Movies

[Grefter]

You don't have Punisher or Punisher Warzone in there.

[Meeplelard]

Putting it at Iron Man 2 level for me is not a good thing though you seem to have a higher opinion of that movie than me.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I feel like IM2 was fine, just overshadowed by the fact that all the best things marvel has ever made came out just before it. I feel like Thor 2 is gonna have the same problem due to IM3 being fucking amazing.

[Meeplelard]

I dunno.  At the time of IM2, there was kind of a lul in Marvel movies, IIRC.  It was between IM1 and Incredible Hulk, but before Thor and Captain America (and X-men 1st Class), so it wasn't really being directly compared to anything.  It wasn't an awful movie or anything, just kind of shrug worthy.

IM2 just has this issue, which it shares with Spider-Man 3, of having way too much going on for it's own good.  There were a few plot threads that could have been dropped in favor of focusing on others (Palladium is the obvious one), and it's kind of hard to ignore seeing as the other Phase 1 movies and IM3 all lack this issue.

[Sierra]

Saw Thor 2. It was decent. Pretty squarely in the middle of the pack as far as Marvel movies go but an okay way to spend a couple hours. Villains were pretty weaksauce but I can overlook some flaws for setting up that last scene. Post-credits scene went right over my head this time but then I never did read much of the cosmic stuff.

[Meeplelard]

Not knowing spoilers (though I saw a vague mention of what it entailed), it sounds like the post Credit Scenes is entirely a tease for Guardians of the Galaxy.

Makes sense I guess; Thor  is probably the only one of the current heroes in the Cinematic Universe that really connects with the Cosmic line at all, and Marvel wants this gamble in GotG to succeed.  Then again, just saying "This movie is a tie-in to Avengers 2!" would get the job done <_<

[Sierra]

Looking up who the character actually is, yeah, pretty clear arrow to GotG.

[Grefter]

I am lazy, could you spoiler text who it is?  I am assuming Thanos but am dreaming of Space Thorse.

[Shale]

If Beta Ray Bill is in this movie tell me now so I can buy fifty tickets.

[Meeplelard]

You know, given how Beta Ray Bill finds ways of getting attention in various things like animated Marvel features (he even had a whole episode dedicated to him in Earth's Mightiest Heroes!), I would not be surprised if they found a way to put him into Thor 3 (which I think is safe to say is being made.)

From what I understand, the after scene credits involve Thanos and Nebula but don't quote me on that.  Haven't seen the movie, I hope to fix this in the next week or so.

[Lady Door]

Saw Thor 2.

I liked it.

Thor & Loki have some amazing on-screen chemistry, which makes them fun to watch. This episode felt a little more quippy than it deserved to be, and the villains were completely shallow pastiches of evil, but it had some legitimately funny exchanges and enough action to be entertaining. I can't be objective about Natalie Portman because I love that girl, so, you know, whatevs.

The design of the elements that showed up in the before-credits-but-after-movie teaser were exciting. Having heard what I've heard about that story line, I'm skeptical even Our Lord and Savior Joss Whedon can pull off an entertaining movie, but I'm more than willing to go see it when it comes out.

I'm getting a little Marvel fatigue, though. Holy crap that's a lot of movies in ten years all around one very small collection of material. Blah blah blah about Hollywood's crutch a la adaptations, I think this was a good move and I love what it's done for opening people's eyes to graphic novels as a worthy source of entertainment, but jesus even adaptations can branch out a little more than that.

[AndrewRogue]

More or less Ashley. Movie lags at the beginning a bit, but ramps up well when it decides it wants to start being awesome. Hiddleston is a delight. The ACTION CLIMAX learned well from Avengers and follows a pretty solid beat of action, action, funny, repeat. It might get a little too irrelevant (the subway scene is ridiculously funny but... maybe a little too silly?).

Mol-mol!

There was a love triangle plot with Sif here, but it's gone now.

Pre-credit tease is an Avengers 2 tease to my understanding. Post-credit tease is a different thing.

[Sierra]

I am lazy, could you spoiler text who it is?  I am assuming Thanos but am dreaming of Space Thorse.

Nah: It is the Collector, someone I had to go to Wikipedia to know what he was about.

I skipped out before genuine post-credits scene but sounds like it wasn't anything big? Also I forgot to note my amusement that Stellan Skarsgard gets to kill the bad guy.

[Lady Door]

Post-credits was just candy feel-good moment. You didn't miss anything big.

[Scar]

This Guardians of the Galaxy movie has the making to be really bad....or surprisingly awesome.

...Rocket Raccoon?

I dunno, I'm torn.

~

Anyways, Loki needs his own spin off movie. Hiddleston is just a great actor, and Loki can carry a movie by himself.

I'd watch it!!

[Meeplelard]

Rocket Raccoon is awesome and I won't hear anything otherwise!  That said, I'm cautiously optimistic about  GotG.  Don't think they've had any real trailers of it yet outside of a teaser at SDCC or something?

[Scar]

Granted, the cast looks great. But I wonder how a movie without any big name Marvel character in it will do as far as ticket sales go?

Ah, you know those types of the movies are the ones that tend to be better constructed now that I think about it. It could be a cult classic!

[Meeplelard]

GotG feels like it's partially being made for Marvel to show that they can sell on brand recognition alone, or at least test if they're strong enough for that, but that may just be me.  I think we can safely assume it won't be as successful as the Iron Man movies (especially 3), commercially speaking.

...speaking of Iron Man, that's a character who went from borderline obscure (to casual audiences anyway) to...arguably Marvel's 2nd biggest name these days after Spider-Man (Wolverine's the reason I say "arguably")?  Who seriously would have seen that coming?

[Captain K.]

Yeah Iron Man was pretty firmly entrenched in Marvel's B-list prior to that movie.  I think it's safe to assume they're happy the gamble paid off.

[Grefter]

B-List but a core of Avengers IP for a hella long time along with Cap.  Also had a very critically successful run with Thor.  Phase 1 movies were fairly safe picks for their long term goals.  Said goals were pretty baller though.

[Sierra]

Hanna: Cate Blanchett tries on a southern accent. It doesn't really suit her, but fortunately her wardrobe does. Movie is not much concerned with story or really making much in the way of sense, but it's fun enough for its run time. Power Waif vs CIA, Chemical Brothers accompanying. Watch once & forget.

Wreck-It Ralph: Aspires to be a Pixar movie, almost succeeds. I enjoyed this. They didn't exploit the setup as thoroughly as they could have; they give you the concept of all these games sharing a neighborhood and then you just spend the latter two thirds of the movie pretty much entirely in Sugar Rush (which does look great, admittedly). So some missed potential there, but still a solid piece of good-natured entertainment. Wait a minute the antagonist was Wash? Did not make that connection during the movie.

The Exterminating Angel: What the christ did I just watch.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox: This was as Wes Andersony as only a Wes Anderson movie can be. So, very charming. Whack-bat makes even less sense than quidditch, though.

[superaielman]

The Exterminating Angel is borderline pornography if that's the film I'm thinking of.  It is...out there, even for a french film.

[Sierra]

Spanish (by way of Mexico). No idea what you're thinking of.

[superaielman]

I was thinking of a really, really awful french film on netflix.

[Meeplelard]

Bad Teacher: I was expecting this movie to be completely awful.  Turned out to be kind of ok.  Not anything I'd rave about but it did get me to laugh a few times and wasn't as brainlessly moronic as I was expecting so...success?

Thor Dark World: I think I agree with most that the movie in the first half is only sort of ok.  Doesn't really do anything wrong, but it feels like it's trying to get through the plot ASAP so we can get to the action.  Not so much rushed as much as doesn't let itself breathe. 

The 2nd half, when actual action and stuff happens, of course is fun stuff. 

Dunno if I consider it better than the first or not, but it's decent enough.  It's not as good as Iron Man 3, no, but then Iron Man 3 felt like it was it's own self contained finale so it had to be great, while THor 2 definitely feels like it was made as a "hold over until Avengers 2", so it being "decent fun" is all it needs to be.

Also, first post credit scene...well, can't say I expected that character.  I knew he was going to be in GotG (well, more like was told, forgot, then when I heard I was like "oh, right, they mentioned he's going to be there!"), but still nice to see an unexpected face.  It is nice to get an idea of what GotG is going to look like at least.