THE MARVELS starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani and Teyonna Parris (2023) 9 9

[Bosco685]

On 11/15/2023 at 5:36 AM, Buzzetta said:

I believe that the second point definitely has its place when trying to maintain that vision for long time story telling or pushing the narrative toward its goal. 

I think franchise development which may overshadow individual movie or show story is the biggest concern. And overwhelming after a while to connect all the dots to stay fully engaged as an audience.

Watch the Chris Stuckmann video I posted in the Phase V thread. As a cinephile he immerses himself in everything movies and shows. And his appreciation of the MCU was due to solid storytelling. Yet after a while he couldn't even keep it together to care about the next production. It became too overwhelming.

[Buzzetta]

On 11/15/2023 at 6:04 AM, Bosco685 said:

I think franchise development which may overshadow individual movie or show story is the biggest concern. And overwhelming after a while to connect all the dots to stay fully engaged as an audience.

Watch the Chris Stuckmann video I posted in the Phase V thread. As a cinephile he immerses himself in everything movies and shows. And his appreciation of the MCU was due to solid storytelling. Yet after a while he couldn't even keep it together to care about the next production. It became too overwhelming.

I will go over there and check it out. 

[musicmeta]

I'll see this movie after Thanksgiving (If it's still playing in the theaters ).  Seems like this one is a dud from the box office ticket sales and comments here on the board.  I'll find out.

[Zonker]

On 11/14/2023 at 9:21 AM, EastEnd1 said:

 

This is just typical corporate fluff, not evidence of a vast corporate conspiracy to take down western civilization.  Call it PR... "corporate responsibility" and being good "corporate citizens" has been in vogue since before I started my career.  It's a good way to soften all those "less nice" things a public corporation has to do to keep those profits growing.  You can find similar discussions in most companies annual reports going back decades.  Trust me, if an executive misses their numbers for the sake of this stuff, they will be gone.  Ask Disney's recently fired CEO Bob Chapek.  (Sounds like you can ask that former marketing exec at Budweiser too). 

 

This rings completely true to me. 

Add to it this observation: Corporate leaders, like all economic actors in capitalism, are motivated by 2 things: Greed and Fear.  So doing things that may look to us Monday morning quarterbacks like stupid profit-destroying acts may be the result of misplaced or insufficiently-thought-out greed (i.e. anticipating that one demographic would be more lucrative than another) but could instead be fear of online boycotts by a vocal twitter faction.  This is not specific to the MCU, but I think it very likely the new Oscar rules are a direct attempt to deflect any #oscarssowhite protests.  

[shadroch]

On 11/14/2023 at 1:34 PM, 1950's war comics said:

@VintageComics you are the Reed Richards of these boards !! not perfect as no man is ...

but by and large the type of man that other intelligent men will trust and follow ! you are one of if not the best contributor these boards has ever know - thanks 

I've always said you can tell a lot about a person by his friends.

[Mr Sneeze]

Something I think about on occasion that makes me think general audiences have moved on for the most part - though certainly I would add fatigue, lower tier heros and bloated continuity to that list - is the ending of The Big Bang Theory. I was not a big fan but there is no denying its elevation of nerd culture to the masses, as in there was certainly a cultural aspect to the MCU at its peak and that has definitely passed imho.

[shadroch]

I don't think anyone has destroyed the MCU. It's simply milked out.  If you told anyone thirty years ago, that Marvel would rule the Hollywood box office, you'd have been laughed at. If you'd suggested that a film about a raccoon and a tree would be a box office bonanza, you'd have been institutionalized. 

Sometimes, you need to recognize a win.  That a movie like Marvels even exist is a such an event.

 

 

[jsilverjanet]

On 11/14/2023 at 8:30 PM, jaybuck43 said:

How did you not see Oppenheimer in theaters?  It was fantastic.  

 

I wanted to go to see it in true imax but none were near me and then i was going to go with my brothers but they ended up going on their own

it did come down to either seeing barbie or oppenheimer (a director who i love) and I went with barbie

i may one day regret as much as never seeing interstellar (top 10 movie for me) in the theater

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/15/2023 at 7:21 AM, shadroch said:

I don't think anyone has destroyed the MCU. It's simply milked out.  If you told anyone thirty years ago, that Marvel would rule the Hollywood box office, you'd have been laughed at. If you'd suggested that a film about a raccoon and a tree would be a box office bonanza, you'd have been institutionalized. 

Sometimes, you need to recognize a win.  That a movie like Marvels even exist is a such an event.

This is pretty much where I am on the whole thing. It's important to see the end of things before they happen, so you can adjust and keep things going. Marvel didn't do this, and DC fumbled along so poorly that even if they have the Most Amazing Plan Ever Thought Of for the new DCU, they are, like, 5 years too late and even the best ideas are not likely to bring the excitement back up.

I don't want to think this is the End of comic book movies, but there's a change coming for sure.

[jsilverjanet]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:42 PM, VintageComics said:

I spent years being utterly lambasted on here (unsolicited may I had - it all started simply because I politely disagreed with people and they escalated from there).

I take it back, you are comedy gold

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/15/2023 at 8:26 AM, jsilverjanet said:

i may one day regret as much as never seeing interstellar (top 10 movie for me) in the theater

If you have an 80" tv or larger, just scooch your couch back ten feet and pay one of your kids to throw popcorn at you for two hours. Problem solved.

[jsilverjanet]

On 11/14/2023 at 9:13 PM, paqart said:

Your question makes me think you're the person who keeps claiming that I claim this. What I have actually written is that some newsstands appear for sale on eBay (where they are most easily found) extremely infrequently or not at all. It paradoxically starts at about 3 directs to every newsstand (1:3) in the early 1980's, when newsstands (NS) were printed in much higher numbers than direct. It goes down to about 1:8-1:20 depending on issue by the late 1980's. By 2000, NS editions are down to a low of 1:20 for most issues, up to 1:40 for others. Some issues between 2000-2017 are extremely hard to find. I searched over 1,500 copies of Ultimate Fallout #4. Only one was a newsstand, for a 1,500:1 ratio. Some NS editions I've never seen for sale but have seen photos. Others, I've never seen photos or copies for sale, but they presumably exist based on surrounding issues that do have NS editions.

The "1:100 claim" that you and a few others make so often is something I have seen in eBay listings for NS edition comics. I have never made such a listing. In most cases, my own research tells me that the supposed 1:100 rarity of specific NS editions is an exaggeration of what is actually between 1:20 to 1:40. However, some really are available at the rate of 1:100 or less. By the time you get past about 1:50, they are almost all less common than 1:100 or even 1:200. On this basis, I don't disagree that some NS editions are approximately 1:100 rarity compared to direct editions, but do not agree that all issues from a given period are this rare. I also do not believe that 1:100 rarity is the most extreme rarity possible for NS editions. Based on market availability, some issues are found less frequently than 1:200. The only comic I've seen cross the 1:1000 threshold is UF4, but I know of dozens that may have never been offered for sale, which might put them in about the same territory.

As for venues where NS editions might be found:

eBay is the best I have found. They have the largest selection and are the most easily searched. This is why I use it for benchmarking rarity.

Hip Comics has what looks like a decent selection, though not anywhere near as extensive as eBay. A couple of sellers, NewKadia and MileHigh have most of the newsstand listings, which skew the results. Regardless, this source doesn't look much different from eBay, except smaller numbers overall.

Comic book shops: they almost all have newsstands from before 1990, and a smattering between 1991-1999. After that, practically nothing regardless of store size.

Flea markets and garage sales: if they have newsstands, they are from the 1980's in almost all cases.

whoa WALL OF TEXT!!!!

thanks confirming that you are the same person

 

[Straw-Man]

On 11/15/2023 at 9:26 AM, jsilverjanet said:

I wanted to go to see it in true imax but none were near me and then i was going to go with my brothers but they ended up going on their own

it did come down to either seeing barbie or oppenheimer (a director who i love) and I went with barbie

i may one day regret as much as never seeing interstellar (top 10 movie for me) in the theater

it is wonderful.  "those aren't mountains, those are WAVES!"   love that scene.

[jaybuck43]

On 11/15/2023 at 5:36 AM, Buzzetta said:

I believe that the second point definitely has its place when trying to maintain that vision for long time story telling or pushing the narrative toward its goal. 
 

I look at the Star Wars sequels as an overall missed opportunity at best to disaster at worst due to the lack of a singular vision.  Whether anyone agrees with the vision or not is irrelevant (Added that before we get the usual from the usual.) to whether that style creates a cohesive narrative.  I DO blame Iger and Kennedy for not creating a bible as it were for the directors to work off of.   For example, people cry out about what Rey was while missing the bigger point that Lucasfilm didn’t know WHO she was. They should have known her true lineage or mapped it out from her inception. 
 

I don’t think Marvel becomes successful at the movies unless they start laying the groundwork in some of the earlier films and then go full throttle when the infinity gems become the macguffins in each film. 

All three scripts should have been plotted before the first film was in the can.  Johnson's story is SO disjointed it just doesn't fit.  

[jsilverjanet]

On 11/15/2023 at 9:51 AM, Straw-Man said:

it is wonderful.  "those aren't mountains, those are WAVES!"   love that scene.

its really a great movie on many levels and one of my brothers think the whole "love" angle is a little much but I don't care, i think it's wonderful

[Straw-Man]

brother has a point, but i take your side.

[jsilverjanet]

On 11/14/2023 at 9:38 PM, VintageComics said:

As @NewWorldOrder stated, Universal seems to be doing "just fine" so how about we compare Universal movies over the last 5 years to MCU and other movie houses?

I believe Comcast was referenced, the parent company for Universal. Just like all movie studios, they have had highs and lows. The reason comcast may be performing better is people streaming at home (they provide internet services, along with cable) and it's very expensive but the highest speed (in my area)

I also want to point out something about Blumhouse, which is a darling in this thread. Historically Horror movies are one of the lowest budget, highest grossing genres

year after year you can make a very good horror movie with a small budget and find tremendous success (night of the living dead, blair witch etc)

so what Blumhouse is doing isn't anything revolutionary

 

[VintageComics]

On 11/15/2023 at 3:48 AM, Prince Namor said:

Fatigue can also be the SAME story retold endless times.

So...bad story telling. 

We ALL agree on that but you just can't label bad storytelling as fatigue. That's disingenuous and misleading. 

That's like saying the reason many people disliked Lennon's work when he was with Yoko was because he was no longer a Beatle. No. They just didn't like Yoko so it's a complete misdirection of the facts. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by VintageComics

[paqart]

On 11/15/2023 at 10:30 AM, jsilverjanet said:

whoa WALL OF TEXT!!!!

thanks confirming that you are the same person

 

Not exactly. Maybe the same person you were thinking of, but not the person you decribed.

[VintageComics]

On 11/15/2023 at 8:52 AM, Zonker said:

Greed and Fear.

And importantly, in that order. 

Greed saw the ESG movement grow exponentially (just like the asset bubble of 2021) and drop just as fast. 

The world was CONVINCED this was the way, and now that same system is encountering great resistance and is dropping. 

But it ABSOLUTELY was the preferred vehicle of investment for a few years and every graph, every bit of evidence, every ESG rating - every EVERYTHING supports that, including the profitability of the companies involved, the decision making and the outcomes. The math is there in black and white for anyone who doesn't completely ignore it. 

The reason (some) people are trying to ignore it is because accepting it as true and not working starts to unravel their own belief systems and the fact that this system is NOT profitable, means it's NOT sustainable.

The irony is that the entire premise of the concept of ESG was supposed to be SUSTAINABILITY and it can't even sustain itself. It's hilarious if it isn't so pathetic that someone even thought it could be sustained naturally when it's now on life support. 

YOU CAN'T CHANGE NATURE.