The Marvels

[BrandX]

Watched The Marvels.  In fact, watched it twice in theaters.  So, I have to say, I liked it.  Iman stole the show and she's made me like Ms Marvel (don't care for her in the comics, but her show and this movie have been good).

 

I heard the calls of it being "woke" but for this, it's not there imo.  However, that said, when you have an actress that has called out it's main audience as being garbage (even though it was still the main audience of this movie and still blaming them) and those involved in the movie making process attacking fans...I can see why people would just say it is.

I have one friend, I know she's avoided MCU movies since Eternals (there's a woke one).

That all said, still, if you can, see The Marvels.  Fun movie.  🙂  I enjoyed Ant-Man 3 too.  However, I think part of it's issue was they kept the same director who really hadn't delivered in the box office area for Ant-Man 1 and 2, so why go such a huge budget and same director for 3?

[Excraft]

On 11/28/2023 at 8:47 AM, Without_Pause said:

The sad/funny thing is I don't know what is 'woke' about them, but I'm convinced people who are anti-woke don't know what woke is. My issues with say the latest Ant-Man had nothing to do with anything 'woke.'

 

Same here.  I don't think I'd call any of these latest MCU (or DCU) flops "woke".  From what I can see, they didn't fail for being "woke". They failed because they're poorly written.  Add to that you have studios who seem to be more interested in rapidly churning out as much content as possible instead of focusing on quality over quantity.

[BrandX]

20 hours ago, Excraft said:

 

Same here.  I don't think I'd call any of these latest MCU (or DCU) flops "woke".  From what I can see, they didn't fail for being "woke". They failed because they're poorly written.  Add to that you have studios who seem to be more interested in rapidly churning out as much content as possible instead of focusing on quality over quantity.

 

Well...I'd say it was for Eternals.  However, they were ALSO trying to do some else with it's direction, which didn't seem to work for a lot of people.

Maybe...maybe not...for Thor L&T, but I thought it's biggest issue was to much Taika.

[Ghost]

16 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

Well...I'd say it was for Eternals.  However, they were ALSO trying to do some else with it's direction, which didn't seem to work for a lot of people.

Maybe...maybe not...for Thor L&T, but I thought it's biggest issue was to much Taika.

Thor L&T seemed more like an SNL Thor parody than an MCU movie.  One bad joke after another - even during scenes that were supposed to be somber.

[BrandX]

55 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Thor L&T seemed more like an SNL Thor parody than an MCU movie.  One bad joke after another - even during scenes that were supposed to be somber.

Like I said, to much Taika Waititi

[Excraft]

15 hours ago, Ghost said:

Thor L&T seemed more like an SNL Thor parody than an MCU movie.  One bad joke after another - even during scenes that were supposed to be somber.

 

Exactly.  Badly written.

[Ghost]

Well, it’s box office run is over with a global total of $205mill

 

 

 

 

[Marine X]

On 11/13/2023 at 11:04 AM, Ghost said:

Second, Brie Larsons portrayal of Capt Marvel is not fun or entertaining.  I loved her first movie.  Thought it was great.

Endgame was filmed BEFORE Captain Marvel, so the Russo's had no frame of reference to exactly define her character, nor did the actress, this is an enormous cast and to get every one perfect would be almost impossible.

[Ghost]

6 hours ago, Marine X said:

Endgame was filmed BEFORE Captain Marvel, so the Russo's had no frame of reference to exactly define her character, nor did the actress, this is an enormous cast and to get every one perfect would be almost impossible.

Perfect is not what I was looking for.

Likeable was.

 

She came off as extreme arrogant in Endgame.  
As I said previously - arrogant to the point that she could very easily have been on an arc to become a villain.

IMO, the arrogance would have been fine if we got a scene with Thanos kicking her ass.  Making her realize she is not the most powerful being in the universe.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Small post-cred spoiler if we haven't talked about this already:

Spoiler

There is one proper post-cred to this: featuring one Hank McCoy (played by Kelsey Grammer), and an alternate Maria Rambeau - who isn't Monica's mom, but instead picked up the Captain Marvel mantle (aka Binary in the X-Verse) by winning that footrace, as hinted at earlier in the movie.

 

There's no final sting, other than some more adorable little meows.

 

But given the potential adjustments to the MCU due to budgetary concerns, do you think we'll see a Fox-verse X-Men any time soon?

 

And given the a**-kicking Madame Web's been given critically, not to mention very limited box-office, will Sony finally throw in the towel after Spiderverse 3 comes out?

 

[ZacKing]

I can't stand Brie Larson, so I'll pass on seeing this.  She was ok in the first one, but just lacks any kind of character or charisma that most of the other actors in the MCU have.

[Haijinx]

On 11/13/2023 at 7:34 AM, Frostbiter said:

 

That and this is the 33rd movie in the Marvel Cinematic franchise.

When I was a kid I was disappointed in the lack of Marvel movies.

 

Now I just wish they would stop so someone could come up with something new. 

 

[Ghost]

1 hour ago, Haijinx said:

When I was a kid I was disappointed in the lack of Marvel movies.

 

Now I just wish they would stop so someone could come up with something new. 

 

Nah

If they are good, I want them to go on forever

[PeregrineFalcon]

On 2/12/2024 at 5:53 AM, Ghost said:

As I said previously - arrogant to the point that she could very easily have been on an arc to become a villain.

Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, IS A VILLAIN!

 

 

[ZacKing]

She just seems like such an awful person.  I don't know what the casting agent saw in her to be honest.  Her personality has ruined any chance for this character to be successful.

[battlewraith]

Horrible person. Living absolutely rent free in so many people's heads for so long. lol.

[DougGraves]

I just saw The Marvels and it was great.  Easily in the top 10 MCU movies and close to the top 5.

 

But then I loved Quantumania as well - in my top 3 MCU movies.

 

The MCU is doing very well.  People just don't remember how the MCU used to be and compare it to Endgame - the culmination of 15 years of movies.

 

But if you look at the box office for the early  MCU and now, it is clear that Avengers movies (or Civil War which was basically an Avengers movie) do great as do Spider-man and a few other movies.  The rest have really varied in box office.

 

And while the movies have generally done worse in the past few years - that is post Covid and movies are just doing a lot worse.

 

I don't think there is superhero fatigue or bad superhero-movie fatigue.  I think there is mis-remembering history syndrome.  

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

5 hours ago, DougGraves said:

And while the movies have generally done worse in the past few years - that is post Covid and movies are just doing a lot worse.

Well, let's put some numbers behind that.

 

In 2023, global box office - all the movies, in all the cinemas everywhere* - clocked around $34bn. Pretty good.

But in 2019, that figure was $42bn. 

(And in case you were wondering... 2020 was $11.5bn.)

 

So yes, COVID hurt, but it also brought a massive uptick in streaming.

And audiences are still pickier about what they want to go see, especially with cinema-exclusive windows chopped down to months or even weeks.

I'm definitely one of them: while I've gone out with friends for GOTG3, D&D and Wonka, I've happily waited for Oppenheimer, Songbirds & Snakes, Marvels and Barbie. Unless it's something I really wanna see, the movies can come to me. Averagely interesting is no longer enough.

 

*except South Korea, where there is a lot of very weird and somewhat insular box office gaming going on, so it's been excluded from industry figures. Odd little story: worth a couple minutes of your time to read.
 

Edited February 21 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[DougGraves]

35 minutes ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Unless it's something I really wanna see, the movies can come to me. Averagely interesting is no longer enough.

 

Yes.  I wanted to see Marvels in the theater.  But knowing it was coming to Disney+ I made no special effort to get out and see it and ended up just waiting.

[Ghost]

11 hours ago, DougGraves said:

I just saw The Marvels and it was great.  Easily in the top 10 MCU movies and close to the top 5.

 

But then I loved Quantumania as well - in my top 3 MCU movies.

 

The MCU is doing very well.  People just don't remember how the MCU used to be and compare it to Endgame - the culmination of 15 years of movies.

 

But if you look at the box office for the early  MCU and now, it is clear that Avengers movies (or Civil War which was basically an Avengers movie) do great as do Spider-man and a few other movies.  The rest have really varied in box office.

 

And while the movies have generally done worse in the past few years - that is post Covid and movies are just doing a lot worse.

 

I don't think there is superhero fatigue or bad superhero-movie fatigue.  I think there is mis-remembering history syndrome.  

Glad you enjoyed it.

I tried watching it on streaming.

The first 30 minutes or so, I was like “this isn’t horrible.  Not great, but not Thor L&T levels of trash”.

Then they visited the musical planet and I turned it off.  THAT was an odd decision, and one that immediately sent the movie into a category worse than L@T.

 

For the record - I really like Quantumania.  I did think they dropped the ball by jobbing out Kang, and thought some of the effects were a little iffy, but still enjoyed it enough to buy it on Blu-ray to add to my collection.

 

The issue with Marvel now vs Marvel then for me is just how bad the bad movies are.

Not all during phase 1-3 were great.  For me, Iron Man 2 and Antman 2 were the worst.  Yet they still weren’t unbearable.

Compare that to Eternals, Thor L&T and Marvels (sorry, I know you liked it).  They hit new levels of bad.

But hey, every movie ever made appeals to someone.

Edited February 22 by Ghost

[DougGraves]

10 hours ago, Ghost said:

For me, Iron Man 2 and Antman 2 were the worst.  Yet they still weren’t unbearable.

 

Whereas Iron Man 2 for me is in my top 5 MCU movies.  Iron Man I find okay but not good and Iron Man 3 was terrible.  And Civil War was unbearable.

[Ghost]

56 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

 

Whereas Iron Man 2 for me is in my top 5 MCU movies.  Iron Man I find okay but not good and Iron Man 3 was terrible.  And Civil War was unbearable.

A lot of people didn’t like Iron Man 3 - but I did.

Seemed like they were trying to do too much in Pt 2 - intro Black Widow.  Push towards The Avengers plus the drunk Tony Stark storyline.  

 

Civil War was great imo - up there with Winter Soldier as one of the best non-Avengers movies of the first 3 phases.

[BrandX]

I head the hate for IM3 and I'm just baffled.  I liked it.  I even like the twist that the real Mandarin wasn't who the public thought.  Really, only the fake Mandarin being Kevin was meh to me, as Kevin felt like a meh character.  

Though, I wouldn't have minded Mandarin being the Mandarin

[DougGraves]

12 minutes ago, Ghost said:

A lot of people didn’t like Iron Man 3 - but I did.

Seemed like they were trying to do too much in Pt 2 - intro Black Widow.  Push towards The Avengers plus the drunk Tony Stark storyline.  

 

Civil War was great imo - up there with Winter Soldier as one of the best non-Avengers movies of the first 3 phases.

 

 

My desires for a superhero movie are fairly simple

 

I want to see a superhero in costume fighting a supervillain in costume.

 

I don't want time spent on an origin story.  I don't want superheroes fighting superheroes.  I don't want superheroes or supervillains fighting in normal clothes.

 

So for me Iron Man 2 is almost perfect.  Winter Soldier is also in my top 3.

[Ghost]

24 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

 

 

My desires for a superhero movie are fairly simple

 

I want to see a superhero in costume fighting a supervillain in costume.

 

I don't want time spent on an origin story.  I don't want superheroes fighting superheroes.  I don't want superheroes or supervillains fighting in normal clothes.

 

So for me Iron Man 2 is almost perfect.  Winter Soldier is also in my top 3.

I gotcha

 

I think Civil War was a great example of the MCU telling a bigger story

You had Avengers 2 with Tony creating Ultron.  By the end, everything was good, but the groundwork has been set.

Then came Civl War and the difference in philosophy between Tony/Steve, which was partly caused by Tony during Avengers 2.  By the end, the Avengers were fractured.

Then we got Avengers 3.  Looking back, you have to wonder would Thanos have been successful if the Avengers faced him as a unit, instead of 2 separate teams.  
We sort of got the answer in Endgame.

 

Too me, Civil War was a great movie and a vital part in bridging the story between 2 and 3.  It took Tony/Steve from a disagreement to a full blown war - which helped keep both sides from looking like spoiled children in part 3

 

I know.  Kinda rambling, but I’ve been a lifelong Marvel fan and phases 1-3 were dreams come true for me