Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND

[dmjalund]

*Travolta/Cage intensifies*

[BoloOfEarth]

29 minutes ago, mattingly said:

GOTG3: "It's not a trap if it's a face-off!"

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

I guess he's the new Taser-Face...

[Old Man]

On 5/5/2023 at 3:34 PM, Old Man said:

So Vice has this awesome series detailing the history of the MCU (so far).  It is required viewing if you are reading this.

 

 

 

So this is an eight-episode series; I'm watching it on demand on cable but you can go to the Vice website https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/growing-pains/63755399bdcdca113277aef5 to see if you can find a place to watch it there.

[Grailknight]

Just saw GOTG3 and came out very pleased with it. 

 

Loved the development given to each character especially Rocket.

 

Loved the music choices.

 

Cosmo is a very, very good dog.

 

 

[Starlord]

Just saw Black Panther 2:  solid effort, Namor was an 'ok' effort...good overall though.

[Hermit]

Okay, saw Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 last night.

At times, the High Evolutionary was a petulant man child, but you know what? That worked for me!  And it was great to see a villain that was rotten to the core as opposed to 'they're just misunderstood' that , while it can be well done, I sometimes DO get a bit tired of the 'see the villain is a good guy from another point of view' push writers often love because it's almost overdone imo.

 

One thing I absolutely loved in this ? Star Lord is COMPETENT! Yes, he's still funny, but too often in the MCU he's been portrayed as this idiot butt monkey instead of the fast on his feet sneaky guile hero who yeah, can be a bit dorky , in Vol 1. Well, that character is back, and in a big way. Yes, he's a wreck over his losses, but he's also got brain cells and heart.

 

As for Rocket? We've all got dead people, and in this, we learn who Rocket's 'Dead People' are. While every character gets a moment, and some development... this is definitely Rocket's story overall.

 

Oh, and perhaps the biggest spoiler of the movie....

Cosmo is a good dog!

 

 

[slikmar]

3 hours ago, Hermit said:

Cosmo is a good dog!

One of the interviews I saw was with the actress who played Cosmo - it was on a compendium of the actors and Gunn talking about working on set and the atmosphere. So, she went in thinking "I will be in a studio while all these other people work" but Gunn actually had her come out on sets and play Cosmo. She said she had a blast.

[Bazza]

I thought the whole idea of Disney+ was to keep content — to basically have its content library in one place to stream (tax/rent/lease to) the consumer. 
 

 

[Old Man]

48 minutes ago, Bazza said:

I thought the whole idea of Disney+ was to keep content — to basically have its content library in one place to stream (tax/rent/lease to) the consumer. 
 

 

 

You'll have to read up on the "Disney Vault" and also "ensh*ttification".  These concepts apply to all the streaming services, not just Disney.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

I thought the whole idea of Disney+ was to keep content — to basically have its content library in one place to stream (tax/rent/lease to) the consumer.

 

We got Disney+ free for a month and the first thing I noticed is that while Iger bought like 80,000 films from various studios, only about 80 are on the channel at any time.

[Ternaugh]

42 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

We got Disney+ free for a month and the first thing I noticed is that while Iger bought like 80,000 films from various studios, only about 80 are on the channel at any time.

 

Discovering specific stuff on Disney+ can be a real chore with their content recommendation system, but that's also true for other streamers as well.

 

Checking their "All Movies" list, I counted over 1100 items across all genres. A lot of that isn't stuff I'd watch, but there's quite a bit that I would.

 

Generally, many of the family-friendly movies (and Marvel stuff) from the 20th Century purchase went to Disney+, while more adult fare went to Hulu, but the two services are slated to be merged later this year, so that will be less of an issue (Those in other countries aleady get the stuff we'd get on Hulu as part of Disney+ because Hulu was never marketed much outside of the US).

 

Disney has also licensed some of its stuff to other streamers, especially some of the 20th Century stuff. While that might be old agreements still in play, it wouldn't surprise me if they continue it, and stuff that they purge from Disney+ might show up in other places, much like what Warner/Discovery did with several shows removed from HBOmax that are now on The Roku Channel.

 

There's also a story floating about that Disney will be creating its own FAST service (free ad-supported television), like Pluto TV (Paramount), and it is very likely that some of these shows will end up on it.  That might be spun off from the ABC TV app, which I believe currently requires linking to a cable or satellite provider.

 

As far as any streaming service goes, anything that I really like I try to get as a physical copy (if it's available), as you can't guarantee when something will be removed or altered. By the way, risk of removal also applies to digital copies--if a "digital locker" like Movies Anywhere or Vudu or Amazon loses the rights to carry something, it can be removed from a purchased collection.

[mattingly]

[mattingly]

https://thedirect.com/article/marvel-ray-stevenson-dies

 

[Old Man]

12 minutes ago, mattingly said:

https://thedirect.com/article/marvel-ray-stevenson-dies

 

 

Man that's really young. 

[Lord Liaden]

Dang, Hela wasn't kidding.

 

But I'm sure he's in Valhalla.

[L. Marcus]

Not Titus Pullo!

[Bazza]

https://www.facebook.com/reel/605519147587779?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&mibextid=cQKE0S

 

smart hulk’s origin. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Ugh.  Fantastic Four casting is out there, they picked Adam Driver as Mr Fantastic and Margot Robie as Sue Storm.  I just cannot see this working.  I do not know the other two (Paul Mescal as Johnny Storm, and Daveed Diggs as Ben Grimm) so I can't comment on them other than eyerolling Diggs as Jewish Ben Grim, but he spends most of his time as rocky and orange so it is not that big a deal to me.  But Robie is like 10 years older than Driver, and I cannot envision them in those roles.  This feels more like a stunt casting to get attention than great choices for the roles.

 

But who knows, I've been wrong before.  I thought Michael Keaton was a horrible choice for Batman.

 

It just feels like the FF are cursed or something

[Lord Liaden]

Hey, I still think Michael Keaton was a bad choice for Batman.

 

But these are still just rumors. We'll have to hear official confirmation.

 

But I don't know where you're getting the actors' ages from. Margot Robbie is 32, Adam Driver is 39.

 

I don't have a problem with Ben Grimm being black instead of Jewish. The attitude of the character is what's important to convey. I was fine with a Caucasian woman as the Ancient One, and a Meso-American Namor, so this doesn't feel like a stretch.

[Lawnmower Boy]

5 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

 

I don't have a problem with Ben Grimm being black instead of Jewish. The attitude of the character is what's important to convey. I was fine with a Caucasian woman as the Ancient One, and a Meso-American Namor, so this doesn't feel like a stretch.

If this casting is correct, I do find it troubling. The creative milieu in the superhero comics field was heavily influenced by the large number of Jewish creatives working in it, and you can see it in themes of belonging, social distance, assimilation, passing, and code-switching. There is a reason that the secret identity is such an enduring trope.

 

Ben Grimm's Jewish identity was the first explicit engagement with the tension between the Jewishness of so many creatives and their public conformity with an equation between American and WASP identities. Unlike female and Black superheroes, who were easily identified as tokens of inclusion, Ben's identity starts out as head canon and is gradually and increasingly acknowledged in text. (Now if only the Ben/Reed pairing were accepted as canon, allowing Namor to finally be with his Camilla . . .) 

 

The obvious problem is that the Fantastic Four needs a Black character, and that making one of the Storm siblings Black is, once again, obvious tokenism because of the special pleading required.

 

The obvious implication is that Reed should be Black, and the fact that we're not ready for that in 2023 makes me sad. 

[Hermit]

I'm not the biggest Adam Driver fan, but I think that was because the Star Wars offerings he was involved in were a HUGE let down for me. I actually thought he did pretty well in Logan Lucky so I'm going to tell myself it was the script not the actor. He could look the part of Reed at least.

Margot Robbie should be fine, again with the right script.  She's versatile.

I don't know Paul Mescal so cant' even say.

I adore Daveed Diggs , fun performer. He's not who I picture as Ben Grimm for the voice but the guy is talented as hell. However, I  SURE hope they pull a Sammy Davis Jr. And make him Jewish anyway. Lawnmower Boy said it more eloquently than I why.

 

That said it wouldn't be a movie breaker for me if these folks were confirmed.

 

According to that article none of this is confirmed as official. It's possible things could be swapped around.

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

 

But I don't know where you're getting the actors' ages from. Margot Robbie is 32, Adam Driver is 39.

 

 

Yeah, you're right, she just looks ten years older

[Dr.Device]

I really wanted William Jackson Harper for Reed and Kristen Bell for Sue. Their chemistry was great in The Good Place. Sadly, they wasted WJH in Quantumania. 

 

I worry that if this rumor pans out it means that, given the choice of Driver, they'll be leaning into being a jerk being a big part of Reed's character. Which, to be fair, he has been in big chunks of the comics, but at other times he hasn't been, and I'd rather see that Reed. I could see Harper playing a Reed that occasionally comes off as a jerk, but mainly through frustration at other people just not understanding things that to him seem obvious. That, and occasionally just from lack of social skills.

 

I agree that Ben being Jewish is an important, if background, part of his character. Since being black doesn't preclude being Jewish, I'll reserve judgement there. 

 

Margot Robbie is an excellent actress, so I have no worries there, and I know nothing about the guy they've picked for Johnny (I've already forgotten the name).

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

3 minutes ago, Dr.Device said:

I really wanted William Jackson Harper for Reed and Kristen Bell for Sue. Their chemistry was great in The Good Place.

 

I love this idea. 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Reed is supposed to be the typical 50s-60s professor type, the smart guy who solves the problems with SCIENCE!  He's absent minded and brilliant but not as attentive as Sue would like.  Supposedly the movie is going to be set in the 60s at first at least (probably some dimension/time travel at the end), so that origin of the FF as the challengers against the unknown, explorer thing fits so well.  But I doubt they will do anything of the sort.

 

The reason people object to race swaps in movies and TV isn't the race swap in its self.  Sometimes it works really well.  The problem people have is why they are doing it: pandering, check boxing, diversity for its own sake rather than to fit the story or character, etc.  For me, this one is pretty minor, since he's going to transform into a huge orange rocky guy and is just a voice at that point, so it doesn't really matter what he used to look like.  But the reason they are doing it is annoying.