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#1387

Watched Aquaman tonight. I like Jason Momoa and sharks and I knew both would be in the movie so I figured it was worth $5. It was so much more! I kind of fall into the “Aquaman is a lame superhero” camp, but I didn’t quite know how much lore there was about all of the Atlantis kingdoms and stuff and frankly, how much crazy shit.

I’ve always liked the whole underwater cities thing, as well as the strange creatures in the deep (and sharks!) so I loved the depiction of Atlantis, but when it got to the part where the Deep Ones (I mean, that’s what they are, right?) appeared and were swarming in the ocean, I was so happy! And the Journey to the Center of the Earth lost island with the dinosaurs running around was also really fun. The appearance of the different Atlantean people reminded me of the art from Abyss (the board game, not the movie), especially the war-like crab people, and then the movie sort of ended with Cthulhu rising from the ocean. Okay, not really, but I was also very excited by this. :stuck_out_tongue:

My only complaint is that there should have been less humor. It feels like they were pointlessly trying to copy the MCU formula. The movie is already inherently ridiculous; no need to add moments of levity.

Miscellaneous comments:

  • Man, their anti-aging effects are great! Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe just looked young without that overly blurred Snapchat filter look that I’ve seen before in other movies.
  • Amber Heard just hasn’t changed in 15 years, no anti-aging technology necessary.
  • Dolph Lundgren has no Swedish accent at all anymore! He always had a very mild accent (like a lot of Swedes), but it’s pretty much all gone now!
  • I just can’t get over the Deep Ones. I mean, Trench Atlanteans or whatever. I squealed inwardly with delight when they appeared.
  • Black Manta felt extraneous in this movie. If (when?) there’s a sequel, I imagine he’d play a bigger role, but it didn’t feel like he made that much of an impact. Also, why do so many black superheroes have to be named Black something? We know they’re black. There is no need to put it in their name.
  • All of the action scenes were so creative and fun.
#1388

Like always, you’ve won me over because you’re usually right, so against my experience of DC movies being in the “fine-to-suck” range in recent years, I’ll give it a shot. (Besides, you had me at a “young William Dafoe.” Or, at least, younger-ish.

I swear he’s one of the most attractive ugly men in the world, right up there with Edward James Olmos and Iggy Pop. He had to have been born craggy and carved, plus his cheekbones must’ve made even David Bowie jealous).

(EDIT: @COMaestro’s recommendation a week ago also helped)

#1389

A relic of the times.

#1390

At least none of the East Asian superheroes are called Yellow (something). :stuck_out_tongue:

#1391

Don’t give them too much credit: Yellow Claw (now switched to Golden Claw for obvious reasons).

#1392

Makes me think of The Mandarin.

#1393

It’s still baffling that the '90s TV show’s approach to updating his design was to make him green??

#1394

Technically that’s a villain, not a hero, but so is Black Manta. :stuck_out_tongue: And no similar update to the black superhero names.

#1395

A Series of Unfortunate Events wrapped up recently, and it was pretty great. I loved Handler’s Snickett’s books, and I’m glad they got the full treatment, with most volumes getting two episodes. It was a fairly faithful conversion to the medium of online TV, any alterations for the sake that “filmed serials are not the same as written ones,” plus the addition of new snark.

The Magicians also had a new season that I put my thumb on for a while until I could binge it.

I admit, first season, this was something I tolerated because I was bored, and it had some amusing things going on. I’m also a sucker for fantasy/comedy, and it throws in College campus drama/hi-jinks to boot.

Second season was much better, mostly because I realized I was watching it for Elliot, not to mention Margo and the other characters, not the irritating Quentin/Alice characters I think were the originally intended protagonists. It also put the fantasy element into high gear.

So far, so Buffy, though (Buffy the Vampire Slayer had some obvious influence on the series, not to mention they drop pop culture references constantly, and often pretty slyly, you might miss a few if you’re not paying attention).

Third season had some fantastic episodes, though. There were a couple of bottle episodes that blew me away. It’s still a kind of silly, over the top, foul-mouthed, production, but there are some serious feels in there, and can be blunt about uncomfortable topics. It’s tipped me from simply liking it to being an actual fan. I said back in May that “it can be good, but will never be great” (wait, let me find it…OK, this was a response to @Habilis who said it had diverged radically from the books early on. I’ve never read the books, so I can’t comment on that, all I know is they changed one of the character’s names because there were too many “J” names in the books):

I still don’t know if it even has anything to do with the books, but there were a few episodes that were actually great. A lot that weren’t, just amusing, but a few that were real stand-outs.

#1396

I loved the Under Pressure sequence. I need to save that from YouTube so I have it forever!!!

#1397

I was in tears! My god that was fantastic :sparkles: :heart: :sparkles:

I’m a big, hairy (if very geeky) man, and I openly started weeping when I saw what was about to happen.

(Quick, @Tika, edit your post so Under Pressure is spoiler-texted!)

#1398

My wife and I are huge fans of the book series so we were really amped when the TV adaption was announced and that the creator was going to have input into what direction it went but but WOW did we bounce off it in record time. I don’t think there’s a problem with the TV series but the characterizations from the book diverge so much that it was hard to watch.

#1399

I get that. I’ll need to check out the books when I’m done with my current 2 Neal Gaiman books. I’ve been looking for a new long-form series outside of the “normal” and boring speculative fiction tropes.

#1400

I finally finished suffering through Captain America: Civil War. There was a moment in the movie where it seemed like it was taking a turn for the better, but no, it just became even worse than before. I liked all the Black Panther stuff, and the introduction of Spider-Man; it made me want to check out Homecoming, which I’d previously had no interest in. This is the only movie in the MCU that I dislike; actually I probably hate it given that I never want to watch it again. It’s disappointing because it’s the final Captain America movie, a series that I liked more than I thought I would, and it was a waste of Daniel Bruhl, who I quite like.

On the bright side, I watched Annihilation! My favorite thing about the movie is how incredibly horrific it was, but how beautiful at the same time. The scene with the bear was amazing. I read spoilers for the book series and I’m glad they didn’t explain as much in the movie; it worked better that way. They did a great job with the abandoned buildings inside the shimmer and evoking a feeling of menace and dread. Finding the swimming pool and uhh… what was left was also amazing.

#1401

I’ll have to watch Annihilation, I enjoyed the books. Funny how all the specific things you reference are not in the books though =)

#1402

The lighthouse is still the center for everything, but many things are greatly changed from the books. I don’t think they even explain why Dr. Ventress is so intent on reaching the lighthouse. The bear takes over the function of another monster in the book and was invented for the movie.

#1403

Over the weekend my wife and I watched Star Wars: Solo since it finally came to Netflix. It’s hard to watch and not think that a better movie is buried there somewhere. The real tragedy is that they attached a 800lb gorilla by making it an origin story. We know that the primaries (Han,Chewie and Lando) all survive so there’s no tension there. Even as an origin story it’s pretty weak.
As a final thought, Alden Ehrenreich was NOT GREAT BOB. My wife and I often quote Hail, Caesar! but now we’re wondering if his scene with Ralph Fiennes wasn’t actually scripted but an outtake they put in the film.

Other than that it was a pretty crazy week for Drag Race: All Stars but don’t see that as me suggesting or condoning that sort of nonsense.

#1404

That’s probably the best description I’ve heard for Solo. I enjoyed it, but I was left wanting. I ordered steak, but got crispy fried tofu. Still tasty, not really satisfactory.

#1405

Assuming we are talking about the first book only, the motivations of “the psychologist” are not explained at all IIRC, so that is a point in common with the film.

#1406

Our journey through the MCU is well into Phase 2 now!

Iron Man 3 was alright, but I ranked it the lowest of the trilogy for me. I really liked seeing Tony struggle with PTSD from the events in Avengers and seeing repercussions from being a frontline superhero. The ending was a bit blah to me, especially on repeat viewing knowing everyone is alright. A group of terrorists vs, 40 Iron Men made it pretty low stakes.

Thor 2 was fun. I seem to be an odd one out amongst my peers because I think the sequel is really superior to the original. All of the Asgardians get to be fleshed out a lot more and we get to explore Asgard a bit and I like that! So there! It’s too bad they all get discarded in Ragnarok…

I also liked the fun teleporting mechanic in the final battle. And Loki gets to Loki, so that’s neat. In my nerdy discussions with friends they always lament the MCU villains and I see the reasoning, but I think a large part of the problem is just lack of time to develop. This is Loki’s third (?) on screen appearance and so it’s natural he has more nuance than the random one and done villain.

Last night we finished James Bond: The Winter Soldier! Whoops! I mean Captain America: The Winter Soldier! This movie is definitely top tier in the rankings and it has some of the best action and fight sequences of any of the Marvel films. That elevator scene! So good!

My second unpopular opinion is that, unlike @Tika, I love Civil War! But my huge Spidey bias might have something to do with that. I’m excited to get to it with all the other movies fresh in my mind for comparison!