The Dark Knight Rises You Have My Permission To Lounge - Part 3

[Tacit Ronin]

How was Boseman as Black Panther?

 

[Brother Jack]

You know, I do find it discouraging that just 4 years after Nolan, Bats is back to a film with a rotten rating below 30%. Makes me shiver thinking what else is in store.

What's more insane to me is that outside of Nolan DC/WB hasn't excelled with a live action film arguably since 1992. The two Superman films aren't complete failures but they're mediocre in ways that exemplify their difficulty in getting that character right. Them getting Nolan in the first place is looking more and more like an anomaly.

 

[DACrowe]

I'm not surprised. Singer has yet to direct a bad X-Men film, and the First Class trilogy has been great so far.

MCU fans and comic purists think the Cap trilogy is the one to surpass TDKT, but I think the first Class trilogy is the one franchise that could come even remotely close.

I agree with this. I do not think any of the First Class films (having not seen Apocalypse) have or will come close to the quality of TDKT. But they are all quality and they all stand on their own as relatively self-contained cinematic stories.

The Cap movies are informed by a slew of other movies (namely three Cap movies and 2 Avengers films), they are not nearly as self-contained... and well The First Avenger isn't very good.

Then again, according to the raves, the chance that Apocalypse outdoes Civil War seems small. I guess we find out in three weeks.

 

[I Am The Knight]

How was Boseman as Black Panther?

He was rather good. Boseman plays him as a noble, young leader who gets thrust into the conflict between the Avengers at the just the right time to test what he stands for. He has a nice little arc.

 

[DACrowe]

First Class was OK at best. Not really my thing. The first Singer X-Men was average, X2 was better but I wouldn't call it fantastic. DoFP is the best one for my money, but it lacked originality and I thought it was a cheap gimmick to use that movie to wipe the slate clean. It made every previous film worthless, especially 2013's Wolverine. If I was James Mangold I would have been pissed because only one year later there's a movie that makes his look like a waste of time/money.

Future Past had a great final scene. Well executed, emotional, with shades of Inception. I would say borderline rip-off but it did the trick. Problem is, I can't really revisit that scene or film because of the gimmick. "Ta-daa! Now we can erase the mistakes and do another 7 movies cuz u know..we're starting from scratch! Yay! More money!"

Love Oscar Isaac and I like Sophie Turner in Game of Thrones but sorry guys...they look as bad as anything in BvS in every trailer I've seen.

The idea that Oscar Isaac will be bad (his make-up is another matter) seems to be reaching.

And I just disagree with this mindset. It doesn't matter if The Wolverine "didn't happen" (at least the exact way that it previously did) because of Days of Future Past. Each is an individual experience and in their own story they find truth or not. I actually am so-so on The Wolverine, but if you enjoy it, there is no reason you cannot simply because Days of Future Past fudged with the timeline. That could only have happened if the events in the OT and The Wolverine happened (though not X-Men Origins. NEVER X-Men Origins).

If you enjoy one or the other and they work as their own story, who cares if the dots are fully connected off-screen? And Days of Future Past, while no Inception (which is a pretty high bar to raise) is a very satisfying experience. You're right the first time surprise is gone, but the catharsis of seeing Logan and all of them back after the horrid future (and X3 for that matter) still makes it work for me.

Oh and P.S.: how is First Class so bad?

It has Magneto hunting Nazis while riffing on Sean Connery's James Bond and colorful go-go '60s comics aesthetics. It is just a rush for fans of old Marvel comics or Bond movies, I thought.

 

[Brother Jack]

I love how the each of the "First Class trilogy" is framed as a period piece. The first one in the 60's, then the 70's, now the 80's.

 

[BatLobster]

The X-Men films are solid for me. I've enjoyed them all sans-X3, but at the same time none of them really SOAR for me in the way that some of my favorite CBMs have. Although the Quicksilver sequence in DOFP was brilliant, definitely a highlight moment for the genre. I'd like to revisit the first two films though, been a long time since I've seen them.

What's sad is I think we're looking at a very real possibility of BvS being the one poorly received comic book film of the year. Deadpool and Civil War are already in the bag, Apocalypse lifting the embargo early is a good sign, I see no reason Dr. Strange won't be another success for Marvel, and (FINGERS CROSSED) Suicide Squad looks to be in pretty good shape.

Okay, so the new TMNT film will most likely be a rotten too, but that's to be expected.

 

[shauner111]

The idea that Oscar Isaac will be bad (his make-up is another matter) seems to be reaching.

And I just disagree with this mindset. It doesn't matter if The Wolverine "didn't happen" (at least the exact way that it previously did) because of Days of Future Past. Each is an individual experience and in their own story they find truth or not. I actually am so-so on The Wolverine, but if you enjoy it, there is no reason you cannot simply because Days of Future Past fudged with the timeline. That could only have happened if the events in the OT and The Wolverine happened (though not X-Men Origins. NEVER X-Men Origins).

If you enjoy one or the other and they work as their own story, who cares if the dots are fully connected off-screen? And Days of Future Past, while no Inception (which is a pretty high bar to raise) is a very satisfying experience. You're right the first time surprise is gone, but the catharsis of seeing Logan and all of them back after the horrid future (and X3 for that matter) still makes it work for me.

Oh and P.S.: how is First Class so bad?

It has Magneto hunting Nazis while riffing on Sean Connery's James Bond and colorful go-go '60s comics aesthetics. It is just a rush for fans of old Marvel comics or Bond movies, I thought.

I agree about the final scene in Days. First Class, well, I only liked Fassbender hunting down nazis Bond style that's about it. Bad villains. Lawrence was fine, liked her more in Days, looks terrible in Apocalypse. Which annoys me. To see more than one great actor look below average in their performance. I feel like Singer could be reaching a bit with this film.

When it's a cinematic universe, I find it hard to take one movie and just enjoy it if the timeline is all screwed up. Which it is in this X-Men franchise. I thought Wolverine was solid up until the final act, which kinda ruined it for me. I tried revisiting it, and even the better parts felt like nothing new to my eyes. It's quite generic when I think about what Darren Aronofsky could have done with that story. Another terrible villain.

I might be a little harsh on First Class. I'll try to watch it soon with Days, back-to-back before Apocalypse. I liked First Class in the cinema but not the kids in that movie so much. I feel like we're going back to that with Apocalypse...the teenage mutants. So I'm not thrilled about that. McAvoy is fine but a little overrated I find. It's a little jarring seeing him next to Patrick Stewart. I'm not sure if I buy that casting after all this time.

Maybe I'm just not attached to these characters like i am with some of the Avengers, or DC's heroes.

 

[shauner111]

On second thought, I probably won't waste my time watching the first two before Apocalypse since there's already a handful of 2016 films that I need to watch. I don't think I can sit through those scenes with Banshee, Havoc, Beast and Emma Frost.

I watched Winter Soldier again last night. 4/5. Maybe even a little higher. So pumped for Civil War.

 

[DACrowe]

Fair enough. I will just point out when the X-Men started, they were teenagers in the comics. I think Vaughn caught that kind of youthful exuberance well. It remains to be seen if Apocalypse will do the same.

Still, Civil War is the next on the see list, and I look forward to it.

 

[Slade W]

You will probably like it. It is a good, fun movie, and it is up there with TA, IM 1 and TWS. Spider-Man's scenes in it were a lot of fun, and made me laugh.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

I was thinking of Snyder's Metropolis and it was actively trying for me to actually remember anything about it. Was there anything memorable about Metropolis other than the giant bird feces sanctuary of a Superman statue? It looked about as generic as you don't hope for.

Which is funny on the back of so many complaining about Nolan's Gotham being a regular city. Notice I didn't bring up Snyder's Gotham, it's because he himself didn't care enough to show it.

 

[shauner111]

Those Turkish airlines commercials had me pumped for Gotham. What a letdown.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

It would be hilarious if they were actual established shots from the movie Snyder didn't use.

 

[BatLobster]

I'm wondering if they kept cutting establishing shots out of the movie until they were eventually all gone. I guess we'll see if any pop up in the extended cut.

 

[shauner111]

It's possible. It's a hackjob so I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

 

[Brother Jack]

I was thinking of Snyder's Metropolis and it was actively trying for me to actually remember anything about it. Was there anything memorable about Metropolis other than the giant bird feces sanctuary of a Superman statue? It looked about as generic as you don't hope for.

Which is funny on the back of so many complaining about Nolan's Gotham being a regular city. Notice I didn't bring up Snyder's Gotham, it's because he himself didn't care enough to show it.

Nolan's Gotham may have been a "regular" city but it was distinctly so. As in, it was properly established and showcased. I felt like I knew that city inside and out, regardless of its proximity to any real world American city. Snyder's cities were just nondescript. I couldn't describe them in any way to you except that they're big and dark gray.

 

[Snow Queen]

Someone in those boards was telling me how it was fine they were so generic since it wasn't a movie about Gotham and/or Metropolis, but that's blatantly missing the point. The setting should always add something, but especially in these kinds of "worlds collide" types of film, there needs to be two worlds to collide. They should both be extensions of their reflective characters (let's ignore for a moment how poorly characterized they were as well), the fact they're interchangeable and unremarkable is a complete misstep. Often, I couldn't tell you which city a scene was set in.

It's quite funny now thinking back to how some were declaring Snyder's Gotham already the best one after the Turkish airline promo.

 

[shauner111]

I agree. Call Gotham boring all you want in Nolan's films, but it had an identity. Some kind of personality. And you knew what area of Gotham you were in once the scene began.

Snyder's Gotham didn't feel like its own city. You know how Nolan had the narrows? Well, Gotham felt like the slums of Metropolis. I wouldn't even say the slums. Just the other side of town that wasn't in a downtown area of Metropolis.

Affleck will probably do a good job with the city.

I guess that football game will end up in the director's cut?

 

[DACrowe]

You will probably like it. It is a good, fun movie, and it is up there with TA, IM 1 and TWS. Spider-Man's scenes in it were a lot of fun, and made me laugh.

I did indeed. I liked it better than TWS and agree it is up there with The Avengers and Iron Man. It is a three-ring circus that really works. It shouldn't, but it does. All the characters pay off and it just leaves you with a big goofy grin.

I do think that the conflict was handled with "kid gloves" in the sense that not until the ver end of the third act does the fighting get not only personal but destructive and friendship-threatening. Up until then, nobody seemed to take anything too personally. But as a popcorn movie, it worked really well and made all the characters shine, especially Spidey. I also surprisingly loved Ant-Man in it. Which is odd since I did not like Ant-Man last year. Go figure.

 

[DACrowe]

Oh I also want to add that Civil War has a pretty generic villain. But that is fine since he is not a major presence in the film. With that said, his role in the movie is better defined and better serves the theme of the piece, and the logic of the narrative, than countless scenes with Lex "Jim Carrey" Luthor Jr.

Wow, the difference is night and day.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

And Black Panther?

 

[DACrowe]

He was very well done. Boseman is great in the role, but he really is one of the more tertiary characters to my surprise. They give him a good costume and motivation, but he plays a backseat for most of it.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Really? From what I've read he is the fourth most important character after the Cap, Bucky, Tony trio. Guess I'll find out in two days.