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Justice League (2017)


MarkHB
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2 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Not really "feeling" Aquaman as a water-breathing biker dude. I mean, I get how the "normal" version might not resonate, but it feels like too much effort is being expended. Also, I feel bad that Ezra Miller might not get love because Grant Gustin has done "Barry Allen: Putz/Hero" so well.

From the buzz I've heard coming out of test screenings,

Spoiler

Ezra Miller's Barry is apparently extremely well-received.  I believe he's the breakout of the 3 newcomers.

I'm more of a Marvel boy at heart, and didn't like the previous movies, but this looks entertaining. More than Thor Ragnarok, at any rate. However, the Star Wars trailer is going to drop sometime in the next 12 hours, and everyone will be drooling over that. Me especially. This might kind of get forgotten. If anything, they should have either released it two weeks earlier or later.

  • Love 1

I have no comic book knowledge what so ever, and that trailer confused me. Is the Justice League just battling humanoid bees? There are elements of the movie that gives me hope - the Clark/Lois sequence, Barry fanboying over the bat signal and the splash of colour and brightness. However my gut is saying this will end up like so many CGI heavy movies, a finale filled to the brim with special effects where so much is being thrown on to the screen that my brain checks out and doen't care cause it isn't 'real'. Plus I still hate the suit for The Flash. I feel someone moving so fast shouldn't be wearing metal. Also think Warners was silly for doing Justice League BEFORE the solo films of all the main roles. I feel along with the 'save the world' plot we have to have time to explain Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. When Avengers was released I was excited cause it was a bunch of movie heroes together on the big screen for the first time. JL kidna has than but its more like 'oh cool we get to see those famous characters on screen for the first time' as opposed to the feeling I got for Avengers.

I can't help feeling this will be a letdown after Wonder Woman proved that DC movies don't have to be gritty like Nolan's Batman to work.

  • Love 4

I think that trailer was actually worse than all the others. Still no clue what this movie is actually about. I assume they're saving the world. I mean, at least give me a villain?

Every scene looks utterly weightless. I don't know how we're still tolerating such shit CGI. I know it's a merman harpooning a flying monkey but come on...

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Edited by JessePinkman
  • Love 7

Yeah, way too much Candy Crush videogame background in this one, just like the final act of BvS and pretty much all of Suicide Squad. (Though Wonder Woman's final act suffered that as well, and still managed to be a great movie overall.) I don't recall Man of Steel having these funky CGI problems. The disaster porn was excessive, and I was rolling on the theater floor at the Kryptonian rocket-dildos, but at least it looked like a real city being leveled and real rocket-dildos! Did Warner Brothers fire their SFX vendors and hire all new people after the first movie?

Edited by Bruinsfan
  • Love 2

I think I've simply reached my saturation point when it comes to "the whole world is at risk!" because spoiler: the world isn't gonna end. Occasionally, sure, a fun blockbuster with over-the-top special effects is fine. But there have been so many comic/action movies going this route lately that all the fun is gone, and all that "style" (aka CGI) doesn't mask the complete lack of substance. Independence Day and X-Men: Apocalypse are good examples of this. Avengers, on the other hand, did work, not because there was a chance that the Chitauri and whaliens would succeed, but because we got to hang out with awesome characters for two hours.

They should've started out smaller. DC has tons of antagonists that are powerful, creepy, intriguing, scary, etc. Pick one. Any one, and give us a chance to know the team before expecting us to care about a storyline that is probably zero risk and low consequence.

I'm sure that fans familiar with the comics are thrilled to see Steppenwolf and the demon insects on the big screen. Those of us that know little or nothing about them aren't getting much hint in the trailers about what makes this storyline unique in any way.

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19 minutes ago, coppersin said:

Avengers, on the other hand, did work, not because there was a chance that the Chitauri and whaliens would succeed, but because we got to hang out with awesome characters for two hours.

I feel like this is where they were going in the ComicCon trailer for this movie, with Bruce gathering the team, and the insertions of humorous one-liners:  it seemed kind of light-hearted at the time.  That message seemed a little less prominent in this trailer, with the focus being more on whatever major threat is coming and 'splosions.

I know multiple people commented on this on the prior page, but BvS and even Man of Steel really screwed over the portrayal of Superman's memory that they seem to be going for here (based on this trailer).  Everyone (except his mother, Lois, that one priest who buried him and Wonder Woman, who didn't really interact with him) hated the poor guy before!  I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?  I mean, I appreciate the revisionism as a Superman fan, but it is hard to set aside all the suck from the prior films.

  • Love 6
2 hours ago, scrb said:

So why isn't Superman in this movie?

Is it assumed that he'd be unstoppable so the JL with Superman would not meet much resistance or create dramatic tension?

I believe it's been said that Zack Snyder wanted Batman to be the one to gather the Justice League to complete his healing process.  Also, if Superman is alive, then the invasion probably wouldn't happen at all since his absence was the opening Apokolips wanted ("the bell has been rung, the god is dead" from the end of BvS).

On 10/10/2017 at 11:34 AM, Peace 47 said:

I feel like this is where they were going in the ComicCon trailer for this movie, with Bruce gathering the team, and the insertions of humorous one-liners:  it seemed kind of light-hearted at the time.  That message seemed a little less prominent in this trailer, with the focus being more on whatever major threat is coming and 'splosions.

I have no doubt some viewers will make the following comparisons:

Batman = Iron Man (snarky rich dude)

WW = Captain America (noble warrior from another era)

Aquaman = Thor (boisterous bruiser, royalty, not human)

Flash = Spiderman (the quippy kid)

Cyborg = Falcon (the team needs a black guy, right?)

OK, I'm kind of kidding with the last one but they have definitely been playing up the Bruce Wayne snark (my superpower is money) and that has to be response to how popular RDJ's Tony Stark is.  Heck, if Hawkeye were more popular they'd probably figure out a way to get Deadshot in the movie.

  • Love 6
35 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

OK, I'm kind of kidding with the last one but they have definitely been playing up the Bruce Wayne snark (my superpower is money) and that has to be response to how popular RDJ's Tony Stark is.

Batman has often been portrayed (at least by the better writers who don't do all grimdark all the time) as having a sense of humor, albeit a dark one.  Justice League Unlimited was very good at writing to that.

  • Love 4

Watch 'Justice League' World Premiere Red Carpet Live -

Quote

Justice League is hitting theaters at the end of the week, but the DC film's first big showing is taking place in Hollywood on Monday night.

Stars from the team-up film, as well as members of the press and other prominent Hollywood figures, will be attending tonight's premiere. If you wish you could be there, or you're just having trouble waiting for Justice League, you're in luck. The premiere's red carpet event will be streamed live on YouTube.

Machinima is streaming the red carpet live, beginning at 8:30 ET. Stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Connie Nielsen, Diane Lane, J.K. Simmons and Amber Heard are all expected to be in attendance.

The event, as well as the live stream, will last for just 90 minutes. At 10 p.m. ET, the stars and those in attendance will head inside to screen the film.

  • Love 1

The Rotten Tomatoes score is being held.  The actual reviews are starting to drop.

A lot of them aren't very good, at least so far.

Justice Leagues is a big, ugly mess.

DC superheroes battle in vain against the power of Zach Snyder.  Also contains the phrase "another film that looks like Axe Body Spray smells."

The Guardian went hard against Ben Affleck, but said that, perhaps not surprisingly, Wonder Woman was the highlight.

  • Love 1

The IO9 review shows that they're learning from Marvel. Or maybe it's just Whedon's doing.
 

Spoiler

 

"Steppenwolf is so incredibly non-threatening that he feels almost superfluous to the movie. He’s not superfluous, and there are plenty of attempts to make him threatening, but it’s all undercut by how generic he is."

Okay, cruel, but I have a hard time resisting the easy targets.

 

4 hours ago, starri said:

The Rotten Tomatoes score is being held.  The actual reviews are starting to drop.

A lot of them aren't very good, at least so far.

Justice Leagues is a big, ugly mess.

DC superheroes battle in vain against the power of Zach Snyder.  Also contains the phrase "another film that looks like Axe Body Spray smells."

The Guardian went hard against Ben Affleck, but said that, perhaps not surprisingly, Wonder Woman was the highlight.

Not that I'm glad that the reviews are tepid at best but I did have to laugh at The Wrap's tagline:

"There are some laughs and excitement, but this is another film that looks like Axe body spray smells"

That really kind of sums up my relationship with Zack Snyder movies.  Honestly, they needed to let Geoff Johns or Patty Jenkins take the DC/WB movie reins years ago.

  • Love 4
7 hours ago, starri said:

The Rotten Tomatoes score is being held.  The actual reviews are starting to drop.

 

My bad.

That Vanity Fair review was an absolute delight to read during my mid-morning break. And I don't necessarily dislike DC, but they deserve to be razed for putting out consistently sub-par efforts. I can't understand how, save for Wonder Woman, they keep missing the mark so badly. Great actors wasted in outright messes.

Edited by RinaX
  • Love 8

Time Warner owns 30% in Fandango, which owns Rotten Tomatoes.  So that explains the review embargo.

It really is a damning indictment on TPTB that they are incapable of making of delivering even a good DC superhero movie (Wonder Woman being the obvious exception).  They failed years ago with Green Lantern and have continued failing, despite knowing how much was riding on it.  The Zack Snyder era has been a failure and a new team has to be brought in there (not Joss Whedon).  I'd say let Patty Jenkins run the show, as she's proven to be the only person involved in these films who knows what she's doing and has actually delivered a great film and a very successful one at that.

  • Love 8

Maybe they should bring in their animated team to work on these movies since their success to bust ratio is a lot better than the live action team.  Regardless, this has to be it for Zack Snyder being involved with the DCEU.  The running theme for all of these movies seems to be a great cast doing its best to elevate sub-par scripts, bleak visuals, etc., with Wonder Woman being the obvious exception.  Throw in the fact that the Marvel movies appear to be on a permanent winning streak and it's just not viable to keep moving ahead, reviews be dammed, unless somehow the box office exceeds all expectations.

  • Love 3

Party Jenkins just needs to be given the whole DCEU at this point, with assists from Johns and Rucka as necessary.

JL will make its money, but you really have to wonder about the non-WW solo DCEU films going forward. I don't think the brand is irreparably harmed yet, but they CAN'T strike out with whoever they want their next creative vision person to be. Doubling down on Snyder was a disaster and hopefully someone at the WB is smart enough to realize that it all rides on who he's replaced by.

  • Love 6
2 hours ago, Vera said:

I just watched Grace Randolph's review and

  Hide contents

apparently there's a scene where Barry falls and his face lands in Diana's boobs. Played for laughs.

 

This was done in Age of Ultron too. Guess who directed both movies? 

And of course the gross male-gaze camera angles are back. My expectations for how women are treated in this movie were already low after the news about the leather bikinis (and well, because it's Whedon and Snyder) but still, ugh. I was only planning on seeing this for Wonder Woman anyway, and by most accounts she's the only good thing about this movie, but if this is how the character is being treated, I'm not sure I want to bother. Is it really that hard to treat women like people and not sex objects, FFS? 

Just hand the DCEU over to Patty Jenkins and be done.

  • Love 6
8 hours ago, RinaX said:

My bad.

That Vanity Fair review was an absolute delight to read during my mid-morning break. And I don't necessarily dislike DC, but they deserve to be razed for putting out consistently sub-par efforts. I can't understand how, save for Wonder Woman, they keep missing the mark so badly. Great actors wasted in outright messes.

Richard Lawson is a fantastic writer. I first fell in love with his writing when he was posting on Gawker as LolCait while working in the ad sales department. I loved his review of Justice League. The following passage really stood out to me:

Quote

There is no real vision; no idea what the tone of these movies should be; no compelling or even coherent narrative through-line; no feel, or regard, for characterization. I know there’s another comic-book company doing this across town, and it seems to be working out well for them, but if you have no clear sense of how to build one of these franchises in a functional, let alone interesting, way, maybe stop until you do!

This is so true. The editorial control over at Marvel is probably somewhat stifling, but it's clear Marvel had a vision of what the MCU was supposed to be and who the characters are. Now that the MCU is as successful as it is they have eased up a little. Snyder alleges that he's telling a story of hope, but he's telling us rather than showing us.

3 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Maybe they should bring in their animated team to work on these movies since their success to bust ratio is a lot better than the live action team.  Regardless, this has to be it for Zack Snyder being involved with the DCEU.  The running theme for all of these movies seems to be a great cast doing its best to elevate sub-par scripts, bleak visuals, etc., with Wonder Woman being the obvious exception.  Throw in the fact that the Marvel movies appear to be on a permanent winning streak and it's just not viable to keep moving ahead, reviews be dammed, unless somehow the box office exceeds all expectations.

The DCEU directors and writers were forbidden from talking to the animated team, which is telling. WB was more concerned with dollar signs than the finished product. The animation group knows those characters so well. They've been working on these characters for 25 years. They know the characters really well. And in some cases, created the characters or their more modern backstories. They've made 28 films as well as hundreds of hours of television. It was a real resource that was ignored for no good reason. Marvel just had more respect for the source material, which showed even in who they had originally began collaborating with. On the Marvel side, they had Kevin Feige, Edgar Wright, Joss Whedon, Jon Favreau, and Jeph Loeb. DC had Zack Snyder, David Goyer, Geoff Johns, and Chris Terrio.

Given that Warner Brothers is so wedded to the grimdark, I wonder if they'd think about putting the DCEU on hold and consider creating a Wildstorm cinematic universe. Or maybe keeping what works in the DCEU and using either Flashpoint or Crisis on Infinite Earths in the next Justice League movie to reboot the DCEU.

Edited by HunterHunted
  • Love 4

The Justice League camera LEERS.

Eeergh! I don't understand... they did so well with Wonder Woman precisely because FINALLY the camera didn't do this. How hard is it to learn how to admire beauty without making it feel sleazy and gross? Why is it so hard for so many male directors to figure this out? 

I haven't read the full reviews, but I want to know if the camera at least leers at Jason Momoa for some equal time ogling. 

  • Love 13

Just got back from a screening, thanks to VW.

Just to be safe, putting my reaction in spoilers. No actual plot details.

Spoiler

It's okay.

Wonder Woman is the best part by a mile. And yes, the camera lingers on her butt in one shot for no reason. The shot is framed  with her butt in the foreground while she's talking to Bruce and Barry.

The Barry face in Diana's chest scene, isn't bad, mostly cause the pace/Barry is so frantic you might miss what happens and not even notice what happened.

There is a shirtless Momoa scene and shirtless someone else scene which was their for eyecandy reasons.

This is not funny, there were like 2 lines that got big laughs and one Aquaman speaking to the rest of the league scene was good. Mostly cause of something WW does.

There were places where it seemed like the put in jokes, just to put in "jokes" and they don't land, dead silence from the crowd.

 

Also the last act action scene is hard to follow, can't really see some of the action going on because of the editing, colours and the CGI.

 

Not as epic as it wants us to feel about the movie, and some scenes are built to maybe cheer when certain people show up, but its not staged right cause it feels perfunctory.( I think thats the right word)

Some of the lines are cheesy as hell.

I think there were some really nice scenes with Bruce/Diana that I wish they explored more. Especially in terms of the concept of guilt and letting go.

 

There's a short scene with Flash and Cyborg that kind of explores their characters and their stories which was nice as well.

Commish Gordon is kind of a waste of time.

 

The chemistry is good with Bruce, Diana, Barry and Cyborg too. I liked them.

 

Did not cry!( Very easy to get me sniffling in movies).

There weren't any parts where I was getting emotional at all. Everything was just there and it was fine. I guess for me there were no emotional stakes.

 

 

Wonder Woman saves the day again.

 

Oh, saw 1 of the post credit scenes it was good. Couldn't stay for the other one.

 

 

Will probably see this once more, cause my friend wants to see it as well.

  • Love 6

What REALLY bums me out is that because they had built up so much goodwill from Wonder Woman, when the preview clips were released that featured her so prominently, I got excited to the point that I thought I might actually want to see it in the theaters.  I was just that happy to see Diana again.

But no, she's the only bright spot.  Because it's, as we all suspected, some chimera of Snyder's pseudo-Jesus grimdark and that patented Joss Whedon patter that is often confused for wit.

  • Love 9
22 hours ago, starri said:

It's like Snyder's lecherousness and Whedon's fake feminism merged into some kind of Male Gaze Voltron.

I'm no fan of Snyder's, but I don't recall seeing lecherousness in any of his prior movies. (Admittedly I took a hard pass on Sucker Punch, which may have been the one it was all concentrated in?). His recurring problems are narrative incoherence, poor characterization, failure to understand the nature of heroism, and giddy obsession with grimdark exaggerated violence. I didn't spot the stereotypical male gaze being used when filming Wonder Woman in BvS, Lois Lane or Faora-Ul in Man of Steel, Silk Spectre in Watchmen, Queen Gorgo in 300, or Sarah Polley's Ana in Dawn of the Dead. I really don't get why he would START objectifying women in his movies now when it hasn't been a theme all along.

16 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

Admittedly I took a hard pass on Sucker Punch, which may have been the one it was all concentrated in?

Pretty much that.

In fairness though, you're correct about one thing:  Silk Spectre was actually a much more well-rounded character in Watchmen than in the source material.

300 actually had the same problem for me, and only really seems to get a pass because it was leering at men.  Don't get me wrong, the Spartans were lovely to look at, and Gal is a gorgeous woman, but I just don't think this is the kind of thing that needs to be here.

And also in fairness, there's more of the male objectification in...well, this movie too, but that as much goes towards male power fantasies.

  • Love 1
23 hours ago, starri said:

It's like Snyder's lecherousness and Whedon's fake feminism merged into some kind of Male Gaze Voltron.

 

59 minutes ago, starri said:

But no, she's the only bright spot.  Because it's, as we all suspected, some chimera of Snyder's pseudo-Jesus grimdark and that patented Joss Whedon patter that is often confused for wit.

You are awesome! So happy to.hear there are others out there that haven't fallen under the Wheden spell. ?

  • Love 2

I have skimmed some of the reviews, I haven't read any complete ones since I want to go into the movie and make my own opinions, but, but it sounds like what I suspected it would be since the first trailer came out. They seem to range from "that sucked and I would rather cut my own eyes out than watch it again" at worst, and "It had good elements and was more enjoyable than Batman v Superman, but is also a mess" at best. It really makes no sense, they did so well with Wonder Woman, why cant they do anything else with that level of quality. They've clearly out so many eggs into this basket, and it looks like a few eggs might be rotten. 

Even worse for DC, the esteemed competition across town have a movie out that is a big commercial and critical success, and has what will almost certainly have two more monster hits coming up. Considering how obvious DC has been in their half assed attempts to be Marvel, its an interesting slice of irony. 

  • Love 4
Quote

It really makes no sense, they did so well with Wonder Woman, why cant they do anything else with that level of quality. They've clearly out so many eggs into this basket, and it looks like a few eggs might be rotten. 

The WB having underestimated Wonder Woman 1 may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the Wonder Woman franchise, as I suspect Patty Jenkins had more control than she otherwise might have and that was DEFINITELY a good thing for WW. I'm nervous about studio meddling for WW2, but hopefully Jenkins has enough clout that she can just be like "boys, I've produced your only good movie so far, clear out and let me do my thing."

  • Love 9
1 hour ago, Morrigan2575 said:

You are awesome! So happy to.hear there are others out there that haven't fallen under the Wheden spell. ?

I mean, I loved Buffy too.  Twenty years ago.

He lost me when he made his pre-recorded plea to the Firefly fans (not one of those myself, admittedly), that if they didn't care for Serenity, they should keep it to themselves.  He was a tonally correct choice for Avengers, but his inability to mature as a storyteller combined with all of the skeevy stuff that came out about his private life, no thank you.

1 minute ago, stealinghome said:

hopefully Jenkins has enough clout that she can just be like "boys, I've produced your only good movie so far, clear out and let me do my thing."

By all external appearances, it seemed like LucasFilm tried really, really hard to get her to direct Episode IX.  I'm pretty sure she told WB exactly that if she agreed to stay.

  • Love 4
1 hour ago, starri said:

Pretty much that.

In fairness though, you're correct about one thing:  Silk Spectre was actually a much more well-rounded character in Watchmen than in the source material.

300 actually had the same problem for me, and only really seems to get a pass because it was leering at men.  Don't get me wrong, the Spartans were lovely to look at, and Gal is a gorgeous woman, but I just don't think this is the kind of thing that needs to be here.

And also in fairness, there's more of the male objectification in...well, this movie too, but that as much goes towards male power fantasies.

Yes, what I appreciate about all the objections regarding LEERING at Wonder Woman is that the same people have also posted their disapproval of the Jason Momoa gratuitous shirtless scenes, the gratuitous Chris Hemsworth shirtless scenes in the Thor movies (& Age of Ultron) which served no plot purpose.  The same people who object to Amazon costumes also posted their objections to the practicality of the 300 wardrobe.  They consistently condemn the objectification in the Captain America movies where they show shots of his butt & focus on his biceps.  It's the consistency I appreciate!

Honestly though, I have no concerns about showing hot men/women looking hot in super hero movies, & even objectifying camera angles lingering on abs/butts/boobs/biceps.  It's the clutching at pearls "OMG this is objectifying!" attitude I disagree with (& find hypocritical).  Males AND females get fan service shots in these movies.  I'm for both!  JL shows Aquaman (Jason Momoa) posing hot & shirtless.   JL also show a butt shot of Wonder Woman.  It's all good. Except the movie of course, which is terrible.

Edited by ICantDoThatDave
  • Love 3

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