Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Three and BEYOOOOONND

[bigdamnhero]

Honestly I'm surprised it lasted this long.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Agents of SHEESH was nothing like I hoped it would be or should be in my opinion.  They really missed the boat by focusing on one small squad separate from everyone, then turning them all on each other, etc.  It was not really anything about espionage or superheroes at all, just Whedon telling the stories he wanted to tell with vague nods toward the Marvel universe, it seemed to me.  I mean... how can you have Agents of SHIELD without Nick Fury?

[zslane]

Yeah but inter-team distrust and paranoia is apparently a reflection of the zeitgeist. It is so now. It's like 24 went off the air and all kinds of shows rushed in to fill the void (Person of Interest, The Blacklist, Blind Spot, Agents of SHIELD, etc.).

 

I think part of the problem may have been that superhero fans wanted more superhero stuff and less political thriller stuff, while political thriller fans didn't care for the superhero/scifi elements. Notice how Peggy Carter was successful when it focused on the espionage thriller stuff, but then lost viewers when it steered into Weird Sci-Fi territory. These shows suffered from a bit of an identity crisis, if you ask me.

[bigdamnhero]

Don't tease me Quesada, you bastard...

[Bazza]

Brie Larson on what is great so far about Captain Marvel (video less than 30 seconds)

 

https://twitter.com/spacechannel/status/774351488676167681

[Bazza]

From Starlord (the other one) himself: 

Chris Pratt on 'Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2': ‘It’s going to be the biggest spectacle movie of all time’

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/09/08/chris-pratt-on-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-2-its-going-to-be-the-biggest-spectacle-movie-of-all-time

 

[Bazza]

'Doctor Strange' Director Comments On 'Inception' Comparisons

 

Tweet #1

@ShockedHuh: "i laugh at the people that say doctor strange copied inception. pic.twitter.com/WIoKcDPQCP"

 

 

Tweet #2

Doctor Strange director:

@scottderrickson "Inception is brilliant. The tip of an amazing VFX iceberg. I didn’t imitate it, but was inspired to reach beyond it. https://t.co/XpgfhW8s8B"

[Bazza]

The Marvel Symphonic Universe

Off the top of your head, could you sing the theme from Star Wars? How about James Bond? Or Harry Potter? But here’s the kicker: can you sing any theme from a Marvel film? Despite 13 films and 10 billion dollars at the box office, the Marvel Cinematic Universe lacks a distinctive musical identity or approach. So let’s try to answer the question: what is missing from Marvel music?

[Bazza]

Chris holding a strange address (two more photos)

 

http://www.slashfilm.com/thor-ragnarok-doctor-strange/

http://www.slashfilm.com/thor-ragnarok-set-photos/

 

[Bazza]

There's Still a Chance Marvel's TV Heroes Might Be in Avengers: Infinity War After All

[bigdamnhero]

Re Marvel Symphonic Universe: I call shenanigans.

 

First off, it's a *tad* unfair to compare Marvel movies to Star Wars & Bond, franchises that have been around for 40+ years, have had time to completely trickle into common pop culture knowledge, and - this is kindof key - which use the same theme for every movie. Marvel deliberately has different scores for different series: Iron Man vs Thor vs Cap vs Avengers, etc. (Granted, Potter isn't 40 years old, but they still used the same themes in every movie. And tho I've seen every Potter movie and I think even have one of the soundtracks somewhere, frankly I couldn't whistle any tune from them for love or money, so I'm not sure how representative their sample is.)

 

Then they take the iconic opening theme music from SW & Bond, which are typically only played at the opening and at big climatic moments, and comparing that to background music during quiet scenes in Marvel movies. The scene from Iron Man is extra-super BS because I know that scene, I know the music from that scene, and they cut right before the music starts jamming.

 

Then he has the audacity to complain because there's dialogue over one scene with Captain America's theme music? HOW DARE THEY!!!1!

 

That's as much as I could stand to watch. Seriously, it's like an instructional video on How To Lie With Statistics YouTube Supercuts.

[Lord Liaden]

The main themes from Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel's The Avengers, and Thor, are to me as "hummable" as any of the tunes those videos cited. I had no trouble thinking of them the moment that interviewer asked his question.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Avengers is really memorable (at least the first, the second they changed to Danny Elfman and he crapped all over it, barely using the distinctive music).  Captain America's end credits "Captain America March" was way better than the original theme.

However I will say that he's got a point: many of the themes aren't really distinctive, super memorable ones.  I LIKE the Spider-Man theme (first series), the Hulk theme (first movie) and Thor theme, but I couldn't pick them out of a lineup.  And I couldn't call them to mind just sitting here.

[Lord Liaden]

Guess this is an appropriate time and place to put these:

 

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

And of course:

 

 

[bigdamnhero]

I know whenever this song comes up on shuffle on game night, everyone sure gets pumped.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9PhfUsFvj0

 

Edit: I suck at embedding videos. It's "Driving With The Top Down from the first Iron Man.

[Lord Liaden]

Got ya covered, BDH. I also want to give a little love to the theme from the first Iron Man, which IMHO is both memorable and sums up Tony perfectly:

 

 

 

On reflection, I've come to believe the scores from the Phase I Marvel movies generally surpass the later ones, which I concede could fall more into the "bland" category.

[bigdamnhero]

You rock LL!  And I would have to concede the more recent film scores have been less memorable, Guardians of the Galaxy excepted of course.

[Bazza]

Thor 2 is still one of my fav MCU films.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Iron Man does have a distinctive and memorable theme song in the first film, I agree.

[zslane]

The question is whether or not any of the MCU film themes will ever reach the iconic status of themes like Star Wars, Super Man, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Jurassic Park. I seriously doubt it. But I think the reasons have less to do with the quality of the music and more to do with our relationship to pop culture today. In particular, I think the way we consume cinema is very different today than in the 70s, 80s, and even 90s. Our relationship to the music of cinema has changed along the way as well, I suspect.

[bigdamnhero]

Thor 2 is still one of my fav MCU films.

I'm curious why? I enjoyed it myself, but I wouldn't rank it in the top half, and a lot of folks seem to rank as one of their least favorites. So I'm just curious to hear what you loved about it so much?

[Lord Liaden]

One of the things I heard most often from viewers of Age of Ultron, both in person and online, was how happy they were to hear Alan Silvestri's theme from the first Avengers film played over the credits of AoU.

 

I often hear the "Captain America March" from The First Avenger praised by people for its stirring heroism and, like, American-ness.   And I've lost track of how many young people claim to be rehearsing it for their band class.

 

Those are just two thematic examples that I believe could easily achieve the iconic status of a Bond or Star Wars theme... if Marvel would just repeat them a few times in their movies, as those other themes have been.

[Christopher R Taylor]

The question is whether or not any of the MCU film themes will ever reach the iconic status of themes like Star Wars, Super Man, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Jurassic Park. I seriously doubt it. 

 

 

I agree and I think Lord Liaden gives the reason why:

 

Those are just two thematic examples that I believe could easily achieve the iconic status of a Bond or Star Wars theme... if Marvel would just repeat them a few times in their movies, as those other themes have been.

 

They are too sparing with the use of their themes.  They can't be iconic if they don't have exposure.  Using the theme so sparingly and with such apparent reluctance is a strange decision on Marvel's part.  Sales of sound track records made Lucas and Williams a ton of money.

[zslane]

Actually, now that I think about it, the Iron Man theme is pretty memorable, at least for me. Maybe it's because it is the one movie from the MCU that I've seen more than three times.