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CAPTAIN MARVEL starring Brie Larson (3/8/19)
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2,795 posts in this topic

On 3/8/2019 at 6:15 PM, Gatsby77 said:
On 3/8/2019 at 5:54 PM, krighton said:

Seriously though, really getting tired of Samuel L Jackson in virtually every single movie from the last several years....and not just Marvel related, he's in everything....he's an ok actor, Pulp Fiction was his best, but he's just over saturated.  Guy must be worth a billion by now.

Edit:  Here's his worth supposedly  https://wealthygorilla.com/samuel-l-jackson-net-worth/

Funny line in there, 'and he's known to be one of the best actors of all time'

Apparently:

1) He has the biggest box office total of any actor in history. (A title he took from Harrison Ford a few years ago.)

2) He has the record for the largest number of non-porn film credits of the 1990s (an average of 4-5 films per year for the entire decade).

https://youtu.be/Dgv-bWf32FI?t=238

 

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I saw the movie and thought it was OK.  I didn't think it was terrible -- call it 3 stars out of 5 -- but for me it was definitely among the least enjoyable of the MCU films.  Brie Larson's performance was incredibly flat for me -- there wasn't nearly enough emotional range from her, and the snarky overconfidence really didn't work for me.  Her power level was also wildly inconsistent -- even before she fully powers up, she's able to blow holes in solid objects with the blasts from her hands, and yet there's a long scene where she's fistfighting half a dozen "normal" Kree and somehow they keep getting up because she can't put any of them away.

The more I think about it, the more I think the biggest weakness of the film was the direction.  In scene after scene I found myself thinking that a better director would have squeezed more action, suspense, excitement, and overall emotion out of the -script.  And possibly, would have gotten a better performance out of the lead.  The music was really generic and lame in places too.  When they went to the 90s soundtrack, I think there were some good choices but they didn't do a good enough job of lining up the action so that the big moments land at the right spots.

I don't mean to slam the movie too hard -- like I said, it wasn't terrible.  But it's the first MCU movie I can think of where I felt bored at times, and where at the end of it I didn't feel like I ever needed to see the main character again.  Regardless of how much money it makes, and I'm certainly not rooting against it, I wouldn't be surprised if the studio decides to dial back its expectations about centering the next phase of the MCU around Captain Marvel.

On a positive note, the Skrulls were really great.  Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I feel relieved about what the movie implies (or rather, doesn't imply) their role in Endgame might be.

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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17 minutes ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I saw the movie and thought it was OK.  I didn't think it was terrible -- call it 3 stars out of 5 -- but for me it was definitely among the least enjoyable of the MCU films.  Brie Larson's performance was incredibly flat for me -- there wasn't nearly enough emotional range from her, and the snarky overconfidence really didn't work for me.  Her power level was also wildly inconsistent -- even before she fully powers up, she's able to blow holes in solid objects with the blasts from her hands, and yet there's a long scene where she's fistfighting half a dozen "normal" Kree and somehow they keep getting up because she can't put any of them away.

The more I think about it, the more I think the biggest weakness of the film was the direction.  In scene after scene I found myself thinking that a better director would have squeezed more action, suspense, excitement, and overall emotion out of the --script.  And possibly, would have gotten a better performance out of the lead.  The music was really generic and lame in places too.  When they went to the 90s soundtrack, I think there were some good choices but they didn't do a good enough job of lining up the action so that the big moments land at the right spots.

I don't mean to slam the movie too hard -- like I said, it wasn't terrible.  But it's the first MCU movie I can think of where I felt bored at times, and where at the end of it I didn't feel like I ever needed to see the main character again.  Regardless of how much money it makes, and I'm certainly not rooting against it, I wouldn't be surprised if the studio decides to dial back its expectations about centering the next phase of the MCU around Captain Marvel.

On a positive note, the Skrulls were really great.  Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I feel relieved about what the movie implies (or rather, doesn't imply) their role in Endgame might be.

We saw it tonight with some friends and I don't have to write a review because the one above is exactly how I felt.  I've never been bored before, and I'm FINE with strong female characters.

Spoiler

It was also confusing, so much going back and forth and switching, I was getting lost at times and couldn't tell the "good guys" from the villains.

Loved the Cat.

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Mostly spoiler-free review: Great set-up for the expansion into the galactic phase of the MCU. Good intro to the Kree-Skrull story. Flerken was worth a few giggles. Cool to see Fury and Colsen pre-Avengers. I swear I think they threw in a Pulp Fiction reference or two in there somewhere LOL! Loved the Stan cameo and the short intro tribute.

Now, about Brie Larson.... meh. She ain't no Gal Gadot, ain't no Scarlett Johansen, more like a female Jeremy Renner as far as screen-presence as a Marvel Superhero actor. As in, not much screen presence. NO chemistry with Fury (though they really tried... that's the thing, you can see them trying). I really did not care at all about her character at all because Brie Larson didn't work to make me care (actually seemed like she didn't care either IMO). Just blah. I actually cared about Lawson, Monica and even Talos as characters more than Carol. Someone else in the thread said CM had (sometimes?) almost Superman-level powers, but that also made the action actually less interesting to me. 

Overall give it 3 of 5 stars for the expansion of the storyline with the Kree and Skrulls, the tesseract and Fury within a quick origin/set-up for Capt. Marvel's appearance in Endgame.

 

 

 

Edited by jcjames
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Saw it with my wife tonight.  Before I gave my opinion I wanted to see what she thought of it right after it finished and she said it was ok but not even close to being as good as a bunch of other comic movies.  She could care less about the studios as we watch all the comic movies.  I personally thought it was just ok as well .  Definitely didn't blow me away. There's something about Larsons acting that just didn't do it for me.  Still recommend seeing it as a lead in to the next movies.

 

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Man some of you guys trying to give your review of Captain Marvel on this page sound like a handful of grumpy 40 year old white dudes. And I bet I’m not far off. Captain Marvel was awesome. I’ve seen it twice this weekend and it even improved the second time. Normal folks I’ve spoken to have really liked it. My friends and family loved it. I feel CM had more heart than typical MCU films. The found lost friendship between Carol and Maria, the comraderie between Carol and Fury, and the unexpected charm of Talos the  Skrull were all really strong. The Guardians films had heart but in a push button cartoon kind of way. In this film, Carol was a blank slate ( just like in so many of her Marvel Comics stories), so her supporting cast mates were important in drawing out the emotion for the film. Especially her best friend Maria. But we’re not given everything. I liked how the filmmakers didn’t let it ALL come rushing back to Carol. Some reviewers online complained that by the end of the film, Carol was still kind of an enigma to them. I think that was the point. Marvel Studios shouldn’t want to give away all Carol’s secrets in one sitting. In the comics, Carol Danvers had several periods where she “disappeared for a while” and in some cases, couldn’t remember what happened. She doesn’t have a continuous continuity like her other Marvel counterparts. While this may have been a weakness in her comics character, I think the filmmakers of Captain Marvel have embraced that amnesiac legacy of Carol and made it part of her character, a strength so to speak. I think in future films, we’ll get more pieces of who Carol Danvers is. Who was Mar-Vell really? Is there more to Carol’s past than just being a former Air Force pilot? What’s she been doing out in space ( just like the comics!)? I, for one, can’t wait to find out what the MCU has in store for her. In the meantime, bring on Endgame.

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3 hours ago, @therealsilvermane said:

Man some of you guys trying to give your review of Captain Marvel on this page sound like a handful of grumpy 40 year old white dudes. And I bet I’m not far off. Captain Marvel was awesome. I’ve seen it twice this weekend and it even improved the second time. Normal folks I’ve spoken to have really liked it. My friends and family loved it. I feel CM had more heart than typical MCU films. The found lost friendship between Carol and Maria, the comraderie between Carol and Fury, and the unexpected charm of Talos the  Skrull were all really strong. The Guardians films had heart but in a push button cartoon kind of way. In this film, Carol was a blank slate ( just like in so many of her Marvel Comics stories), so her supporting cast mates were important in drawing out the emotion for the film. Especially her best friend Maria. But we’re not given everything. I liked how the filmmakers didn’t let it ALL come rushing back to Carol. Some reviewers online complained that by the end of the film, Carol was still kind of an enigma to them. I think that was the point. Marvel Studios shouldn’t want to give away all Carol’s secrets in one sitting. In the comics, Carol Danvers had several periods where she “disappeared for a while” and in some cases, couldn’t remember what happened. She doesn’t have a continuous continuity like her other Marvel counterparts. While this may have been a weakness in her comics character, I think the filmmakers of Captain Marvel have embraced that amnesiac legacy of Carol and made it part of her character, a strength so to speak. I think in future films, we’ll get more pieces of who Carol Danvers is. Who was Mar-Vell really? Is there more to Carol’s past than just being a former Air Force pilot? What’s she been doing out in space ( just like the comics!)? I, for one, can’t wait to find out what the MCU has in store for her. In the meantime, bring on Endgame.

Plenty of positive reviews in the thread. No need for name calling if some opinions aren't the same as yours.  I'm pretty sure Skypinkblu isn't a 40 year old white dude.

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4 hours ago, @therealsilvermane said:

Man some of you guys trying to give your review of Captain Marvel on this page sound like a handful of grumpy 40 year old white dudes. And I bet I’m not far off...

 

 

Screenshot_2019-03-10-07-54-36-1.png

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27 minutes ago, WeR138 said:

Plenty of positive reviews in the thread. No need for name calling if some opinions aren't the same as yours.  I'm pretty sure Skypinkblu isn't a 40 year old white dude.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think there IS some disconnect with older viewers who grew up with comics. That era certainly embraced the female as a secondary character... Sue Storm's power was to turn invisible, and the Wasp turned teeny tiny and stung people. The Scarlet Witch couldn't control her powers and often fainted when over used and Black Widow was... just a human spy.

I was talking to a friend of mine, who is over 50, and he brought up the whole silly 'she doesn't smile' thing yet again, and I reminded him that Captain America in the First Avenger movie was a serious character who didn't really smile. And that really his whole time in the Marvel Universe is as a very serious character who doesn't smile. And he said, "Yeah, but he's from the past and doesn't really understand his place in..." 

And he stopped right there. He thought about it (that's Capt. Marvel too in a sense) and laughed and straight out said, "I just like my female characters to be more... sexy and smile. And be fun."

I said, "Wonder Woman didn't smile a lot in her movie. SHE was very serious."

He said, "Yeah, but she's hot."

I said, "You're a dumba**"" and he laughed at me, because he's not afraid to just say it as he means it.

I'm not saying this applies to everyone. I'm not even saying it applies to older white dudes only. Or older white people only. But it DOES apply to some people because of perceptions that people have about what characters they think SHOULD be. 

Black Panther (as a comic book character) wasn’t just disliked because he was black. He was disliked because the mindset of certain people couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of a black man in a hero role. They didn’t like that. Some people STILL don’t like that.

It’s not any different here. It’s weird for some to see an overly powerful woman. But not just ANY overly powerful woman. If she had bigger breasts, accentuated by her costume, and always had a big smile on her face and in cheesy way said things like “It’s Grrll Power, boys!’, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’d play right into people’s expectations -mostly NON-female expectations- of the way a FEMALE superhero should act.

They TRIED to go after Wonder Woman, but her attractiveness got in the way of their sexism and it couldn’t gain the same traction as this does. Brie really is more of the ‘girl next door’ type you’d see walking down the street - not the super model type - so she’s easier to attack - easier to pick apart for her looks, her body type, her SMILE… all the things we really don’t even think about when choosing a MALE superhero.

And the older you are the more likely you’ll fall into that because you grew up during a time when… well that’s how things were done. Some people have never got past that.

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10 minutes ago, Chuck Gower said:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think there IS some disconnect with older viewers who grew up with comics. That era certainly embraced the female as a secondary character... Sue Storm's power was to turn invisible, and the Wasp turned teeny tiny and stung people. The Scarlet Witch couldn't control her powers and often fainted when over used and Black Widow was... just a human spy.

I was talking to a friend of mine, who is over 50, and he brought up the whole silly 'she doesn't smile' thing yet again, and I reminded him that Captain America in the First Avenger movie was a serious character who didn't really smile. And that really his whole time in the Marvel Universe is as a very serious character who doesn't smile. And he said, "Yeah, but he's from the past and doesn't really understand his place in..." 

And he stopped right there. He thought about it (that's Capt. Marvel too in a sense) and laughed and straight out said, "I just like my female characters to be more... sexy and smile. And be fun."

I said, "Wonder Woman didn't smile a lot in her movie. SHE was very serious."

He said, "Yeah, but she's hot."

I said, "You're a dumba**"" and he laughed at me, because he's not afraid to just say it as he means it.

I'm not saying this applies to everyone. I'm not even saying it applies to older white dudes only. Or older white people only. But it DOES apply to some people because of perceptions that people have about what characters they think SHOULD be. 

Black Panther (as a comic book character) wasn’t just disliked because he was black. He was disliked because the mindset of certain people couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of a black man in a hero role. They didn’t like that. Some people STILL don’t like that.

It’s not any different here. It’s weird for some to see an overly powerful woman. But not just ANY overly powerful woman. If she had bigger breasts, accentuated by her costume, and always had a big smile on her face and in cheesy way said things like “It’s Grrll Power, boys!’, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’d play right into people’s expectations -mostly NON-female expectations- of the way a FEMALE superhero should act.

They TRIED to go after Wonder Woman, but her attractiveness got in the way of their sexism and it couldn’t gain the same traction as this does. Brie really is more of the ‘girl next door’ type you’d see walking down the street - not the super model type - so she’s easier to attack - easier to pick apart for her looks, her body type, her SMILE… all the things we really don’t even think about when choosing a MALE superhero.

And the older you are the more likely you’ll fall into that because you grew up during a time when… well that’s how things were done. Some people have never got past that.

Is it possible to agree in principle with what you're saying, and yet still think this movie has flaws -- *including* the way the heroine is portrayed?

You're making some really solid points but, respectfully, you are definitely contributing to a polarization of this discussion by implying that any critique of the movie must necessarily come from a place of discomfort with female heroes if not outright misogyny.

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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7 minutes ago, Chuck Gower said:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think there IS some disconnect with older viewers who grew up with comics. That era certainly embraced the female as a secondary character... Sue Storm's power was to turn invisible, and the Wasp turned teeny tiny and stung people. The Scarlet Witch couldn't control her powers and often fainted when over used and Black Widow was... just a human spy.

I was talking to a friend of mine, who is over 50, and he brought up the whole silly 'she doesn't smile' thing yet again, and I reminded him that Captain America in the First Avenger movie was a serious character who didn't really smile. And that really his whole time in the Marvel Universe is as a very serious character who doesn't smile. And he said, "Yeah, but he's from the past and doesn't really understand his place in..." 

And he stopped right there. He thought about it (that's Capt. Marvel too in a sense) and laughed and straight out said, "I just like my female characters to be more... sexy and smile. And be fun."

I said, "Wonder Woman didn't smile a lot in her movie. SHE was very serious."

He said, "Yeah, but she's hot."

I said, "You're a dumba**"" and he laughed at me, because he's not afraid to just say it as he means it.

I'm not saying this applies to everyone. I'm not even saying it applies to older white dudes only. Or older white people only. But it DOES apply to some people because of perceptions that people have about what characters they think SHOULD be. 

Black Panther (as a comic book character) wasn’t just disliked because he was black. He was disliked because the mindset of certain people couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of a black man in a hero role. They didn’t like that. Some people STILL don’t like that.

It’s not any different here. It’s weird for some to see an overly powerful woman. But not just ANY overly powerful woman. If she had bigger breasts, accentuated by her costume, and always had a big smile on her face and in cheesy way said things like “It’s Grrll Power, boys!’, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’d play right into people’s expectations -mostly NON-female expectations- of the way a FEMALE superhero should act.

They TRIED to go after Wonder Woman, but her attractiveness got in the way of their sexism and it couldn’t gain the same traction as this does. Brie really is more of the ‘girl next door’ type you’d see walking down the street - not the super model type - so she’s easier to attack - easier to pick apart for her looks, her body type, her SMILE… all the things we really don’t even think about when choosing a MALE superhero.

And the older you are the more likely you’ll fall into that because you grew up during a time when… well that’s how things were done. Some people have never got past that.

 

Or... maybe some folks just have the opinion that Brie Larson was not a good actress in this movie regardless of the person's age or skin color.

Why the hell does everyone's opinion, or hell - why does EVERYTHING have to be tainted with race and gender nowadays?

Geez!

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Chuck Gower said:

More like:

aTriggered.jpg

I liked the movie, I didn't like Brie Larson's acting performance. So that automatically triggers people to start making race and age ad hominem attacks?

You don't know me so STFU with your racist stereotyping.

And same to everyone else who automatically assumes that anyone who doesn't like this movie must be a racist sexist "old white dude" including the one who first interjected race into this discussion.

Edited by jcjames
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I agree with much of Chuck's post.

Mainly, that the backlash would be more muted, frankly, if Brie Larson were hotter, sexier.

(Even though James Cameron attacked the Wonder Woman film for having her be both a strong female protagonist _and_ sexy, as if our heroines couldn't / shouldn't be both.)

But mostly I still think there's still some underlying resentment from some middle-aged comic book geeks who didn't grow up collecting Ms. Marvel appearances and/or considering her a main character.

I'm not saying you can't criticize the film - there are plenty of places it could have been better.

But for a middle-aged comic geek, it's one thing when FF #52s began costing more than FF # 48s -- But quite another when Marvel Superheroes # 13 start costing $5,000 in CGC 9.2.

There used to be an in-crowd aura among comic nerds -- we read and collected the source material before it was cool or mainstream. But now Hollywood dictates who the characters are in the public domain, not the original comics.

For all intents and purposes:

- Nick Fury is now black

- Black Panther is now an A-list character on par with Captain America and Thor

- Iron Man is as big as Spider-Man

- In the space of a weekend, Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel is well on her way to being a superhero as big/bigger than Doctor Strange.

(at least among the general public.)

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