Marvel Cinematic Universe Running Thread

[JasonPratt]

As noted above, I personally enjoyed IM2 (aside from the wretched musical score). So the comparisons to IM2, which are rather generalized anyway, don't and didn't bother me.

Saw it this afternoon with Dad. Was surprised at who died toward the end; but then I thought about certain legalities and realized in a way it made good sense. (Don't want to spoil things. Lol at the "elevator" joke upthread for who could wield the hammer btw!)

The only... um... I'm not going to say "stumble", because it wasn't a stumble exactly, but the only problem I personally had with the movie was that Ultron was written and played far far faaarrrrr too human. The sound mix for his voice in post was more than a little weird, as sometimes he had a mechanical reverb and other times he sounded perfectly human. In fact James Spader routinely played him with Red Reddington mannerisms, and that would have been distracting anyway, but in comparison with Ultron's established characteristics in other media it was worse.

I enjoyed his performance, don't misunderstand me -- I just kept being thrown off and distracted by it. (His constant Biblical references were even more out of character and distracting.)

I'll be curious to see the extended cut on Blu. I feel like there were some plotlines that got dropped or trimmed out along the way -- though the only one I recall was Thor trying to figure out the importance of what's going on, and hieing off to go do something with Dr. Selkirk, and then... just kinda coming back for the fight, and nothing more is said about that, though Dr. S joins the new Avengers base. (And why does there have to be a new Avengers base anyway? Stark's tower is just fine. Isn't it? Did I forget something?)

Considering the pressure Joss Whedon was reportedly under to write and direct the thing, I was even more impressed than I was expecting.

The mid-credit sequence (after the end-title credits), can be skipped, it doesn't really mean anything, just a cute fifteen second tease for the next Avengers film(s). ("Well then. I guess I'll just have to do it myself." Which I suppose counts as obliquely clearing up the vague mystery hinted at in the film about how Ultron even got going in the first place.)

[mirth]

(And why does there have to be a new Avengers base anyway? Stark's tower is just fine. Isn't it? Did I forget something?)

Stark is basically out at the end. That's the whole final scene with him and Cap - Tony talking about retiring to the sticks with Pepper, like Barton did with his family. Did you notice how the base was labeled "new avengers facility". We're basically looking at the New Avengers. Stark's exit from the team sets up the showdown between him and Cap in Cap3.

The film covered a lot of ground, with mixed results. I wish they hadn't tried to cram in so much that sets up the next round of movies. The Ultron story almost seemed secondary. I'm nitpicking though, it rocked. Far more satisfying than most other recent blockbusters.

[BanzaiCat]

LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU

We're going to go see it tomorrow morning. I mean, me and my kids. Not my wife, ha. 

[Sir Slash]

I also felt they had cut out or cut short some of the plot lines in the film. Maybe a funeral scene for the character that did die? And the twins didn't seem to miss not getting their revenge very much. But still a real winner.

[MetalDog]

Just got back.  The podunk town I live in only showed it in 3-D.  Went to see it with my daughter and her finacee.  We walked in as the movie was starting and the only seats available were down in front.  I could only keep the glasses on for a few minutes.  Too much motion making me sick.  Having said all that, I really liked it.  I'll go again when the (future) Wife is feeling better.  Hopefully next weekend.  NOT in 3-D!

[mirth]

Yeah, I would not have wanted to see it in 3-D.

[Sir Slash]

I would've ante'ed up for 3-D Scarlett Johansen in her BVD's.  :D

[BanzaiCat]

Went to see it early yesterday afternoon.

The highlight of the experience was the theater. It was the Loews Theater in Spring, TX...it used to be a real sh!thole of a theater, but one thing I liked about the old version was hardly anybody went there. There would be maybe two employees working there at any given time as a result. The seats SUCKED. But if you wanted to see a first run movie without dealing with a crowded theater...you could go there and maybe see eight other people in the whole theater.

AMC just bought it a few months back and did a ton of remodeling. Now, I won't go to any other theater if I can help it. The theaters didn't change in size, but they ripped out all the sh!tty seats and put in nothing but recliners:



I bought the tix online and was greeted with a seat map, as if I were making an airline reservation. So I could reserve our specific seats - second great thing.

So all that said, Avengers 2 was pretty 'meh.'

I really liked the first one. And I was certainly in a great frame of mind because hell, I was reclining in a huge leather recliner and watching a 2.5 hour movie. Still, the movie actually bored me at a point. In the 'safe house' scene, I started yawning and even almost fell asleep. The whole romance thing between Banner and Widow was ham-fisted and uninteresting (though we've been seeing it coming for some time now).

The whole 'oh-no-our-bond-is-being-tested-by-adversity' thing was pretty ::) and cliched. I had a feeling something like that was coming.

But, the action scenes were great, if somewhat dizzying and very very Michael Bay-ish at times (so much motion blur you can't tell WTF is going on at times).

The snappy dialogue was entertaining.

War Machine's presence was awesome.

Hell, even my wife liked the movie. (She said it 'wasn't bad,' which is high praise from her.)

But overall, I thought the first one was excellent. This one in comparison, as some of you have said, isn't as good. But overall it's a pretty good film.

It was interesting how they made certain paths go in different directions at the end. If they plan on doing a new Avengers movie with those folks at the end, I'm not going to be in a hurry to see it.

[MetalDog]

It's all about the continuity and setting up the next movie, B_C.

[airboy]

Went to see it on the big screen (not 3D - but huge) yesterday with the wife.

It was less enjoyable than the last 5 superhero movies I've seen:
Cap 1 & 2
Avengers 1
Guardians of the Galaxy
Last X-Men movie

However, the Ant-Man preview looked awesome.  Fantastic 4 preview was horrible - Jonny Storm saying that he wanted to use his powers to "help people" and not attract hot girls and have fun??????    Really??????

[BanzaiCat]

Try as I may, I just can't get worked up over Ant-Man. I was never a fan of his character in the comics, except when he did a cross-over with Iron Man in one issue (he had to shrink down and enter Iron Man's armor and fix something, can't recall what offhand).

I'm sure I'll end up seeing it at some point. I'm just not worked up into a nerd frenzy over it. Eh.

[Centurion40]

Try as I may, I just can't get worked up over Ant-Man. I was never a fan of his character in the comics, except when he did a cross-over with Iron Man in one issue (he had to shrink down and enter Iron Man's armor and fix something, can't recall what offhand).

I'm sure I'll end up seeing it at some point. I'm just not worked up into a nerd frenzy over it. Eh.

Ditto.

[mirth]

Try as I may, I just can't get worked up over Ant-Man. I was never a fan of his character in the comics, except when he did a cross-over with Iron Man in one issue (he had to shrink down and enter Iron Man's armor and fix something, can't recall what offhand).

I'm sure I'll end up seeing it at some point. I'm just not worked up into a nerd frenzy over it. Eh.

Ditto.

Double ditto. I really like Paul Rudd, but I'm not excited at all about Ant-Man.

[bayonetbrant]

I had fun with A2, except for the Michael May camera moments.  Everyone freaked out with the Avengers comic when Thor and Iron Man left and it was Cap and Hawkeye and the twins, and it worked out OK one the next 40 years...

[BanzaiCat]

I'd be more impressed if Rudd was doing a Wonder Man movie instead of Ant Man. I guess I don't get why they chose this hero, unless there's a bigger picture they hope this will dovetail into.