The DC Movies Thread v AQUAMAN

[soupytwist]

I fail to see a problem with that.

It means most films tend to filter in the that bland 6.0-7.5 range, with no scaling. 

[aurorablind]

I failed myself and watched some reviews on youtube.
Jeremy Jahns, Mr Sunday Movies and Emergency Awesome really liked it, so Im hopeful. Im seeing it on Friday!

[Darkstarshades]

I don't really take into consideration what the critics say when I go to see something.
I really enjoyed the Warcraft film, as did many people I know, even tho the critics destroyed it.

However, Iron Man 2 and 3 were amazingly weak, and featured the worst villains in the MCU (And this is something that most fans agree on, specially comic-book fans for that Mandarin butchering they did), and they're rated well above MoS.

Now, we're not talking about a really cultural genre (for example, that film Beasts of the Southern Wild which was praised the hell out of it, I disliked it enormously, but oh well, I'm probably too ignorant for that kind of thing).

I usually read the critics after I've seen the movie and made an idea of my own, or just never do it at all. For example, a film I really liked was Frozen, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it the best Disney film ever or a Disney renaissance film, as I consider Tangled to be an overall better film.

[soupytwist]

I don't really take into consideration what the critics say when I go to see something.
I really enjoyed the Warcraft film, as did many people I know, even tho the critics destroyed it.

However, Iron Man 2 and 3 were amazingly weak, and featured the worst villains in the MCU (And this is something that most fans agree on, specially comic-book fans for that Mandarin butchering they did), and they're rated well above MoS.

Now, we're not talking about a really cultural genre (for example, that film Beasts of the Southern Wild which was praised the hell out of it, I disliked it enormously, but oh well, I'm probably too ignorant for that kind of thing).

I usually read the critics after I've seen the movie and made an idea of my own, or just never do it at all. For example, a film I really liked was Frozen, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it the best Disney film ever or a Disney renaissance film, as I consider Tangled to be an overall better film.

Really like IM3.  But there again I like Shane Black and that film is full of Shane Black'isms - I can honestly say I loved the Mandarin twist - the only downside now is Kingsley can't now play The Vulture (surely a role he was born to play!).    IM2 wasn't great tied with Thor 2 as my personal weakest Marvel Universe film (Oh and also the Hulk movie with Norton, but i'm never sure if that is part of the Universe or not).   Still think both are better than Man of Steel/Bats vs Supes though - the portrayal of Superman in these movies is awful, and Cavill's performance doesn't help at all.  I actually prefer Superman Returns over Man of Steel and even Superman III just edges out MoS (purely  for Reeve though.)  However I can say MoS is better than Quest for Peace!

[ariich]

I fail to see a problem with that.

It means most films tend to filter in the that bland 6.0-7.5 range, with no scaling. 

I repeat:

I fail to see a problem with that.

"Scaling" is just a way to fit something to a pre-defined profile, which skews reality. Rating is, in my opinion, far more important than ranking. The vast majority of films I've seen I've ranked 6/10 or above. At the upper end of that is films I loved, where there aren't all that many. At the bottom end is films that either were great in some regards but heavily flawed in others, or were decent/well-made enough but didn't make much impact on me, which probably is a majority, but that accurately reflects my view. Ratings of 3-5 are fairly rare for me, and signify films that I genuinely thought really weren't very good at all, and ratings of 1-2 are rarer still and basically I found just terrible.

I find it very important to distinguish very between "decent but not great" and "awful". If I rank the films I've watched, or scale them to some pre-defined profile (which should be determined by who, by the way?), then perfectly decent films that simply weren't particularly to my taste end up in the bottom 20% alongside absolute shite. So the whole thing is meaningless.

TL;DR version: Ratings >>>> Rankings when it comes to the arts.

[hefdaddy42]

I care about critics if it's a film I've been looking forward to.

After the disappointment of Man of Steel, I can't really say that I'm looking forward to any of the DC films, at least not the same way that I look forward to Marvel films.

[Zantera]

The great irony:

>Rotten Tomatoes gets called out for being biased, paid off for giving DC bad reviews
>Rotten Tomatoes is actually 30% owned by Warner Brothers

[Darkstarshades]

I don't think they're paid at all. Just some sense of instahate at this point.

When I see it, I will agree if it's good or not. Until then, it's just a bunch of dudes who make a living of reviewing.

[hefdaddy42]

Yeah, but it's how they make their living.  Not just fanbois on the street spouting their opinions.

[King Postwhore]

First Trump is a spy for Hillary now this?  Why do conspiracy theories sound so dumb?

[hefdaddy42]

First Trump is a spy for Hillary now this?  Why do conspiracy theories sound so dumb?

lol

[Adami]

So from what I've gathered from critics that I very much trust, is that the characters are largely good (specifically Will Smith and Margot Robbie) and the first 30 minutes or so are pretty good, but then the movie completely falls apart on a story, narrative and development level. I've heard it likened it to the last Fantastic Four movie but with better leads.

Also apparently people are quite split on Joker, which I expected. And as I totally expected, he's almost a non-event.

Then again, most movie goers don't care much about story, writing, character development, logic or thought. They want fun, action and explosions if possible, so they'll probably like any of these movies just fun.

Still going to see it over the weekend. The trailers looked so good, so I want to see for myself what happened.

[Accelerando]

Just saw a sold out showing of Suicide Squad and....

It's not the masterpiece we all wanted it to be. But it's not the disaster the critics are painting it to be. You can tell where the WB suits stepped in and ordered reshoots to make it "more funny." Those scenes stick out like a sore thumb. What a hatchet job, just like the theatrical cut of Dawn of Justice. I sincerely hope that David Ayer will be able to release the movie he wanted to make, because I have a feeling it's a better cut than what's released.

The story structure is a mess. It gets overly cute with reveal after reveal instead of simplifying a story. What isnt a mess are the characters, who were treated with love. Comic book fans will be glad to hear that Margot Robbie absolutely killed it as Harley Quinn, and I expect we'll see more of her in future DC films. The Suicide Squad comics usually surrounded their stories around Deadshot, and this is very much so in this film. Will Smith was awesome, and I hope we see him more in this role. Jared Leto was a wonderful Joker, and I can't wait for this universe to explore more of his character and make him the main villain in a movie. Captain Boomerang better be the villain for the Flash movie! The best moments of the movie were when the entire Squad was together.

The look of the film was beautiful, and some shots were brilliant. David Ayer can shoot the shit out of a movie, which is indicated in Fury and End of Watch. Some of the music choices I felt was out of place, but I didn't expect a grand orchestrated score for a Suicide Squad movie.

So far, it's the best film of the DC Universe. It's a generic comic book movie that was serviced to the fans. Unfortunately, not everyone is familiar with the Suicide Squad, and they told a story to where you have to some knowledge of the comics. I will reiterate that it is not the bad movie the critics have made it out to be. I give this a decent 6/10

[Darkstarshades]

The DC guys should demand creative freedom to the WB men like DT after Falling Into Infinity.

[aurorablind]

Saw it today. Really underwhelmed.. 
I liked a lot of it, but in the end its just a mess. What a shame..

The positives:
- The team and their chemistry was great. Every actor does a really good job (even Jai Courtney!). Viola Davis, Will Smith and Margo Robbie especially shines.


The BIG negatives:
- Story
- The music... so annoying at times..
- Flow (cut, cut, cut)
- Worst villain in a comic book movie ever! 

As for the Joker, I liked Leto's performance. However, he's barely in it! I kind of suspected it, but why put him up front in all the trailers when he's in the movie for like 10 minutes in total?? He defenitely has to be in the movie - his character needs to be there to set up Harleys origin. But they shouldn't have focused on him so much in the marketing. People are going to be so disappointed if they think he's the star of the film.

I give it 6/10.

[TioJorge]

I was going to go see it but after reading that nearly all of The Joker's scenes were cut, I've lost interest. That really irks me when the fucking same people (or in cahoots with the people) that paint the movie as having a character in it that is a big part of it then cut their scenes and they're hardly in the movie. Especially with someone as iconic as The Joker and for SUCH A HUGE, MASSIVE DEAL they made. I mean really, they focused every single media blitz entirely on The Joker with the other peeps on the sideline. It's just crazy; I've read a few interviews now about how let down Leto is that they cut nearly all of his scenes and portrayed it in the movie in such a random and jarring way.

I'll catch it on On Demand one day down the line. Or even better, if they do some kind of BD Ultimate Cumshot edition that these people are so fond of doing and put in his scenes, I might be roped into buying that perhaps.

Overall DC's campaign is unfolding in the exact way I thought it would, to a T. They're caught playing catch up and are forced to jumble all this shit into a few films instead of taking their time over the course of years and now it's more or less a big fuckin mess. Meh. I wish they would've taken their time, there's a shitload of potential there and there are some really great bits to their movies but they're marred by the overall set up and structure of the films. But y'know...MONEY. MONEY RIGHT MEOW.

[aurorablind]

Snippets from a fresh interview with Leto: https://variety.com/2016/film/news/suicide-squad-jared-leto-joker-scenes-cut-deleted-1201831587/

I just can't understand why they left so much out. I'm not saying he should be the STAR of the movie, but they marketed it as he kind of was. And it's such a waste, because the scenes he was in was absolutely fantastic!

[BlackInk]

Just saw it. I'm very sad over this being a bad movie.

Most of the comedy was just cringe-worthy. It felt like a mess. There seemed to be no thought given to pacing at all. And I know this movie was supposed to be a bit silly, but it got silly in all the wrong ways, to the point where it's just dumb. And one part involving watching destruction on monitors felt like I was watching Austin Powers or something. We had a good laugh about that for maybe 5 minutes when we talked about it after the movie, it was absolutely unintentionally hilarious.

Joker was fine, but like many have said, he's barely in it. But when he is he's fine. Also Harley Quinn is also good for the most part, aside from a few forced "funny" lines. Deadshot was also mostly cool, and I liked the Justice League hints.

Overall though, this movie is mostly some sort of weird cartoon, and it makes me very sad that it failed like this.

[Darkstarshades]

I think this movie was hard to do wrong. It was harder to do wrong because there was a lot of source material, great actors and it was in a good position.

But somehow they managed to make the same stupid pacing mistakes.

Now, it isn't bad, not like the critics said, it's just horribly underwhelming.

If this was just a random superhero movie, it's just k, but as part of a supposed larger system of films, it was harder to fuck up.

[ariich]

Sounds like the biggest issue is pacing again. Think I'll probably wait for another "ultimate cut" or similar, like I did with BvS!

[Adami]

Sounds like the biggest issue is pacing again. Think I'll probably wait for another "ultimate cut" or similar, like I did with BvS!

I think I read that the theatrical cut is the only cut.

Seeing it tomorrow, I hope.

[Zantera]

I think this movie was hard to do wrong. It was harder to do wrong because there was a lot of source material, great actors and it was in a good position.

But somehow they managed to make the same stupid pacing mistakes.

Now, it isn't bad, not like the critics said, it's just horribly underwhelming.

If this was just a random superhero movie, it's just k, but as part of a supposed larger system of films, it was harder to fuck up.

I don't know, it's a big ensemble and similar to Avengers, it's hard to make a movie like this and give everyone the right amount of time to shine, the right time for character development and make everybody feel important. It's a tough balance to pull off, and judging by the sound of it, several of the squad members are either useless or demoted to one scene to give them character. I think the bigger question is WHY did DC feel the need to pull out Suicide Squad as their third movie while establishing their cinematic universe? Marvel didn't pull out Guardians of the Galaxy until way late in the game.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

The movie was awesome, and a lot of fun. Screw the haters. Anyone who thought that this was a Joker movie deserve to be disappointed by his lack of screen time.

And the villiain was far from the worst in comic book movie as someone stated above. I'd encourage that person to watch Iron Man 2 & 3, The Incredible Hulk, Thor 2, Catwoman for far worse villians.


Will Smith was fantastic.

[BlackInk]

The villain was another generic "destroy the world" villain with yet another generic sky beam, only this was worse that the others because she kept doing ridiculous "magic" dance moves and kept saying bad dialogue and acted way too over the top.

One of my biggest problems with the movie is that it SO DAMN LARGE, when it would've been better just make it a bit smaller this time. The entire world doesn't have to be in danger in every damn movie. It makes for such bad moments when the villain and the "heroes" don't mesh. The Suicide Squad should have been sent on some covert secret (probably shady) military mission, not go up against an ancient witch with a silly cartoon brother taking over the world with a sky beam.

[Zantera]

I couldn't believe what I was watching.. this was probably the first time I seriously considered leaving half way into a movie, but I endured. Maybe Fantastic Four was slightly worse but oh boy, it's a close call.

[Zook]

What is the villian going to do once they suceed in destroying the world?

[Destiny Of Chaos]

What is the villian going to do once they suceed in destroying the world?

Pretty sure that she didn't want to destroy the world rather kill all of the humans.

[Adami]

Okay, saw Suicide Squad.

It's not just bad, but it's really frustratingly bad because it could have so easily been amazing. I actually liked most of the cast. Deadshot, Harley, Diablo, Flag, Boomerang, even Crock were all great. Enchantress started out cool but went real bad real quick. Didn't much care for Joker to be honest. He felt more like a collection of Joker mannerisms than an actual character.

But the writing, directing (yes, I'm blaming the director for this, not just the studio) and the whole editing/structure....everything else was just painfully awful.

Just poorly developed everything and the actual directing itself was not very good. Some cool shots, sure, but I really felt like 90% of the shots were closeups, which was weird.

The ending was also just truly terrible. I feel like they said "Hey let's just do what FF did....people loved that, right?"

And the worst part? Googling that super hot girl who played Enchantress, only to find out she's blonde. Ewwww.


Eh. I felt like it's like if they someone was trying to make a cake and was told "A cake is just flour, sugar, eggs and butter" And the chef went like this

Well, we'll get the best butter....top quality flour and sugar, best eggs around......and to bake this cake, we'll use 30 cups of flour, 6 pounds of sugar, 1 egg and half a tea spoon of butter. What could go wrong?

Oh and for a finish? Let's just dowse it with maple syrup!

So much potential, and just such horrible execution. Real shame.


Few more thoughts: Jai Courtney is finally good. Will Smith has so much damn charisma that I'm not sure we can handle it. Amanda Waller might be the dumbest character I've seen in a long time. Just pure stupidity through and through.

[Darkstarshades]

And the worst part? Googling that super hot girl who played Enchantress, only to find out she's Cara Delevingne. Ewwww.

[soupytwist]

I don't get how a film that cost so much looks so cheap.   The settings are boring, the CGI is awful, the editing on the fights is choppy.
I didn't really buy Smith as Deadshot, just felt like Will being Will and all the moral compass stuff made Deadshot not really feel like he was ever a villain.   Robbie was a great Harley, but the script served her with a bunch of weak one liners that rarely hit the mark.   Croc and Boomarang really shouldn't have bothered turning up - Croc had about 6 lines of dialog and Boomarang did nothing.    The big evil was just sort of there doing evil stuff that really didn't make any sense and El Diablo vs 'Her brother' was some of the worst CGI this side of the Scorpion King.   The big evil's henchmen looked like walking blackberries (and offered about as much threat as you'd expect from walking fruit).

But the worst thing was The Joker.   Jesus what a tryhard "Look at me i'm mental'.  I bet he has a 'You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps!!' sign on his door.

I'll give it 4/10.  Everything about it is was lower really, but Robbie evelates it to a 4.

[lonestar]

Just got back from seeing it. It was ok, entertaining, but I agree with a lot that has been said. Especially the flow of the movie, jesus tap dancing christ was it choppy as fuck.
Harley was cute as hell though.

[Adami]

Just got back from seeing it. It was ok, entertaining, but I agree with a lot that has been said. Especially the flow of the movie, jesus tap dancing christ was it choppy as fuck.
Harley was cute as hell though.

I actually feel bad for much of the rest of the cast. Everyone is talking about Harley (and rightfully so). Most people are talking about Joker (which I still really didn't like) and the rest are talking about Will Smith (also rightfully so), but Diablo, Crock, Boomerang and Katana all did fantastic jobs, even if some of them were there for absolutely no reason and had virtually nothing at all to do (also much like The Joker).


Also, quick question. What the hell purpose does Task Force X actually serve? Obviously not the one Waller originally pitched. The team has maybe 2 metahumans and only one of them has any actual ability. Seriously, "what if the next superman isn't so friendly?" Task Force X would go down in 10 seconds, and that's assuming the bad superman guy laughs about it for 9 seconds first.

Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Katana, Boomerang, Slipknot (don't forget him!), Crock, and uhhh was that it? They would have NO impact on an actual super powerful meta human. Absolutely none. Diablo? Maybe, but it really depends.

Honestly, the team should be designed for dealing with other humans, not superman type folk. Just a dumb idea. Much like everything else that happened in the movie.

[lonestar]

Yup, against a meta human with any semblance of ability they would in a real world be fucking toast.

And yup, all the other guys were cast well, but were buried to justify Smith's paycheck and show of Harley's ass (yum).

[Adami]

Finished Batman v Superman, Ultimate cut or whatever.


Yup, absolutely no better. Makes more sense, in parts, but still a terrible movie. I noticed more so, this time, that there's only 3 good actors in the film. Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and Jeremy Irons.

Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Henry Cavil were all atrocious. I cringed every time Superman spoke a single line.

[aurorablind]

As Adami pointed out, it's so stupid that the Squad was going after a metahuman capable of destroying the world.
That would have made more sense in a Flash-movie or something.

The DCEU should learn from the animated series.
Has anybody seen Assault on Arkham? Thats a realistic task for the Suicide Squad.

Summary of the plot:

The Riddler gets captured by Batman and put into Arkham, but before he got captured he hid a thumbdrive with some important information about Wallers grand scheme somewhere. Task Force X gets sent Arkham to retrieve the drive. The Joker has a side-plot to sabotage the mission.

Easy plot, and a good movie.