Marvel Cinematic Universe

[one-armed dwarf]

I actually watched Into the Spider-Verse (2018) last night. I mention the year cause it seems pretty easy to mix up these two films cause they have the same fecking name. Anyway I thought this was the most visually inventive family movie I've ever seen, and I say 'family movie' cause it's pitched much moreso towards that kind of broadly accessible and enjoyable Pixar part of the spectrum rather than the more blockbuster-ey MCU films. There's that effort in it to make a film with universal themes everyone can connect to without it coming across like boring pandering. 

 

I thought it was great, and it made exceptional use of HDR on my 4K disc such that I'm not sure it would be the same film in SDR. I imagine if I saw it in 3D it would then offer a different way to emphasise its visuals, at least that's what I've heard. It's full of style as it goes between comic book style paneling, video-game style 3D and anime. There's a Looney Toons spiderman, and Nicolas Cage plays a Film Noir spiderman. 

 

I did lose interest a bit as the plot developed and sort of hit the samey plotbeats of 'anyone can be a hero' etc etc, I'm too cynical to really take that stuff seriously. But I thought having one of the main characters be an over the hill Spidey with an onset of middle aged spread was a great touch that helped make the whole thing not feel as cloying as it sometimes threatened to become. It had a great sense of humour and just as soon as I found my patience beginning to be tested by the obligatory special effects explosion of fight scenes towards the end, it closed out the film and rolled the credits, it's paced very well

 

This feels much more like a logical continuation of the Sam Raimi films and has something new to offer, rather than the pretty predictable and diminishing returns of the Tom Holland films. It's the best Spidey has had to offer since Spidey 2, it's playful and creative and rarely boring, thumbs up

 

 

[Maf]

There should be an X-Men ‘97 JRPG 

[Maryokutai]

Since you've been talking about it I also watched Into the Spider-Verse yesterday. Can't add much to the overall discourse about it, it's a really good movie in a visually exceptionally accomplished packaging. I watched it on a bog standard LCD and while some daylight scenes looked a bit flat and stiff, particularly the first ten minutes or so, it really came into its own as soon as the Multiverse stuff happens and especially during nighttime. I can imagine this looking exceptional on better TVs but I was still really impressed. I also liked the gentle touches when it came to the art-style and animation to make certain alter egos look very different and 'pop out' a bit.

 

I think the movie overall feels a bit rushed, it doesn't let some of its core beats breathe long enough, and as a result I probably will remember it more as a whole than for specific moments, with few exceptions like the tandem web-swinging in the forest. Simultaneously every Spidey not named Miles or Peter gets a bit of the short end of the stick, but I suppose this was unavoidable with an ambitious premise like this, especially as it's already hitting the ceiling in terms of runtime for an animated movie. There's a bit of a glaring plothole, too, but I don't think it impacts the overall narrative too much.

 

Spoiler

Why is Gwen in his world before the Multiverse machine got activated?

 

Overall really nice though and I can see where the praise is coming from. It didn't touch me on an emotional level at all but it's such an artistically accomplished production that it's hard to dislike it, especially when you consider how big of an IP this is and that someone higher-up would probably have preferred this to adopt the basic run-of-the-mill Frozen visual style.

 

I saw that Netflix has the second one on there as well. Not sure if this needed a sequel but I'll check it out on the weekend or so. Hopefully it gives Gwen and Noir a bit more to do.

[one-armed dwarf]

I'm giving the sequel a swerve cause I heard on here it's a two parter that sacrifices some internal resolution, I don't really want to be dicked around like that in case the sequel's sequel ends up being rubbish so I'm happy to wait and see. I'm sick of that kind of thing already with TV shows and watch way less of them now, 3 years for season 2 of Severance is nuts and I just end up forgetting things and losing interest

 

When part 3 comes out I'll just watch it as a duology in one sitting I guess. 

 

For the other characters like Noir I feel they were effective enough as sight gags tbh, I think just having Nic Cage say overwrought hardboiled things in such a colourful movie was really funny. Apparently they were going to make a TV show about him or something but that seems a fine way to kill the joke

[Maryokutai]

They definitely don't have the time for those characters to do more than play second fiddle, I just really enjoyed Noir whenever he was on screen. Didn't realise the second one didn't come with a conclusion. Might check it out regardless, it's not that big of a commitment to rewatch it whenever the third one comes out, it's not as bad with movies than TV shows.

I've also had situations where I watched movies like that back to back and resulted in me not properly valuing the individual pieces, so I think it's not bad per se to see it now in isolation.

[Maf]

Yes, please 

[Nag]

I'll die a happy man if this turns out to be true...

[Maf]

I wonder if it was Tom Holland’s idea

[one-armed dwarf]

Apparently that's made up. 

 

https://x.com/MyTimeToShineH/status/1825406151678169348

 

[Maf]

Why are you trying to take this away from me

[one-armed dwarf]

Because you clearly have the boomer mind-virus if you're taking twitter rumours at face value without checking the source. You should thank me, or watch Madame Web cause apparently she's in that I heard it's pretty good

[Maf]

I still believe it’s going to happen. I refuse all facts and sources 

[Maryokutai]

 

Interview/dialogue between Bernthal (Punisher) and Woll (Karen) from the Daredevil series. I found it interesting and refreshing to hear her thoughts on the industry and the challenges she faces regarding her career because she's the complete opposite of the pretentious self-confident movie star who runs around with a fake smile mask 24/7. Bernthal has a bit too much energy but I think he's a good guy and they make for an interesting pairing.

 

Really looking forward to what they bring to the table with the new season. Nothing Marvel has done in terms of TV shows comes even close to the Daredevil series IMO, and I think these two guys, together with D'Onofrio (Kingpin) are mostly responsible for that. There's one scene in S1 with her facing Kingpin's lackey that's so incredibly good.

[Maryokutai]

Went to an afternoon showing of Deadpool & Wolverine (3 people in the room, very comfy). Bar the suuuper long exposition dump at the beginning I kind of enjoyed it, but I couldn't help feeling that it was basically a slightly better version of that last Tom Holland movie, with the same positives (a bunch of cool guest stars) and the same negatives (no real substance below that). It's also hard to evaluate it in a vacuum because of all the other stuff that has happened with superheroes on the big screen and I probably would have liked this more if it had come out five to seven years ago. It's hard to shake the general fatigue, even if this is very different to usual MCU fluff. I also unfortunately did know about some guest characters beforehand due to the magic that is youtube thumbnails (these guys can all go to hell), but there were still some cool surprises left.

 

One other thing I couldn't help but wish for an alternate timeline is Cassandra. Such a cool and menacing presence that would have made an excellent villain in a more dark and serious movie, she feels a bit wasted here if I'm being honest. Though her scenes still are among the best in the film IMO.

 

Overall really enjoyable, but potentially with less staying power than the first two. If you take away all the surprises you're left with a movie that feels less coherent than its predecessors, though I appreciate all the work and meta stuff (and contracts that had to be signed) to get this done.

[Maf]

James Spader coming back as Ultron in the Vision series

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/marvel-sets-james-spader-ultron-vision-quest-1235982271/

 

That’s a good come back. I enjoyed their take on Ultron and thought it was a shame he was gone so quickly. Also where Vision is left after Wandavision having lost he’s “humanity” it’ll be cool to see how he is affected by Ultron
 

Although I wonder what the limitations are in terms of budget. I straight away think Ultron will be Vision’s Jarvis for most of it so they don’t have to show him on screen.

[Maf]

Video of the Thing from FF

 

I guess this is a model that they use as reference to animate? Or there’s a guy in there and the Thing is partially prosthetic? That’s be cool

 

I swear if they get the Thing right he will be the new Iron Man. The Thing’s loveable pathos and corny catchphrases is perfect fodder for the level of humour and drama the MCU goes for 

[one-armed dwarf]

Going to do as I usually do on a flight and catch up on MCU, I heard a lot of chatter about this one (guess it must be that good)

 

[Maf]

Marvel doesn’t have a superhero called Bricklayer 

[one-armed dwarf]

I only managed to watch half of it, it was weird

 

The idea that Sidney Sweeney would see doing another one of these a career boosting move is laughable. I laff at this delusion 

[HandsomeDead]

It's only career boosting in that it puts you in good graces with a studio.  I think its only boosted the the career of an upcoming actor for Tom Holland.  It's usually more of a Sebastian Stan thing where they go back to the smaller films they usually do.