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@therealsilvermane

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Everything posted by @therealsilvermane

  1. @therealsilvermane
    Look man, I'm not trying to get into a writing class debate here. Whatever. On a last note, below is a copy and paste from googling "themes of Anton Chekhov", who is considered one of the great playwrights and short story writers in literary history. If you want to reply, fine, but I'm not debating this subect. Anyway, below is a copy and paste from googling common themes in Chekhov's work: Here we explore the themes, motifs and symbols inherent in Chekhov's works. Theme | Disease And Death. Theme | Frustrated Dreams And Unfulfilled Expectations.
  2. @therealsilvermane
    What you listed above are actually examples of "moral of the story." A theme can absolutely be "humanity." It can also be "the exuberance of youth" or "hate." The theme of Batman Begins is "fear." The theme of The Dark Knight is "chaos." If you'd like me to be more specific, I can do that. For me, the theme of Eternals is what it means to be human. Each Eternal has a different viewpoint on humanity and relationship with humans, reflecting either their desire to be human (like Phastos or Sersi) or have nothing to do with them (like Ikaris). In the end, it's Sprite who actually gets to become a real human.
  3. @therealsilvermane
    I absolutely love Eternals. I particularly love it when comic book movies deal with higher themes. The last Marvel movie to do that well IMO was Ang Lee's Hulk, whose theme was the freedom from repression, as it's the theme of every Ang Lee movie. The higher theme of Eternals was humanity. The fact that this movie was more than just an ordinary super-hero comic book movie makes it one of my favorite comic book movies ever, warts and all.
  4. @therealsilvermane
    It needs to be retconned or whatever that Ego in GOTGv2 is not a Celestial. If they don't, then Celestial is a broad term in the MCU. Either way, Ego is not the same type of cosmic being that Arishem and Tiamut are.
  5. @therealsilvermane
    As Sersi is attempting to transmutate Tiamut, the Uni-Mind is being channeled by her the entire time. Visually, it went into full effect after Ikaris (SPOILER) decides not to kill Sersi, because his love for her is too great, and he and the other Eternals start to levitate and glow like in the Dark Crystal. It's concluded by Sersi and Phastos afterwards on the beach that because the Eternals are a part of the Celestials, that the Uni-Mind drew on Tiamut's untapped power to combine with theirs, which is what put Sersi over the top and enabled her to completely transmutate Tiamut.
  6. @therealsilvermane
    I liked how the Eternals' powers are revealed through the film, both in action scenes and in more subtle ways, like Sprite telling stories to a crowd of Babylonians. This made me notice that there are two types of Eternals: First, there are the warrior Eternals who do most of the fighting and directly defend humans against Deviants: Ikaris the superman, Kingo who uses blaster weapons like a gun wielder, Gilgamesh who possesses super strength, Makkari who has super speed, and Thena who wields cutting weapons like swords and spears. Second, there are the intellectual Eternals whose powers help humans grow and evolve(or not): Ajak the healer, Sprite the creator of stories and illusions, Phastos the engineer who gave humans everything from the plow to the atomic bomb, Druig who can control minds, and Sersi the transmutator who can turn dust into water for crops.
  7. @therealsilvermane
    The first six minutes of Eternals is the opening scene in Mesopatamia at the dawn of human civilization. It was a good action scene opener but I really liked how it introduced the idea that the Eternals have helped humans advance visualized by Sersi giving the boy a bronze knife, perhaps starting the Bronze Age. The edit cut to a present day Sersi viewing a museum ad for the same bronze knife was sort of poignant in that it shows the passage of time (to Pink Floyd's Time) in a 2001 Space Odyssey kind of way. It reminded me of Jack Kirby's own take on 2001 A Space Odyssey in his comic book adaptation of the film and the short lived 70's Marvel comic. I do think the weakest part of the movie is the next 15 minutes which shows Sersi and Dane Whitman's relationship in modern day London. The storytelling here does seem a bit awkward and expositiony. While it does introduce us to the life the Eternals are living in modern times, specifically Sersi, it also seemed as if Chloe Zhao said, "let's just lay down a few story facts by having Sersi give a quick run down of the past few thousand years to her boyfriend so we can move the story along to the stuff I'm interested in." Dane Whitman's main purpose here seemed to be the ordinary human witness that many MCU films have. The film picks up for me when it goes back in time to Babylon at the 20 minute mark and we truly see how the Eternals relationship with humans and with each other has evolved. I could tell Zhao was really passionate about this stuff. Again, I think the movie's early scene in modern day London (about 6 minutes in to about 20 minutes) was a narrative speed bump for the movie and perhaps contributed to some of the movie's negative reviews. I personally didn't mind it, but I did notice the slight awkwardness of the storytelling here.
  8. @therealsilvermane
    One great thing about Eternals being on Disney+ now is I can rewind the movie to go over parts in greater detail or watch it in parts, as I've had to do so far because of my schedule this week. Eternals is so full of detail and nuance that I see new things with subsequent viewings. This is one reason I love this movie so far. While I obviously love the rest of the MCU more or less, those films don't really go beyond the hero's immediate story. Eternals is not just about the heroes, it's about human history (both real and in a science fiction Arthur C Clarke sense), it's about what it means to be human, and it's about the little details. It's a very rich movie.
  9. @therealsilvermane
    Kingo was hilarious. Gilgamesh and Phastos were funny at times. For instance, even though it was at poor Sprite's expense, I laughed at how the Eternals would poke fun at her size and apparent age, like when Gilgamesh says he made her drink non-alcoholic for kids.
  10. @therealsilvermane
    The Eternals didn't really "defeat" a Celestial per se. What the Eternals did was use the Uni-Mind (which has its origins in the Jack Kirby Eternals' comics) to not only amplify, combine, and channel their powers into the Prime Eternal Sersi, but also unknowingly combine that power with the emerging (baby) Celestial's power to make that Uni-Mind power almost infinitely awesome, allowing Sersi to channel that infinite power and use it to transmutate the emerging baby Celestial into a stone statue. By themselves, the Eternals wouldn't stand a chance against Arishem or any of the fully conscious "adult" Celestials.
  11. @therealsilvermane
    Sure, the Kree "microchip" with its advanced alien tech dampened Carol's powers somewhat and enabled the Kree to physically control her at times, it actually worked more as a mind inhibitor preventing her from mentally accessing her inner power. That was part of the whole amnesia Kree brainwashing thing. The chip was a visual cinematic representation of the Kree's physical and MENTAL power over her. When Carol gets a little memory help from her friends like Maria and Talos and is able to free her mind from the Kree brainwashing, this is represented visually when she removes the inhibitor chip. Free the mind, the body will follow. Any more Captain Marvel questions? I'll be here all day. Except after 3 pm when I go to a matinee show of No Way Home.
  12. @therealsilvermane
    Spidey trapping Dr Strange in his own mirror dimension with a couple of webs is absolutely a plot convenience. We've seen Dr Strange do nearly the impossible in both Infinity War and Endgame and he has trouble with Peter's glorified fishing string in Strange's home turf? As I said, I didn't have a problem with it. I just checked the "okay" box as the MCU is full of these easy plot conveniences that move the story along to get to the stuff we really want to see, in this case, seeing Tobey Andrew and Tom swinging above NYC like some red black and blue Macy's Day sausage parade.
  13. @therealsilvermane
    I agree that No Way Home was an awesome movie experience. But just because it was a great time at the movies doesn't mean folks have to use it as a way to beat down the smaller MCU movies and the heroes in them that are just getting started in the MCU. Peter Parker's story is maybe the most dramatic story in Marvel Comics. That's one reason why Spider-Man has been so popular over the ages. The movies should reflect that and I think No Way Home did. But again to use that success as a way to beat down other heroes trying to get a leg in the MCU is kinda dubious IMO. Over Christmas, I sent a $100 movie gift card to a relative and told the relative this gift is to take the family and go see Spider-Man. They did. The relative and family loved it. However, that same relative who sees life a little on the right proceeded to talk about how they loved the movie on Facebook and posted a dubious news article stating how No Way Home's big weekend in comparison to a movie like Eternals is proof that audiences don't want diversity or something like that. It made me kind of regret giving that gift to the relative. I don't think Shang-Chi's third act needed explaining. A lot of people enjoyed Shang-Chi and count it among their favorite MCU films. I just explained it to you because you said the third act was disconnected from the rest of the movie. I also thought Shang-Chi had soul. Sure, it wasn't as tear jerkery as No Way Home, but what Marvel movie is as tearjerkery as Peter Parker's most tragic moments? I thought when Wenwu passes the Ten Rings to his son Shang-Chi, that it was a real poignant family moment. Past MCU movies that dealt with bad dads just kept the dad bad with no redeeming moment with the hero child ie GOTG2 or Avengers Endgame. Shang and Katy's best friend relationship also rang true to me.
  14. @therealsilvermane
    I'm actually taking NWH down a couple of notches from the very high pedestal that Kav and others here are putting the film on in comparison to other MCU films. I'm not holding up NWH to any kind of high bar at all. I loved NWH and am actually going to see it a second time today, but I also recognize it's not a flawless film. NWH was full of easy plot conveniences like Spider-Man outdueling Dr Strange in his own mirror dimension just so the movie could put away Strange for a while or Ned easily creating a portal with a sling ring just so we could get the intros for Tobey and Andrew over with. I was able to check my brain at the door and let these easy plot elements slide as long as I got a meaningful Tobey, Andrew, and Tom team-up and we all got that. Btw, Shang-Chi's third act wasn't disconnected at all IMO. It was set up by the intro to Wenwu's history, his search for the magical mystical city of Ta-Lo and finding an outpost instead and Shang-Chi's mother, the mystery of the Ten Rings bracelets, the dragon postcard that Wenwu sent to each of his children, the magical dragon statue that Shang-Chi's mother built, and various other small story elements that all lead towards a showdown in the magical mystical city of Ta-Lo that Wenwu was searching for in the beginning. In addition, the Dweller in Darkness and its origins may very well tie in to the Multiverse of Madness and beyond as that character is tied to Doctor Strange.
  15. @therealsilvermane
    "1.3 billion and counting" is still a mathematically correct statement even if NWH makes 2 billion. TBH, I thought The Last Jedi numbers posted on the previous page were NWH's numbers. I don't salivate over box office numbers every minute of the day the way some folks seem to. I have enough trouble with my own finances much less somebody else's. I'm just here to enjoy the movies or not. Here's a statement you can fact check: If Spider-Man No Way Home had been the biggest internet fan-troll reverse fakeout in movie marketing history and Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield never showed up in the movie, fans might be camped outside Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal's gates with torches and proclaiming it ten times the movie travesty that The Last Jedi was.
  16. @therealsilvermane
    Nothing can match Tobey, Andrew, and Tom's Spider-Mans swinging together and teaming up in the lab to figure out how to save their respective villains and just interacting. It probably surpasses what the MCU did with the first Avengers movie as those characters were designed to cross-over. We've never seen anything like No Way Home and that crossing over of Spidey's different franchises is why it's such a magical time at the movies. Its setup, however, and protagonist's journey isn't necessarily the best thing that Marvel Studios has done IMO. In my opinion, Shang Chi had a better character story. And as somebody who appreciates how films use metaphor to get to a higher artistic plane, Eternals is so far the only MCU film to be about something other than being a super-hero or a family of super-heroes. Eternals is a film about our shared humanity and what it means to be human as seen through the eyes of the Eternals who have seen civilization grow for thousands of years. I spoke with someone recently who saw No Way Home but who also wasn't invested in the MCU and had seen most, not all, of the past Spider-Man movies once or twice each depending. He/she said they weren't really sure what was going on with the movie but once Tobey and Andrew showed up it was awesome. Don't get me wrong. I loved No Way Home. But I loved it because it was a Spiderverse movie and had Tobey, Andrew, and Tom teaming up against their (almost) Sinister Six. The ending was really really sad though.
  17. @therealsilvermane
    No Way Home's screenplay isn't winning any awards. Its goodwill is due almost 80% because of its ultimate fan service. So Peter's Spiderverse predicament is brought about because Peter keeps interrupting Dr. Strange's spell like some incessant little kid? Peter Parker really outduels Strange in his own lair and traps him for almost the entire movie? And steals his sling ring? Ned is able to easily form a portal with the sling ring when we saw the Sorcerer Supreme struggle with it in Strange's first movie? And the whole raison d'etre for Peter doing this to begin with was just so MJ and Ned could get into MIT? If the ultimate result of all this wasn't to get Tobey, Andrew, and Tom swinging together in the same shot I would have said that No Way Home might have been the dumbest thing I'd ever seen.
  18. @therealsilvermane
    To say that SPider-Man No Way Home's billion dollar success and the fact that it would have easily been the highest grossing movie of all time if not for a pandemic and a China Marvel boycott is only because it's Spider-Man and has little to do with the fact that it's a SPiderverse movie that brings back beloved actors from previous Spider-Man franchises into the MCU is to ignore reality. Homecoming never breached a billion. Far From Home only made 1.1 billion on the heels of Avengers Endgame. Again, to say that No Way Home's 1.3 billion and counting is not primarily because it brought back Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Willem Dafoe et al into the MCU is to ignore reality.
  19. @therealsilvermane
  20. @therealsilvermane
    It's called hype. Everybody wanted to see the 1st full appearance of Luke Skywalker in nearly 40 years. Spider-Man No Way Home had the same kind of hype with the trailers featuring Goblin and Doc Ock confirming this would be a Spiderverse movie and the endless speculation and anticipation that their associated Spider-Mans would also appear. The difference is Last Jedi failed to follow through on the proper fan service that was expected (a Luke Skywalker as he should have been and following through on the story set up in Force Awakens) and Spider-Man No Way Home absolutely followed through on the fan service expectations because Kevin Feige was in charge.
  21. @therealsilvermane
    That's 100% your opinion. While I agree that Black Widow could have used a better --script, I felt the story of Shang-Chi was outstanding. My opinion. Story-wise, the --script of No Way Home was about on par with other MCU movies. It had its share of plot holes and its share of great character moments. The thing that really put it over the top for me in comparison to the first two MCU Spider-Man movies is that Tom Holland Peter Parker finally got to experience the tragedy that has plagued his character since 1963, that is, loss, as if Marvel Studios was holding out for this third film. But just because it's a deeper Spider-Man story than Homecoming or FFH isn't enough to make NWH pole vault over its two predecessor Spidey movies at the box office. NWH's RT user and critic scores aren't much higher than Shang Chi's. Box office wise, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, et al all coming together in one Spiderverse party movie is absolutely what is making No Way Home one of the biggest movies of all time.
  22. @therealsilvermane
    Everybody speculated on it. Every trailer already blasted the faces of Willem Dafoe Norman Osborn and Alfred Molina Doc Ock everywhere. The hype was to the moon for this movie. Maguire and Garfield didn't just come out of left field.
  23. @therealsilvermane
    Spider-Man No Way Home is part of Phase "Bore" as you call it. Phase Four also includes the hit Disney+ shows, the upcoming Doctor Strange Ant-Man Black Panther Thor Captain Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy sequels, and the debut of the Fantastic Four. Adam Warlock is on the way. Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Ms Marvel and Secret Invasion are on the way to Disney+ this year. Shang-Chi exceeded expectations and has some of the highest user ratings of any MCU origin movie. Phase Four is far from boring. What's been truly boring in 2020 and 2021 is the DC movie universe's attempt to drop a deuce (#2) phase movies, Dune, and just about every other blockbuster franchise movie not affiliated with the MCU.
  24. @therealsilvermane
    I don't believe I was actually in an argument or debate. I'm merely trying to put your previous post about comparing the box office of NWH with the rest of the Phase Four MCU films into perspective.
  25. @therealsilvermane
    My primary reasoning why you can't compare No Way Home to Black Widow, Shang-Chi, or Eternals was because of the nature of No Way Home as an event movie on the level of the first Avengers movie, Avengers Endgame, or even Star Wars Return of the Jedi. It's like comparing the box office of the first Avengers movie to the box office of Captain America First Avenger or Thor. The pandemic has only complicated matters and for a lot of people, it took putting Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland together in one Spider-Man movie to get them to come to the theater. Had Spider-Man No Way Home just been a regular MCU solo movie featuring only Tom Holland Spider-Man and some new villain like Kraven, I say that film would probably have trouble getting past $800 million with the pandemic and the current China Marvel boycott.