2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Make that five.

 

I wanted to like it, I really did, but it simply abandoned everything I loved about the original. Old-school BG was about hope, and wonder, and faith, and family. Its characters believed in fighting together to protect their people from an implacable enemy, and carry them to a better future. The reboot was suffused with grief, cynicism, and guilt. There was no comradeship or even trust. Nothing to inspire them beyond survival.

Beautifully and accurately said.

Seriously, I tried to roll with  some changes, but the utter betrayal of the core of it just ticked me off.

4 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

So, I looked to see if "Smelly Joe the Horse Killer" was an actual movie.  It isn't, which makes me really wonder about what goes on in your head. 

Look, the script got rejected a long time ago, not my fault those damn Californian Studios don't want a story about a REAL Murican!

*fingers crossed for Logan and the other florida members*

7 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

Thanks for the warnings about New Mutants.  I'll go right out and avoid that one at my first opportunity.   

You may repay this life debt to me in the coin of your choosing

Just now, Lord Liaden said:

Is it possible the convictions of Jan. 6 rioters have made the MAGAts more afraid of being so aggressive?

 

But man, the huge number of "victories" by one or two percentage points... I wrote earlier that I thought it would take a couple of days to settle the results, but now I believe a couple of weeks will be the minimum. I'm having hanging-chad flashbacks.

Oh yeah, it aint' over yet. Trust me. Every Democratic win by a few points will be declared to be 'rigged' while Republican wins by the same amount are totally legit... even if they happened in the same state. As for the Jan 6 crew, I think a lot of them are more cautious as they're seeing that people like them are considered expendable by Trump and the higherups ; not that they'd admit it that way. But if Trump starts talking pardons as part of his re election, expect a re emboldening.

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

1.  Hawkeye

2.  Loki

3.  Moon Knight

4.  Falcon and the Winter Soldier

5.  Miss Marvel

6.  She-Hulk

7.  WandaVision

 

The first 2 were quite enjoyable and the rest had fun moments with several flaws.

 

-Moon Knight was the best written of the bottom 5 and well-acted, but I did not like the ending.

-FATWS had many really, really great moments but also had parts I hated i.e. Sharon Carter's story and there was never really a true main villain in the show.

-MM was fun and unique but I also thought some episodes had really poor dialogue and editing

-She-Hulk was alot like the comic buuuut it was also a lot like the comic.  It was meh.

-WandaVision had an excellent last couple episodes and I enjoyed that we got an origin for Rambeau.  However, it had a mind-numbingly boring 1st 4-5 episodes.  Leave it to Beaver without any actual humor - yay.  Also, the idea that we should have any sympathy for Wanda after she mentally raped hundreds of people for months was laughable.

Wandavision's one moment that DID annoy me was the 'they don't know what you gave up for them' and I say that as someone who , like you, was delighted to see Rambeau's origin. No, Scarlet Witch was given a pretty big pass on that by the writers there and I winced. I much preferred a 'I went crazy and I hurt a lot of people' angle. I could have sympathy with that. Of course, the Darkhold angle was pumped up in the Doctor Strange MOM so I guess that was trying to give her an out. I did like the humor, dark as it got, but I agree with you that the people of the town were victims and just going 'whoops' undercut the story.

FATWS- loved the Bucky / Sam Interaction, but yeah, What they did to Carter I'm hoping Secret Invasion saves. And the villains were ..weakly written?

MM I was just grateful the dad wasn't dead or a jackass. He was actually a cool dude. Rare in some supershows (Though She Hulk did this too)

Yeah, Moon Knight kind of hit a wall in the last few episodes for me as well. Not enough to ruin it for me but there's a reason it's not in my favs.

14 minutes ago, Logan.1179 said:

I haven't even tried The New Mutants movie. I have yet to hear anything good about it. Ms. Marvel was definitely for a younger audience, and yeah, I had a big issue with the powerset change. 

10 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

 

I haven't seen it but everything, and I mean EVERYTHING I've read or seen about it makes it sound terrible.  Which is too bad because I like the idea of what they could have done with the story but... yeah.  Got all the characters wrong, the setting makes no sense, the tone is uneven and bizarre, etc.

 

RE: New Mutants. My advice is don't. Just don't. It is all bad you heard about and even more. Powers were altered. While New Mutants have baggage, they were pretty much edge lorded up too far, Magick became an A hole. etc. The setting makes no sense, and frankly, there was little to no internal consistency in it or the plot. They play up one baddie as the reason folks are detained but unless that baddie never ever sleeps, there's no way the crew couldn't have found a way out long before this. This tried to be a horror movie AND a superhero movie and it failed at both so badly. Terrible writing.

Please take in mind, I am saying this as someone who is, I suspect, a notoriously soft touch. I like things about movies others hate. I often LOVE movies others merely like.  So for me to say New Mutants is a $#*t-show, well, draw your own conclusions there. Now I am also out of the loop on some things folks love but superhero wise? I tend to be very forgiving.

I can't forgive New Mutants the movie

Loki's got some great scenes "GLORIOUS PURPOSE!"

But for my top, I think I'd go Wanda-Vision with Hawkeye tying it. Wanda Vision plays up a technicolor Twilight Zone effect that I appreciate their boldness for trying. I don't even like Christmas stuff much, and I liked Hawkeye. Rather than tear Clint down to bring in the new girl, we got TWO Hawkeyes that both get to shine. Love it. I like Kate Bishop a lot more in this show than I do in the comics.

Third place probably would be She-Hulk, but I confess that is a lot of pro character bias. I love She-Hulk so was so happy to see her on screen I admit I could be quite blind to some of the flaws.

To be fair, I didn't hate any of them which is unusual, but I disliked some aspects. What they did to Sharon Carter in Falcon & WInter Soldier for example. Not a fan of that part. Ms. Marvel was, I suspect, made for a younger crowd, but I wasn't happy with the power switch. I got used to it but it was distracting. That kind of thing.

Bear in mind, during October, I watched New Mutants... and that movie was so GOD AWFUL bad other things are elevated by existing on the same planet.

I will say that the poll workers in my neck of the woods were wonderful. And I did not see a single moron with a gun in his arms, and wearing cameo trying to 'poll watch'

1 minute ago, Logan.1179 said:

 

I hated the BG reboot. So, we have that in common. Sorry about Shulkie. 

I'm just happy not to be alone on the first!

If I might ask, what's been your favorite Disney Plus Marvel series so far?

37 minutes ago, Logan.1179 said:

I should preface this by saying I'm not the biggest She-Hulk fan in the first place. But, meh. It had some nice moments, but I wasn't a big fan. I won't say I hated it. It was more watchable then Miss Marvel (which I still haven't finished). 

 

 

Well, this being the internet, we must now go from being  friends to the most dire of enemies!

*considers this*

Nah, sounds exhausting.

Besides, I'm apparently one of the only four geeks on the planet who didn't like the Battlestar galactica reboot so I got no right to judge

Apparently the latest Marvel is hated and reviled and needs a hug?

gets into the peanut gallery  and looks left, looks right, then yells

I LIKED SHE-HULK! IT WAS FUN AND WHACKY AND TRUE  TO THE CHARACTER

*runs like hell*

Just now, slikmar said:

I would add one other thing, kind of goes with your One: How many times have we watched a DC film (I am specifically thinking the Superman movies) that were not even close ideologically to the character fans know. For all the arguments, Marvel has presented the characters we expected on screen.

Good catch! You're right. DC/WB has a bad history of trying to 'fix' what isn't broke and ignoring the source material or 'improving' it often to missing the point of what folks loved about the character. The first Wonder Woman movie, imo, got the character right. Shazam wasn't afraid to be a bit upbeat and positive . But despite the Whedon backlash, I am NOT a fan of the Snyder cynicism that was pushed on Superman.

1 minute ago, Lord Liaden said:

Interesting you should say that, because it looked to me like this DC movie is trying to present Black Adam's Middle Eastern homeland of Kahndaq as their analogue to Wakanda. Both countries are the sources of miraculous materials ("eternium" in the case of Kahndaq), and both countries have superhuman protectors.

I think Wakanda's  Hidden City (Or in this case Kingdom) with advanced tech makes it stand out more than Kahndaq. Mind you, Intergang has hoverbikes and the like, but with Wakanda, the high tech is woven into the socieity. Kahndaq is more 'a few have this, others are out of luck' . That may change if they do a black Adam sequel or develop stuff. If the average citizen reaps the benefits etc.

Just now, Christopher R Taylor said:

 

Its a theory, certainly something is driving reviewers to glow over something mediocre from Marvel, then dump all over something DC puts out that is the same level of quality.  Black Adam isn't a great movie, but its at least as good as Black Panther.

Oh wow. I LIKED Black Adam fine, but we really disagree there that it was "at least as good as Black Panther" . I think Black Panther was the far superior movie. There was better Acting over all  in Black Panther  compared to Pierce Bronson being the stand out (With Aldis Hodge solid to good). The pulp era touches of Wakanda were a thrill. Overall better tighter writing in Black Panther as well imo. If Black Adam was a 7, Black Panther was an 8.5, again imo.

That said, yeah, Critics often seem to feel 'safer' trashing DC movies.

Little late on my part, Pariah, but one prayer on the way

I think DC films get bad reviews for a multitude of reasons.

One, they often ARE bad, or at least are mediocre. I say that as someone who enjoys a lot of DC movies than others do.

Two, there seems to be a subset of Hollywood critics who either hate, or have grown to hate, the superhero genre. They're skittish about trashing obvious successes like Marvel/Disney movies have mostly been, because despite their best efforts, the fans will just look at them and go 'what the hell is wrong with these critics, that was a fun or even great movie'. But DC doesn't have Marvel's proven quality, fewer fans like em. So the critics can tear the hell out of them treating movies like Black Adam as if they were Puma Man in Bad 3D (Apologies to any Puma Man fans out there). I am not saying there is an organized effort by movie critics to discourage WB from making more superhero movies but individuals certainly seem to see this as a chance to discourage the genre as they focus on the DC movies like clay pigeons

Three, Expectations for superhero movies are not what they used to be. Not to put on my old man yells at clouds act out too much , but 'back in my day' I remember growing up with Spider-Man with mesh  eyeballs and cables coming out of his arms to swing on TV, or a big body builder just painted Green while wearing Bill Bixby's tattered second hand clothes... "AND WE WERE GLAD TO GET IT!"  . It was a desert of few waters. Now, we're in a river of superhero options! Saying something is a Superhero movie does not mean folks who consider themselves superhero fans feel like you're the only game in town.  It's the difference between a Western Fan getting to watch "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" or "Smelly Joe the Horse Killer" on TV. Most Western Fans will go for the better film even if Smelly Joe has moments and they only got so much time to watch.

38 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Well said. Their voter support was an anti-GOP vote as much as anything else. Or rather, anti-Trumpism, because even though Trump wasn't on the ballot, thanks to all the Republican candidates parroting him, he was on every ballot.

 

It was pointed out to me that the youth turnout was exceptionally high for this bi-election. That almost certainly juiced the Democratic vote this time. That's reason for optimism in 2024, because more of them will be of voting age, and since the Republican base demographic is older, more of them will be dead.

I have a god niece who is in her early 30s now. She's never voted. This time she did. I am hoping this trend is legit and continues. Of course she voted in this state, so she may feel like she's spitting into the wind, but enough young women all over the nation push against Trump and his ilk, maybe 2024 will have a chance as you say.

24 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

Ohio wants to be the next Gilead

Ugh. I had always thought Ohio, despite it's lack of what I would call Mountains (Yes, Mountain Snobbery is a thing and I am aware folks living near the rockies laugh at the Applachians height) might be a great place to move to . When it got more and more red, it looked appealing as I know good folk there. They're still good. But some days it feels like finding a place where the Q brainwashing hasn't taken root is getting harder in harder.

I'm very sorry, Cygnia. I know what it's like to watch your state seem to turn evil on you right under your eyes.

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Just checked in on the midterm results so far. This is going to take at least a couple of days to sort out, probably longer. So many races that are nail-bitingly close, which clearly means that many will be contested. But the depth of the schism in American society has never been more clearly delineated.

 

So sorry you have to go through this, neighbors.

Despite the fact Tennessee is a lost cause, I am actually surprised that nation wide the Dems are doing this well. Too soon to be sure, but this was clearly not the crushing "red wave" the GQP was hoping for. The Dems are losing ground but not as much as I expected.

I just hope the Democratic party doesn't do what it often does and interpret this  as approval for 'business as usual' or 'look how loved we are'.

On 10/20/2022 at 12:03 PM, Hermit said:

While I enjoy a lot of Dwayne Johnson movies  ...., he's not why I want to see Black Adam.  Rather it is his co stars in JSA roles that have me hoping I'll enjoy it at least as a flick. I enjoyed Aldis Hodge in the Leverage TV show a GREAT deal , hope Hawkman gets some moments. And Pierce Bronson? I've enjoyed his stuff since the 80s and he's been the Bond of one of my favorite movies of the Franchise and I think he's gonna NAIL it as Dr. Fate!

I finally saw it. A fun flawed movie, but I was very pleased with the JSA part. Dr. Fate under Bronson was perfection, but Aldis held his own as Hawkman. In fact, I rather enjoyed the chemistry between the two characters. The rookie heroes had promise and I found em likable enough.

Dwayne Johnson was Dwayne Johnson, not his worst acting, not his best... but as I like the guy fine, not a detraction. I think I went in with low expectations so that helped , but I was indeed expecting a 5 out of 10, and instead it came across like a 7.

3 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Well you haven't alienated us yet. 

...yet

;)

I am my own worst enemy with an amazing gift for letting my anxieties alienate others.

Rah rah rah

1 hour ago, Cygnia said:

...what is happening to this country?!

 

Paul Pelosi, speaker’s husband, beaten with hammer at home

 

Geez,

James Gunn will do GREAT ... IF he gets some folks under him who can handle the non funny angles. I also recommend he throw piles of money at one Sarah Finn, she's the genius who did most of the casting for the Early stage marvel movies, and hire her.

AH, I was about to say I couldn't see it. But apparently that's because I was using fire fox.