Call it...Captain Marvel or Shazam?

[achilles]

So, the Beeb has a review of Captain Marvel up, or as they somewhat jokingly called it, "Captain Millennial".  To sum it up, the first act is a waste of space, the second is decent, and the third is "as exciting as watching Windows 95 load".  They like the job Larson did, they wanted Jackson to run into his Pulp Fiction character.  Lots of 90s jokes, Top Gun jokes.  They say the action takes second place to introspection on Larson's part.  Basically, they say it's no Black Panther.  They seem to think it's...okay.  Not great, not terrible, just...okay.

That actually seems to be a common theme among the reviews I've read; that it's neither great nor terrible, just...okay.  Another review I read placed it with Dr. Strange and Captain America:  The First Avenger.  Take that as you will.

[Stephen Day]

It looks like Captain Marvel opened to $20.7 million on Thursday alone.

[achilles]

Mar 9, 2019 15:31:00 GMT Stephen Day said:

It looks like Captain Marvel opened to $20.7 million on Thursday alone.

I'm sure it will do very well.

[Deleted]

$153 million opening weekend (U.S.) Not too shabby for Captain Marvel.

[Deleted]

Disney buying Captain Marvel movie tickets to ensure success?

[Stephen Day]

Mar 15, 2019 1:27:52 GMT @walt said:

Disney buying Captain Marvel movie tickets to ensure success?

I can't say I'd trust a site like that to be telling the truth

Since then, there’s been a growing tidal wave of reactionary hatred directed toward women and minorities in the comics world. In angry tweets, as well as rambling YouTube videos, members of the inchoate Comicsgate movement have derided female and minority characters, creators, and fans — all while claiming to want a return to an imagined past of apolitical comics. Many of them have special ire for trans people (“SJW Mags Visaggio Takes Advantage of Trans-Tender [sic] PRIVILEGE To Get Hired And Make Money,” reads the title of one Meyer video about trans writer Magdalene Visaggio), accusing them of faking their trans status for fame and profit. A Comicsgate news-hub called Bounding Into Comics emerged, where progressive creators and critics are regularly accused of harassing or silencing conservatives. For those who followed Gamergate, the defensive positions are all too familiar: whenever someone says something extreme or incites targeted harassment, other reactionaries will either say it was all a joke or that that person doesn’t represent the larger movement. It’s nearly impossible to win an argument with the Comicsgaters, but ignoring them (something I’m ashamed to admit I thought would work) isn’t doing the trick, either.

The likelyhood that a site linked to Comicsgate is telling the truth in this matter is very low.

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2019 1:43:38 GMT Stephen Day said:

Mar 15, 2019 1:27:52 GMT @walt said:

Disney buying Captain Marvel movie tickets to ensure success?

I can't say I'd trust a site like that to be telling the truth

Since then, there’s been a growing tidal wave of reactionary hatred directed toward women and minorities in the comics world. In angry tweets, as well as rambling YouTube videos, members of the inchoate Comicsgate movement have derided female and minority characters, creators, and fans — all while claiming to want a return to an imagined past of apolitical comics. Many of them have special ire for trans people (“SJW Mags Visaggio Takes Advantage of Trans-Tender [sic] PRIVILEGE To Get Hired And Make Money,” reads the title of one Meyer video about trans writer Magdalene Visaggio), accusing them of faking their trans status for fame and profit. A Comicsgate news-hub called Bounding Into Comics emerged, where progressive creators and critics are regularly accused of harassing or silencing conservatives. For those who followed Gamergate, the defensive positions are all too familiar: whenever someone says something extreme or incites targeted harassment, other reactionaries will either say it was all a joke or that that person doesn’t represent the larger movement. It’s nearly impossible to win an argument with the Comicsgaters, but ignoring them (something I’m ashamed to admit I thought would work) isn’t doing the trick, either.

The likelyhood that a site linked to Comicsgate is telling the truth in this matter is very low.

I think that could be said of almost any source today. That said, I agree the odds are against the story being wholly accurate...but it is not beyond a move Disney would take. 

[Stephen Day]

Mar 15, 2019 2:00:38 GMT @walt said:

Mar 15, 2019 1:43:38 GMT Stephen Day said:

I can't say I'd trust a site like that to be telling the truth

The likelyhood that a site linked to Comicsgate is telling the truth in this matter is very low.

I think that could be said of almost any source today. That said, I agree the odds are against the story being wholly accurate...but it is not beyond a move Disney would take. 

No, it's not beyond the move of any corporation in this day, and I do have to admit the possibility. However, considering the source and the fact that I couldn't find anywhere else reporting this, the likelyhood that it's true is so low that I simply can't even consider it remotely plausible.

[SporkBot]

I don't even know why Disney would even bother. Because some dorks think "that's the only way this movie would sell"? Because the Marvel Studio films have all been such disasters from the get-go? Because they're so insecure about girls, other ethnicities, and so forth liking comics, too? Because it's so unfathomable that a comic movie with female lead, behaving not much differently from the dudes, could achieve ANY kind of success? Because after Catwoman tanked, Wonder Woman managed to not suck compared to the other DCEU movies, Disney became DESPERATE after more than A DECADE of consistent success, and spent their own money to fake sales at how many movie theatres, which probably would have cost them more than it was worth?

Frankly, it sounds about as on-target as that b.s. story of some white dude being "beaten by black youths for trying to see Black Panther."

I've seen Captain Marvel. It's fine. It's neither the greatest Marvel flick, nor the worst. It's not a secret feminist manifesto brainwashing people into thinking Thor needs to be a vegan transgender Chinese destroyer of all copies of all John Wayne movies.

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2019 2:28:06 GMT SporkBot said:

I don't even know why Disney would even bother. Because some dorks think "that's the only way this movie would sell"? Because the Marvel Studio films have all been such disasters from the get-go? Because they're so insecure about girls, other ethnicities, and so forth liking comics, too? Because it's so unfathomable that a comic movie with female lead, behaving not much differently from the dudes, could achieve ANY kind of success? Because after Catwoman tanked, Wonder Woman managed to not suck compared to the other DCEU movies, Disney became DESPERATE after more than A DECADE of consistent success, and spent their own money to fake sales at how many movie theatres, which probably would have cost them more than it was worth?

Frankly, it sounds about as on-target as that b.s. story of some white dude being "beaten by black youths for trying to see Black Panther."

I've seen Captain Marvel. It's fine. It's neither the greatest Marvel flick, nor the worst. It's not a secret feminist manifesto brainwashing people into thinking Thor needs to be a vegan transgender Chinese destroyer of all copies of all John Wayne movies.

I am just curious. Was the theater you saw the film in full? 

[Stephen Day]

Mar 15, 2019 2:33:26 GMT @walt said:

I am just curious. Was the theater you saw the film in full? 

The theatre I saw it in was full.

[SporkBot]

Mar 15, 2019 2:33:26 GMT @walt said:

Mar 15, 2019 2:28:06 GMT SporkBot said:

I am just curious. Was the theater you saw the film in full? 

No, but I saw it in the morning on a weekday.

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2019 13:54:31 GMT SporkBot said:

Mar 15, 2019 2:33:26 GMT @walt said:

I am just curious. Was the theater you saw the film in full? 

No, but I saw it in the morning on a weekday.

A person after my own heart. 

[Beast]

I know it's just wishful thinking on my part, but if you google Shazam movie and click on the cast tab on the IMDB header, Zack Levi is playing a character named Captain Marvel. The rest of the cast are playing members of the Marvel family as well.

If only DC had the stones...

[achilles]

So the early reviews for Shazam are in, and they seem to be overwhelmingly positive, basically calling it the best of the DCEU movies, which to be fair is like calling someone the world's tallest dwarf.  But...one also calls it the sunniest and sweetest DC comic book film since the 1978 movie Superman.  That's a bit higher praise.  IIRC, it currently at 95% on RT.

However, it will still be dogged by the massive failure of the DCEU as a whole, especially it's tent-pole movies like BvS and League.  Wonder Woman probably IMO got a huge boost just from not totally sucking, despite the fact that in reality, it was really only a "meh" movie at best, with a lead who can't act, a male lead who overacted, and terrible bad guys and a junk third act.  Shazam probably won't do the business Captain Marvel is doing for that reason, and for the fact that it doesn't tie in to a hugely anticipated movie, thanks to DC's squandering any goodwill they had with League.  

Honestly, while from all accounts Marvel wasn't a bad movie, just a competent outing in the MCEU, Shazam sounds like it's probably a better movie on its own merits, if the reviews can be trusted.  But again, do to those considerations, it probably won't do as well.  If it is that good though, I really hope it does well enough to justify making more of them to continue the work Aquaman and WW started at rehabilitating the DCEU.  On the downside, with WB continuing to make movies that will likely be more old DCEU than new, like that Harley Quinn vehicle BOP, and however many Joker movies they're planning, it will still have to fight against more screwing up by WB and DC.