Marvel's Movie/TV Universe v2 (SPOILERS)

[Adami]

Fun fact that I saw that changed how I saw the effects of the dusting.

If current Earth's population was halfed, it'd be like it was in the 1960's, when our population was about half of what it is now.

[ErHaO]

A couple of random thoughts:

-So many great callbacks, both small and big ones. The history of 22 films really pays off here. From the kid of Iron Man 3 at the funeral of Stark (a small detail) to the elevator scene with cap mirroring the one in The Winter Soldier, this film is filled to the brim with details connecting all films. And in a way where it didn't become bothersome as the scenes make sense.

-From all the character arcs, Thor was the most surprising to me. Thor is comedic as hell, but also tragic at the same time. As someone who knows several people who went from young/handsome/bound to have succes to a worn near alcoholic sad mess, I thought his character was surprisingly relatable. And I liked how they used his mom as a pivotal point where he picks himself up again. Despite the mediocre first two films, his character arc is really well done. Curious to see where Guardians 3 will go, as Thor will likely star in it and it will probably a search for Gamora.

-A good sendoff for most of the core Avengers. It is definitely a "pass the torch" film. Iron Man dead, Cap elderly, Black Widow dead, Hulk probably missing use of an arm and not angry anymore (Hulk's power is correlated to his anger), Hawkeye is probably retiring for real (he did, but then his family disappeared). Thor's story is not finished yet and I feel Hulk will get into play again, but the new generation is definitely Spider-Man, Black Panther and the others.

-Time travel is always messy if you think about it long enough, but I greatly prefer this approach than that of most other popular films. It feels more logical to me than Terminator or Back to the Future.


A couple of negatives:
-Didn't care for Captain Marvel. Black Widow and Scarlet Witch are much more interesting female heroes in my opinion (and better acted). Having seen this, I don't think there was a need to quickly have an origin film in phase 3 to put her in this. It would've been much cooler to have a solo flick for Black Widow (maybe in combination with Hawkeye/Ronin) to make her sendoff more impactful. And to be honest, I think Brie Larson is the sole miscast in the entire MCU film cast. I was hoping this film gave her more character, but that was not the case (that said, I did enjoy Captain Marvel as a film, but her character is boring). But hey, I didn't feel much for Cap and Thor at first either, but they got good character development throughout the series.
-Would've liked a bit more of a role for Thanos' children during some scenes. Last film they were generic bad guys outside of Ebony Maw, here their presence was even smaller. But with a film this packed I know that this would be hard to pull off.
-While there is plenty of action I enjoyed, there isn't a scene like the airport battle in Civil War or the tag team against Thanos in Infinity War.

[Adami]

So, continuing....nay....FINISHING my rewatch, last night was Ant-Man and the Wasp.

So...I gotta say, the Ant-Man movies get a really unfair rep. Are they perfect? No. Are they game changing? Nah. Are they REALLY fun movies? YES!

Both Ant-Man movies got a really bad release date. The first came out like a month or two after Age of Ultron and the sequel came out like a month or so after Infinity War. How the hell was that supposed to work? People just got high off the Avengers and then you serve them a mostly unrelated movie? It's just bad marketing. If these movies had both been released in maybe Sep/Oct? They'd do way better. People just weren't in the right frame of mind for these kinds of movies when they were released.

These movies are just so god damn charming. Paul Rudd is by far the most charming and cool dude in the MCU. They both have really great and inventive action scenes, and how they handled the size changing was REALLY creative. People seem to just gloss over all the really amazing stuff in these movies and refer to them as pallet cleansers. I attribute that, at least like 80% to when they were released. Anyway. I'm a bit burned out of writing these lengthy things, and this movie is just a really nice good movie (with flaws) so I'll skip ahead to my likes/dislikes.

Likes:
- Most charming opening scene ever. I'm referring to Rudd and his daughter one, after the exposition intro. You just have to smile at that stuff.
- The father/daughter stuff. It was a bit meh in the first one and this one really captured their special connection. Also making Judy Greer and new husband on Rudd's side was a great call.
- The idea of the size changing cars was cool. Really liked it.
- You know what? Ghost. I liked Ghost and Bill Foster as antagonists. They were relatable and not bad for the sake of it. They were trying to do the right thing and became desperate. And the good guys deciding to help the bad guys at the end is CLASSIC Marvel, and something the movies usually miss out on.
- Pint sized Rudd. Not mini, but kid sized. I dunno, I thought it was hilarious. All of it.
- Luis. The dude is just comic gold, right? We all loved the recap stuff from the original and this one did it better. I feel like this was a better version of the Quicksilver idea. Really amazing scene at first that no one expected. This movie upped in a great way, while X-men failed at doing that, and will likely fail again in Dark Phoenix.
- Rudd acting as Janet. Dude is just so funny.
- Evangeline Lilly really brought a better game this time around. Kudos to her and her normal looking hair.
- All of the action scenes were fantastically directed. Inventive, creative, original and super entertaining. What else could we want?
- Glad that the villain (for lack of a better word) was not a size changer. It's much neater to see two powers fighting that are radically different, and Ghost had very cool powers.

Didn't like:
- Lazy exposition. First movie had this problem too. Just bad exposition of a character explaining everything. Opening scene with Douglass wasn't great, especially since we literally got the same scene (almost literally) in the last one. But Ghost's life story recap was REALLY lazy and poorly written.
- Convoluted plot at times. They ended up....pretty easily.....convincing Bill Foster to work with them at the end. Why not just do that much earlier? Didn't seem hard.
- Walton Goggins. I love this man so much but he has no purpose in this film and he is WAY too good of an actor to be wasted like this. I honestly forgot what his motivation even was. I understood Ghost's and Bill's very well. But Walton's? What the hell was he trying to do? I honestly didn't know or care. They either needed to get rid of him or make him an actual character and not such an obvious plot device.

I know a lot of people complain about the inconsistencies of size changing, but in the movie they stay...pretty consistent. Why didn't everything shake in the building? I dunno. Dude can shrink a building into a suitcase. Pretty sure he can figure out a way to make sure it's stable no matter what. Not plugged into water/electricity? Again, dude creating Pym particles, pretty sure he has that handled as well.

Anyway.....that was an amazingly fun, enlightening and rewarding experiencing re-watching 20 movies plus Captain Marvel. I am so pumped and ready for Endgame, and I feel like with this re-watch, I'll catch things other people might miss, so that'll be cool.

TOMORROW NIGHT!!!




Also, pretty sure Hank's gonna be pissed at this..

[bosk1]

I know a lot of people complain about the inconsistencies of size changing, but in the movie they stay...pretty consistent. Why didn't everything shake in the building? I dunno. Dude can shrink a building into a suitcase. Pretty sure he can figure out a way to make sure it's stable no matter what. Not plugged into water/electricity? Again, dude creating Pym particles, pretty sure he has that handled as well.

I've never heard that criticism.  But to address it, actually, it's a valid criticism from the standpoint of probably being "correct."  Yeah, the size changing would have all kinds of unintended consequences.  And I doubt there is any realistic way for Pym to have figured out how to deal with even a fraction of that.  It makes the whole size changing thing incredibly unrealistic when you stop and think about it.  Solution:  Don't stop and think about it.  Just enjoy the movies because they're really fun and well done for a ton of different reasons.

[ariich]

I feel like with this re-watch, I'll catch things other people might miss, so that'll be cool.

Yeah there's no way I could have done a re-watch so I'm definitely going to miss loads of stuff when I see it on Tuesday, but that's cool, I look forward to reading about it all once I've seen it and when I eventually get round to watching all the films again there'll be new stuff to look out for!

[The Walrus]

Ant-Man & The Wasp is a very fun movie. I enjoyed it. I'd be lying if I said I ever felt the urge to watch it a second time though... I also wish it came out in the fall. Only 2 months after Infinity War is a bad move... like I get it, as kind of a palate cleanser, but still. Regardless, I liked it way more than the first film.

[jingle.boy]

In.
Da.
Theatre.

[bosk1]

Don't tell me any other spoilers except this one:  Is it an "evening with" or do they have an opener?

[Phoenix87x]

I completely agree about Captain Marvel. Felt very out of place and shoe horned in. And in addition to that, the character is portrayed with a smug arrogance which is a major turn off and very off putting. When she said "you won't be seeing me for awhile" in the beginning, I was like Oh thank god 

Thor had that spoiled arrogance at first, but in a charming Naive kind of way and his arc was him becoming more down to earth and less full of himself. Can't say the same about captain marvel. She thinks she's such hot shit, but was no where to be found when HALF the of existance died. Thanos is well known through out space, so Its hard to believe she was just too busy with something else to have no idea that Thanos was making moves to collect the infinity stones. Its goes back to it feeling like she was just dropped into other people's story and we're just supposed to buy it. Not feeling it.

The MCU has so many strong, well developed and interesting female characters. Captain marvel aint one of them. She's boring, flat and full of herself. Contrast that with Black Widow, who's sacrifice pretty much had me teary eyed.

And on a random note:   That's America's ass 

[lonestar]

Just about to leave the house for the theater...I was doing an hourly countdown at work, I'm sure all my non-nerd coworkers are a sweet combination of bufuddled and annoyed by now. Probably more annoyed.

[Adami]

I actually do have question, which the answer to MIGHT be considered spoilers. If you know the answer (only having seen the film) and think it's a spoiler, please PM Me the answer.

All of the press screenings have had 0 post/mid credits scenes, but no one was sure if they were holding out until an official release. So....does this movie have either of those?

I only ask cause the theater I'm going to is an hour drive from my house and I won't be getting out of the movie til close to 11pm. So if I don't have to wait til the very very end, I'd like to know. Thanks!

[Ninjabait]

Don't tell me any other spoilers except this one:  Is it an "evening with" or do they have an opener?

They have Howard the Duck (1986) as the opener. Heard nothing but bad things about it. Would advise coming in late to the main concert, or peeing during the opener.



Anyways guys, you shouldn't go see Endgame, because there might be spoilers for Endgame.

[lonestar]

In the theater... It's go time man...

[Adami]

I wonder if, during the live premier, Benedict Cumberbatch leaned over to RDJ and said "We're in the Endgame now..."

[erwinrafael]

A lot of us here in the activist university I work in do not find Captain Marvel borong at all.

[lonestar]

Fantastic finish, not perfect, but it did what Marvel does best, entertained the fuck out of me.

Losing Nat fucking crushed me man.

[faizoff]

My non spoiler review.
I thought infinity war couldn't be topped.
I was wrong.

[faizoff]

What an amazing conclusion to an amazing set of movies. Very well done.

[lonestar]

My non spoiler review.
I thought infinity war couldn't be topped.
I was wrong.

Agreed, they really nailed it man. I'm still breathless.

[lonestar]

What an amazing conclusion to an amazing set of movies. Very well done.

Yeah, not only a brilliant conclusion to them all, but also managed to pay homage to pretty much every single one of them. It'd take a view more viewings to pick it apart, but I think they tied them all in one way or another. Cap, Stark, and Nat are definitely gone, and who knows where Thor's arc is going to go with how they ended his line. Didn't see what happened to Gamora and Nebula, and whether or not they're going to further tie into GotG, I think there's a shit ton of humor potential with Quill trying to make the moves again on Gamora. Anyhoo, gotta wake up hella early tomorrow, so I'll catch up further in the morning.

[erwinrafael]

Losing Nat fucking crushed me man.

The editing was topnotch here. They basically made us "forget" that Clint and Barton were going to Vormir because their mission was not part of the intersecting scenes. When they arrived in Vormir, the cinema I was in suddenly went very quiet because I think everybody suddenly realized that one of the two has to die. I don't think there was a dry eye in the theater when Nat died.

Which is what made the climax so cathartic. I haven't heard so much shouting while watching a film.

And the death scene by Tony. So well done. I love how he did not have any great last words. He just died in front of his loved ones.

I have this student who was arguing with me that LotR: RotK was so much better as a conclusion. I disagreed. I love LotR to death (my son is named Rohan after all, LOL), but what the MCU's Infinity saga have that LotR did not was the sense that the heroes could lose. My student said he hated the 5 years later stuff, but I told him that I love that aspect, that the Avengers really lost to Thanos and by stroke of luck, courtesy of a rat, they got literally a second chance. I told my student that Tony and Nat's deaths were what really upped the stakes in this conclusion. He told me that LotR had Boromir and Smeagol dying, and I just laughed. The MCU had the balls to kill off Tony freaking Stark, that's like killing Frodo or Aragorn.

I also smiled when I realized that Infinity War actually already showed how to defeat Thanos. Thanos got the Mind stone of Vision by turning back time and  getting it before it was destroyed.

Only thing I can't wrap my head around for now was that bit about Cap getting old in this timeline. It's the only thing I can not fit it into the logic of time traveling that they established in this story.

[erwinrafael]

I actually do have question, which the answer to MIGHT be considered spoilers. If you know the answer (only having seen the film) and think it's a spoiler, please PM Me the answer.

All of the press screenings have had 0 post/mid credits scenes, but no one was sure if they were holding out until an official release. So....does this movie have either of those?

I only ask cause the theater I'm going to is an hour drive from my house and I won't be getting out of the movie til close to 11pm. So if I don't have to wait til the very very end, I'd like to know. Thanks!

There is some sort of a mid-credits scene. It's not really a scene but it would be good if you stay for it, because that brought a tear to my eye.

[aurorablind]

I've seen the movie twice now, and here are my general thoughts.

Endgame totally lived up to the hype for me. It's still a bit early, but it may end up being my favorite comic book-movie of all time. I was laughing, crying and getting goosebumps throughout. There hasn't been a movie in a long long time that has affected me as much as this one.
This is not just a movie. This is an event like we've never seen before in movie-history. The conclusion of 11 years and 22 movies in a francise that has been close to perfect (with a couple of bumps along the way).
Is it a perfect movie? No, but as the end of this era of Marvel-movies it's pretty much nails everything we were promised.

My favorite parts of the movie:
- The characters. Each member of the original six Avengers got their moment to shine. Hawkeye has never been as interesting as this, RDJ gives his performance of a lifetime, Chris Evans is totally bad ass, Thor is funny as hell and a total emotional wreck at the same time. Professor Hulk was awesome, and Natasha...oh boy the feels....
- The opening of the movie with Hawkeye and his family was so good and so sad.
- I did not expect them to kill Thanos 15 minutes into the movie. I love Thor's expression when he says "I went for the head". You can totally see how much guilt, anger and sadness that has been building up in him.
- The slower parts of the movie had so many good character moments. Tony Stark and his daugher, (I love you 3000  ) Steve Rogers and his therapy-group, Natasha crying while eating a peanut butter sandwich. So many emotional and good performances.
- Even though the time travel stuff doesn't make sense all the time, I loved how they went back to different eras of the MCU. I think the elevator scene was my favorite (Hail Hydra!  ). The moments between Tony and his father was great, as well Thor and his mother. The funniest was definitely Starlord dancing and singing with Nebula and Rhodey watching 
- Natasha and Clint in Vormir. That was so good.. when Clint woke up with the soul stone was so heartbreaking.
- The entire third act.. oh boy. I totally lost it when Captain America went "Avengers!........assemble". One of the best moments in the entire MCU for me.
- Tony Stark defeating Thanos and his death. Such a badass, sad and worthy send-off to one of the greatest characters ever to be put on screen.
- Steve Rogers getting to dance with Peggy. I was smiling from cheek to cheek when the end credits started rolling 

My least favorite parts:
- There definitely were some plot-holes, most of them because of the time-travel stuff. I don't really understand how Steve Rogers ended up as an old man in their timeline, and I can't wrap my head around how he would give the soul-stone back to Red Skull. Did he just go to Vormir and give the stone back to him? Wouldn't Red Skull then have gotten the Soul Stone without sacrificing a loved one?
- Thor was great, but I got a bit tired of the fat-jokes. Thor was having such a desperate and emotional moment when they were figuring out who would wear the gauntlet and bring people back. When he asked "do you know what is coursing through my veins?" and War Machine goes "cheese whiz?" kind of blew the moment for me.
- There were some elements of the final fight that felt a bit messy, but that's just a nit-pick.

Even though it had some small problems, I still give it 10/10. I love this movie to death, and will see it a third time this weekend.

Thank you Marvel! 

[erwinrafael]

I don't think the Soul Stone can be given back. I think instead that it will always be with Cap until somebody makes a sacrifice.

Am I correct that what the Ancient One said is that a divergent timeline would be constructed only when one of the stones is not present at a certain point in time? Could that explain why Steve was able to grow old in the timeline?

[Zantera]

Thought the movie was really good and a worthy "end" to this incarnation of the MCU. Nice closure for some characters, and I would say it's one of the best movies in the MCU though personally Infinity War would probably still be my nr1 pick - but the movies go together like wine and cheese. What I loved about IW with the focus on Thanos and the bleak ending is ultimately what makes Endgame so satisfying with how things are resolved, and I think they did a fine job.

The only thing that I didn't quite get leaving the cinema though, maybe this is a plothole or maybe it can be explained or maybe I just missed something... But when Hulk snapped and returned all the dead people, it was explained that "everyone will be back but its just 5 years later". I reacted at the scene towards the end when Peter Parker returned to school and his classmates were still the same age. (I know we saw Ned but same goes for Far From Home, everyone is same) Which means all of them were gone and came back, which seems a bit like a stretch? (as in what are the chances?) Maybe I missed some line about it?

[jingle.boy]

I actually do have question, which the answer to MIGHT be considered spoilers. If you know the answer (only having seen the film) and think it's a spoiler, please PM Me the answer.

All of the press screenings have had 0 post/mid credits scenes, but no one was sure if they were holding out until an official release. So....does this movie have either of those?

I only ask cause the theater I'm going to is an hour drive from my house and I won't be getting out of the movie til close to 11pm. So if I don't have to wait til the very very end, I'd like to know. Thanks!

There is some sort of a mid-credits scene. It's not really a scene but it would be good if you stay for it, because that brought a tear to my eye.

Not in the theater I watched in.  1/2 the audience stayed right to the end.  Nuthin.

[faizoff]

Yeah the end scene with Peter Parker, I wasn't sure if he was back in high school or in College. Because I thought it was 5 years after. I don't get if they went back 5 years after Tony's snap.

[lordxizor]

Fun fact that I saw that changed how I saw the effects of the dusting.

If current Earth's population was halfed, it'd be like it was in the 1960's, when our population was about half of what it is now.

This is one of the big criticisms of Thanos's plan. Population increases exponentially, not linearly, so halving the population would set population growth back by less than a century. He really should have left 10% or less of the population, or magically made birth rates go down or something. But that's just a nitpicky thing.

[jingle.boy]

I understood it to be exactly as Zantera said.  Now, if Ned was 'snapped' by Thanos, that makes sense.  If not, it's kinda odd - and a timeline plot-hole.  I think Tony's snap only dusted off Thanos and his crew - Hulk's snap just brought everyone that was dusted in IW back into existence 5-years later.  I wonder 1/2 of the universe will comprehend that - only Dr. Strange really knows what's going on.

Anyhow, timeline plot-holes not-withstanding, there are a few other plot-holes I'm having trouble reconciling:
- how did Captain Marvel know exactly where to find Tony/Nebula?  Was she flying around the universe for 3 weeks?  No one that survived knew they were on Titan, so it's not like she just took a straight line from Earth to Titan.
- how did Steve return the Space and Mind gems to their rightful time that they took them, and re-insert them into the cube and sceptre?
- Peggy in 1970 would've been what ... at least 55 years old, probably in her 60s - not the way she looked when Steve creeped on her through the window (It was 1970 that they went back to to get the Pym particles and Tesseract, right?). And I thought that Tony would've been older than me.  38 in Iron Man 1??
- Where did Valkryrie get her horse from?  Where did they find all the Asgardian warriors from?

None-the-less, those minor issues aside, this was brilliant.  Perfect conclusion for all the reasons already mentioned.  Both happy and sad tears were shed.  Like, when Morgan asked Happy for cheesburgers ...    I'm not sure which moment I loved more - Thor double fisting Mjolnir and Stormbreaker; Cap wielding Mjolnir, or "Avengers .... Assemble".  I think the girl-power moment was a little over the top, but I know all the females in the theatre roared, so no biggie. 

Other random thoughts ... Tony's rant on Steve to start was just awesome; great use of Hiddleston.... all the 'cameos' really.  Stan's cameo was fantastic, and got a big roar as well.

Kinda wanted Cap to say "Before we begin, does anyone want to get out"... but Hail Hydra was way better.

Gonna be going to re-watch it on Wednesday.

[lonestar]

I think when Cal summoned mjolnir got the biggest cheer in our theater, or when Marvel blew through Thanos' ship.

[faizoff]

There were several awesome moments that brought the house down in my theater all mentioned here.
The one thing I really had to admire in my completely packed theater was how silent everyone was right from the get-go with the first scene and any other scene that was just dialogue. You could hear people sniffling and even whimpering at times. There was zero talking over by anyone that I could hear. It made the experience all the more amazing.

I laughed the hardest when Tony calls Thor 'Lebowski' because I was just thinking that in my head of how he looked that way and Tony says, I couldn't stop laughing for a while.
I'm going to see it in Dolby cinema next week and really can't wait.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Loved it! More bittersweet than I expected, but that is certainly not a bad thing. Props to Marvel for such a great achievement. The problem is that I now have a hole to fill... And you know what would fill it? Thor in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Please, God, make it happen!

[faizoff]

Endgame had Hawkeye's best portrayal ever so far. I loved his role in this movie.

[The Walrus]

Fellas... go to Google, search 'Thanos' and then click the gauntlet.

[bosk1]

  Brilliant!

Well, as long as I can get through the work day, I'm good.  Gonna be occupied with Boy Scouts until we see it tomorrow night.  Just a little more willpower...