Zion was kind of disappointing.

So I'd say that the first Matrix largely delivered on its promises, while the sequels didn't. And that's why people say they sucked.
 
The "worst" one I saw so far talked about how the reviewer is tired of superhero movies and criticized the film for using brands, logos, and songs popular from 1996-1998 in a 1995 setting.
It's sort-of a fair point, but if we're going to start criticizing movies for putting the wrong music in the wrong year, there is a loooooooong list of movies that need to be called out for that.

I'm trying to avoid reviews until I see it Friday morning, but I thought it was funny that on one site I visit, the woman reviewer said it was everything you were hoping for, and the guy reviewer was tepid. It's almost like Brie Larson was right, that we aren't monolithic in our tastes, and different people will get different things out of them! :rolleyes:

(That sarcasm wasn't aimed at you, @Tress, just those internet users who melted down over the suggestion that maybe white dudes shouldn't be the only ones reviewing movies.)
 
I'm trying to avoid reviews until I see it Friday morning, but I thought it was funny that on one site I visit, the woman reviewer said it was everything you were hoping for, and the guy reviewer was tepid. It's almost like Brie Larson was right, that we aren't monolithic in our tastes, and different people will get different things out of them! :rolleyes:

(That sarcasm wasn't aimed at you, @Tress, just those internet users who melted down over the suggestion that maybe white dudes shouldn't be the only ones reviewing movies.)
I was noticing something similar myself. A lot of the "meh" reviews were from geek-centered websites that are used to catering to a mostly straight, white male audience. It made me think that the apathy had to do with this whole stupid "Brie Larson hates men!" horseshit.

I actually just removed a website from my newsfeed for peddling a rumor they heard from "someone connected at Disney [:rolleyes:]" that the movie is on track to bomb this weekend, and they were going to kill off her character in rewrites because Brie Larson is "a mediocre actor with controversial opinions about men" that is supposedly turning away audiences in droves. They then used this to justify their "disappointed" review of Captain Marvel. That was the first and last time I'll let that shit into my newsfeed.
 
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And it's also the reason why everybody says the matrix sequels sucked. They were just as good as the first one, just everybody expected them to be as much more mindblowing than the first as the first was than the baseline.
The sequels had to stand in the groundbreaking shadow of the first movie, this is true. But the sequels were also noticeably less consistent and struggled to keep a coherent narrative. They were still entertaining and cool to watch, sure, but the further along you got, the more distracting the discontinuities and non sequiturs became.

--Patrick
 
So here's my super-loaded-with-spoilers review of Captain Marvel, so if you want to go with with a clear mind, don't read this!

So, right off the bat, I'll admit I didn't like opening. It felt too generic superhero and too much exposition. It wasn't like, says, Guardians where Quills little dance as he hunts for treasure tells us a lot about his personality and the feel of the movie. I was a little worried about the rest of the movie because of this.

But once Carol gets to Earth, this movie really begins to shine. It starts to open up as more of a thriller than just a super-powers movie. Thanks to the shape-shifting powers of the Skrulls and Carol's incomplete memory, we get a "who done it" that starts to show some stakes. I think it also helps that they change a bit Carol's comic history and what we know about certain races in the comics to help the twist.

And speaking of Carol, I want to applaud Brie Larson's protrayal of her. It's hard to really get a feel for her version of Carol/Vers until you see it within the plot. The way she protrays Carol is a lot like a classic male action hero. She doesn't offer a softer, sexier side women characters almost seem required to have to put men at ease, like we see with Wonder Woman or Black Widow. Hers is the personality we expect from Vin Diesel or Jason Statham or Stallone. She is Ellen Ripley. She's not here to make you comfortable. She might rub you the wrong way, even when she's playing around, and she's not going to apologize for it. She's world-weary, she's here to do her job, and she's not letting anything stop her. Every time she puts on her mohawk helmet, she looks like a B.A.M.F. And yet, (please take notes, DC) the movie doesn't become a bleak, depressing slog because of it. On the contrary, it means those emotional moments hit even deeper. When Carol getting back up again and again, the audience in my theater was psyched. And Carol got a famous "action hero" moment, which made my theater break out into applause. All that was missing was the whip.

Also another big hand to Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau, because her friendship with Carol was beautiful. It made me tear up. I wish they had more screen time together, but she made the most of the parts she was in. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the penultimate dog fight, in which I realized it was female pilot against female pilot. That was kind of awesome.

I think this is most screen time Nick Fury has gotten in 10+ years of Marvel films. They did a great job de-aging Sam Jackson, and he worked so well with Carol, but I have to say, I felt bad every time he had to run. They can VFX out all the years, but he still runs like a 70-year-old man.

Stan Lee's cameo in the movie may be my favorite out of all of them.

I want to say that once again Marvel was kinda weak with their villain, buuuuuuuuttttt... honestly, the villain wasn't even the most important part of the story. I know we expect superhero hero stories to end with a big fight that puts our hero up against a villain of equal stature, but in Captain Marvel's case, the story was more about Carol discovering herself. I just wish we got to see more of what she's been doing with herself these past 20 years, but I have a feeling they'll touch on that in Endgame. The credits-teaser makes it every clear how she's going to line up next month.

I was always so-so on Captain Marvel, though a lot of that comes from being ambivalent on her Ms. Marvel years. I thought the movie looked like it would be an Ant-Man or something enjoyable but maybe not great. But it snuck up on me and I enjoyed this movie so much more than I thought I would. Sign me up for the Carol Corps!
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Wait, forgot one thing!
Yeah, some of the songs they used came out after 1995, but the soundtrack was such a nostaglia trip! And I loved that they used a good amount of 90's female artists. I am working on my Captain Marvel playlist as we speak.
 
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We had to cancel our tickets due to a forgotten appointment, so we'll try next weekend.

We have a habit of not seeing something at all if we miss opening weekend, I don't know why, but I'm going to try not letting that happen.
 
Just got back from Captain Marvel.

Short review: I liked it, quite a lot. It's not among the MCU's best, but that's probably down to how excellent the MCU's been lately, instead of Captain Marvel having significant flaws.

Longer review, major spoilers ho:

Apart from a few specific moments (such as "I don't need to prove myself to you"), I agree with Celtzy that Carol wasn't a female hero, she's a hero that happens to be a woman. Her personality, her story arc, her big moments etc, these could all have been a man's tale. And I applaud the filmmakers for going in this direction, because it does feel like true equality, you know? Hell, even Carol's interactions with Nicholas Joseph Fury feel more like a buddy cop comedy.

Having said that, though, I wonder if the decision to make the film in this way contributed to it feeling like it lacks a bit of personality. The most recent MCU films have all had their own unique tones and timbres. From the space opera comedy of Ragnarok to the Afrofuturism of Black Panther to the neighborhood high school drama of Homecoming to the character study of Thanos in Infinity War, each movie added its own unique identity to the MCU pantheon. What does Captain Marvel add? What kind of movie is it? Nothing really stands out; it's not entirely a space opera, it's not entirely a buddy cop movie, it's not entirely a sci-fi thriller, it's not entirely a war film... Maybe the movie would've benefited a bit by distinguishing itself a bit more.

I loved the twist that the Skrulls are the victims and the Kree are the oppressors. I'm just a casual fan of comics, so I don't know if this has ever been done in the comics before, but my impression was that the Skrulls are always the villains. Plus they had Ben freaking Mendelsohn playing the chief Skrull. So that little twist definitely took me by surprise. And then Carol's determination to find the Skrulls a home and end the Kree's aggression at the end ties into the state of the Kree in Guardians of the Galaxy. I wonder what happened in those intervening years to turn Ronan into the fanatic he ended up becoming? It piques the imagination.

All in all, an enjoyable movie. Great visuals (the de-aging was largely seamless, especially for Fury), strong performances, interesting story, and the in media res structure does shake things up a bit compared to the usual MCU formula. Bit of a meh villain, but eh, you can't have it all.

Also, everyone in this movie's so hot. I swear, Minerva's moved to the top of my list of hot blue fictional women. (For anyone curious, the top ten after her are Rebecca Romijn Mystique, Aayla Secura, Liara T'Soni, Neytiri, Cortana, J-Law Mystique, Killer Frost, Nebula, and Smurfette.)
 
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Just got back from Captain Marvel.

Short review: I liked it, quite a lot. It's not among the MCU's best, but that's probably down to how excellent the MCU's been lately, instead of Captain Marvel having significant flaws.

Longer review, major spoilers ho:

Apart from a few specific moments (such as "I don't need to prove myself to you"), I agree with Celtzy that Carol wasn't a female hero, she's a hero that happens to be a woman. Her personality, her story arc, her big moments etc, these could all have been a man's tale. And I applaud the filmmakers for going in this direction, because it does feel like true equality, you know? Hell, even Carol's interactions with Nicholas Joseph Fury feel more like a buddy cop comedy.

Having said that, though, I wonder if the decision to make the film in this way contributed to it feeling like it lacks a bit of personality. The most recent MCU films have all had their own unique tones and timbres. From the space opera comedy of Ragnarok to the Afrofuturism of Black Panther to the neighborhood high school drama of Homecoming to the character study of Thanos in Infinity War, each movie added its own unique identity to the MCU pantheon. What does Captain Marvel add? What kind of movie is it? Nothing really stands out; it's not entirely a space opera, it's not entirely a buddy cop movie, it's not entirely a sci-fi thriller, it's not entirely a war film... Maybe the movie would've benefited a bit by distinguishing itself a bit more.

I loved the twist that the Skrulls are the victims and the Kree are the oppressors. I'm just a casual fan of comics, so I don't know if this has ever been done in the comics before, but my impression was that the Skrulls are always the villains. Plus they had Ben freaking Mendelsohn playing the chief Skrull. So that little twist definitely took me by surprise. And then Carol's determination to find the Skrulls a home and end the Kree's aggression at the end ties into the state of the Kree in Guardians of the Galaxy. I wonder what happened in those intervening years to turn Ronan into the fanatic he ended up becoming? It piques the imagination.

All in all, an enjoyable movie. Great visuals (the de-aging was largely seamless, especially for Fury), strong performances, interesting story, and the in media res structure does shake things up a bit compared to the usual MCU formula. Bit of a meh villain, but eh, you can't have it all.

Also, everyone in this movie's so hot. I swear, Minerva's moved to the top of my list of hot blue fictional women. (For anyone curious, the top ten after her are Rebecca Romijn Mystique, Aayla Secura, Liara T'Soni, Neytiri, Cortana, J-Law Mystique, Killer Frost, Nebula, and Smurfette.)
I agree that it really would have been a stronger movie if they picked a genre and stuck with it. I feel like that really wobbled the consistency of the over-all atmosphere. However, I do think it did one thing well that the other movies have had a problem with lately:
I read a question somewhere that if they watched Captain Marvel chronologically, i.e. Captain America TFA, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, etc., would Captain Marvel spoil the other films? And it really wouldn't. While there are parts that tie into the other movies, mainly in the teasers, it does tell it's own story. Yes, there are familiar faces, but the events in Captain Marvel don't feel directly tied to Endgame.
 
So, wikipedia just spoiled me on who's playing
Mar-Vell
, when i looked up when the first comic came out, because the BBC review erroneously said Cpt Marvel had an 80 year old history... clearly confusing the Marvel on for the Fawcett/DC Captain...
 
True, but $160 million is a decent chunk of change.

The audience scores are steadily creeping up. I'm amazed that the alt-righters stopped pleasuring themselves to Alita long enough to write their fake reviews.
 
I don;t know man, i mean, they did get the audience review score on RT down to almost 30% right when the film stated playing... and, that's like, something...
All it's really going to do is see RT get rid of user reviews and go back to vetted sources. Say what you will about critics, they at least aren't going to downvote a movie out of spite and certainly not enmass.
 
Saw Captain Marvel with my nieces this afternoon.

Oh yeah, it was good. Wouldn't slot it among the top MCU films (Avengers 1, Infinity War, Black Panther, etc). I'd put it solidly about the middle with Dr. Strange and Ant-Man. It's a fun ride worth seeing.
 
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