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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: MinistroRaven on April 11, 2023, 07:13:42 AM
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https://youtu.be/iuk77TjvfmE
This looks fun
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Looks fun for sure :tup
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Can't tell much from the teaser. Could be fun, could be awful. With Marvel's recent history, I'll remain skeptical.
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I like the look of that. :)
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Seems like it leaned hard into the Ms. Marvel vibe. Which is, I think, a good thing.
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I'm loving Kamala's manic, chaotic energy in this. I think she will liven things up a bit for both Monica and Carol, in the best (and worst) ways possible!
-Marc.
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https://youtu.be/wS_qbDztgVY
New trailer just dropped!
-Marc.
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I know I’m too forgiving, but I think that looks completely bad ass!
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Badass indeed
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From Bosk and I's conversation in the Marvel/Jonathan Majors Thread:
That role isn't really all that important anyway despite it trying to be pimped and touted a such.
I'm not following you here. How is it not important? It's central to the overall main plotline of phases 4-6, culminating in the next two Avengers films. Can you elaborate?
Maybe 'important' is the wrong word. Actually, it is the wrong word. Let me rephrase and explain where I'm coming from.
I've admitted that I'm not nearly as versed a Marvel connoisseur as several of you on the forum are....so maybe that is the immediate disconnect between me and a few of you when viewing/consuming this Marvel content. That being said, Marvel did a great job in that whole first phase or whatever you call it in making that Thanos/Infinity stone saga compelling and something I really wanted to watch unfold. It was told in a really cool way with some great acting that produced endearing characters.
So...I'll replace the word 'important' with 'compelling'. Because to me....the average Marvel viewer....all of these second phase characters and the underlying storyline is just not compelling. On any level. The characters aren't as compelling, the actors in the roles don't invoke any real emotion.....and the underlying storyline is pretty weak. That's all in the fact of what it's trying to follow and I think Marvel is suffering from doing the first phase stuff too good. It's impossible to follow.
It's like S2 of 'True Detective' Had it been S1 everyone would probably say what a great job Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell did and what a cool story it was. BUT....they had to follow the incredible awesomeness of S1's story and acting of Woody and Matthew so it was weaker just for that factor.
I just haven't seen ANY of the post Infinity War Marvel content as very good. It's all been average....across the board....writing, acting and story.
Bosk's response:
OK, I follow you. And we can probably more appropriately discuss that in the main Marvel thread, but briefly: I agree that it's impossible to follow phases 1-3 due to how well done that all was, on so many unprecedented levels. I think there are a lot of fans who can be objective enough to fully admit that and still enjoy whatever comes next, knowing it will never rise to those heights. A lot of us, myself included, just wanted something that was consistent, and had the same level of quality as the earlier work, even if the storyline wasn't ever going to be as compelling. And I think what they are building toward in terms of the Kang saga could be very satisfying in that regard. But the three biggest problems I see are: (1) there are too many disparate story threads going in too many different directions for it to feel connected (and some of them really aren't--e.g., the Wakanda/Talokan thread in Wakanda Forever doesn't appear connected to any of the multiverse stuff, and is one of the better entries in recent times; the armor wars and Captain America threads also don't appear related to the multiverse and appear to be their own thing; same with Secret Wars; same with Moon Knight, Werewolf by Night, and some other properties); (2) there are too many characters, and given the number of films and shows, we get stretches of time in between appearances from a lot of characters that keep us from really feeling connected to them emotionally like we did with the main characters of phases 1-3; and (3) the storylines have just been sloppily executed in many cases, both individually, and in terms of connectivity to the overall MCU. It's a shame because I think all of these problems could have been avoided, and the overall Marvel "product" did not have to suffer the way it has.
I think you hit the nail on the head here with the too many characters thing. Even though phase 1-3 had a host of characters they were given the chance to develop in a way where you actually cared about them. That attention hasn't been given to any of these phase 4-6 characters. It's been a quantity over quality approach that has really diluted the empathy to give a crap about any of these characters. Even Loki....who was intriguing and mysterious in 1-3 is now just a run of the mill character with near zero compelling features. He's been reduced to a pretty boring version of himself.
It doesn't feel like there was much thought given to how exactly they were going to pull off 4-6 other than 'let's throw a bunch of these cool characters at them'. The characters can 'seem' cool all they want but unless you invest the time to build them they're nothing special at all. None of these phase 4-6 characters invoke any emotional response from me in any of these films or shows. And the writing has taken a nose dive compared to the thought and care that was once put into it all.
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I disagree about Loki specifically, but not the overall point. It's a twofold problem, IMO. (1) Too many characters and (2) not enough time spent developing them. And the latter has too sub-problems: (2a) Since there are so many characters and, as a result, too many films/TV shows trying to service them all, we go TOO long between iterations of characters to keep any sort of connection with them (e.g. Moon Knight--FANTASTIC series, but it's been too long since we've seen him, and no immediate plans for him to show up again; or Shang Chi--solid film in most respects, and pretty likeable, well-written character, but where has he been, and will I care once he resurfaces, since I've not had any connection with him or his world for years now?); and (2b) A lot of them just aren't written well, whether it's just poor writing (e.g. She-Hulk) or not enough writing to develop them yet (e.g. Echo or Ironheart; I don't dislike either as characters, but they haven't been around long enough for me to care enough about them to see them in their own series).
There's a good video from Full Fat that came out a few months ago that discusses some of these issues quite well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQgP-WbOzts I don't necessarily agree with every single point of his, but he hits the nail on the head repeatedly throughout that 22:14.
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With regard to The Marvels, I really hope it's good. Captain Marvel was a HUGE disappointment, and there seems to be a lot of recent trepidation about this installment as well. I keep telling myself to just trust that the trailer footage looks AMAZING. ...but then a little voice creeps in and says, "Yeah, but so was the trailer footage for Love and Thunder." So I don't know. I have very high hopes, but low expectations. Anywhere toward the former end of that spectrum would be fine.
And it looks like this film and Loki are targeted at starting to tie a good chunk of the phase 4-6 storyline together finally, which is much needed. To tie that into and expand the discussion in my previous post, the lack of focus has been such an issue, and to me, the argument that "this is just the same as phase 1 where we were just being introduced to all kinds of new characters, so just think of this as a reset to do that again and lay the groundwork for the NEXT big thing" doesn't fly. For one thing, phase 1 had to have a lot of world/universe building because the world/universe was new. It isn't now. This just feels gratuitous, meandering, and poorly thought out. Second, there was still a focus to phase 1 that hasn't been present in phase 4, and feels like it is just slightly starting to happen now in phase 5. So let's take a quick look back and compare:
Phase 1: Introducing the original 6 Avengers, doing lots of character building for the main ones, and building toward the team-up in Avengers. This worked because we were told about the team up from the end credits in the very first film. We were building toward something concrete, even if we didn't know who the characters would be and we had to take the time to introduce and get to know them.
Phase 2: Phase 2 did meander a bit. But it still had two unifying themes. First, we were dealing with the aftermath of the battle of New York. Second, we were introduced to the threat of Thanos, if ever so briefly, and in the very second film of this phase, we knew we were dealing with infinity stones. Marvel built this storyline by taking the time to further develop our original characters and being careful to be sparing and deliberate about introducing new ones (major ones anyway; of course we are going to get a bunch of minor characters in film). Ultron may have seemed like a bit of a detour and an underwhelming climax to phase 2 (I didn't feel it was underwhelming, but I get that some did), but it was clearly a big building block of the overall narrative.
Phase 3: Lots of characters, new and old, and was clearly building, step by step, to Infinity War and Endgame, the culmination of all three phases.
Phase 4: Okay...we're dealing with the aftermath of the infinity saga. That's fine and logical. We should be dealing with that. No problem so far. We get introduced to the multiverse and to Kang. Maybe these are two separate threads; maybe they aren't. But okay, they will probably at least intersect. And that's the road map for us moving forward for the next three phases. Cool. So far, so good. BUT we have 17 different properties. LOTS of them have new characters. There is often little to no overlap in these characters' story arcs. And there appear to be lots of different arcs that have nothing to do with one another OR to the multiverse or Kang. So where are we going? At least we're building toward something, right? Well, the end of this phase came and went without any climactic point that felt like the phase was moving toward something. We don't necessarily have to have an "Avengers" team up to wrap up a phase. But each phase thus far worked because we were building toward something that at least had a unifying climax to most or all of what we saw earlier in that phase. Not so here. It was all just disjointed. Most of these characters had no interaction with one another. And we would go a LONG time without revisiting some (some have not been revisited at all yet). And, again, all of that spread out over 17 properties with a longer total run time than phases 1-3 combined, which contributed even more to the disjointedness of it all.
Phase 5: Okay, yeah, more disjointedness so far. I don't buy the narrative out there that Secret Wars was such a disjointed mess that it will have to just be retconned to not have happened. But that said, I have a hard time seeing how it will fit in, or how they are going to deal with G'iah now being one of the most powerful beings in the universe and, being a shapeshifter, being able to hide in plain sight, while somehow still just being a minor character with no apparent future plans factoring into anything in the MCU. :dunno: And Guardians 3, while being really good, doesn't necessarily appear to have anything major to do with the major thread of the MCU, and is just about giving closure to some o.g. characters. That's fine. 2 of the 4 phase 5 properties thus far (Ant Man and Loki) are clearly moving the ball downfield. I finally feel like I know where some of this is all headed. This feels more like phase 2 so far. But we're not that far in.
So my assessment so far: Phase 4 was an inexcusable mess, despite having some really good things (e.g., Wandavision, Moon Knight). And while phase 5 is feeling more focused, it is building on the very flawed, messy foundation of phase 4, with no apparent plans or ability to resolve the problems above. I hope it can somehow start to feel more cohesive and just cut ties with some of the phase 4 trash, but maybe not. Even with building toward something cohesive, if the multiverse saga is just a means of saying that everything that ever had the Marvel logo attached to it is all "canon," then that just further dilutes the good and compounds the bad. And I fear that is exactly where we are going.
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:soon:
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Nice little nugget someone caught in the last trailer...
(https://i.postimg.cc/QMNcKs2y/20231107-055738.jpg)
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The biggest issue I think personally is the TV Shows. Not that they are bad (well some have been) but they should have been kept the storyline separate from the films. I think The Marvels will suffer more from Kamala than it'll benefit - which is nothing against the character of Kamala, just the viewing numbers for the shows is generally a lot lower than the movies - so a lot of casual fans won't know who she is, and maybe turned off going to the cinema if they think they are missing key backstory.
I also think (and this is very much in hindsight) a FF4 movie very early in phase 4 would have helped - and making them very much the driving force/heart of the arc (in the same way Stark/Rodgers were in the previous arc). I do agree with Bosk about introducing to many characters - but so many of them are bitty roles with whom we have no real idea when we will see them again or how they'll fit into the bigger picture (Kate Bishop, Moon Knight, Black Knight, Ironheart, America Chavez, She-Hulk, G'iah etc...).
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Nice little nugget someone caught in the last trailer...
(https://i.postimg.cc/QMNcKs2y/20231107-055738.jpg)
Drawing a blank here. What is that?
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X-men logo...
(https://i.postimg.cc/bNBSfcVf/X-Men-Logo-Transparent.png)
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It's an X. Think X-Men.
There was already some buzz about such a thing. One of the earlier trailers had something to the effect of "See What Happens Next" in print on the screen, and all of the letters faded out one by one, with the X being the last letter on the screen.
Does that mean anything? Maybe not. But I doubt it means NOTHING.
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Duh! :facepalm:
I did hear a radio ad for the movie, and one of the lines mentioned was....well let's just say interesting. I'm planning to catch the movie Saturday Morning.
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jingle.son already gave me a spoiler as it relates to this.
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jingle.son already gave me a spoiler as it relates to this.
Where's the tiny type yo?
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There’s one leak going around that says:
The movie ends with an Incursion, and Monica Rambeau is trapped in another universe. She wakes up in a hospital, and Beast(played by Kelsey Grammer) is there.
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There’s one leak going around that says:
The movie ends with an Incursion, and Monica Rambeau is trapped in another universe. She wakes up in a hospital, and Beast(played by Kelsey Grammer) is there.
that was more details than jingle.son gave me, but yeah ... that. And it was a recent re-shoot.
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Just noticed the movie run time. A quick google search shows this will be the shortest run time for an MCU movie, I hope they utilize that time wisely :corn
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There’s one leak going around that says:
The movie ends with an Incursion, and Monica Rambeau is trapped in another universe. She wakes up in a hospital, and Beast(played by Kelsey Grammer) is there.
The leaked I saw is different but still involves a Rambeau and a second one involves Kate Bishop
The leaked Post credit scene of Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel in binary form at X-Mansion in upcoming Marvel Studios' The Marvels film!
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Just noticed the movie run time. A quick google search shows this will be the shortest run time for an MCU movie, I hope they utilize that time wisely :corn
This is the first thing I’ve heard about the movie that dampened my excitement. :-\
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Just noticed the movie run time. A quick google search shows this will be the shortest run time for an MCU movie, I hope they utilize that time wisely :corn
This is the first thing I’ve heard about the movie that dampened my excitement. :-\
Yeah, 1:45, which I assume counts credits and intro, that leaves with about 1:35 of actual movie time. Which isn't bad, but it can either make the plot feel rushed or disjointed, depending how much was deleted from the final cut.
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1:45 should be plenty of time for any Marvel film that isn't an Avengers film.
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Thinking about seeing this Saturday. Emagine just renovated a theater complex near me and installed a Super EMX screen which is 92-95 ft wide 48 to 53 ft tall. Been wanting to check that out and this might be the time to do it.
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I'll be watching it today. In 1 hour and 25 minutes
My brother watched it earlier and he said:
I'm excited to say The Marvels is really something else! Iman Vellani totally rocks as Kamala Khan – she's even more into it than before. Brie Larson gets to do a whole lot more this time, and man, does she flex those acting muscles! The length of the movie hits the sweet spot, matching up with Nia DaCosta's vibe in directing. Everyone who pitched in seriously knocked it out of the park.
And, seriously, THAT POST-CREDIT SCENE!!! Mind-blowing!
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I'll be watching it today. In 1 hour and 25 minutes
My brother watched it earlier and he said:
I'm excited to say The Marvels is really something else! Iman Vellani totally rocks as Kamala Khan – she's even more into it than before. Brie Larson gets to do a whole lot more this time, and man, does she flex those acting muscles! The length of the movie hits the sweet spot, matching up with Nia DaCosta's vibe in directing. Everyone who pitched in seriously knocked it out of the park.
And, seriously, THAT POST-CREDIT SCENE!!! Mind-blowing!
:panicattack:
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I'll be catching it tomorrow. Very excited for sure.
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I am seated. Just waiting for it to start
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Honestly, it's a blast from beginning to end, seriously fun from start to finish. Some folks are hung up on the leads being women or just throwing shade at the Marvel universe in general. Whatever, go check it out for yourself.
Kamala? Totally steals the show. The flick's got its issues, but hey, it's still pretty great. I'm down for a rewatch.
And yo, that scene after the credits? Insanely cool.
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Honestly, it's a blast from beginning to end, seriously fun from start to finish. Some folks are hung up on the leads being women or just throwing shade at the Marvel universe in general. Whatever, go check it out for yourself.
Kamala? Totally steals the show. The flick's got its issues, but hey, it's still pretty great. I'm down for a rewatch.
And yo, that scene after the credits? Insanely cool.
This makes my heart so happy!
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Awesome, I figured Iman would steal the show, she's such a tremendous light, it's hard to imagine any scene she wouldn't dominate.
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Certainly. I would like to mention that I was not a fan of Ms Marvel (the serie as a whole), but I have to admit that her character in this movie was outstanding and impressive.
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Seen several critic reviews that are complaining about these 2 other women just getting dropped out of nowhere with powers. C'mon. Literally just saw a critic on TV and he had no idea who Monica or Kamala were. Said they were introduced out of nowhere.
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I listen to an NPR podcast called Pop Culture Happy Hour where a group of critics review various things every week. They all liked this movie a lot, even though one or two of them hadn't seen the TV shows.
Looking forward to seeing this.
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Good simple fun.
If I was comparing it to other phase 4/5 films this feels on a par with Multiverse of Madness (which I like more than most) and Shang Chi. No spoilers till more have seen it.
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Seen several critic reviews that are complaining about these 2 other women just getting dropped out of nowhere with powers. C'mon. Literally just saw a critic on TV and he had no idea who Monica or Kamala were. Said they were introduced out of nowhere.
Pundits pulling opinions out of their asses without all the information....who'd of thunk it...
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Will just wait for this one to hit D+. Reading some reviews of sources I generally mesh with doesn't really hype this one up for me....in fact they provided some dialogue from the movie that just keeps underscoring the lack of good writing that IMO the MCU is suffering from on all fronts.....movies and tv shows.
For me....the average MCU fan....there has been nothing Marvel has released or provided to this point to get me to invest the effort to get out to a theater and spend the $$$ or dedicate the time to it. I feel no investment or connection to any of the characters in the movie based off of what we've gotten. Again....that's just ME and my view. I can see a lot of you liked it and/or pumped about it and I am genuinely happy for you all. But this entire 4th phase or whatever it's called has been a huge swing and miss in my eyes....at least to this point....which has me content to wait the 6 or 7 months it'll take to see this movie on D+
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Good simple fun.
If I was comparing it to other phase 4/5 films this feels on a par with Multiverse of Madness (which I like more than most) and Shang Chi. No spoilers till more have seen it.
Holy crap! If soupy is lukewarm on it, it must be amazing!!! :rollin :rollin
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Good simple fun.
If I was comparing it to other phase 4/5 films this feels on a par with Multiverse of Madness (which I like more than most) and Shang Chi. No spoilers till more have seen it.
Holy crap! If soupy is lukewarm on it, it must be amazing!!! :rollin :rollin
Well I have generally been one of the biggest defenders of phase 4 onwards on here, the only ones I didn't enjoy too much were Eternals, She Hulk and Secret Invasion - but I'm hardly alone in that!! The Marvel's isn't up with the very best of that era (Spidey 3 and Guardians 3) but it's in the next group, 7.5 outta 10 better than lukewarm I'd say.
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I chide you a bit, but I meant no offense. The fact that you do like it does make more excited to see it. I thought the Eternals was underwhelming and Love and Thunder was a mess…but I love the rest of the films so far. I just know you tend to be a bit more picky than me, so if you liked it it’s probably a good bet that I will really enjoy it.
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The Eternals reminded me of going to one of those Italian joints where they feed you massive plates of sub-par pasta.
Love and Thunder was akin to a teethy blow job, it had to be finished once started, but was really annoying throughout.
Gonna catch the Marvels tonight, pretty stoked.
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I am going to watch it when it hits streaming. Glad some are enjoying it but damn is the word of mouth bad here.
For me the worst MCU films thus far were Black Widow and Dr Strange 2. Haven't seen Ant Man 2.
And if I am honest I am not feeling the MCU at all right now. Some good standalone films/series post Endgame but most of it almost DCEU level (which tanked) and not an exciting central plot/buildup.
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Overall a fun film... nothing earth shattering but fun. Some seriously cringe moments.... (Memoriieees....) but it was fairly streamlined and well executed. Good balance of humor and action, and all three principal actors worked very well with each other.
And damn, Larson was fucking ripped for this one, her abs were cut as fuck.
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***no spoilers***
I. Loved. This. Film.
Yes, there were moments where I was asked to suspend belief too far. Yes, there were moments where the writing was a bit weak. But this movie gave me what I want when I come to the MCU. And it is not only one of the few post-phase 3 movies that actually made me feel something, it may actually be #1 in that department. And it had me smiling from ear to ear through a significant part of its run time.
Captain Marvel was way at the bottom of phases 1-3 for me. Didn't like the movie. Didn't like the character. And didn't like Larson's wooden acting either. Her appearance in Endgame didn't do much for me in that regard. Completely different story here. The character was written so much better and was so much more likeable. She should have been sympathetic in the first film, given all she had to struggle through. But I just didn't care. Here, I not only cared, but I felt for her, and I liked her. And I already loved Monica and Kamala.
Nitpicks/things I didn't like (still spoiler free): (1) As mentioned, the way some things were written, I feel like the script asked the viewer to suspend belief a little too far on too many occasions. In the first three phases, even though we are dealing with super heroes, and all-powerful magic space stones, space travel, and eventually even time travel, it was always just grounded enough that I rarely had too much trouble just playing along and pretending it's all real for 2 hours at a time. That is getting harder and harder in the MCU. (2) As also mentioned, there were some writing flaws. For instance, there were times where there would be an emotional moment that I'm totally buying into, and it is well acted, and I'm immersed...and then it gets resolved too quickly or too conveniently rather than taking the time to breathe and pay off properly. I think the shorter run time actually slightly hurt the film in a couple of spots in this regard, although overall, the shorter run time really helped the film not feel too bloated. It's just that there were a few moments that really could have used a bit more time and care in how they were handled. (3) Again, I love how the character of Captain Marvel was handled in this film. But the biggest problem with Captain Marvel is Captain Marvel. And what I mean by that is that she is too overpowered. And why that is a problem is because, since it is repeatedly shown that she can do anything, she should be able to do anything. But she can't. And there's no explanation for how she can rip a gigantic warship apart in seconds without blinking, but then struggles against much lesser challenges for no reason other than the script needs her to. I'm not going to harp on this too much because I think it's just the nature of the beast with this kind of character. But I mention it because it bears mentioning.
But again, I loved this film, so I don't want to create the impression that I didn't. It's just easier to go on and on about things that didn't work as well. I may catch this one in theaters again next week. I know this one won't hit for everybody, but it certainly did for me.
***A FEW SPOILERY NOTES BELOW***
***AGAIN, SPOILERS COMING***
Some more random thoughts:
I doubt this will have staying power for me, but when the film abruptly turned into a Disney Princess movie for a few minutes, that was far and away my favorite part of the movie. I could not stop laughing and had to wipe away the tears repeatedly.
The mid-credits scene didn't get me the way I'm sure it got most people. One of the major problems with the multiverse for me, from a storytelling standpoint, is that suddenly everything is canon and nothing is canon. You can basically say anything you want, and incorporate any story or character(s) you want, and none of it really has any stakes because it can all be waved away or get a "do-over" in another reality any time. And the CGI on Hank was not great. And...even though I was a huge X-Men/mutants fan as a teenager, I just don't care about the X-Men anymore. Too many bad movies for me to care or want them as part of the MCU. So it really did nothing for me in that respect. ON THE OTHER HAND, Teyonah Parris knocked it out of the park with her acting during this scene.
Muneeba calling Fury "Nicolas"... :rollin
Oh, and the scene at the Rambeau home at the end...that was confusing. Was Carol moving in? What was going on? That wasn't really clear. I asked my daughter afterward because I thought it was just me, but she said it was confusing to her too.
On the suspension of belief issue: Um...that's not how suns work. It's just not. In fact, the whole thing about Hala dying was just a mess. I mean, I really, REALLY liked the main idea of Carol taking out the Supreme Intelligence and that unintentionally resulting in Hala getting really messed up. But the plot was broken the way they did it. This bugged me more than anything else.
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Yeah, the re-igniting of the sun was a stretch, and the moving into the Rambeau house seemed a failed attempt to illicit emotion for me. On the post credit scene...I want them to bring a new generation of X-men in, not keep bringing back old X-men for brief seconds to get a rise.
One thing I was surprised by was how thin attendance was, I was at a 5pm Friday night showing and almost half the theater was empty. I can't remember a time an opening weekend showing of a MCU film wasn't sold out. Numbers for this one are gonna be thin I feel.
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One thing I was surprised by was how thin attendance was, I was at a 5pm Friday night showing and almost half the theater was empty. I can't remember a time an opening weekend showing of a MCU film wasn't sold out. Numbers for this one are gonna be thin I feel.
On a personal level I think a combination of Endgame feeling like a good final chapter, combined with lackluster movies following that, as well as the abundance of tv shows has just resulted in a perfect storm of lack of interest. There was a time I would buy a ticket for any upcoming MCU movie because I was fully into the world and was excited to see where we would go next. Aside from No Way Home and Guardians 3 I feel the output post Endgame has been very weak however. I lost interest in the tv shows a long time ago and I feel watching them would be a waste of time compared to any enjoyment I would get out of them. However I still feel surprised by how genuinely disinterested I am in The Marvels. Not only am I skipping it in the cinema, I don't even think I would watch it on streaming even if I had nothing else to do.
While this is just my own personal feelings I do notice among other people that something similar has happened for them. I'm sure you will find diehard fans who thinks movies like Thor 4 or Ant Man 3 were fantastic films but I have experienced a lot more negativity towards the MCU both online and in person post Endgame. The amount of tv shows isn't really helping either because it feels like a chore and a full time job to stay up to date, and it didn't use to be like that.
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One thing I was surprised by was how thin attendance was, I was at a 5pm Friday night showing and almost half the theater was empty. I can't remember a time an opening weekend showing of a MCU film wasn't sold out. Numbers for this one are gonna be thin I feel.
On a personal level I think a combination of Endgame feeling like a good final chapter, combined with lackluster movies following that, as well as the abundance of tv shows has just resulted in a perfect storm of lack of interest. There was a time I would buy a ticket for any upcoming MCU movie because I was fully into the world and was excited to see where we would go next. Aside from No Way Home and Guardians 3 I feel the output post Endgame has been very weak however. I lost interest in the tv shows a long time ago and I feel watching them would be a waste of time compared to any enjoyment I would get out of them. However I still feel surprised by how genuinely disinterested I am in The Marvels. Not only am I skipping it in the cinema, I don't even think I would watch it on streaming even if I had nothing else to do.
While this is just my own personal feelings I do notice among other people that something similar has happened for them. I'm sure you will find diehard fans who thinks movies like Thor 4 or Ant Man 3 were fantastic films but I have experienced a lot more negativity towards the MCU both online and in person post Endgame. The amount of tv shows isn't really helping either because it feels like a chore and a full time job to stay up to date, and it didn't use to be like that.
I'd hardly consider 3 movies and 3-6-episode tv shows a year a 'chore and full time job'... :lol , that's barely a day's worth of total material. If you don't enjoy where it's going, fine, that's your tastes, but there's zero issues with the amount of content being put out as far as I can see.
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Totally with you, lonestar. I remember the days before Disney+ when folks would binge-watch whole series in a day or two. Now, some people complain there's too much to watch. Sure, it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but as a big MCU fan, I'm stoked about all the content, even if some of it isn't quite what I expected (yeah, I'm looking at you, Thor 4, SheHulk, and Ms Marvel). For me, it's like checking out a new restaurant. Will I dig their food? No idea, gotta try it first. Might like it, might not, but that's not gonna stop me from exploring new stuff whenever I can.
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My interest in this movie is nonexistent, but I'll catch it when it hits Disney+.
It seems a lot of people might feel the same way...
https://deadline.com/2023/11/box-office-the-marvels-1235599363/
Lowest opening weekend gross for an MCU movie. Wow.
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The more the merrier for me, just like it used to be with the comics. I can understand however a bit of watcher fatigue among general population, and I suspect - even among the comics aficionados - the "let's see how they pull this character/storyline off" factor is resonating with diminished returns.
Of course, launching a full fledged X-Men saga could change momentum, and drive me completely bonkers.
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The more the merrier for me, just like it used to be with the comics. I can understand however a bit of watcher fatigue among general population, and I suspect - even among the comics aficionados - the "let's see how they pull this character/storyline off" factor is resonating with diminished returns.
Of course, launching a full fledged X-Men saga could change momentum, and drive me completely bonkers.
They're heading their, just not sure if it'll be quick enough. I fear that after the multiverse saga will be the mutant saga, which means we got a few years at least.
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One thing I was surprised by was how thin attendance was, I was at a 5pm Friday night showing and almost half the theater was empty. I can't remember a time an opening weekend showing of a MCU film wasn't sold out. Numbers for this one are gonna be thin I feel.
On a personal level I think a combination of Endgame feeling like a good final chapter, combined with lackluster movies following that, as well as the abundance of tv shows has just resulted in a perfect storm of lack of interest. There was a time I would buy a ticket for any upcoming MCU movie because I was fully into the world and was excited to see where we would go next. Aside from No Way Home and Guardians 3 I feel the output post Endgame has been very weak however. I lost interest in the tv shows a long time ago and I feel watching them would be a waste of time compared to any enjoyment I would get out of them. However I still feel surprised by how genuinely disinterested I am in The Marvels. Not only am I skipping it in the cinema, I don't even think I would watch it on streaming even if I had nothing else to do.
While this is just my own personal feelings I do notice among other people that something similar has happened for them. I'm sure you will find diehard fans who thinks movies like Thor 4 or Ant Man 3 were fantastic films but I have experienced a lot more negativity towards the MCU both online and in person post Endgame. The amount of tv shows isn't really helping either because it feels like a chore and a full time job to stay up to date, and it didn't use to be like that.
I'd hardly consider 3 movies and 3-6-episode tv shows a year a 'chore and full time job'... :lol , that's barely a day's worth of total material. If you don't enjoy where it's going, fine, that's your tastes, but there's zero issues with the amount of content being put out as far as I can see.
Different people have different amount of free time and people also have different hobbies. Some people will have no problem binging, there's also other people who only care about these sorts of shows and they will have no problems staying up to date even if there's a new Disney+ show every month. I can only speak for myself but I definitely struggle to balance all my interests in a week and even when it comes to movies and TV, there's just been so much of this stuff in the last decade and a lot of it is 3/5 "yeah its fine" level quality, in the case of the MCU it feels like the only upside to watching is to get a tidbit or cameo of how it ties into the rest of the universe.
I used to watch a lot of this stuff because I felt I had to but once spare time became more sparse and spare time I could dedicate to tv watching became even more sparse, it wasn't a tough choice if I had to pick between an MCU show that "might be OK" just to stay updated, OR watching a show I had heard genuinely good things about. :)
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One thing I was surprised by was how thin attendance was, I was at a 5pm Friday night showing and almost half the theater was empty. I can't remember a time an opening weekend showing of a MCU film wasn't sold out. Numbers for this one are gonna be thin I feel.
On a personal level I think a combination of Endgame feeling like a good final chapter, combined with lackluster movies following that, as well as the abundance of tv shows has just resulted in a perfect storm of lack of interest. There was a time I would buy a ticket for any upcoming MCU movie because I was fully into the world and was excited to see where we would go next. Aside from No Way Home and Guardians 3 I feel the output post Endgame has been very weak however. I lost interest in the tv shows a long time ago and I feel watching them would be a waste of time compared to any enjoyment I would get out of them. However I still feel surprised by how genuinely disinterested I am in The Marvels. Not only am I skipping it in the cinema, I don't even think I would watch it on streaming even if I had nothing else to do.
While this is just my own personal feelings I do notice among other people that something similar has happened for them. I'm sure you will find diehard fans who thinks movies like Thor 4 or Ant Man 3 were fantastic films but I have experienced a lot more negativity towards the MCU both online and in person post Endgame. The amount of tv shows isn't really helping either because it feels like a chore and a full time job to stay up to date, and it didn't use to be like that.
I'd hardly consider 3 movies and 3-6-episode tv shows a year a 'chore and full time job'... :lol , that's barely a day's worth of total material. If you don't enjoy where it's going, fine, that's your tastes, but there's zero issues with the amount of content being put out as far as I can see.
Different people have different amount of free time and people also have different hobbies. Some people will have no problem binging, there's also other people who only care about these sorts of shows and they will have no problems staying up to date even if there's a new Disney+ show every month. I can only speak for myself but I definitely struggle to balance all my interests in a week and even when it comes to movies and TV, there's just been so much of this stuff in the last decade and a lot of it is 3/5 "yeah its fine" level quality, in the case of the MCU it feels like the only upside to watching is to get a tidbit or cameo of how it ties into the rest of the universe.
I used to watch a lot of this stuff because I felt I had to but once spare time became more sparse and spare time I could dedicate to tv watching became even more sparse, it wasn't a tough choice if I had to pick between an MCU show that "might be OK" just to stay updated, OR watching a show I had heard genuinely good things about. :)
Of course only talking for myself. But the bolded part is just enough for me. And as mentioned before, I might like it or I might not, but that don't deprived me for tasting new things
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I think that COVID, streaming platforms, and higher ticket prices are combining to create a situation where people are going out to the movies with more rarity.
I think the MCU has had a couple of duds, but so did phase 2. So I don’t really think the overall quality of the films is going down per se as much as there will be natural ebbs and flows to an overall story that’s this big. The Barbie/Oppenheimer thing felt like “an event” so a bunch of people came to see. The MCU movies are still good, but it’s really just The Avenger movie that are the “event” movies. People weren’t packing theaters to see Dark World either. And I’m general (with the Barbie/Opp thing being an obvious exception) people are just going to the movies less.
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One thing I was surprised by was how thin attendance was, I was at a 5pm Friday night showing and almost half the theater was empty. I can't remember a time an opening weekend showing of a MCU film wasn't sold out. Numbers for this one are gonna be thin I feel.
Yeah, kinda sad. There were six people in the theater when we saw it. Six. And half of that number was us. I mean, it was nice to have the run of the place and be assured of great seats. But it's also cool when you get that crowd energy too, and that was missing.
On a personal level I think a combination of Endgame feeling like a good final chapter, combined with lackluster movies following that, as well as the abundance of tv shows has just resulted in a perfect storm of lack of interest.
Yeah, I think that observation is mostly correct overall.
There was a time I would buy a ticket for any upcoming MCU movie because I was fully into the world and was excited to see where we would go next. Aside from No Way Home and Guardians 3 I feel the output post Endgame has been very weak however.
I mostly agree, but would put this movie up there with the two you mention. And I would put Black Widow and Shang Chi up there as the next tier of "pretty good/solid" movies.
I'd hardly consider 3 movies and 3-6-episode tv shows a year a 'chore and full time job'... :lol , that's barely a day's worth of total material. If you don't enjoy where it's going, fine, that's your tastes, but there's zero issues with the amount of content being put out as far as I can see.
Well, yes and no. In isolation, I tend to agree with you. But as Zantera pointed out, it feels like more than that when we all have a LOT other things competing for our attention. A lot. And I think a lot of people feel like MCU content is less special, less of an event, because it is so much more prevalent now than during the first three phases. And if people feel that way, then that's ultimately what matters when it comes to whether people are willing to sacrifice their time to consume and enjoy the MCU "product," whether those feelings are "fair" or not. And to me, there is another important facet to the quantity issue: as has been observed, there is an actual and/or perceived drop in quality that goes hand-in-hand with the quantity. Of course, that has a lot of factors and a lot of reasons. But a big part of that is that there are lots of inconsistencies between Marvel properties, whether they are little factual inconsistencies, character arcs that don't feel earned because of other things that are already established about characters that make some other portrayals of the character feel inconsistent, etc. The ONLY way that particular issue can be resolved is tighter quality control at the top with Feige himself or a dedicated team more closely overseeing every single script to make sure character and story beats are consistent. That's hard to do, because to get good directors, they have to feel like they have a certain level of creative freedom, and that needs to be balanced. But it feels like the MCU machine has just gotten too big and some of those real world issues have gotten in the way a bit too much to have that kind of oversight and quality control, despite that it is badly needed. I've seen it mentioned a lot elsewhere through the years, and expressed a lot of different ways, to the point that I can't help but feel that it is a very real hurdle for Marvel, and I'm have serious doubts about their ability and desire to overcome that hurdle.
But all that said, back to this film, if what we get going forward is at this level, I will be a very happy, mostly satisfied, Marvel fan. Despite some flaws, this film so knocked it out of the park for me.
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On another final note (dont want to derail the thread from the movie talk) I do think even setting aside the MCU itself, we get a lot more things in abundance than 5-10 years ago. Star Wars is another property that people have mixed feelings on these days - also partly because of a burst of new movies (some beloved, others not so much) as well as a multitude of tv-shows. There's more tv-shows than ever and with films, franchises in general are strong and getting spinoffs. If you're a nerd with limited time it's very easy to drown in content. :lol
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This movie was much better than I expected. Is not an A+ movie, but I would give it a solid B or B+. Some piece of the plot did not work well for me, but overall an enjoyable film. Will rewatch again once it hits Disney+
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On another final note (dont want to derail the thread from the movie talk) I do think even setting aside the MCU itself, we get a lot more things in abundance than 5-10 years ago. Star Wars is another property that people have mixed feelings on these days - also partly because of a burst of new movies (some beloved, others not so much) as well as a multitude of tv-shows. There's more tv-shows than ever and with films, franchises in general are strong and getting spinoffs. If you're a nerd with limited time it's very easy to drown in content. :lol
Fortunately I'm a single nerd with no young kids vying for my time. :biggrin:
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Just finishing up and still in the theater. I loved this movie!!! I hope it gets the support it deserves!! More thoughts later
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I caught a showing earlier today and after letting my thoughts sit with me for a out 7 hours, I've concluded that it's one of the better post-Endgame films. I definitely like it more than Captain Marvel 2019, and a lot of that is because of Kamala/Iman, she really stole the show for me.
The weakest points of the film were Dar-Benn and her plot, but I can see that more as a vehicle/excuse to get the Marvels together, and those moments are where the film shined, seeing them work together, like any good team-up. It also feels like they really cut out parts of the 2nd and 3rd acts, especially on Aladna. I think there were reshoots to change or tighten up portions of the film.
And as for spoilers, I'm really glad I wasn't totally spoiled on the cameos at the end and in the mid-credits scene. Those were great set-ups and probably some of the more hype credits scenes from an MCU film we've gotten in awhile.
I'm saddened that this film will probably have a weak opening weekend and be review-bombed because I thought it was highly enjoyable and just good fun. It's not a super-cerebral thought-provoking piece of art, but really just a comic book team-up come to life, and as comic fans know, the stories don't always make sense or stay coherent, but the action makes it for good entertainment.
Now we just have one MCU film next year, July's Deadpool 3 - the first time since 2012's Avengers where we only get one MCU film in a single calendar year.
-Marc.
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the first time since 2012's Avengers where we only get one MCU film in a single calendar year.
I'm counting it as zero films. No interest whatsoever in seeing it.
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I'm saddened that this film will probably have a weak opening weekend and be review-bombed
The review bombing can be debated as genuine or not as in this day and age it's pretty 'simple' for a small group of folks to organize and implement an attack/bad reviews etc against really anything. As I've mentioned, I have a small group of reviewers/critics I like because they generally are in step with my tastes, and they were pretty rough on this movie. I'll still watch it eventually after it's on D+ but Marvel did nothing to compel me....the average MCU 'fan'....to leave my house and go watch this in the theater.
But, there's no real way or excuse for 'them' to defend people not going to see the movie. People simply didn't go see it. Last number I saw was that it brought in $47 million dollars......lowest opening ever for the Marvel franchise. It's estimated that it'd need to bring in $750-800 million to break even. I don't see that happening....at least not in the foreseeable future. It could take years for them to approach those types of numbers. The folks heading up this Marvel franchise probably need to take a deep look at how they've handled everything post AVENGER storyline and be honest with themselves and get back to telling good stories and ignoring the focus groups and stop social agendas. That fall from the glory days was fast and brutal.
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Yeah, I think the bad reviews and lack of attendance falls into 3 groups: (1) the trolls who would slam it no matter what; (2) those who are still MCU fans that legitimately didn't like it if they saw it or have been dissatisfied with past related content (Captain Marvel or Miss Marvel, and maybe that small minority out there somewhere they didn't like WandaVision); and (3) those who have lost interest in the MCU. I can't really fault groups 2 and 3. If that's where we are, that's where they are. But I can't help but wonder what the numbers are in each of those groups.
And another contributing "problem" from Marvel's/Disney's perspective is how D+ has been operating. I get that they felt the need to change up their entertainment model during the pandemic. Honestly, Disney and other streaming services were a bright spot for many during that time. But as hard as it might have been, and despite market pressure, they probably should have put their foot down once it was "over" (and I'm not interested in arguing about specifically when that might have been) and just said they were going to firmly go back to NOT having content go from theater to D+ for a longer time, like the pre-pandemic days. I think it's far too easy if anyone is on the fence for whatever reason to just say, "Eh, I want to see it, but I'm busy, so I'll just wait until it is on D+ in a month or two." I think that's hurting them, and I think it's going to show up bigger for movies like that where more people are "predisposed" to be on the fence.
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Let's discuss the movie openly now.
Those who haven't seen it, scroll past this point with precaution
*****SPOILERS*****
*******ARE********
***NOW ALLOWED***
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"Eh, I want to see it, but I'm busy, so I'll just wait until it is on D+ in a month or two." I think that's hurting them, and I think it's going to show up bigger for movies like that where more people are "predisposed" to be on the fence.
Yep.....because this is 100% me and where I'm at these days. Why would I take my family of 5 to go see this and drop $80 on tickets then another $30-40 at concession stand when I can wait two or three months to see it for 'free' in my own home?
We only hit the theaters for movies that you just 'have' to see on the big screen....this unfortunately for them....wasn't one of them.
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Let's discuss the movie openly now.
Those who haven't seen it, scroll past this point with precaution
*****SPOILERS*****
*******ARE********
***NOW ALLOWED***
You must be new here, so let me start by saying: Welcome to the forum!!!
So, just to let you know, that isn't what we do here. Instead, we just say how much we would love to talk about it once we can discuss without having to worry about spoilers, but then we never really discuss it.
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Frankly, I'm uncertain about the meaning of your message. It's unclear to me whether you're being sarcastic, humorous, or introducing a new rule.
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Let's discuss the movie openly now.
Those who haven't seen it, scroll past this point with precaution
*****SPOILERS*****
*******ARE********
***NOW ALLOWED***
You must be new here, so let me start by saying: Welcome to the forum!!!
So, just to let you know, that isn't what we do here. Instead, we just say how much we would love to talk about it once we can discuss without having to worry about spoilers, but then we never really discuss it.
:rollin :rollin :rollin
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I rest my case. Almost zero substantive discussion. :lol
Anyway, here's maybe somewhat of a hot take: This movie was a resounding success. Not in terms of commercial success. Sadly and unfortunately, I think the first week performance and review bombing will doom the movie to ultimately be seen as an underperformer. But of the 10 films in phases 4 and 5 thus far, I think I'd put it top 3. Definitely top 5, even if it ends up cooling off for me a bit over time once the newness has worn off. And other than the two Avengers films scheduled to cap off phase 6, I don't see anything on the confirmed list that would move it down. It will absolutely finish in the top half of the phases 4-6 saga for me. And aside from just personal tastes, where I think it succeeded tremendously is that it told a good, fun, feel-good story that didn't feel like it was mired in lack of identity or lack of direction. This movie showed that Marvel can still be fun. AND it showed that Marvel can be interconnected without feeling like an aimless adventure that isn't tied to a clear direction. This was a great "standalone" film, but also had very clear ties to both the MCU's past, and to a couple of important threads for the MCU future in both setting up the Young Avengers (which we have seen building for a little while now) and the Kang/multiverse saga. Regardless of its flaws and its boxoffice performance, I hope the powers that be at Marvel take serious note of what this film did right and use that going forward.
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Yeah this movie game me hope for the future of the MCU, not necessarily for what's coming, but that when they take their time and don't rush something, it can actually be good.
I rest my case. Almost zero substantive discussion. :lol
I swear I opened the thread to post the same thing, that your point was proven :lol
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OK, here's another stupid article:
I’ve Had A Big Problem With Secret Invasion, And After Seeing The Marvels, It’s Even Worse
Adam Holmes
Mon, November 13, 2023 at 6:50 PM PST
Warning: SPOILERS for Secret Invasion and The Marvels are ahead!
As someone who’s watched nearly all the Marvel movies in order on the big screen (The Incredible Hulk being the sole exception) and followed along with each MCU TV show during their original runs to Disney+ subscribers, I’ve enjoyed most of what this superhero franchise has delivered over the last 15 years. However, in recent months, Secret Invasion has cemented itself as one of my least-favorite projects from this shared universe. There are various issues I had with the limited series, but after seeing The Marvels, one of its most glaring problems has become even worse: how it’s largely unnecessary viewing for the MCU experience.
How The Marvels Made Secret Invasion Feel Less Important
2023 has been a big year for Samuel L. Jackson in the MCU, as his Nick Fury finally got to be a leading character thanks to Secret Invasion, and he’s now back in a supporting capacity for The Marvels. Going into the latter project, I was curious to see how Fury’s experience dealing with the Skrulls in the former show would be addressed. After all, shapeshifting aliens infiltrating human society is a pretty big deal even by MCU standards, so surely it would come up in conversation during The Marvels since Fury played an integral in foiling this plot, right?
Nope, not at all! While we did get quick mentions of events from other MCU shows, such as Monica Rambeau gaining her superpowers in WandaVision and Kamala Khan’s superhero exploits in Ms. Marvel, Fury’s conflict with Gravik and his rebel Skrulls wasn’t brought up. Fortunately, the absence of anything Secret Invasion doesn’t impact the flow of The Marvels, but this also serves as a further reminder of how this show isn’t nearly as important to the MCU mythology as we thought it would be.
Remember that prior to Secret Invasion, the MCU’s Nick Fury was last seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home’s end-credits scene, when it was revealed that the Fury we’d followed with in the main story was actually Talos, and that the real deal had actually been hanging out in space with other Skrulls. Cut to The Marvels, Fury is seen commanding the S.A.B.E.R. space station, and while Fury’s work off Earth was repeatedly mentioned in Secret Invasion, one could easily go from Far From Home to this latest Marvel movie and not feel like they’re missing a beat with this character. He came back to Earth at the start of Secret Invasion and went back to space by the end. Everything that happened in between might as well be a footnote in the timeline of Nick Fury’s life as far as The Marvels is concerned.
Secret Invasion Feels Like One Of The Least Necessary MCU Watches
Now to be fair, most of Marvel Studios’ TV shows have so far felt like supplementary projects meant to enhance the MCU experience, but don’t serve as mandatory watches. The main exception to this so far has been Loki, which, following the wacky and emotional Season 2 finale, has set up a new status quo for the Marvel multiverse. I’d hoped that Secret Invasion would be more along the lines of Loki in terms of importance, but so far that’s not the case whatsoever.
I could spend hours talking about everything that was dissatisfying about Secret Invasion, but for the purposes of this piece, The Marvels straight up ignoring the series is just another example of how pointless of a watch it nows feels. Need more proof? Throughout Secret Invasion, it’s presented as though there aren’t any other worlds left for the Skrulls to set up a new home, with Earth being the only safe place of refuge. And yet, in The Marvels, we see Emperor Dro'ge and a Skrull colony on Tarnax. Granted, that colony was destroyed by Dar-Benn, but you can understand what I’m talking about.
Additionally, Talos sacrificing his life to save President Ritson in Secret Invasion amounted to nothing considering that he not only later ordered all Skrulls discovered on Earth to be killed, but he won’t be Commander in Chief much longer, as Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross will be president in Captain America: Brave New World. I also have my doubts if G’iah’s alliance with Sonya Falsworth will ever amount to anything, and I’ll be shocked if Maria Hill’s death in the premiere is mentioned in any movies going feared. At the point, there’s only one Secret Invasion plot point that looks like it’ll have any major bearing on the MCU going forward, although not one I particularly like.
The Main Way Secret Invasion Looks Like It Will Impact The MCU
Halfway through Secret Invasion’s run, viewers learned that Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes was actually the Skull Varra carrying out Gravik’s orders. The real Rhodey was freed in the finale with other prisoners on New Skrullos, including Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross, and while it wasn’t spelled out how long the man who pilots the War Machine armor was held captive, it is telling that was shown wearing a hospital gown.
Director Ali Selim later told CinemaBlend that he envisions Rhodey being kidnapped shortly after Captain America: Civil War. In other words, the Rhodey we saw between then and the end of Secret Invasion was Varra the whole time. If you’re like me, this mildly diminishes the emotional impact of Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame, as it’s Varra who’s saying goodbye to him, not his actual best friend.
Cheadle is next set to reprise Rhodey in the Armor Wars movie (which was originally developed as a TV show), which will take place after Secret Invasion and follow the character trying to get Tony Stark’s technology out of the wrong hands. Interestingly enough, before the Secret Invasion finale aired, Cheadle teased that Rhodey is going to be in “a very different place” during Armor Wars. So not only was the actor aware that a Skrull was impersonating Rhodey, but it also sounds like this will be directly addressed in the upcoming Marvel movie.
Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen though, because if The Marvels can get away with not bringing up anything that happened in Secret Invasion, I won’t be surprised if Armor Wars gets away with this too. In any case, despite being touted as a big event even by MCU standards, Secret Invasion feels insignificant overall in the grand scheme of things, and The Marvels only further hammers this home.
With The Marvels now playing in theaters, we’re done with MCU content in 2023. Echo is the next of the upcoming Marvel TV shows, with all its episodes dropping on January 10. The next MCU movie is Deadpool 3, which is now slated for release on July 26, 2024.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ve-had-big-problem-secret-025014808.html
My problem with the article isn't that the author didn't really care for Secret Invasion, and now feels it is even less important after The Marvels. That's all fine. Opinions and all. But a key premise that he mentions several times is just wrong, namely that The Marvels allegedly ignored (and backtracked from) what happened in Secret Invasion. Um...no it didn't. Yeah, it didn't expressly mention what happened in Secret Invasion. But it didn't need to. It's not telling an extension of that story. It's telling a completely different story about something completely different that is happening now, albeit with one of the same main characters (Fury). But that doesn't somehow mean Marvel is abandoning Secret Invasion. I mean, they might. But The Marvels has nothing to do with that. I had a really great moment with my daughter yesterday. It was really meaningful and really important. I haven't mentioned it at all to anyone at work today. Why? Because I'm focused on something completely different, and that isn't relevant to what I'm doing here at work. Does it diminish the importance of that interaction? Nope. The two story threads are both very real parts of my life. But aside from the fact that they both happened to me, they don't have any immediate relevance to one another, and they thus don't have any reason to intersect, at least not at this point in my life.
Second of all, although the events of Secret Invasion were not directly mentioned, there were definite overlaps and connections. The author says this: "if The Marvels can get away with not bringing up anything that happened in Secret Invasion, I won’t be surprised if Armor Wars gets away with this too." Well, that's stupid. They did mention some things in The Marvels. But more importantly, they showed us some things. For example, in Secret Invasion, Talos mentions Emperor Dro'ge and a Skrull colony on Tarnax. In The Marvels, we actually get to see exactly that. Why is there a need to tell us when they can effectively show us, which they did? I guess the author missed that (and other things).
Third, and this is somewhat related to point #1, the threads from Secret Invasion weren't meant to be directly picked up in The Marvels, but will likely be picked up and dealt with later. The three major threads I see going on in the MCU right now are (1) the Kang/multiverse saga (the major one), (2) the Young Avengers, (3) continuing/growing tensions between supers vs. nonsupers, earthlings vs. aliens, etc. There might be other threads too. And, yes, I think those are likely to intertwine and all become subsumed in #1, just as different story threads in phases 1-3 all wove together in Infinity War and Endgame. But in any case, The Marvels advanced the ball on threads 1 and 2. It wasn't meant to deal with #3. But other MCU properties are. It looks like Armor Wars is set to do that. Others may as well, in ways we might not yet anticipate. Again, the fact that the very next big screen film after Secret Invasion didn't deal with Secret Invasion doesn't mean that Secret Invasion is now to be forgotten.
Dumb article is dumb. The author really should have taken the time to think before writing that.
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Ok...spoilery thoughts...
- Iman stole the movie for me, can't overstate how much I adore her and how she portrays her character. Talk about Marvel finding gold on that casting.
- the scenes in the beginning where the three were involved in three different fights and were switching back and forth was masterfully handled, Marvel did a killer job on that, especially when Kamala found out that Carol had been in her house. She portrayed the perfect fan girl.
- When they got to the singing planet I got nervous, that scene reeked of cringe for me and I had fears that they were going to tank it like Thor 4...fortunately they dropped that really quickly.
- Having the escape with everyone being eaten by Goose's kids was a stretch, and when they started playing Memories I laughed at the stupidity of it. Cringe, but within my tolerance levels for an MCU product.
- Kick ass ending, good dramatics with Monica saving the day by sacrificing herself.
- Totally confused why the Kahn's moved into Monica's house, either a sentimental dig that failed to hit with me, or a setup I'm not seeing.
-ending scene of Kamala and Kate was fucking brilliant, love love loved it.
-post-credit scene is where I have problems....I'm tired of seeing re-hashed old school X-men, I want a new X-men team to start being introduced.
There....happy?
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Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of Nick Fury seems off, particularly following "Secret Invasion". His character in this movie appears more like a different version rather than the one we're familiar with, giving the impression that he's just making a brief appearance.
The film includes the Skrulls, and as usual, after watching it, many fans, including myself, think they could have written a better script. I'm baffled as to why this sequel wasn't "Secret Invasion" (which, in my opinion, is one of the weakest MCU Disney+ series). "Secret Invasion" would have been more suited as an Avengers movie or at least a "Captain Marvel" sequel featuring some Avengers, similar to "Civil War". This storyline could have significantly contributed to Captain Marvel's character arc, especially considering her connections with the Skrulls and her and Fury's unfulfilled promise to find them a home. Instead, her character is constrained by the current plot.
The mid-credit scene is a highlight, hinting at future developments. It's these kinds of teasers that keep the audience's interest in the MCU alive, even as it seems to be losing its former appeal.
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- Totally confused why the Kahn's moved into Monica's house, either a sentimental dig that failed to hit with me, or a setup I'm not seeing.
-ending scene of Kamala and Kate was fucking brilliant, love love loved it.
-post-credit scene is where I have problems....I'm tired of seeing re-hashed old school X-men, I want a new X-men team to start being introduced.
To the bolded, yes please! There's been so many rumors of who will play Wolverine that is like, just get some new actors there. I get why they are doing it (different universes blah blah, original xmen run is canon, blah blah) but just give us new blood already.
The first point, I thought it was the Khan's, but then I realized that its Captain Marvel that's moving in (mainly because of the line she said about the plane, that she's just taking care of it until Monica returns). I could be wrong of course, but that's the way I saw it. Doesn't explain why she would need help from the whole family using U-Haul boxes, but yeah.
The second point, yes, I literally said "Kate Bishop!" when I saw the dog, my SO looked at me with a confused face lol
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I think the first week performance and review bombing will doom the movie to ultimately be seen as an underperformer.
These are two different things though. As we talked about a bit....the review bombing is one thing. In todays day and age a very small contingent of folks can do a lot of damage online. So, the reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt. That doesn't mean that 'every' bad review is a review bomb though or some sinister agenda against the MCU.
But people not showing up to the movie is a whole different deal. Marvel is having to sleep in the bed they've made over the past few years of giving the fanbase a substandard product. The 'fans' are onto it and are speaking by not showing up.
You, and a handful of faithful fans may have enjoyed it and again...that's cool....but for a lot of folks....Marvel just isn't compelling any longer. They're just another entity that went all 'emperor's new clothes' and started believing they could do no wrong and IMO strayed a bit too far into some preachyness with a touch of social activism....and a chunk of the fan base abandoned them for it.
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I don't think you are wrong in any of that. And I don't think it contradicts anything I wrote either. It's just a matter of emphasis in different places and a matter of degree. We'll never really know how much any one thing impacts the other. My main point in the above though is just to say that, regardless of the reason we are where we are, it's a shame that some won't give this movie a fair shot, because it's really enjoyable.
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I don't think you are wrong in any of that. And I don't think it contradicts anything I wrote either. It's just a matter of emphasis in different places and a matter of degree. We'll never really know how much any one thing impacts the other. My main point in the above though is just to say that, regardless of the reason we are where we are, it's a shame that some won't give this movie a fair shot, because it's really enjoyable.
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That it is. And back to our conversation a page or so ago....I WISH I felt compelled to go to the theater to see it.....but I know I'll be able to watch it....AND enjoy it.....in about three or four months from the comfort of my couch, surround sound and snacks that won't cost me four tanks of gas.
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Yeah, I hear you. That's a big factor in us rarely going to the theater these days. But what helps is going to the cheap theater on the other side of town and hitting it during matinee hours so it's only $6.75 per person. Honestly, 5 minutes into the previews, I have totally forgotten that the seats are slightly less comfortable and the screen might be slightly lower res, and am immersed in enjoying whatever I'm watching on a screen and sound system that dwarfs ours at home.
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https://twitter.com/spideysbrie/status/1725259728798835069 this got a good laugh out of me
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Before I saw the movie, I had low expectations. The trailers didn't do much for me. I love Ms. Marvel even if the show didn't live up to the potential, and I liked Captain Marvel to a degree. That said, doing a movie that is a sequel to a movie a lot of people didn't like and two shows a lot of people didn't watch likely won't lead to a great turnout.
Also before I saw the movie I watched a non-spoiler review from a critic I trust who said it was everything wrong with the current MCU and said the movie wasn't even good enough to release to theatres. So obviously I was expecting an awful, awful movie.
Instead what I got was an awful, awful script with great performances by some of the actors (looking at you Iman), some really great action scenes (especially that first fight) and some humor that actually worked. Script was terrible, and it missed more opportunities than I can count, but I ended up largely having fun. Probably because I expected a pure disaster and because Iman carries everything she does (all two things). I liked Brie Larson in this but at times it felt like she wasn't thrilled to be there and kind of wanted out.
But man, these scripts to a lot of these current MCU movies are truly awful. I have no idea how they're getting approved.
Also didn't get a ton out of the post credits scene.
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https://twitter.com/spideysbrie/status/1725259728798835069 this got a good laugh out of me
That's actually funny :lol
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Before I saw the movie, I had low expectations. The trailers didn't do much for me. I love Ms. Marvel even if the show didn't live up to the potential, and I liked Captain Marvel to a degree. That said, doing a movie that is a sequel to a movie a lot of people didn't like and two shows a lot of people didn't watch likely won't lead to a great turnout.
Also before I saw the movie I watched a non-spoiler review from a critic I trust who said it was everything wrong with the current MCU and said the movie wasn't even good enough to release to theatres. So obviously I was expecting an awful, awful movie.
Instead what I got was an awful, awful script with great performances by some of the actors (looking at you Iman), some really great action scenes (especially that first fight) and some humor that actually worked. Script was terrible, and it missed more opportunities than I can count, but I ended up largely having fun. Probably because I expected a pure disaster and because Iman carries everything she does (all two things). I liked Brie Larson in this but at times it felt like she wasn't thrilled to be there and kind of wanted out.
But man, these scripts to a lot of these current MCU movies are truly awful. I have no idea how they're getting approved.
Also didn't get a ton out of the post credits scene.
Dumb fun sums this one up!
Oh and good to see you posting again, hope you are doing well.
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Finally saw this. I liked it better than almost everything else post Endgame. The singing planet was a minute away from losing me, but thankfully they ended that bit quickly. Good performances, decent story, no glaringly horrible VFX like most of the last few movies. A step in the right direction for the MCU for sure. I think the biggest negative is a common MCU one: a weak villain with one dimensional motivation .
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I got my Walmart exclusive Blu-Ray in the other day! The outside art is really nice, and the inside features the Flerkittens, which are pretty cute.
Haven't had a chance to dive into the discs yet, but it's odd to me that Walmart decided to shift to steelbooks for their exclusives, which now do not match my previous four MCU Walmart exclusives, which all came with small pins (Love & Thunder, Wakanda Forever, Quantumania, and GOTG Vol. 3). I guess Target definitely isn't doing anymore exclusives for MCU BD sets, which is sad because I enjoyed their exclusives.
-Marc.
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Before I saw the movie, I had low expectations. The trailers didn't do much for me. I love Ms. Marvel even if the show didn't live up to the potential, and I liked Captain Marvel to a degree. That said, doing a movie that is a sequel to a movie a lot of people didn't like and two shows a lot of people didn't watch likely won't lead to a great turnout.
Also before I saw the movie I watched a non-spoiler review from a critic I trust who said it was everything wrong with the current MCU and said the movie wasn't even good enough to release to theatres. So obviously I was expecting an awful, awful movie.
Instead what I got was an awful, awful script with great performances by some of the actors (looking at you Iman), some really great action scenes (especially that first fight) and some humor that actually worked. Script was terrible, and it missed more opportunities than I can count, but I ended up largely having fun. Probably because I expected a pure disaster and because Iman carries everything she does (all two things). I liked Brie Larson in this but at times it felt like she wasn't thrilled to be there and kind of wanted out.
But man, these scripts to a lot of these current MCU movies are truly awful. I have no idea how they're getting approved.
Also didn't get a ton out of the post credits scene.
Wife and I watched last night and that’s the first thing she said, terrible writing. It’s a trend. The greatest actors in the world couldn’t save some of those lines/scenes. Larson phoning it in. A distant planet where everyone sings in perfect American English along with its idioms and colloquialisms. Yee haw.