Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 4 & Beyond (and a chance to change your vote)

Maybe the least MCU stuff outside of GotG?

Pretty much -- there was a glancing Black Panther connection and a bit of set dressing with connections elsewhere but that was about it.

I think Oscar Isaac refused to sign a long-term contract so they probably couldn't really promise Moon Knight spilling over into other projects.

PG13 isn’t what it used to be, huh?

Haha no it is not

I did really enjoy GOTG3, but besides my GF and I there was a family of four (a mother and three small children) also in the theater (in a sadly dying mall) last night … and all I could think was “damn, this is not for kids.”

any non-spoilery reasons you can give? asking for a friend (who's 11)

ha, guess I now have the same question, is it markedly worse for kids than the last two?

the word "fucking" appears at one point (was this the first time in the MCU? The first two Deadpools don't count as the first two movies weren't part of the MCU, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage had one 'fuck' but was technically part of SSU).

the vivisection stuff is psychologically pretty rough, it bothered me for a bit and I usually don't get bothered by that stuff (not 'bothered' in a 'they shouldn't have included this' but 'bothered' in that the scenes affected me)

thanks, was curious. we've dealt with language in other movies he's watched so not too worried about that, but good to have a heads up about the vivisection stuff

other than that though it's pretty standard GOTG

There is one scene that is a closeup of a talking flayed face

My theater was mostly quiet during that scene but there was one woman near the back who loudly guffawed

Okay that is funny as hell, lol

"Get in the fucking car!" was the funniest line in the movie imo

DJP and Neanderthal covered it. The language didn’t bother me at all in that regard - it was more about “animals in peril” stuff, which could be intense if your young kids are sensitive, and some (to me) exceptionally violent moments.

My 16 y/o and I went to the movies last Friday. I watched Fool's Paradise while she watched GotG3. She came out of the movie crying over a scene she refuses to divulge. Now she wants me to see it and I'm gently suggesting maaaaybe I'll watch it when it makes it to streaming. In reality, there is no way I'm contributing a dime to Chris fucking Pratt, let alone have him inhabit my brain for 2 hours straight.

She did text me from the theatre to let me know they were playing Beastie Boys so I guess not all is lost.

Took my son to see GotG3 on Saturday, we both loved it. It was easily my favorite Marvel movie in quite a few years and, by far, the best of the GotG series. I think part of what I liked about it was that Pratt was sort of pushed over to the side for most of the movie, but in general it hit a nice tone that I think has been missing from the other recent Marvel flicks. Not going to lie, a couple of the animal scenes had me as close to choked up as I've ever been over a dumb superhero movie.

My son said it was now "top three Marvel movies ever" (his other two being Infinity War and Endgame). I wouldn't go that far, but it's definitely my favorite since Endgame (only Doc Strange 2 comes even close).

I also feel like they did a great job of creating trippy/weird settings (like the Orgocorp HQ) that felt genuinely unique and not just samey CGI stuff (cf the Quantum Realm in the latest Ant Man).

Yeah the design sense throughout all the GOTG movies has been wonderful.

We took our 13 and 8 year old girls to see it. 13 was totally fine, but this is the first Marvel movie that troubled the 8 year old, which isn’t surprising. There was also a camera shot through a wound in a creature’s chest. There were a few gnarly parts, it definitively felt like Gunn was pushing things and maybe getting back to his Troma days.

What are they going to do, fire him from Marvel, etc etc I make joke

So we're watching everything in order with the kids, most of us seeing these things for the first time. We're halfway through Wandavision and loving it. It's hitting my Lynch pleasure center when the dialog becomes stilted and awkward and the laugh track stops. Are there any MCU television series that are not worth watching? So far we've liked everything we've seen except the big duds (Thor 2, Hulk, Iron Man 2).

The Disney ones are all solid, but Winter Soldier and Moon Knight might be the most skippable. The Netflix ones have their moments, but are often shockingly dark/violent. The best of the Disneys are Wanda, Loki, Ms. Marvel and She Hulk (those last three are also the most fun), but Hawkeye is kind of slept on as an almost self-contained adventure that nonetheless (re)introduces a few key characters.

I'm very positive about a lot of Marvel, don't dislike any of the movies, even liked Netflix' Iron Fist a lot (which most people consider the biggest dud), but Ms. Marvel is the one where even I would say that it's skippable. The main actress is good and it starts out fun but the story clumsily develops into nothing of interest. I also don't expect it to be necessary viewing for the Marvels either. But yes, be warned that the Netflix series are very dark and violent - also unnecessary for the MCU (and I can't recommend Jessica Jones S2 and S3 either, her character is permanently stuck in a place where it's harder and harder to sympathize with).

Falcon & Winter Soldier doesn't seem skippable to me. It follows up on movie themes and introduces characters like USAgent. It feels weaker than it should/could have been, but I found it an enjoyable series comfortably fitting inbetween movies.

Moon Knight might be skippable as it's self-contained, but I've heard more people naming it as the strongest MCU series.

We'll probably watch all the MCU shows then. The kids are def gonna want to watch Ms. Marvel. No interest in the Netflix stuff.

Ms Marvel is tonally different from a lot of them, not that dissimilar to the recent Spiderman movies. And with the Marvels movie imminent, probably a good character to get acquainted with.

Ms Marvel is great; Moon Knight also great… honestly i thought they were both refreshingly enjoyable against the somewhat familiar formula of other properties

“unique” does not equal “skippable” imo but ymmv

I was thinking of "skippable" as in, "if we skip this show, will we be lost watching future movies?". "WandaVision"? For sure. "Loki"? Possibly. "Ms. Marvel"? Looks like it. "Moon Knight"? Not so much, so far. Exception might be "She Hulk," which is also unique and seemingly stay alone (for far), but tons of fun.

But the shows are all solid at minimum.

My fave was Loki, wandavision was excellent, Winter Soldier and Hawkeye almost as good. This run of TV shows, out of what I've seen, has been better than the concurrently released films.

Moon Knight might be skippable because it's not really hooked into the "MCU" in general but it was really really good, so I don't recommend skipping it.

I feel like the last Dr Strange and Antman movies were skippable because they fucked up cool stuff from Wandavision and Loki

Yeah, I was wondering more if there were any total dogs in the pack.

I'm def watching She-Hulk because she is my comic book girlfriend. I'm reading all of the She-Hulk stuff; I'm almost done with the Byrne Fantastic Four when she was a member, then I start on the Byrne solo run. I have mixed feelings about Byrne but he sure does draw her well.

Meanwhile given everything:

https://gizmodo.com/marvel-thunderbolts-wonder-man-productions-pause-strike-1850478277

Of the ones I’ve seen: Loki and Wanda Vision both had some exceptionally strong episodes but whiffed their endings; F&WS was solidly enjoyable but the scripts didn’t give Stan & Mackie enough opportunities to be fun together; and Moon Knight didn’t reach the highs of Loki or Wanda, but tells a fun complete story, and Oscar Isaac has bags of charisma in the lead role(s). Haven’t seen the rest! I thought the She-Hulk opener was dire but I’ll give it another go

She-Hulk was fun but it was very light - an enjoyable lark.

I'm 10 years away from having seen either, so my memory's not great on why I feel that way. Iron Man 2 had Tony peeing in his suit and the dance-off with DJ AM (RIP), but Whiplash was fun. Iron Man 3 opened with Eiffel 65 in one of the most baffling soundtrack moves I've ever experienced, pointless Ben Kingsley fake-out, Pepper Pots gets a giant bunny, and there was something about plants? Maybe I'll watch them again sometime. Who knows.

― peace, man, Friday, May 5, 2023 12:42 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

Squeezed Iron Man 3 in today and yeah, it is so much worse.

• Completely forgot that it was a Christmas movie. Double-checked the release date and it came out in May - they couldn't even get "Christmas in July" right, for Christ's sake.
• Egregious version of Jingle Bells as Tony Stark dances his new Iron Man suit on.
• Stark tells an adorable child "Loved you in Christmas story, by the way." Har dee har har har.
• Stark encounters a second adorable moppet, who becomes his annoying sidekick for about ten minutes. At one point, Tony calls him a pussy!
• TV news camera guy totally fanboying out over Stark. Shows off Stark tattoo.
• Bad guy plans to publicly justify presidential assassination by saying it was in retaliation for an oil spill. Although that is not his actual motivation, it still plays into the bad-guy-as-ecoterrorist trope.
• Too Many Iron Mans at the end reminded me of my gripes about the last season of Mandalorian.
• Couldn't find a way to wrap up all the storylines, so they gave us several minutes of Stark voiceover at the end explaining to us what happened.
• Spy music over closing credits - why?

On rewatching Iron Man 2 a few weeks ago, the only other thing I had forgotten about that dragged it down for me was an Elon Musk cameo. He acquitted himself like a bumbling moron. I really liked everything else about it.

Completely forgot that it was a Christmas movie

did you see who is credited as writing and directing it

^^^

THANK youuu

is that a favreau trademark? christmas?

…you do know what one of his most famous movies is, I trust.

Chef?

No, Chelf

Just checked imdb and the only other Shane Black-related movie I've ever seen was Monster Squad.

Have yourself a merry little Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys.

listen to sic, he speaks the truth