Black Panther

[Greg]

Hmmm, I don't remember being in Jessica Jones.

MCU are a lot like candy. They can be very enjoyable at the time, but it's hard to remember that far back.

Iron Man
Guardians Vol 1
Captain America
Captain America Winter Soldier
Deadpool

I think all of the MCU films are good on some level. But they have a lot of flaws, too. As someone pointed out they aren't Dostoyevksy.

[cranefly]

Back when I was a teenager, I bought all of Dostoyevky's comics -- every single issue. They were big, hundreds of pages long, and largely impenetrable to me at my age.

During the frigid winter of '67, our parents burned them all to help keep us warm. The funny thing is, the speech balloons wouldn't burn.
I'd dig them out of the fireplace and pin them to the wall in my bedroom, and for years I'd have nightmares where these speech balloons were drifting about sprouting humans who were attached by the mouth.

[The Queen]

Deadpool
Guardians of the Galaxy (Tie between 1 and 2)
Antman
Black Panther
Spider-Man: Homecoming

[Drunk Monk]

My #5 is Iron Man 3 - PRC version with extended Fan Bingbing & Wang Xueqi scenes. 

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Hipster.

---

I totally forgot that Deadpool was MCU. That is prolly #1 on my list.

[Drunk Monk]

Alright I confess. I’ve never seen the Iron Man 3 PRC version. I searched for it for a while but then gave up. But that would be my #5 if I had seen it. If cf can post his Dostoyevskian comic nightmares here, I can post about IM3PRC.

I don’t know why Deadpool didn’t work for me. I wanted more Gina. I wanted Ryan to unhand Morena’s breasts. I wanted to be like Greg and buzzkill the film. 

Still pondering what my #5 is. Maybe I’m holding out for the stand alone Howard the Duck, not the ‘86 one, the one they’ve been teasing in GotG1&2.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I was thinking about what G-man said about BP being a “passive hero” etc., and I think this may have been because he had a very competent team, which is ususual in action movies. Usually, the hero is the lone competent person, or if he (and it is nearly always a “he”) has a support crew, they are comedy relief of they become unavailable to the hero (taken prisoner, killed, left behind...) suitable only for deus machina.

[cranefly]

Saw it.

Note: I don't think I've given any spoilers -- certainly nothing detailed -- but your spoiler mileage might vary.  So a slight heads up.

It's certainly refreshing to see an African take on a superhero movie, in its characters, culture, and world-building, as well as how it addresses important social and racial issues, both historical and current ... but it's still just a superhero movie, and as such it left me feeling emotionally flat.

There were fights both won and lost, but never a clear indication of why someone lost one time and won another time -- no physical or mental growth that seemed to have made a difference.  Then there was the question of why, when the studio had invested so much effort in creating this beautiful alternate cultural setting (and yes, the sets and costumes are gorgeous), the first major action scene should boil down to a car chase.

Yeah, I know.  I really have it in for car chases.  I think it harkens back to growing up in Indiana, where, while I was so into science fiction and spaceships and the wonders of the universe and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, I was surrounded on all sides by people popping car hoods to point and blather about cylinders and volumes and exhausts and oh hell I never listened to any of it.  I just developed a loathing for cars and everything having to do with them.

But back to Black Panther.  There was also a formality to the proceedings and something in the cadenced speech that started reminding me of a Biblical epic where Heston and company are investing every syllable with the utmost emphasis because, well, this is important stuff, you know?  And yes, I'm exaggerating here, it wasn't that bad.  But still, there seemed a formality, a nobility, a cleanliness to the goings-on when I felt it needed to get down and dirty... 

Yes, I know.  You can say it.  I'm more jaded than Greg.

But as superhero movies go I think this is solid -- worthy of becoming its own franchise -- and I'm glad that it is doing so well at the box office.

[Greg]

I will be waiting for DM's review

America’s Favorite Teenager will be doing a lot more dramatic singing and dancing in an upcoming film being made in partnership with Archie Comics and film production company Graphic India.
Announced today via Variety, the project will re-imagine Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie and other characters of Riverdale as Indian teenagers. Although there’s a thriving comics industry in India, this is the first international comic to be translated for Indian screens, according to the company’s release. Sharad Devarajan, co-founder and CEO of Graphic India had this to say:

“Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead have been a source of inspiration for numerous Bollywood films over the years, and now it’s time to take them fully into Bollywood in an exciting new twist of a story that we have planned. These characters have held a special place in the hearts of Indians for decades and we have no doubt that the new Indian cast of Archie and the gang will be an exciting moment for the country.”

A constant presence at supermarket checkout lines, Archie is so quintessentially American that it’s easy to forget the global reach the publisher has. This movie follows along the line of bold re-invention for Archie that started years ago and has continued through the Riverdale TV series and upcoming Sabrina the Teenage Witch show coming to Netflix. When the surprise of the news fades, it becomes readily apparent that Archie in Bollywood could capitalize on both the strengths of the Archie property and Bollywood movie conventions.
For one, Archie and his crew have been musical performers for decades as the Archies band so that’s a natural fit. And the ‘parents just don’t understand’ friction and love triangle structure would like transition well to a subcontinental audience used to high melodrama. There’s no release date yet but Archie in Bollywood is going to be a fascinating experiment whenever it comes out. 

[Drunk Monk]

I rewatched this in preparation for the screener I WiLL attend next week. I wanted to remember what happened because like most every MCU film, much of the story evaporates after viewing like a self-destructing IMF mission tape to Mr. Phelps. 

It wasn’t as good the second time around. That casino oner fight is still awesome, and Chadwick is great in the role, as are all the strong female characters around him. A lot of the spectacle wore thin because my tv doesn’t take up a whole theater wall and I’ve seen the visuals already so the wow factor is long gone. It’s a bit surreal to watch T’Challa’s Disney death scene now. However it’s still enjoyable overall as MCU goes. It’s a bit preachier but that’s fine. Still enjoy the Oaktown reference.

I might’ve dozed off for a bit in the middle, not out of boredom, more because I didn’t sleep well last night and have had a mild headache all day. 

Watching this then Andor was a double dose of gollum, which was ok because Serkis is great in both shows.

I only took two notes but they’re probably useless. My headache put me off my game tonight.