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    KC Complains A LotJason Johnson
    11/16/17 1:38pm

    The DC movies won’t be any good until someone, ANYONE stops using Zack Snyder as the architect of this franchise, and until they slow down and actually take the time to make these movies actually good.

    Snyder’s best trait has always been his visual style. He’s never been a great director capable of coaxing good performances out of actors with bad material. If Snyder was a cinematographer he’d be...not great, but good. He’s great at individual moments, but everything he directs looks like 300, and if you watch 300 now, that movie seems dated as FUCK.

    The thing about the MCU is, at their core, they understand that just because you make comic book movies, doesn’t mean you have to make a comic book movie. All the MCU movies stand up as individual films that you could take the superheroes out of and they work. The Captain America movies are a war movie, a movie where Cap grapples with his place in an America he doesn’t understand, and Cap taking a stand against the government he swore to defend. There’s an arc, and, like, actual character development and shit.

    Iron Man goes from a war profiteer to wanting to make the world peaceful. Spider-Man: Homecoming is a coming of age story.

    Someone at Warner Bros needs to understand that these movies need to be good MOVIES, first, and the rest of the shit with the costumes and the visual affects will work themselves out later. Write a coherent movie with an actual story and don’t worry about needing an action beat every 20 minutes.

    Make more Wonder Woman type movies and less Man of Steel type movies. That’s all anyone wants.

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      HodorableKC Complains A Lot
      11/16/17 2:00pm

      True that. If you want all spectacle but bad movie, there are a dozen Michael Bay types out there happy for the cash grab.

      Some of the best Marvel movies so far have been directed by accomplished people, but whose professional backgrounds are a bit varied. They have seemed more invested in the story and dialogue than the bells and whistles. James Gunn, Patty Jenkins, Taika Waititi.

      I’m sure it’s a lot easier to hire a good stunt and choreography team than it is to create a fun and entertaining story. Especially when you have someone like Zach Snyder who doesn’t seem very receptive to criticism.

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      Denzel WashyourtongueKC Complains A Lot
      11/16/17 2:16pm

      DC needs their own studio. As long as WB is involved they will always pull the studio card. Asking Joss, to keep this movie under 2 hours so that they could screen it easier was the death nail.

      He had to explain: steppenwolf. Parademons. Three new character motivations. Superman’s return, what Lois Lane has been up to (Zzzzzz) and what Batman, and Wonder Woman have been doing since BVS. That’s a difficult task for any director particularly when you are doing it for a movie that you didn’t even start the production on.

      This movie should have been a slam dunk, point blank. I still have my tickets though, because I go to see all of these movies, but it’s disheartening that WB gives so little of a fuck about these characters that they would risk ruining Superman to make a quick buck. The mind reels.

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    boredalwaysJason Johnson
    11/16/17 2:03pm

    [Already purchased IMAX ticket]

    ...

    [Read Professor Johnson’s review]

    ...

    ...kinda feels like you’re so ready for the holidays, aren’t you?

    [I’m still going...because I’m a Blerd]

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      Jason Johnsonboredalways
      11/16/17 2:11pm

      Hey I enjoyed Thor, and even parts of Kingsman: 2 - I just really think this movie was bad, I never imagined I would leave the theater wanting my money back, even when it was free !

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      boredalwaysJason Johnson
      11/16/17 2:50pm

      “I never imagined I would leave the theater wanting my money back, even when it was free !”

      Been there done that: Walked out 45 minutes into a screening of Let’s Be Cops.

      Reply
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    OctoberSurpriseJason Johnson
    11/16/17 2:00pm

    Watching it tomorrow. Not deterred in the least.

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      Jason JohnsonOctoberSurprise
      11/16/17 2:12pm

      I’m not trying to deter anybody, just know you’re going to sit down for over 90 minutes of smudgy trash

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      francoOctoberSurprise
      11/16/17 2:36pm

      keep us updated on your level of disappointment

      Reply
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    StartingOverAgainJason Johnson
    11/16/17 1:38pm

    (Man of Steel, Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman) and none of these films have a firm handle on who these characters really are.

    The DC movie universe is a bit of a mess but I think it’s pretty hard to say Wonder Woman didn’t do a pretty good job of triangulating on who the main character was and what her motivations were.

    I think you could even argue that Man of Steel accomplished that particular objective, to the point of it being a failure on the part of the movie.

    It pounded home Superman’s motivations to the point of the overpowering symbolism and dour seriousness that I think contributed to why the movie gets such a mixed reaction from fans.

    It seems more and more like the DC movie universe is going to be the next Transformers. A test of just how much critics really matter when dealing with fare in popular franchises that is designed to be more of a visual spectacle than anything else.

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      The Mightier FishStartingOverAgain
      11/16/17 1:47pm

      From what I understand (slight spoilers about JL that I saw in another review) part of the setup for this movie for Wonder Woman is that she “disappeared” for the interim between her movie and JL, so even if the solo movie itself had a good handle on who she is, it doesn’t sound like JL does. It might be most accurate to say Patty Jenkins knows who Wonder Woman is, but Zack Snyder doesn’t.

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      StartingOverAgainThe Mightier Fish
      11/16/17 2:16pm

      A few thoughts.

      1. The reviewer was referring to the original movie.

      2. In a more involved note, I don’t get why people don’t think the first movie, and WW deciding to take a step back and losing a little faith in humanity, have to be incongruous.

      I get that people are super-duper fixated on the WW as presented by Patty Jenkins being symbolic of something bigger, proof that a female lead in a movie like this can succeed and even do better than her peers.

      If we’re saying we like Wonder Woman because it’s finally a woman being centered in a traditionally male dominated role of being the lead in a comic book super hero film, then having her struggle with a moral dilemma of some sort in a meaningful way is how you make her a person an adult can identify with, which is an underlying goal of modern day comic book movies.

      Without some sort of moral dilemma, she’s kind of a Mary Sue.

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    LavenderPittJason Johnson
    11/16/17 2:14pm

    The only nit I have to pick with you is lumping Wonder Woman in with the rest of that shit. That movie gave origin story, deep characterization, and a compelling story. It’s also the only one of the four I spent money to watch.

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      Kyo Soma A.LavenderPitt
      11/16/17 3:46pm

      Did it? I mean I will totally give it credit, it’s a more compelling story then most other DC live action films. But part of me was like Cap America did it better...sorry. I honestly did not care for any of the characters at all. Plus I didn’t get enough Candy and she was an awesome character in the comics.

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      The Intersectional Feminist part dosLavenderPitt
      11/17/17 2:22pm

      Seriously. Wonder Woman should not be lumped in with the rest of those movies.

      Reply
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    EvenBaggierTrousers7Jason Johnson
    11/16/17 1:48pm

    Why does DC insist on building their universe pretty much from the inside out? That is, trying to use the team origin story to tell the individual character story. Its the same reason Suicide Squad sucked (for me). It’s hard to care about a hero if you’ve only “learned” about him/her 15 minutes prior. Yes, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman had their own stories (Batman maybe too many). But the others seem like throw in. If they made a “Gilligan’s Island” song about the DC Universe, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash would be “... and the rest.”

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      hocuspocusoctopusEvenBaggierTrousers7
      11/16/17 4:50pm

      They got lazy and greedy. DC didn’t want to take the time to build with individual movies. Granted, maybe Batman doesn’t need one. But the others do. So you have a lot of characters in a movie that the average movie watcher knows nothing about and then you are having Snyder direct them all and he has shown that all he cares about is how cool shit looks. Doesn’t make for a great story that you want to pay mad money for and sit through.

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    Kyo Soma A.Jason Johnson
    11/16/17 3:29pm

    I shan’t be watching it. It was hard enough to get through Wonder Woman. Sorry I didn’t think it was that great. However, I am not the biggest Wonder Woman fan so that hindered my interest. I loved Thor, but again bias since I loved What We Do In The Shadows. DC just needs to wrap it up, they do not have the focus or understanding to create coherent storytelling. Which is odd, because they literally have pictures telling them how to capture the story. Plus, I hated that fucking poster, the graphic designer in me was screaming bloody murder at how terrible a homage it was and shitty use of type. It was my Papyrus moment.

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      Tomi MarchantKyo Soma A.
      11/16/17 7:47pm

      Wonder Woman was not a very good movie and I say this as a huge Wonder Woman fan who was very excited about it since the beginning. Gal Galdot is a phenomenal Diana and WW but the film was fucking trash. They still pushed the white savior/love story narrative. The villains and final battle were anticlimactic and nonsensical. People saw it through rose colored lens because of the huge ‘Feminist’ marketing angle, but honestly, it was merely serviceable at best. Like 4/10. It’s just not a great movie. I have zero interest to ever watch it again, and that says it all.

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      Kyo Soma A.Tomi Marchant
      11/17/17 10:52am

      Omg! Thank you! I felt lambasted by friends who gave me flack on the story of Wonder Woman. I was like, is it a good story? Or is it just the hype that it’s a film that actually follows a story line. If I have to get through it 3 times cause I fell asleep during the film that’s not a good look. Also, Aries out of the gate, wouldn’t you want that to be more of a last villain. WW biggest problem (at least for me ) is that she has no great enemy. I mean what else were they going to pick. Egg Foo? People seem to forget that Wonder Woman back in the day was kind of racist. Which is one of the reasons I couldn’t really be a big fan of hers. Obviously things have changed but, in all that time. There hasn’t been an enduring villain towards WW (at least for me), and a story is only as good as the antagonist.

      https://www.alternet.org/culture/enduring-racism-wonder-woman

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    Moon ConspiraciesJason Johnson
    11/16/17 1:40pm

    Justice League is Trash and a Desperate Money Grab, But You’re Still Going to Stream it 

    Give me a movie theater where I can smoke and drink and not be near strangers, capitalists

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      Tomi MarchantMoon Conspiracies
      11/16/17 7:42pm

      A 420 friendly move theater would be an unlimited amount of revenue. Too bad the white men in power want us coloreds to be in jail more than make billions.

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    Li'l Bitty Maggie PieJason Johnson
    11/16/17 1:35pm

    You seem awfully confident, speaking to a person whose last theater experience might have been Black Dynamite.

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      boredalwaysLi'l Bitty Maggie Pie
      11/16/17 1:45pm

      [Look at you...throwin’ shit before you even walked into the room]

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      Li'l Bitty Maggie Pieboredalways
      11/16/17 1:48pm

      RIP Chinese kid in Vietnam

      Reply
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    Thotline Bling: black girl supremacyJason Johnson
    11/16/17 1:28pm

    No, actually I’m not. Lol. This sounds boring in addition to being painfully bad. Count me in if you get tickets to an advance screening of Black Panther, though. For the culture!

    Reply