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DarthRoger's Replies
My bad! I thought he was talking about a cartoon from the 70's and questioning why Sivana looked different from that cartoon. He was talking about the flashback in Shazam! Duh. It's been a long working weekend for me and I wasn't fully awake when I read his post. Sorry!
I think you're getting him mixed up with a Jonny Quest villain, Dr. Zin. He was darker skinned, Asian, bald and looked very similar to Dr. Sivana. He was the arch nemesis of Dr. Quest.
In the original Captain Marvel comics and from all Saturday cartoons I ever saw, Dr. Sivana was a older white man.
I'm conflicted over Suicide Squad. Unlike BVS, I didn't hate it. However that doesn't mean it was a good movie. It wasn't.
In the end, I'll at least give them credit for trying to do something different. The things that hurt SS were twofold - casting and script.
On the first one, you have Will Smith basically playing Will Smith. They should have picked someone more intimidating and frankly believable for that role. And then there's Harley Quinn. I love Margot Robbie and she's nice to look at but WHY would Harley Quinn even be in this movie, accept in a very minor role? Harley Quinn with a baseball bat is about as powerful a villain as any psycho/meth head/rabid human with a baseball bat. In other words, not powerful at all! She's not a metahuman. You only send HQ into a situation against godlike beings if you want someone to be cannon fodder.
On the second one, the story here is just garbage. They had the elements to make a much better plot than Enchantress and her magical brother doing whatever the hell it was they were trying to do. It was just silly. They could have found a better use for Joker, made him the main antagonist and had the team go up against him. Then they would have had a reason to include HQ, to use her as a bait to catch Joker. These are my thoughts at least.
So overall, Suicide Squad was a misfire but not in a horrible way like BVS.
That's the best point that I've read anyone making about why Hellboy didn't need rebooting. I keep metaphorically scratching my head as well, wondering why they didn't move forward with a third De Toro movie. LOVED the first HB! The second one was okay but not great. It suffered from a disjointed story and spent way too much time on love interests of the characters. Despite this, I still watched it and liked it. I felt a third movie to finish out a trilogy could have reclaimed the spectacle of the first HB that Del Toro directed but then, we will never know.
I'm going to finish by getting this dig in - David Harbour is overrated. He's got Stranger Things under his belt and bit parts in other movies. This is his first lead role. I think it shows that he's better as a supporting actor.
You are correct, BVS and Suicide Squad both made money but their bad fan reception ultimately hurt Justice League. That movie should have been their crown jewel. At least they seem to have their footing now.
Interesting take.
My view was that Marvel started out with a blueprint for where they wanted to go with their franchise. They made minor course corrections with a few later movies after Phase 1, yet they stuck to the blueprint and it's paid off handsomely. With the conclusion of Phase 3 however, I believe that the MCU will begin to drop off in popularity. Captain Marvel created unwanted controversy that Kevin Feige had avoided up till then. It was a bad move and created unnecessary division within the fan base. That wasn't smart and neither was treating those fans with disdain and disrespect. That will come back to haunt them, long term. It also appears that going forward into Phase 4, they don't really have an extended blueprint. That's not a good thing. The Infinity Stones gave them a unifying story arch from Phase 1-3 but without something new, fans might lose interest, especially in stand alone movies for characters that most fans aren't interested in. Marvel/Disney won't always be able to use "charities" to prop up their box office numbers.
Now to DC. Warner Bro's had NO blueprint when they started this journey. It well known that they tried to shortcut the Marvel formula for a shared universe, by throwing a few movies at the screen and viola, have the kind of financial success the MCU was enjoying. Of course, that was a bad decision and with their studio interference in the rush jobs that were BVS and Suicide Squad, they nearly wrecked all future DC movies and tarnished the mystiques of both Batman and Superman in the process. Then they finally got it, only after losing badly in both the financial realm and being summarily humiliated by Marvel Studios publicly. Now they seem to be taking it one movie at a time, letting those golden age comic heros stand on their individual movies and build up to something. They might not even know yet what they are building towards but at least they are finally on a path and making fun, fan supported and GOOD movies.
Escapism - the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.
And more to addressing your point, I don't recall any kid on the playground ever stating "When I grow up, I want to work a 9-5 job, have a boss who berates me and gives me lots of tasks to do in a narrow window of time."
So YES, grown men do enjoy superheros, like comic book movies and debating other grown men about whether DC or Marvel is better. They also imagine themselves possessing super powers and doing something great, like saving the world. Sure, it's not the riveting topics ladies spend their water cooler time discussing, like who did the best on "Dancing with the Stars" or Oprah's latest weight loss, yet it matters to men so who cares what you think?
Okay, I do see your point. The Seven Deadly Sin demons were scary and I was thinking that some kids wouldn't be keen on seeing them wreak death and carnage. They are cannon to his origin story though, so I understand why they were in the movie. Another friend who saw "Shazam!" said that it had a "Harry Potter" look to it, kind of a dark story about magic, mixed with moments of humor. That's actually a good analogy.
It is a battle between good and evil, so there are stakes. Most every CBM has moments like it.
Spider-man had Green Goblin frying people into skeletons, throwing girls off of bridges and getting impaled.
Man of Steel had Supes snapping General Zod's neck.
Iron Man has Tony killing Afghan terrorists by the truckload.
I'm pretty sure lots of kids (ages 7-13) have seen all the movies I listed above, plus other CBM and enjoyed them.
Even in the comicbooks themselves, people get killed. A heroic characters faces deadly odds. That's one of the reasons that superheros are admired by young kids and even adults that used to read comicbooks.
You had me until that last paragraph. We're a majority white nation, so the fact that there are more white critics is kind of elementary. I think I know what you're trying to say but I'm not sure.
On your other arguments, I get your points and all I'll counter with, is that someone can buy a finger paint piece of art for a million dollars and everyone can "oh" and "ah" and say "that's a million dollar painting!" But the reality will be that it's still a finger painting that someone merely paid a large sum of money for, which is not an indicator that it's actually a good painting.
I imagine that they started caring a lot more when Solo flopped financially. Pretty sure that got their attention and most of that were fans still disgruntled about SW:TLJ. It's cause and effect. You can pretend it doesn't matter, yet it does.
Update - Captain Marvel now has 98 negative reviews.
And I do appreciate the devil's advocate debate, NorrinRad. These are the kind of debates one should have without getting personal. I respect your points by listing the other movies from the DCEU and the Borne saga, however I was only focusing on the MCU movies and CM still has the most negative reviews of that franchise.
Guess it depends on how you define "success." Star Wars: The Last Jedi made over a billion dollars but is fervently hated by a large percentage of lifelong SW fans. A lot of movies have been deemed successful that went on to undermine a franchise. Solo anyone?
I saw Shazam yesterday and loved it. It's just a true comicbook superhero movie, with respect to the source material and characters. I had expected this to be good but it was even better than I originally hoped. Mark Strong was really convincing as the evil Doctor Savanah, possibly his best villain portrayal yet. Levi and Grazer were a great duo as Billy Batson/Shazam and Freddie Freeman. I would rank this near the top of the DC movies I've seen in my lifetime, putting it up there with the first Donner Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman Begins.
Go see for yourselves. It's just plain FUN!
I'm sorry, that argument just doesn't carry.
Justice Kavanaugh was accused with virtually zero evidence, save the claims of one woman who's testimony was called into question by some of the very people she claimed could corroborate her story, like her supposed best friend. There was no photographic evidence, no prior history of sexual misconduct claims against Kavanaugh and every single lady who ever worked with him vouched for his decency and integrity.
Joe Biden has a documented history - on live television for instance - of basically groping ladies and engaging in unwanted advances. That's a fact that anyone who has eyes can see. To make the argument that what Joe did doesn't come close to what Kavanaugh was accused of, when the accusations against Kavanaugh turned out to be utter bullshit, is quite a stretch. With all due respect, I disagree.
I've often wondered about Joe Biden. Why has no one in the media, the women's movement or in the opposition ever spoken out about his multiple, media captured moments of fondling ladies.
At a particular press conference for an Obama appointee, he held onto the shoulders of the appointee's wife and was whispering in her ear with a somewhat lewd expression on his face. The few members of the press and late night comedians who dared comment on it, seemed to dismiss it as a joke saying "Well that's just old Joe!" I kept wondering how anyone in government - given our supposed vigilant press - could have repeatedly gotten away acting like this, without having to answer or face consequences.
Maybe Joe Biden's transgressions in this area are finally coming back to haunt him.
What will be extra interesting is to see how the press corps treats this accusation, versus the way the covered the accusations leveled against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Stay tuned.
What color is the sky in your world? Do they have unicorns there with purple farts to propel them through the sky and cotton candy oceans to go with that mythical 1 billion you've forecast? I'd advise you to just lose yourself there but you sound like you've already arrived. :D
Yeah, her voice is an aquired taste but I love her sense of humor and honesty.
According to Campea YES but according to Randolph NO.
Randolph hinted that the two end credit scenes deal with how the Avengers got their name and how Nick Fury lost his eye. Those really aren't critical to seeing End Game.
I tend to believe Randolph on this over Campea.
Campea is not typically anti-anything. He liked Justice League, BVS, Solo, The Last Jedi and all the MCU movies. When he does occasionally give a less than glowing review, he's almost apologetic about it.
As for Grace Randolph, I love her reviews. She's got a unique voice and her own style. No crazy cat lady vibes that I get from her.