Quantumania Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

[Albright]

It’s a bit too early to tell. Yes, obviously this isn’t resonating with a lot of critics but the movie still hasn’t been released in a majority of countries yet. So we need to see whether or not audiences fall with the critics and how the box office turns out. There’s been movies where there is a divide between critics and causal audiences or just fans. Critics can pan the movie but general moviegoers could love it, and vice versa. Ant-Man 3 could be one of those movies where audiences and fans embrace, and not critics it not. So I’m eager to see what this film’s Cinemascore is and how leggy it is. I’m predicting this to get another ‘A’ but this could lean towards a B+ or so, which isn’t great for a major four quadrant blockbuster like this. I can definitely see this going either way.

Nah it’s like this nowadays:
Critic/Youtuber/Instagra, tells you a movie sucks, and then most of the followers also think/say it’s sucks.
There are very very few people out there who watch movies and not being influenced by the opinion of their favourite youtuber. And the you see all the negative reactions on social media and a lot of people can’t even explain why it sucks.

 

[Bary]

Nah it’s like this nowadays:
Critic/Youtuber/Instagra, tells you a movie sucks, and then most of the followers also think/say it’s sucks.
There are very very few people out there who watch movies and not being influenced by the opinion of their favourite youtuber. And the you see all the negative reactions on social media and a lot of people can’t even explain why it sucks.

Its always the masses rally behind whatever youtube critic opinion is even if most you-tuber critics take over an hour on their reviews to convey a simple thought that could be summed up in 10 minutes.

 

[Arachnerd]

Pretty sure the masses don't really give a crap what critics think and just go see a movie they're interested in. Keep in mind that the general public doesn't spend time online having in-depth conversations about media and critical reception.

 

[Spider-Fan]

We shall see how I feel about this tomorrow. I liked Eternals and L&T a lot, and both got lower end RT scores. In all honesty, I don't see any quality decline on the movie front. On the show front, I do see growing pains there. But the movies to me have the same ratio of A, B, or C+ movies they always had. The only difference is the content stream with the shows has maybe taken some of the MCU shine away for some, and what they once saw as crowd pleasers they are seeing more cracks in cause of the show quantity of Marvel they are getting too soon. Everyone gets sick of pizza if they have it everyday after all. But these excuses like it has gotten more corporate or more woke, BS. These films have always been both woke and highly corporate with the mission of being movies and commercials for future content. That's been since day 1. Like for me, there isn't any single regard MoM isn't superior to DS. But MoM has I think an over 10% lower RT score. If I walk out of Quantumania feeling it wasn't better than A&W, I will be very shocked. But A&W is in the like....mid to high 80s. That for me is all on changing audience expectation and perception, not on actual in film quality.

That is my 2 cents anyway

 

[DyeLorean]

I liked both Love and Thunder and Eternals' trailers enough to check them out. I actually thought Eternals was alright and didn't deserve the rotten score.
But Quantumania is the first MCU movie/show that I disliked from the get go. There was nothing compelling for me (besides a couple of bizarre shots that looked like they belong to a Doctor Strange sequel). I'm usually surprised by the reviews but this time I really was like "eh, I thought so". I'm still gonna watch it on home video, but the trip to the cinema was never an option.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

To be honest, the quality of the phase 4 movies hasn't been as good as the ones from the past.

Thor Love And Thunder juggles too many characters with a strict two hour running time. Jane Foster really needed her own movie as The Almighty Thor, instead of having her storyline competing with Thor and Valkrie and Corg with no time to breathe.

Multiverse Of Madness feels like a Fox X-Men movie in that it introduces a lot of characters only for them to be canon fodder for the female big bad who can move things with her mind. Great style from Sam Raimi, but the script was not very good. It felt like the X-Men 3: The Last Stand of the MCU.

Internals is three movies shoved into one, which is not good for building a new IP.

Now it seems like Quantummania has dropped the ball.

Hopefully with Bob Chepick or whatever is name is is now out, and Feige saying he wants to cut down on the amount of Disney Plus shows and focus more on quality, they can step up their game, especially on the movie side of things.

 

[antsman41]

...even Far From Home was a bit of a mess, ignoring the nostalgia - of course.

Without stellar performances from Dafoe, Molina, Foxx, and Maguire/Garfield; it's easy to forget it let down it's own Peter's story and universe.

The nostalgia/homage aspects are definitely the whiskey covering up a C of an third film for Holland's crew.

 

[psylockolussus]

In terms of quality control, I say, trim down the number of shows coming out every year. The films... I don't mind if we get 4 per year as long as all of them are good. But we have 2 rotten rated films now since late 2021, and we are still in early 2023.

Imagine if Fantastic 4 MCU gets a rotten rating, 2 years from now. The internet would go wild in a bad way.

 

[Comicbookguy339]

Everybody is saying to get rid of the shows but they've been better than the movies lately.

 

[psylockolussus]

Everybody is saying to get rid of the shows but they've been better than the movies lately.

Really though?

Moon Knight, She Hulk, Hawkeye, Falcon and the Winter Soldier aren't better than the best phase 4 movies for me which are No Way Home and Wakanda Forever. And worse than the likes of Multiverse of Madness and Black Widow.

And how many of the Future shows will be in everyone's radar for them to coeXist with the movies? The movies are more important in the grand scheme of things. And who knows if Feige produces fewer shows, the upcoming movies would be a lot better? We didn't have mcu shows from Marvel Studios in phase 3 and those were the better days.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I dont really care if the movies themselves get a Rotten on RT or largely bad reviews. I care in the end whether I enjoyed them or not. That honestly goes for any movie for me. Just recently, Banshees of Inesherin got a bunch of Oscar nominations, great reviews, I watched it for my annual watching Best Picture nominees viewing before the Oscars, and I found it to be an unpleasant film I would never rewatch. Give me Eternals over that any day. I am not saying I don't use reviews or that reviews are not helpful. Reviews are only something I put value in if I am on the fence or if I want to gage what people largely liked and didn't like about something. When you read 40 plus reviews, you see a pattern amongst reviewers. But in regard to why I watch the MCU, RT has never been a factor in that. It is great the MCU had such a long streak without a rotten score, but in the end its never been that important for me.

 

[Arachnerd]

Really though?

Moon Knight, She Hulk, Hawkeye, Falcon, and the Winter Soldier aren't better the best phase 4 movies for me which are No Way Home and Wakanda Forever. And worse than the likes of Multiverse of Madness and Black Widow.

And how many of the Future shows will be in everyone's radar for them to coeXist with the movies? The movies are more important in the grand scheme of things. And who knows if Feige made fewer shows, the upcoming movies would be a lot better? We didn't have mcu shows from Marvel Studios in phase 3 and those were the better days.

Most of them have been on the same level of meh for me. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed Loki (and the first three episodes of Wandavision I still maintain are fantastic) despite how polarizing that show became.

 

[psylockolussus]

The suggestion of trimming down the shows for me, is because the movies are the main dishes and imo, Marvel Studios should be giving their 100% time to the movies. The Tv shows are just eXtra work that are seen by fewer people.

 

[Comicbookguy339]

Really though?

Moon Knight, She Hulk, Hawkeye, Falcon and the Winter Soldier aren't better than the best phase 4 movies for me which are No Way Home and Wakanda Forever. And worse than the likes of Multiverse of Madness and Black Widow.

And how many of the Future shows will be in everyone's radar for them to coeXist with the movies? The movies are more important in the grand scheme of things. And who knows if Feige produces fewer shows, the upcoming movies would be a lot better? We didn't have mcu shows from Marvel Studios in phase 3 and those were the better days.

The only movies I enjoyed more than the shows you listed were Shang-Chi and Multiverse of Madness.

 

[Spider-Fan]

To be honest, the quality of the phase 4 movies hasn't been as good as the ones from the past.

Thor Love And Thunder juggles too many characters with a strict two hour running time. Jane Foster really needed her own movie as The Almighty Thor, instead of having her storyline competing with Thor and Valkrie and Corg with no time to breathe.

Multiverse Of Madness feels like a Fox X-Men movie in that it introduces a lot of characters only for them to be canon fodder for the female big bad who can move things with her mind. Great style from Sam Raimi, but the script was not very good. It felt like the X-Men 3: The Last Stand of the MCU.

Internals is three movies shoved into one, which is not good for building a new IP.

Now it seems like Quantummania has dropped the ball.

Hopefully with Bob Chepick or whatever is name is is now out, and Feige saying he wants to cut down on the amount of Disney Plus shows and focus more on quality, they can step up their game, especially on the movie side of things.

Let's compare Phase 4's films to Phase 1 and Phase 2 lumped together:

Iron Man - 94
The Incredible Hulk - 67
Iron Man 2 - 71
Thor - 77
Captain America: The First Avenger - 80
Avengers - 91
Iron Man 3 - 79
Thor- The Dark World - 66
Captain America : The Winter Soldier - 90
Guardians of the Galaxy - 92
Avengers: Age of Ultron - 76
Ant-Man - 83

Phase 4:

Black Widow - 79
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - 91
Eternals - 47
Spider-Man: No Way Home - 93
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - 74
Thor: Love & Thunder - 64
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 84

I am sorry, but this data is similar to me. Phase 4 has 2 films above 90, which is 1 fewer than Phases 1 and 2 combined. Now granted, Eternals is the lowest of the bunch, but we only have 1 other film in the 60s. Phases 1 and 2 have 2 films in the 60s. Everything else is 70s to 80s range.

This is what we have been getting from the start

 

[emc5466]

Just a reminder that Bob Chapek had really nothing to do with the creative at Disney these last few years. Iger was still executive chairman and he was the one in charge of the creative.

 

[DyeLorean]

I'm sorry but this looks awful.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I thought the two Special Presentations were quite entertaining. The GOTG Christmas Special was different and not as formulaic as other Christmas movies of recent years as it didn't involve one of the following Christmas movie tropes: girl from big city goes to small town around Christmas (for some reason) and while staying in that small town for a few days and that big city girl falls in love with a local guy. Sometimes the local guy has a child but most of the time they don't.....or a Prince from a fictional European country (instead of using an actual European country that has a monarchy, like the UK, Spain, the Netherlands or 3/4ths of the Scandinavian countries) going to a city in the United States (on a royal visit) during the Holidays and while in the city, falls in love with a local girl and after some trials and tribulations, they end up happily ever after....or the last trope of a duo or group of people join forces with an elf or a precocious kid as well as Santa to save Christmas from an entity that wants to put an end to Christmas. The GOTG Christmas Special was a welcome relief in that sense. Now the plot was for Drax and Mantis to make Peter happy for Christmas, but still it's a nice change from every other Christmas movie out there. I like Christmas movies that don't relay on these tropes.

Werewolf by Night had Gael Garcia Bernal (one of my favorite actors) and the premise was likely good enough for him to sign on since Bernal is quite picky about the film roles to choose and he usually doesn't ever choose franchises, always low budget studio films or Independent films and usually serious films (BTW, I am very much surprised that Bernal hasn't done a Wes Anderson film. Wes Anderson seems to a film maker who would fit the type films Bernal usually chooses).

And I am still pushing for an in-universe documentary as a Special Presentation. If you know anything about documentaries, they rely heavily on footage from TV, internet (and sometimes home movies if it's about a person), audio recordings and pictures, sometimes even animation to go along with interviews. An in-universe documentary in which we know is fictional but within the world of the MCU is real, would not have to worry about the over reliance on CGI and instead can use TV, audio, internet, animation, photos and interviews to tell the story.

 

[Arachnerd]

I'm sorry but this looks awful.

The bad greenscreen, the tiresome attempt at comedy, and Kathryn Newton's underwhelming performance... damn, and I was actually really looking forward to this. Reviews still say that Jonathan Majors is a highlight, so there's that at least.

There are leaked pics of MODOK circling around online and the CGI is really rough. This is what happens when you overwork VFX artists to the bone.

 

[Dr. Evil]

The bad greenscreen, the tiresome attempt at comedy, and Kathryn Newton's underwhelming performance... damn, and I was actually really looking forward to this. Reviews still say that Jonathan Majors is a highlight, so there's that at least.

There are leaked pics of MODOK circling around online and the CGI is really rough. This is what happens when you overwork VFX artists to the bone.

That is why I favor the "in-universe" documentary format for a Special Presentation. Don't have to worry about VFX or CGI if you do an in-universe documentary and gives the VFX folks a break from a Marvel project. My suggestion has been doing an in-universe documentary about the Howling Commandoes, so that we can complete their story. A few of them passed away before the events of the first Avengers movie when Steve Rogers looked at their files. But how long prior to the events of the Avengers movie had they passed? In Spider-Man: Homecoming, the principal of the school is the grandson of Choi of the Howling Commandoes. We can use the "in-universe documentary" to determine when Principal Choi was born and if he knew his grandfather. As I said in my last post, if you know anything about the documentary genre, you know that documentaries like to use video footage, audio recordings, newspaper clippings, interviews (live to tape or even archived interviews) and sometimes even animation to tell the story featured in the documentary and Marvel can use that to tell "in-universe documentaries." This way, you give the VFX folks a break and there would be no complaints about CGI or bad green screen. Not everyone likes documentaries, but I am a fan of the genre. In actual documentaries, there are some bad jokes and awful comedy but those come from the actual people, many of whom are regular folks like us and not Hollywood writers.

 

[JtheDreamer]

Everybody is saying to get rid of the shows but they've been better than the movies lately.

Not to me that's for sure.

I found the shows largely crappola and a waste of time. The one that disappointed me the most was Moon Knight, which was the property I was most excited about.

 

[samsnee]

WandaVision was the only interesting show but the finale was a dud. I was looking forward to Falcon but the bad guys were annoying.

Every other show had entertaining moments here and there but mostly forgettable. I didn’t even finish Ms Marvel after we got get another secret society that’s been hidden this whole time.

 

[Deserana]

I'm sorry but this looks awful.

I just do not understand the logic of filming a conversation in the middle of a battleground. Even in things like Endgame or Infinity War they made sure it was quick barbs back and forth while doing things. Nothing is taken seriously. You could easily have filmed this dialogue in a way that they are fighting as they are talking but because they probably had no effin clue what the final picture was gonna look like they just filmed a conversation as plainly as possible to just fill in the gaps later.

That’s the biggest problem with the MCU, stakes are gone and it all feels cobbled together in the editing room. Not because it got too big, not because of fatigue. Because of **** writing, studio mandates and lack of consistent world building. Infinity War did such a great job of keeping the characters within that film consistent but also part of a much bigger picture and also care about the characters.

Now I care about barely any and some I don’t even know what they do anymore. Loki, Dr Strange and Wanda are all examples of characters in which I have no idea what their powers actually are anymore. Again not because it’s too big but because the writers in charge have done such a poor job keeping things consistent.

 

[squeekness]

Not to me that's for sure.

I found the shows largely crappola and a waste of time. The one that disappointed me the most was Moon Knight, which was the property I was most excited about.

I wasn't thrilled about Moon Knight either, but Loki and Hawkeye were good.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

I saw some leaked pics of MODOK…

Spoiler

and holy crap, he looks more like Humpty Dumpty than MODOK

How anyone from the creative team thought he looked good is beyond me