Ongoing Sci-Fi, Comic Book Movie Thread v2

[rubecube]

Who knew that the first crossover we were going to get was the DC Universe and the "Cats" Universe?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Ped

It's been said often, and on this forum, but too many terrible movies make way too much money, and then the studios just put out more of the same because people keep coming to them. Transformers had 5 movies, not including Bumblebee. Five!

There's no incentive to do any better as long as you have paying customers.

I know. I've said it numerous times.

Money =/= Good

I do not consider 'Box Office Gross' to be an indicator of quality.

What it is, is an indicator of trends. So yeah, if they can trot out some garbage and make a Billion bucks what on Earth would be their incentive to change that formula at all much less 'improve?'

"Hey! People paid us a Billion Dollars for this trash!"

- "Make 10 more!"

Its basically Adam Sandler's career and financial plan in a nutshell.

"Sell people what they're willing to pay for."

It doesnt mean I have to like it though.

[Flashpoint]

It was really dumb and bad for all the reasons stated above.

Disappointing because I liked the first one quite a bit.

[CaptainCrunch]

There's a reason why movie studios are making less stand alone movies and buying into the world building franchise movies. Because frankly those fans will continue to throw money at it based on name. And if you make a bad one, the fans will come back for next one and the next one in the hopes that it will hit gold again in terms with it hopefully bringing back the nostalgia of watching the first one that made you fall in love with the franchise.


If a person is smart they can write the worst multi book series ever (I'm looking at you person who wrote twilight, and person who wrote the 50 shades series). If you write a franchise book series no matter how bad it is, some person in hollywood will pay you big bucks to option your books into movies.



Just make sure that you have lots of topless male teens for the older married woman demographic. A moody young male or female lead with lots of angst for the young teenage lonely emo demographic. Oh and a dog, for the pet lovers. And a incredibly cool and distant mentor for the nerd demographic.

[FireGilbert]

Just saw WW84 in cinemas. It was okay. I was entertained with a good enough story and pacing but the writing was just a mess.

I love Gadot in the role and one again she shines. Also the chemistry with Pine is incredible and really carries the 2nd act. I'm glad they brought Pine back, as this doesn't work without him, and I enjoyed the reversal with him as the fish out of water this time. Too bad the plot device is so awkward.

The tone is all over the place. This starts as a cheesy 80s movie, which I was starting to enjoy, but shifts to something more sinister about the dark desires of humanity that could take place in any decade. The jolts between cheese and the end of humanity throughout are very jarring. Also the themes are a bit messy. The main ones about being true to yourself and no easy answers for the realities of life were clunky but fine however they also touched on greed and feminism which didn't go anywhere.

By far my biggest gripe is the writing. Just because your movie features gods and god given powers does not mean you get to ex machina everything. So much of the plot is glossed over with just because. Please set some ground rules and boundaries for the powers in your universe and stick with them. The stone and villain needed way more background details with the rules of the wishes and influence of the gods. Pascal was decent though despite being given nothing to work with. The same with Wiig, who played an awkward woman cliche. Even Diana was barely given any back ground. What has she been up to for the past 56 years other than pining and gaining full security access to the Smithsonian?

The action scenes were acceptable but I expected more of them. I wonder if the writers took too much feedback on WW's CGI heaving ending battling a god because this ending, Diana having a conversation, goes too far the other way. By the way, why does DC love slomo? Use it sparingly!

Overall there is the potential for a solid WW movie here but it is let down the inconsistent tone and bad writing. WW84 is not a disaster but I wouldn't recommend. 5/10

[trackercowe]

I saw Wonder Woman 84 in Llyod and it was a hot mess. I like the cast as a whole and think they tried their best, but the movie and effects were very poor. In fact we saw Monster Hunter just before and all of us agreed it was better and looked better than this 250 million dollar disaster.

I heard chatter that Gadot thought WW1 was too "violent" so they had to tone it down in 1984. That explains why she doesn't really do much of anything in the movie. It uses the same platform as Superman Returns in which Diana doesn't use any violence (never uses her sword, shield, or lasso for its real purpose). Also to the best of my recollection no one actually dies in the movie? One person has a heart attack, yet lives at the end. So I don't know if I can give Gadot a pass if she changed the creative direction of the movie. Also what was up with the tacked on schmaltzy ending. They already put us through 145 minutes of anguish, don't try and make it into a Christmas movie because of the delayed release (certainly that was reshoot).

I also wonder if they are afraid to let Gadot go solo in this series, which is why they chose to bring back Pine/Trevor when there was no real need for it. Him body snatching with the poor Hallmark guy was another confounding decision. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring in Cavil/Superman for Part III for this very reason.

The movie was horrific and a logistical nightmare. She just forgot how to fly between 1984 and Justice League? There are just so many issues with the movie, I could continue at length of the issues. It's such a crying shame.

Now I am going to come off as a Marvel fanboy/DC hater in saying this, but I am not. You could make a case that every single MCU movie is better than anything from the DCU. Every single one, right down to Dark World and Iron Man 2. The bottom rung of Marvel movies are not terrible/unwatchable. They all have their moments, and enjoyable sequences. Then you have talent like Hiddleston/Hemsworth/Downey backing all these movies up. Not great movies by any stretch of the imagination, middle of the road... but DC's current movies are mostly middle of the road as well. The best DC movies all either were directed by Chris Nolan, the Burton Batman movies, and first two Superman's. Ever since then it's been a complete mess and 1984 continues that legacy of dreck.

I've seen people criticize End Game and other Marvel movies, which is fair on its own. But look at what they've been able to achieve under such pressure meanwhile DC/Warners hasn't really done anything right. 1984 and Birds of Prey were barely better than Green Lantern! They haven't improved one iota and screwed up royally with Justice League. They couldn't even do Justice League justice! How in the hell is Ant-Man 2 better than Justice League? Just think about it Ant-Man 2 a character that's almost irrelevant is better than Justice League... that does not make sense!

I caught a bit of Civil War last night and there was more enjoyment in the sequence at the airfield than in all the DCEU movies combined. Call by a fanboy if you like, but DC Animated movies are generally great, they do well with video games, and the movies pre-DCEU were mostly good (I even like Batman Forever). Other than movies DC tops Marvel as a whole. But yet again they've failed in delivering with 1984, and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I suppose I just have to wait out the eventual reboot, I bet if it wasn't for the success of the first Wonder Woman it would have already happened.

[CaptainCrunch]

Its funny, because I look at a lot of the poorer Marvel Movies, and I'm like, eh it was ok, but it was wasted potential.


I look at movies like Super vs bats, Justice league, Aquaman, and I'm like wow those were terrible messes, not wasted potential, because I just didn't see the potential in the story writing or characters etc.


I will say that I still have a soft spot for the Superman movie because they finally gave us a good Zod instead of the weird kneel before Zod (eww)


The Nolan Batman's were pretty powerful, however I just didn't like the third one all that much, but that's no fault of its own, how do you follow the second one.


I'm not interested in seeing a re-edited Justice League at all, because the Justice League itself was just so terrible.

[Locke]

I would contend that 'Birds of Prey' is a film that they screen to torture Political Dissidents.

That movie alone probably set modern feminism back by about a decade.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

BOP was dumb and had no plot but I thought Margot Robbie was excellent. Had the right amount of humour and the right tone too. Everything and everyone else, not so much.

[trackercowe]

I like Man of Steel as well, I think it's my favourite DC movie so far. It's one I have watched a few times. The skybeam ending was a misfire, but at least they did that before it became standard

I agree that Shannon and an excellent Zod as were Cavill and Crowe. I feel disdain with Warner's/DC for basically outcasting Cavill. They basically left him out of the cold Batman vs Superman and turned that into a Batman movie. Then kept Cavill in a side role due to fan outcry when they attempted to oust him. Even in Justice League the best sequence was Superman taking on the rest of the league.

So many mistakes and wasted potential.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

MoS was for sure the most excited I was for a DC movie and you’re right, probably the best one to date.

Had a great trailer too iirc. Had me all kinds of pumped.

[trackercowe]

I still get pumped for Man of Steel when it's on television. In terms of rewatchability I don't think any other DCEU movie hits that level. I haven't watched Aquaman or Shazam since release. Mindless entertainment, but nothing memorable.

Alison confirmed Gadot helped to make this decision.

In an interview with CBR, Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot revealed the important character development behind the weapon switch: Diana's desire for peace. "This is part of the reason to why we decided that she shouldn't have a sword or a shield," Gadot explained. "Diana is not aggressive. She's not there to fight. She's a peacemaker. Also, she has the higher understanding that people are not bad, per se... We're all the same."

Read More: Why Diana Doesn't Use Her Sword or Shield In 'Wonder Woman 1984' | https://screencrush.com/gal-gadot-wo...edium=referral

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

MoS was for sure the most excited I was for a DC movie and you’re right, probably the best one to date.

Had a great trailer too iirc. Had me all kinds of pumped.

The villains worked, were credible and there was a bit of justification in their actions, and they felt like a real threat.



It was in my mind a really strong cast, and the dialogue and writing was decent as well.



I never got that sense in the other movies. I mean lets be honest, Eisenberg was a horrible Lex Luthor, like the worst. the premise in Justice League was just awful and the Villain was just a CGI monster of the week there was zero depth to it.


I've always said that for me, for a movie to be really good, I have to be able to not only look at the hero and see him as the hero, but look at the villain and say, I get it, I understand why you're doing what your doing, its extreme, but understandable. Its been the failing point in the DC world of movies is that for the most part the villains have been one dimensional and pretty much I'm going to destroy the world for stuff.



In Marvel, the villains have been really properly fleshed out. Red Skull, Thanos The villain in the first Iron Man movie, even Guardians of the Galaxy 1, the villains made sense. Where the Marvel movies failed in the sequels to Iron Man, and Guardians and some of the others were the villains were cookie cutter and didn't make much sense.

[Jason14h]

Wow you know WW84 was horrendous when it gets people talking about how MoS was good!

And I agree , MoS was 50x better then whatever I just watched

It’s a contender for worst movie I’ve ever wasted 2.5 hrs on

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yet when it launched it had a certified fresh rating from early critics?

Proof if proof were still needed that the movie review business is a total sham at this point. It's almost impossible to tell if a movie is actually any good anymore.

[trackercowe]

It's because DC/Warner's had an embargo and only some critics were given early access to review the movie and to be shown on Rotten tomatoes. So that's why early reviews were mostly positive, and it seemed to have paid off. Smart strategy really, they must have known the movie was a turd yet many probably paid the $30 or ordered HBO Max because of those early positive reviews.

I own an All-Star Comics #8 (her 1st appearance), I love Wonder Woman. But they missed a big opportunity here. Why don't they make a movie strictly with the Amazon's on Themyscira? Clearly people love that side of movie, why bother bringing her to the real world?

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm assuming you know how much that comic is worth right?

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm assuming you know how much that comic is worth right?

I just googled it. Wowzers.

[ComixZone]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin (#1) was a really fun read for anyone looking for a comic to pick up.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I just googled it. Wowzers.

Even a 1.0 graded book is worth about $20k. Not bad.