Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 23, 2017 10:28:56 GMT -5
Remember last year when we got blindsided by sequels to both Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project? Well it looks like it happened again and this time they waited until release day for the film to reveal it's true nature. So if you thought The Lego Batman Movie was the earliest we were going to see a superhero this year, there is a certain movie that came out this weekend that has a surprise for you. And that is... Split is actually Unbreakable 2.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jun 2, 2017 10:05:42 GMT -5
Friends and family saw Wonder Woman last night. Wow. DC hasn't really had much of a hot streak lately. I enjoyed Man of Steel just fine, but Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad were definitely not a step in the right direction. Wonder Woman however is their benchmark of what their cinematic universe should strive to be. This movie, in my humble opinion, topped The Dark Knight in DC films. I was elated from beginning to end with great action, compelling drama, and was quite caught off guard by what may very well be the best told romance in the history of superhero movies. I laughed at well played comedy (though several bit drowned, I admit), and shed a tear during it's more powerful moments. My favorite part of the film is right after Diana has killed presumably killed Ares, and in her her confusion and fear she can't understand why the war hasn't immediately stopped, while Steve in a panic tries to explain that one single bad guy might not be to blame, while he's torn to help join the fight. It's a moment that's mildly spoiled by the revelation that Ares is alive and the war does end AFTER he's killed, but still it has lingered with me. While in retrospect the film borrows a lot from the original Captain America film, I'd debate that Wonder Woman takes that concept and smooths out the rough edges for a gloriously satisfying experience. I haven't been this excited and touched by a superhero film since Spider-Man 2. A little of that might be bias since I've been wanting a Wonder Woman feature film for decades, even going as far as saying I refuse to die before one gets made. Now that one has been made and it's just as good as I hoped it would be, if I stop posting tomorrow I want to assure you all that I died a happy man. 2017 superhero films for me: 1. Wonder Woman 2. Logan 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 4. Power Rangers 5. The Lego Batman Movie 6. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract 7. Split 8. Justice League Dark Haven't really disliked any of them so far, though the last three are in the mediocre range. Here's hoping Spider-Man, Kingsman, Thor, and Justice League are up to snuff. Though for the latter, Zack Snyder has my condolences for his family tragedy, and it won't be the end of the world if it underwhelms. With DC course correcting and Marvel on top of the world, and budding cinematic universes for Godzilla/King Kong and Universal Monsters (pleeeeeease don't suck, new Mummy), it's a great time to be a superhero and monster movie fan.
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Post by Mod City on Jun 2, 2017 11:18:39 GMT -5
Since you're one of the most prominent comic book movie posters on the board, Torgo, it is heartening to read your take on the new Wonder Woman flick. I've been rooting for this production for a long time now, even though I'm not a DC fan, nor even a Wonder Woman fan, really.
Just through the trailers and articles I've seen the possible comparison to the first Captain America is there (not a bad thing at all, in my opinion, I love the Marvel origin movies).
Did your theater audience give it a positive reaction, as well?
Looking forward to checking it out.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jun 2, 2017 21:09:30 GMT -5
Did your theater audience give it a positive reaction, as well? Considering there was a display of free mini posters that got wiped out after my screening, I'd say the reaction was fairly positive lol. I could hear the entire audience get into it. A lot of the humor played like gangbusters and I heard a few gasps, sniffles, and "oh my god!" exclamations. Seems like this flick is going to be pretty loved.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 7, 2017 2:46:50 GMT -5
So...Spider-Man: Homecoming. Hailed as the best Spider-Man flick since Spider-Man 2...but I consider myself lucky that the only Spidey film I didn't like was Amazing 2. This one was good, but best since 2004? I can't go that far.
The film rides that John Hughes influence so far that it's more of a comedy than an action movie. I've seen detractors rag the MCU for being comedic before, but this the first one I felt was full blown in that direction. The film is so lightweight that the emotional stakes seem a bit stunted. I understand the theme of proving one's independence and storyline of Peter trying to balance life with superheroics, but the film never really leaves an impression other than "it made me laugh." It's cute, but I felt like I didn't really experience much when I left the theater.
The one piece of intensity that it has going for it is Michael Keaton. I've never been much of a Vulture fan, but Keaton gave him a menace that I never really felt from the character. I also dug backup villains in Shocker and Tinkerer, as well as the cameo by Scorpion. But hopefully the next film ups the interest value, because I don't really think I'll be watching this one very often in the future.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 7, 2017 13:32:25 GMT -5
I considered it overnight. On a Spider-Man scale...
1. Spider-Man 2 2. Captain America: Civil War 3. Spider-Man 3 (still defending this one after all these years) 4. Spider-Man 5. The Amazing Spider-Man 6. Spider-Man: Homecoming 7. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
On the MCU scale... 1. Captain America: Civil War 2. Thor 3. The Incredible Hulk 4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 5. Doctor Strange 6. Iron Man 7. Avengers: Age of Ultron 8. Captain America: The First Avenger 9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 10. Thor: The Dark World 11. Iron Man 3 12. The Avengers 13. Spider-Man: Homecoming 14. Guardians of the Galaxy 15. Ant-Man 16. Iron Man 2
Superhero movies in general this year...
1. Wonder Woman 2. Logan 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 4. Power Rangers 5. The Lego Batman Movie 6. Spider-Man: Homecoming 7. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract 8. Split 9. Justice League Dark 10. DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games 11. Transformers: The Last Knight
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jul 20, 2017 0:01:13 GMT -5
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Post by Torgo on Aug 31, 2017 3:31:10 GMT -5
If you ever thought Batman movies didn't have enough farting, boy do we have a movie for you!
When Batman and Harley Quinn was announced I had very little to anticipate it on except the title. It felt very much like a film catering to the sudden surge of popularity Harley received due to Margot Robbie's portrayal in Suicide Squad last year. Wouldn'tyaknowit, that's kinda exactly what this silly movie is.
To an extent the movie kind of surprised me a little too, because it feels simultaneously a celebration of her by rooting her back to her origins in Batman: The Animated Series. The film is supposedly a return to that universe (per Bruce Timm), and at times it directly reminded me of the good old days of the greatest animated shows in superhero history. And yet there are points where the film, while feeling so comforting and familiar on moment, does something so far removed the next that it doesn't quite keep the same tone that it is known for. The film gets goofier and more madcap as it goes on, all to the point of anticlimax where the film just kind of stops by saying "That's our Harley! Whaaaaa whaaaaa!" with a black circle closing around her daffy face.
So is it the fifth film in the long neglected DCAU, which we haven't seen since 2005's finale of Justice League: Unlimited? If it is, it's the worst. I'd prefer it if it wasn't because it's inclusion bitters it up a bit, but I suppose...yeah. Maybe.
That said, I didn't hate it like other reviewers have. It's being accused of being offensive and misogynistic. For the former, I'm a straight, white male. Not a lot offends me because I'm privileged. Yay me. As for the latter, there's not a lot to defend there. The film likes to focus a lot on Harley's booty, almost making it a fetish film for her at points. She even shimies a boob jiggle at one point, leaving me to wonder if she's wearing a bra under that skintight outfit. Perhaps not, for zero panty line (what about Batman and Nightwing for that matter?). One thing I will point out about the treatment of this female main character is that there's an early scene where Harley complains to Nightwing about her inability to get work after getting out of Arkham, only being able to hold sleazy jobs that only want to hire her body despite having a history in psychiatry.
Then the film sqaunders it immediatelu by having her strip to her underwear and seduce Nightwing immediately afterward. FEMALE EMPOWERMENT!
I'm not against a Batman comedy film either. We had a mostly successful one this year with The Lego Batman Movie. Last year's Return of the Caped Crusaders also brought the chuckles. Batman and Harley Quinn doesn't work nearly as much as either. I laughed at times, but when Quinn's zaniness starts to bleed into Batman and Nightwing, as opposed to making them either her foils or her straight men, the film begins to seem misguided. The film that we end with isn't quite the film that started, because Harley seems to be changing everything around her by merely existing. Batman loosens up, Nightwing gets jiggy, and she makes Poison Ivy cry by tearing up and pouting her lip.
I somewhat feel that maybe if Batman and Nightwing were left out and the film were just purely a Harley Quinn movie it might have been stronger. Melissa Rauch is fairly decent as Harley and the film is very intent on making her unmistakably the star. Perhaps there would be the missing buddy cop angle without the heroes, but I wonder if this story could have been better if Batman were a generic police character created specifically for the movie. Ther'd be less fouling the nest and more playing with a blank canvas.
If there's one thing I can take from both this film and next year's DTV Suicide Squad it's that maybe DC's animated output is finally considering that other characters have marketing potential outside of Batman and Superman. Hell, technically Suicide Squad already had a movie in these DC animated films, but they called it a Batman film for brand name value. Maybe in a few years they'll make another solo Wonder Woman movie.
And yes, I'm one of the idiots who paid twelve dollars more for the 4K release. A waste of money most likely, though I do notice a small uptick in detail of the lines if nothing else. The higher resolution also helps the animation's flaws become more apparent, with certain stiffness in motions being even more bothersome than it used to be, and I've always been annoyed by it. But still...I'll most likely waste money on the 4K of Gotham By Gaslight as well.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 31, 2017 22:36:19 GMT -5
Technically this is a TV series, but since it's being screened in theaters I might as well leave a blurb here. I'd like to say that personally I enjoyed Inhumans. It's been getting dogpiled on pretty hard, and while that's perhaps a bit justified due to it probably being better suited for a feature film than a scaled down TV series, but I can at least say that there's effort and entertainment value in the screened episodes. Personally I'm not an Inhumans fan (their concept just never did much for me) and while it didn't turn me into a fan, I'm interested in seeing the rest of the season.
The million dollar question of the night is whether or not it's worth paying IMAX prices to see these episodes in a theater. Or wait a month and watch them for free on TV? I'm going to say it's probably best to wait. To an extent, I feel bad for this IMAX screening because the hype has skewed negative and the turnout at my theater was lackluster but I got to say the ambitious experiment of premiering in IMAX was an ill-concieved way to hype up the series. Shows like Game of Thrones and Doctor Who get away with theatrical screenings due to a pre-established fan base to their shows. While technically Marvel has an established fan base as well, a brand new series is way too much of a question mark to succeed.
To be honest, it looked better in IMAX than I expected it to, and there are a few cool visuals that looked awesome on the big screen, this ultimately feels like an easy pass for the format. Though I recommend people checking it out when it hits TV, because it might just be better than you're hearing. It's not great, but it doesn't feel like a lost cause.
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Post by Mod City on Sept 1, 2017 12:05:52 GMT -5
Torgo's right. We have a thread for these movies, why not use it once in a while?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Did not see this in the theater (big surprise), but I did finally catch it on Vudu, the streaming rental service the day after it was released on the home market. I really enjoyed the first one. It packed a surprising emotional gut punch and had a really nice flow to it, compelling characters and story and just the right amount of humor. James Gunn did a heck of a balancing act to pull of that surprise entry into the MCU.
This was good, but in the end I realize it was quite flawed.
For me, it boiled down to the overuse of smart-ass humor. Rocket was a pretty interesting character in the first movie, but here he was an asshole, and frankly there's no nicer way to put it. I actually began rooting against him during the movie. Gunn is definitely in love with that character – he read a lot of his own positive press from the first flick – and doesn't have any better sense to tone...it...down a bit. Drax wasn't far behind in overdoing it, but Batista's performance is still pretty good. I thought Cooper was starting to make Rocket sound too much like a cartoon.
Also, I absolutely hated baby Groot. Dumbest cute-grab character in the history of the MCU. I also hated that stupid opening dance he did. Frankly, he added nothing to the story, and I don't count the father/son parallel between him and Quill (and the fact that he's small and can get into tight spaces, like Quill used to be able to do). I'm sorry, he didn't get one "awwwwww" from me, and thank god he apparently will have at least grown into "teen Groot" by the third GOTG movie. I'm not hopeful for that character any more, however. They burned all the good out of that one in the first movie.
I did like the humor from Mantis, though. I thought that was a pretty cool performance. Pratt is managing to hang on without drifting into annoying territory, but just barely.
Kurt Russell is really very good as Ego, a weird character to play. He plays kind and crazy embodied in one character very well. I'm not sure who else could have pulled that off. Michael Rooker is another guy who Gunn just can't cast a movie without, and while I can generally take him or leave him, he is better here than he was in the first movie. His character had really grown on me by the time this flick reaches it's end.
Overall, this is a decent pair of movies. We'll be getting more of these characters in the Infinity War run and they'll also have a third movie out eventually.
In the end, I'll stick with the first GOTG and hope for the best with the third and the Infinity Wars flicks.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Sept 1, 2017 14:00:21 GMT -5
Since we're talking about Guardians...
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Post by Mod City on Sept 1, 2017 18:29:08 GMT -5
Since we're talking about Guardians... I have to admit, that is one thorough breakdown of the two Guardians movies. And honestly, I don't have an argument with pretty much anything she says. I think she's spot on with the themes and many of the reasons why the movie itself, overall, works. That said, I don't think I need a half-hour analysis to explain why the movie had emotional heft, I thought from the start that it very much does have that. In fact, I think it overdoes it in some ways in that regard. I read one review, and I wish I could find it now, that noted that the movie doesn't necessarily present the audience with the relevant themes as much as it holds us hostage to them. It rams it down your throat so that it's hard not to get a little bit cynical about it by the end. One thing she is right about that I was wrong about - Groot is essential to the story. We probably needed a literal child figure to help highlight the immaturity of some of the other characters. That does not, however, change the fact that I found him annoying and not entertaining. But again, the point is what he evokes from the other characters, not necessarily from the audience, most of whom found him "adorable" or "awwwwwwwwwwwwwww." And I stand by my Rocket opinion. Regardless of his motivations, he's still a jerk in this movie, and his about-face with Yondu feels unearned. He barely knows Yondu, despite the fact they fought briefly on the same side in the first film, and all he has to say is "I know exactly who you are, because you're me!" and that suddenly brings on his epiphany? I didn't buy it. I wish it did, but it didn't. I can believe Yondu coming around, or at least emerging as his true self, because of his long history with Quill. Either way, that's an interesting analysis. Except that she uses that terrible term: "feels." Feels is a verb, not a noun. Maybe they've officially made it a noun as well by now, but as an English major I can't get comfortable using it. Final note: I did like the movie. I'm just getting grumpy in my old age
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Sept 1, 2017 20:27:56 GMT -5
I've been watching a lot of Ellis's videos lately and always find her interesting and hilarious. She posted that one a few days ago and I just got around to it incidentally as you made that post and really just came here to post it because I enjoyed it. So if it seemed like it was a response to you personally, I assure you it wasn't. It was just a big coincidence that the subjects lined up.
But I whole heartedly recommend her analysis of the Transformers series, which she calls "The Whole Plate." She supposedly has a series planned for that, but she made the last one over a month ago and seemed to switch interest to Disney after The Last Knight came out (and she hated it). That is some of the most ingenious analysis I've ever seen on YouTube.
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Post by Mod City on Sept 2, 2017 14:50:50 GMT -5
I've been watching a lot of Ellis's videos lately and always find her interesting and hilarious. She posted that one a few days ago and I just got around to it incidentally as you made that post and really just came here to post it because I enjoyed it. So if it seemed like it was a response to you personally, I assure you it wasn't. Oh, trust me, Torgo, no offense taken! And like I said, she does a mean analysis. It definitely got me thinking, which is a good thing
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Nov 3, 2017 15:36:14 GMT -5
A lot of people be praising the new Thor movie. I won't be one of them.
I don't have time to get into specifics, but long story short the visuals were incredible but the plotting was a disaster and the humor was more often miss than hit. Better than Iron Man 2 on the simple basis that this movie had a story, but that's all I will give it.
But I was in the minority on Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy as well. I'm going to have to accept that I am minority on this one as well.
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