Films

[Amy Lawn]

I think it's fair to say that the Superman of the 40s is totally different from the Superman of today, but they're still all stories of saving people and stopping the bad things before they happen. In 75+ years of publishing history (and loads of other media), there has obviously been a lot of contradictions and changes, but by and large he's been a character who saves people.

Edited August 5, 2015 by GETOFFAMYLAWN

[frostypaw]

And who's super.

I think marvel got the angle better with Captain America, the whole hero out of time thing would have worked for me but the less morally absolute Superman spoils the legend. Even in old Superman people found him somewhat old-fashioned so it would follow

A superman who comes back and is disgusted by what we've become could have been really interesting

[viberunner]

I think it's fair to say that the Superman of the 40s is totally different from the Superman of today,

 

Superman was originated to fight the powerful, he went on to fight vehicular accidents, and has finally arrived in his neutered state - a god without bollocks -  fighting the XZZITHIX from the planet GGGIGFVX from dimension URRGLUGL who are planning to use the sword/beacon/crystal of MAMFFMAAMF to destroy XXUXXUXU.

 

But what's the alternative, give the social commentary back to Superman?

 

"Hey, Superman. The country you protect has illegally invaded a sovereign state, that it armed, on a patently false pretext leading to the direct loss of a million lives and a catastrophic, genocidal sectarian civil war between Sunni, Shia, Kurds and various ethnic minorities. More than that your country is teetering on doing the same thing to Iran on the grounds Iranians can't have nuclear weapons even though they don't to protect their expansionist client state Israel who, as it happens, do have hundreds of the things. What have you got to say about that?"

 

'Err.... I have decided to concentrate on flyovers between Metropolis and Sururbiahood, with a special focus on the train infrastructure. I have also a scanner that will alert me to air traffic incidents with as much as 150 miles. The police can be relived that some of the lower-end petty criminals will feel the full force of investigative powers that borderline not so much on the supernatural as the divine.'

 

It's why the supervillains are so desperately required, filled in with mundane threats of a I SENSE A CHIPFAT FIRE level. Without them to distract the viewer he'd have razed Capitol Hill and put the 10 million US millionaires into work camps.

 

 

by and large he's been a character who saves people.

 

 

Yes, but my point is what people are being saved from has changed. And not for the better though as a sci-fi fan I'm all for the occasional parallel universe / supervillain detour. But they have become the norm. So much so the notion of Superman even questioning authority these days would be a ZOMFG! "radical" departure.

 

 

I think marvel got the angle better with Captain America, the whole hero out of time thing would have worked for me but the less morally absolute Superman spoils the legend. 

 

 

Winter Soldier was magnificently devised, it's the only subversive, intelligent Marvel movie that I'm aware of. The between-the-lines wasn't "if America doesn't watch itself it might turn into the Nazis it so avowedly detests", I took it to as "America is so covered in Swastikas it looks like a mesh catsuit".

 

Winter Soldier is the Marvel film worth a watch.

 

(Guardians is worth watching too, but not because it feels like a Marvel thing).

Edited August 5, 2015 by viberunner

[Winslow Leach]

Winter Soldier was magnificently devised, it's the only subversive, intelligent Marvel movie that I'm aware of. The between-the-lines wasn't "if America doesn't watch itself it might turn into the Nazis it so avowedly detests", I took it to as "America is so covered in Swastikas it looks like a mesh catsuit".

 

Winter Soldier is the Marvel film worth a watch.

 

(Guardians is worth watching too, but not because it feels like a Marvel thing).

 

See, I thought Winter Soldier wimped out by going for the 'the phantom was really Old Man Nazi all along!' route. It Wos the Nazis Wot Done It.

 

 

Superman was originated to fight the powerful, he went on to fight vehicular accidents, and has finally arrived in his neutered state - a god without bollocks -  fighting the XZZITHIX from the planet GGGIGFVX from dimension URRGLUGL who are planning to use the sword/beacon/crystal of MAMFFMAAMF to destroy XXUXXUXU.

 

But what's the alternative, give the social commentary back to Superman?

 

"Hey, Superman. The country you protect has illegally invaded a sovereign state, that it armed, on a patently false pretext leading to the direct loss of a million lives and a catastrophic, genocidal sectarian civil war between Sunni, Shia, Kurds and various ethnic minorities. More than that your country is teetering on doing the same thing to Iran on the grounds Iranians can't have nuclear weapons even though they don't to protect their expansionist client state Israel who, as it happens, do have hundreds of the things. What have you got to say about that?"

 

'Err.... I have decided to concentrate on flyovers between Metropolis and Sururbiahood, with a special focus on the train infrastructure. I have also a scanner that will alert me to air traffic incidents with as much as 150 miles. The police can be relived that some of the lower-end petty criminals will feel the full force of investigative powers that borderline not so much on the supernatural as the divine.'

 

 

This is why the majority of attempts to deal with superheroes in any sort of updated or zeitgeist capturing way fail. Alan Moore got there first, and he did it better.

[frostypaw]

See, I thought Winter Soldier wimped out by going for the 'the phantom was really Old Man Nazi all along!' route. It Wos the Nazis Wot Done It.

Agreed - though the correct alternative ending that played out in my head would never have gotten past Marvel's board, precisely because of who they are

I'm trying to think what the last truly subversive mainstream film has been :/ Issit just Wall-e?

[viberunner]

See, I thought Winter Soldier wimped out by going for the 'the phantom was really Old Man Nazi all along!' route. It Wos the Nazis Wot Done It.

 

 

You're not wrong, but in a hundreds-of-millions comic book movie I guess I was willing to settle for the subtext. :-)

 

But the film was about "America can't be trusted with weapons" which I liked. Much more so than the other MCU films.

Edited August 6, 2015 by viberunner

[viberunner]

HD version of Terminator Genisys available.

 

Bonus: if you're studying to learn Korean it includes hardcoded subs!

[metallimuse]

So I read today and that the new Avengers film flopped world wide.

[FloorFiller]

So I read today and that the new Avengers film flopped world wide.

 

Age Of Ultron? it's the sixth highest grossing film ever, so no flop. unless you're talking about Fantastic Four, which isn't a Marvel film, in which case yeah that absolutely bombed after getting hilariously scathing reviews. i want to see it now more than i did before just to see how much of a train wreck it is

[Amy Lawn]

Age Of Ultron? it's the sixth highest grossing film ever, so no flop. unless you're talking about Fantastic Four, which isn't a Marvel film, in which case yeah that absolutely bombed after getting hilariously scathing reviews. i want to see it now more than i did before just to see how much of a train wreck it is

Apparently it's not bad, there's just nothing good about it. It goes through loads of motions and you sit there not giving a single shit the whole way through.

[FloorFiller]

Apparently it's not bad, there's just nothing good about it. It goes through loads of motions and you sit there not giving a single shit the whole way through.

 

i had absolutely zero expectations for it anyway so wasn't surprised to see it fail, although i didn't think it would to such a hilarious degree. looks terrible - especially the design of Doom

 

 

i mean, what the hell is that!? looks like a burnt up crash test dummy. think i'll just wait until it's 'available'

[metallimuse]

Age Of Ultron? it's the sixth highest grossing film ever, so no flop. unless you're talking about Fantastic Four, which isn't a Marvel film, in which case yeah that absolutely bombed after getting hilariously scathing reviews. i want to see it now more than i did before just to see how much of a train wreck it is

My bad,I was talking Fantastic Four.

Note to self,never post while sat in the pub.

[viberunner]

Fantastic Four... the director has disowned it and it has had one of the most famously troubled shoots and reshoots of modern times. Hell, there's stuff in the trailer that didn't make it in (e.g. The Thing falling to earth), Tim Blake Nelson was signed-on to play Mole Man (not Dr Allen), the Fantasticar was cut, it wasn't supposed to be Dr Doom ("Von Doom" is only said out-loud by offscreen characters), Johnny "Human Torch" Storm was almost entirely edited out (surely not because he is black, Fox?), Planet Zero got redone, and the "clobbering time" baseball bat abuse was another forced reshoot.

 

 

PS, the shitty 1994 version of Fantastic Four (yes, it did exist) had these as the Four

 

 

And THIS as Dr Doom

 

 

Now THAT'S how you do a Dr Doom!

[kaosmark2]

Are there any non-shitty versions of the Fantastic Four?

[metallimuse]

Are there any non-shitty versions of the Fantastic Four?

One of them had Jessica Alba.Not sure on the plot but visually it must have been pleasing?

[FloorFiller]

i find it hilarious that the 1994 b-movie that was made entirely so that the studio could retain the rights to the Fantastic Four brand (i believe it was released for a day and then removed so that it could be listed as a properly released film) is the one that's managed to get Doctor Doom the closest to his comic counterpart. i know a man walking round with a hooded cape and metal mask who is inherently evil is a hard thing to do realistically, but from what i've heard about the new one his evil motives come out of absolutely nowhere - they just go back to Planet Zero to find him and bam, he's evil now

 

the Mole Man thing is very strange as well. i'd assumed that all the talk of Tim Blake Nelson being cast  as him may have been chinese whispers that had gotten out of hand, but people seemed so sure of it. is it possible they just changed his character mid way through filming?!

Edited August 11, 2015 by FloorFiller

[kaosmark2]

One of them had Jessica Alba.Not sure on the plot but visually it must have been pleasing?

Plot and characterisation was shite. Loads of films have pretty actresses, I'd prefer to watch those that are actually good.

[viberunner]

 

the Mole Man thing is very strange as well. i'd assumed that all the talk of Tim Blake Nelson being cast  as him may have been chinese whispers that had gotten out of hand, but people seemed so sure of it. 

 

He himself confirmed it in interviews shortly after having been hired. He has also tweeted about it IIRC.

 

Anyway, one direct interview:

 

http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/i-see-movies-for-free-tulsa-s-tim-blake-nelson/article_a15e6026-d15e-11e3-b4d1-0017a43b2370.html

 

 

is it possible they just changed his character mid way through filming?!

 

Yes, though for bonus points you could define "they".

 

[RichieSpenno]

Are there any non-shitty versions of the Fantastic Four?

 

 

But seriously, I was getting quite excited for this film but since it was released, I have no interest. 

 

I just want my Showcase stamp

Edited August 11, 2015 by RichieSpenno

[Amy Lawn]

Oy, lads, Rise Of The Silver Surfer was enjoyable. It wasn't great, but none of these superhero films ever are. Had a lot of most entertaining action sequences, satisfactory scenery chewing, and Dr Doom riding the Surfer's board. What's not to love? Decent popcorn film. Also, the demise of Doom by him sinking into the ocean had worked me up an appetite for a third installment where he discovers Atlantis, pinches the book of magic, causing Namor to go rampaging and such other shenanigans. But you all ruined that with your negativity, and now we have this, are you happy now?

[Spindles]

I enjoyed ant man more than I expected.  Got the right balance of humour without being a joke itself.

[viberunner]

Terminator Genisys wasn't as bad as I had feared, though I went in there with expectations of it being an abomination like Terminators 3 and 4. It's not a patch on either Cameron film, of course, but it's nowhere near as dire as the other two either. Half in the Bag (youtube reviewers) described it as "a fan film with better special effects" and actually that's not so very far from what it is. Don't get me wrong, crappy and messy plot, horrible acting - the CGI version of Arnie was the best actor by far - but I didn't hate it on a deep and personal level as I hated T3/T4.

[FloorFiller]

Terminator Genisys wasn't as bad as I had feared, though I went in there with expectations of it being an abomination like Terminators 3 and 4. It's not a patch on either Cameron film, of course, but it's nowhere near as dire as the other two either. Half in the Bag (youtube reviewers) described it as "a fan film with better special effects" and actually that's not so very far from what it is. Don't get me wrong, crappy and messy plot, horrible acting - the CGI version of Arnie was the best actor by far - but I didn't hate it on a deep and personal level as I hated T3/T4.

 

although you've just raised my expectations somewhat and so therefor i'm bound to now be disappointed, that's good to hear. i knew it wasn't gonna be great. hell, i knew there was a chance it wasn't even gonna be good, but a new Terminator film with actual (not CGI) Arnie in tow? i'm in. can't be any worse than Salvation, anyway

[gary1979666]

MI:5 was decent enough.  Cruise is looking a bit old for it now, but still good.  Only annoyance were the references to the IMF - kept expecting Christine Lagarde to pop up, but they actually meant the Impossible Mission Foundation!

[jump]

I thought it was pretty sh#t. More "honey I shrunk the kids" than superhero film.

 

People complain all superhero films are the same then complain when a superhero film is different.