ANT-MAN & THE WASP QUANTUMANIA directed by Peyton Reed (2023) 11 11

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:35 PM, Jaydogrules said:

I'm just wondering how many more pointless movies with Kang they're going to try to poop out before we get the "Avengers" movie with a bunch of nobody "Avengers" that nobody wants to see that ends with the inevitable Matrix Revolutions style CGI crapfest with  a bunch of neverending Kangs charging at our heroes and being thrown all around like weightless Agent Smith clay dolls.

I guess I didn't realize how unoriginal that will be until you put it 'on paper'.

[Bosco685]

With the VFX provider backlog and complaints about excessive pressure, it looks like it came to a head.

Quote

Although many reviews fault Quantumania for omitting the low-key breeziness that distinguished the first two Ant-Man installments, critics hauled out their heaviest brickbats to lay into the movie’s CGI and visual effects. The U.K.’s Observer derided Quantumania as an “incoherent effects-dump of a movie.” In a Los Angeles Times review, Justin Chang took issue with the Quantum realm’s “surreally designed yet gloppy-looking orange landscape.” “This isn’t world building,” he wrote, “it’s more like world barfing.” And on Vulture, Bilge Ebiri pondered whether director Peyton Reed and his creative cohort had grown bored whamming together Quantumania’s elaborate but listless, psychedelic yet unoriginal visuals: “Nothing seems to match. If you told me that the actors had been shot before the filmmakers decided what they would be looking at or interacting with, I’d believe you.”

 

It turns out critics aren’t the only ones who feel that the computer-generated imagery on Quantumania could have used a bit more fine-tuning. Some of the very VFX technicians and artists who created those sequences — who spoke with Vulture on condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation — agree that the film’s CGI-quality-control measures were subpar. Two of the three people we interviewed admitted that “shortcuts” were taken and said critical resources were diverted away to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — the follow-up to 2018’s $1.34 billion–grossing Black Panther — which was in postproduction around the same time as Quantumania. Several of the same effects houses worked on both films, creating competition for the most highly skilled VFX workers.

 

Like previous criticism leveled at Marvel by effects techs tired of being “pixel-” and pursuing unionization, these workers say the project was severely understaffed while facing an unrealistically short deadline to hit Ant-Man’s long-established Presidents’ Day bow. The upshot: a grueling slog during which filmmakers and studio executives “nitpicked” and revised vast swaths of Quantumania without budgeting enough time to implement the changes, forcing VFX workers to toil as many as 80 hours per week for months. “This was like a second wave of what happened with James Cameron on Titanic, where the compositors were basically taking naps under their desks, because there wasn’t enough time between shifts to go back home, then come back,” one of the techs said. “Now, the entirety of the industry that has been touched by Marvel is permanently seared, and that’s what’s causing the most burnout.”

 

[media_junkie]

On 2/23/2023 at 7:25 AM, Bosco685 said:

With the VFX provider backlog and complaints about excessive pressure, it looks like it came to a head.

 

Well that worked out well for them using all the resources on Wakanda Forver.  I mean that one easily crossed a billion, right?  Oh wait, it was a flop as well.

[F For Fake]

Saw it this weekend. Like most superhero movies, I thought it was fine. Not terrible, not great. I will say, I liked it considerably less than the first two Ant Man movies. The Ant Man movies are among my favorites in the MCU because they're smaller, lower-stakes movies, basically heist movies dressed up in sci-fi window dressing. Lots of fun. This one just doesn't fit the vibe of the series, to me. It's not bad in and of itself, but it's not what I enjoyed about the first two. Also, it's so dark and murky, it looks like Spy Kids on steroids. A very brown movie.

Like many, I liked Jonathan Majors, and was impressed with the physicality of Kang. Sure, he's another dude in a suit blasting CG cartoon pixels at people, BUT, he can also swing a punch, and I believe that it would hurt to be hit by that guy. Ouch. So it's cool that he has an imposing physical presence in addition to whatever else it is he's supposed to be able to do. If anyone ever explained Kang's powers, I must have missed it. He shoots blue lights at people? Ok, fine.

[MattTheDuck]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:02 AM, F For Fake said:

 

Like many, I liked Jonathan Majors, and was impressed with the physicality of Kang. Sure, he's another dude in a suit blasting CG cartoon pixels at people, BUT, he can also swing a punch, and I believe that it would hurt to be hit by that guy. Ouch. So it's cool that he has an imposing physical presence in addition to whatever else it is he's supposed to be able to do. If anyone ever explained Kang's powers, I must have missed it. He shoots blue lights at people? Ok, fine.

You know, the more I think about it, the more puzzling the story of this movie becomes.  The ease with which the "Ant-vengers" defeated this supposedly super-dangerous, all-powerful, time-traveling, mass murdering conqueror would hardly be the stuff to put fear in the heart of someone like Thor or the Hulk. If the long-term idea is that we're going to get kind of an all-Kang Chitauri and revisit the Battle of New York, I don't find that very interesting.  

Is it really impossible to come up with something that bears at least a passing resemblance to an original idea when writing these movies?  I mean, a "Cantina" scene?  I would be embarrassed to have my name associated with that level of writing hackery.

[Jaydogrules]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:01 PM, kimik said:

The mistake they made was not following the Phase 1 slow play with the big bad. Too much Kang too early. 

This.  Way too much Kang way too early, leads me to believe (hope) they're actually not going to be leaning on this weak sauce D list villain and have another real Big Bad waiting in the wings pulling the strings.  

-J.

[Mr Sneeze]

On 2/23/2023 at 11:22 AM, Jaydogrules said:

This.  Way too much Kang way too early, leads me to believe (hope) they're actually not going to be leaning on this weak sauce D list villain and have another real Big Bad waiting in the wings pulling the strings.  

-J.

Paste Pot Pete 

[drotto]

On 2/22/2023 at 8:41 PM, Jaydogrules said:

And the correct number is now 257M.  As I already stated, the "Italian" gross on thenumbers is egregiously incorrect.  Going to be very lucky to even hit 600M at this point.  Yet another MCU money loser.  

-J.

I have seen some number crunchers point out, starting with phase 4, if you take the 5 day box office total and double it, that comes very close the the final box for these films.  That means this film is heading to around $550 million. Again this is a great number for almost any film, just not an MCU film where Disney has spent close to $350 with marketing. Not the film launching phase 5. Not the film launching your next big bad.

Edited February 23, 2023 by drotto

[Straw-Man]

On 2/22/2023 at 8:55 AM, Bo1983 said:

Robert Downey back to save the MCU!

wonderful.

[Straw-Man]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:00 PM, kimik said:

Just got back from seeing it with @Artboy99and @piper

 

I thought The Eternals was better.

 

oh.

[piper]

On 2/23/2023 at 9:40 AM, Straw-Man said:

oh.

I liked it better than Eternals. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 2/23/2023 at 11:16 AM, MattTheDuck said:

Is it really impossible to come up with something that bears at least a passing resemblance to an original idea when writing these movies?  I mean, a "Cantina" scene?  I would be embarrassed to have my name associated with that level of writing hackery.

I rolled my eyes at how often they were ripping-off Star Wars. I really didn't fathom that to be true when I read that being a critique.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 2/23/2023 at 11:22 AM, Jaydogrules said:

This.  Way too much Kang way too early, leads me to believe (hope) they're actually not going to be leaning on this weak sauce D list villain and have another real Big Bad waiting in the wings pulling the strings.  

-J.

You think they'll rename Avengers 5?

[Lpgk]

On 2/22/2023 at 8:05 AM, Bo1983 said:

Black Adam has the same score and I like both movies 

Agreed. I loved both movies. Sometimes I think we should step back as comic fans and instead of nitpicking things to death, just be glad we get to see these properties on film. A perfectly cast Rock as Black Adam, MODOK and Kang. What more do you want. 

[Bosco685]

 

[Microchip]

On 2/23/2023 at 11:25 PM, Bosco685 said:

With the VFX provider backlog and complaints about excessive pressure, it looks like it came to a head.

 

This is a criticism applicable to all the MCU films in the last few years, except Wakanda.

[Sweet Lou 14]

Pretty amazing that the end credits typically show hundreds if not thousands of VFX people working on these films, and yet (taking these folks at their word, no reason not to) that's still not enough to get the job done right.

[Microchip]

On 2/24/2023 at 9:57 AM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Pretty amazing that the end credits typically show hundreds if not thousands of VFX people working on these films, and yet (taking these folks at their word, no reason not to) that's still not enough to get the job done right.

There's plenty of films 2 decades+ old, that did a better job with VFX.   It's not a 'evolving' department in the film production matrix at this point.    Avatar can manage hours of uninterupted and seamless CGI.    MCU can't stitch together 10minutes. 

Disney is looking like Mickey Mouse film production house right now.   

 

[drotto]

On 2/23/2023 at 5:57 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Pretty amazing that the end credits typically show hundreds if not thousands of VFX people working on these films, and yet (taking these folks at their word, no reason not to) that's still not enough to get the job done right.

If you read the reports there are a few main issues.

1. Tight time schedules

2. Constant rewrites and reshoots, causing them to scrap or redo things basically on thr fly.

3. Vague partially completed scripts and poor direction, when they start doing scenes. So the artists are not given clear instructions on what the director wants. Causing again lots of changes because the director did not like it, or it was not what they wanted.

[Bo1983]

On 2/23/2023 at 6:20 PM, drotto said:

If you read the reports there are a few main issues.

1. Tight time schedules

2. Constant rewrites and reshoots, causing them to scrap or redo things basically on thr fly.

3. Vague partially completed scripts and poor direction, when they start doing scenes. So the artists are not given clear instructions on what the director wants. Causing again lots of changes because the director did not like it, or it was not what they wanted.

Diversity and inclusion!!Its not about the best man or woman for the job anymore!!