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Post by Jeremy on May 16, 2017 5:36:30 GMT -8
This needs its own thread, for obvious reasons that are obvious.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
We are now less than a year away from the next Avengers film. But before we even get there, Marvel will release three other MCU films (not to mention at least three new TV shows). With numbers like that, it's no wonder that some people are starting to grow exhausted with superhero overload. It's comforting, then, that Marvel's decided to open summer 2017 with the return of its most unexpectedly endearing franchise.
Overlong and lacking the freshness of its predecessor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 can't help hitting a number of predictable beats as it gives us another round of space action and sardonic quips. The soundtrack is again populated with golden oldies (one action scene scored to Jay & the Americans is particularly inventive) and the film is loaded with in-jokes that only the most devoted of comic book nerds will get.
But even while we know what to expect from a Guardians sequel, the film still throws some curveballs. In addition to some great jokes (both visual and verbal), GotGV2 uses our prior knowledge of these characters to explore them more seriously than the first film did. Gamora could have just been a sword-wielding love interest; instead, the film mines great drama out of the relationship between her and Nebula. Peter's daddy issues seem generically written at first, but his arc grows more powerful the more we uncover. Even Rocket gets his own arc, one which involves him doing more than swearing and shooting people. (Though don't worry, he still does plenty of those things too.)
Surprisingly, this film has even less connection to the overall MCU than the first Guardians did. And that proves to be an asset. Last time, Marvel was insistent that the plot include Thanos and the Infinity Stones; this time, they basically told James Gunn to grab his camera and go crazy. And needless to say, he obliged.
It's no shock that this film has been a hit with audiences. A third Guardians has already been announced (likely due in 2020), and no word on how closely it will connect with the ongoing Avengers films. Personally, I wouldn't mind if Vol. 3 strayed even further off the beaten path - it's good for the MCU to have its own signature wild card.
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Post by ThirdMan on May 16, 2017 14:55:28 GMT -8
I was lukewarm on the first Guardians, but for some reason, I feel compelled to see this one. Funny how that works.
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Post by Jeremy on May 16, 2017 15:32:21 GMT -8
I think the first film was better overall, but the sequel was more successful in terms of character drama. You may end up enjoying it more.
I was also happy to see that Sean Gunn had a much larger role than he did in the first film. That's what's known in Hollywood as "helping a brother out."
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Post by Incandescence 112 on May 17, 2017 5:36:55 GMT -8
I think the first film was better overall, but the sequel was more successful in terms of character drama. You may end up enjoying it more. I was also happy to see that Sean Gunn had a much larger role than he did in the first film. That's what's known in Hollywood as "helping a brother out." Also, Yondu was awesome. He was alright in the first film, but he had a much larger, more substantial role in this one, and he totally owned it. Anyway, I thought it was a very good film. That's 3 in a row from Marvel.
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Post by Jeremy on Jul 6, 2017 20:16:08 GMT -8
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Post by ThirdMan on Jul 7, 2017 2:16:28 GMT -8
I'll check it out later today. Going in with moderate expectations.
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 20, 2017 7:12:29 GMT -8
I mentioned this on Twitter, but it bears repeating here: Over the course of 2017, Marvel has debuted or will debut seven new TV shows (Legion, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Inhumans, The Gifted, The Punisher, and Runaways). This is in addition to the four they already have airing (Agents of SHIELD, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage). Oh, and Cloak and Dagger and New Warriors are due in 2018.
Not to scoff at a studio that's clearly having a ton of success, but... at what point does the bubble burst?
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Aug 20, 2017 7:32:30 GMT -8
I mentioned this on Twitter, but it bears repeating here: Over the course of 2017, Marvel has debuted or will debut seven new TV shows ( Legion, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Inhumans, The Gifted, The Punisher, and Runaways). This is in addition to the four they already have airing ( Agents of SHIELD, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage). Oh, and Cloak and Dagger and New Warriors are due in 2018. Not to scoff at a studio that's clearly having a ton of success, but... at what point does the bubble burst? Never heard of The Gifted or Runaways. Due to crappy first season, never watched Agents of Shield or Iron Fist, and apparently, Inhumans is crap, so I'm not watching that either. So for me, not for a while!
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Aug 20, 2017 7:34:32 GMT -8
I mentioned this on Twitter, but it bears repeating here: Over the course of 2017, Marvel has debuted or will debut seven new TV shows ( Legion, Iron Fist, The Defenders, Inhumans, The Gifted, The Punisher, and Runaways). This is in addition to the four they already have airing ( Agents of SHIELD, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage). Oh, and Cloak and Dagger and New Warriors are due in 2018. Not to scoff at a studio that's clearly having a ton of success, but... at what point does the bubble burst? I think they might be scaling back their film ambitions (see them condensing those two Avengers films into one) while focusing on TV, because it's cheaper. Personally, I cannot wait for superhero films to die a protracted and yet very painful death.
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 20, 2017 7:48:53 GMT -8
Never heard of The Gifted or Runaways. Due to crappy first season, never watched Agents of Shield or Iron Fist, and apparently, Inhumans is crap, so I'm not watching that either. So for me, not for a while! The Gifted is an X-Men-based show premiering next month on Fox. I highly doubt it will be as good as Legion, but it's got Amy Acker, so I'll at least check out the pilot. And Runaways is a Hulu series premiering in November, based on a comic series from the early 2000s. I'm looking forward to it, largely because I really like the source material, and Josh Schwartz seems like the kind of guy who could make a fun adaptation. I think they might be scaling back their film ambitions (see them condensing those two Avengers films into one) while focusing on TV, because it's cheaper. Personally, I cannot wait for superhero films to die a protracted and yet very painful death. Well, they aren't really condensing the two Avengers films into one. They're just treating them as two separate films now. But Avengers 4 is due in 2019. I don't know where the MCU goes after that, actually. They've announced a second Spider-Man and a third Guardians of the Galaxy, but they'll need to keep adding new heroes and ideas if they want to maintain their screen presence in the 2020s. (And hopefully not die a very painful death.)
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 26, 2017 19:40:09 GMT -8
So, the 90-minute pilot for Inhumans is debuting in IMAX next week. For the first time in history, a TV series will have its premiere in movie theaters (nearly a month before it debuts on the small screen).
Now, the Inhumans pilot was entirely filmed with digital IMAX cameras, designed for IMAX screens. So it'll probably look fine in theaters. But at the same time, the ratios of an IMAX film screen are significantly different than those of a standard TV screen, which means that it may look odd when played at home. (Not sure if later episodes were filmed with these ratios in mind.)
Also, while Marvel clearly wants to pass the pilot off as another MCU film, I don't know how well a film that (for copyright reasons) won't connect to the larger MCU any more than Agents of SHIELD does will pay off. Particularly given Scott Buck's involvement, as well as the lack of enthusiasm when the first cut of the pilot was screened at the TCAs.
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Post by ThirdMan on Aug 26, 2017 21:50:38 GMT -8
Jeremy, digital IMAX is usually around a 16:9 ratio, so like a standard widescreen TV. Film IMAX, like Dunkirk, expands to 1.43:1 ratio. So while I'm sure the Inhumans pilot will have really high resolution, it'll probably still play letterboxed on actual IMAX screens. And films like Dunkirk or The Dark Knight end up being presented in 16:9 ratio on Blu-Ray during the IMAX-shot scenes anyways. They're filmed with multiple compositions in mind.
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 27, 2017 5:09:41 GMT -8
It just concerns me because, on my (non-widescreen) television, ABC does not reformat its shows for high-resolution, which means that the sides of the screen always get cropped out. (The same holds true for CBS, but strangely not for NBC, FOX, or The CW.) If I want to get the "full" experience watching an ABC/CBS show, I need to watch it on an HD network.
Of course, if the Inhumans series turns out to suck (as I'm led to believe it might), I imagine screen formatting won't make much of a difference.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Aug 27, 2017 7:53:23 GMT -8
It just concerns me because, on my (non-widescreen) television, ABC does not reformat its shows for high-resolution, which means that the sides of the screen always get cropped out. (The same holds true for CBS, but strangely not for NBC, FOX, or The CW.) If I want to get the "full" experience watching an ABC/CBS show, I need to watch it on an HD network. Of course, if the Inhumans series turns out to suck (as I'm led to believe it might), I imagine screen formatting won't make much of a difference. Marvel thought process: Well Scott Buck's already ruined Dexter and Iron Fist. Better throw more money at him!
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Post by Jeremy on Aug 27, 2017 13:35:52 GMT -8
I take it you're not heading to your local IMAX this weekend.
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