Marvel Cinematic Universe

[DANGERMAN]

I watched Thunderbolts this week. I was saying to someone that it might be the best directed Marvel film. The only other MCU one that I think stands out is Raimi's Dr Strange, and that obviously has its issues. Thunderbolts has a very consistent mood and striking look at points 

 

It's a shame then that it's the exact same film they've made about 15 times. Same beats, same character types, really predictable from the moment the antagonist is revealed 

[one-armed dwarf]

Fantastic Four has gotten good reviews, even saw a relatively positive writeup by Donald Clarke in the Irish Times who generally doesn't like any of the MCU films (does like Logan tho)

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg37kmpl01o

[Guest]

Just came out of fantastic four. About 20 minutes of entertainment at the end and a slog to get to that point. 😴 Post credits scene made me laugh. No thanks. 

[Maf]

The new Spider-Man suit is looking great

 

 

Shame the last movie left things in such a weird place. Can’t imagine how this story is going to work 

[Maf]

That X-Men ‘97 guy that got fired letting rip on Marvel. Looking at his feed this isn’t new, and take a pinch of salt with a fired employee, but damn it sounds horrific. 

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

I sort of didn't enjoy the second half of X-Men 97, but up to that point (and past it tbf) it was the strongest impression of 'the people making this give a fuck about comic books' I got from an adaptation of these IP in quite a while. Punched above its weight*, even with its pacing problems and how it tries to compress things. I think though this guy turned out to be a pest in the workplace or something? I remember posting about it but have already forgot the details now...

 

The description of stuff in that tweet does remind me a lot of the things I'm reading about in the novel I'm on atm, how uninterested and risk averse the fuckers with the money can be when it's rolling in. 

 

*

Spoiler

like, I was sort of shocked that a continuation of a kids show had a whole subplot in it about how Magneto fucks

 

[Maryokutai]

Went to one fo the last screenings of Fantastic Four because I quite enjoyed Superman on the big screen and thought I'd try a Marvel one for a change as well (I think Endgame was the last one I went to see in cinemas). Thankfully it's quite different to Superman in a lot of ways, except for one: adding colour to these things again. Thank god. Next to its wonderful score that was the part I enjoyed most about this. The retro-futuristic set design – or background renders I suppose – just pop in ways Marvel hasn't really done before and this is their most striking and visually appealing movie in quite some time. Everything else is relatively basic fare, though the usual Marvel humour has thankfully been dialled down and shoved almost exclusively into Johnny's lines, which is at least consistent with the source material. 

Just like Superman it's mostly devoid of twists and surprises, which I don't mind, but technically they kind of showed both the beginning and the end in the very first trailer. Reed's solution to their Galactus problem is also extremely idiotic when you think about it, but just like Lex yelling commands into a microphone for Ultraman do to fighting game moves you kind of just have to go with it.

 

So to summarise, quite good I think. Comparing them directly I do prefer Superman because it gives you that super hero power fantasy that this one isn't really about (Silver Surfer has the best scenes), but I think they're roughly on equal footing and promising for what has to come.

 

That said, I did kind of groan bit internally when the mid credits scene popped up with the usual

Spoiler

MCU style 'they'll be back in this and that movie' and the whole shared universe nonsense this movie did such a good job of avoiding for the prior 120 minutes.

 

[Maryokutai]

Was in that limbo period yesterday between tired but not tired enough to go to bed so I watched Thunderbolts. This is certainly a movie. Nothing more, nothing less. It left me with as many emotions as I would have had I just stared at a blank screen for two hours instead. I usually like both Florence Pugh and David Harbour but between them doing those fake accents all the time and Harbour's character being superficial comic relief who switches into responsible dad mode in one scene, making it utterly unbelievable as a result, it was hard for me to really get anything out of their characters. Sebastian Stan meanwhile kind of looks like he just wants to be done with the MCU at this point.

 

If this is supposed to front the new age of this shared universe under the New Avengers label, then they have quite the hill to climb. I think they need to re-evaluate this whole thing and make more movies like F4 instead, completely isolated both narratively and stylistically and fulfilling entertainment as a stand-alone storyline.

[Maf]

I just watched Thunderbolts on D+ and thought it was absolutely brilliant. I loved that movie. Red Guardian was annoying in the beginning but I think he starts to get better half way through. And the literal fight against depression is, I mean, literal. But I accept it’s a superhero movie, you need punching. And mini spoiler but I was happy to see this team actually spend basically the entire 3rd act saving people instead of fighting things. Still big action scene, but cool

 

Where this shines for me is the characters. I mean, on the face of it, it kind of feels like a Suicide Squad thing, which I’ve never liked or been interested in. They’re using the side and supporting characters of other Marvel films, some of which were terrible originally, so that didn’t fill me with interest or confidence. And lastly they’re adapting the Sentry. Which for me is a bottom 5 Marvel character of all time. Since inception, the Sentry has been badly thought out and a waste of paper. 
 

Let’s start with him, then. They really changed him and in particular his Void component. It’s very different, but I don’t mind changes when they’re much better. This was much better. And I realised this at the end, they were actually faithful to his original story and how he is saved in a loose, but true sense. The entire introduction of him as Bob was brilliant. He was likeable, funny, relatable and just all around great. 
 

Secondly Florence Pugh’s Yelena character. Who up to this point has been standard Marvel side character, with the bonus of being a second run of Black Widow. So apart from funny. She’s been nothing. Here she was wonderful. She leads the group, steals almost every scene, has a great arc, and I just loved her. She was so good. And still hysterical. The amount of different comedy she can do in this film is great. She can do everything.

 

Ghost didn’t get to really do very much. But considering she was one of the lamest villains in a storied history of lame Marvel villains, I really liked her. I don’t even know why. And this sort of goes for nearly every other character, really. They were not exceptional, but they did everything they needed to do perfectly. 
 

And lastly Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I’ve had a massive crush on ever since the ketchup scene in Seinfeld, and still think she’s hot today, even in this film. Was, besides hot, just absolutely brilliant. The way she turns on a dime with just a look. She was the perfect villain. And she’s been in like 4 different Marvel projects or something up to now and finally she gets to be great. 
 

I just thought this film was great. The final 20 minutes is too literal and it’s like Ok I get it. But I actually loved this and was hooked pretty much as soon as it started. 
 

I’m definitely going to watch that again in sometime soon. I don’t remember the last Marvel movie I said that about 

[mfnick]

Baffled by all the praise Thunderbolts gets. It was ok but wouldn’t even place it in the top half of best MCU films. 

[OCH]

I was thinking the other day that the last Spider-Man, might have been the last/most recent MCU film that I've seen??🤔

[one-armed dwarf]

Mine was Madame Web, the first half of it on Turkish Airlines with broken earphones. 

 

Congratulations to maf for finishing a film without watching it as out of order tweets or as a reaction video 👏

[DANGERMAN]

How am I the one that's kept up to date with them? 

 

I watched Fantastic Four, and it's ok. Seems like that's the best the MCU can manage nowadays, 'ok'. 

 

They're going for a certain look, which I'm not sure worked for me. They manage to make Human Torch seem pretty powerful, but it feels like feels like Reed is the only character that matters, he's the answer to ever problem and shines a light on it by saying "we" 

 

Sue is important to the plot, but more as maguffin. She's not a well written character at all

 

They do keep the story smaller scale than I expected, I presumed it was going multiverse, so I'll give it that 

[Maryokutai]

I've been watching the Cloak & Dagger show a bit on the side. Not sure if I never knew it existed or forgot about it, but it's interesting how this seems to have avoided any kind of attention considering it came out at the absolute height of the MCU's popularity (2018).

It's also very non-MCU, in the sense that it's a rather grounded, extremely slow-paced, young adult story that also includes some themes you'd never see the likes of Chris Evans talk about in a big Marvel movie (drug abuse, suicide, rape, just to name a few). Admittedly it's not handled with a lot of grace, but I appreciate how different it is, even if it's ultimately a bit mediocre. I do like Cloak's family dynamic though, unlike most TV teens he's not giving his parents shit 24/7.

[Nag]

Getting round to watching all of the main films I've missed (TV shows can bollocks though... apart from Daredevil Born Again, I'll watch that)... first up Eternals.

 

I've got to admit that I was fairly worried with this one knowing how generally audiences hated it... glad to say I shouldn't have been, I thought it was excellent. Probably the least Marvel that one of those films has been, backed up by some fairly solid performances. Shame that we'll probably never see these characters again.

[Maryokutai]

Never understood the hate for that one either. Maybe the marketing suggested something different, I wasn't really locked into that part, but the movie itself for me was the best out of whichever 'phase' was happening at that time, even if that might not necessarily be saying much. I really do like it though, one of few genuinely beautiful Marvel movies and the only one who has a cool speedster. I'm also ok with it being a one-off as it feels rather self-contained – though I'd have preferred if it had been for creative purposes rather than lack of success.

 

Edit: also finished that C&D show the other day. The second half is quite good actually, it has a nice Groundhog Day episode. Bit of a cheesy finale though. Apparently the second season is pretty bad but I don't have access to it anyway, so I consider the chapter closed.

[Maf]

I’ve watched Eternals twice. Once when it was new and once again when everyone said it was bad and I wanted to see who was wrong. Me or them. As per usual. It’s definitely them

 

The only things I feel don’t quite work is the shoehorning of all the Blade stuff. Just a common problem with Marvel post Endgame. Trying to constantly set things up with no plan and for no reason and in case of Blade and Eternals no relation

 

I also thought their costumes were lame. I get why they looked the way they looked. But they could have looked cooler. 
 

And lastly, even though it pays off in the finale, Circe’s powers are that Deadpool 2 joke of “not cinematic”. Except it’s real here, her powers are just not fun or interesting.

 

Having said all that. Cool movie. 

[Nag]

45 minutes ago, Maryokutai said:

only one who has a cool speedster.

 

Yeah... although I've got to admit I have no idea what her name was. Really enjoyed where she was repeatedly smacking Ikaris in to that cliff face.😆

[mfnick]

Maybe I should try it again. I didn’t think it was terrible but definitely not good. 

[Nag]

Next in line Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness... 

 

Fuck me, why did I bother?