Mainstream Matters III
So, there’s a lot of comic book movie action coming later this year, but for now, we’re just going to focus on the present or the near future. The very near future in fact because we’re going to start with…
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
I began writing this little column about four days before the Friday premier of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and I have to say, I’m excited. I have my tickets and I’ll be seeing it opening night. The early buzz from a New York screening was extremely positive with the most accolades falling on Gal Gadot’s performance as Wonder Woman. Ben Affleck also received positive notes for his performance as well.
I started out as big a sceptic as anyone. I just have never been into Zack Snyder’s style of filmmaking, but in my opinion, every trailer has gotten better and I think he’s going to deliver. Is it weird that one of the actors/characters I’m looking forward the most to seeing is Jeremy Irons as Alfred? Yeah, that’s weird. But hey, he’s always been one of my favorite actors.
Captain America: Civil War
I hope this film rights the Marvel ship. I’m fully aware not everyone sees it this way, but I thought some of “Phase 2” was a bit of a mess. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy were both tremendous. Everything else in my opinion was a little uneven and I thought Thor: The Dark World was the worst of the Marvel movies.
I love that Spider-Man is part of this and I think the most recent trailer looks excellent. It’s on you, Russo brothers.
Daredevil Season 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5_A0Wx0jU4
I just finished watching, and I thought it was excellent. If I had to pick, I would probably say I enjoyed Season 1 a bit more, if for no other reason than Vincent D’Onofrio’s diminished role in the new season.
As it has been pointed out many times, Marvel does casting extraordinarily well. Jon Bernthal was so good as Frank Castle. In the entire MCU, my two favorite characters have become Frank Castle and Luke Cage based solely on the performances given by the respective actors.
X-Men: Apocalypse
It looks sufficiently epic in scope. I’ve enjoyed most of the other X-Men films and I have little doubt that I’ll enjoy this one.
I would be remiss not to mention Suicide Squad, which is the comic film I’m looking forward to most this year. However, that’s not until August, so we’ll do another one of these when the time comes.
So, what do you think? Do you share my optimism or are we in for some rough times ahead?
Have just seen Captain America Civil War. Fantastic movie! Easily at least a 9 out of 10. Feels very much like the best version of a Mission Impossible movie, but with superheroes. Plus: Scarlet Witch is amazingly hot in this movie! Go see the movie!
Will do!
Yes, there are many characters in this movie: but they manage all of them in a near perfect way and at the end of the day: it is a Cap movie! Yeah! THIS might be the perfect comic book movie if there ever was one. Civil War easily tops both Avengers movie and then some. Not sure yet if I wold rank it higher than Cap Winter Soldier, have to see Civil War a couple of times more. Did I mention Scarlet Witch? Oh, boy! F**king hot! And as a fan of both, Marvel and DC, it pains me to… Read more »
Finally bit the bullet and watched Batman Vs Superman. I was aware of all the negative reviews, although I couldn’t really understand them – they are complaining about a movie whose subject are an alien flying around in a blue pajama and a billionaire, gadget-powered vigilante as “absurd”? It’s a bloody superhero movie, what do you really expect? In other aspect, those reviews did sound a lot like comic-book nerds just…nerd-raging because the movie isn’t exactly as they had shoot it in their heads. Let’s clear the air immediately: as a superhero movie, it’s a solid 7 out of 10,… Read more »
We definately saw the same movie. Seeing it again on Tuesday. Your score is right on the money, I am between 7 and a low 8 as well. I am puzzled about some of the reviews as well. One reviewer even complained about the space ship attacking at the beginning of the movie and then not to be heard of again. Duh! As if this is the first movie to directly continue from a movie that came before. This reviewer must not have seen Casino Royal and Quantum of Solace. It is so funny how all the reviewers now come… Read more »
Wow, I hadn’t see the “disappearing” spaceship attack review. It just confirms what I increasingly think these days – people are quickly losing the ability to follow anything that is not extremely linear and doesn’t resolve in a the bat of an eyelid; Also, everyone seems to be incapable of reading between the lines – see the “Martha” part. The issue is that these people get to sprout their ignorant, poorly thought words on the Internet, completely unfiltered. I hope DC has the guts to go full “Injustice” storyline in the future with the movies, as comics wise it’s probably… Read more »
I did read a lot of reviews and also a lot of comments. I find it stricking, that people do comment a lot on how a certain movie (this movie in particular and Men of Steel) should have been i.e. “fun” (since it is, you know, a comic book movie) instead of giving the movie a review in the sense of what it actually is and did it achieve what it set out to achieve. This is the direction they have chosen, so as a reviewer, deal with it. No, this is not the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman or the… Read more »
I see a lot of “well people didn’t like it because they just don’t.. yadda yadda yadda.” What about those of us who didn’t like it because it was just a boring ass movie period. I can accept flaws and I can accept when a movie just doesn’t achieve greatness and still like it. Thor 2 fits that bill. Hell it was a letdown big time but I wlked away not really liking or hating it. BvsS though just was a bore to sit through until the final act and even then Doomsday was so poorly done the troll in… Read more »
Agree. Thor 2 was really bad, except for Loki. And yes, Doomsday – who should not have been in the movie period – was done extremely poor, not only the CGI.
I actually liked the slower paced first act of BvS more, but this is taste for you 🙂
This is an excellent review. I saw the movie with my son. The film was in UltraAVX and 3D, it was great stuff. Ben Affleck stole the show. The back and forth between Superman and Batman scenes took some getting use to. The critics who wrote negative reviews must have been working for Marvel, LOl and a ho,ho,ho.
Can anyone tell me whether wonder woman or Elektra experience any peril in bvs or daredevil?? Thanks
WW no. Elekta yes.
Haven’t seen either yet, but apparently, WW no. Elekta yes. Now I just need to figure out who Elekta is…
Elekta who? 🙂 And I even posted it twice, duh!
And yes, will be seeing Cap Civil War this Wednesday. Bet there is a ton of peril for Green Widow 🙂
I Elekta Big Zee as most prolific thumbs down clicker who then pretends ‘it wasn’t me!”
Word!
I am watching BvS until next week but I am really looking forward to it, I liked Man of Steel, the last part was not that great but the movie was cool and let’s face it, superheroes have gone darker on all sides that they were before because we as a wold have grown abit darked and for some weird reason, can’t accept flawless heros like Superman and Captain America used to be, we all love Wonder woman from the 70s but all in all, that campy version of Wonder woman won’t survive in today’s world. Even Gadot said herself… Read more »
I’m really only seeing this for Wonder Woman… And I know exactly what I’m getting into…. (It’s NEVER gonna be Batman 1989, and it will NEVER be Lynda Carter…)
I went to see Batman vs Superman last night because one of my friends had passes, and it’s a hard movie to review because you’re either going to like it or hate it honestly. But if you didn’t like Man of Steel, just save your money. Any mistakes you think Snyder made in that movie, you’ll come away from this one saying he didn’t learn from them. I guess firstly I have to say that this movie would have worked better as just Batman vs Superman. The villain felt tacked on almost as if they just wanted to have a… Read more »
Totally agree. See my post below. This is a very frustrating movie. There are so many good ways they could have gone by “just” keeping the focus on Batman v Superman and giving both of these characters time to make their case (also on an emotional level) and then fight and then resolving their differences by understanding that they can add to each other, this might have turned out great. As it stands: this is done much better in the Daredevil series with Daredevil and the Punisher. Here the scenes have weight and that adds to the level of excitement… Read more »
I just finished watching the last episode of Daredevil season two a couple of days ago. Outstanding, all around. The way they did the contrast of vigilante/hero, and the contrast between Daredevil/Punisher and in some ways Elektra was top notch.
I have also just finished watching Daredevil 2. Absolutely brilliant and Electra was a great addition. Jessica Jones was also a big watch for me and so now looking forward to Luke Cage. I love the way they have made these series dark and wish that other series followed this path also. Imagine Supergirl in this universe.
I have just seen Batman v Superman. Seeing it again on Tuesday. In any case: SPOILER-WARNING, even though, I think I do not give any spoilers. But still: do NOT read this if you want to know NOTHING going in 🙂 So: NO, there are NOT too many characters. The movie is 80 percent: Superman, Batman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. Wonder Woman does not steal the movie. She is not in that many scenes and mostly as Ms. Prince. Yes, they call her that. She is in the big fight at the end as Wonder Woman, you know this… Read more »
– I’m pumped to see Captain America Civil War. Winter Soldier is probably my favorite Marvel movie, and it looks like they’ll keep that same feel for this. – Want to see X-men Apocalypse as well since I enjoyed Days of Futures Past. They’ve done a good job on these starting with First Class. – Not really looking forward to Batman vs Superman. Didn’t like Man of Steel, don’t really like who they have playing Lex Luthor, and it looks like it may be an overdose of CGI from what I’ve seen in the trailers. Will have to wait and… Read more »
I fear this will be another Sucker Punch. It’ll look cool, but the script is going to be crap. There are just too many big characters that require SOME sort of time spent showing where they come from/what they want/etc. Three villains in one movie is NEVER a good idea. Plus, IMHO, the last two Superman films were horrible. Just bad. I could rant and rant about how bad the last one was – nothing against the actor, I’m talking script problems, and not just plot holes, but nonsensical stuff that tore me out of the experience over and over… Read more »
All this talk of superheroes, has ‘Powers’ been mentioned on here yet? I thought the first season of that was excellent with Eddie Izzard playing a brilliant villain. I gather they have attracted even more well known actors for the 2nd season.
I’m not really all that interested in Batman V Superman. It just looks so dower and doesn’t seem to get the various characters. It also seems like a mess with ALL the characters they’re craming in.
A little disappointed the Supergirl-Flash crossover didn’t get a mention, I mean that’s a big deal for the TV stuff. Anyway more excited for that than BvS.
The Flash is such a good show. I am happy that there is a mix of different flavors. While yes, the Snyder stuff looks dark and depressing (recently re-watched Watchmen and loved it even more), I am also happy we get “bright” shows like The Flash, which can also be dark, but still be very comic book-y. And funny: there were no complaints about too many characters when the first Avengers movie came out (the second one is a different thing, but the problems with that movie were really not “the too many characters thing”… that was a part that… Read more »
I totally agree with you about Phase Two being a mess. I really enjoyed Captain America Winter Soldier, the best Marvel movie so far in my opinion. Guardians was ultimately very forgetable, the rest not very interesting. Glad to hear that the new Cap movie is more a Cap movie than Avengers 2.5. Age of Ultron was one big mess with a few highlights not withstanding. But I do trust in the Russo Brothers to get this one right as well. Also very much looking forward to Dr. Strange. X-Men: not sure what to expect. First Class still takes to… Read more »
Early word is: Batman v Superman is apparently really good and Wonder Woman one of its highlights. Seeing it on Wednesday. Yeah. So relieved that it seems to be good at least!
I don’t think we’re at full saturation yet – quite a way to go yet, particularly if you compare to the golden age of Westerns which is the closest comparator to the current Superhero phenomenon really.
It’s totally cyclic, we’re not going to get too many justice league movies – but the current superhero trend’s likely to continue well into the 2020’s. Absolutely certainly in fact, with Marvel films planned that far ahead already.
Here’s hoping some more superheroine leads than already announced!
And superheroines with bare legs. Definitely looking forward to that. It’s about damn time.
Prepare for a lot of “industry” press to write a lot about superhero fatigue. We have FOUR superhero ensemble flicks this year — that’s a lot of one kind of movie. I’m sure they’ll all do good business, and yet there will be much hand-wringing about the future because it won’t be good enough. There will be no shortage of details to quibble and kvetch over, but there will be lots of cool moments to enjoy. I’m keeping my expectations down there — happy for whatever cool moments I get. Marvel already snuffed the only hope for grand storytelling I… Read more »
Yeah, Deadpool turning out to be a massive hit. Where is your superhero fatigue now, industry press? 🙂