Movie Critics Thread

[Galvatran]

Saw Raise Your Voice today. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sinnertwin]

I watched A Star Is Born the other day.
Didn't mind it.

[Galvatran]

Raider of the Lost Ark. What a legend.

Sharknado. It's growing on me.

[Trent]

I finally watched Valerian last night.

I thouroghly enjoyed it. I really hope they make another. And with the same actors.

[Autocon]

Saw Captain Marvel. Theres something a miss with it. Id recommend it but doesnt quite hit the mark. She is a cross between superman and green lantern. 6/10.

[GoktimusPrime]

So which Transformer did other people bring to see Captain Marvel and why did you choose that toy? What about apparel?

For me I brought G2 Jetfire because...
* The toy was released/purchased in 1995, the same year that the film is set in
* Carol Danvers is a pilot and Jetfire is a jet.
* Captain Marvel is a 2019 film and one of the most anticipated TFs of 2019 is Jetfire



I wore my OzFormers jersey with the Maximal logo since Beast Wars was released in 1996 - close enough.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Saw Captain Marvel tonight. First impressions are it was an enjoyable flick. I especially liked some of the twists in the movie. Enough backstory and easter eggs for the MCU fans. “Goose” was awesome. Brie Larson did a good job in the role and I like how this was more of a “who am I” story rather than a “watch me grow as a person” theme. My minor gripe is that a story set in the past inevitably leaves me less attached and concerned with the main character as I know she’ll survive to appear in the next movie.

[philby]

Captain Marvel was cool! The cat is hilarious

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, my more detailed thoughts on Captain Marvel -- I shall attempt to be as spoiler free as possible but inevitably some story stuff will be discussed so... mild spoiler warning.

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PROS

+ Brilliant acting from the entire cast. Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson have excellent on-screen chemistry that works so well for this film.

+ The digital de-ageing is really well done; I personally didn't even notice it. And that's when you know an effect is well done -- when you're not paying attention to it.

+ Goose the cat steals the show!

+ Loads of awesome 90s reference. My personal favourite was the Street Fighter II arcade machine. Hadouken!

+ Unlike Bumblebee this film actually explains why alien and human characters can actually understand each other (actually have previous MCU films like GOTG explained it? I don't remember)

+ Visual continuity with other MCU films is consistent, including the honeycomb shaped wormholes as seen in GOTG.

+ The story's main plot surprise was well done.

+ The movie is absolutely aware that Carol Danvers is not the first or last Captain Marvel.

CONS

- No memorable villains; nothing like Killmonger or Thanos, this movie utterly lacks having any relatable antagonists. They're just plain evil so it's super easy for the audience to hate them and go for the goodies.

- No real character development. Captain Marvel is pretty much the same person at the end of the film that she was at the beginning of the film. Yes, she has acquired a lot of new knowledge and a new life direction, but personality-wise she hasn't really changed.

- No real pathos. If we look at films like Wonder Woman and Thor Ragnarok, the titular characters in these films really evoke emotional investment from the audience. The scene in Wonder Woman where Diana climbs to the top of the trench parapet and begins walking towards the German gunners is evokes a power emotional response from the audience. We feel the sadness and hopelessness of the situation as Diana witnesses the horror of WWI and trench warfare around her, but then the tone shifts to one of soaring hope and she faces the enemy. The emotions run even higher as she leads the charge to liberate the German-occupied Belgian village (and we feel Diana's anguish when the villagers are later exterminated). Maria Rambeau arguably elicited more pathos than Carol Danvers.

- Backwards story telling. Telling a story out of chronological order can work, but I feel that it doesn't work that well for Captain Marvel. While it does immediately throw us into the action, it also creates little suspense for the audience because we know more than the main character does. To evoke a greater sense of audience connection I think that the audience really shouldn't know much more than the main character; we should be following her along her journey not knowing what lies ahead. This is what happens when a character's origins are explained first before the "hero" form of the character is revealed. Instead we are thrust into the world of Captain Marvel and then later retroactively shown her origin, and the end result is a rather disjointed narrative.

- This movie arguably suffers from being too many things. It's an origin story; it's a prequel; it's a lead-in movie for Avengers Endgame; and it's possibly designed to, together with Endgame, set up MCU Phase Four (which will kick-start with Spider-Man Far From Home). So you might say that this movie has been overburdened with being asked to do too many things all at once. This is precisely the reason why Christopher Nolan refused to do any crossovers with other DC properties in the Dark Knight Trilogy.

Neutral

* I think that some of the music choices could've been better to better reflect the mood or evoke a deeper audience investment than what was chosen. "I'm Just A Girl" doesn't seem to have the same oomph that the Immigrant Song had in Thor Ragnarok or the score from Wonder Woman etc. Maybe it's just me...

* Does this movie hold 90s nostalgia or are they just references? I think that depends on whether or not you're a child of the 80s or 90s. As an 80s kid these were references to me, but that's because I was in my teens/20s during this decade. For younger viewers who were still primary school aged children or younger during the 90s, then yeah, I think that this movie would be absolutely nostalgic for you just as Bumblebee was nostalgic for us 80s kids.

* The movie explains the origin of another character's trait and... I dunno, I wasn't the biggest fan of it. It's not bad, but I felt it was unnecessary. Not everything needs an origin!

* Having said that, I quite liked how it explained the origins of the Avengers name.



The Elephant In The Room

The Feminist Action Movie.
Now I'm sure that I'm with the rest of you in saying that I just went in to watch a good movie; I wasn't thinking about the politics surrounding this movie at all. And all the thoughts that I've presented so far have been without consideration of this issue. But in saying that, as far as being a feminist action movie... Wonder Woman did it better. Okay, Wonder Woman suffers from having a pretty whacky end fight with Ares, but aside from that I feel that if you really want to look for a good feminist action movie, go watch Wonder Woman. It ticks the same boxes that people would be looking for, only that it gives us a more likable character who does more than just go on a MacGuffin Quest. Now I'm a Marvel fan over DC and I generally much prefer the MCU over the DCU, but credit where credit's due -- Captain Marvel VS Wonder Woman? Point goes to Wonder Woman. I've yet to see Alita Battle Angel, but from what I've heard about this might also be a better feminist movie than Cpt Marvel too.

Overall

I still found Captain Marvel to be a good and enjoyable movie. It's a nice enough popcorn flick and certainly loads better than Bayformers. But it's by no means an exceptional movie either. As I said, I think too much was asked for this movie. In that regard there's a fair chance that DC's Captain Marvel movie might actually be better... and this is not easy for me to admit as a Marvel fan!


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P.S.: I'm too tired to think this through, but if the Cree are blue blooded then does that mean that their blood contains copper-based haemocyanin to carry oxygen instead of iron-based haemoglobin found in red blood? If so, then what could be the reason or advantage of having this? On Earth all vertebrates are red blooded whereas blue blood is found among invertebrates. The Cree appear to be mammalian vertebrates - so... what's with the blue blood?

[1AZRAEL1]

Quite enjoyed Captain Marvel. Understandabley, Kevin Smith cried when during Stan Lee's cameo *Spoiler* he was reading a Mallrats script because this is set around the same year *Spoiler* and even I teared up when seeing it. I feel that this movie would have been more suited to come out before Guardians, but wouldn't have been accepted amongst most fans.