@therealsilvermane

I went for a third showing and here’s my third review. I needed to see it one last time in 3D IMAX before it went away for all time this weekend. To me, Quantumania is infinitely more rewatchable than Ant-Man and the Wasp, which I’ve never really liked. I like this third movie the more I see it, which I can’t say for the second. Again, Jonathan Majors is the real deal, especially I suppose after Creed III’s good reviews and box office this weekend. Evangeline Lily’s Hope Pym stood out for me this time. Even though she’s kind of in the background for a lot of the movie, she’s a much more likable partner in Quantumania than she was in Ant-Man and the Wasp. In that second movie, because Scott had gotten the Pyms in trouble, she was so mean and demeaning to Scott that it got to be too much. I believe she had fallen prey to the wet blanket nanny female trope that some writers do when trying to write a “strong” female character. Being mean doesn’t necessarily equate to strength. In Quantumania, she’s not pushy or demeaning to Scott, and has real hero moments not ruined by a put-down of Scott immediately afterwards. Hope Pym is much warmer in Quantumania, which is a plus for the character. Kathryn Newton’s performance as Cassie seemed a little undisciplined, which actually fit the raw undisciplined Cassie in a meta kind of way. Third time around, MODOK didn’t bother me at all.

I counted Hunger Games the Prequel as zero competition, and The Marvel’s premiere the week after Dune 2 actually spells trouble for that one. That is not a juggernaut sandwich. The Marvels, 2023’s final MCU film, will be the juggernaut of that trio. Kids are practically back in school the first week of August anyway, so that doesn’t matter, just as it didn’t matter to Black Panther or Captain Marvel 1, who both premiered out of summer. It’s pretty easy to spin The Marvels’ move to Veterans Day weekend. It’s a better spot for a MCU movie and gives the Studio more time to make the film better after a growing narrative that MCU films need to be better.

Breaking news! Another sky-is-falling anti-woke YouTuber with a British accent proclaims all things Captain Marvel suck! At least it’s refreshing to know that these guys can still get thousands of money-making views off riling up the mob against Ms. Larson. This Mr H dude says he read that this person said that the ever-reliable Grace Randolph heard that The Marvels tested poorly in test screenings and might need reshoots, thus the actual conspiratorial reason for the release date change. Well, I read on Reddit that some person said that ViewerAnon, who may or may not be as reliable as anybody else when it comes to this drivel, says The Marvels is testing fine. The fact is nobody really knows how the The Marvels story stacks up. Marvel Studios test screens their films internally to avoid leaks. Kevin Feige has said that The Marvels was pushed back to give the VFX team more time. This fits with the current narrative that said VFX teams have complained about short cuts and lack of time. It also fits with Feige and Disney’s own statements about quality over quantity and giving individual projects a chance to really stand out. This Mr. H guy also says the move to November 10th is a dead zone for movie releases. No it’s not. I noted previously that November 10th is a 3 day weekend and that Friday is Veterans Day observed. There’s zero competition in the following weeks into Thanksgiving. As opposed to its previous crowded summer slot, November 10th is a better spot, giving The Marvels a better chance to stand out amongst a calendar of much less hyped fall releases. Marvel Studios has just put The Marvels in a much better position to succeed, because you can bet Marvel needs Captain Marvel 2: The Marvels to succeed.

With Thanos, we didn’t know he wanted the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life until Avengers Infinity War, which was at the near end of the Infinity Saga, six or seven years after his introduction. For Quantumania, even though it’s told in small detail what his endgame is, what’s really important to know for the story is simply that he is a powerful mass murderer who wants out of the Quantum Realm.

Human babies actually poll highest, which is why I’d probably get advance tickets for a “Crack Baby: a 90’s Tale” spin-off

When it comes to sheer numbers, I guess not only did Dr Strange’s multiverse incantation make everyone forget Peter Parker, but also make everyone forget his last movie existed entirely.

I do wonder if the Paramount executives finally agreed to Tom Cruise’s pleas for a theater only release and scratched its day and date Paramount+ premiere in part because Shang-Chi several months earlier had proven to American movie studios that people will show up for a good movie if theaters are the only way to watch said movie.

Breaking news! Paramount executive proclaims her billion dollar blockbuster is better than your billion dollar blockbuster. In other news, Soccer Mom A proclaims her honor roll kid is better than Soccer Mom B’s honor roll kid. Meanwhile, Walmart Mom is trying to figure out what to give her underachieving kid for dinner.

Bears polled higher than snakes with average moviegoers.

First, why is the above post in the Coca Beara thread? I did notice grown-up Cassie’s amazing grasp of Quantum Realm theory and tech. I don’t see it as a stretch, though. Her scientific capacity follows the character from the comics. She has access to loads of Quantum Realm tech, research data, money, and supervision because her grandpa and stepmom are kind of the planet’s authority on the Quantum Realm. Finally, she didn’t build the multiverse transporter. What she built, with Hank and Hope’s help, was a two way device to send and receive signals into the Quantum Realm. How Kang is able to remotely use that to suck our heroes into the Quantum Realm is a stretch, but it’s also a comic book movie. At the end, and spoiler alert, when Cassie opens a portal to bring back Scott and Hope, what she appears to be doing is using her device to remotely operate Kang’s multiverse transporter to open the portal again. With Riri Williams, I see her scientific ability as a superpower, just as scientific ability was also Tony Stark’s superpower.

Second viewing this afternoon, this time in Dolby Vision Atmos instead of IMAX 3D. I missed the 3D a bit, but the audio scope and clarity of Dolby Atmos is kinda amazing. Jonathan Majors is the reason to see this movie over and over again. He infuses Kang’s early scenes with an understated calmness that hints at a dangerous madman lurking beneath. And when Kang acts, as in action, it's with immediacy and shocking visceralness. Jonathan Majors' Kang is the MCU's best villain to date, and he's just getting started. This movie should have been called Ant-Man and the Wasp: Kang-o-mania. MODOK didn't bother nearly as much the second time. In fact, he didn't bother me at all. He still looks silly, and I stand by my previous statement that the initial shock of seeing Corey Stoll's face like that on a big screen ruined the movie for a lot of people. The Quantum People and their revolution remained a narrative speed bump for me. Being that this is the first thing our heroes encounter in the Quantum Realm and that we spend about twenty or so minutes with them before getting to Kang, I think that might be the story element that killed it for some critics. Between the Freedom Fighters camp and the Pyms fine dining with Bill Murray's Lord Krylar, these plot points hardly moved the story forward other than telling us how bad the Conquerer is. The Quantum Realm people's story could have been done better to make it a more emotional part of the story, perhaps really showing us their suffering at the hands of Kang or something. In this way, their revolution would have had a more emotional impact, instead of the near zero emotional impact it had as is. As I stated in my first thoughts on this movie, Hank and Hope Pym's hero moments here are their best in the entire Ant-Man trilogy. And again, if anyone is still considering whether or not to see this movie now, I say go see it for Jonathan Majors' Kang alone. He's more compelling than Thanos in my opinion.

Wait, is the best thing about Cocaine Bear the title? Contrary to hype, is it less entertaining than your average bear movie?

I got nothing against Coke Bear, it seems like a nice date movie. I myself have a slight interest as it’s Ray Liotta’s final finished movie, but I’ll wait until it comes on TV along with its inevitable direct-to-stream ripped from headlines spin-off Cannabis Cows which is more my speed. The fact that QuAntuMania is in a box office photo-finish with a small movie about a blow-filled bruin should be another alarm bell to Marvel Studios to take its new mantra “quality above quantity” seriously. Delaying The Marvels to give more time for post and the VFX is a good start.

I think you need to seek a second opinion on that.

Well, we’re all members of a website forum of a company dedicated to putting stupid comic books in permanent plastic casings. Aren’t we all mindless comic book shills here? I don’t think anybody is here on accident.

Spoiler alert! Round two this afternoon.

It seems to me that Photon is more in the area of the pubic bone whereas Captain Marvel is closer to the labium or birth canal on a standard female human. Of course, it seems to be a rough middle school bathroom stall depiction of a gynecologist’s point of view and not really anatomically correct to begin with, so I guess you can see it how you want to see it.

But also the thing that Chris Evans would have fun with on his own Twitter account and that became an annoying meme for more than a year after Endgame. I think Mr Mackie is the one being consistent.

A powerful metaphor for the emergence of the MCU’s new leader and starchild, Captain Marvel. Stay classy, America.

Well dragging my people into a movie theater is kinda my fact of life for any superhero comic book movie as I’m the only real comic book fanatic in my standard American household. Martin Scorsese got to them.

Not sure what negative narrative you’re referring to, but I’m referring to how it’s okay for Chris Evans to have fun with the as5 thing but when Anthony Mackie does it’s somehow a negative for certain parts of the fan base.

America’s original as5

More like indirectly pointing out your double standard.

It was Endgame that made such a big deal about Captain America’s as5. Sam Wilson has not only inherited the Shield but also America’s AS5 and has a standard to meet.

I want to see this. Badly. So make that old folks home+1. If you count the other folks I’ll be dragging into the theater with me that weekend, make that a party of five.