Octopus Overlords

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:59 pm
I wasn't a fan of Manta. They got the look right,

We saw it Saturday night.

Overall I REALLY enjoyed it, though I'm not sure if that's because it was really good or if it wasn't a total bomb like most other DC movies.

I will say I was really impressed with how much story they crammed in, even at 2:20. They basically had to give Aquaman's entire origin, Black Manta's origin, introduce Mera, set up the conflict between Arthur and his brother, expound on the cultures of the Atlanteans, etc. That's even before you get to the actual journey. Yet I thought the pacing was really good - never dragged, but the info dump was just spread out enough you could follow everything easily.

Yes it's a total CGI fest, but I'm OK with that. It's a comic book movie, after all. And yes, the CGI was cheesy at times. But it's an Aquaman movie after all.

Seriously though, this was the first DC film in quite some time that actually *felt* like a comic book. (Wonder Woman was great, but it wasn't as epic and thus missed out on some of that feel). They definitely took some tips from Marvel and upped their humor. Aquaman never feels brooding or dark, and it was such a refreshing change.

Yes, it comes off as a little goofy and cornball at times, but DC's still finding their way. This was a huge step forward, and I finally felt like I could enjoy a DC movie the way a kid would and not as a morose emo Goth twenty-something.

YK, it's funny how many caveats you put on your review of Aquaman lol. I agree with the majority of your comments, and while overall I enjoyed it I'm probably a little less forgiving.

I think the comment you made about plot being "crammed in" is the best way I would describe it, even though you used it as a positive. I would have preferred an abridged version, maybe chop about half an hour or so. No offense to Manta fans, but I think they could easily have edited his story out entirely and kept the focus on the origin plus Atlantean storylines. Some of the over the top CGI I could do without as well, particularly the crab people and the monster that looked like they stole straight from Pacific Rim. I also felt like there was zero chemistry with Amber Heard. All I kept thinking was what if they had cast Emilia Clarke in the role, I think my fanboy head would have exploded. I didn't even recognize Dolph Lundgren and Willem Dafoe seemed completely wasted and/or out of place in this movie. Patrick Wilson, who I normally love, didn't really add much to his role, and it was poorly written at best. One minute it seemed like they wanted us to be sympathetic to his cause, the next he was a traditional evil psycho villain.

The thing that did work for me was Jason Momoa's overall performance. I had a lot of doubts of him as a serious actor, but he just seemed so comfortable and joyfully engaged in the role that it muted out a lot of my criticisms while watching it. I also really enjoyed the backstory with Nicole Kidman and the father, who actually showed some amount of on screen chemistry. Or maybe it's just that she's that good of an actress.

All in all, like many others, I'd put it as the second most enjoyable DC film behind Wonder Woman. I still feel like DC just tries way too hard with their movies when they really don't need to.

I saw it over the Christmas holiday. While I enjoyed it, I couldn't help but think how simplistic the story was compared to the Marvel origin stories...well, most of them, anyways. While not award winning writing, Marvel still tends to give their villains and their heroes more complicated lives than "love action, love hittin' stuff". Aquaman is a good action film, don't get me wrong. But it seems like they wanted to mimic the depth of a Marvel film with their pre-Wonder Woman films, realized they had no idea how to do that without being ridiculous, and then just said screw it, let's concentrate on the fun parts. Wonder Woman, for all its accolades, isn't much more deep than Aquaman when you break it down. It's still about action first, plot and character development second (although Wonder Woman does much better than Aquaman on the latter).

I also saw Spiderman Into the Spiderverse this past weekend and that one puts all of the DC live action films to shame.

My dad is coming over tomorrow to relieve me of hospital movie and to go see a movie.... I'm trying to decide Spiderman or Aquaman. I guess available showtimes will be the deciding factor.

I really enjoyed Aquaman. I had low expectations when it was first announced. I always felt he was the lamest of all the superheroes. But man I enjoyed every minute of it. Everything just felt epic.

Get 'em, Batman!

Wasn't following Shazam at all, but I caught a matinee of it today (I'm in Australia at the moment and apparently in the future) and really enjoyed it. One of the funniest superhero movies that I've seen with a lot of heart. Honestly liked it more than Captain Marvel and I found Captain Marvel to to be a perfectly fine (if average) Marvel movie. Chuck did a great job playing a 14 year old in a 30-something superhero's body. The director completely embraced the inherently goofy nature of Shazam and just went for it.

The good news is that my copy of silver age Shazam #1 just quadrupled in price.

Just got back from seeing Shazam, and it was a lot of fun.

(Yes, there's a mid-credits scene AND a post-credits scene)

I saw it Friday with a friend and we thought it was okay, but not deserving of the 92 percent or so it’s enjoying on Rotten Tomatoes. I fear we’re at the point where reviewers have given up and are now just doling out praise to superhero movies as long as the film has a somewhat coherent plot and decent acting.

While fun, it did absolutely nothing new. It did focus on family more, and seemed at times to be geared towards kids. But then they’d include scenes of monsters biting off people’s heads, or being tossed out windows to their deaths. So the tone seemed all over the place.

Also, the villain seemed to be an attempt to use Black Adam by pasting his name and part of his origin onto another Captain Marvel villain, but without actually using Black Adam so they wouldn’t infringe upon the upcoming Dwayne Johnson movie featuring that character.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:08 am It did focus on family more, and seemed at times to be geared towards kids. But then they’d include scenes of monsters biting off people’s heads, or being tossed out windows to their deaths.

I was all set to take my kids to see it this weekend and then my wife sent me some texts with comments similar to that and then we didn't go to the movies this weekend.

Wow, that was really good. The whole family loved it. It was nice to prove Deadpool wrong. The DC universe isn't all darkness and gloom.

And while there was some dark stuff, most of it occurred just off camera. A monster does bite a guy's head off, but you don't see it. You see the monster pick someone up and put his head in its mouth. Then the camera angle changes and you see his feet just before the monster hurls him (very quickly and blurrily) out the window. At no point did it show the blood, the head, or a headless body. Probably the most potentially disturbing scene was There were so, so many references in there.
Anyway, I loved the movie as a Shazam fan, and Michelle and the kids loved it with almost no familiarity with the character.

I do wish they hadn’t given Sivana an origin/powers that are so close to Black Adam though. But I thought it was fun.

hentzau wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:11 am I do wish they hadn’t given Sivana an origin/powers that are so close to Black Adam though. But I thought it was fun.

I think Sivana was originally supposed to be Black Adam (played by Dwayne Johnson!) until they decided to spin Black Adam off into his own movie. Maybe the script didn't change terribly in terms of origin/powers after that shift.

They should have just stuck with mad scientist for Sivana. But apparently they weren't creative enough to make that work, so they had to make him superpowered too...then tack on parts of Black Adam's origin. That was pretty weak writing, imho. In the process, they've lessened two of Cap's greatest enemies.

I will say that if they make Mr. Mind the villain in the sequel, they have a chance to redeem themselves in my eyes.

hentzau wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:11 am I do wish they hadn’t given Sivana an origin/powers that are so close to Black Adam though. But I thought it was fun.

Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. It's going to make it... odd if they ever bring the two film series together. Of course, they set up for the sequel. Maybe by then they'll have Black Adam out and can look at bringing them together. The real problem is that they've got one, maybe two more movies in them before they run into the limiting factor: Little Billy Batson, boy broadcaster, will have a beard. 83% of their cast are child actors. Word is that they're fast-tracking the first sequel for that reason.

We enjoyed it. but I wish the trailers had done a better job of showing it was more than just bubble gum and teenagers.

The beginning scenes, and the later monsters were very scary for my 9year old. I am not sure how suitable this is for young viewers. And i particularly didn't like the use of a brothel. What specifically age group were they intending?

but after all that, 9year old says that Shazam is the new favorite hero, so I guess thats something.

It was a strip club, not a brothel. And did you’re pandering to the fantasies of a 14yo straight boy, it’s an easy gag.