Captain Marvel (MCU)

[Totenkindly]

Might as well start talking about this now, since it's only two months or so out.

The idea sounded interesting -- I like the thought of having an intensely powered female hero showing up in the MSU, it's been too long a wait -- but I've always been kind of, eh, especially when the first trailers rolled out.

I really like Brie Larson as an actress, but I'm not convinced that she was right for this role. Yes, there are various iterations of particular superheroes. But as far as I can recall, Carol Danvers is more a gritty old-timer in her past and how she typically carried herself, and I never really thought of Brie Larson in that role. Will she have the edge, the gravitas, the grit to really pull it off successfully? I am trying to be open-minded, but even after seeing the trailers I'm not really convinced yet.

The first teaser-trailer didn't really convince me of much, I was kind of indifferent to it even as they tried to heavily promote it as an "event" of some kind. Carol looks too pretty and airbrushed much of the time. If you're going to have a warrior, make her a freaking warrior. I really feel like they should have gone with some who was more rugged, worn, weathered, less polished, less makeup. (Some of this they COULD control even with Brie in the film, just stop prettying her up so much.) I could even see Carol being a chain smoker, if she wasn't living away from earth for so long, with a huskier voice. She's a freaking fighter pilot, she should be a "maverick," a rugged warrior cowboy badass. I dunno. Scars.

The second trailer's a bit better, if only to watch her smack around an old lady. But it still often feels like a teenage girl in a costume, not someone who has been battle-hardened and battle-scarred. I don't feel convinced by it.

The ending space CGI felt a little fake looking too. Again.... dunno.

Does anyone have similar or even contrasting thoughts on it?



In comparison, I think the Gal Gadot version of wonder woman -- despite her being model-beautiful -- aligns very closely with the familiar comic-book version and she feels like a grown woman, so I never felt like it didn't gel.

 

[Totenkindly]

I guess for background too, Carol Danvers was in some of the earlier comics I read, especially stuff like the Avengers Annual 12 (?) -- whichever one had the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and penciled by Michael Golden, where Carol shows up with amnesia after Rogue sucks her powers and memories... and then chews out the Avengers for handing her off to rape bro Marcus the immortal. (Pretty powerful response by Claremont -- good for him!)

And then where she showed up in the X-men in space fighting the Brood, taking on the powers of Binary, far more than human.

So Carol has been in my earliest memories as a comic book reader, over a period of many years. It looks like I might just have to accept this version isn't going to be very much like the one I'm acquainted with from the comics, unfortunately.

The last trailer wasn't really much better to me, and again the CGI in space looks pretty fake. I guess as a plus it actually has some Jude Law in it.

 

[VILLANELLE]

I bawled my eyes out seeing the trailer, I don't know why, and I've got a Captain Marvel doll already. I'm hyped. This movie, this character, inspires me already. I really like Brie as an actress and I think she'll do good in the role. I'm excited for Avengers Endgame as well because she'll be in that too.

TL;DR: I AM EXCITED!

 

[Totenkindly]

I think this was the superbowl trailer. (I didn't watch the superbowl.)

I think it's better than the other trailers, but I don't know what that means -- it's cut in such short segments, it's not really representative of the film as a whole. But it does feel more high-energy. The film is coming out in a month and I still don't quite know what to expect.

 

[Totenkindly]

Yeah so this is one thing I saw today....

Captain Marvel Movie In Trouble? Drops Whopping 80M | Cosmic Book News

I previously wrote how Brie Larson is a huge gamble for Disney and Kevin Feige - especially following the failure of Star Wars: The Last Jedi - and now the Captain Marvel movie looks to be in big, big trouble, unfortunately.

Back in January, following the NCAA trailer, it was reported that Captain Marvel was projected to have a massive $160 million opening weekend with some estimates even offering $180 million.

However, the bad news for Kevin Feige and Captain Marvel is that those projections have now dropped upwards of $80 million (note: article has been updated to reflect million and not percent), as it is reported the flick may only open around $100 million.

...There is also a huge problem with Brie Larson who has been spinning Captain Marvel as a feminist movie, essentially isolating the audience, and she even recently came out against white males for some reason. I'm actually surprised and disappointed in Kevin Feige that he is allowing Larson to destroy the MCU audience, and that Disney and CEO Bob Iger haven't learned anything from Star Wars. It's never a good thing to split the audience or insult them. Do they not want white males to go see the movie?

I have not see any of the press -- as noted, I've been keeping away from this film and Avengers Endgame because I don't want spoilers. So I don't know if the writer has some bias to start with, but I could see it going this way. Larson is pretty vocal about what she thinks. The article continues too about Disney's "The Last Jedi" and how controversial that has become. (Then they had to go and fire Gunn from GotG.) I don't know, I don't really want the culture wars in my marvel / jedi films. (I don't have a problem with Black Panther because it was relevant to the plot and was handled in a deeper fashion; it was a thoughtful movie.) Please just write good characters of any gender and race without making them huge cultural focal points for social issues in general, unless that is the gist of the actual story. Some of the flicks coming out have felt more like a statement rather than making sense in their casting or scripting -- too on the nose or looking like they were on the nose.

(For example, GotG has strong female characters without having to have the script seem to scream "LOOK WE HAVE STRONG/IMPORTANT WOMEN" like The Last Jedi seemed to be doing in so many ways... not talking about Rey, but most of the others.)

Not only can that make a movie no longer a "story" but can really kill a film/franchise. I would have rather seen the Ghostbusters 2016 film fail on its (lack of) own merits, versus simply being dissed because white men felt like the franchise had been gutted to showcase women.

 

[Totenkindly]

Captain Marvel getting flooded with negative reviews

Well that blew up rather quickly.

I really think "reviews" or comments should be based on the quality of the viewed movie, in terms of whether the movie itself is well-done. Not a fan of punishing a film before release over politics... and the bizarre thing is that on one hand the complainers are complaining about movies becoming socially political... but what are they doing? The exact same thing. They're contributing to the problem by behaving similarly.

Captain Marvel wasn't really "made into a woman" for this film either, there was a male Captain Marvel early on, but Carol Danvers (who was Ms Marvel, Binary, and whoever else) has been around for 40 years (?) So making a movie about Carol is not any form of revision.

On the other tack, I'm confused about Bree's quote here about "A Wrinkle in Time."

Larson also said, "I do not need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn't work for him about [A] Wrinkle in Time. It wasn't made for him. I want to know what it meant to women of color, to biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial."

A Wrinkle in Time published in the 60's. It was written by a white Christian woman. The characters are pretty much all white from what I can recall. I was totally fine with casting Meg as a woman of color, and even the trio. My complaints about the film was that it was boring, it didn't really adapt the concepts of the book, it seemed overall to simply not be a great film but mostly a forgettable one. That's not me as a "white" woman, that's me someone evaluating the film on its own merits. I do think it's great that people of color felt represented in the film, but a film is not just about a representation, it's about making an accomplished film... it's why we tell stories. A performance has to be based on more than just one's color, it has to be based on creating a memorable characters. Anyway... I'm happy if some young women of color feel inspired by the film, that's great; and if it leads to them becoming filmmakers or actors, great too, because people need to see themselves reflected in film and there has been an imbalance for a long time; but it doesn't mean the film will be considered a "great film" on its own merits in the end.

I do kinda wish everyone would just wait a few weeks and then evaluate the upcoming film on its own merits.

 

[Jaq]

Wait, the movie came out?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Yeah so this is one thing I saw today....

Captain Marvel Movie In Trouble? Drops Whopping 80M | Cosmic Book News



I have not see any of the press -- as noted, I've been keeping away from this film and Avengers Endgame because I don't want spoilers. So I don't know if the writer has some bias to start with, but I could see it going this way. Larson is pretty vocal about what she thinks. The article continues too about Disney's "The Last Jedi" and how controversial that has become. (Then they had to go and fire Gunn from GotG.) I don't know, I don't really want the culture wars in my marvel / jedi films. (I don't have a problem with Black Panther because it was relevant to the plot and was handled in a deeper fashion; it was a thoughtful movie.) Please just write good characters of any gender and race without making them huge cultural focal points for social issues in general, unless that is the gist of the actual story. Some of the flicks coming out have felt more like a statement rather than making sense in their casting or scripting -- too on the nose or looking like they were on the nose.

(For example, GotG has strong female characters without having to have the script seem to scream "LOOK WE HAVE STRONG/IMPORTANT WOMEN" like The Last Jedi seemed to be doing in so many ways... not talking about Rey, but most of the others.)

Not only can that make a movie no longer a "story" but can really kill a film/franchise. I would have rather seen the Ghostbusters 2016 film fail on its (lack of) own merits, versus simply being dissed because white men felt like the franchise had been gutted to showcase women.

I feel like if the Last Jedi went out of its way to make a statement about politics, it was animal rights. I didn't really see that with Rose or Holdo.

I think we also have to consider an unfortunate thing that I've decided recently, and it's that a large portion of any given fanbase is utterly terrible. I don't even mean terrible on a political level; I just mean terrible in general. I unsubscribed from the Star Wars subreddit because I just felt the discussion was too toxic. It's not that I think that everyone has to like that movie, it's just that I can't stand people doing things like taking Mark Hamill quotes out of context to prove their point. There's just too much dishonest posturing and bullshit social games; I did the same thing for some political podcast subreddits for adjacent reasons (although that actually had to do with terrible political opinions in part). I mean, it was bad enough with the prequels and the effect that had on Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best; but I think the conversation now is much worse than it was then; it doesn't help that there are now actually toxic politics mixed up in some of it.

Anyway, I feel like the trailers for Captain Marvel made me interested in the movie. The only thing I really know about the character applies to the Billy Batson version because it was mentioned quite a bit in a novel from the 60s I read. But the trailers intrigued me, just as they did for Black Panther.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Just found out she has an orange tabby. I'm sold

 

[Totenkindly]

‘Captain Marvel’ First Reactions: Early Reviews of Film – Variety

I think we also have to consider an unfortunate thing that I've decided recently, and it's that a large portion of any given fanbase is utterly terrible. I don't even mean terrible on a political level; I just mean terrible in general. I unsubscribed from the Star Wars subreddit because I just felt the discussion was too toxic. It's not that I think that everyone has to like that movie, it's just that I can't stand people doing things like taking Mark Hamill quotes out of context to prove their point. There's just too much dishonest posturing and bullshit social games; I did the same thing for some political podcast subreddits for adjacent reasons (although that actually had to do with terrible political opinions in part). I mean, it was bad enough with the prequels and the effect that had on Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best; but I think the conversation now is much worse than it was then; it doesn't help that there are now actually toxic politics mixed up in some of it.

Yeah, that's the truth. If there are problems with the prequels, it wasn't Lloyd's or Best's fault.

I mean, I did watch TLJ twice and honestly am pretty soured on Star Wars in general now, but I don't understand where all the abuse of actors is coming from. then again, we've also had Gamersgate shit, etc. Pretty crazy out there.

Anyway, I feel like the trailers for Captain Marvel made me interested in the movie. The only thing I really know about the character applies to the Billy Batson version because it was mentioned quite a bit in a novel from the 60s I read. But the trailers intrigued me, just as they did for Black Panther.

I am confused, are you talking about Shazam? (Which is also coming out shortly.)
That's the DC Captain Marvel, this thread is about the Marvel Comics female Captain Marvel.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I am confused, are you talking about Shazam? (Which is also coming out shortly.)
That's the DC Captain Marvel, this thread is about the Marvel Comics female Captain Marvel.

Maybe? That shows how much I know. I didn't realize there was both a Marvel and DC Captain Marvel.

Goose, Danvers’ cat, is also getting a lot of attention from audiences. According to Kayti Burt from Den of Geek, “Cat people will love this movie.”

Yes! Cats don't get enough love in cinema.

 

[tinker683]

My own thoughts

1) Looking forward to a female main super hero, especially Carol Danvers. I don't have the extensive knowledge about her character other people have, but I did read the Civil War story arcs and she kicked major ass in those so I'm interested to see how much of that character comes over.

2) Looking over the cast, they mention "Kree doctor" being one of the characters, so I'm *VERY* interested in seeing them branching out into that whole section of the Marvelverse

3) 90's nostalgia. I'm all about that

4) I can watch Brie Larson all day. All. Day. SHES SO HOT

5) VERY interested to see how her story locks with up with Endgame, which is going to be coming out 6 weeks after the release of Captain Marvel

Can't really comment on the movie behind that. I tend not to place value in the judgements of a lot of movie critics as I have found I have different tastes than them most of the time.

 

[Totenkindly]

My thought after seeing it is that it was enjoyable but doesn't really linger much past closing credits, unfortunately. It doesn't mean it's not enjoyable.

In its favor, it ends up being better than the trailers suggested, once you see everything in context. However, it feels more like "run of mill" MCU versus really digging deep into characters. There's not really any character development, there's just Carol finally reaching a decision about who she is but it's more like "I'm not sure" straight to "okay, here it is" as she just makes her decision.

Frankly, to me, Carol Danvers' superpower is "downright stubbornness" -- she just doesn't give up, no matter how bad she gets slammed or how embarrassed she might be over a failure. She picks herself up. She keeps going. That was the only montage there, near the end, where she was embracing who she finally remembered herself to be, from her childhood and young adulthood -- the girl defiantly rising again from her failures -- that shook me a bit in a good way. It is what makes her a hero, and the fancy powers are just the icing on the cake.

I've seen reviews that were too hard of Larson -- saying she seemed bored. I thought it more reasonable to think of her as a strong willed character who doesn't have any of her memories, so she remains light on the surface, mostly bravado and deflecting inquiries with humor, to hide from the inner doubt. She seems more comfortable in her own skin once she starts to remember herself.

There's a good bit of humor. Some feels slightly amusing, but there's a few segments that are really pretty funny.

I do wish there had been more nuance -- that the film could have brought some depth to the villains and the heroes (and I don't mean necessarily the leads here, I mean overall in terms of the "sides" fighting each other). It's all pretty cut and dried, black and white. When you're the hero, you're heroic; when you're the villain, you're villainous, and if any of those roles change, then you also become the other, without any real mixing. In truth, people with bad intent can sometimes be good; and those with good intent can be frustrating or have bad qualities; and I wish the film had been more willing to muddy things in that way. It's not very adventurous from the moral angle.

It does tie up a number of loose ends in the current MCU, so that was rather nice to see. It also satisfactorily explained why Captain Marvel has powers beyond that of the Kree, even if I kinda figured out a lot of it ahead of time.

 

[Polaris]

I watched it on Friday. I thought it was pretty good for a movie belonging to a genre that isn't exactly known for its intricacy of plot, psychological insight, or philosophical depth. It's an action movie. It does action well. My only real criticism is that I don't recall it featuring any attractive males--always a real shortcoming in a movie.

 

[Totenkindly]

Jude Law was looking a bit more buff than I remember him in "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

But yeah, it's not like Thor ripping off his shirt in his namesake film.

 

[Cellmold]

 

[Tellenbach]

It's about a 6.8/10. By comparison, Black Panther would be a 7/10; Captain America: Winter Soldier would be an 8; Iron Man would be an 8.5. It's good but a bit disjointed; the actress is fine, but it suffers from lack of a powerful villain. Just when the film starts to get good, it's over.

 

[Oberon]

I would rank this movie as one of the worst Marvel movies ever made. The fact that rotten tomatoes had to change the algorithm of its movie rating system to keep this above 30 percent audience score attests to this fact.

Furthermore, media outlets are reporting that this movie is trending well, yet in truth it's still a sunk cost based on the financial records.

 

[Oberon]

Jude Law was looking a bit more buff than I remember him in "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

But yeah, it's not like Thor ripping off his shirt in his namesake film.

The fact that you think Chris Hemsworth is attractive says that you might also think Nachos are healthy.

 

[Stigmata]

The fact that you think Chris Hemsworth is attractive says that you might also think Nachos are healthy.

The minuscule amount of calcium in the pasteurized cheese technically makes it a vegetable, right?

*proceeds to eat an entire log of velvetta cheese in one sitting*