SDCC trailers

[tielan]

I'm excited by Justice League, but not by Thor: Ragnarok. The word 'bloated' came up in a description of the MCU franchise in a review last year (or possibly this year, when comparing Wonder Woman with the current crop of superhero movies) and 'bloated' perfectly describes the trailer of Thor: Ragnarok.

Spiderman: Homecoming has good enough reviews that I might actually watch it (sometime), and I will be there to watch Black Panther with BELLS ON. But I might pass Thor: Ragnarok in much the same way that I passed on Thor: When Dark Elves Attack The Dark World. I eventually watched it and enjoyed it, but it wasn't All That. (Then again, I feel like the Thor franchise is one of the weakest ones in the MCU storyline.)

I haven't even looked at the trailer for Stargate: Origins, although if it's Catherine Langford's story, I will almost certainly give a looksee.

Comments

[tielan]

The Thor:R trailer felt...adolescent to me. The reviews will have to be pretty stunning from the friends who are (like me) burned out by the MCU to have me watch it in the cinemas. Then again, Thor has an element of 'adolescent boy' to him - very much in the first Thor movie, although much less in Thor:TDW. This may actually be why I liked Thor:TDW a lot more than the original Thor movie.

Actually, I've just realised what's bugging me about the Battleworld thing. IT'S BASICALLY CIVIL WAR: THE MISSING ONES. Line up the missing two Avengers, set them against each other forthelolz, and then go find some plot (very very small plot).

I have to say Cate Blanchett looks like she's going to choke on all that scenery she's chewing in the trailer, I mean, it looks like it's going to be damned impressive scenery (Cate Blanchett does Large Ham with beautiful presence; I think she actually likes playing the dramatically evil bitch - see Indiana Jones And The Movie They Really Didn't Need To Make But Shia La Boeuf Was Famous At The Time).

Honestly, I'd have looked forward to Hel And Loki Take Over Asgard And Their Hordes Of Darkness Are Fought By A Small But Spunky Group Including Thor, Sif, Heimdall, The Warriors Three, Two Astrophysicists, One Former Deputy Director Of SHIELD, And Darcy Lewis (Since We Can't Seem To Be Rid Of Her And The American Twentysomething Women Like Having Their Self-Insert).

*sigh*

Waitwhat? Captain Marvel in the 90s? Wuhbuhguh WHY? I mean, the plus side is that by this time - the 00s, she'll be a fiftysomething woman with a will of steel, on the minus side is WHY AREN'T THEY WRITING THE STORY ABOUT THE FIFTYSOMETHING WOMAN WHO'S COME THROUGH THE SHIT AND MADE IT OUT THE OTHER SIDE? Yes, I know, fiftysomething women aren't sexy to teenaged boys and adolescently-minded men blah blah blah blah. But then you have Iron Man and the Avengers and Captain America happening and...she doesn't turn up for any of it? Because...she's married and having babies and fiftysomething women with superpowers don't go out and fight they stay home and keep house? IDEK but it makes NO SENSE.

Valerian is the new Luc Besson, right? I read an article that talked about The Fifth Element and how it was a great piece of sci-fi over the weekend, and never really thought about it that way before...

BLACK PANTHER BLACK PANTHER BLACK PANTHER

[kore]

The Thor:R trailer felt...adolescent to me.

Oh, that's a very good description, yeah. The humour especially. It just felt....dumb. I mean there are people who call these movies big dumb summer funfests, but I don't enjoy that kind of movie and I think the MCU's risen above the genre quite a few times.

Then again, Thor has an element of 'adolescent boy' to him - very much in the first Thor movie, although much less in Thor:TDW. This may actually be why I liked Thor:TDW a lot more than the original Thor movie.

I wanted older battle-weary yet resilient Thor! Facing the ultimate betrayal with Loki having KILLED both mum and dad, or is the movie just expecting us to forget that part? WTF? And I know she's not a fan favourite but I just don't like Thor without Jane. I loved their dynamic in the first movie, I loved how she was a nerd with dirty dishes in her cupboards, all that. I'm not interested in Thor and Hulk trading bro jokes. If Thor does that it should be with his three buddies.

Actually, I've just realised what's bugging me about the Battleworld thing. IT'S BASICALLY CIVIL WAR: THE MISSING ONES.

Did you see those "what they were doing while CW was going on" joke trailers? It looks a LOT like that, except with more special effects! This movie also looks a lot like GotG2, and I don't know if it looks like Dr Strange, but I'm not loving the New Cosmic MCU CGI. The first Guardians was gorgeous, but I hated the second one.

it looks like it's going to be damned impressive scenery (Cate Blanchett does Large Ham with beautiful presence; I think she actually likes playing the dramatically evil bitch

I AM HERE FOR THAT

Honestly, I'd have looked forward to Hel And Loki Take Over Asgard And Their Hordes Of Darkness Are Fought By A Small But Spunky Group Including Thor, Sif, Heimdall, The Warriors Three, Two Astrophysicists, One Former Deputy Director Of SHIELD, And Darcy Lewis (Since We Can't Seem To Be Rid Of Her And The American Twentysomething Women Like Having Their Self-Insert).

//cries

//really cries

Waitwhat? Captain Marvel in the 90s?

YUP

FEIGE ANNOUNCED IT WITH GREAT FANFARE

Wuhbuhguh WHY?

FEIGE WANTED IT

I never ever forgot that story the writers of the Cap movies told when they were working on the third CAP MOVIE and he walked in, said "Civil War," and walked out. What he wants in MCU, he gets.

I mean, the plus side is that by this time - the 00s, she'll be a fiftysomething woman with a will of steel

Iiiiii don't think so, she's still gonna be Brie Larson so she will be wispy and cute in the future movies.

on the minus side is WHY AREN'T THEY WRITING THE STORY ABOUT THE FIFTYSOMETHING WOMAN WHO'S COME THROUGH THE SHIT AND MADE IT OUT THE OTHER SIDE?

I KNOW, RIGHT

she doesn't turn up for any of it? Because...she's married and having babies and fiftysomething women with superpowers don't go out and fight they stay home and keep house? IDEK but it makes NO SENSE.

I think they're going to have her out in space. Possibly not aging. I'm not sure that's confirmed, but it would make sense casting such a YOUNG actress so far back in the timeline.

Valerian is the new Luc Besson, right? I read an article that talked about The Fifth Element and how it was a great piece of sci-fi over the weekend, and never really thought about it that way before...

Yeah, and I adore Fifth Element (except for the soupy "I don't know how to love" bit at the end, altho T likes it, heh) and I liked Lucy even so I want him to be able to go on directing movies! And not tank his own production company! But....those actors....look so bad. The script sounds so bad. And the through line is going to be yet another battle, Even More Shit Blows Up Pretty In Space, and I'm just so tired of the CGI-driven stories. I like stories with people in.

BLACK PANTHER BLACK PANTHER BLACK PANTHER

SPEAKING OF STORIES WITH PEOPLE IN EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THING ABOUT THAT LOOKS AMAZING especially being able to stare at Chadwick Boseman for two hours

[tielan]

FEIGE WANTED IT

UGH. DIAF Feige!

And the through line is going to be yet another battle, Even More Shit Blows Up Pretty In Space, and I'm just so tired of the CGI-driven stories. I like stories with people in.

Stories with people in - honestly, we went through this in the 00s with the SW prequels: they got all hung up on LOOK! LOOK AT THE CGI! And forgot that the things that made the original SW movies great was that it was a story about people fighting for a cause they believed in and struggling with who they were and who they wanted to be. That's the core of human stories.

Hell, Yoda said it best: War Not Make One Great. That applies to movies as well as people...

[kore]

UGH. DIAF Feige!

FUCKING SERIOUSLY

I'M GOING TO MAKE A POPPET AND STICK PINS IN IT

Stories with people in - honestly, we went through this in the 00s with the SW prequels: they got all hung up on LOOK! LOOK AT THE CGI! And forgot that the things that made the original SW movies great was that it was a story about people fighting for a cause they believed in and struggling with who they were and who they wanted to be. That's the core of human stories.

Oh Jesus, did they ever. And then Lucas went back and smeared CGI all over the original trilogy too, altho at least he couldn't cut all the characterization out of it. Same thing with James Cameron and Avatar. Titanic was kinda soppy and predictable, but it also had all those human dramas playing out and that's a big part of why it keeps being retold, IMHO, viewers are fascinated by the people in those dire cirumstances.

Hell, Yoda said it best: War Not Make One Great. That applies to movies as well as people...

Scifi just does SO MUCH MORE than just war, but it seems like the mainstream scifi cinema is either all about wars or mano a mano manly fights. (And then Civil War was both. LOL.) That was another part of what I really liked about GotG -- there was Thanos, yeah, but the focus was on saving Nova Prime and the people there and on the connections the crew managed to forge with each other. And the fights had real emotional punch to them. So to speak.

(I have to say I am less than apathetic about Thanos being the centerpiece of these last two big movies in the sequence. He strikes me as a terrible fanboy creation -- an ALL-POWERFUL PURPLE GUY, whose love is DEATH!!! -- and I cannot stand the way he looks. He reminds me of claymation made out of used Hubba Bubble grape chewing gum.)

I am also a sucker for extremely different people all flung together as a crew and they have to make it work and in the end they'd wind up dying for each other but they still fight all the time. I think a big reason why I loved GotG was it reminded me of my beloved Farscape. Before it went off the rails with the pregnancy crap, sigh.

That reminds me, I was meaning to type up my impressions of the latest Dark Matter, which is a bit like Farscape. But more diverse, typically, which is nice.

[kore]

also long comment from planet hell, WTF Moi!

[tielan]

Long comment from planet hell always welcome! (I love long comments; I don't get to talk with people much about these things, so they tend to percolate in my head.)

[kore]

Aww! ....well you have a friend in me then, ahahaha. Other than online I basically talk about this stuff with....T, and he sees the superhero movies because I do. (His recent choice for solo viewing was the new 3-D Planet of the Apes flick, which I didn't want to see on a couple of levels.) He likes them -- we both love the same ones -- but I don't think they're something he might watch on his own.

[tielan]

I'm lucky in that I've made a few geeky friends outside of the internet (and have the time/energy to catch up with them), so we discuss these things on occasion. But it's still nice to get into the nitty gritty at a level that most non-fannish people don't even realise is there!

You've reminded me that I have at least one friend I should contact about going to see the WW movie (she always sees them late, and we usually go to the superhero ones together). If she hasn't already...

[kore]

Oh, yeah, I love fandom meta. It's just so fun, but really analytical as well. That's one of the big things I miss about LJ, it was so much more natural to have meta discussions and they were A LOT easier to find (people tell me it happens on Tumblr, I never find it unless I'm directly linked to it by someone else).

[tielan]

Ugh, I don't bother metaing on Tumblr anymore. Too many observers, not enough specificity when they're liking your post...