All-purpose, running Geek thread (formerly Battlestar Galactica thread)

Cap earns $181M domestically during its three-day open. Film pitting popular superheroes against each other in clash of personalities/ethics considered a roaring success, plot called though-provoking.
Batman vs. Superman earns $161M domestically during its three-day open. Film pitting popular superheroes against each other in clash of personalities/ethics considered a massive failure, plot called stupid.


(I understand it's probably got a lot to do with the actual movie being better. The dichotomy just struck me as funny.)

 

The problems with Batman vs. Superman bore out when the movie just hit a brick wall after that opening weekend as everyone noticed how stupid it was. It's hard to know a movie is awful before it has come out.

 

Saw it Friday and really liked it. It still sits behind Winter Soldier and Guardians (and maybe the first Avengers) in the Marvel rankings for me, but it is definitely up there.

I came in a little wary of the Spiderman addition, but I really liked how they did it. No long, detailed backstory. We know who this kid is and what he can do. And the kid who played him was great, might be my favorite Spiderman so far. He had a great mix of innocent kid and smartass, which is why his scene with Stark was so perfect. Bringing Ant-Man into it was a great move, too. He was like the "everyman" who was as blown away by all of the shit going on as an audience member. Or I may just have a man crush on Paul Rudd.

Oh, and Black Panther was badass.

My one hang up, however, was Vision. I still think he could pretty much stop anything. I have a hard time understanding how powerful he is. He has a damn infinity stone on his head. How can he not just do whatever the hell he wants?

 

Its box office dropped 70 percent from Week 1 to 2.
Dropped 55 percent from Week 2 to 3.
Dropped 60 percent from Week 3 to 4.
Dropped 37 percent from Week 4 to 5.
Dropped 33 percent from Week 5 to 6.

Plot-wise, the more time elapses since I saw it, the more I think it's right up there with the worst movies ever made.

I mean, like Gigli or Ishtar bad.

 

I think because he doesn't know what it is or what it can really do. All he knows is that it makes him special, but doesn't fully grasp just how freaking powerful it is.
Gonna be a damn shame when he does figure it out and five seconds later Thanos rips it out of his forehead.

 

They actually had a couple of lines touching on this in the movie.

 

Was it during cooking class with Wanda? I sensed a bladder necessity at that point and didn't think I could make it through the rest of the 2.5-hour movie. I figured missing that part was better than missing a big action sequence.

 

Really liked this guy's take on comparing the two big recent superhero movies:

'Captain America: Civil War' Shows Exactly Why 'Batman V. Superman' Failed

And I found this line particularly interesting:

"Fun fact: Spider-Man has more lines in Civil War than Superman did in BvS"

 

That's exactly where it was, I think lol. Vision was discussing it with her.

 

Did they also discuss him wearing the collar/sweater combo? That cracked me up the first time I saw it.

Edit: Googled "The Vision, casual clothes" and found this, so I guess it is based in the comics:

 

Batman Vs Superman has interesting concepts and thematic material (Superman as a metaphor fornUS intervention on foreign soil) that were almost executed in a great way. Then it had concepts that were good on paper and executed like dog shit: Martha. That could have been a powerful moment for Batman, to realize he was turning into the kind of person he setnout to fight. But it just did not work the way it was played.

Meanwhile, Civil War gave us just as interesting themes to chew on and hit it out of the park.

However, I'm done with the notion of reactions to collateral damage being a major plot point. We got that in both BvS and CW. The outrage at Man of Steel's depiction of destruction during super figuts even had Marvel trying to address it, even though no one complained after Avengers.

But until now, collateral damage was never given more than a few seconds' thought in these types of movies. Now that both sides have had their say, time to move on, we'll assume everybody feels bad when CGI buildings fall down, and just tell the stories they want to tell.

And if the imagery of CGI buildings being destroyed and fictional people dying in mass numbers bothers you, I recommend skipping Independence Day 2.

 

Agree on Vision. He doesn't quite understand what he can do. Which seemed to be a gripe I had with Thor in these movies - he's toned down too much.