Matt the Bruins

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.

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.
 

That's what happens when you have one or two Marvel-haters in there and they drive the rest of us out.
 
 
 
I feel as though Marvel's Phase 2-3 run was unsustainable, but the MCU is still consistently above average for the genre.  Whereas the DCEU seemingly has nowhere to go but up--if the suits will let it.

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.

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.
 
 

On one of the web comics I read, the main writer's daughter had discovered the MCU - due to She-Hulk. So he is watching his way through the MCU with her. He made a great comment that I think shows a major difference in why I liked Favreau's directing vs Waititi:
The Favreau Effect
I say “somehow”, but it’s largely thanks to Jon Favreau. He made a lot of decisions that established the MCU formula. In fact, the first Iron Man addresses some common complaints of later MCU movies. There are plenty of jokes, but it doesn’t feel like the movie needs to hit a quips quota. And not every character is funny. Really, it’s just Tony and Happy. Everyone else is serious.
Speaking of serious, the film takes its villain seriously. No jokes about the villain’s name, not off hand comments at the villain’s expense, no scene of the villain looking foolish. In fact, the finale is the longest stretch of the movie without a joke.
Director Jon Favreau knew when to emphasize the fantastic and when to ground Iron Man. Stark Industries weapons, for example, aren’t outside the realm of modern military possibility. And the Iron Man suit doesn’t have a technological solution to every problem. It has, like, two weapons. This emphasizes that without the suit, Tony Stark still has superpowers.
Jon Favreau got a lot of credit for directing the movie that launched the MCU, but these days Kevin Feige seems to be the name equated to its success. I know Favreau still regularly appears as Happy Hogan and he works with Disney on Star Wars, but I wonder if we’ll ever see him direct another MCU film.
 
Basically, he knows when to be funny and when to be serious. Ragnarok had way to many moments of try to be funny when it should be serious.

Pixar already made two of them.

How much are tickets to watch that show?

Back to DC movies, while Dwayne Johnson playing a charisma-free murder hobo isn't ideal for building audience enthusiasm, I can't say it's exactly a poor adaptation from the comics version. I've been mystified by the character's popularity since the beginning of the millennium.
 
I am glad to see Hawkman and my all-time favorite comics character Dr. Fate featured in a live-action movie. I never actually expected the latter to happen, even with the boom in superhero movies.
 
 

I'm sure this will be a big problem for Marvel when Brie Larson's Captain Marvel steps out of the movie screen Purple Rose of Cairo-style to beat up ComicsGate hecklers in the audience.
 
 

This came up and it's something she used to do all the time in her own book but not in other things when Byrne was her writer before both Deadpool and Gwenpool. 
CES 

I'll believe it when someone actually handcuffs the man.  He's been boasting about his crimes now for six years and he literally tried to overthrow the government.  Nothing.

My first Traveler 2000 character died during creation. That is a tad bit of lethality.

Hmphhhh!!!!
 
<does best Miss Piggy while storming off......>

They showed the Black Adam trailer during thursday night football. I liked it and looks good. Loved the Justice Society.

"...doesn't she look tired...?"

I'm not much of a Pelosi fan, but I have to admit she's growing on me.

In my opinion, they are worse by far.  I consider Fox and media outlets like it to be the single biggest threat to democracy on Earth.

Is still the right thing.

https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2022/09/18/migrants-massachusetts-human-trafficking-legal-questions-sanctuary-states-derail-asylum/10411260002/
 
 

“It’s weird that a person who barely reads would even want documents. It’s like finding out your dog collects stamps.” 
~ Jimmy Kimmel on the Donald Trump / Mar-A-Lago situation 

I saw that!  
 
Hey guys, I've let this thread really stagnate over the last few years.  But I am back to full time art after 8 years of being at a 9-5 energy company doing marketing and forklift duties (wore a lot of hats).  I have been playing supers.  It has been our own system...but I've done a lot of art for our playtest and I thought I would drop some on y'all.  And that is just scratching the surface... I've got a lot more..  But let's see if folks enjoy this before completely saturating the thread.  

I just finished watching Werewolf By Night. It is a lovely homage to those old Universal monster movies and big fun in its own right.  👍👍

It's on Amazon Prime, but the observation is valid.
 
 
(Netflix's version would take place in Middling-Earth, and probably the plot would probably involve a contest with cake.)