JeNeSaisQuoi
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Posts
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Quote:I feel your pain. I'm down to maybe two DC titles since thier reboot and only a handful of Marvel titles. And with them rebooting, I may drop a few more.Originally Posted by VoodooCompany
I quit my obsession with collecting a long time ago........BECAUSE OF CRAZY, RANDOM, NONSENSICAL changes.
I'm pretty sure continuing that trend isn't going to get me to ever get back into the new stuff.
Have they ever tried a "classic" approach to a series? Can be modern times, but with the classic look and classic story telling?
Luckily, there is an answer other than just forever giving up on comics.
The simplest solution to this is to not read Marvel or DC comics.
The Walking Dead, Invincible, The Boys, Saga, Criminal, Witch Doctor...all great comics, none of them by Marvel or DC. And as far as know, none of them have done anything silly or gimicky. -
Quote:Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
This statement suggests you aren't familiar with, or don't understand, Whedon's other work.
He is known for morally complex characters, not simple good vs evil.
He is also known for playing with audience expectations, not predictability.
(This is Whedon's mistake - he treats his audience like intelligent people, when clearly, most of them aren't)
You are falling into a common trap, of confusing seriousness for quality.
I'm pretty familar with Whedon's work and I enjoy it. I actually kind of came in through the back door in regards to his material though as I started by reading the comics he had written and went from there. I don't think he's terrible--I don't want anyone to think that. I just think Nolan is so much better at filmmaking in every arena. -
Quote:I would maybe go with a trashbin rather than a bucket as you'll be vomiting alot.Originally Posted by Magus_Prime
I'm going to start keeping a vomit bag near my desk if you keep saying things like that.
I'm sorry, I like Joss Whedon and he made a fun Avengers film but I don't and can't ever understand how anyone would think that Whedon is even in the same class as Nolan as either a writer or director. I can understand preferring what Whedon does over what Nolan does--that I get. I don't agree with it, but I get it.
However, any first year film student will tell you that Nolan is a better technical director. That's really not up for debate. It's not a matter of opinion, Nolan is simply more skilled at shooting and editing a film. Period.
And in the realm of writing...that's a matter of personal taste. Maybe you prefer a good old fashioned tale of Good Vs. Evil that's alot of fun to watch. I like that sort of thing myself. But what I like even more is a movie whose outcome I can't predict. A movie that I might have to think about a bit before making up my mind. I like a complex film that my friends and I can watch over and over and discuss years after the movie was made.
And yeah, you can do that with the Avengers in the sense that everyone will sit around and talk about how awesome this scene or that scene was and that's good fun. But I remember after Inception came out and the thread in these very forums. I remember how people debated what they thought happened in the movie and what the ending meant to them, personally. And that's a harder thing to do than to write a fun action film. Not that writing a *good* action film is easy but making a movie that people see again and again and all have different opinions about? That's a rare thing.
So yeah, get out the vomit bucket because until Joss' output becomes a bit more even, I'm not even putting him the same league as Nolan. -
Actually, adjusted for inflation, The Dark Knight is still ahead of The Avengers. I think the Avengers will surpass it, but not by much. Essentially though, as of right now, more people went to see The Dark Knight than have seen The Avengers.
I do believe that The Dark Knight Rises will sell more tickets than The Avengers. I don't think it will be by a massive margin, but I think it will end up making more money. It doesn't matter either way, really--it's not as if how much money a film makes determines it's worth and they're both great films, but just for speculation's sake I'm gonna say that the Dark Knight Rises ends up selling more tickets.
And as for me personally, I think The Dark Knight Rises will end up being an infinitely better film than The Avengers. The Avengers was alot of fun, but God, some of the dialogue was painfully stupid. Nolan, in my opinion is just a much better writer/director than Joss Whedon.
We'll find out in a little over a month I guess. -
Saw it this morning...
Let me preface this by first saying that I did think it was really good.
However.
Alot of the dialogue--okay, not alot, but some of the dialogue--was pretty terrible. Particularly Stark's dialogue. Alot of what he said that was meant to be funny just made me groan. It's doubly worse because Tony is supposed to have the coolest dialogue of all the characters. It seems that because he was funny in the first Iron Man, that they've struggled to make him funny in Iron Man 2 and in The Avengers without realizing what made him funny in the first film. It's like they just sucked all the charm out of his lines.
That's not to say that all of his lines were bad--I'd say that about 3/4 of his dialogue was decent or even great but some it...yeesh.
That's about the only complaint I have about the film. I thought they all got to shine although if I had to pick a single stand out performance I'd go with Loki. Seems like he had more screen time than any other character and every second he was on screen he was utterly cool. I would have liked more time spent on Hawkeye, but that's just a personal preference for the character and Jeremy Renner in general.
But yeah, it was great in general. Lots of fun to watch. -
I actually think The Avengers will have a disapointing box office draw. Marvel has had very little in the way of failure at the box office but out of the Avengers cast', only Iron Man has been a massive success. The others did well, but they weren't huge money makers in the same way that Spider-Man or Iron Man were.
I also think that what makes The Avengers so appealing to comics fans is exactly what's going to drive mainstream audiences away. And while I was jazzed that Joss Whedon was selected to direct the film, I think he's exactly the wrong director for the film if they were looking to make the most money making film possible. It'll please fans, but not the general audience.
And on a personal level, the more I see of The Avengers, the less I want to see it. I'm still excited, but not nearly as much as I was initially. I think it will be good, but the dialogue is looking cornier and more hokey with each new clip. That, and I'm getting a Transformers feel from some of the action scenes, which is pretty terrible.
Still, I'm jazzed about seeing it, and only time will tell as to how good it is and how successful it is, but I won't be seeing it opening night. -
I've read both Battle Royale and The Hunger Games as well as having seen thier film counterparts so I'll throw my two cents in about each.
I've been a big fan of the Battle Royale novel since it was released in the states back around 2001 or so. I've probably read it six or seven times. So, when I read The Hunger Games, I saw some similarities.
I'd say, personally, that I prefer Battle Royale over the first Hunger Games Novel, although if I had to pit Battle Royale against the entire series, I would choose the Hunger Games. I think that while The Hunger Games is over all better written than Battle Royale, (although to be fair, I'm not sure how much of the writer's style and technique was lost in the translation from Japanese to English) Battle Royale explores at least somewhat, the lives of each of the 48 teenagers. There is a focus on a particular few, but every character has a story in that book, where as in Hunger Games most of the contestants die without you ever really knowing anything about them.
However, the larger story of the Hunger Games trilogy is in my opinion much more interesting than either its' or Battle Royale's beginings. I won't go into any detail here though just to avoid spoiling it for anyone planning on reading the books.
As for the films...that's tough as I've only seen The Hunger Games once. As far as your personal preference...well, if you like alot of over the top violence, then Battle Royale is for you and if you want more drama and a bit of romance, then you should go with the Hunger Games.
I think that if I had to make a decision right now...The Hunger Games is probably the better film. Because it's more intimate, you get Jennifer Lawrence's wonderful dramatic performances, while in Battle Royale...well, there's mainly alot of screaming and fighting.
I'll have to see The Hunger Games again though to make a firm decision. -
Quote:Yeah, I'm especially doubtful considering what huge critical and commercial flops his last two films have been...Originally Posted by Tenzhi
Nolan's sense of aesthetic has a way of inspiring anti-confidence.
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I'm really jazzed about this film--it's just filled with brilliant actors. Sadly, it's gotten a limited release and isn't playing anywhere near me. Hopefully, it'll get a wider release soon.
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Wow, this looks repugnant. I usually like my comedy films to be, you know, funny, but all this trailer did was make me feel a bit like throwing up.
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All Defender Statesman Task Force tonight (Monday Sept. 5th) at 7pm Central time.
There are two of us for sure, so far and we're probably going to run it at +1 to make it slightly more interesting, maybe +2 if everyone feels up to it.
*Edit: Team is full now. Wish us luck!
The team thus far is:
1.) Alice Noir: Radiation/Sonic
2.) Scoperta: Dark/Radiation
3.) Tang: Kin/Radiation
4.) Jray: Kin/
5.) Nezz: Dark/Dark
6.) Sithra Moonshade:
7.) Jasyn: Cold/Ice
8.) Casa/Forcefield/Radiation
Please send me a message here by responding to this thread or by private message to join us! Or reach me in-game at @JeNeSaisQuoi
Hope to see you there! -
Went to see it yesterday. We talked it over after about 45 minutes and decided to leave and get our money back, if that tells you what I thought about it.
The movie was all over the place.
The bits that were supposed to be funny were in fact, painfully unfunny.
I cringed every time Black Lively was on screen.
I could go on, but long story short, I thought it was unwatchable. -
Quote:Yeah, I can't understand why film makers would want to change anything about Marvel continuity. I mean, what's hard to understand about the Summers' family history? It's pretty simple: The Summers family is attacked on a plane trip and Scott and Alex are pushed from the plane but thier parents are captured and their mother killed but not before her unborn child is taken from her womb so that there are now three brothers, but the first two don't know about the third one and when Scott grows up he falls in love with Jean Grey but she dies and then he later falls in love with her clone who turns evil during a demonic invasion and he then later has to send his son into the future and at one point he and Jean are traveling in the past because she's alive again and they save Scott's ancestor that changes his last name to Summers and later they meet Cable who is thier son from the future oh, and I forgot that they also at some point meet Rachel who is Scott and Jean's daughter from an alternate future.Originally Posted by redtornado
Very, very easy to understand Marvel continuity.
That about sums it up and it's not confusing at all. I can't for the life of me wonder how some film maker would have the gumption to change the continuity when it all makes perfect sense and isn't silly at all.
I can write out Spider-Man's history if anyone would like, but then what would be the point? We all know it's simple to understand and not confusing at all. -
Quote:He doesn't have any real control over his powers at that point. The guards only die because they happen to be wearing metal helmets. I'm assuming that Shaw, having a basic understanding of what Eric's powers were was smart enough not wear too much in the way of metal.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Simple answer. When Charles and Magneto were questioning her Magneto cracked her diamond form which not only protected her body but was her defense against telepathy. So she was probably waiting patiently for that to heal. Breaking out before then would have her on the run from the very mutants that caused that injury and could take advantage of her telepathic weakness.
The only thing that realy bugged me in the movie was when Shaw killed Magnetos mother and the kid kills everyone in the room except Shaw. He doesn't even try. -
Quote:So...all the good reviews of this film have all been about how the film isn't really very good?Originally Posted by Durakken
because even though reviews are generally positive all of them pretty much say the same thing. It's a confused vibe movie that doesn't stand out but doesn't suck either.
I'm not sure how that even makes sense.
I loved the film. I'd rank it around fourth as far as my favorite superhero films go. In my first post on this thread I surmised that it wouldn't be a big success, although it did better than I thought it would. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I'm thinking that it didn't do astronomically well because the film stands out too much from he other X movies. If they had just remade the first film nearly scene for scene, it probably would have done alot better. That worked for the Hangover, apparently, which has gotten almost nothing but negative reviews but has pulled in stupid amounts of money. -
Browsing the reviews on rottentomatoes.com it looks as if the new X-Men film is pretty darn good, according to critics. It's sitting at 97% currently, although that may drop once the film actually releases and more people see it. There has been much doomcrying amongst fans and the promotional campaign has been lackluster to say the least and yet I'm not surprised that the movie seems like it'll be a good one.
I've been looking forward to this film ever since I heard Matthew Vaughn was directing. He's three for three with me as far as making great films goes, so I was pretty confident he'd nail this one as well. That, and finding out that James Macavoy was playing the Professor really sold me on this. As far as the continuity goes, I'm not one of those nerds that gets all butthurt because the film makers drastically change things up.( I am a nerd though, don't get me wrong--just not one of the ones that hates for anything to ever be different from the comics I grew up reading) If the film is good, I'll accept it as being an alternate dimension story and enjoy it.
Anyhow, I'll be seeing it Thursday night at midnight and I'm hoping the film can live up to the positive reviews so far. However, I'm also thinking that it'll die at the box office which I think will be a shame (Scott Pilgrim is one of my favorite movies ever and it had almost universally glowing reviews and it died horribly at the box office). This is just me though. I understand and respect that many people are still thinking the film will be awful despite the reviews. I'm not even really one to trust reviews but so much, but I was already hoping and thinking it would be good so this is only raising my excitement level.
We'll see once it opens, I guess. -
Quote:Right, yes. I own the Hidden Fortress and I still got it wrong, my bad. Anyone that likes Star Wars should watch it sometime. Hell, anyone that likes great films should watch it.Originally Posted by Tenzhi
You mean The Hidden Fortress?
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Quote:Actually, it was a shot at the fact that Lucas has gone back and done enough damage to the original films that they are now unwatchable, and will remain that way forever, as he has no plans to ever re-release the movies as they were originally filmed.Originally Posted by Scythus
If that's a shot at the prequels, then frankly you can't really give them credit as each film, like any other film, must be judged separately and they didn't exist way back when, well, Star Wars came out.
So no. They were not right.
Also, while the original Star Wars was groundbreaking special effects wise, that's really all it had going for it. It was fun to watch, and Han Solo and Obi Wan were cool, but it was essentially just a space opera remake of The Hidden Castle. Lucas has admitted as much. -
Quote:In hindsight, it turns out the critics were right about Star Wars...Originally Posted by Scythus
I never really listen that much to critics anyway. They are almost always wrong. Anyone remember Star Wars' critical reception? Case. In. Point.
And thanks Ironik, for your post. You said everything I wanted to say, but saved me the trouble of having to say it and you probably said it better than I would have, anyway.
Anyhow.
I have not seen Sucker Punch, and pretty much despising Zack "Slow Motion" Snyder, I never plan to see it. A couple friends of mine stopped by yesterday because they were at the theatre we like to go to and it's about four minutes from my place. Apparently, they made it about 45 minutes into the film before walking out to get thier money back. According to one of them, it was " even worse than The Spirit."
So, yeah. Haven't seen it, so I can't say from experience, but I've not been hearing good things, personally. Although, to be fair, if you ignore critics entirely and just read the reviews on Rottentomatoes from general movie goers, the response seems to be pretty heavily split down the middle. And I mean, drastically. Seems like people either thought it was amazing or the sort of garbage that leaves you dumber for having seen it. -
Quote:You know, one of the bugs in Alan Moore's beard dies every time someone says this...Originally Posted by Starflier
Watchmen (movie) was better than Watchmen (graphic novel).
Yeah, I said it.
Because it's true.
Hopefully I'll be seeing this Sunday afternoon. -
Personally, I don't understand all the hullabaloo about the differences in continuity. I think of pretty much any comic book film as being an Elseworlds type of story. In fact, I derive alot of my enjoyment of comic book films by comparing the filmed and comic book versions.
I'm really looking forward to this. Far more than I am Captain America or particularly, Green Lantern. Matthew Vaughn has made three films, and I dig all three of them, so I was sold on this as soon as I heard he'd be directing it. I also have really dug James Macavoy in the two films I've seen him in (Last King of Scotland and Atonement), so yeah, I'm looking forward to this one. Almost more than any other comic book film coming out. Almost--not more than The Dark Knight Rises. -
Quote:I almost don't even care who Wright casts in Ant-Man. I just want to see it happen. Of course, if Edgar Wright were directing a Twilight film, I'd go see it. That's how much faith I have in him. Personally though, as far as casting the Ant-Man film goes, I think it's really going to depend on which Ant-Man he'll be using. I'm really hoping for Eric O' Grady played by Simon Pegg, which I think is a distinct possibility considering how much Wright and Pegg enjoy working together.Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
It's surprising this hasn't been pointed out before, but the BBC notes that we've hit the trifecta of British actors playing A-list American superheroes: Henry Cavill's casting as Superman adds to Andrew Garfield's as Spider-Man and Christian Bale's as Batman. Similarly, X-Men: First Class is stocked with British actors, including James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Jason Flemyng.
We can also look forward to more British directors for superhero movies - Kenneth Branagh for Thor, Christopher Nolan for Batman, Matthew Vaughn for X-Men: First Class and Kick-*** 2 - along with Antipodeans in similar roles - Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and Karl Urban as Judge Dredd.
Anyone want to lay odds that Edgar Wright (English) will cast an American when he finally makes Ant-Man? -
Alright, I know we've all been asked not to do this, but I have to say what's in my heart--I can't help.
I hate the Academy Awards. I have some reasons for this that sound pretty good on paper, but the reality is that...they hardly ever pick my choices.
That being said, I'm utterly fascinated with them.
I never watch the awards, but I enjoy discussing the merits of the nominees with my friends and I root for certain people to win and I can't wait to find out after they're over who won and I'm offended when my picks don't win.
I don't want to care about the awards, but I totally do. I can't help it.
And seeing as how I've gone this far, I'll throw in my two cents.
Best Picture: Should be: Inception
Will be: The Social Network
Best Director: Should be: Christopher Nolan (I know he's not nominated)
Will Be: David Fincher
Don't get me wrong, I dig Fincher's work and I think Aronofsky is a genius and the Coens, I mean, even my least favorite of thier films I've seen more than once, but the only other director out there right now that can come anywhere near to what Nolan's doing is Danny Boyle, and he's not nominated either. This is another reason I hate the Academy Awards: I don't understand their reasoning behind alot of the choices they make. Sometimes I do understand and just don't agree, but in this case...I just don't get it.
Best Actor: Should be: James Franco
Will be: Colin Firth
Although there are actually alot of great contenders for this one and God knows Colin Firth's performance is amazing, but I still personally prefer Franco.
Best Actress: Should be: Natalie Portman
Will be: Natalie Portman
She hasn't done anything worthwhile with her career since The Professional...until Black Swan. She's easily the best nominee.
Best Supporting Actor:Should be: Christian Bale
Will be: Geoffrey Rush
Rush is great, don't get me wrong, but wow...I actually think Bale started smoking crack in real life for The Fighter. He's unreal.
Best Supporting Actress: Should be:Hailee Steinfeld
Will Be: I'm gonna say she has a shot at it. So, yeah, Hailee Steinfeld.
Like most people, I don't too care much about the rest of the catagories, although I will say that it's a shame that they disqualified Clint Mansell's score for Black Swan. Hans Zimmer should still win for Inception, but I'd have liked Mansell to have been nominated for Black Swan as I've been a fan of his for years.
Okay, I'm done. -
Quote:I agree with this but...on the other hand, I like Matthew Vaughn as a filmmaker. I'm basically--like I do with pretty much all superhero films--thinking of this as an alternate dimension, "Elseworlds" type of story.Originally Posted by Eisenzahn
Scott Summers is the first X-Man. He should not be some worthless chump who gets killed off-camera and never mentioned again, and then casually written out of his own origin story in the next film.
I plan on seeing this in the theatre, but I could really see it going either way as to whether or not it'll be any good. -
I'm more jazzed than ever about this film after seeing the new suit. I think I'm looking forward to this more than I ever did any of the previous Spider-Man films. Judging from the one film I've seen of his, Marc Webb is a pretty good director and Andrew Garfield is, other than Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the best young actor out there right now.
Now, hopefully the story will be good...