@KQ I consider Thanos' motivation to be on the same level as the machines' in the Matrix movie. It doesn't make sense when you break it down but it's cool enough as a premise that I don't mind not squinting too hard at it.
What I like about Thanos as a character isn't that he's sympathetic but that he's charismatic. For a movie that works more than well enough.
Jenny Nicholson: Thanos Has a Great Plan (infinity war spoilers)
I have a new analogy for Thanos in IW: If they were telling his story as though he were the hero, they told it in 30 second segments throughout the rest of the movie. With the fifteen or so other leads of the movie and their more coherent involvement.
At the end of Wicked, you get to see The Wizard of Oz through Elphaba’s view. Good on Infinity War for trying, but like the end of Endgame completely ruined Steve Rogers for some people, I cannot agree that Thanos was presented as a hero.
I saw Detective Pikachu last night.
I liked it more than I liked Endgame, honestly; it had a lot of heart and joy to it, and I do kind of love imagining living in that world. And it did a reasonably good job of capturing the feeling of partnership that I do associate with the best of Pokémon. That same sort of feeling I get when I transfer my old friends from previous games into a new one; I always get a little happy smile when I see Wulf (my Arcanine, who I think is about seven years old at this point) transferred into yet another game and at my side to go exploring together again.
Though, let's be entirely honest here, I'm the sort of person who even has a beloved seven-year-old Arcanine to start with. So it was not exactly unlikely I would enjoy the movie anyway, as long as it was even halfway decent.
What's somewhat more telling is that my best friend—whose only exposure to Pokémon is being a casual Pokémon Go player but who is a Marvel fan—also preferred it to Endgame.
a.k.a. Packetdancer (or "Pax" for short)
@Sparks Is it watchable/enjoyable by someone like me who never watched or played Pokemon growing up?
@Arkandel said in Good or New Movies Review:
@Sparks Is it watchable/enjoyable by someone like me who never watched or played Pokemon growing up?
I've never really watched the anime myself. Though I will admit I've picked up some knowledge of it via osmosis when at trading/battle meetups at cons like PAX West and ECCC, enough so that I recognized one of the easter eggs in the film that referenced the anime rather than the games.
My best friend has never watched the anime or played any of the games except casually playing PoGo, which is not—shall we say—exactly heavy with meaningful lore. So basically, her knowledge of Pokémon going in was enough that she could've pointed at a given Pokémon and say "Oh, hey, I caught that thing in PoGo!"
As I said, we both enjoyed it more than Endgame.
@KQ But, they did give a glimpse of that story from the beginning with Avengers.
'Master...the humans are far more capable than we were led to believe. To oppose them is to court...Death'.
Thanos smiles in our first look at his face
Also, we were getting into Cosmic Entity territory with Ego, the Celestials, and the Elders of the Universe showing up in recent movies.
@Runescryer said in Good or New Movies Review:
'Master...the humans are far more capable than we were led to believe. To oppose them is to court...Death'.
I suppose the question there is if that was just a nod to his original backstory, or if they decided to change his motivation after they'd filmed that. Either is certainly possible.
They absolutely could tell the story of someone trying to court a cosmic entity with grand gestures like killing half of all life in the universe. But, they chose not to lay out the information that would have been needed to have it make sense. At the time, they may have been concerned about releasing a blockbuster movie that didn't make sense without seeing a bunch of others first, especially in the 'three to five movies, then reboot' genre of superheros.
Honestly, that casting decision is not nearly as bad as DC's total inability to produce a coherent universe, whether it be consistent actors or consistent plots.
Someone on Twitter pointed out that if you make Pattinson Terry McGinnis and cast someone older as Bruce Wayne (I think they suggested Neal McDonough), you could probably actually make a pretty good Batman Beyond movie.
And that I would watch.
a.k.a. Packetdancer (or "Pax" for short)
@Sparks Omg Pax it was not Neal McDonough in the tweet it was Michael Keaton AKA Batman from the Tim Burton movies for the most awesome parallels ever I am so ashamed of you right now
ETA: Here is the tweet in question tho for everyone else's enjoyment.
I mean I kinda think Robert Pattinson will do better than Ben Affleck.
@Roz said in Good or New Movies Review:
@Sparks Omg Pax it was not Neal McDonough in the tweet it was Michael Keaton AKA Batman from the Tim Burton movies for the most awesome parallels ever I am so ashamed of you right now
I hang my head, appropriately chastised for not looking back at the original tweet before writing that post. Keaton does make much more sense!
a.k.a. Packetdancer (or "Pax" for short)
@Sparks In fairness, Neal McDonnough as an aged Bruce Wayne is something I'd probably watch.
I'm just a surge protector doing my job, sir.
@Arkandel said in Good or New Movies Review:
Neal McDonnough
@Arkandel Clint Eastwood as an aging Bruce Wayne would put a gun in his hand and have him talk to chairs.
@Admiral Hahah. But he's so perfect. At this point, sadly, perhaps too old to be believable but 10-15 years ago... damn.
Just saw John Wick 3. It was awesomely ridiculous action porn consistent with the series. I love the ninjas & superspies feel of that setting. As much as I liked it, I hope for John Wick 4 they reel the comedy in a little bit.
Detective Pikachu was so damn enjoyable. It's not a perfect movie, but it is a really good entry for non-fans, in my opinion. I know of Pokemon, but I'm definitely not in the "devoted fan" category.
And despite the reviews, Ryan Reynolds is perfect for the role.
Brightburn has been my first pleasant surprise of the summer. I knew I'd love Endgame, I knew I'd really enjoy Detective Pikachu, but I was unsure whether or not I'd think Brightburn was any good. Turns out, I very much enjoyed it. What sucks is that it's being released alongside Aladdin and a week before Godzilla so I'm sure it's going to get buried. I wish they had released it last year like they had planned or pushed it to Halloween of this year. Oh well, here's hoping it does well enough to warrant a sequel.
@KQ I consider Thanos' motivation to be on the same level as the machines' in the Matrix movie. It doesn't make sense when you break it down but it's cool enough as a premise that I don't mind not squinting too hard at it.
What I like about Thanos as a character isn't that he's sympathetic but that he's charismatic. For a movie that works more than well enough.
