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Post by Jeremy on Sept 28, 2017 18:33:21 GMT -8
The premise sounds like CBS really wanted to reboot Person of Interest, except without any of the stuff that made Person of Interest good.
(Oh, hey... Newsday likes it.)
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Post by Jeremy on Oct 23, 2017 7:46:38 GMT -8
Early reviews for Thor: Ragnarok are really positive. Some critics are even calling it the funniest MCU film to date.
As someone who didn't care much for the first two Thor films, I have some built-in reservations. But 2017 hasn't produced a weak superhero film thus far. Fingers crossed that the streak continues.
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Post by ThirdMan on Oct 23, 2017 13:57:56 GMT -8
This is what happens when you let a director with a unique creative voice take the helm and do his thing. It's too bad Edgar Wright didn't stay on with Ant Man (which was alright, but could've been much better). At any rate, Marvel should do this more going forward...don't just stick to the house style.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Oct 23, 2017 14:15:56 GMT -8
This is what happens when you let a director with a unique creative voice take the helm and do his thing. It's too bad Edgar Wright didn't stay on with Ant Man (which was alright, but could've been much better). At any rate, Marvel should do this more going forward...don't just stick to the house style. Edgar Wright's Ant-Man probably would have been a fantastic gem. I love seeing talented directors leave their own stamp on the superhero film genre, which can feel awfully same-y.
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Post by Jeremy on Oct 23, 2017 14:44:48 GMT -8
Definitely. I actually wasn't all that excited about Black Panther until Ryan Coogler was announced as director. Given that superhero films likely aren't diminishing in popularity anytime soon, I'd say Marvel has room to experiment.
It's particularly gratifying for the Thor series, since it seems to have been the black sheep of the MCU for a while. This is telling in the fact that each of the Thor films was helmed by a different director - very unusual for a superhero franchise. (The only other such franchise I can think of with this distinction is the Blade trilogy.)
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Post by Jeremy on Oct 31, 2017 20:18:16 GMT -8
I mentioned it briefly on the Western Animation thread, but it's something I've been wondering for a while: When does Hollywood get tired of Spider-Man?
Apart from the MCU series, we've got an animated Spidey film coming next year. Granted, there are obvious differences (Peter Parker vs. Miles Morales), but for a character that's already had two separate film franchises in the past 15 years, having a third and fourth being produced concurrently feels like the very definition of franchise fatigue. (A sequel to Homecoming is set for 2019, meaning we will have Spider-Films released in theaters for three years in a row.)
I loved Homecoming, and I have high hopes for anything written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. But I'm not sure how long these films can keep audiences snared in their web.
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Post by nathan on Dec 23, 2017 16:04:38 GMT -8
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: I never heard about the characters before I watched the first movie and still enjoyed it. This one I found a little tedious and too long for what it achieved.. The sister angst was redundant and Drax went from funny fish-out-of-water questioner to laughing at everything that wasn't funny to pressure the audience into laughing, which would make them think the movie was far funnier than it actually was. The Gold people were pointless. The saving grace was baby Groot and the father/son dynamic. Like any movie, I will have to see it again to work out if my thoughts change.
On the MCU, the trailer for 'Avengers 3' looks good.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 10, 2018 20:02:50 GMT -8
So, we're finally getting a Black Widow film. Awesome. Though I don't know if it could ever be as good as this.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 31, 2018 9:08:39 GMT -8
Early buzz for Black Panther is really positive. Like, really, really positive. I don't think I've see this much critical/fan hype around a single superhero film since The Dark Knight.
Granted, full reviews aren't up yet, but early sound bites are as superlative as they can get. People are calling it thrilling, and game-changing, and revolutionary. They're also calling it Marvel's most relevant movie ever, but I'll forgive that one.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 31, 2018 18:36:55 GMT -8
"Early buzz" can mean a lot of things, and there's always no shortage of fanboy "critic" gushing coming out of these preview screenings.
I can't say that the trailers have really grabbed me that much -- it looks like another big CGI-fest -- and some reviews may be more influenced by the predominantly black cast than the actual content of the film, but hey, I hope it's a big creative success. We know it'll make a ton of money regardless.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 31, 2018 19:20:35 GMT -8
Okay, I think I've figured out the pattern:
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 31, 2018 20:12:55 GMT -8
Well, in general, I've preferred the Marvel flicks (aside from the first two Thors and Iron Man 2), but I don't know that I consider any of them "great". And I think the recent DC movies have ranged from bad (Suicide Squad), to mediocre (Justice League), to OK (Batman v Superman Extended Cut), to pretty good (Wonder Woman). I expect Black Panther to be "pretty good", once the hype is out of the way. Mediocre: Thor 1 and 2, Iron Man 2 OK: Iron Man 3, Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The First Avenger, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant Man Pretty good: Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: Civil War, The Avengers: Age of Ultron Quite good: The Avengers, Thor Ragnarok, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, wait for it.........................Doctor Strange I haven't revisited Doctor Strange, so that could theoretically drop in my estimation, but I recall enjoying it quite a bit. Thought the visual effects were actually quite artful and imaginative, and I do suppose I'm also a CumberBitch. (I'm also quite fond of Rachel McAdams, even when she's underutilized.) Why do I prefer the second GotG to the first? Because it commits more wholeheartedly to its silliness, and doesn't waste screen time on dull, one-dimensional, humourless villains. And it also has Kurt Russell, which is very rarely a bad thing.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 31, 2018 20:52:14 GMT -8
Well, I can't say the Black Panther trailer really grabbed me, either - it was good, but not nearly as fun or exciting as the Thor: Ragnarok trailer. Add to this the fact that I've never been much of a Black Panther fan to begin with (and I find his current comic-book series to be one of the dullest in the Marvel lineup). Plus, I expect a lot of the hype is, as you say, built around the black cast and accompanying racial dynamics, in the same way that early Wonder Woman hype was infused with gender politics.
Still, Coogler has proven with Creed that he knows how to tell an entertaining, crowd-pleasing story. And I like a lot of these actors. So maybe it'll exceed expectations.
As for Doctor Strange, I rewatched it a few months ago, and found that it held up quite well. I'm something of a Cumbercookie (this is the correct term) myself, but the film has good jokes and great special effects as well. And the writers successfully keep the story from getting bogged down by mystical exposition.
Here's my own ranking of the MCU films (which I posted on Twitter a few weeks ago):
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Iron Man 3, Ant-Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, Iron Man 2, Incredible Hulk, Thor: The Dark World
Not far from yours, if you swap the "Pretty Good" and "Quite Good" categories.
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Post by ThirdMan on Feb 1, 2018 9:02:35 GMT -8
I will say that the actual plot of Infinity War seems to be the least interesting thing about it. The pleasure should (hopefully) come from all these wide-ranging personalities bouncing off (figuratively and literally) one another. I'm totally indifferent to what I've seen of Thanos.
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Post by Jeremy on Feb 1, 2018 10:27:12 GMT -8
Same. The character dynamics are the most fun part of any Marvel film. And the villains are usually the least interesting.
(Thanos is so boring that I only recently noticed he switched actors between The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.)
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