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Post by Mod City on Apr 3, 2019 18:13:32 GMT -5
I'm not sure if we have any AMC theaters around here. Even if we did, I'm not sure my ass would ever forgive me if I sat through three days of nonstop Marvel movies in one theater. If there were beds, free food, and nap times, then maybe. Even still, by the time I got to Endgame, I'd be so dazed that I probably wouldn't k ow what I was watching. So I'll stay content with my one-a-day marathon, which starts tomorrow! I'll also be seeing Shazam, so I'll be wrapped up in some super shenanigans. Also, this dropped today. Personally I didn't care for it, but everyone seems to dig it. Dunno. I kind of thought AMC was the dominant chain of theaters these days, but turns out there are only two in my whole state, and one of them happens to be my semi-go-to theater as it's the closest theater of any chain to me (30 miles). It's just a little five-screen, though, so I can't imagine they'd be doing that. Who are the big theater boys these days? I haven't paid attention since General Cinema got bought out by AMC. As for the Joker? Like Batman, I can take him or leave him. He's a perfectly fine foil for Batman, but everyone seems to just adore him, and crazy-good actors line up to play him. Nicholson, Ledger, Leto and now Phoenix. A lot of people love his dynamic with Harley Quinn, but I've never read any stuff with her, only seen her in the Suicide Squad movie. Are they switching his origin story up? I only remember him falling in the vat in the Batman '89 movie. I thought he was a hood, not a comedian. Either way, it was an odd trailer.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 3, 2019 19:59:19 GMT -5
We have a lot of Edwards/Regal cinemas over here in Idaho.
Joker has never really had a definitive origin. The Ace Chemicals story is probably the one most well known, but it comes and goes depending on how mysterious the writer wants to make the character. It was adapted in the 89 movie and was also shown recently on Gotham.
But my feeling on this movie is that it feels like some clip reel some douchey film student put together to say "THIS is what I'd make if Hollywood gave me the money," causing people to roll their eyes and say "Thank GOD they didn't give it to you." It felt very...nothing to me. Like it was trying to be neat and deep but felt shallow. But it's a trailer. The film could potentially be more impressive.
I like Phoenix as the Joker, indifferent to the director (hated The Hangover), but I'm going to habmve to side with Marc Bernardin when he says the Joker is less interesting when we know more about him, and is better used as a foil for someone else. This movie just feels like a mistake.
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Post by Mod City on Apr 3, 2019 20:28:14 GMT -5
We have a lot of Edwards/Regal cinemas over here in Idaho. The big ones here - Sioux Falls, an hour away - are Century/Cinemark. I think the discount theater in one of the malls is now independent, but I definitely don't know for sure. There was a Carmike 7 for many years, but it's gone now too. They're also restoring an old-school theater downtown. I hope they eventually pull it off. I saw Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn and E.T. there with my mom and brother. Huge, ornate auditorium. Also, correction: There are more AMC theaters in the far west part of the state. My Google skills suck. I read an opinion somewhere today that the Joker is best as the hero's nightmare. Something that is almost impossible to know. And the less you know, as you said, makes him more interesting.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 3, 2019 21:39:11 GMT -5
Good luck with the theater! I have some places my nostalgia wishes were still around myself.
That's pretty much what Bernardin's argument boils down to whenever Kevin Smith brings up the Joker movie on Fatman Beyond. Smith is all "F*** YEAH JOKER MOVIE" and Bernardin is all "Ehhhhh...sure, I guess." He likes the character as a mystery, and that why it can be debated that Heath Ledger was the best on-screen portrayal of the character, partially because we knew almost nothing about him. He was just there, and that made him scarier.
I think it also might boil down to making the Joker a main character. I'm sure there is an approach to it that can make it work, but the Joker just works so better as that unstoppable force that the primary protagonist needs to stop. If the Joker IS that protagonist, then it needs one hell of a delivery to make something out of him.
But this is just me spitballing. It's very likely the movie is good to great, and I'll see it regardless. It's just that the trailer hasn't floored me like other people.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 3, 2019 22:18:22 GMT -5
Small add-on - Marc Bernardin's own words on the Joker trailer:
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Post by Torgo on Apr 4, 2019 15:08:11 GMT -5
Day One - Iron Man
It was the audience's love for Iron Man that we really have to thank for the MCU blossoming. Looking on that escalating success in retrospect is interesting, because the first two Iron Man films were really the only real breakout hits Marvel had leading up to The Avengers. Thor did reasonably well, while Captain America looks like it probably broke even at best, and Incredible Hulk underperformed. It's even more interesting given that after about five years of continuous Marvel based films at the box office, really the only ones making a connection on a Superman or Batman level were Spider-Man and X-Men (Daredevil and Fantastic Four did fine, but the franchises both floundered on their second installment). Iron Man impressed with it's charismatic cast, fun special effects, and lots of humor. I theorize one of the reasons Avengers did so well was that it was seen partially as Iron Man 3 at the time, though the fact that it exploded the way it did still boggles my head a bit.
One thing I think most fans don't want to admit to is that I do believe one of the reasons Iron Man took off the way it did (initially at least) was due to how popular the first Transformers movie was the year before. I think seeing a tech-based superhero so soon after the robotic alien invasion feature really hit that audience appetite at the right time and the right place. I also think it's evident that a lot of the special effects techniques Industrial Light & Magic employed on Transformers was continued on Iron Man, with their CGI work on metallic surfaces and light reflection helping make the title character look his best.
I think time hasn't been kind to the original Transformers, with the endless sequels really making what was always wrong with the franchise stand out even more in retrospect (for the record, last year's Bumblebee solves a lot of the issues the franchise had, though it's storyline is redundant and not very interesting). Iron Man ages far better, and I think it's very clear that the MCU is thriving due to understanding it's audience and learning from itself while Transformers has been driven into the ground due to not caring what product it turns out. Iron Man is still a lot of fun to watch, though I think Marvel wouldn't dare replicate some of its shortcomings today.
I find the plotting of the film a bit disjointed, possibly due to what was reportedly an improvisational shoot. The three act structure at times feels like three separate movies, probably due to how lengthy and sluggish the second act is. The movie stops in its tracks for a lot of scenes of Tony Stark tinkering around and building new suits, which doesn't really flow with the film's momentum, often coming off as an overlong montage. The secret weapon of these scenes is Robert Downey Jr., who is so much fun to watch and often makes potentially boring sequences very humorous. By the time we get to the third act, a villain is introduced almost out of nowhere because the film suddenly remembered that they should probably have one. Jeff Bridges is really good here, but we don't really get a feel for his character other than him being a dick.
There are a lot of money shots in the film. Back in the the post-9/11 mid-2000's, the sequences where Iron Man beats up terrorists were more-than-likely very therapeutic. Who didn't want to beat these jerks up? The fight between Iron Man and Iron Monger is a lot of fun, though it straddles the line into RoboCop 2 territory at times. I also enjoy the relationship between Tony and Pepper Potts, which somewhat subverts the traditional superhero and leading lady relationship, as they have a strained tension between the couple but Pepper keeps him at arms length because she wants nothing to do with him at this point. The climactic sequence of "I am Iron Man" is also a bit of a wonderful subversion, as we have had so many movies were superheroes struggle to hide their identity, but now we have one that just says "F*** it." The fact that it happens right before the end credits is delicious, because I still remember being a tad in the wind when the movie ended, thinking to myself "Did THAT just happen?" I also love a little detail in this scene, where every reporter in the room jumps to question Tony, except Leslie Bibb's character, who just sits there and glares at him with a look of "You asshole."
And of course there is the greatest actor in the history of the MCU: Terrence Howard. I can't wait to see more of him in the future movies.
Iron Man didn't re-invent the wheel, but it was an effective and efficient little use of the formula. Still a good movie after all these years, though there are movies in the franchise I cherish more (yes, even in Phase One).
Favorite Moment - It's not even a superhero scene. I love the scene between Pepper and Obadiah Stane, where she just discovered he tried to have Tony killed and he enters the room on her. If this is one of the improvised scenes in the picture then I'm doubly impressed, because this scene is so carefully worded and keeps the audience guessing as to whether he's on to her or not. This is one of the best suspense scenes I've ever seen in a movie.
End Credit Scene - Enter Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, asking Tony Stark about "The Avengers Initiative." I remember seeing this in a theater, just wanting to see a cool cameo. I had heard rumors about an Avengers movie, and thinking to myself "That's never going to happen." Then in the span of the thirty seconds it took to watch this scene I started hyperventilating. "Holy sh*t," I thought, "They're making an Avengers movie!"
Stan Lee Cameo - Stan Lee is Hugh Hefner! Wonderful and hilarious! Good to see Stan the Man get the action he deserves!
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Post by Mod City on Apr 4, 2019 16:41:33 GMT -5
As will probably be guessed by now, I didn't see Iron Man in the theater, but I bought it on DVD sight unseen because I knew I'd like it. I was a long-time fan of Robert Downey, Jr., anmyway, and was looking forward to watching him in something that didn't involve him overdosing or god knows what else.
There is a lot of good stuff in this flick. The shock of the ambush at the beginning. Tony changing the direction of Stark Industries. His relationship with Potts. His rivalry with Obediah.
But the best part for me is the first test flight. As soon as he stabilizes himself, he mutters "Handles like a dream" and guns it. That shot of him flying steadily away, with engines roaring, is awesome. I remember Jon Favreau saying something along the lines of "If you do it right, a superhero flying should be thrilling." And it was. Blew any Superman flying sequences I'd ever seen out of the damn water. They do it again in the jet chase scene when he goes "supersonic."
I read some Iron Man comics back in the 80s. I remember him fighting guys like the Living Laser and a few others. Iron Man was supposed to be an obscure character, and he was when compared to Spider-Man, etc., but I was actually familiar with him when the movie was released. Now it's hard to believe he was ever obscure.
The Transformers angle is interesting. I never thought of that. Of course, I've never watched a Transformers movie all the way through, excepting the animated one from the 80s. All I know is I'm reminded of Pearl Forrester whenever I see John Turturro in one of those things. I remember her line about Raul Julia and Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: "It stars Raul Julia. A really good actor. What the hell is he doing in this piece of shi......."
Never would have guessed this is where I'd be after picking up that DVD at Wal-Mart those years ago. Wild.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 4, 2019 20:59:57 GMT -5
Did you like the Transformers franchise in the 80's? If you did and haven't fully seen the others (especially the 2007 one), you might get maximum enjoyment out of Bumblebee. The first five minutes of the movie is a G1-fan's dream, then it turns into an extended re-doing of the first forty minutes of the 2007 film. If you hadn't lived through that story, Bumblebee is probably the one live-action Transformers movie worth watching. Hell, I'll just say it out loud, it IS the one live action Transformers movie worth watching. Even if it is redundant, at least it told its recycled story far better than Michael Bay did. I just wished they took it in a more original direction while I was watching it. Anyway, I need to detour from the MCU for a moment and talk about that other universe. You know, the one that we dare not speak of normally. But I really need to scream this from the rooftops....... SHAZAM IS SO MUCH FRICKIN' FUN, Y'ALL! Like seriously, the trailers don't do this movie justice. They just present the basic premise, but the real joy of this movie is the character interaction. The scenes between Billy Batson and his foster family make this movie. They're so funny, warm, and as an audience member I embraced each and every one of them (Darla especially). And the best thing about this movie is that it realizes that these characters are the film's biggest strength and the filmmakers let it influence the third act, which I'm going to nerd out about in spoiler tags, because this is quite possibly my favorite third act in superhero history... Billy's brothers and sisters start out as the damsels in distress, before Billy saves them. In a normal superhero movie, Billy would see that they were safe and then beat the bad guy, but not here. At first he tries to do that, but it becomes clear that they aren't safe from Mark Strong's character anywhere they go. They are captured by the Seven Deadly Sins again and Strong tries to trade their lives for the Shazam powers. Billy turns the tide and shares them with his siblings instead...
WE GET FULL MARVEL FAMILY IN THIS MOVIE! I'M STILL NERDING OUT ABOUT THIS!
They each get one of Shazam's powers, and watching them figure out what they are while dueling with demons and saving innocents is a dream! Meanwhile Billy tries to take down Mark Strong while the family takes care of the collateral. This is the most wildly entertaining turn in a superhero movie I've ever seen!
And I really need to say that Eugene shooting lighting while screaming "HADOKEN!" is the biggest laugh of the movie! While these characters help propel the film to be its best self, the rest of the film shines even when they're not onscreen (it's just so much more fun when they are). Billy and Freddy are center stage throughout most of the film, and they hold the film on their shoulders. It really starts to kick into high gear when Billy defends Freddy from bullies, which brings him to Shazam's attention. Then when he gets his powers, there is a wildly fun montage of the duo trying to figure out what he can and can't do set to the tune of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now." The playfulness of this sequence really helps keep the film solid. The film's emotional core is exceptional. Billy's personal search for family is done in a surprisingly mature way, and it sometimes goes into some ballsy realistic directions. While it's predictable as to what his "home" is going to wind up being in the end, the path taken is wonderful. On the action side of things, the film keeps things quirky. This isn't ultra-destructive, Zach Snyder action, but rather pratfall action. Billy doesn't yet understand how to be a superhero, so he tries different things. Some of it works, some of it doesn't, and it's all entertaining. Mark Strong is good as antagonist Thaddeus Sivana, though he's sort of just exists to antagonize. He's a grumpy guy with a chip on his shoulder, rather than a full character. I'm pretty happy with David Sandberg's direction too. I've enjoyed his work on Lights Out, and he directed probably the one Conjuring film worth watching in the ultra spooky Annabelle: Creation. He follows in the footsteps of other horror directors turned superhero visionaries such as Richard Donner, Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and James Wan, which is pretty good company to keep. Here he takes this film of childhood wish-fulfillment and keeps his eye on the child fantasy, yet he seems somewhat hesitant in letting his horror roots go. There are a few horror "gotcha" moments in the film, with an early one involving a door early on taking me by surprise and showcasing just how much darker this movie was going to be than I was expecting. I'm totally 100% going to see this movie again. This is the most optimistic I've been about DC's future since Wonder Woman came out and I didn't know how lame Justice League was going to be. I'm even going to say this, in the unofficial war between the two Captain Marvel features this year, Shazam is the clear victor for me. It's also now the bar in which the rest of this year's superhero flicks are going to try and top. And with Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Men in Black: International all looking like fun rides so far, I've got this feeling we're in for a hell of a year. SHAZAM! DC "We'll try to be better, we promise" Universe Rank1. Wonder Woman 2. Shazam! 3. Man of Steel 4. Aquaman 5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 6. Justice League 7. Suicide Squad
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Post by Torgo on Apr 5, 2019 12:45:33 GMT -5
Day Two - The Incredible Hulk
The first Marvel property that is a reboot of a previous film series that was dead in the water. Eventually they'd get their hands on Spider-Man, while Daredevil and The Punisher were redeveloped for TV (and DOA again, thank you Netflix), and reboots of X-Men and Fantastic Four are currently in the pipeline. Ang Lee's Hulk is a very bad disaster of good intentions. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, the people who love it really love it. Don't ask me to explain it, but they have their reasons. Believe it or not, Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier (Unleashed, Clash of the Titans) is actually a fan of the movie, and initially turned down the chance to direct a Hulk film because he didn't think his style could adequately follow it up. It was after being told it was a reboot that he took the job. Despite being in a different continuity, the film's screenplay was evolved from drafts that were sequels to Ang Lee's film, so there are slight connections between the two. It's clearly not, as the nature of Hulk's origin is entirely different in this film, not to mention he is much, much smaller.
Speaking of screenplays, one of the reasons Edward Norton agreed to play Bruce Banner in the film is because he was allowed to re-write the script. The actor would eventually have a falling out with Marvel due to most of his favorite dialogue that he wrote for himself being cut. It's probably for the best, as Norton's controlling nature probably would not have worked for the team spirit of Avengers projects. That and the scenes that were cut out were garbage. They were redundant melodramatic monologues of Norton screaming "We tampered in God's domain!" All they were missing is "FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION" slapped on the bottom of the screen. Norton walked away from the role of Banner after playing it just once, paving the way for Mark Ruffalo in the future.
Because of all of this, The Incredible Hulk has been labeled the black sheep of the Marvel line-up. It's canon, but loose canon. It's an early film where they were uncertain of their business model, so it's more serious than their normal fare. There is humor in the film, sometimes a little cheesy (purple pants, "You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry.") but occasionally very funny (the failed sex scene and the cab ride still make me laugh), but they had adopted the idea that different characters required different tones and styles. They still implement that for the most part, but it's been toned down a lot since then in favor of a consistent flavor for the cinematic universe as a whole.
Overall, I like this movie more than Iron Man, personally. I feel it has a tighter story and more meat on its bones. It might be my personal preference to the Hulk as a character, but I think they made a lot of smart choices in this film that I don't think they get enough credit for. The decision to make it a Jason Bourne style chase thriller always connected with me, and I find the film more thrilling than not. Even when it delves into technobabble and nonsense science, it very much appeals to my love of silly monster movies. I genuinely love almost everything about the structure.
What I'm not too crazy about are the designs of the Hulk and Abomination. I get what they're going for by baking Hulk look impossibly ripped and hard as a rock, but it's a very ugly design. Abomination is ugly too, but I guess they were in a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation with him. His design from the comics is goofy, though the film changes it up and tries to make him more distinguishable from the Hulk with a more greyish brown skin tone and spikes. But complaining about monsters being "ugly" is a double edged sword. I guess they're not supposed to be pretty.
I like the cast mostly. The one cast member I think is a step down from Ang Lee's film is William Hurt. I like Hurt as an actor, but I though Sam Elliot was more suited to the character of General Ross. I like Norton a lot as Banner (with his monologues cut, that is), and Liv Tyler is pretty good as Betty Ross. Tim Roth is fun as antagonist Emil Blonsky/Abomination, especially in the scenes where he's juiced up on the super soldier serum, which aged well and became even more fun when Captain America entered the MCU. Tim Blake Nelson is very goofy as Samuel Sterns, who was supposed to return as the Leader in a sequel. Sadly that's a Hulk film we may never have. I'm curious about how Nelson would have portrayed the character, and to be bluntly honest the dangling plot thread from this movie is really what bothers me most out of the entire MCU franchise.
Sadly we may never get a Hulk vs. Leader movie, because of this film's underperformance paired up with the fact that Universal seems to flat out own the rights to all solo films involving the character (which I think was a result of the 70's TV series, but I could be wrong), and are very hesitant about working with Marvel again. It's too bad, because I think Mark Ruffalo deserves a film of his own, and I'd like to see storylines between him, General Ross, and Betty come to a close. I wonder how Marvel would do a Hulk film today based on what they've learned from these previous films, though I think they did just fine with this particular one.
One last note: Craig Armstrong's score for this movie is quite possibly my favorite in the entire MCU. I could listen to this all day!
Favorite Moment - Whew boy, I have a few. I like a the action scenes in this movie, and I think they portray the Hulk really well (even if the design is ass). I like the introductory action scene because of the clever use of shadow hiding the Hulk, I like the mid-Hulk vs. Army scene for Blonsky's one-on-one fight with the Hulk, and I like the climactic bout with Abomination because it's balls-to-the-wall and hold-nothing-back. If I were to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with the first. There are just way too many cool shots in that sequence.
End Credit Scene - None. This is the only Marvel Studios film to not have one. BUT I'm pretty certain that the scene between Tony Stark and General Ross at the end of the film was originally supposed to be it, but it was bumped up to before the credits so they could include Robert Downey Jr. in the marketing for this film. I would love to see the film re-edited with the scene returned to its possible place, but that's life. As for the scene itself, it's the first bit of shared movie universe we ever feel in this franchise, so it's a cool little moment. Unfortunately the scene is ruined by the pretty awful One-Shot The Consultant, which was featured on the Thor blu-ray, but I prefer to ignore it all-together.
Stan Lee Cameo - Lee's role is nowhere near as funny as the previous film, as he plays a man who unfortunately develops Gamma sickness after drinking a soda that had been contaminated with Banner's blood. They use him as a plot point, and it works. He's in and out, and the detail pushes the story along.
BTW, Mr. Sunday posted his Joker trailer breakdown...
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 7, 2019 0:29:05 GMT -5
Day Three - Iron Man 2
The gap between The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2 was the longest gap in between MCU entries, at slightly less than two years. In between that time other studios were pretty much proving just how much the Marvel name was being drug through the dirt. The most critically reviled X-Men film was released in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and while the merit of Punisher: War Zone is up for debate, it became the biggest bomb to ever bear the Marvel brand as it struggled to hit an eight figure earning worldwide, less than even Howard the Duck made in 1986.
The idea of rushing Iron Man 2 through development was probably simultaneously the smartest and dumbest decision Marvel Studios did at the time. Marvel needed to strike while the iron (so to speak) was hot and establish this franchise to keep the prospect of an Avengers movie healthy. But the film isn't entirely satisfactory, as it's clear the filmmakers weren't fully allowed the time they needed to embellish the ideas they're playing with. It's still the single shortest development time from between two films in a Marvel series, challenged only by the length between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, which had a month longer (and better results).
The movie is just okay. Not particularly good, not painful to watch. The charismatic actors still sell the characters, which now includes Don Cheadle as Rhodey, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. But with this script they're not given anything particularly meaty to do. Downey and Paltrow still do their romantic tension, though it's not as spicy and fun as it was in the previous film. Rockwell is predictably lovable, though his nerdier and more morally questionable take on a Tony Stark at some point feels like we've spent too much time with this character.
Truth be told, I really feel like this script needed to have erased one character entirely, and that would be it's supervillain, Ivan Vanko AKA Whiplash. Whiplash seems to be here because...a hero needs a villain. His storyline is largely a next-to-nothing revenge tale, and while Mickey Rourke is good in the role, he doesn't have a lot of dialogue nor does he do anything really impactful in the movie. He has a cool gimmick, one that we've never seen before in a superhero movie, but it feels like he exists to look cool for the poster, mostly. Iron Man 2 is juggling so many storylines that while the "sins of the father" theme of the Ivan Vanko/Tony Stark is probably the more interesting theme the movie is playing with, it needs to prioritize the storylines that feel closer to being the more cohesive movie. Dropping Whiplash and rewriting Justin Hammer into the villain of the film might have done wonders in making the film less busy.
The film needs to give what storyline that feels most important in the moment space to breath and make itself feel natural. The storyline of Tony's arc reactor slowly killing him is strong, but its payoff blows. It doesn't feel like an honest or natural endpoint. Apparently Tony's father left a hint in an old Expo model about an element he discovered, which is cryptic because...reasons, I guess. He couldn't have had notes? Tony is then informed by JARVIS that the element could feasibly sustain his arc reactor safely (coincidentally), but would be impossible to create. This leads to a montage of Tony...doing...things... What the hell is going on? I get that he's trying to manufacture the element, but while his goal is noted what he needs to do to get there isn't really made clear. Even technobabble would be appreciated, because this is nonsense. It's just randomly writing yourself out of a corner.
The action scenes are flashy, but they're brief and not as fun as the previous film. Whiplash constantly goes down easily despite being the "major threat" while the action setpiece that steals the show is Black Widow taking down bodyguards. Tony and Rhodey have a pretty fun in-suit beatdown in the middle of the film, while a big Iron Man and War Machine team-up that every self-respecting nerd wants to see has huge highlights, but is over way faster than you'd wish it to be.
Iron Man 2 really just exists. There are ideas here that could have made solid films, some separated from each other and all deserving of more gestation. They're thrown into a blender instead to make a fair product that is nowhere as breezy and fun as the previous film, instead coming off as labored and uninspired. After all these years it's still my pick for the least of the MCU, with only one challenger to its place. But at least that much later film felt more cohesive (barely).
Minor note: The officer that serves Tony a subpoena early on in the movie is played by Kate Mara, who went on to play Sue Storm in the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four.
Favorite Moment - I gotta go with the Mark V. In the months leading up to this movie’s release I remember being in a toy store with my then-girlfriend and found an action figure of this armor, thinking the color scheme was weird I felt compelled to pick it up and read the description on the back about how it was an portable armor that formed from a suitcase. I freaked out on the GF going “Please let this be in the movie!” It’s such a clever nod, because in classic comics Tony used to keep his less complex armor in a suitcase. Technically there’s nothing really all that impressive about the armor and the action scene that accompanies it is really just okay, but it’s just a sample of Tony toying with armor accessibility (which escalates in just about every Iron Man appearance from now on), and it saves his life when he needs it the most, and the comic nod just puts its coolness over the top.
End Credit Scene - Agent Coulson is sent to New Mexico, where he finds a giant hammer in a crater. Nerds know this a tease for Thor, though I'm not entirely sure what the passing audience thought of it at the time. I imagine this would have been more impactful if Iron Man 2 were in closer proximity to the Thor film (which they were initially set to be released months apart, before the latter got delayed nearly a year), but it's a cool little nod as us fans daydreamed of what that Thor film was going to look like.
Stan Lee Cameo - Like the first Iron Man, Stan the Man has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as a real life personality. In this case he plays Larry King, which isn’t as funny as Hugh Hefner, but pretty funny nonetheless.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 7, 2019 23:52:03 GMT -5
Day Four - Thor
I love this movie. It seems like there are many who tell me I shouldn't, that Thor movies were terrible until Taika Watiti got a hold of the character. Those people can eat me. Eight years post release, this is still one of my favorites.
The burden of directing this movie falls on Kenneth Branaugh. He was an interesting choice to say the least, as at the time he was probably best known for his Shakespeare adaptations (usually starring himself). The closest thing he had to a big budget effects film under his belt was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I enjoy Branaugh's work, because even when it's bad (ala Frankenstein) it's usually beautiful to look at, with stunning sets and costumes, and bad acting in his films is really just enjoyably hammy (usually from himself). When he helmed Thor, he somewhat re-invented his career into more lavish larger productions like Disney's live action remake of Cinderella and an adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. I'm glad he's been given this opportunity, because he makes calmer films than most studios back and they're a refreshing change of pace, to be honest. Thor is a bit calmer than your average MCU film as well. It's pacing is slower than the Iron Man films and The Incredible Hulk, though it's never boring. It's action can be light, with it's biggest action scene coming in the opening twenty minutes as Thor, Loki, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three take on a barrage of Frost Giants in the icy landscapes of Jotunheim. There are slighter action sequences spread throughout the rest of the film, which are excellent but never quite live up.
I quite enjoy the cast. Chris Hemsworth is fabulous as Thor, and in my opinion one of Marvel's biggest "Nailed it" casting decisions (Downey and Evans are up there too). He has that rock solid, statuesque Thor look combined with a stellar portrayal of the character's many sides, be it warrior, compassionate, or a confused fish out of water. I also like Natalie Portman as Jane, and feel she's been unjustly maligned over the years. She's not the most interesting love interest, but she's far from terrible. Tom Hiddleston plays everyone's favorite MCU bad boy Loki for the first time, and successfully wins over our hearts with his cunning little performance. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three are very fun sidekicks for Thor, and it always pained me that they were never given larger roles in sequels (especially the third film). Sif did appear in two episodes of Agents of SHIELD though, doing more than she did in the films.
And I'll admit, Kat Dennings and her taser got a few laughs out of me.
The production design wows me. The moment I fell in love with this movie was the moment I saw the rainbow bridge to the Bifrost. Just looking at the beautiful locations created for Asgard and Jotunheim just convinces me further that this is grade-A stuff, with so many little neat details to catch the eye. Even the desert landscape of New Mexico has a flavor and a personality, keeping me at rapt attention even when we aren't in the lush fantasy worlds.
One downer I can name, I don't think Patrick Doyle's score has much oomph. There are a few decent themes, but I find myself preferring the Brian Tyler's themes from The Dark World and the distinct synth music in Ragnarok. The film is scored like a playful fantasy, which it kind of is, and not really as a superhero film. It's probably the weakest score of the first phase of MCU films.
There are a lot of people who don't care for this movie, though thankfully I can't count myself among their ranks. I'm perfectly engrossed and enchanted every time I watch Thor. For me it's the best of the Thor films and it holds up insanely well on repeat viewings.
Favorite Moment - This exchange: "I need a horse!" "We don't have horses, just dogs, cats, birds..." "Then give me one of those large enough to ride."
End Credit Scene - Our first look at an Infinity Stone! Nick Fury enlists Erik Selvig to study the Tesseract, while Loki lurks in the shadows. We know little about the cube at this point, which will be expanded upon in the next two films, while the revelation of Loki's survival sets him up to be the primary villain in The Avengers. Those of us who were keeping tabs on Avengers news knew this our first big peek at what would go down in the big crossover, which made it infinitely exciting.
Stan Lee Cameo - Our boy Stan plays a redneck truck driver who is one among many trying to lift Thor's hammer. He chains it up to his truck and tries to pull it from where it lies by hitting the gas, only to lose his truck bed. It's not my favorite of Stan's cameos, but it's fun enough.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 9, 2019 0:12:46 GMT -5
Day Five - Captain America: The First Avenger
If you were to ask me which film in the MCU I've watched the most, I'd say without hesitation Captain America. Most of the time when I'm in a superhero mood, I pass over a lot of favorites that I think are better and more consistent, and go right to the comfort food option. This movie never gets old. I've even watched it more than once in a single day when it was on an all-day marathon on TV just before Winter Soldier came out. In fact when I started planning this marathon, I got a little giddy when I realized "Oooh! I get to watch Captain America again!"
Although I will admit that at the rate I'm going Infinity War might be a challenger to that title.
I really can't get enough of this movie. There are movies in this series that I favor more in quality (even this film's sequels), but the plucky spirit and rip-roaring adventure of this film keeps me coming back for more. Normally if you can maintain those qualities in your movie, you can count on me staying in my theater seat.
A lot of why I love this movie is Chris Evans, who personifies Steve Rogers better than I ever imagined possible. When he was cast in the role I was mostly just familiar with him as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies (I think I had seen Cellular also, but remembered little about it except that "Human Torch was in it"), and the two characters were so dissimilar that I wasn't sure I would warm up to him. Thankfully the Evans lad has acting chops, and puts on Steve's boy scout routine with no reservations, and even goes out of the way to make Steve interesting and lovable. Anybody who is making a Superman movie in the near future best be taking notes from this movie (because Man of Steel clearly didn't).
The supporting cast is aces. Hayley Atwell is so damn good that they gave her character her own TV show. Also on supporting are two of my favorite actors, Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving, the latter of which playing the villain, the Red Skull. Red Skull normally gets lumped with the villains normally pointed at when someone on social media complains about Marvel's "villain problem," but I've always thought the character, while underdeveloped, was carried by Weaving's blazing performance.
The film is directed by Joe Johnston, fresh off of the production disaster that was The Wolfman. He got the job based on the fact that he already made a 1940's era superhero film in The Rocketeer, and had also successfully depicted the era in October Sky. Johnston isn't the best director in the world (Jurassic Park III is a testament to that), but he's a director who seems to have a keen sense of adventure and loves to lace his movies with it. Films like Honey, I Shruk the Kids and Jumanji are staples of my childhood because of this.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've typed enough and I'm off to watch this movie again for the five hundredth time.
Favorite Moment - I'm tempted to go with "The star-spangled man with the plan!" montage, because it's so much fun and very funny. I was prepared to go with it until one of the final scenes in the film, in which Steve is going to crash the airship into the arctic and is talking to Peggy Carter about a date on the weekend, they both knowing full well that he will likely die. The scene is a genuine tearjerker, with Atwell's reaction to Steve cutting to static really tugging at my heartstrings. Every time they bring up "I owe her a dance" in the future, it always brings me back to this scene. If Endgame does involve time travel, like is rumored, give them their dance! The romantic in me NEEDS it!
End Credit Scene - Like The Incredible Hulk, I theorize that the final scene of the movie, which sees Steve waking up after being frozen for seventy years, was originally meant as a post-scene. It was probably smart that they bumped it up before the credits, because it's a pretty big plot point in Cap's story between this film and Avengers, even if it isn't entirely relevant to the film itself. It also assures people that Steve is still alive and the movie didn't end on a complete downer. Instead at the end of the film we're given the first, minute-long teaser trailer for The Avengers. There isn't much footage or action in it (a lot of it is showing off the helicarrier sets), but I believe it was still filming when The First Avenger was released, so it's likely that they barely had anything to use. But it was enough for us.
Stan Lee Cameo - Steve is to be given a medal at a ceremony, but doesn't show up. Stan is an officer in the audience, confused about the whole affair. It's a very throwaway scene that probably would have been cut if it wasn't for Lee's cameo.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 9, 2019 13:01:31 GMT -5
Avengers will be watched tonight. Some notes I neglected to include from Captain America because I was in a rush and I was tired:
Captain America was previously adapted for film in 1990, in what is quite possibly the worst film adaptation of a Marvel Comic. It was directed by Albert Pyun, who directed Alien from LA.
The film was the first of four stellar scores by one of my favorite film composers, Alan Sylvestri, composer of films like Back to the Future, Predator, and The Mummy Returns. Other comic book compositions he's done are Red 2 and Judge Dredd.
Headcanon: The people who are shot by the weapons created by the Tesseract disintegrate completely, but since the Tesseract is the Space Stone and opens portals and the like (including the one that finishes off Red Skull at the end), part of my theorizes these people where trasnported to somewhere else in space. They're probably still dead, since most of space is a vacuum, but it's fun to think about.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 10, 2019 1:12:23 GMT -5
Day Six - The Avengers Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, and Sean Connery star in this update of the classic TV series where...oh wait... Four years after Iron Man, The Avengers finally arrives. It gets stellar reviews, breaks box office records, becomes the first film to cross $200 million mark in its opening weekend, becomes the first Marvel movie to gross more than a billion worldwide (The Dark Knight was the first superhero movie in general), and wins audiences over all across the world. Meanwhile I just sat there and asked myself "Is that it?" Anticipation can be a tricky business, and for the most part I try to judge most movies by what they are and not what they aren't. I find myself betraying that with Avengers, because it feels like it demands to be more than this movie allows it to be. The film feels claustrophobic, because most of the movie is confined on a helicarrier, and it doesn't really feel like it's expanding far beyond that until the finale battle in New York, which is great but it's a familiar setting with a rather uninspired alien invasion. The scope of The Avengers always felt to me like it was smaller than all of the previous MCU movies, which I think is unacceptable. With so much of the film taking place in one space, coupled with some fairly bland cinematography, Avengers at times comes off as a very expensive TV movie. I don't want to knock Seamus McGarvey too much because I'm a fan of his work on Godzilla, so I will commend him on a few interesting shots and the lack of color filters and letting the film have an natural look over saturated (techniques which I think have made filmmaking uglier, if I'm being honest). Director Joss Whedon might be most at fault here, possibly since his background mostly stems from television. Whedon says a lot of his shots were meant to service the 3D conversion, and though I think the 3D on this film was pretty good, I don't think the look served the film well in the end. It just made it look cheap. This is also in addition to Whedon's trademark humor peppered throughout the film. I'm a fan of Whedon's writing, but a lot of these feel like they're trying to hard, which quips that should have hit the editing floor like "I don't see how that's a party." But if I were to move past the "That's not the Avengers film I wanted" whining, there are things about the way this movie plays out that I don't particularly care for helping me have a lower opinion of the film. For one, I'm not a huge fan of Coulson's death in the film, as it was meant to be the big emotional moment of the film. I liked Coulson when this movie came out, but he had done next to nothing in this series other than just being present. I felt nothing when he died, and if I have any affection for the character now it's because he is far better developed on Agents of SHIELD than he is here. Also, in Whedon's efforts to glamorize the Avengers as the legendary guardians of our planet, it never once in this film feels like they're going to lose. Even when the odds are stacked against them and it's six people facing an army, the movie has this attitude of "We're going to win, so there." I feel very little suspense while watching this movie, which makes it's lengthy runtime a bit of a chore. I also hate, hate, hate, HATE the way the Chitauri shut down when Iron Man nukes the mothership. That dues ex machina is bullsh*t as the film never set it up making the payoff feel like a slap in the face rather than a logical conclusion. In all honesty, while the action can be pretty cool at times, the alien invasion in the film felt just a bit old hat since we saw a similar one in Transformers: Dark of the Moon the year prior. While it can be debated that Avengers is a better movie than any Transformers movie, Transformers at least had the decency to make the stakes the focal point, keep the situation suspenseful, and the end result was just more exciting. I can dog this movie pretty hard, but it's just me being tough on it because it could be so much better than it is. All of this doesn't really make it a bad movie in my book, just an underwhelming one. There are a lot of good qualities to this film. The cast is, as expected, exceptional. Especially Mark Ruffalo as the new Bruce Banner. I don't really buy Ruffalo being the same character as Edward Norton, but he probably gives the best take on the role since Bill Bixby. Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. are both dynamite, as is Chris Evans, though his Captain America outfit is terrible (especially the cowl). Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson finally get to stretch their legs as Hawkeye and Nick Fury, after being merely cameos in previous movies. A lot can be said about how Hawkeye is under mind control through most of the movie, but Renner does give what little he has everything he's got. Tom Hiddleston's Loki is the main villain of the piece, and the film gives him a more bombastic bad guy role which he was lacking in Thor, where he was very in the shadows. It's really the chemestry of the actors this movie rides on, and if it succeeds it's because of them. When I walked out of this epic team-up movie, my thoughts were similar to my thoughts on Richard Donner's Superman: yes, it proved that a movie like this could be made, but now it was time for someone to make a better one. I had high hopes Justice League might have been that film, but whew boy, did I back the wrong horse on that one. Favorite Moment - This movie really rides high in the Battle of New York sequence, so a lot of my favorite scenes naturally come from it. I've thought of giving this to the epic round shot of the Avengers assembled or even the single take shot of individual Avengers destroying the Chitauri. But, in the end I'm going to have to go with the safe choice: Hulk vs. Loki. Loki decides to put the Hulk in his place by screaming at him about how superior he is. Hulk's rebuttal is classic. End Credit Scenes - This is the first movie to have TWO! The first is the big reveal of the being responsible for sending Loki to Earth. It's the big, purple guy, Thanos! Here he is not CGI nor played by Josh Brolin, who wouldn't take the mantel until Guardians of the Galaxy. Instead it's a stunt man in makeup, who gets to smile. Neat! There is a line about "courting death" which is a nod to Thanos's motivation in the comics, which ultimately was not used in the films. The second scene is a gag payoff where the Avengers chow down on Schwarma after winning the Battle of New York. Fun fact: This scene was actually shot after the world premier of the film because Whedon suddenly thought of it. The entire cast put on their costumes and shot the tiny scene and they were able to insert it in time for it's North American release, though some foreign markets don't have it. You may notice that Chris Evans has his hand over his face during the entire scene, and that's because he had grown his beard out for another movie (better beard removal than Justice League). Also watch Mark Ruffalo during this scene, because he is soooooo close to cracking up the entire time. Stan Lee Cameo - Stan is an interviewee on television as the news is reporting on the New York incident, to which Stan replies "Superheroes in New York? Give me a break!" This is actually not the only scene Stan filmed for this movie, as there was an extra scene he filmed on the same set where he chastised Captain America for not asking a waitress out who was flirting with him. This waitress was seen prominently during the final battle and is seen on the news as well.
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Post by Mod City on Apr 10, 2019 9:37:03 GMT -5
These recaps are great, Torgo. Wish I had more time to comment and pick them apart with my own comments, but damn it, the real world keeps calling! I enjoy Iron Man, and the Incredible Hulk is fine, but I really, really love the first Thor and Captain America movies. Thor is much funnier than I thought it would be, and features some really great action. A moment or two that stand out is Odin stripping Thor of his powers (love his recall of the hammer) and Sif breaking out her weapon right before they take on the frost giants. I like all the Warriors Three, but Sif is where it's at for me. I was disappointed to hear through (official?) channels that she did not survive the snap. Of course, she probably would have been killed by Hela anyway if her schedule had allowed her to be in Ragnarok, but whatever. That super-fast flash of her breaking out her sword does it for me every time.The first Cap movie will always be a favorite, just because I felt like I should know that story, but I had no idea how they were going to pull it off. I've really liked some of Joe Johnston's movies - his throwback look at Americana in October Sky was excellent and dovetailed perfectly into the material for this. And Chris Evans did one hell of a job creating the personality for Steve Rogers. I honestly don't know how he's not everyone's favorite Avenger. Righteous, noble, selfless, humble, brave and somehow not obnoxious or preachy. At all. Completely likeable. How the hell did Evans do that? He's not perfect, but he's awfully close. It's a great performance. And yeah, in Civil War? I'm all team Cap. Because he's right. And to be clear, Doctor Strange is my favorite MCU character, but he's not an Avenger. Captain America is my favorite Avenger. This stuff is important
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