Maybe that dude just isn't a fan of Marvel movies. Or it could be because of that "Brie Larsen doesn't smile!" thing that's been going around. Who knows?

Personally I'm looking forward to Captain Marvel. I'll always be ready for some Space!MCU.

 

Some reasons I don't care for the Captain Marvel movie as an MCU fan:

It's being released a month before Endgame. I'm the type not to go to theaters much because I don't care for the big fat screen and surround sound, so drawing me in on that time frame is eh. I think it's similar to the Star Wars exhaustion of Solo losing at the box office a bit because it was released six months from Last Jedi rather than a year ... Except in the case it's a month.

I don't really know who nor care who Captain Marvel is, nor do I want or need to. I don't follow the comics besides the grandest schema, but I've picked up bare details about her. But I've yet to see her represented, and it's basically guaranteed to see her in Endgame. It isn't or shouldn't be necessary to see her backstory to watch what is going to be by far a more critical film to the MCU. I'm not interested seeing her in what is essentially a prequel when I have yet to see her at all. Origin stories are great and all, but there's kinda been enough of those in the MCU by now. If she was introduced a la Black Panther--first in Civil War and then his own movie--I think there would be more interest in the first female lead movie in the MCU compared to the first black movie.

 

This kind of thinking is a concern. Any criticism against Captain Marvel will get labeled with the sexist tag and if it doesn’t do well it’s because she’s a woman lead, not because it’s not a poorly timed or bad movie.

Wonder Woman proves that kind of thinking wrong.

 

I'm not interested in Captain Marvel because I suspect her involvement in Endgame will be an inflated version of what happened with Shuri and Banner in IW.

I'm firmly of the mind that Endgame should be left to the original six Avengers as their last hurrah against their ultimate foe, then the MCU could start introducing the higher power bracket properly (Captain Marvel, expand Doctor Strange and Scarlett Witch).

I could be wrong. The Russos know what they're doing with Marvel. Then again, the Shuri/Banner thing was in IW, which they helmed. So I'm ambivalent. I'll wait for the film, but the hype is damaged a bit by the Captain Marvel angle.

 

I mean, this is the same thing they did with Dr. Strange really - introduce him in his own film, show a bit of his power set, then unleash the real scope of it in Infinity War.

Plus, parts of the Marvel story over the years have played a pretty integral part of the various fights with Thanos and the infinity gauntlet - not so much the Carol Danvers incarnation, but still - and I have to imagine it's their way of integrating their selected parts of canon into the MCU. I've never been given a reason to doubt them, and I probably won't start now.

 

I'm not super interested in Captain Marvel, but mostly just cuz fatigue has set in re: Marvel movies. I still haven't seen Black Panther or Infinity War, and really have no desire to. Same thing for Captain Marvel. Suppose I'll catch it when it goes up on Netflix or whatever eventually.

 

So, I went and saw Vice the other day. It’s excellent, though not quite as good as The Big Short. It did make me absolutely nauseous.
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It really isn’t that good. Sure, it’s novel for its ethnically different cast, and it brings to light some racially charged issues, but that is really about it. In every other respect, it’s a bland, by the book, superhero movie. The subpar acting and writing really only cements that.

 

And it's up for a best picture oscar. What a laugh. I watched it again the other day, to refresh my memory for something I'm working on.

I don't know if Michael Jordan (Killmonger) was just that bad of an actor or his lines is what killed his character for me, but every time he came on screen, I cringed. Or maybe it was his hair. He's all around just that bad. Seeing as he's in a good portion of the movie... well, there you go.

 

I wasn't a fan of Vice, not gonna lie. I find Cheney to be a despicable little man, but even so that movie felt like blatant propaganda pandering to exactly that part of my brain, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Bale killed the role, no questions there, but I still walked out of the theater feeling like I'd spent the last two hours having my intelligence insulted.

 

I mean, I don’t mean to sound racist, but his character was so fucking steretypically black it hurt. It was like every shitty stereotype you ever think of mashed into one individual and capped with a shitty actor.

 

The thing about Killmonger is that if it had been Falcon or War Machine who came to Wakanda instead of Bilbo Baggins, well, whoever Martin Freeman is playing in this particular movie, his whole argument of "Black people have it really bad in America, we have to arm them with advanced weaponry so they can kill their oppressors!" would have just died right there.
Falcon and War Machine are already armed with advanced weaponry, which they use to serve their country and the general ideals of superhero work. They would both consider the idea of having oppressors ridiculous.

 

Too many hot ass takes. The problem with Black Panther is the complete lack of narrative tension and the lackluster ending. We all know how it's gonna wrap up 45 minutes in. Our hero's inner conflict is resolved by deciding the answer to help oppressed people around the globe is "learn 2 code poors." This milquetoast answer to mass poverty is probably why it got its nomination, along with a shameless 'representation in spandex' motive.

Also the whole "let's team up with the CIA!"

Also, the only real issue with Killmonger was that he was a hypocrite, he grabs power for sympathetic motives based on legitimate criticisms, but he's an American GI whose answer to the generational effects of colonization/imperialism/slavery is "look at me, I am the Empire now." Also when he compares his war criminal behavior leading to a cell to the injustice of slavery. But I guess he was the villain. Still a more interesting performance than the we got from 'generic good dude' T'Challa.

The only thing it's got going for it is Marvel quality effects and a great soundtrack.

 

Quality effects. In Black Panther.

Have you seen the finale? Last time a Marvel movie was this bad, they recast the main role.

 

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

That escalated quickly.

 

All of my yes. This movie is gonna be dumb as fuck and just as fun.

F&F 1: stealin some DVD players

F&F spinoff ~20 years later: The Rock and Jason Statham fight an evil cyborg

 

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw 2 ---- Synopsis:

 

I'll definitely be seeing Hobbs and Shaw, especially because Idris Elba is a BAMF, but that trailer was one of the worst I've ever seen.

They have a literal movie trailer voice guy (around 0:35s) talking about the set up of the movie, and who Hobbs and Shaw are, but it turns out that that guy isn't just a trailer voice--HE'S ACTUALLY IN THE MOVIE. What the fuck?

"Luke Hobbs. Career Law Man. Always gets his guy"

"Deckard Shaw. Rogue former MI6 agent. Doesn't play well with others"

That's just fucking dumb shit dialog.

Also the song sucks.

 

@wox2d I thought the song choice was great. It's F&F, I'm glad to see they continue to embrace the cheeze. Why can't Hobbs and Shaw be friends?

 

The transition from "Why Can't We Be Friends? into dark, edgy stock trailer music was lame.
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When did I ever say that people disliked Captain Marvel because they were sexist?

The "she doesn't smile" thing is real, as well as people disliking Brie Larson because of her politics outside the film. I'm not saying that all criticism is coming from that perspective, only that some of it is.

 

Just got back from Alita.

Mixed feelings, really. It was nice, visually, and the background music was pretty good.

But I wasn't expecting "coming of age as a robogirl: the movie". The 'romance' was rushed, with a character who's only real redeeming features were his skill at murderball and how pretty he is. In fact, everything felt rushed - the first half of the film takes place over a week or so, and I didn't imagine the rest of it generally took much longer.

Also, it felt like the first two or three arcs were crammed into the first film (and make no mistake, this was set up with sequels in mind).

Worth watching on TV, and maybe worth the price of a cinema ticket, but probably not one of the best films I'll see this year.