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

[Bosco685]

[drotto]

On 2/25/2023 at 8:19 AM, Bosco685 said:

Is this film officially in trouble?  What does that mean for the rest of the MCU? This was supposed ro be the big official launch of Kang

[Gatsby77]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:11 AM, drotto said:

Is this film officially in trouble?  What does that mean for the rest of the MCU? This was supposed ro be the big official launch of Kang

But like...he's Kang.

I've said it before, but in the Avengers comics I read in the '80s he was always a b-list screw-up.

Not remotely in the same league as the true Marvel-wide big bads.

I dunno...it feels sort of like, if the Pied Piper were the big bad of the Flash movie - AND set up to be the next big threat to the Justice League.

[@therealsilvermane]

Spoiler alert!

Round two this afternoon.

[Bosco685]

On 2/25/2023 at 10:58 AM, @therealsilvermane said:

Spoiler alert!

Round two this afternoon.

Remember to post the appropriate hashtag

#BeatCocaineBear

[Bosco685]

 

 

[@therealsilvermane]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:19 AM, Bosco685 said:

Remember to post the appropriate hashtag

#BeatCocaineBear

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.

[kimik]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:56 AM, @therealsilvermane said:

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.

The VFX is not the main issue. The brutal story and weak characters are the issue for Quantumania. It is the worst MCU film I have seen so far, but that may change if I actually watch Thor L&T, Wakanda Never, or Ant-Man 2, I guess. 

[kimik]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:22 AM, Bosco685 said:

 

 

In fairness to the Eternals and Black Widow, when they came out I knew a lot of people that were not going to theatres due to lingering Covid fears. I will admit that while I am glad things are back to normal, I really enjoyed the lack of lineups everywhere in 2021.  

Edited February 25, 2023 by kimik

[drotto]

On 2/25/2023 at 1:56 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

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.

Heck may have partially frozen over, we are line about 80% agreement on this statement. 

[1Cool]

We just got out of a mid day matinee that was maybe 10% filled.  I had very low expectations and I was pleasantly surprised.   I see people have been comparing box office totals to the 2nd Thor movie and I’d say I enjoyed both movies about as much.  Antman had some funny moments and even MODOK was entertaining (but creepy) in his own way.  Not a great movie but it flowed pretty well.  I wish I cared more for the characters but they all seemed so superficial that them being in danger just didn’t seem to matter.  Some visual stunning parts but I’d just give it a C+ for what it was.

[1Cool]

On 2/25/2023 at 2:18 PM, kimik said:

The VFX is not the main issue. The brutal story and weak characters are the issue for Quantumania. It is the worst MCU film I have seen so far, but that may change if I actually watch Thor L&T, Wakanda Never, or Ant-Man 2, I guess. 

I thought Iron Man 2 and Black Widow were way worse movies then Ant Man 3.  I’d put it maybe a tad behind Black Panther 2 and level with 2nd Thor.  Plenty of much better marvel movies out there for sure.

[Bosco685]

[D84]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:58 AM, @therealsilvermane said:

Spoiler alert!

Round two this afternoon.

Is that really what Modok looks like?

[bentbryan]

On 2/25/2023 at 7:25 PM, D84 said:

Is that really what Modok looks like?

Yup. To be fair he looks better in the movie. 

[zuckuss2003]

I thought this episode was solid. This was a great introduction to Kang, deeper than Loki, and certainly showed him to be more complex and also more powerful than he was ever presented in the comics.  Modok was an odd placement considering how I enjoyed the animated show, this was weird but okay.  Looking forward to some of the next movies. 

[D84]

On 2/25/2023 at 6:53 PM, bentbryan said:

Yup. To be fair he looks better in the movie. 

It would have to. Damn.

[@therealsilvermane]

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.

Edited February 26, 2023 by @therealsilvermane

[Bo1983]

On 2/23/2023 at 6:26 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Wow that's bad.

Less than 1/2 of Wakanda's first Wednesday take.

And a Day # 6 average of $888 per screen - a mark that took Wakanda until Day # 18 to hit.

[Gatsby77]

On 2/26/2023 at 12:37 PM, Bo1983 said:

?

If those numbers hold, it's still $100 million behind Wakanda Forever in domestic tickets alone in its first 10 days.

As (I believe Paperheart) noted earlier, Quantumania won't even hit $500 million worldwide.