Posts : 6062 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : ELdorado 5-9970
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:15 am
Where might I find a copy of PREVENGERS? Just curious to how it fits together.
Makeshift Python 00 Agent
Posts : 7656 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : You're the man now, dog!
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:32 pm
All Stan Lee cameos from X-Men to Captain America.
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:49 pm
An interesting note is that with the sole exception of Captain America, Lee only appears in cameos for films of comics he created. That's why he wasn't in the Blade, Punisher or Ghost Rider movies. Also his Fantastic Four cameo is the only time he plays a name comic book character, that of mailman Willie Lumpkin, an extremely minor FF character.
saint mark Head of Station
Posts : 1160 Member Since : 2011-09-08 Location : Up in the Dutch mountains
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:27 am
Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:
An interesting note is that with the sole exception of Captain America, Lee only appears in cameos for films of comics he created. That's why he wasn't in the Blade, Punisher or Ghost Rider movies. Also his Fantastic Four cameo is the only time he plays a name comic book character, that of mailman Willie Lumpkin, an extremely minor FF character.
UNtrue he also does a uncredited cameo in Captain America.
Makeshift Python 00 Agent
Posts : 7656 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : You're the man now, dog!
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:29 am
Should probably read his post again, he does say he appears in CA.
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:32 am
Yeah what I meant was that Lee didn't create Captain America, but still made a cameo.
saint mark Head of Station
Posts : 1160 Member Since : 2011-09-08 Location : Up in the Dutch mountains
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:10 am
Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:
Yeah what I meant was that Lee didn't create Captain America, but still made a cameo.
My apologies. I did not read it that way.
Makeshift Python 00 Agent
Posts : 7656 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : You're the man now, dog!
I'm kind of hoping that final set-piece ends badly. Seeing a superhero having to deal with a catastrophic failure would make for some interesting themes in a genre that is typically light-hearted.
Jack Wade wrote:
I would watch two hours of that guy's facial expression.
You do that. In the meantime, I'll watch two hours of that girl showering.
Makeshift Python 00 Agent
Posts : 7656 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : You're the man now, dog!
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:01 am
New trailer:
Prisoner Monkeys Potential 00 Agent
Posts : 2849 Member Since : 2011-10-29 Location : Located
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:36 am
This is shaping up as the film that IRON MAN 2 should have been.
It's definately a Shane Black script. I'm getting a bit of a KISS KISS BANG BANG vibe in places.
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:57 am
I'm stoked for it. I like iRON MAN 2 quite a bit more than most everyone i know, but I am very excited for this.
The White Tuxedo 00 Agent
Posts : 6062 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : ELdorado 5-9970
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 6:28 am
Doing some MARVEL.
Spider-Man
I still like it pretty well. The story feels a little muddled as it goes along. I'd have really punched up the father/son thing between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker. As well as the "with great power" thing between them. I haven't read the comics so I don't know the story behind Goblin's tech, but the reasons for building it could have been played with more, tying into the "great power" idea. I'd make Norman more tragic. Then I'd punch up the jealousy Harry would have for Peter because of Peter's bond with his father. Like a jealous brother. And I'd have Harry date MJ (in my version it'd be Gwen Stacy) really as a way to have something over Peter.
I liked the cast. Dafoe of course is the best thing about the movie overall. I've always hated Tobey Macguire, but I actually don't mind him now. And I like Dunst more than I used to. Franco is in a such a bad position. Harry is one-note, and really not sympathetic in any way. At least if he'd gone after MJ as a way to beat Peter at something he'd have been interesting. As it stands, he's just a whiny bitch and Franco looks like he's still acting in the James Dean movie he did. He's there to set up Green Goblin II (and we know how that turned out), but he's not really worthwhile in the meantime.
I like the style of the movie. Hyperbolic. It's like a piece of candy, no real substance but enjoyable. It sorta skims along the surface of things with tropes and whatnot. I don't mind that, I just think the story could have been better in the second half.
I was thinking of what I'd do with Spider-Man. I'm thinking of a trilogy, and the first movie would follow some of this same story, but with no supervillain in the first film. Spidey takes on badguys and evades the police. Spidey would get shot by the police and it would be Norman who saves him and keeps his secret. He might save him with drugs connected to the project that will turn him into the Goblin. Maybe Electro or whatever for the second movie, and Goblin for the third. With MJ dying and Harry vowing revenge on Spider-Man.
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 8:48 am
Iron Man 3
Just some initial thoughts. I can't fully process it at this time.
Suffice to say it's fantastic until the third act, where it makes a series of choices that really turned me off.
If this makes any sense, it's a better film than IRON MAN 2, but I liked IRON MAN 2 better. Which is to say, IM3 is structurally and narratively stronger, it's got better action, direction, sequences, etc. -- it tells it's story better. But I liked the story IM2 told better. It had a better sense of the character and his world.
IM3 stops being an Iron Man movie in the third act and becomes a Shane Black movie. It's a sci-fi LETHAL WEAPON movie. To clarify, it's KISS KISS BANG BANG starring Tony Stark for act 1, then it's LAST ACTION HERO starring Tony Stark for Act 2, then LETHAL WEAPON starring Tony Stark and Jim Rhodes for act 3. It totally drops the ball with the villains, Pepper and the plot in that last third, IMO.
I liked it, but I had a lot of problems with it. Which I understand is how most people felt about IM2, a movie which I recognize I am in the minority when it comes to liking.
A mixed bag this one. Not bad, and I think someone less invested in the character or the comics would probably like it more than I did, fair enough. It has something in common with the lesser X-Men films of using comic book names and concepts for things but not in any way that resembles those original concepts.
I do feel I need to see it again. Perhaps, like IM2, I will like it more as I rewatch it. I thought, like many, that IM2 was a mess when I saw the first time, but I found it rewarded repeat viewings. But I think the failings of IM3 are so massive and fundamental for me that the problems I have will always be there. What it feels like to me is like when a new writer comes onto a long running comic book series, decides he needs to "make his mark" on the character, and so chooses to tell you that some long-standing element of the universe is Not What You Thought It Was and retcons a big thing, and it just feels wrong.
I liked the bits I liked, and didn't like the bits I didn't, and those bits are more clustered in the third act. Although the actual ending coda was quite good. Sorry, I can't articulate better without spoiling, and for some reason I feel like being spoiler free atm.
6.5/10
--MARVEL MOVIE RANKING--
1. THE AVENGERS 2. IRON MAN 3. CAPTAIN AMERICA 4. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS 5. IRON MAN 2 6. THE PUNISHER 7. X2 8. X-MEN 9. IRON MAN 3 10. HULK 11. THOR 12. SPIDER-MAN 2 13. SPIDER-MAN 14. BLADE 15. DAREDEVIL 16. THE INCREDIBLE HULK 17. X-MEN: THE LAST STAND 18. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 19. FANTASTIC FOUR 20. BLADE II 21. SPIDER-MAN 3 22. BLADE: TRINITY 23. FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER 24. GHOST RIDER 25. PUNISHER: WAR ZONE 26. GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE 27. ELEKTRA 28. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
The White Tuxedo 00 Agent
Posts : 6062 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : ELdorado 5-9970
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 8:53 am
I'm going to watch the MCU movies again soon. This weekend I'll see the Spider-Man movies. I haven't seen AMAZING yet. I may check out IM3 when it hits this bargain theater in town.
So how do they justify not having the other Avengers show up if Iron Man is in so much trouble? That's gonna be a really difficult issue to address in these Phase Two and Phase Three movies. How much jeopardy can these individual heroes actually be in before it's like, "Where are his friends?"
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 9:02 am
Both Raimi's films and AMAZING fail for me on a simple conceptual level of "they don't get the character", but what's interesting is they don't get the character in very different ways. Raimi loves the character so much that his films often feel blinded by the kind of crippling nostalgia that kills Superman Returns -- he forgets that NYC is supposed to be suspicious of Spidey too, he's a hard-luck hero, not the guy getting parades. Meanwhile Webb's movie simply makes Peter into an unlikeable horny douche.
Another IM comment -- the fictional President really weirded me out for some reason. The Marvel universe, unlike DC's, is meant to take place in as-close-to-the-real-world-as-it-can -- so real life celebs exist, no fictional cities like Gotham etc. So suddenly having a new white fictional Pres when references in previous MCU movies (like IM2) made it seem like Obama was the C-in-C here too feels really weird.
The White Tuxedo 00 Agent
Posts : 6062 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : ELdorado 5-9970
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 9:05 am
They should have at least made him black. But maybe Agent Sloan beat Obama in 2012.
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 9:07 am
The White Tuxedo wrote:
So how do they justify not having the other Avengers show up if Iron Man is in so much trouble? That's gonna be a really difficult issue to address in these Phase Two and Phase Three movies. How much jeopardy can these individual heroes actually be in before it's like, "Where are his friends?"
For a long time comic reader it's sort've par-for-the-course ("well, because this is Iron Man, not the Avengers, doofus!"), but while they promise it makes sense in the movie it's more or less lampshaded. One could say that a) Tony's ego means he doesn't want to ask for help, b) Tony has some serious PTSD elements re: The Avengers in one of the film's better subplots, c) Thor is in Asgard, SHIELD is busy, it's not really a world-threatening thing so much as a Tony-threatening thing and we'll probably find out why Cap was too busy to help in his movie --- but once you're done the film you do really wonder why Hulk didn't show up to help.
Heck, turnaround's fair play -- they do no more to explain why The Avenger's aren't in this movie as they to explain why Don Cheadle wasn't in THAT movie.
But they do bring up the events of that film. People are like "are those aliens gonna come back?"
The White Tuxedo 00 Agent
Posts : 6062 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : ELdorado 5-9970
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 10:28 pm
Spider-Man 2
I thought it was very good. I would have liked to have known what Doc Ock was doing and why. I know he's rebuilding the deadly destructo science thing, but why exactly is he rebuilding the deadly destructo science thing? That aside it was better than I had remembered. Certainly took a lot cues from SUPERMAN II with the hero choosing between duty and love. But I think it's played out better in this movie. In SUPES II he gives up his powers and within five minutes he's going back to get them.
On a purely aesthetic level I really like the movie. I think it's very well shot and the mayhem is orchestrated incredibly well. I wish more movies in this genre were so polished.
All in all, I enjoyed the first movie as a cinematic comic strip, but the second finessed that approach and added more depth.
And yeah, I know jackshit about the comics. I'm taking the movies as I seem 'em. Within themselves I think the first two work.
MARVEL
1. SPIDER-MAN 2 2. SPIDER-MAN
Fairbairn-Sykes Head of Station
Posts : 2296 Member Since : 2011-03-14 Location : Calgary, Canada
Subject: Re: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Sat May 04, 2013 10:50 pm
I feel like most of the things that people slam SM3 for start in small ways in SM2. Goofy Peter Parker dancing, long-winded bits of Peter Parker crying, etc.
I don't like MJ in Spider-Man 2, or really how she was handled in all three. I've ranted about this before but I don't find her all that likeable in the movies.