The Marvel Thread (Spoilers, and language!)

Michael Giacchino was fantastic on Doctor Strange.

I saw it in IMAX regular, I would see it in 3D in a heartbeat.
 
I wish we had IMAX regular out here. Unless it's a special release, they're all 3D or nothing.

3D was fine, better than Age of Ultron but still would've preferred it without the 3D.

The movie itself was great. Way better than Civil War and definitely one of the best and most unique Marvel movies. Anyone who thinks Marvel regurgitates the same film over and over again needs to see it. Visuals were incredible. Loved all the action scenes.

Only negative I can really think of is the villain. Marvel doesn't do villains well generally and this movie was no exception.

Dormammu on the other hand was awesome. Loved that scene with the time loop. I like where they're going with Mordo too, that'll be interesting.

I didn't think the soundtrack was amazing or anything but it was definitely better than what you usually get with these movies. I especially liked the harpsichord stuff.
 
Saw Dr. Strange in 3D today (and yes the 3D was great).

Pros:
1. Benedict is perfect for the role. Looking forward to seeing him interact with other well-established Marvel characters in future films.
2. His origin story is ripped straight from the original Lee/Ditko story. (as the trailer shows) his costume even evolves from how he first appeared in the comics (dark costume) to the more complicated one with the Cloak of Levitation he is better known for.
3. yes the soundtrack is killer.
4. Special effects I was worried about after seeing the trailer because I thought they were a straight rip off from Inception, but they were used well and effectively.

Cons:
1. Nothing else about the movie is like the comic:
a. Ancient One changed from a man to a woman.
b. Mordo changed from white European man to a black man.
c. Instead of using Clea (Dr. Strange's lover/apprentice in the comics), we are introduced to a minor character known in comics in the 50's as Night Nurse who HAPPENS to look like Clea.
d. Introducing a new villain who never appeared in the comics name Kaecilius instead of using one of the many well-established villains Dr. Strange already has.
 
Colours and genders of characters are often irrelevant to the character, unless that identity is tantamount to the core of the character. The Ancient One could be almost anyone based on the character's personality.

I liked the Night Nurse story. It was nice that they had characters who didn't do it.

And Kaecilius was in Strange Tales #1, dude.
 
Looks to me like Marvel is grooming Benedict to have the torch passed to him from Robert. Every Marvel film that made over a billion had Robert in it, but he is not immortal (age 51 and getting older), while Benedict is over a decade younger. Both characters were rich and self-centered before they became heroes and both actors are excellent at bringing humor to their roles that the audience likes.

I was hoping to see the Mindless Ones in the film, but I read online that the darkening of the eyes once a sorcerer decides to follow
Dormammu
, is inspired by the physical appearance of the Mindless Ones in the comics. Not the same thing to me. Would have been cool to see the Mindless Ones on screen (even though the power of the Mindless Ones is identical to Cyclops).
 
Few days ago I watched X-men: Apocalypse again (I watched it in theatres mid-May). Eh...

Somebody here said there is 3rd category of the movies (first two being good movies and bad movies) and the 3rd one is: forgetable movies. I think this is the worst thing that can happen to a movie. I mean - if it's bad you'll at least remember why it's bad so you'll have some kind of recolection/memory of the movie. When I was watching X-men Apocalypse there were several times when I thought: This happened? He's also here? I don't remember that... - and I watched it less than 5 months ago.

So with this in mind, I would like to rant about a X-men movies (no Wolverine movies included).

When first X-men came out (2000) it was a typical superhero movie in positive way. I had good opinion about it but I wasn't overwhelmed. When they announced sequel, folowing the typical "sequel-can't-be-better-than-original" formula, I thought it can only be worse. And I was wrong.

X2 (2003) blew my mind, especially Nightcrawler and fight scenes. So I was eager to see what third part of instalment would bring. And I regret that. X-men: Last Stand (2006) was a typical superhero movie in a bad way. Too pompous, too melanchonic, too cringeworthy, too predictable. At this point I lost interest at X-men. And then they announced prequel with the new cast.

"Why would they try to milk this of (X-men) with new cast when they blew it with stellar cast like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen? And I was wrong again. X-men: First Class (2011) was great and Fassbender as Magneto ruled (at that point I already liked him in Inglourious Basterds and with this movie my admiration only grew). OK, they revived the series and they could really make it work if they continue like this. But then they announced new one with both new and old cast.

"Why would they bring the old cast if they established good foundations with this new one? I hope old cast won't have a big say in this one, I would like to see more of this new cast". Wrong again. X-men: Days of Future Past (2014) was a time-travel movie and I was way overcritical since they had HUGE time-travel mistakes from the first minute of the movie. But at least old cast did their job perfectly (the same thing can't be said for the new cast). After watching it twice I concluded that they really bended backwards to erase everything that they've messed up in X-men: Last Stand (2006) so I thought: "OK, they're preparing the plot for this new cast, which means next one is going to be something special". Aaaand... Wrong again.

X-men: Apocalypse (2016) is everything but special. Jennifer Lawrence doesn't care at all anymore about her role, Xavier became comic relief, Magneto one-dimensional criminal, plot became predictable, atmosphere is gimmicky and overall the whole thing became: forgetable.

So I've come to conclusion that since 2000 X-men movies were opposite of everything I expected. If I thought it would be bad - it was good and vice verse. But with this last one falling into 3rd categories of the movies, I've lost any expectation about next instalment. Shame.
 
My previous post about X-men was longer than I expected so I'm going to say something about Doctor Strange (which I saw last night) in this one:
I have no idea what I saw last night.

I also had no idea who Dr. Strange is before I saw the movie and had no expectations. Now I have no concrete opinion. I'm utterly confused about the whole thing. And the pacing of the movie certainly didn't help. If I remember correctly, mid-movie he wants to send e-mail, changes his mind, goes to look at that book and then whole shit-storm begane which lasted until the end. I'm going to watch it again, but I have a felling that this one was big bite for Marvel and they didn't chew it enough properly. 3D in my theater was OK (which is a miracle BTW), but the whole CGI world scenes was too much to grasp (I was looking forward to those when I saw them in trailer).
 
Spambot said:
Few days ago I watched X-men: Apocalypse again (I watched it in theatres mid-May). Eh...

Somebody here said there is 3rd category of the movies (first two being good movies and bad movies) and the 3rd one is: forgetable movies. I think this is the worst thing that can happen to a movie. I mean - if it's bad you'll at least remember why it's bad so you'll have some kind of recolection/memory of the movie. When I was watching X-men Apocalypse there were several times when I thought: This happened? He's also here? I don't remember that... - and I watched it less than 5 months ago.

So with this in mind, I would like to rant about a X-men movies (no Wolverine movies included).

When first X-men came out (2000) it was a typical superhero movie in positive way. I had good opinion about it but I wasn't overwhelmed. When they announced sequel, folowing the typical "sequel-can't-be-better-than-original" formula, I thought it can only be worse. And I was wrong.

X2 (2003) blew my mind, especially Nightcrawler and fight scenes. So I was eager to see what third part of instalment would bring. And I regret that. X-men: Last Stand (2006) was a typical superhero movie in a bad way. Too pompous, too melanchonic, too cringeworthy, too predictable. At this point I lost interest at X-men. And then they announced prequel with the new cast.

"Why would they try to milk this of (X-men) with new cast when they blew it with stellar cast like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen? And I was wrong again. X-men: First Class (2011) was great and Fassbender as Magneto ruled (at that point I already liked him in Inglourious Basterds and with this movie my admiration only grew). OK, they revived the series and they could really make it work if they continue like this. But then they announced new one with both new and old cast.

"Why would they bring the old cast if they established good foundations with this new one? I hope old cast won't have a big say in this one, I would like to see more of this new cast". Wrong again. X-men: Days of Future Past (2014) was a time-travel movie and I was way overcritical since they had HUGE time-travel mistakes from the first minute of the movie. But at least old cast did their job perfectly (the same thing can't be said for the new cast). After watching it twice I concluded that they really bended backwards to erase everything that they've messed up in X-men: Last Stand (2006) so I thought: "OK, they're preparing the plot for this new cast, which means next one is going to be something special". Aaaand... Wrong again.

X-men: Apocalypse (2016) is everything but special. Jennifer Lawrence doesn't care at all anymore about her role, Xavier became comic relief, Magneto one-dimensional criminal, plot became predictable, atmosphere is gimmicky and overall the whole thing became: forgetable.

So I've come to conclusion that since 2000 X-men movies were opposite of everything I expected. If I thought it would be bad - it was good and vice verse. But with this last one falling into 3rd categories of the movies, I've lost any expectation about next instalment. Shame.
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I pretty much agree with your take on all the X-men films you mentioned except when i saw Apocalypse the 2nd time the footage i forgot about made me enjoy it more, not less. The very end especially
when we finally see the danger room on screen (don't remember that in previous films). Also Cyclops finally gets his visor, Storm is with the X-men, and (finally) Professor X is bald! It is a good place to start for a soft reboot to erase the events in the previously mentioned horror that was the Last Stand.
 
Any LEGO fans out there?

MfnvfesuV2hkM7CZeic0_4Se1STA5OfsQDVilg9-wPmr-iqeqPujJyTXcCHya8IhrcxZVyXa4CPPf7-L3LXWOceQ4IuD7UbVrDVzhrXjh2UUWqZ1wmIk7uZ-nImD_OUBwdK1ATE8C6S4qUUyE70uT7_QnbMz5ZCJ-jDdhSfl-OvaJgibtloJ9d41VXM9mht0E_CEURrnqquZjMFNTCvCm2yvSwNK54GV4-5QV39DVWIVrF0G_4W2bKvV04JxW_PvYt_HnAFUdkFHVe5Z4c1gEy7k6rCMMZ_GeqLliWQpI1AyCdvjyMzh8mHsA6T4JN1JZxfgnoDd-N-IXaIP-K1VUOFj8CstdtnnBavlUtZo0XHfQVXtDa7C0XbqQ36ON-eZNDRR2e4p66hMf19F_XFzQfNO4f0Ea5Ivp_GlyGBuhSqaE2-UkXenhGa_K88Hy_IqY1FEWF1SylW78Bo4pwbJDOLdDB1VaBFxwtZvVQSxgYDN9qtLl486mNsZrw_fitKIdL5enm9Qw4PN-1AgZmhz_pU3FuEg26K2qa3KFf1DJ_ZCnCN7OuMhYsxZHoFGPl7D9eR4tAvznUAet9zwFkdu76NvcdpJdcbhTgEIpzu3Jfd4DYrv=w946-h710-no
 
So I was re-watchting Avengers AOU this morning and noticed what it has in common with BvS: DOJ...they both have main characters experiencing vivid "dreams" which are actually forshadowing one of the sequels:

1. Thor's dream is a vision of all the Infinity Stones coming together in Avengers Infinity War
2. Bruce's dream is a vision of two storylines converging: 1. Darkseid's conquest of Earth & 2. Superman taking over the world in Injustice: Gods Among Us. I predict we will see at least one of these happen in JL II
 
So we know that in Thor: Ragnarok we will be also seeing the Hulk, Dr. Strange, and the premiere of the Valkyrie. As a big fan of the Defenders from back in the 70s, this is exciting. Marvel has made clear for now the only Defenders we will see are the street level version on Netflix, but these three characters on screen in one film is pretty close. Problem is, they probably won't share screen time...
 
So if someone new to the Marvel films were to watch them, would you recommend they watch them in the order they released (IM, IH, IM2, Thor, CA: TFA, The Avengers), or in the order they take place (CA: TFA, Peggy Carter Seasons 1 & 2, first few minutes of Ant-Man, IM, IM2, IH, Thor, The Avengers)? (Yes I know the intro to CA: Civil War takes place in between the intro of Ant-Man and IM, but watching the intro to CA: CW before seeing CA: Winter Soldier would give away who the Winter Solder is)
 
Spider-Man 2 - hell no.
TDKR - one of those movies that seem incredible at first, until you go home and read some reviews that point out major flaws.
Superman - you can't be serious.

Even as a massive MCU fanboy I can easily say none of their movies are best picture material. Only superhero movie I can think of that could've won is The Dark Knight and even then it's because it's far from a usual superhero movie.
 
Agreed. TDK is the only superhero movie that has come close to being Oscar worthy and that is mostly because it breaks out of the typical superhero movie format. Spider-Man 2 seriously? Also Winter Soldier is my 2nd favorite MCU movie and even I think the hype on it is really overblown. It's still just another marvel movie.

Dark Knight Rises is one I like less every time I see it. Really unfortunate because I loved it when I saw it the first time, but each subsequent viewing has revealed flaws. It is now easily my least favorite of the 3.
 
Main problem for MCU movies is that most of them require you to have seen earlier movies and I think that'd be a problem for major awards. GOTG is standalone though, but while it's an awesome movie, it doesn't have a standout acting performance. RDJ in Civil War was probably best MCU performance acting-wise.

Mosh said:
Dark Knight Rises is one I like less every time I see it. Really unfortunate because I loved it when I saw it the first time, but each subsequent viewing has revealed flaws. It is now easily my least favorite of the 3.
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Same.
 
If anything, they could give a best picture award to Infinity War 2 (or whichever movie ends the main Thanos storyline) as a symbolic gesture for the revolutionary cinematic universe concept. Kinda like how they gave all the awards to Return of the King but it was really for the whole LOTR trilogy.
 
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