Deadlines? What Deadlines?

1 hour ago, SpaceChampion said:

I don't think there is any indication Blue Beetle won't be part of the new DCU.  It is post-Flash anyway.  Isn't the Flash storyline suppose to justify rebooting the DCU?  So BB could be part of it, but popular misconception could keep people away regardless of whether its any good.

You’re assuming there’s logic and coherence to the release dates. Still, Blue Beetle probably only connects to the other DC films in the same way Shazam did. Easter eggs, oblique references, One meaningless cameo.

blur beetle also comes near the end of a pretty crowded summer movie season. Maybe it’ll be good enough that word of mouth will carry it. Who knows?

32 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I guess I don't know how that all works.  Does having Lightyear on there just take up bandwidth?  What's the harm in leaving it on there?

Speculation is streaming royalties.

@Myrddin @Iskaral Pust

How do they fuck that up? Like, wouldn’t it be as simple as a new name and a re-skin of the existing site? 

47 minutes ago, DaveSumm said:

I worded that poorly to be fair … obviously there are entertaining stand alone movies. Top Gun sells itself as being an entertaining couple of hours, job done. But once you’ve started with a shared universe, those are the fans you’re attracting. Then a movie is both a movie, and another chapter in an ongoing saga. Shazam 2 has no momentum behind it because we know it isn’t going anywhere (even if Gunn said that, they can’t have planned for it in anyway). The same thing happened to the few X-Men movies that Fox spluttered out once we knew it was going to Disney; nobody cared anymore. 

I think this goes beyond marketing and franchise dynamics. Maybe the stand-alone live action superhero film isn’t the solid bet it once was? How many times has that been done? Maybe don’t make it so goofy? Maybe make it good? 

I also think maybe the first film was maybe overpraised or not received as well as the online aggregators would have us think. 

On 5/31/2023 at 12:41 AM, Heartofice said:

Watching Dan Murrells video about some of the shows being taken down off Disney and Hulu, my first reaction is ‘who the fuck did they think was going to watch these shows??’

Yeah, I know. I literally haven’t heard of most of these.

Even more shocking is that Lightyear has been pulled from D+. I don’t think it could have failed more comprehensively than that.

5 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Zack Snyder crawls up his own ass.

 

The PG-13 version will be shown in theaters. The unrated version will be exclusive to streaming, as god intended.

1 hour ago, DaveSumm said:

People like to preach that movies are entertaining in their own right and shared universes shouldn’t matter, but the ticket buying public keep insisting otherwise.

Avatar 2 and Top Gun Maverick would like to have word. Minions isn’t really part of a shared universe. Same for Miles Morales’ spider-man beyond a handful of trivial cameos. Mario is a non-sequel, non- shared-universe film that was largely shat on by critics, and it might be the highest grossing film of the year. 

I could go on, but I still contend it makes little sense.

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They announced the universe it belonged to was dead before it came out; that killed it. Combine that with Shazam 1 making no real impact (releasing alongside Endgame) and the aforementioned universe being a complete shit show … I’m not at all surprised.

You mean “best film since TDK” didn’t cement its place in the pop culture firmament?

Spider-Verse 1 was released the same year as Shazam! and did similar Business in cinemas. And Gunn is on record saying Shazam! Could survive the transition depending on the success of the sequel. 

18 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Oopsie daisy

Interesting that not too long ago the RF’s collusion with the tabloids was dismissed as lies and paranoia. Now it’s just common knowledge. 
 

This rocks.

Ha! Whitesnake did a cover of this. The original is better.

On 5/30/2023 at 11:56 AM, Myrddin said:

I hear you Deadlines. There is (was?) something/someone messing up the movies at a studio level that can't be ignored. WW84, BA, BG, S2 show a pattern of poorly developed films.

I'm also in complete agreement about Shazam 2. I really enjoyed the first one (only watched it once) as light fun movie. We started watching the second one last week and stopped it about halfway to go out or something. We didn't stop it because we were bored, but later I asked if anyone wanted to finish, and no one cared enough to see how it ended.

It’s weird because the first film was so well received by audiences and critics. Word of mouth didn’t do this film any favors but why did it open so soft? It sometimes happens that a sequel isn’t as well received and doesn’t do as well commercially as the original; but -60%?!? That’s crazy. Zero buzz.

People have suggested that Shazam 2 came out too late. There might be something to that, but it’s worth noting that the highest grossing live-action and animated films of last year were sequels to films that were much older than Shazam!. Into the Spider-Verse came out the same year as Shazam! and it’s sequel looks likely to do double the box office.

I just noticed that the robbery scene after Gwen’s prologue had a reference to that viral video of those idiots who tried to rob that gas station in Spruce Grove, Alberta a few years ago. At least I think it does. The similarities are too close to be coincidence.

Yeah, but teenagers are weird. 

On 6/1/2023 at 8:57 PM, SpaceChampion said:

The Brazilian dub of No Way Home contains captions of the background voices (where Peter is settling in to his apartment) mentioning "Miles".  The speakers are identified as Jeff and Rio, who are the parents of Miles Morales.   So a live-action Miles maybe be coming soon.

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/spider-man-no-way-easter-egg-miles-morales

 

I get why some people might be excited for this, but I’m not one of them.

we already have a brilliant animated Miles Morales who’s starred in two of the best CBM’s I’ve ever seen. A live action MCU version would almost certainly be a disappointment by comparison.

Still, it’s probably inevitable.

9 hours ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

I couldn't understand anything Spider-Punk said.

Glad I wasn’t the only one, although there were other lines I had trouble hearing. The soundtrack was definitely not optimized in my theater.

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Also, was I the only one uncomfortable with Spider-Woman swinging around while heavily pregnant? 

I was more concerned with Spider-Toddler being strapped to Peter B Parker’s torso. That bit of knitting isn’t going to provide much protection. Get the kid a helmet for Pete’s sake.

But only in a cartoon could a pregnant woman ride a motorcycle with those ergonomics. 

9 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Why would anyone, he's a fucking monster.  Vin is old and out of shape.  

Mamoa is just so sweet and happy all the time. I’m sure the direction he gets most often is, “Jason, we need you not to smile in this scene.”

25 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

He’s now got a feud with Momoa apparently 

How could anyone have a feud with Mamoa?

14 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Fast X really leaves me wondering: can two different series of movies (Fast & Furious and Mission: Impossible) cross over despite being produced by two different studios (Universal and Paramount)? 

I don't know the ins and out of IP law for something like this, but more than ever, I am convinced that it would be goddamn awesome. Hell, someone went and imagined a crossover trailer a few years ago that's great fun.

is this before or after the FF - Transformers crossover? Because that I’d like to see.

if the money was there, the contracts would get sorted I'm sure.

OK

1. The sound mix in the theater was really messed up. There’s were big boomy parts where you could literally feel the floor shake but there was a lot of dialogue that I had a problem hearing. “metaphor for capitalism” was one of them. I only got it after the woman next to me started chuckling but even she waited half a beat to do so, which suggests to me I wasn’t the only one having problems. That character’s voice was unintelligible like, 50% of the time.

2. To my shame, some of the people in my group were a bit too chatty during the film and were chuckling during one of the heavier scenes. These were my nieces. It’s like they forgot they weren’t watching a movie at home. There were others who also got a bit chatty and it was also annoying.

3. About half way through, a gang of idiots (possibly drunk) came into the theater to watch the film. They had obviously come out of some other screening and decided to sneak into this one. Except they didn’t sneak in. It’s like they were going out of their way to make as much noise as possible. Someone must have complained because they got booted after a few minutes. 

So maybe I need to rewatch before giving an opinion, but my feelings are a bit mixed. I loved the film. It started strong, ended really strong, and had a lot of really great stuff in between, but man is this film messy. It gets a bit clunky in the middle and the pacing is kind of weird at times. It could have easily lost about 20 minutes of runtime. Great antagonist.

I’m definitely going to see this again, but on balance I’d say I liked the first one better. 

ETA: the way it handles the multiverse concept and Miles’ place in it is brilliant.  It’s something that was subtly set up in the first film and I never would have seen it coming.

Also ETA: Shea Wingam as Capt. Stacy FTW.

On 6/2/2023 at 9:21 AM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I really enjoyed Tenet.  

Yeah, Tenet rocked.

Seated.

T-minus 8 minutes…

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

In the show, if I recall correctly, the sly references to this were made only among Liddy, Hunt and Hunt's wife -- and one or two of the Cuban Plumbers, one of them the Miami guy who -- in the show! -- also exhibits marks of Mafia, nobody else.

Frank Sturgis;  born Frank Angelo Fiorini. I don’t think he had any mafia connections, but it’s plausible he had contact with guys like Giancana and Roselli because of his activities related to Cuba. Mostly he’s CIA. 

I knew nothing about Dorothy Hunt until this show. However, there’s a scene in Nixon where Hunt and Dean have a secret meeting and Dean offers condolences for Hunts wife. Hunt’s reaction is odd but makes a lot more sense in context. I think Stone is either suggesting Hunt was involved in her death or that he’s not surprised she died.

On 6/1/2023 at 7:44 PM, Zorral said:

Though we are indeed left hanging regarding the Kennedy assassination…

It was confirmed that Hunt was in Dallas on the day, but this wasn’t known at the time of Watergate I think.

15 minutes ago, Ran said:

Yes.

Wikipedia says he claims to have sung the Horst Wessel song the day he arrived in prison, so the circumstances that the show gives -- thankful convicts applauding him for his free lawyer help, led by an observant Jewish inmate -- are made up. 

According to the shows producers, there’s a basis in fact for that stuff as well.

44 minutes ago, Ran said:

Finished White House Plumbers. It was enjoyable enough, and had some fun madcap energy at times (particularly the last episode, there's an absurd, darkly funny scene with Liddy in prison). I'll see if I can find Gasllit somewhere. Lena Headey as Howard Hunt's wife was pretty good, but Justin Theroux's absurd G. Gordon Liddy is a bit of a scene stealer.

Very surprised by how small Kiernan Shipka's role was on the show. Guess she had a hole in her schedule and the pay was good.

 

I was listening to the White House Plumbers podcast today. Apparently the “absurd, darkly funny” scene in prison was real. Liddy was a weird guy.

I assume you’re talking about the scene in the cafeteria.

24 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

Do we really need a live-action How to Train Your Dragon? Universal just copying Disney's model.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/how-to-train-your-dragon-live-action-movie-cast-1235503485/

I will be shocked if live-action Toothless will match the cuteness of the animated one.

Copying Disney’s model of “I can’t hear you over the sound of all this money, son!!!” Say what you will about Disney’s remakes, on balance they’ve been incredibly profitable. One or two of them even spawned a franchise. 

At least this story is fairly contemporary compared to the Disney stuff. It’s also not a musical, which might be more suitable for a live action adaptation.

This also has the advantage of being directed by the same guy who wrote/directed the original. My only concern is that his live-action directing credits are pretty thin. 

As long as Gerard Butler gets to play Stoic the Vast, I’m in.

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Spiderverse, flash and transformers all being released absurdly close together doesn't seem wise for box office success  

One will rise. One shall fall. One shall… never mind. 
 

‘Going to see Spiderverse on Sunday. 
-

‘finished White House Plumbers. I got to like this more and more as it went on. It’s interesting that it was a drama told from the POV of the plumbers themselves; especially E Howard Hunt. I learned a few things I wasn’t aware of, like the fate of certain people.