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Ben X

Marvel movies

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A place to talk about all the movies derived from Marvel comic properties. So, MCU, X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, what have you.

 

There's a thread for the Netflix shows here. I don't think there is anywhere in particular for non-Netflix Marvel shows (e.g. SHIELD, Legion, Inhumans).

 

We started talking about Marvel movies in the Star Wars ep 8 thread.

 

I said,:

 

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Did you not think Deadpool felt fresh amongst all the other Marvel movies (ie MCU and non-MCU)?  ... It strikes me that with Deadpool alongside First Class, Days Of Future Past and Logan, Fox is the studio doing the most interesting stuff with their mega-franchise.

 

brkl

 

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Yes, I did, but First Class just felt like same old stuff to me. Haven't seen the other too. That said, I'd like to see some directorial vision in superhero movies. They all feel the same right now. We haven't seen anything like Ang Lee's Hulk, for example, which of course is deeply flawed and an hour too long, but has personality. I agree this discussion should be split to another thread, although I don't have much more to say about superhero movies. They are the strongest vein in the mine of barely passable blockbuster movies that is being mined right now. You can't even try to have a new idea and risk losing continuity in the franchise. Everyone is following Peter Jackson's footprints.
 
About five years ago, a Finnish film production company took a detective franchise with two quite liked films and decided to churn out six more movies in one eight month shoot. Those were some forward-thinking people. Of course they are unwatchable, but I'm sure they made money.

 

Kolzig:

 

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I have been totally losing interest in Marvel movies. There are already so many that I have completely skipped.

 

But yeah Deadpool was really refreshing superhero movie, however the other Fox movies have been really bad in my opinion. Especially the last X-Men movie was just a mess. Logan I still haven't seen, but I've heard it's good. I really love the Old Man Logan comic book that came some years ago.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed First Class and although it obviously hits a lot of the same notes as the previous films, being about mutants, it also has a different tone - 60s spy thriller vs near-future sci-fi - it switches up character relationships and makes the whole thing feel more character-driven (DOFP takes this further by hinging the entire plot on whether a single character will make a redemptive moral choice).

 

I agree Apocalypse was pretty bad - that was the first X-Men film that really felt like 'the same old stuff' to me, but through a horrible 90s comics cartoony filter.

 

Logan (forum thread) has its issues but is overall really good. I just did an X-Men marathon with my partner, but we only watched X1, X2, First Class and DOFP - that selection worked so well, and we didn't have the heart to end with such a downer by watching Logan!

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I can rename the Netflix Marvel thread if the discussion wants to branch out to all non-film stuff.  It might be prudent since they're spreading their shows out in so many places (Netflix, network TV, and soon Hulu).

 

I've seen X-Men thru First Class and I don't care for any of them.  I never found any of it compelling or entertaining.  First Class in particular I have issues with (they go out of their way to kill the black mutant who's mutant power is literally survival).  I admit to having some interest in Logan though.

 

I loved Deadpool.  I've always been a fan of the character and to see it done so right after seeing it done horribly wrong was great.

 

I like the main MCU movies for the most part.  The Thor ones don't really do it for me and I'm not a fan of Iron Man 3 but the rest I found at least entertaining popcorn flicks.  I haven't seen either Guardians movie and I really want to.  I also haven't seen Spider-man yet.

 

I echo what Tycho said in the SW Ep. 8 thread about not really getting tired of the movies, though I'm coming at it from a different angle.  I'm not really a big movie person, only seeing a handful of films a year.  Most of the time when I do watch something I'm only seeking a good time.  I appreciate thoughtful and intelligent film but these days I just don't have the time or energy to give them the proper due and instead would rather watch something easily consumed and disposed of, which the MCU movies have done a great job of for me.

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Logan is really quite great and they really go for something more in that movie.  Anyone who's a bit tired of this sort of thing should really check it out.

 

I agree that a lot of the marvel movies haven't been that exciting, I wasn't super into either Guardians really, same with Dr. Strange.  The newest spiderman was surprisingly refreshing despite it's new found connection to the MCU.

 

I have hope for the new Thor with Taika Waititi at the helm, so far looks a bit fresh.

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It seems like a lot of people on these forums see every one of these when they come out so I am curious, does anyone find the action in them exciting? I think most of my problems with superhero movies would be moot if I thought these character-driven action films had good action scenes or characters with a maturity level beyond 15-year olds, but I've been radically underwhelmed by pretty much all of them. The only action scene in a Marvel movie I thought had any invention to it was the foot-chase in Captain America: The First Avenger.

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It's pretty rare for me to be really excited by action in an action movie. So much of it these days is just a bunch of CGI whizbangery and it's tough for that to get my blood pumping. I actually honestly don't mind CGI whizbangery - it's fun to watch all this chaos onscreen, especially when it looks pretty - but again, it doesn't really excite me. To be fair, lots of action scenes before it was all CGI whizbangery also didn't get my blood pumping. I just think it's tough to make exciting movies so it's rare that someone pulls that off, doubly so when the stakes are people fighting rather than other stuff that I find more affecting in the first place, like emotions or injustice or whatever. My favorite Marvel action scenes are generally the ones with humor, either physical or sarcastic quipping. I don't remember a lot of the specifics, but I think the big superhero vs. superhero airport fight in Civil War had some funny stuff, for instance (like with Ant-Man or Spiderman), so I liked that one.

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6 hours ago, TychoCelchuuu said:

It's pretty rare for me to be really excited by action in an action movie. So much of it these days is just a bunch of CGI whizbangery and it's tough for that to get my blood pumping. I actually honestly don't mind CGI whizbangery - it's fun to watch all this chaos onscreen, especially when it looks pretty - but again, it doesn't really excite me. To be fair, lots of action scenes before it was all CGI whizbangery also didn't get my blood pumping. I just think it's tough to make exciting movies so it's rare that someone pulls that off, doubly so when the stakes are people fighting rather than other stuff that I find more affecting in the first place, like emotions or injustice or whatever. My favorite Marvel action scenes are generally the ones with humor, either physical or sarcastic quipping. I don't remember a lot of the specifics, but I think the big superhero vs. superhero airport fight in Civil War had some funny stuff, for instance (like with Ant-Man or Spiderman), so I liked that one.

 

Basically this for me as well.  I'm entertained by the action in the MCU as much as I am in any other generic summer action movie.  Of all the MCU stuff I've seen thus far, I find Captain America to be the most interesting when it comes to fights.  The close up hand to hand fights he engages in I find much more interesting, especially coupled with the use of a shield as both a defensive and offensive weapon.  Lasers and lighting are cool and all but also so very generic and easily forgotten.  I also like the Ant-Man and Spider-man scenes in Civil War because of the banter as well as their relatively unique fighting styles.

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Another genre switch-up for the X-Men franchise: a teen horror type thing set around the Apocalypse point of the timeline:

 

 

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In principle I like the idea of telling different kinds of stories in that universe... but that trailer was awful. Is it just that all trailers are bad now? I'm genuinely asking for the opinion of someone who might watch more than me, because in the rare cases I actually watch a film trailer now I'm almost always disappointed and vaguely grossed out by it.

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Yeah, pretty bad trailer. I think most trailers are bad, but they probably always have been. Example of another problem with trailers: before the Mother! screening I saw at least three trailers that made me think "cool-looking film, but I feel like I've seen all of it now so not going to bother with it".

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6 hours ago, Gwardinen said:

In principle I like the idea of telling different kinds of stories in that universe... but that trailer was awful. Is it just that all trailers are bad now? I'm genuinely asking for the opinion of someone who might watch more than me, because in the rare cases I actually watch a film trailer now I'm almost always disappointed and vaguely grossed out by it.

The number of good trailers I've seen can probably be counted on one hand. This one is my favorite:

 

 

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4 hours ago, TychoCelchuuu said:

The number of good trailers I've seen can probably be counted on one hand. This one is my favorite:

 

And now it's mine too.

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Just agreeing with everyone that trailers are bad and that I hate them.

 

(that Real Life trailer is good tho)

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I thought Spiderman Home Coming was pretty great. I liked that the bad guys were repurposing alien technology. I liked Michael Keaton's performance. I liked that it told a story that was low key, not the fate of the world. Pretty good Marvel movie.

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I liked that it was basically a teen comedy. I'll basically fall over myself to enjoy any funny movie, and the film gave me lots of opportunities for that, so, I was a fan!

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1 hour ago, Spenny said:

I thought Spiderman Home Coming was pretty great. I liked that the bad guys were repurposing alien technology. I liked Michael Keaton's performance. I liked that it told a story that was low key, not the fate of the world. Pretty good Marvel movie.

Found it really weird that "with great power comes great responsibility" wasn't a theme at all. "Being Spider-Man is just really cool, actually. All the problems come from not getting to tell people you're cool," seemed more what it was about, at no real cost to our hero. Olly Moss suggested at one point that the best way to write Tony Stark out of the MCU is to have him deliver the Uncle Ben advice to Spider-Man before he goes, and now that's all I want and know I won't get. 

 

I liked the movie fine though. Like most MCU stuff it has a lot of really intriguing or thrilling or fun scenes but ultimately isn't about anything really.

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14 minutes ago, Jake said:

Found it really weird that "with great power comes great responsibility" wasn't a theme at all. "Being Spider-Man is just really cool, actually. All the problems come from not getting to tell people you're cool," seemed more what it was about, at no real cost to our hero. Olly Moss suggested at one point that the best way to write Tony Stark out of the MCU is to have him deliver the Uncle Ben advice to Spider-Man before he goes, and now that's all I want and know I won't get. 

 

I feel like "with great power comes great responsibility" wouldn't have made much sense at all. In this universe, aliens invaded earth, Norse gods are real dudes, and Iron Man can blow up tanks by pointing his palms at them. The point being, relatively speaking, Spiderman's powers aren't all that great.

 

I like this a lot! It gives room for the character to explore what the powers mean on his own. Test his own moral compass against what is right and wrong. Find the responsibilities for himself, as they are reflected on his friends, family, and neighbourhood.

 

I would probably agree that Spidey comes out pretty directly unaffected by his actions, but, isn't that kind of what makes a low stakes drama work? We kind of know Spiderman will be okay at the end of the day, but his actions are reflected in where the other characters are left off and how their relationships have changed.

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Spiderman already had the "with great power comes great responsibility" thing when he was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, so I think the idea was "let's not make every Spiderman story literally the same thing."

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Agreed, clearly it was just skipped over since we've heard it so much at this point. Didn't need another origin story.

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I don't care if its an origin story or not, but I care that that character grapples with those issues. He's the kid in the MCU, he's the one who shouldn't be hardened and have his mind made up. It shouldn't matter if aliens have invaded or not, doesn't matter his relative Power Level compared to other characters -- what is he going to do with the power he has? That doesn't matter if its day one or day one thousand into his existence as that character. I found it weird that that conflict didn't weigh on him AT ALL. I found his actual motivations and arc really uninteresting even though scene by scene the movie was really fun.

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Well, color me impressed. I just watched Thor: Ragnarok and it's a delight. [Not just because of Jeff Goldblum.] [But also kinda because of Jeff Goldblum.] The 80s aesthetic and music (thanks composer Mark Mothersbough!) hits home and the movie is - save for some less-interesting bits where there's a necessary ramping up of plots and stakes - basically a superhero spoof/comedy. Thanks director Taika Waititi! After two passable outings, it's good to see Thor finding its groove by taking itself way less seriously. It's like Marvel finally dared to go all the way due to the success of GotG. It also reminds me a bit of how Ubisoft started doing crazy things in expansions, starting with Far Cry: Blood Dragon, which then saw this hausse of 'anything goes, let's go apeshit' high concept stuff unleashed on what used to be so predictable a field.

 

Anyway, Marvel is on a roll this year. Where they were flopping about last year with meh stuff like Dr. Strange, it's been nothing but Spider-Mans and Guardians of the Galaxys and Thors up until now.

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I liked the look of Ragnarok from the trailer, but I wasn't a big fan of GotG and thought its sequel was even worse, so that made me a little less enthused for this...

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I definitely feel like Thor: Ragnarok is Taika Waititi's success more than Marvels. I mean it still feels like a capital M Marvel movie but it looks like they gave him a pretty free reign.

It was nice seeing all the kiwi in-jokes and familiar faces from the Sam Neill cameo to the Brotastic Maori Alien and Rachel House hamming it up as Jeff Goldblum's toughest flunkie. Poor Karl Urban's gotten lost under a slab of muscle and tough guy persona but it's great to see him again too.

I was a bit worried obvious kiwisms would ruin it for me but everything seemed to fit together fine.

 

Meanwhile the plot seemed nice enough for back seat fluff and it didn't interrupt the fun too much, I think the movie was a whole lot of fun, probably one of the best in the Marvel run so far.

Jeff Goldblum was such a treat too, I was worried he was just in it for a hot minute but he stuck around for a good while serving premium Jeff Goldblum content.

Waaaaay better than Guardians. Both movies are whacky but TR goes over and above. I think it's plotting was a lot better too.

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2 hours ago, SecretAsianMan said:

Plot is probably the least interesting part but since I'm such a stickler for it, is there an issue seeing Ragnarok if I didn't see the previous Thor?

 

No. The only relevant plot point from Thor 2 is re-described almost immediately.

 

11 hours ago, Mawd said:

Waaaaay better than Guardians. Both movies are whacky but TR goes over and above. I think it's plotting was a lot better too.

 

I felt the other way about it - a lot of this film read to me as a desperate grab at recreating Guardians of the Galaxy's success by aping its style visually, audibly and comedically. Which isn't to say that it didn't succeed a lot of the time, and I'll take a fun, light-hearted superhero (really more sci-fi) romp over the endless grinding misery of most of DC's attempts any day.

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I don't really feel the need to rank the two - both GotG and Thor are fine and they do their own thing in a way.

 

Let's get back to Goldblum. There is a moment in this film, and people who have seen it will know of what I speak, that I am half convinced is him just... doing something, like improvising, or forgetting his line, and it's in the movie and it's... prime Goldblum.

 

It's when he tells about the difference in time in Sakaar, how he should be millions of years old in real space, and then instead of finishing the sentence he just trails off and glances salaciously at Thor. I hope that wasn't in the script.

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