Captain Marvel (2019)

[SnoGirl]

42 minutes ago, starri said:

Assuming Hill is the same age as Cobie Smulders, she would have been 13 in 1995.  And I haven't watched AoS in years,but I don't think May joined SHIELD until a bit later.  I wouldn't have minded Fury getting a phone call from Director Carter, though.

I guess for me, I would take the quality over quantity.  Maria, Monica, and Mar-Vell were all so great.  And they pulled off the tricky challenge of determinedly passing the Bechdel Test without drawing attention to the fact that they were attempting to do so.

Okay-I’ll give you Maria Hill. But on Shield, they have made it pretty clear May has been around as long as Coulson. It could have been a line-less role-she could have been running around.

I’ll take quality and quantity for women in movies. Surfers-two male and a female.  Parking lot security guard-male. Shield boss-male. Shield agents-mostly male, counted two females. Carol did fight the old lady, who then turned into a male. Were the Skrull all male in the first part of the movie? I think they were. Medical examiner-male.  Bartender-male. Voice at Pegasus base-male.  Guard at Pegasus-male (was there a female? I can’t remember). Neighbor at Maria’s-male with his unseen male sons. I dont think we ever saw Carol’s Mom-just her Dad yelling at her. Go-carting with boys. Baseball with boys. Ronan and his first mate.

I love this movie. And I think a point could have still been made about how Carol had been held back her whole life with more females in the movie. Once you start watching action movies realizing there’s always more males than females, you can’t stop seeing it. The same goes for how many white actors there are versus people of color actors there are. I once counted first and second tier characters in Marvel and color coded it-it was overwhelmingly white and male. Black Panther and Captain Marvel are a start, but Marvel can still do better.

And I’m kinda frustrated you brought up the Bechdel Test. I don’t think passing the Bechdel Test has anything to do with my point of more women in the movie, and it also shouldn’t have been a surprise that the movie did pass it. There were no love relationships in this movie. It would have been easier for more women to talk to each other if there were, you know, more women in the movie. “And they pulled off the tricky challenge of determinedly passing the Bechdel Test without drawing attention to the fact that they were attempting to do so.” Attempting to pass it without drawing attention they were trying? Um, what? Women do talk about more things then men. And obviously Maria and Carol had more important things to talk about their love life.

Edited March 10, 2019 by SnoGirl

[Wishing Well]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

I actually thought Wonder Woman was very feminist. That big difference is that because of the time period Diana faced more overt sexism while Carol faced a more modern and insidious form of sexism. The sexism is Wonder Woman is easy to condemn but the sexism in Captain Marvel is easy to justify.

I like Wonder Woman but it is telling a very different story than Captain Marvel. Diana’s story was a woman who already knew her own power and who had to keep asserting herself when dismissed because of her gender. It was a story of a god becoming disillusioned with humans. 

Carol’s story is a woman who was continually held back and controlled who had to embraced her full power. It is the story of a human who realizes she is a god. The media is focusing more on “girl power” because Carol’s story resonates with many woman. 

Diana is a woman that girls can look up to with awe but Carol is a woman that girls can look at and see themselves. 

I want to be clear that in the next paragraph I am not addressing anyone specifically. It is response to the overall tone of much of the criticism.

I do agree that it is unfair to dismiss any critical voice as a “whiny male privilege fanboy”. The thing I don’t understand is why a feminist agenda is often dismissed as a bad thing. Why is there a problem with a female driven movie? It is hard not to look at the backlash and wonder what is wrong with my experience as a woman being the agenda. 

YES.

Captain Marvel shows the modern, systemic sexism that we still see, and that is why I think people are turning into, dare I say, “snowflakes” about it.  In WW, society tells Diana to wear a frilly crinoline and dress, that women shouldn’t go to war, and that love and compassion is not enough.  These aren’t really things that I can relate to, as a modern day 20 something woman, but I can respect and revere Diana as a strong female figure and hero. 

Carol got catcalled.  I got catcalled last week.  She was told to sit down and control her emotions. Hillary, AOC, Kamala...they’ve all had their abilities questioned because of their so called female emotions.  Meanwhile men on both sides of the political spectrum are screaming and howling.  Carol was knocked down and ridiculed by men at her profession, something we have all endured.  When she finally found herself - the man told her that HE is proud of HER success, and that she needs to let go of her innate abilities and talents, lower herself to his level, and prove herself to him.  He changed the rules right as she won, invalidated her victories, and took credit for her success.  Which reminds me of Taylor Swift’s second AOTY Grammy win, where she encouraged girls to not let anyone take credit for their hard work and success. 

Sexism is ugly.  Sexism hurts.  Sexism comes in the form of microaggressions and societal norms that are not there to help us as a gender.  Captain Marvel subtlety put those sexist moments in their film, the same way we see them in our day to day life.  Nobody is beating us around the head with a bat labeled SEXISM!!!, but those little things here or there are.

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, SnoGirl said:

But on Shield, they have made it pretty clear May has been around as long as Coulson. It could have been a line-less role-she could have been running around.

Coulson was routinely referred to as a noob or rookie throughout the movie. I don't see why they had to include Melinda May. Maybe she hadn't joined yet? Maybe she was on assignment outside of LA? There's no reason she HAD to be there. Coulson has history in the MCU, Melinda May does not. Makes sense to me as to why they included one over the other.

[Jenniferbug]

I loved this. I was actually quite emotional throughout my first viewing because it felt like they had gotten so many small, subtle details so right. The subtle sexism that was present through the movie was spot on. I loved how Carol was competent and confident, funny and smart, got to show emotions and kick ass, and she did it all without wearing a skimpy costume or having a love interest. There was no female rivalry taking up plot time, and instead we got to see Carol and Maria's supportive friendship. To top it off, it had a mostly female soundtrack as well (I personally loved the Just a Girl moment, but that song was my feminist anthem as an early teen, so I'm likely biased). 

I took my 6 year old daughter to see it today. She hasn't seen the other MCU movies and has never seen anything rated PG13, but this felt right to take her to. She loved it. She's been playing Avengers with her younger sister all afternoon, pretending to be Captain Marvel. These movies absolutely matter. 

[Kromm]

I saw this today and I (mostly) loved it.

It wasn't perfect. The mistakes were the kind of problems that a pair of independent film directors would make being put in charge of a big budget FX film. Nothing unforgivable or film ruining.

The things that the pre-release butthurt "critics" harped on were NOT those problems.

Brie Larson was far better in the role that I thought she'd be, and so of course infinitely better than the army of politically motivated a-holes tossing phrases like "SJW" around the internet connected with her name, for daring to suggest she should be speaking to more women and people of color on her press tour.  Or even better than those people with more subtle (but ultimately still sexist) critiques about how she needed to smile more.

Hilariously, it was obvious they did some last minute reshoots/pickups to add in a few jokes/potshots addressing stuff like the "smile more" controversy. I laughed extra hard at those.

Anyway, while it could be argued that Brie Larson is not a very physical/athletic presence, I did get convinced by the film that she didn't have to be in order to be a hero who shoots blasts out of her hands.  What I did buy is every part of the portrayal centering around "Carol" (versus the "Vers" or "Captain Marvel" parts). Those were nimbly and excellently done.  The acting AROUND those scenes, by not just Larson, but her co-stars was extraordinary too.  Lashana Lynch better get tons of work after this film, she did such a wonderful job.  And Akira Akbar slam dunked Monica Rambeau SO hard that whoever plays the grown up version of her is going to face a real challenge.  She was the very opposite of an irritating kid actor, and she'd better get dozens of good roles in the next few years too, or there's no justice.

Getting back to Brie Larson herself, the Vers parts, which is mainly what we saw in the advertising campaign, was okay for what it was supposed to be. The problems there are writing and directing issues, not acting ones.   And the Captain Marvel parts mostly fell prey to ILM doing one of the shittiest jobs I've seen from them in years. The effects on Hala were great. The ships were great. But the Cap herself, in action?  Horrible.

Ben Mendelsohn, who I've strongly disliked in a lot of his work (mainly for it being super repetitive) wins here. The movie is acted well all around, but he totally wins. If I ever see him do a two dimensional baddie in another film after this I might puke, because he's so totally the opposite of that here. I won't even spoil the big payoff for that in the film near the end. Even the earlier parts of the portrayal were interesting.

Here's my hope, nay my DEMAND for Sam Jackson, if we get to see Fury in Endgame.  I want to see a sequence where Fury totally acts like the Fury we see in this film when he encounters Carol Danvers. I want other Avengers to witness that and be equal parts mystified and alarmed. It would be hilarious and effective in pushing back on the one dimensionality Fury got to have in the MCU films, the predictability.  

The plot twist which led into the third act of the movie is one I won't spoil (to keep this spoiler free) but I will say that it's one that changes things from the comics BIG TIME, and I already hear people whining about it online... but I am of the total opposite opinion. It may shut down a few major storylines people expected to get ported over from the comics, but I'm okay with that, since I think it opens some nice new original ones instead. 

I've also seen a ton of criticism that the early part of the movie is "disjointed".  It is, but there's a valid story reason for it, as well as an artistic one. Many of the big film rookie mistakes I mentioned connect to this, but over-all I think the criticisms are wrong--if not in that its disjointed, but in a total misunderstanding or mischaracterization of WHY and how hard or easy it is to watch.  I followed it fine. I could have suggested a dozen ways to improve it, but the way it was wasn't so bad I think it ruined anything.   There were other pacing mistakes elsewhere in the film too. Again, nothing film ruining but definitely rookie mistakes from ported over Independent film folks.

One of my few big ughh reactions had to deal with us learning how Fury actually lost his eye. I did NOT like how they chose to do this. I'm going to come awfully close to spoiling here saying this. I expected Fury's loss of the eye to either be SUPER exotic OR SUPER mundane. Either of those could have been played out interestingly and created a great narrative about Fury. What actually happened was the weird mix of BOTH mundane AND exotic at the same time. I won't say how such a contradictory thing could be, but I bet most who saw it would agree once they think about it.  So it frustrated me, because I think they want to play it as mundane and exploit a narrative about that and how his eye loss was so built up as dramatic in the other films... when its not.  But the exotic elements of that ruin it for me. There's a weirdness to it that doesn't set up the contrast you'd really need to play up Fury acting mysterious about a perfectly mundane loss. 

By the way, there's a tribute to Stan Lee at the very beginning of the film that's almost worth the price of admission by itself. I admit it. I cried.

The Post credit scenes were pretty much what I expected. One sets up Carol's role going forward in Endgame, and one sews up some plot holes in past films.  You won't be surprised by either, once you've seen the rest of the film, assuming you've seen Infinity War, Captain America: The First Avenger, the Thor films, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Anyway, my main advice is to NOT listen to what anyone else says and go into viewing this without pre judgements.  

Edited March 10, 2019 by Kromm

[anna0852]

36 minutes ago, Kromm said:

Here's my hope, nay my DEMAND for Sam Jackson, if we get to see Fury in Endgame.  I want to see a sequence where Fury totally acts like the Fury we see in this film when he encounters Carol Danvers. I want other Avengers to witness that and be equal parts mystified and alarmed. It would be hilarious and effective in pushing back on the one dimensionality Fury got to have in the MCU films, the predictability.  

I demand this as well. I need to see Carol needle Nick about looking old and Nick give it right back with a grin. And then some reference to how the Avengers got their name. And the full reactions of said Avengers. 

[Wishing Well]

Also - looks like prior to Vers and Hala, Maria and Carol were spending a lot of time in SoCal...which is where National City is.  What I would give for a MCU/DC teamup where Carol Danvers met Kara Danvers... 😍. 

Then she can date Alex Danvers.

[Kromm]

9 hours ago, blackwing said:

Overall, I enjoyed the movie.  I went into it with zero expectations other than I hated Brie Larson’s voice in the trailers.  I didn’t have any of these “oh it’s a female superhero movie” and a preconceived desire to “treat” it differently notions that you are suggesting that “everybody” has.

However, I don’t understand why a guy can’t make observations about this movie without being accused of being a “whiny male privilege fanboy” or whatever similar term was used upthread.  In my opinion, this movie certainly had a very feminist agenda.  

1.  The relationship between Maria and Carol.  I thought it was great.  I enjoyed seeing how strong their friendship and how much they cared about each other.  It was just like any other male friendship in Marvel movies, like Cap and a de-brainwashed Bucky, Tony and Rhodey, Peter Parker and his roommate.  But then I see suggestions in media articles (and even in this thread) that the two of them are perhaps lovers and I don’t understand why people are looking for something that might not be there just to push an agenda.

2.  The whole “sisters are doing it for themselves” angle.  I would not have thought anything at all about the fact that Carol has no boyfriend or potential love interest in this movie, had I not read at least one media article that was gushing about the fact that it was so refreshing and liberating that “she doesn’t need a man to prove her worth”.  Well, neither did Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Okoye or Shuri.  

3.  They took one of Marvel’s most revered characters, Mar-Vell, and gender flipped him into an older woman played by Annette Bening.  Turns out she is the noble and benevolent one that is trying to save a race of people that her people traditionally fought against.  Meanwhile, the pretty boy commander played by Jude Law, who some had suspected of being Mar-Vell, turns out to be the primary antagonist who is hell bent on destroying said people.  Coupled with other observations, I think it is hard to ignore the feminist angle to this plot and casting decision.

4.  “I’m Just a Girl”.  I hated this sequence.  She’s obviously very powerful and competent.  Why the need to hit people over the head with it with the not subtle statement that she is a “girl” who is kicking everyone’s butts?

So I guess to me it might be more the media that is casting her as some sort of feminist superhero icon.  Meanwhile, I can’t help but notice that there was nothing like this of the sort written about Scarlet Witch, who was one of the more powerful Avengers.  That scene of the airport battle where she was using her telekinesis (or whatever the movies have turned her powers into) and easily manipulating the opposing heroes around, she was powerful, without anyone cheering the fact that she had no boyfriend.

I also don’t feel like the “Wonder Woman” movie was this blatantly feminist.  Although again, perhaps the media has set higher expectations for this one in part based on the positive reception to “Wonder Woman”.

Overall I am not complaining about this strong female superhero... I just think there is nothing wrong in pointing out that I do feel like there was an agenda pushed here.   I actually am curious about when Captain Marvel exactly became the female face of Marvel comics... in the 70s and 80s back when she was known as Ms. Marvel she had the exact same powers she has in the comics today, and yet she was never thought of the way she is today   Somewhere along the line she was transformed into “perhaps THE most powerful superhero in Marvel Comics” and I’m not sure why she wasn’t considered so powerful back in the 80s when she was just simply another member of the Avengers.

My open questions after this movie:

1.  How come Carol didn’t age in 20+ years?  She looks exactly the same answering the beacon that she did in 1995.  Does space or the Kree powers keep her from aging?

2.  I hunger for the appearance of an adult Monica Rambeau.  Monica has always been one of my favourite comic book characters.  Love everything about her.  I really hope she shows up at some point in the future.  I’ve always wanted the character to show up in movies, TV and video games but I don’t think she ever has.  Loved the little girl version of Monica in this movie.  She even had the iconic hairstyle sported by Monica at the height of her Avengers career when she was their leader.

I challenge the idea that this is a "feminist" vehicle, although frankly it wouldn't be a big deal if it was. Like any complicated thing, Feminism is a spectrum, and frankly MOST of the spectrum is positive.  With some people who claim the label doing negative things, but most not. The culture war deliberately promoting misunderstanding about that is part of the current disaster we are in politically and socially.  We've allowed (mostly) positive things to be co-opted by the enemies of those things so that they're soiled.

I've seen whining about the film and the actress raised to a fever pitch, often with super-political hard-right-wing undertones, critizing the film, or more properly the actress and/or pre-release impressions of the film, but I don't for a moment think that means ALL criticism of the film from men shares those agendas or is problematic. It's part of these disgusting people's agendas that they've successfully steered  a narrative where the idea that Brie Larson, or ANYONE else of importance is "hating on men", "being SJW", or being automatically unfair when someone who happens to be male critiques the film. These a-holes, these monsters, who started all of this based off a badly worded but mostly harmless statement by the actress and turned this into a culture war thing, are victimizing everyone: Brie Larson, genuine fans who are buying the narrative based on the pure volume of negativity they've seen, Marvel, women offended in reaction to the idea that "feminism" is somehow bad (answer: it's NOT).  Anyone who feels AFRAID to criticize the film is also a victim of what these evil fck-heads have done. This is not a culture war. It's just a goddamn film. Criticize it all you want.  Just be fair and be wary of accepting the baggage they're trying to load on. If the film is marketing somewhat to women?  SO WHAT?  If the film narrative has girl power chords to it and that seems a bit cliche?  Go ahead and say it's cliche.  That's different from the screams of "SJW!" and "Feminist" (as a pejorative) following Larson and the film based merely on it being representational and hitting a few cliches (in an overall work which also breaks other cliches, so honestly the average is not that bad). 

Oh, as to why Carol didn't age?  I don't think we need to attribute that to "Kree Powers" because the film makes it clear that the source of her powers is not what what is portrayed in the commercials as the source. I'd say the actual source of her powers explains her (potentially) being long lived or immortal quite well. Although clearly the Kree ARE longer lived than humans anyway, since Ronan looks much the same.  But that's a side issue.

I really loved that the commercials and trailers had some foilers, and the source of her powers wasn't the only one. Think about the scene in the commercial where she's bleeding. Total Foiler!  What we saw in the commercial is NOT how it played out in the film.  

Edited March 11, 2019 by Kromm

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wishing Well said:

In WW, society tells Diana to wear a frilly crinoline and dress, that women shouldn’t go to war, and that love and compassion is not enough.  These aren’t really things that I can relate to, as a modern day 20 something woman, but I can respect and revere Diana as a strong female figure and hero. 

FYI there are still men (and even other women) that nag us to "dress more feminine".

[Wishing Well]

8 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

FYI there are still men (and even other women) that nag us to "dress more feminine".

Oh I know.  My first boss demanded that all her girls had hair and makeup done nicely every day.  To work at a bank.  

[Wishing Well]

Ooooh on the topic of age - AOS proves that the Kree should have longer life spans.  In 2018, Cassius’s father looks to be human middle age, but in 2091 (?), his sons look mid thirties.  Coincide that with the fact that Cassius has been at the lighthouse for YEARS, and still seems young...they probably live for much longer and age slower. 

[Cranberry]

Quote

No, that “smile for me” scene was not a part of any reshoots. It was already in the very early draft of the script, said Fleck.

It was something Boden “really fought for and was passionate about,” executive producer Jonathan Schwartz said. “It’s an experience I think other people in the room, especially men, didn’t know or didn’t have.

“And then totally separately, a whole controversy sprung up about Brie’s countenance and how she wasn’t smiling in the marketing materials, so it sort of dovetailed into something like, ‘Oh yeah, this is something that women really do encounter and deal with.’”

Does Captain Marvel just need to smile more? Nope, says the film’s creative team

[MisterGlass]

I've been looking at some side by sides of the de-aged Marvel characters.  I think the work on Fury is by far the best, with Ego from GotG2 second.  I think with Coulson and some of the others they took out a little too much texture and color variation.  In pictures they look good, but when they are moving the faces look too flat.  I wonder if they put more work into Fury because of his large role in this film.  Also, I had no idea that Samuel L Jackson is 70.

18 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Which got me thinking, Howard Stark recovered it in 1945, and then Mar-Vell somehow has it in 1989. Where's it been inbetween? Howard was still alive and  apparently he didn't turn it over to SHEILD, even though he helped found the agency.

Potentially Howard kept it hidden.  This would actually line up with a plot point from the Agent Carter series.  Howard always kept some of his discoveries secret from the government because he didn't trust them with the most dangerous things.  It could be that Mar-Vell was looking for the tessaract itself, found a way to scan for it, and somehow got it out of Howard's vault.

However, as others have pointed out this movie does have some continuity problems with the rest of the universe, so I don't know if that is a deliberate choice or a happy accident.

2 hours ago, Kromm said:

One of my few big ughh reactions had to deal with us learning how Fury actually lost his eye.

It does bother me that this was played for a laugh.  It's a little like the joke in Thor Ragnarok about rebuilding Asgard just as it's destroyed.  I haven't decided if I'm laughing or cringing.

[Guest]

I rewatched it earlier today and it was interesting to watch the beginning knowing what was to come. I could see where the criticism came from and yet I loved it even more. 

Several parts are too dark, the fight scenes could have been better, the visual effects weren’t great, it was heavy handed in some places and clunky in others but in the end none of that really mattered to me.

One thing that really stood out to me was how much the tone of the entire movie followed Carol’s journey. 

For the first half felt more like the movie the trailer seemed to indicate. Carol felt very removed from the other characters. There was humor but it was more a light chuckle. The skrulls were very menacing and foreign. In many ways it felt restrained and the audience was mostly quiet. 

Then when Carol began to discover the truth the mood lightened just a little. There was a little bit more laughter at Goose being a stowaway.

Once Carol began to reconnect to Maria and Monica the whole movie seemed to shift. The skrulls were revealed to be less villainous and brought the first real laughter to the movie. There was a steady uptick as Carol began to accept who she really is. The skrulls were revealed to be more three dimensional and relateable. 

The real turning point was the standing up sequence when Carol fully embraces who she is and from the point on the audience was completely invested. There was laughter, gasps and cheering. The guy next to me did a fist pump when Maria won the dogfight.

The whole last 30 minutes was just fun. Fury and Goose, the nerf gun and Carol’s absolute joy at flying. The first time I didn’t like “Just A Girl” but the second time I loved it. It perfectly fit the mood change. 

I really have to give Brie Larson a lot of credit for portraying how the character evolved from Vers to Carol over the course of the movie. She was perfect for the role. 

Edited March 12, 2019 by Guest

[Steph619]

I have no knowledge of “Captain Marvel” from the comics, but I was really excited to watch this movie mainly because of Brie Larson. I’ve been a fan of hers since she played “Envy Adams” in “Scott Pilgrim vs the World.” I think she’s a great actress and to me, she didn’t disappoint as Captain Marvel. 

I loved her rapport with Samuel L. Jackson and she was totally believable to me as a superhero.

I enjoyed the film especially since it was set in 1995. I grew up in the 90’s so I loved the music included in the film, seeing Blockbuster and being reminded of how much better we have it now technology wise.

Overall, I think that it was a great film because the story was easy to follow and I found myself rooting for Carol Danvers. She was put down so much for being a woman and had to deal with being told that she’s not emotionally or physically strong enough and to see her get up time and time again was so cool.

I can’t wait to see Captain Marvel in the next Avengers movie and how she interacts with the other characters.

[Kromm]

47 minutes ago, MisterGlass said:

I've been looking at some side by sides of the de-aged Marvel characters.  I think the work on Fury is by far the best, with Ego from GotG2 second.  I think with Coulson and some of the others they took out a little too much texture and color variation.  In pictures they look good, but when they are moving the faces look too flat.  I wonder if they put more work into Fury because of his large role in this film.  Also, I had no idea that Samuel L Jackson is 70.

Honestly? It sounds weird to say it, but I think its a race thing. Jackson's skin is fairly dark.  And I bet they've discovered this process works better with darker skin.  You speak of texture and color variation. I bet it's easier to get those things right with his skin color.

It would wind up being a hilarious serving of just deserts/irony for the long held issue that film stock, exposure and light levels, has usually been tailored more towards photographing white people if digital technology winds up being easier to work with darker skin,

[Kromm]

58 minutes ago, MisterGlass said:

Potentially Howard kept it hidden.  This would actually line up with a plot point from the Agent Carter series.  Howard always kept some of his discoveries secret from the government because he didn't trust them with the most dangerous things.  It could be that Mar-Vell was looking for the tessaract itself, found a way to scan for it, and somehow got it out of Howard's vault.

I'm thinking that Howard Stark was part of the founding of Project Pegasus.  Mar-Vell, in her disguised identity worked for Project Pegasus. If that's true, it would explain very well how the Tesseract went from Stark to her.

Quote

It does bother me that this was played for a laugh.  It's a little like the joke in Thor Ragnarok about rebuilding Asgard just as it's destroyed.  I haven't decided if I'm laughing or cringing.

Yup.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Kromm

[stealinghome]

7 hours ago, starri said:

I'm honestly conflicted about where I would rank this in terms of the overall MCU movies, but I do think it's one of the better origin stories.

I just got back from the movie and am still formulating my overall thoughts, but I know I agree with this statement. To me this movie was on par with Iron Man as the MCU’s top origin story movie.

[VCRTracking]

Fans might think it's unusual considering most of their comic appearances and "Secret War" that the MCU Skrulls were the victims of the Kree. However, recently I read the "Celestial Madonna" a long and crazy Avengers storyline from the early 70s written by Steve Englehart involving Mantis, the time-travelling villains Kang and Immortus. It also told the origin of the Kree/Skrull war and the Kree were the aggressors while the Skrulls were peaceful.

Edited March 11, 2019 by VCRTracking

[MrsR]

Just got back.

Loved it. I didn't follow the "feminist" debate or controversy so I didn't feel swamped by the message nor denied it. It seemed balanced to me.

The woman sitting next to me  growled a little at the "smile more" comment.

Good audience. They cheered for Stan in the beginning.

Coulson's first appearance got a good healthy cheer. That warmed my heart.

Brie was really well cast. 

Nearly every one in the audience stayed to the bitter end. Right to the upchuck.

Very good soundtrack, and the sound editing was exceptional. 

Over all very satisfying.

[Vermicious Knid]

13 hours ago, blackwing said:

 Well, neither did Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Okoye or Shuri.  

Except Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Okoye have all been given love interests. There was actually a scene filmed with Okoye flirting with another Dora Milaje but they decided not to go that route.

I do appreciate there was not one bit of pink in the whole movie. Without going on a rant, pink being the girl color is not instinctive, it's because girls are conditioned by society to think that way, starting literally from birth when the hospital puts them in pink blankets and hats.

[starri]

6 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

I do appreciate there was not one bit of pink in the whole movie. Without going on a rant, pink being the girl color is not instinctive, it's because girls are conditioned by society to think that way, starting literally from birth when the hospital puts them in pink blankets and hats.

Speaking of, the scene of Carol changing her uniform to the colors of Monica's Air Force T-shirt because "We're on the same team" warmed my cold, dead heart.

And for that matter, her costume was fantastic.  She usually has a sash in the comics, but I'm glad they lost it.  Apparently Brie was worried they were going to use her old cheesecake Warbird costume instead.

The best special effect may have been Goose horking up the Tesseract.  My husband stated that they perfectly captured the mechanics of a kitty retching.

[Empress1]

9 hours ago, Dani said:

I really have to give Brie Larson a lot of credit for portraying how the character evolved from Vers to Carol over the course of the movie. She was perfect for the role. 

Brie Larson is a great actress and I'm glad she's getting roles in bigger projects (she was kind of an underrated indie darling for a bit - see Short Term 12, it's fantastic). I thought her Oscar for Room was deserved.

I know nothing about Captain Marvel - literally nothing. I went in totally cold. I just like movies where women kick ass. Afterward I texted my best friend "Let's go on space missions and fight everybody." My favorite moment was when Carol punched the fuck out of Jude Law and told him calmly that she had nothing to prove to him.

The little girl Monica was SO CUTE. "I'm just saying, I think you need to think about the example you're setting for your daughter."

Apparently there is a single Blockbuster Video left in the country. I saw a story about it on the news.

[Sakura12]

14 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Except Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Okoye have all been given love interests. There was actually a scene filmed with Okoye flirting with another Dora Milaje but they decided not to go that route.

Didn't they imply that Okoye was in a relationship with W'Kabe? 

I liked that had no love interest for Carol, the movie wasn't about her finding love. It was about her finding herself. 

She did look good in the costume, not everyone can look good in that cowl. I also hope like others when they get everyone back the team sees Fury happy to see Carol and they are all confused about it. They have her call sign as their team name after all. I wonder if she visited since the 90's. 

Edited March 11, 2019 by Sakura12

[Morrigan2575]

22 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

Didn't they imply that Okoye was in a relationship with W'Kabe? 

I think it was out right stated. In fact they used "my Iove" a couple of times during the movie

[shrewd.buddha]

We saw it - and liked it ... but I cannot say that it left a lasting impression or had a significant 'wow' factor.  (That could just be Marvel super hero overload.)
The biggest 'wow' seemed to be Fury and Coulson's 20 years younger look. Is that where all the SFX money went? Because Guardians of the Galaxy was on TV last night and the amount of FX eye candy in that made Captain Marvel look as it it was actually filmed during the 90's.  The lighting, set design and staging in this movie seemed very bare bones. 

It was not clear, to me, as to whether Carol Danvers ever got her memories back. We saw the young girl showing Carol pictures of her life and then a reenactment of the jet crash - but there did not seem to be a moment where Danvers appeared to wake up out of her personality fog.
I wondered why she did not seem fascinated with Earth and why things did not seem weirdly familiar to her. 

Almost all comic book characters have a supporting cast of family, friends and loved ones, but Carol seemed to have only two. No one seemed especially sad when she left at the end (with people she had just met) and there was no talk of her returning - even tho the majority of her life had been on Earth. 

The stuff at the end felt more like Dragon Ball Z  or a Pokemon anime movie. Captain Marvel (not sure how that would be something people would call her) is so powerful it is hard to imagine her having a challenge or struggle that did not involve reducing her power. It is same issue with trying to make Superman relatable and interesting as a character. 

Edited March 11, 2019 by shrewd.buddha

[benteen]

Carol losing her memories seems to be an nod to the comics where she lost her memories (and her powers) after her encounter with Rogue.

[Shannon L.]

I saw it last night and agree with those who loved it as an origin story (thought it was one of the better ones) and put it at the top of the middle tier overall.  I don't recall seeing Brie in anything else, so I had no idea what kind of actress she was (except good enough to win an Oscar, according to her colleagues), and thought she did a great job.  I also agree that the girl who played Monica was fantastic and I really want her as an adult in End Game.  

Speaking of End Game, it will be really interesting to see how the others react to her.  I know that Nat has a special bond with Fury, so it'll be interesting to see how she feels about his secret--especially if we get the Fury that Carol knows. 

I had heard about people crying during Wonder Woman, and as much as I loved that movie and was damn proud of finally having a female super hero movie and thought Gal Gadot was great in the role, I didn't really get the tears.  But, in this one?  Damned if I didn't get choked up a little when Carol was bursting out of the stronghold that they had her in.  That whole sequence, from the time she said that she was human, right up until the moment she broke free and started glowing had me a little teary. 

I'm also struggling with the timeline.  Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these because I may not remember all the movies correctly:

1. Didn't Steve go down with the tesseract in his possession at the end of The First Avenger?  Isn't that how Fury got his hands on it-by finding the wreckage and bringing Steve back? 

2.  I remember, like others, that  Coulson made it sound like Shield was new when he talked to Tony, so when Fury flashed the "Shield" ID, my son and I looked at each other and said "huh?" .  Also, Fury was acting like he never knew a super powered human existed, but Captain America was a WW2 hero. 

3.  Speaking of Fury not knowing, another timeline issue was him telling the Avengers that Thor was the reason for the new weapons.  That until Thor showed up, they didn't know that there were people from other worlds. 

My husband had to go out of town on business and only found out after we'd already purchased our tickets for last night, so when he gets back, I'm going again and looking forward to it.  Maybe a couple of other issues I'm a bit confused about will become clearer to me. 

[Wynterwolf]

10 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

1. Didn't Steve go down with the tesseract in his possession at the end of The First Avenger?  Isn't that how Fury got his hands on it-by finding the wreckage and bringing Steve back? 

This is from the MCU wiki:

Quote

In 1942, the Tesseract was retrieved by Johann Schmidt, the leader of HYDRA, who used the Tesseract to power enhanced weaponry in order to defeat the Allies during World War II. Following Schmidt's defeat at the hands of Captain America in 1945, the Tesseract fell into Arctic waters, where it was recovered by Howard Stark. After studying the Tesseract, it eventually fell into the hands of Wendy Lawson, an undercover Kree, as she used the cube's energy to develop the Light-Speed Engine to assist the Skrulls in their war against the Kree. However, Yon-Rogg killed Lawson, causing pilot Carol Danvers to destroy the engine, as she was doused in Tesseract energy. Years later, Danvers recovered the Tesseract from Lawson's laboratory and relinquished custody of it to S.H.I.E.L.D.. It remained in their possession until 2012, when it was stolen by Loki who used the Tesseract to open a wormhole and allow the Chitauri to invadeNew York City. Following the Battle of New York, the Tesseract was acquired by Thor, who brought the Tesseract and Loki back with him to Asgard.

There doesn't appear to be any 'offiicial' detail on how it got from Howard to Wendy Lawson. I haven't seen Captain Marvel yet, so I'm not sure when the situation with Wendy occurs.  But Howard died in 1991, so it could have been after that?  I've always suspected Howard used the tesseract power to create his version of the super soldier serum, but even with that, it could have been at any time after he acquired it in '45.  

[MrsR]

Tesseract timeline.

Created with the other stones

Ends up in Odin's Treasury (stone now in side the cube)

Goes to Norway with followers of Odin

Found by Red Skull

Arctic prison with Cap

Found by Stark

Ends up with Dr Wendy

Fury has it experimented on by Dr Selvig

Loki steals it and opens a portal in NY

Thor takes it to Odin's vault.

Loki takes it during Ragnarok

Thanos traces it to Loki, crushes the cube. Stone goes in  the glove.

Damn thing gets around.

Edited March 11, 2019 by MrsR

[Sakura12]

I think wendy either stole it from Howard after he died or he gave it to her to study. She could've worked for him or with him at some point. 

[ChromaKelly]

I loved just about everything. I am honestly not getting the backlash that this is a "feminist" movie or that it had a political agenda. It didn't come across as Grrrl Power or anything like that. It was a superhero origin story. I mean, it didn't ignore the fact that she's a woman and it did acknowledge realities, but I didn't feel like it beat you over the head.
I was really digging the 1990's setting too. I was a teen-young 20's in the early 90's so the music, clothes, the computer stuff, it was all awesome for me.
The mid-credits scene got me so excited for Endgame. I almost screamed. I can't wait to see Carol with the rest of the Avengers.
 

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I think it was out right stated. In fact they used "my Iove" a couple of times during the movie

Yep, they both did. "You would kill me, my love?" "For Wakanda, absolutely."

[VCRTracking]

1 hour ago, Sakura12 said:

I think wendy either stole it from Howard after he died or he gave it to her to study. She could've worked for him or with him at some point. 

Now you've got me imagining this scenario.

[benteen]

On the subject of why, say, Melinda May didn't appear in Captain Marvel, it's because Marvel Studios controls the movie side and Marvel television controls the TV side.  The two sides don't get along and the movie side pretty much refuses to acknowledge the TV side, despite the fact they are all under the same umbrella.  It's a shame too because May would have been a perfect choice to appear in Captain Marvel and you would have barely had to have used any of that CGI de-aging on her.

[stealinghome]

1 hour ago, ChromaKelly said:

I loved just about everything. I am honestly not getting the backlash that this is a "feminist" movie or that it had a political agenda. It didn't come across as Grrrl Power or anything like that. It was a superhero origin story. I mean, it didn't ignore the fact that she's a woman and it did acknowledge realities, but I didn't feel like it beat you over the head.

For some people, acknowledging realities=political feminist agenda.

Having had overnight to reflect on the movie, I would agree with those who put it at or near the top of the second tier of Marvel movies (though I still think it ties with Iron Man as the best MCU origin movie). It wasn't as good as Winter Soldier--which I suspect will be forever the top Marvel movie in my mind--but it is probably the best movie Marvel has done since.

The biggest thing for me was the actors. The ensemble just had utterly PHENOMENAL chemistry. I want Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson in every buddy cop movie ever from now on; you could tell that SLJ was having a ball playing a younger and more relaxed version of Fury, and Carol just got such a kick out of Fury and how he could match her wit and that he just let her be her, it was delightful. Larson owned the titular role and commanded the screen without having to be flashy or overpowering. I do agree that the movie never quite manages to dive as deeply into Carol as you would like it to, and her character arc wasn't paced super well (I would love to see a director's cut of this movie--I wonder if some meaty scenes for Carol got left on the cutting room floor), but part of that is inherent in the amnesia plot, and Larson did very well with what she was given. You never forgot that Carol was in internal conflict, didn't feel like she fit in with the Kree, and was always on some level in search of herself. Larson also played Carol's reaction to Maria really well; you could tell that Carol felt something for Maria even though she didn't really recognize or know her. Speaking of, I also thought Larson and Lashana Lynch had excellent chemistry and Carol and Maria had the movie's most compelling relationship. Despite having limited screentime together, and mostly during which one party didn't remember the other, they sold the hell out of a lifetime friendship and being each other's Person. I really hope Carol came back to visit between 1995 and 2019, because it makes me sad to think that it was another 25 years before they saw each other again, and that Carol still looks 25ish while Maria will now look 50ish. Monica was the best thing ever, and Akira Akbar was just perfect. And Ben Mendelsohn was excellent as Talos--not every actor can be compelling under layers of makeup and prosthetics, but he really was. And I liked what the movie did with his character. I didn't expect it but it SO worked.

I do agree that I didn't love the choice of Just a Girl for the scene it was in. It didn't ruin the scene and I get what they were going for, but they just didn't quite get there. Some of the other music choices--particularly Only Happy When It Rains, Whatta Man, and Come As You Are--were much more inspired. The movie did go about 10% overboard on '90s nostalgia, but generally it refrained from hitting that button too hard, and some beats really worked--the Blockbuster and phone booth, for example. Everyone waiting for the disc to load and Fury's "state of the art" pager also got particularly big laughs at the theater I was in.

Were the Kree actively blocking Carol's memories from returning, or were they just not helping her recover them? I want to say the first but I don't recall that the movie ever made it clear.

Fury and the false eyes made me cackle. I also got a kick out of the "in orbit?! You're supposed to be my science guy! IN ORBIT?!" bit, and a whole lot of other moments besides. This movie was genuinely funny a lot of the time, unlike a lot of recent Marvel fare, which I think has tried too hard to be funny.

Goose will be the universe's secret weapon against Thanos.

The first post-credits scene made me SO amped up for Avengers: Endgame. I so want to see Steve, Natasha, and Carol hanging out. I guess Bruce and Rhodey can come too, but Steve/Natasha/Carol is where it's at.

Overall, this is the first Marvel movie in a while that I think I would pay to see in theaters more than once. Hats off to all involved.

[starri]

4 hours ago, benteen said:

Carol losing her memories seems to be an nod to the comics where she lost her memories (and her powers) after her encounter with Rogue.

There's actually an even earlier story that they were drawing from.  When she first got her powers, she went through a period where and Ms. Marvel were separate.  Carol would black out and transform into Ms. Marvel, and had no idea why.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

The biggest thing for me was the actors. The ensemble just had utterly PHENOMENAL chemistry. I want Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson in every buddy cop movie ever from now on; you could tell that SLJ was having a ball playing a younger and more relaxed version of Fury, and Carol just got such a kick out of Fury and how he could match her wit and that he just let her be her, it was delightful.

This reminded me that my favorite scene with them was the bit with the tape. SLJ earnestly trying to unfold the tape and then his exasperation at discovering she could have got them out all along. Both actors played it perfectly. 

One other thing I caught the second time was Fury’s “Mother Flerken” response to Goose. It was lost in the laughter the first time I watched. 

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, stealinghome said:

For some people, acknowledging realities=political feminist agenda.

Having had overnight to reflect on the movie, I would agree with those who put it at or near the top of the second tier of Marvel movies (though I still think it ties with Iron Man as the best MCU origin movie). It wasn't as good as Winter Soldier--which I suspect will be forever the top Marvel movie in my mind--but it is probably the best movie Marvel has done since.

The biggest thing for me was the actors. The ensemble just had utterly PHENOMENAL chemistry. I want Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson in every buddy cop movie ever from now on; you could tell that SLJ was having a ball playing a younger and more relaxed version of Fury, and Carol just got such a kick out of Fury and how he could match her wit and that he just let her be her, it was delightful. Larson owned the titular role and commanded the screen without having to be flashy or overpowering. I do agree that the movie never quite manages to dive as deeply into Carol as you would like it to, and her character arc wasn't paced super well (I would love to see a director's cut of this movie--I wonder if some meaty scenes for Carol got left on the cutting room floor), but part of that is inherent in the amnesia plot, and Larson did very well with what she was given. You never forgot that Carol was in internal conflict, didn't feel like she fit in with the Kree, and was always on some level in search of herself. Larson also played Carol's reaction to Maria really well; you could tell that Carol felt something for Maria even though she didn't really recognize or know her. Speaking of, I also thought Larson and Lashana Lynch had excellent chemistry and Carol and Maria had the movie's most compelling relationship. Despite having limited screentime together, and mostly during which one party didn't remember the other, they sold the hell out of a lifetime friendship and being each other's Person. I really hope Carol came back to visit between 1995 and 2019, because it makes me sad to think that it was another 25 years before they saw each other again, and that Carol still looks 25ish while Maria will now look 50ish. Monica was the best thing ever, and Akira Akbar was just perfect. And Ben Mendelsohn was excellent as Talos--not every actor can be compelling under layers of makeup and prosthetics, but he really was. And I liked what the movie did with his character. I didn't expect it but it SO worked.

Were the Kree actively blocking Carol's memories from returning, or were they just not helping her recover them? I want to say the first but I don't recall that the movie ever made it clear.

Goose will be the universe's secret weapon against Thanos.

I absolutely believe that Carol has visited over the past 25 years. Yes she's helping the Skrulls get resettled but that doesn't mean she can't pop back for visits. Her recovered relationships with Maria and Monica, along with her friendship with Fury seemed pretty important. I can't see that she's going to give them up. 

I feel like it's was left to viewer to decide if the Kree were actively blocking the memories and if Carol recovered them all. I think it was ambiguous to go either way.

I will pay all the money to see Goose eat Thanos. And then hairball up the Stones. On Fury's desk.

Did anyone else want to see Cassie Lang and Monica Rambeau hanging out together? I know Monica would be an adult by the time we get Cassie but both girls are just made of awesome and seeing them together would probably make their respective parents fear for the world.

[markx]

I loved the film, and the 90s nostalgia, though I feel the need to point out that audio CDs, even on a computer, played pretty much right away (a short pause to spin up, no copying of files). It said "CD Player" which IIRC indicates an audio CD, but even if it was a CD ROM with files, that'd still play direct from CD. Maybe they were being stupid by copying the files to the computer first - but then if you want to copy files to say a phone today, or from a USB stick, you'd have to wait a moment too (data transfer rates are faster, but I don't think that's what the joke was meant to be...)

I suppose in some sense the response was realistic: if that had happened in the 90s, people from the 90s would have been saying "What's it doing", because it *wasn't* normal for that to happen! But it's not an example of poor technology in the 90s. If anything, whilst technology has obviously massively advanced, issues like waiting for a computer or the Internet connection dropping are just more widespread: copying files, having to wait for a phone or TV to boot up (or restart for updates), "buffering" issues, or losing Internet from your phone. Maybe they'll be mocking that in 24 years too...

I know, it seems silly to nitpick a joke in a movie genre with all kinds of unrealistic physics, but this seems something that many people would assume to have been true of the 90s.

The only reason it seemed odd is because movies rarely cover normal mundane things that take time, however short, unless it's essential to the plot - see Iron Man and Pepper Potts waiting to copy files to USB. It created a tense moment, no one watching it was meant to think "What is she waiting for".
 

[TiffanyNichelle]

I saw it on Friday and I really want to see it again. I liked it a lot but I would put it in the middle of the MCU pack for me. I don't think it would be in top 5 but it might move up after multiple viewings. That's kind of what happened with Guardians for me (except it went down instead of up). I loved Brie as Carol even though I'd been hoping that Katheryn Winnick of Vikings would get the role.  Brie made me pretty much forget about that wish. I also loved seeing the lighter side of a young Fury. From now on every time I watch Winter Soldier I will die laughing when he dramatically tells Steve, "The last time I trusted someone I lost an eye." LOL, Goose was the best bit.

I hope this gets a sequel and we get to see grownup Monica played by Nicole Beharie, who would be excellent casting.

The montage of Carol getting back up after getting knocked will always be good. Loved it in the trailers, loved it even more in the movie.

The 90s bits and the soundtrack was just so good. Brought me back to my high school days. Thanks for that.

I just checked out this video that touched on the whole Shazam/DC thing, Carol's messy comics canon, how she went from bit comics character to big time comics, and some of the "backlash" drama.

Edited March 11, 2019 by TiffanyNichelle
fixed the embedding link

[Jenniferbug]

6 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I had heard about people crying during Wonder Woman, and as much as I loved that movie and was damn proud of finally having a female super hero movie and thought Gal Gadot was great in the role, I didn't really get the tears.  But, in this one?  Damned if I didn't get choked up a little when Carol was bursting out of the stronghold that they had her in.  That whole sequence, from the time she said that she was human, right up until the moment she broke free and started glowing had me a little teary. 

Me too. I was teary eyed at a couple of moments in this, which surprised me. 

2 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Did anyone else want to see Cassie Lang and Monica Rambeau hanging out together? I know Monica would be an adult by the time we get Cassie but both girls are just made of awesome and seeing them together would probably make their respective parents fear for the world.

I was thinking "sweet! There's no way we're not getting a young Avengers team in Phase 4!", and then I realized that by the time Cassie and any other children of heroes would be old enough, Monica would be close to 40. I still would love to see it, but I don't know how they'd make it work.

[Linderhill]

On 3/10/2019 at 3:53 AM, Vermicious Knid said:

Marvel has a serious problem with names, as demonstrated by the confusion over the Marias a few pages ago. Multiple James, Peters, Marias and there are probably more.

at least its not "Martha."  But seriously, those are some of the most common names out there along with John and Mary and Jane.

[Fukui San]

Saw this today and liked it a lot. Breezy and fun.

Can't believe that the real controversial move isn't being discussed. They turned the Skrulls into good guys! In the comics the Kree and the Skrull are both varying levels of baddies in eternal conflict with one another. A major crossover event had the reveal that Skrulls had been infiltrating the Earth for years in a sinister plot. At no point were they ever a benevolent force except for a few A podcast review pointed out it inverted the trope of the gnarly looking aliens being automatically bad and therefore deserving of mass slaughter, which is interesting.

I never really had much of a relationship with Carol Danvers in the comics. I knew her through Rogue and her "Binary" period when she lost her memory and hung out in space. Her time as a major character written by Kurt Busiek and then Brian Bendis happened while I wasn't reading. It seems like she's had some interesting storylines.

[Vermicious Knid]

Waiting for the CD to load was hilarious. Remember trying to get onto AOL? Got a laugh in my theater but I think it was mostly from people 35 and up. Also Carol searching with Alta Vista and having the dialup connection break.

Marvel has now made it canon that SHIELD agents bring their pets to work :).

Okoye is with W'Kabi in BP but there was this scene:

Quote

Back in April, Vanity Fair‘s Joanna Robinson saw the early scene, which featured a brief moment of flirtation between two women of the Dora Milaje, T’Challa’s team of devoted female warriors. Robinson described the scene, which featured Danai Gurira’s Okoye and Florence Kasumba’s Ayo, as such:

In the rough cut of this Black Panther scene, we see Gurira’s Okoye and Kasumba’s Ayo swaying rhythmically back in formation with the rest of their team. Okoye eyes Ayo flirtatiously for a long time as the camera pans in on them. Eventually, she says, appreciatively and appraisingly, ‘You look good.’ Ayo responds in kind. Okoye grins and replies, ‘I know.’

[VCRTracking]

[TiffanyNichelle]

I forgot to add that this movie did the impossible. It made me, a long time comics fan, actually root for and feel bad for the Skrulls. When the science guy was killed I was sad!

I thought the second half of the movie was stronger than the first. I liked that they started on Hala with a full immersion of "hey this is the cosmic side of the MCU, get ready!" before eventually taking us to Earth. I rather we see Earth through Vers's "alien" eyes first before she finds out that she was actually from there.

I wish the first big battle with the Skrulls in disguise wasn't in the dark. Everyone was silhouetted and it was hard to make out who was who. My other nitpick was when Carol was taken and they were showing the flashbacks you could kind of hear the Skrulls talking but it was too soft at times to fully make out what they were saying. I wish it was clearer. I guess I'll wait for the Blu Ray and watch with the close captioning on.

[Dee]

'Captain Marvel' female friendship true to life, co-star Lashana Lynch says

[Proclone]

I saw this for the second time last night, and I actually think I enjoyed it more the second time.  There were subtle moments that I didn't pick up the first time, that I did the second that made the film all that more enjoyable (I did really like the first time around too).   There were lots of little ones during the final fight as Carol get used to her new powers and alternates between being confused and pleased with herself.

I don't think this movie has a feminist "agenda."  Agenda makes it sound sneaky or somehow like the movie trying to trick its audience into believing something.  It certainly has a feminist message and there's nothing wrong with that.  Feminism is simply the view that women and men should be equal.  The fact that a movie that has a message and themes supporting that could be controversial in this day in age is sad.  Empowering women doesn't automatically mean disempower men (despite what incels and MGTOW idiots would have you believe).  And quite frankly all the best men I know identify themselves as feminists anyway.

I also think that Captain Marvel handled both blatant and more subtle sexism that women face (especially a woman in a predominately male field), quite well.  I've had that scene where the guy asks Carol (or I suppose Vers at that point) to give him a smile, happen to me.  I've had it happen to me multiple times, the last time being a few weeks ago when a guy pulled up alongside my car at a light and honked his horn.  When I rolled down my window (thinking he was going to tell me I had a taillight out or something) he yelled, "You should smile, it's a pretty day and you'd be a pretty girl if you'd smile."  Men typically don't feel the need to tell other men to "smile," but there's a whole bunch of them that feel the need to tell women to do it.

There's also the more subtle issues between Carol and Yon-Rogg.  Yon-Rogg often in the film accuses Carol (or Vers) of being too emotional or unable to control her emotions.  That's often something women are accused of being too emotional.  It's also cited as the reason a woman can't be X (the President for example) because they would let their emotions override them.  The fact that Carol didn't have to become emotionless to kick Yon-Rogg's ass was awesome.  I also loved her blasting him after his "knock me down without your power speech," at the end.  She absolutely didn't need to prove anything to him.  She was powerful, with or without the powers she gained from the explosion.  Carol Danvers was powerful because she was determined (the montage of her getting up each time showed that), not because her hands glowed.

I really liked Bri Larson as Carol.  I thought her dry sense of humor worked really well for a fighter pilot.  Also, she had great chemistry with Jackson, and I loved their relationship.  She also had great chemistry with Maria and Monica.  Ben Mendelsohn was really great as Talos.  He was both really funny and actually really heartbreaking at times.  I totally bought his grief for his friend being killed which is the first hint Skrulls aren't quite what the Kree say they are.  I also thought he was excellent in the scene where he is reunited with his wife and daughter.  It's very alien (the noises the forehead touching) but also very human.  

A couple of things I wasn't thrilled with.  The first bit dragged a bit and think that was mostly due to the "as you know..." dialogue.  I realize that they had to get the exposition out, but the conversation on the between Yon-Rogg and Vers about how the Supreme Intelligence appears and then again in the next scene with Vers and the Supreme intelligence was all stuff Vers would obviously know already and none of it felt like organic conversations. I feel like there must have defter way getting that information out.  I also had an issue with a few of the fight scene.  I felt the editing in them was a bit choppy and some of them were super dark and it was hard to tell what was going on.  Also, I think the blew their entire CGI budget on Sam Jackson's face because Captain Marvel didn't look great in a couple of scenes.  It was mostly when she had the helmet on, she looked a bit cartoony.

But overall I really enjoyed this.  I'm also super looking forward to Carol working with the rest of the Avengers in End Game.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Proclone

[Jediknight]

On 3/11/2019 at 2:01 PM, benteen said:

On the subject of why, say, Melinda May didn't appear in Captain Marvel, it's because Marvel Studios controls the movie side and Marvel television controls the TV side.  The two sides don't get along and the movie side pretty much refuses to acknowledge the TV side, despite the fact they are all under the same umbrella.  It's a shame too because May would have been a perfect choice to appear in Captain Marvel and you would have barely had to have used any of that CGI de-aging on her.

And it wouldn't be believable that the Skrull and then Kree wouldn't get stomped by May.