Movie review rant 2019

I would like an explanation on the "too blatant catering to the current American PC zeitgeist" comment, though, as I have no idea what you're talking about here :p
I already gave an example: the "march of the heroines". Do you think it was by sheer chance that all the female superheroes suddendly lined up and attacked Thanos all at once? Or was it meant to cater to the "girl power" fraction of the audience?
Why did Captain America hand over his shield to Sam Wilson and not to his oldest friend Bucky? Both received the shield at different occasions in the comics (I checked). A few attempts to explain this have been offered online,
but given the slightly overbearing pathos of the handover, I suspect that this is meant as the passing of the torch (or rather, shield) from the "old white man" to the younger African American.
And don't get me started on Brie Larson, who apparently continues to show the "I'm better than all of you" attitude in real life as well. Poor fellow actors. Why Kevin Feige chose her over Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana etc. as the new female face of the MCU, since all of them are apparently better at acting and probably more grounded personalities, is beyond me.
 
In Infinity War, Thor is also flying through ships and destroying them with ease in almost the exact same way Captain Marvel does.
Which makes one wonder why he didn't do this in Endgame? And don't you say: "Because he got fat".
 
I already gave an example: the "march of the heroines". Do you think it was by sheer chance that all the female superheroes suddendly lined up and attacked Thanos all at once? Or was it meant to cater to the "girl power" fraction of the audience?
Why did Captain America hand over his shield to Sam Wilson and not to his oldest friend Bucky? Both received the shield at different occasions in the comics (I checked). A few attempts to explain this have been offered online,
but given the slightly overbearing pathos of the handover, I suspect that this is meant as the passing of the torch (or rather, shield) from the "old white man" to the younger African American.
And don't get me started on Brie Larson, who apparently continues to show the "I'm better than all of you" attitude in real life as well. Poor fellow actors. Why Kevin Feige chose her over Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana etc. as the new female face of the MCU, since all of them are apparently better at acting and probably more grounded personalities, is beyond me.

No that A-Force moment was definitely forced and could have been organized better and more naturally (why is Shuri and Mantis there? What are they going to do?).

Sam Wilson got the shield because it makes no sense for Bucky to get the shield. In the context of the MCU (NOT the comics) Bucky has spent the vast majority of his screen time fighting against other Avengers. He was a Hydra soldier for over 70 years and murdered Tony's parents during that time. He then went up against Cap, Sam, and Nat in Winter Soldier before disappearing for another two years. He was then framed for a bombing, resulting in the death of Black Panther's father and the Avengers becoming split in two. Not even Tony fully forgave Cap for the events of Civil War until 2023. Bucky has repeatedly had problems with brainwashing and literally no one knows him except Cap and now Sam and BP to an extent. None of the Avengers would feel comfortable following him, whereas everyone's known Sam for years and he's never tried to kill them. Plus, as you said, Sam has been given the shield in the comics in the past so has just as much support from outside the MCU to carry it as Bucky does. To be honest I really think you're stretching here saying that old man Rogers giving Sam the shield is to symbolize old white men giving power to young black men...

Still love the CM movie, but yeah her attitude in Endgame and definitely in real life has been annoying me. It's pretty clear that Chris Hemsworth and Don Cheadle really don't like her from interview footage I've seen.

~Thylo
 
Which makes one wonder why he didn't do this in Endgame? And don't you say: "Because he got fat".

But... that's why. He's been completely out of the game for five years, spending every waking moment drunk and lounging around. His weight gain is more of a visual representation of his mental state. He's completely broken down and lost his mojo. Obviously he's going to be depowered when he's such a complete mess, they even set precedent for this in Ragnarok.

~Thylo
 
Sam Wilson got the shield because it makes no sense for Bucky to get the shield. In the context of the MCU (NOT the comics) Bucky has spent the vast majority of his screen time fighting against other Avengers. He was a Hydra soldier for over 70 years and murdered Tony's parents during that time. He then went up against Cap, Sam, and Nat in Winter Soldier before disappearing for another two years. He was then framed for a bombing, resulting in the death of Black Panther's father and the Avengers becoming split in two. Not even Tony fully forgave Cap for the events of Civil War until 2023. Bucky has repeatedly had problems with brainwashing and literally no one knows him except Cap and now Sam and BP to an extent. None of the Avengers would feel comfortable following him, whereas everyone's known Sam for years and he's never tried to kill them. Plus, as you said, Sam has been given the shield in the comics in the past so has just as much support from outside the MCU to carry it as Bucky does.
You just repeated the content of the Looper link I provided.
Given how often this kind of symbolism the MCU and other recent Hollywood productions have shoehorned into recent movies, I'm not so sure whether I'm really stretching it here...
 
When you see her act like this:
and deny the existence of her stunt (and maybe her posterior) double.

How do these contradict my point? These are interviews showing the behavior of Brie Larson (which I agreed with you about in a previous post) and not clips from the movie showing her personality in said movie. Additionally, these don't support the "she's bland" claim.

You just repeated the content of the Looper link I provided.
Given how often this kind of symbolism the MCU and other recent Hollywood productions have shoehorned into recent movies, I'm not so sure whether I'm really stretching it here...

I didn't actually watch the video I'll admit, as I have to head out for the day in a few minutes and was trying to respond before then. But that is the reason, and it makes complete sense. Bucky getting the shield doesn't work in the MCU. And again, as you said, Sam's been given the shield in the comics so...

~Thylo
 
But... that's why. He's been completely out of the game for five years, spending every waking moment drunk and lounging around.
While Captain America suddenly got a body that could physically withstand and go toe to toe with the very same Thanos who beat up an enraged Hulk? Thor might be out of shape, but he still is the God of Thunder - or rather, the Co-God of Thunder, next to Captain America. Sorry, but that's just lazy writing.
 
Both Sam and Bucky got the shield in the comics, despite Bucky having the same kind of history and psychological baggage.

I see nothing endearing or redeeming in the examples of Brie Larson's (bland) acting you've provided.
 
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I think you misunderstood what I was saying in regards to the Captain Marvel thing. I wasn’t saying she was the main character in Endgame, I was saying that the fact that one of the main characters in the future MCU and a character who is the star of her own trilogy of movies being described as good when used “sparingly”, isn’t a good thing. I could’ve worded it better, but I think this makes sense.

As @ThylacineAlive wrote, you take it a little out of context. This wasn't her battle. I think it's debatable whether she actually should have been in Endgame in the first place.

I already gave an example: the "march of the heroines". Do you think it was by sheer chance that all the female superheroes suddendly lined up and attacked Thanos all at once? Or was it meant to cater to the "girl power" fraction of the audience?

I like to see a group of female superheroes beat up a villain as much as the next guy, but that scenes was way too forced. Even the one in Infinity War was better.
 
Nick Fury losing his eye to a cat. Ruined a defining feature of one of the best characters in the MCU for a cheap joke. Awful.

4. Agree. Just terrible. @TeaLovingDave disagrees, but he can expand on that if he wants.

To summarise, I think it works quite well for the character (who doesn't talk about his past and encourages a reputation of being a memetic badass) to lose his eye due to a prosaic moment of incaution, and imply from that day forward that the cause was much more impressive and fitting his reputation.

I thought this already, but since I initially discussed it with Thylo and others, I have learned it actually fits the comic book Fury too; the backstory has changed through the decades, but originally he lost the eye when he got too close to his own grenade blast, got shrapnel in the eye and refused an operation which would have prevented lasting damage because he didn't think it was necessary.
 
  1. I would agree that Captain Marvel And Thor are at about the same power level, but there’s a difference between them; Thor earnshis power while Captain Marvel does not. Is Thor strong at the beginning of his first movie? Yes, but he isn’t nearly as powerful as he is by the end of Infinity War (he can barely defeat that Metal Giant thing for goodness sake). It takes Thor 3 full movies, plus 2 Avengers movies, plus a solid half of Infinity War to get to that insane power level, but Captain Marvel on the other hand? Half a movie, and it would’ve been sooner if she’d known how powerful she is. And yes she trained with her powers for 6 years, but they were severely limited by the Kree, so all her training doesn’t really help her, it’s not as if they told her how to fly to spaceships, and that’s not the kind of thing one just learns right away. It’s like the movie said “yep she’s the most powerful being in the universe, just accept it, she doesn’t need to learn how to harness or fully utilize her powers, she’s a natural!”
  2. Im surprised you found the laboratory fight scene easy to follow it was jerkily-cut and way too dark imo. Regarding the clamps, I found it hilarious how she broke out of the clamps that stopped her powers by... using her powers really hard. Funniest part of a terribly dull movie. And I wouldn’t say she fought Ronan’s ships, it was more like she flew through them in 2 seconds and then he retreated. And I’m fine with the Jude Law thing at the end, ifthere’s another big action fight, because there really wasn’t one at the end of the movie. I get what the director was going for, but it makes for a boring ending without a big battle.
  3. I don’t really have a problem with the Kree empire as a villain, I actually think that could make for an interesting movie, but my main problem with the villains in Captain Marvel is that they don’t stand a chance against Captain Marvel. Ronan is afraid of her, Jude Law is obviously not strong enough, and neither are the rest of his team. Say what you want about the other MCU villains (even the terrible ones like Malekith), but at least they stood a chance against the hero. Look at Thor in Thor:Ragnarok, he’s obviously extremely powerful, but so is Hella, and while Thor obviously wins, he takes a beating and even loses an eye. Did Captain Marvel even break a sweat beating the bad guys? In every other MCU movie, the fight with the villain used all the heroes energy, and I didn’t see that in Captain Marvel. Weak villains are boring, and Captain Marvel has the weakest villains in the MCU (and I didn’t like Thanos in GOTG by the way)
  4. Glad we agree on this, it was a terrible decision.
  5. Fun and engaging? Captain Marvel was a robot, although that’s a little harsh to say as every robot in the MCU has 10x more charisma than her. I remember watching a Captain Marvel review on YouTube where the guy called her “plank” for the entire video, and I’d have to agree with that, she has the same personality as a cardboard box. Granted her lines were terrible but yeeesh, this was a bad acting performance and definitely not something I want to see from the future of the MCU.
 
(...)she doesn’t need to learn how to harness or fully utilize her powers, she’s a natural!
That's the very same issue that has been animadverted in regard to the character of Rey in the new SW movies as making her a "Mary Sue". I don't know whether there is indeed a political / social engineering motive for this tendency in regard to female leads in modern films or whether this can be attributed to lazy writing and catering to the previously mentioned "girl power" fraction of the audience. For me, it makes the struggle of the other characters, male or female, to improve themselves more likeable in comparison.
 
While Captain America suddenly got a body that could physically withstand and go toe to toe with the very same Thanos who beat up an enraged Hulk? Thor might be out of shape, but he still is the God of Thunder - or rather, the Co-God of Thunder, next to Captain America. Sorry, but that's just lazy writing.

Umm... Cap got his ass handed to him by Thanos. It wasn't until Cap had Molijnir that he was able to go toe to toe with Thanos for a bit, and even then he got his ass handed to him again. It's not lazy writing, it's reality. It doesn't matter how strong you once were, if you sit on your couch playing videogames, eating pizza, and drinking all day every day for five years you're going to be off your game in your very first fight back. Meanwhile, Cap has done nothing but train and fight every day since he woke up out of the ice. And yeah, Thor still is the God of Thunder, that's why he's able to do as well as he did (which was a lot better than Cap did without Molijnir).

Both Sam and Bucky got the shield in the comics, despite Bucky having the same kind of history and psychological baggage.

Bucky Barnes first appeared in the comics in 1941 and has had a very long and complicated history since then, as have most comic characters. But this ain't the comics. To say, "it made sense in the comics so it makes sense in the movies" is to completely ignore all the context surrounding the completely different stories told in both mediums. Again, Bucky has been a villain more than he's been a hero in the MCU (which is not the case in the comics), most of the other remaining Avengers dislike him (and that's putting it mildly in some cases), he's a serious liability, and since there's a lot more transparency in the MCU than in the comics, the public knows him as the Winter Soldier and know most of the things he's done. It makes absolutely ZERO sense for Bucky to be given the mantle over someone well known and well liked amongst the Avengers and the public, and who's never assassinated any Presidents. I still don't understand why you're ok with Sam getting the shield in the comics, but when it's in the movies it's suddenly an agenda.

I would agree that Captain Marvel And Thor are at about the same power level, but there’s a difference between them; Thor earnshis power while Captain Marvel does not. Is Thor strong at the beginning of his first movie? Yes, but he isn’t nearly as powerful as he is by the end of Infinity War (he can barely defeat that Metal Giant thing for goodness sake). It takes Thor 3 full movies, plus 2 Avengers movies, plus a solid half of Infinity War to get to that insane power level, but Captain Marvel on the other hand? Half a movie, and it would’ve been sooner if she’d known how powerful she is. And yes she trained with her powers for 6 years, but they were severely limited by the Kree, so all her training doesn’t really help her, it’s not as if they told her how to fly to spaceships, and that’s not the kind of thing one just learns right away. It’s like the movie said “yep she’s the most powerful being in the universe, just accept it, she doesn’t need to learn how to harness or fully utilize her powers, she’s a natural!

Thor doesn't earn his powers, he was born with them. That's the actual definition of "[h]e's a natural!" And Thor's power level stays about the same throughout all of his movies until IW, when he gets Stormbreaker and is suddenly 10x more powerful. Yes he grows as a character and his personality changes, but apart from in Ragnarok when he needs to learn that he doesn't need his hammer to use his powers, we never see him expanding his powers. As for the Destroyer, if by "can barely defeat" you mean, losing when he's mortal but then completely decimates it in a lightning tornado he created the moment he gets his powers back, then yes. Also you can't say she's a natural or doesn't need to learn how to harness her powers when you admit that she's had six full years of training. Yes she has an inhibitor on, but once she takes it off her abilities are the same, just pack more of a punch. As for Endgame, it's literally been 28 years since the events of her solo film. I agree they should be showing us this training, but she hasn't even been in the MCU for six months, give her time to have three full movies plus 2.5 Avengers films and we'll see what they do with her. If they expand upon and encourage this "I'm better than you" attitude moving forward and never show her to have much struggle or learn anything over the films then I'm likely to change my position. For now, though, I think she's been used very well.

Im surprised you found the laboratory fight scene easy to follow it was jerkily-cut and way too dark imo. Regarding the clamps, I found it hilarious how she broke out of the clamps that stopped her powers by... using her powers really hard. Funniest part of a terribly dull movie. And I wouldn’t say she fought Ronan’s ships, it was more like she flew through them in 2 seconds and then he retreated. And I’m fine with the Jude Law thing at the end, ifthere’s another big action fight, because there really wasn’t one at the end of the movie. I get what the director was going for, but it makes for a boring ending without a big battle.

She used her powers to break out but she had to push them really hard to do so and only managed in a moment of extreme duress (ie knocked down and surrounded on all sides). Kind of reminds me of Thor getting his lightning back in Ragnarok but only when he's on the edge of being beaten by the Hulk. I agree the third act could have had a bit more action, but there was still plenty to be had between everyone fighting to escape the ship and CM destroying Ronan's ships. If you wanted a bigger action setpiece that's fine, but that's your preference.

I don’t really have a problem with the Kree empire as a villain, I actually think that could make for an interesting movie, but my main problem with the villains in Captain Marvel is that they don’t stand a chance against Captain Marvel. Ronan is afraid of her, Jude Law is obviously not strong enough, and neither are the rest of his team. Say what you want about the other MCU villains (even the terrible ones like Malekith), but at least they stood a chance against the hero. Look at Thor in Thor:Ragnarok, he’s obviously extremely powerful, but so is Hella, and while Thor obviously wins, he takes a beating and even loses an eye. Did Captain Marvel even break a sweat beating the bad guys? In every other MCU movie, the fight with the villain used all the heroes energy, and I didn’t see that in Captain Marvel. Weak villains are boring, and Captain Marvel has the weakest villains in the MCU (and I didn’t like Thanos in GOTG by the way)

The villains in CM don't stand a chance against her only after she removes the inhibitor, which is well into the third act of the movie. She gets her ass handed to her repeatedly throughout the movie before then. And as I said before, she's never able to actually defeat Jude Law's character in hand to hand combat because he's so much better than her at it. "Weak villains are boring" that's just... a bad way to look at storytelling. Some of the best villains in history, including in the MCU, had more brains than brawn. Loki is a prime excellent example of this, as is HYDRA.

Here's a list of MCU villains weaker than the villains in Captain Marvel: Zemo, Zola, Whiplash, Alexander Pierce, the Mandarin (both of them), Justin Hammer, The Vulture, Crossbones, Batroc the Leaper, Agent Sitwell, The Collector, The Grandmaster, Taserface, Ayesha-- I could go on but you get the point. None of these characters are stronger than Yon-Rogg or Ronan.

You not liking Thanos in GotG is fine, but my point was that saying Ronan is a bad villain based on his mere minutes of screentime in CM when he's clearly planned for future movies is akin to saying overall Thanos is a bad villain just because he wasn't used much in GotG.

Glad we agree on this, it was a terrible decision.

Yep, I genuinely thought they were going for a running gag about how he kept injuring his eye but not losing it yet until I realized the movie was over. I get where TLD's coming from, but I still don't like it.

That's the very same issue that has been animadverted in regard to the character of Rey in the new SW movies as making her a "Mary Sue".

Comparing CM to Rey is ridiculous. Rey discovers brand new abilities five times a movie and is immediately perfect at virtually any task she tries for the first time. She also receives no training but is more skilled than everyone at everything. CM repeatedly fails throughout her movie, from falling for the Skrulls' trap, to losing them on Earth, to even struggling to pass her training to become a fighter pilot in her flashbacks. She also has the same powerset in both her movie and in IW. Once the inhibitor is removed she's more powerful, but her powers remain the same. And again, SIX YEARS is a long time to learn how to use your powers. 34 years is even longer. She doesn't even save the day in Endgame, that's still up to Iron Man. And remember guys, Thanos punches her out cold and she's out of the fight for the entire rest of the movie. That's never something we've see with Rey, who's randomly more powerful than even Luke Skywalker despite using the force a grand total of maybe four times up to that point despite not knowing those abilities are possible.

~Thylo
 
Umm... Cap got his ass handed to him by Thanos. It wasn't until Cap had Molijnir that he was able to go toe to toe with Thanos for a bit, and even then he got his ass handed to him again. It's not lazy writing, it's reality.
So you live in a reality which includes violent purple big-chinned giants and super-soldiers? Excelsior! ;)
My point was: super-soldier serum or not, when you're hit by the equivalent of a purple freight train, your human body will take serious damage. Bones, soft tissues, intestines - you name it; Cap' would have been gone for good, godly hammer or not.
ut this ain't the comics. To say, "it made sense in the comics so it makes sense in the movies" is to completely ignore all the context surrounding the completely different stories told in both mediums.
I disagree; if it worked in the comics, why shouldn't it have worked in the MCU?
I still don't understand why you're ok with Sam getting the shield in the comics, but when it's in the movies it's suddenly an agenda.
Who says I'm OK with Sam getting the shield in the comics? ;) The pathos (and the general modern self-imposed goal of Marvel to promote their idea of diversity at all costs) accompanying the handover gives me reason to believe what I assume - that this was no mere passing of the torch, but was meant as a metaphor.
Thor doesn't earn his powers, he was born with them. That's the actual definition of "[h]e's a natural!" And Thor's power level stays about the same throughout all of his movies until IW, when he gets Stormbreaker and is suddenly 10x more powerful.
Doesn't that a bit contradict your previous statement regarding Slacker Thor's loss of power? His connection to Thunder and Lightning is elemental, almost as if he's a natural conductor (unlike Cap); shouldn't this still be the case, even now when he's fat? I can live with Thanos beating Dude Thor; I just wish we could have seen Thor work his electric magic on the big spaceship instead of Captain "I only have a limited array of facial impressions" Marvel.
Comparing CM to Rey is ridiculous.
No, defending Brie Larson is ridiculous. ^^ You're a male and probably white; ergo, by her very own standards, you're neither her target audience nor does she want you to defend her. After all, being a "strong independent womyn", she can do that on her own. ;)
 
I'm not going to continue this anymore because this conversation is going in circles, but I want to address a couple of things:
I disagree; if it worked in the comics, why shouldn't it have worked in the MCU?

I think you know better than this. 80+ years of storytelling in a much larger universe with much more complex stories (many of which are considered silly, bad, or contradictory), that are told in a completely different and unique medium is not comparable to 11 years of movies. Comics generally come out, what, weekly? Whereas we only get two to three movies a year, only five of which included Bucky. The story of the MCU is entirely different from that of the comics. They could have told Bucky's story in a way that would make sense for him to become cap, yeah, but they didn't. Him getting the shield doesn't work with his MCU story whatsoever, which is an entirely different story from that of the comics. And again, I think you're perfectly aware of that.

No, defending Brie Larson is ridiculous. ^^ You're a male and probably white; ergo, by her very own standards, you're neither her target audience nor does she want you to defend her. After all, being a "strong independent womyn", she can do that on her own. ;)

I'm not defending Brie Larson, I think she's made some very, very stupid comments but I already got into that earlier. Also, don't assume things about me, you're not entirely correct there...

~Thylo
 
I'm not going to continue this anymore because this conversation is going in circles, but I want to address a couple of things (...)
Oh come on, you know that this will prompt me to reply! ^^
As for Bucky & the shield: may it as you wish, but I still think that the people responsible for that scene had an ulterior motive to choose Sam - even if it's just for the upcoming series sporting both of them.
Also, don't assume things about me, you're not entirely correct there..
No need to get prickly with me, mate. Sorry if I tread on your toes. After all, we're both using anonymous avatars here, so there's plenty to assume incorrectly from one another, unless we've met in person. Both in real life and online, people have assumed the weirdest (incorrect) things about me, including my gender, name, nationality, profession etc. Just this very morning, a probably mentally disturbed lady called me again and again (on my private number!) to get my confirmation that her boyfriend has a necrotic finger due to a tick bite. Also wanted me to heal him via the phone. So you see - incorrect assumptions happen all the time. Even including Brie "Stoneface" Larson. ;)
 
My point was: super-soldier serum or not, when you're hit by the equivalent of a purple freight train, your human body will take serious damage. Bones, soft tissues, intestines - you name it; Cap' would have been gone for good, godly hammer or not.
This is something that has always bothered me with the Captain America movies. He's one of my favourite characters*, despite him being bland as milk, and I like all his movies - but he is just a human on super-steroids and yet they act like he is the equivalent of Thor in the amount of damage he can take. Maybe @ThylacineAlive will have a movie/comics explanation for that, but for me as a casual watcher and not a fan it's just irritating.**


*Obviously well below Thor and Blue Cyborg Lady though.

**However it isn't as jarring to me as the way the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 suddenly all became indestructible.


No, defending Brie Larson is ridiculous.
Really? He clearly was defending/explaining the Captain Marvel character, and not the actress herself.
 
@Chlidonias And it's not just Captain America or the Guardians - Black Widow and Hawkeye have also survived situations that would have been fatal for any human, perfectly trained or not. But hey, you know: comic book logic...

Really? He clearly was defending/explaining the Captain Marvel character, and not the actress herself.
Given how much Brie Larson has been promoted to identify herself with the character, I somehow feel obliged to treat both as superimposable (except for the superpowers) ;). Besides, it's the only of her roles I've seen her in, other than the easily forgotten evil ex gf in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World".
 
@Chlidonias And it's not just Captain America or the Guardians - Black Widow and Hawkeye have also survived situations that would have been fatal for any human, perfectly trained or not. But hey, you know: comic book logic...
I've never noticed it with those two (but like I said, I'm more of a casual watcher of the movies).

Given how much Brie Larson has been promoted to identify herself with the character, I somehow feel obliged to treat both as superimposable (except for the superpowers) ;). Besides, it's the only of her roles I've seen her in, other than the easily forgotten evil ex gf in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World".
You've not seen Kong: Skull Island? That's what I've seen her in and she is really unappealing as a character - it's like her real persona oozes out all over her role. I'm not going to watch Captain Marvel, and my rating of 0.5 out of 10 for Endgame* is because there is a 9.4 deduction in points for her being in it, and 0.1 deduction for the stuff in the Pitch Meeting video.


*Disclaimer: I haven't seen it yet :p
 
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