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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 21:34:41 GMT -5
Well he’d certainly let Donner do whatever he wanted. He’d just make sure they had a plan of some kind mapped out. Feige’s even talked about walking out of the the theater and thinking about what he’d do after Superman IV. Even then he was thinking ahead. Not sure what he’d do with it all beyond Superman. I think he’d let Superman inform everything else the way they did with Iron Man.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 21:31:14 GMT -5
I think Universal also fell on its face with trying to do a "monster mash" universe as well.... again, showing just how not-easy it is to succeed with a crossover franchise. Dark Universe was a total farce and everything wrong with the franchise filmmaking mentality. They did worse than WB did with DC. They did the complete opposite of what marvel did. They expected everyone to care because they announced a shared universe but didn’t do the on screen work to build up peoples anticipation.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 21:28:52 GMT -5
I almost left The Winter Soldier off my list because I think the average person can still follow the basics of what’s going on without it but I just don’t think you can leave out who Bucky is, who Rumlow is, who Sam is, and most of all the fall of Shield. Endgame makes several references to TWS. The Winter Soldier establishes a lot of things and also does a lot to built the Steve/Natasha friendship and I really think it’s the movie that cements Cap as the character everyone knows and loves in the MCU. Evans was always good in the role but The Winter Soldier is the film that puts Cap on Iron Mans level in my opinion.
I think Winter Soldier and Civil War do just enough to give you an idea of the Steve/Bucky friendship. Especially that great flashback right after Steve’s moms funeral. The First Avenger does give it all more depth though.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 17:07:07 GMT -5
The stuff the MCU has done (as a movie serial with complex storylines and crossovers) is something I've dreamed about as a kid, but after years of mostly a dessert with superhero films- But- Just seeing (as you mentioned)- even a single superhero franchise not really be able to follow through on quality and/or success made me lower the bar- Superman (imo) flopped in the middle of SII with the Lester stuff dragging down the Donner stuff- SIII was pure Lester - SIV was a noble try but showed pretty much how much older the supporting cast had gotten. (Though I'm still glad that SIV exists rather than SIII as the last film) The Batman series had a chance to be the start of something giant, but Batman Returns annoyed WB (too dark for the kids) and Burton/Keaton didn't seem thrilled or committed to stick it out for a giant 10-20 year franchise.... Spiderman I think would have been fantastic if they let Raimi be in full control- (Spiderman 3 was a mess but multiple factors not all Raimi) Raimi I think in an interview mentioned wanting to do 6 or 7 movies - and I think he and Tobie would have committed to it, if Sony hadn't pulled the plug for a reboot. (Though the first 2 1/2 are not bad at all) But- Sony was too short-sighted and too reboot-happy. When they tried to setup a Spiderverse with villains movie, they forgot to make a good movie with the second Spiderman film.... so, thank goodness someone there had the smarts to make a deal with Marvel. With X-men/Fox- it's not the greatest record (good films: X1, X2, bits of X3, First Class, DOFP, bits of Apocalypse, and Wolverine// bad ones: Origins, the second Wolverine, Dark Phoenix, most of X3)- but considering how the contract had already run out on most of the leads, it's pretty impressive that they were able to 'restart' properly without a full-on reboot with First Class and DOFP (Huge credit to the unfortunately -seemingly exiled- Bryan SInger). That they had the ambition to reconnect with the original group after First Class I love- and that they were able to coerce some big name stars to come back to the table (Berry, Stewart) I gave them props for. (In addition, the GIfted turned out to be a MUCH better series than I expected also in connection with the X-series). Next to the MCU, while imperfect, I do think whoever made it happen (Fox? Lauren Shuler Donner? Singer?)- went further than the mostly failed 'superhero trilogy' ambitions at that point. Sad that it ended on such a horrible note.... in many ways, it might have been better to have finished with X-Men: DOFP. What's sad/funny is that by the time Fox had done most of the X-men movies and the MCU had done "Avengers", WB was able to see what was going on and catch up- but end up running into speed bumps left and right with Miller's unfinished Justice League- pulling the plug on Superman Returns' sequel with Dark Knight's success- and then their experiment with the Snyderverse.... to where it's still a hit and miss and see what sticks to the wall game.... In the meantime... Fox's X-men/Fantastic Four moved to Disney/back to Marvel- And after conquering movies, Kevin Feige is moving onto conquering streaming television with superhero series. While WB and Sony are STILL trying to play catchup. Oh well. At least it's not MY millions. And does Fox have ANYTHING left? (And I have a hunch Valiant and Atlas are in permanent holding patterns until/if things get back to normal) All valid points there cam. I would add that it can also depend on which mindset you employ and what background you have(comic book/movie fan or not) when you watch the Marvel flicks. The personal reason why I rate STM(or indeed Lester's SII) higher than say something like Infinity War(or Endgame) is that I don't have to be familiar with any other flick in order to understand what's going on. heck even SIV is palatable enough in that sense......you don't technically have to have seen STM,II & III to get a handle on what is occurring in that monstrosity of a flick!(the same applies to SII & III) So, the stand alone marvel flicks unfortunately have that discrepancy embedded into their fabric. As a key example, if you did not see Cap America 1(or you are not familiar with the comic book lore).....then the reveal of Bucky(after that super cool hand to hand combat sequence) in The Winter Soldier will lose a considerable edge. The more astute observers will notice that the Russos did in fact include a very quick exposition with regards to Bucky's historical relationship to Cap in the opening 1st half hour of The Winter Soldier(when Rodgers walks through the museum in partial disguise-with a cap on no less-no pun intended ).In other words the Russos knew the fundamental importance of that exposition(they also added that quick flash back sequence to accentuate the bond between the 2 characters after Bucky's maskless reveal). But the Marvel flicks/universe are saturated with these discrepancies. When I watched Endgame for the first time, I had not yet seen Cap Marvel-so to see her show up at the end of the movie to challenge Thanos was jarring to put it mildly-of course I understood the implications of her presence so I was ultimately more acquiescent to her appearance than another non comic book/marvel fan coming in from the cold might have been. As I write I have still not seen Ant Man 1 or 2 (and I have very little zest to do so). Again, I personally accepted Paul Rudd's appearance(due to his natural comic timing and affable nature)in Civil War without too much cynicism in 2016......but a more critical/unbiased movie goer would have been far less accommodating. I do agree that what Marvel has achieved with regards to intertwining multiple story threads over so many years and movies, with the added complexity of the utilization of different directors(and actors--here's lookin' at you Rhody!) is definitely to be commended.....and is an unprecedented feat in modern movie making. But put another way I personally could quite easily have accepted STM on it's own without any other movie having been made subsequently. It's a complete picture in it's own right. I am pretty sure a substantial bulk(maybe even the majority-who knows?) of the movie going audience in 1978 were not Superman comic book fans when they first watched that movie. In fact, STM probably turned them into comic book fans! This even applies to those who were involved in the production like Reeve, Kidder and even Brando!. So yeah.....lots of factors to take into consideration with regards to the efficacy of Marvel's output. I think even though watching all the MCU movies helps with a better viewing experience you really only need to watch five or six MCU films to understand what’s going on in Infinity War and Endgame and follow the whole Thanos quest. The Avengers Captain America: The Winter Soldier Guardians of The Galaxy Avengers: Age of Ultron Captain America Civil War Thor Ragnorok You get good explanation of who all the major players are, what the stones are is covered pretty well in those movies, and we’re introduced to Thanos and what he wants. Even with Captain Marvel they don’t give her a major role in Endgame. Mostly to keep a powerful player off the board but also so they don’t have to explain so much. Fury sends her an intergalactic page on his high tech beeper in Infinity War and then she shows up to save Stark and later explains where she’s been. Even Doctor Strange first gets name dropped in Winter Soldier and Ragnarok gives you just enough info to understand what he’s about. The Marvel experiment should have been a dumpster fire. No one else has really been able to successfully replicate it. WB half tried it with the DCEU and that fell flat in its face out of the gate. Marvel Studios has had its stumbles but nothing like their distinguished competition. I remember all of us here use to talk about a Justice League movie and why it wouldn’t work. The MCU and DCEU ended up being perfect examples for both sides of that argument.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 16:54:22 GMT -5
Lol. It’s called becoming established and not giving an F. Early on in his career he probably felt he had to be more political and diplomatic. By the time he was doing Superman 3 he was a well established name and had seen more of Brando’s lazy bs. Look at how seriously Brando took Apocalypse Now and people like Reeve not only saw what was on screen but probably heard about his attitude through the Hollywood grapevine. I mean...Reeve WAS right. Everything he said was true. Brando coasted on his greatness and his reputation for at least the last 25 years of his career. That's true!-although in IMHO Brando's display in The Last Tango In Paris outstrips what he did in Apocalypse, The Godfather and indeed Superman(be it I or II).There maybe a correlation between the fact he was the lead character in Tango, where as he was ultimately only a bit part player(but still immensely significant!!!) in his 3 other 1970s cinematic outings. With regards to Superman the only problem is that it becomes difficult to gage exactly just how good was Brando's performance , as deemed by his fellow cast members and in particular , Reeve himself. Reeve in 1979 insinuated that Brando was fantastic(and by association, his performance as Jorel). But in 1982, Reeve explicitly says that Brando took the money and ran(and that he simply did not care)!. Those aspersions cast by Reeve are not to be taken lightly and my personal interpretation is that Reeve actually thought that Brando's performance was not good at all! The 1992 Cavett interview seems to add some credence to this hypothesis. Now that we have all the Brando footage(at least that's what we think!) at our disposal as audience members ,we can make our own personal evaluations with regards to the quality of Brando's performance. And IMHO , Brando's performance as Jorel is commensurate with the societal role of the character(senior scientist) and the predicament of the planet. It is therefore a beautifully restrained performance-credit also goes to Donner here too. But in the Mank script for SII, the repowering scene requires that Brando exhibit some kind of emotional pain as his final chunk of energy drains away. In the Donner cut we don't get to see that. I postulated in another thread that maybe this absolutely crucial footage(maybe only lasting a few seconds) was shot, but lost, or that it was indeed shot, but simply not deemed good enough not only by Baird and Donner in 1977/78 , but also by Thau and Donner in 2005/06. This could be the hypothetical reason why Reeve is so pissed off with Brando in the 1982 Letterman interview and somewhat abrasive(Brando help me out with my work!) on the 1992 Cavett show. Brando is fine in Superman. Problem is we’ve all seen all his others work and we know he could do much better. His costars also got to witness how he worked by that point. The cue cards, the earpiece, showing up on sets overweight, trying to con his way into somehow doing even less. He’d always been pretty selfish, overconfident, and vindictive but Reeve was right by the later half of his career he was coasting on his beloved status. His “fine” is still better than most actors “great” though. It’s why he still makes the scenes he’s in light up. And like you said Donner and co knew how to use him and what the got from him. Baird deserved all the praise he got for his editing that’s for sure. John Williams work can elevate anything....even Brando’s acting.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 16:46:31 GMT -5
atp, Metallo & cam Thinking about Karate Kid 84'.........it's the film that Supergirl 84' could and should have been! Essentially a coming of age/rite of passage piece. Slater cites Billy Gene from 1985(which she also starred in) as the hypothetical reference for Supergirl 84'. But Karate Kid had all the ingredients that could have been used in Supergirl! Zaltar is Myagi. Selena is Lawrence. Ethan is Ali. Midvale High is The West Valley High School. Argo City is New Jersey. (Midvale)Chigaco is (Reseda)Los Angeles. ect ect With a re jigging of the script they could have focused more on Supergirl honing/refining her powers throughout the arc of one film(or maybe several films!) in much the same way Danielson does in karate Kid. Amazing to think that these 2 flicks were in production at the same time. Of course some critics noticed the similarity between KK and Rocky due to Avildsen being the director. But given the fact that STM,SII & III never really focused on how Supes refined his abilities......seeing it in a Supergirl film ala' what we got with KK , would have been an interesting watch I agree the failing at the core of the film is the main characters poorly executed coming of age story. They tried to build everything around that but did a lousy job. I think Into The Spiderverse is the best modern example of how to do what they were doing with Supergirl. Even current tv shows like Stargirl get it more right. The problem is most of the men making the movie were out of their depth telling a kind of story they themselves couldn’t relate to. Especially a female centric story. They tried to make it more fairy tale in a stereotypically female way but couldn’t even get that right. Even The Legend of Billy Jean pulls off certain things better and that’s why Helen Slater has herself compared the two films.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 14, 2021 16:24:15 GMT -5
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Post by Metallo on Mar 11, 2021 13:00:24 GMT -5
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Post by Metallo on Mar 11, 2021 12:47:18 GMT -5
The big problem with black Panther is there is still so much to do with TChalla. It’d be a real loss if they retired the character on The big screen now. It’s hard to imagine anyone else stepping in for Bozeman but I think the character should go on. He meant a lot to a lot of people and there are some great stories with him left to tell. I think Bozeman wood want that but who really knows.
I think it’s a case by case basis kind of deal.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 11, 2021 12:43:00 GMT -5
I think there’s obviously a standard or level that’s different for different people. Look at the recent controversy with Ezra Miller. WB seem to be staying silent to let it blow over. Compare that with the whole Whedon/Ray Fisher deal.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 11, 2021 12:39:46 GMT -5
If it’s something they’d be farming out to someone else they might be charging too high a licensing fee. That’s just a shot on the dark by me though. Maybe if the terms were better someone would try to make it happen. There’s surely an audience there.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 11, 2021 12:37:14 GMT -5
That’s a good point, CAM. That was one of the more interesting interactions in that story. While they were playing the roles is just when the history and interplay between the two characters was getting interesting. I always enjoyed the post crisis Lex basically trying to buy off Superman scenes or the initial confrontations we saw at the end of the Lois & Clark Pilot and the Last Son of Krypton animated three parter.
We’d always had the Superboy/young Lex history but they’d had their falling out after that and I don’t think that take would have worked with the Reeve films anyway. I’ve always been mixed on that development in the comics. Smallville handled it about as well as I could imagine.
Reeve’s portrayal really was what helped move Superman into the modern era along with work by Maggin, Moore, etc.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 11, 2021 8:37:37 GMT -5
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Post by Metallo on Mar 9, 2021 8:37:43 GMT -5
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 20:00:23 GMT -5
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 18:04:34 GMT -5
The stuff the MCU has done (as a movie serial with complex storylines and crossovers) is something I've dreamed about as a kid, but after years of mostly a dessert with superhero films- But- Just seeing (as you mentioned)- even a single superhero franchise not really be able to follow through on quality and/or success made me lower the bar- Superman (imo) flopped in the middle of SII with the Lester stuff dragging down the Donner stuff- SIII was pure Lester - SIV was a noble try but showed pretty much how much older the supporting cast had gotten. (Though I'm still glad that SIV exists rather than SIII as the last film) The Batman series had a chance to be the start of something giant, but Batman Returns annoyed WB (too dark for the kids) and Burton/Keaton didn't seem thrilled or committed to stick it out for a giant 10-20 year franchise.... Spiderman I think would have been fantastic if they let Raimi be in full control- (Spiderman 3 was a mess but multiple factors not all Raimi) Raimi I think in an interview mentioned wanting to do 6 or 7 movies - and I think he and Tobie would have committed to it, if Sony hadn't pulled the plug for a reboot. (Though the first 2 1/2 are not bad at all) But- Sony was too short-sighted and too reboot-happy. When they tried to setup a Spiderverse with villains movie, they forgot to make a good movie with the second Spiderman film.... so, thank goodness someone there had the smarts to make a deal with Marvel. With X-men/Fox- it's not the greatest record (good films: X1, X2, bits of X3, First Class, DOFP, bits of Apocalypse, and Wolverine// bad ones: Origins, the second Wolverine, Dark Phoenix, most of X3)- but considering how the contract had already run out on most of the leads, it's pretty impressive that they were able to 'restart' properly without a full-on reboot with First Class and DOFP (Huge credit to the unfortunately -seemingly exiled- Bryan SInger). That they had the ambition to reconnect with the original group after First Class I love- and that they were able to coerce some big name stars to come back to the table (Berry, Stewart) I gave them props for. (In addition, the GIfted turned out to be a MUCH better series than I expected also in connection with the X-series). Next to the MCU, while imperfect, I do think whoever made it happen (Fox? Lauren Shuler Donner? Singer?)- went further than the mostly failed 'superhero trilogy' ambitions at that point. Sad that it ended on such a horrible note.... in many ways, it might have been better to have finished with X-Men: DOFP. What's sad/funny is that by the time Fox had done most of the X-men movies and the MCU had done "Avengers", WB was able to see what was going on and catch up- but end up running into speed bumps left and right with Miller's unfinished Justice League- pulling the plug on Superman Returns' sequel with Dark Knight's success- and then their experiment with the Snyderverse.... to where it's still a hit and miss and see what sticks to the wall game.... In the meantime... Fox's X-men/Fantastic Four moved to Disney/back to Marvel- And after conquering movies, Kevin Feige is moving onto conquering streaming television with superhero series. While WB and Sony are STILL trying to play catchup. Oh well. At least it's not MY millions. And does Fox have ANYTHING left? (And I have a hunch Valiant and Atlas are in permanent holding patterns until/if things get back to normal) For various reasons Hollywood’s never been able to replicate the long term serialized storytelling in comics. Even when it was good life or business got in the way. Actors moved on or died or ratings or box office declined. But most of the time the quality declined because they didn’t know how to keep it up. Marvel Studios has somehow defied the odds. Even the Spider-Man deal with Sony got worked out despite all our fears. Now they have all those Fox properties back so they’ve overcome that roadblock too. The death of Chadwick Bozeman is the first real thing beyond their control that’s thrown a wrench into their machine. Considering how big the MCU is now its amazing it hasn’t happened more or before now.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 17:57:10 GMT -5
Seems they we’re going for more dramatic and emotional incidental music that blended into the background instead of something more bold. It’s a trade off.
It’s weird to be in an era where we’ve now had two Supermen where their themes have been replaced. Nothing new with other on screen characters (it was a thing for a long time in the MCU) but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen with Superman before since those themes were so iconic and connected to the character. Replacing them was unthinkable.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 17:52:09 GMT -5
It’s always interesting to see a younger generation of actors talk about meeting their heroes from the generations before. People Reeve’s age grew up on Brando and Connery. It’s probably one reason Reeve went to Connery for advice since he was one of the few people who’d had an experience playing that type of larger than life iconic pop culture character Reeve could ask advice on. They say don’t meet your heroes. Sometimes it goes well and other times it’s a disaster. I’ve always enjoyed Clancy Browns stories of working with Sean Connery on Highlander. It wasn’t ideal and since it was a situation similar to Brando’s (big money for brief work) it’s very interesting to see it from the perspective of younger hungrier actor. I totally agree with this: "Sometimes it goes well and other times it's a disaster."- I met some comic artists and writers that were fantastic, others who were complete a-holes. Bad thing is that it can taint your joy of their work... With the information overload age, though, I assume that actors and artists already know way too much about a person before even working with them on set! That's at least one (of many) things different about the 'then and now' with actors and how they may have viewed actors they look(ed) up to! There’s always been the Hollywood talk circle of actors being difficult. We’ve seen a lot of careers go down in flames because of it. It’s doubly true now because not only can people in the industry see it but we can too AND that kind of talk can go around the world in real time. Studios can still do some damage control but it’s much harder to hide if someone simply wants to go on Reddit and leak incidents anonymously. The Christian Bale/Terminator blow up was brutal to watch play out because we could actually hear his own words. Imagine that happening in 2021 with Twitter culture.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 17:30:03 GMT -5
Ming Na Wens pretty good for an actress who has studied some martial arts but had no serious training as far as I know. She could take me down in other ways though. And I’d welcome it. 🙂 I just bought season 1 and two of Cobra Kai. I enjoyed the first season but fell off after that. They’re all on Netflix now though so if may be time to dive back in. I think what drives me nuts is that I've seen so many Hong Kong movies with actresses Ming Na Wen's age that REALLY kick arse and you believe it because you see them doing the 'real' thing without a stunt double.... so for them to choose her when there are so many other better actress/martial artists around to contact (again, she might be a great human being, but I'm not referring to that)- it drove me nuts. Why didn't they approach Michecke Yeoh? Or a dozen other HK actresses who moved to Canada? (where they do most of the Hwood shooting it seems)? But- a lot of people love Ming Na... but I just have issues believing that she's a trained assassin when she's cast as that. Michecke, I believe, if you see any of her HK movies. Hopefully they don't have a scene in Cobra Kai where Ming Na Wen is a trained assassin hired by Reese to do a one-on-one fight to the death scene with Daniel Russo. I can only take so much disbelief. Again, they seem like wonderful people in person. Lethal weapons, no. I don't buy it. I was thinking Micheelle Yeoh but they probably hired Ming Na Wen for certain projects for her acting talent. The martial arts stuff can be worked on or worked around a little more easily than the acting stuff. We’re seeing the same thing playing out with Blade right now. Ali isn’t the martial artist Snipes is but he is arguably a much better actor. Hong Kong based actresses are talented actresses but Wen is American based (which makes it easier for working here, visa issues, already being known) but Americanized so there’s no cultural disconnect when it comes to more Americans projects. Like if they want her to be more believable as a more westernized or American born person of Chinese origin. She already has a long history with Disney so she has those internal connections plus Wen has been around Hollywood and the spotlight long enough to play the political game well and be diplomatic. I remember she gave one heck of a non answer on current issues with Taiwan, Tibet, China, etc. She even deftly avoided raising a stink on a lot of the criticisms Disney was taking over the Mulan film. Studios like people that can make them look good and avoid controversy.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 17:24:40 GMT -5
Karate Kid 1 and 2 are must watch. Part 3 and The Next Karate Kid were the series on the way down. The remake wasn’t bad but I still question why it’s even called Karate Kid. And let’s not forget the cartoon for a proper wtf! "If it's famous.... milk it to death until you wanna throw up!"- I had no idea there was a Karate Kid cartoon!!! LOL I was already shocked that there was a kids cartoon for Rambo and Conan the Barbarian! But--- if you had a 'Rambo vs. Conan vs. Daniel Larusso'- I'm there! I want to see animated Chuck Norris vs animated Mr T! Back in the 80s and early 90s anything could get a cartoon. There was of course The Real Ghostbusters but there were also the Back To The Future, Bill and Ted, Teen Wolf, and Beetlejuice shows. Even R rated movies like Police Academy, Robocop, Toxic Avenger, and First Blood got animated shows based on them! Pretty funny to wrap your head around since none of those are appropriate for children.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 16:49:12 GMT -5
I’ve seen that. From around 91 or 92 I think. He had quite a few interviews with Cavett over the years. I can’t believe D!ck Cavett is still alive. I’ve always beens fan so I’m glad. Have you seen this one? Reeve was brutally honest about Brando. I did not see that one... but I remembered the bit where Reeve mentioned somewhere that Brando didn't take it seriously until Reeve spoke up. If that was one of the FIRST scenes shot (because of Brando's time frame in the contract) - then imagine Reeve's disappointment and sheer fear that had to come up right off the bat to be starring as Superman and worry that nobody else was taking it seriously, but taking the money and running. Add to that- Kidder's mentioning how irreverent she could be when the cameras weren't rolling.... that HAD to drive Reeve crazy if he was already freaking out about making the biggest mistake of his life with taking on the role. (But then what relief he must have had after the movie came out and the reviews unanimously praised him) With so many of our pop 'heroes' now getting exposed for bad behavior (and much worse)- it's nice to see that the biggest 'sin' that Reeve might have had was that he took his craft (maybe yes maybe no) too seriously. But that he had a standard of being a role model to others when possible stands out on this. That's awesome. It’s always interesting to see a younger generation of actors talk about meeting their heroes from the generations before. People Reeve’s age grew up on Brando and Connery. It’s probably one reason Reeve went to Connery for advice since he was one of the few people who’d had an experience playing that type of larger than life iconic pop culture character Reeve could ask advice on. They say don’t meet your heroes. Sometimes it goes well and other times it’s a disaster. I’ve always enjoyed Clancy Browns stories of working with Sean Connery on Highlander. It wasn’t ideal and since it was a situation similar to Brando’s (big money for brief work) it’s very interesting to see it from the perspective of younger hungrier actor.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 16:42:10 GMT -5
I’ve seen that. From around 91 or 92 I think. He had quite a few interviews with Cavett over the years. I can’t believe D!ck Cavett is still alive. I’ve always beens fan so I’m glad. Have you seen this one? Reeve was brutally honest about Brando. Yes I had seen the Letterman one before--and you are right--that is a pretty brutal breakdown of Brando! But back in 1979 Reeve did this interview for a French/Canadian crew.......and he had nothing but positive stuff to say about Brando:(goto 8:57 in video) So between 1979 to 1982 , something snapped in Reeve with regards to his aura of Brando. Lol. It’s called becoming established and not giving an F. Early on in his career he probably felt he had to be more political and diplomatic. By the time he was doing Superman 3 he was a well established name and had seen more of Brando’s lazy bs. Look at how seriously Brando took Apocalypse Now and people like Reeve not only saw what was on screen but probably heard about his attitude through the Hollywood grapevine. I mean...Reeve WAS right. Everything he said was true. Brando coasted on his greatness and his reputation for at least the last 25 years of his career.
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 16:36:47 GMT -5
haha I remember seeing the Karate Kid trailer a couple of times before watching Supergirl in 84'. Yes I went to watch Supergirl at least 3 times that summer:) But Karate Kid..great movie. Seriously.....Macchio looked like he was 14 in that flick and he was already 23/24! I recently revisited those Karate Kid movies- after the sometimes brilliant/sometimes silly Cobra Kai series--- Karate Kid #1 is a classic. Karate Kid #2 is pretty talky, moreso than I remembered- and the writing out of the other characters was a mistake. Karate Kid #3 is a dull disaster. The intentions are nice, but the script and direction feel like it really needed more time to develop. At the very least, as disappointing as #2 and #3 are, they deliver material for the Cobra Kai series.... And- I remember for 5-10 years a LOT of fantastic summer movies for kids and teens right after Star Wars initially exploded at the box office... Karate Kid 1 and 2 are must watch. Part 3 and The Next Karate Kid were the series on the way down. The remake wasn’t bad but I still question why it’s even called Karate Kid. And let’s not forget the cartoon for a proper wtf!
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Metallo
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The worlds finest heroes
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 16:34:04 GMT -5
That’s different. He’s some kind of immortal being. Like Ming Na Wen. Very true. Bizzarely, both are cast as martial arts experts, which - they may be great human beings - but I have a hard time believing them as lethal weapons on-screen. Ming Na Wens pretty good for an actress who has studied some martial arts but had no serious training as far as I know. She could take me down in other ways though. And I’d welcome it. 🙂 I just bought season 1 and two of Cobra Kai. I enjoyed the first season but fell off after that. They’re all on Netflix now though so if may be time to dive back in.
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Metallo
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The worlds finest heroes
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Post by Metallo on Mar 6, 2021 14:01:25 GMT -5
atp The strength of the Marvel stuff has been the mixed universe flicks....and in particular the flair of the Russo bros. Everything else is variable. But lets compare apples with apples. The stand alone Marvel flicks vary in quality and are mostly pretty average IMHO: The below represent my own personal opinions(and others may disagree strongly!): Iron Man 1 was pretty cool---2 and 3 were average or poor. Thor 1 was interesting(but I still found it a touch bland)--2 and 3 were awful. Spiderman 1(Homecoming) was nice / average. Spidey 2 is the same---nothing that really stands out to me. Hulk(2008) started off with promise and then degenerated into an almost Snyder like CG poopfest! Cap America 1 was ok-again a bit bland for me but respectable-Winter Soldier was exceptional. Cap 3(Civil War) was not a stand alone movie---no way!(still pretty good though). Black Panther was good but again(aside from the social contexts was nothing new when it comes to ground breaking fantasy entertainment) Cap Marvel is rubbish! Guardians Of The Galaxy 1 & 2 are simply "meh" for me. STM is f***ing exceptional and well above anything that Marvel has ever released(be it stand alone or mixed).Period.And I am saying that within the 2021 context. In terms of sitting in a theater in 1978(ok I did not see it until 1981--but it's still the same era cinematically!)---I would take that experience over sitting in a cinema to watch any of the Marvel flicks(2008 to 2019). I will still take Lester's SII over any of the Marvel stand alones anytime(I know that sounds controversial). Allow me to elaborate. Sitting in a theater in 1981, SII was unique(sure you had Raiders but that was a different kind of spectacle). And as I said before, there was Clash Of The Titans, Dragon Slayer, Outland and Excalibur which are no where near SII in technical or artistic proficiency. Indeed the only other thing that matched(or surpassed) SII for technical fantasy was STM(in the context of 1981). Fast forward to 2014 That year I watched(in no particular order): Transformers(Extinction)----yeah I know it's the biggest sack of crap ever! Hobbit 5 armies. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 The Planet of the Apes The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. X-Men: Days of Future Past. Guardians of the Galaxy. Interstellar ect ect So whilst the Winter Soldier stood out compared to the other Marvel movies that came before....it did not stand out from a technical standpoint in 2014(compared to other stuff that was around) like SII did in 1981. The same goes for SIII to a degree(that will sound controversial!). The real elephant is SIV which quite frankly should not even count as a movie. Having said that if I were to hypothetically strip out or water down the CG from most of the Marvel movies(......you may be surprised that even SIV could look quite good in comparison!). All my opinions of course P.S I was too young to watch Excalibur in 1981(it had a 15 certificate here in the UK)......but I remember seeing it's trailer in between STM and SII in that double bill. From the frame of reference of suffering through all the live action superhero adaptations that had next to NO resemblance to the comic source material for MANY years... Marvel- in that regard - was a godsend. Three things imo make Marvel shine: Yes, I agree that the movies have been average overall, with a growing percentage of 'really good' and 'great' ones... But to me here's why I love/admire Marvel's long game: #1: Even the imperfect origin films capture with ENOUGH accuracy the spirit of the Marvel comic source material. (What's close enough being subjective of course, though, I know) - Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision, and Scarlet Witch feel fairly close, compared to what's come before the MCU! #2: The ambitions and committment to the long games. Avengers was a novelty never done before in that way. Infinity War and Endgame upped that game even more. #3: While Snyder might 'love' the material, I don't feel he gets it. Feige overall gets it.... a lot of the joys I had as a comic reader for Marvel I see translated into the live action franchise, stuff that I imagine isn't that easy to coordinate behind the scenes.... or.... the motivation isn't there. (A similar admiration was for the Crisis on Infinite Earths in tv, after hearing how crossovers behind the scenes weren't that easy to do on a tiny level, let alone a large one.) That’s a good point. No franchise in history has been able to pull off long form serialized storytelling the way Marvel studios has. Not even the greatest film franchises in history. At some point when they go that long with that many movies they’ve all turned in a massive series killing turkey. Superman may have been great but they couldn’t even keep it up for three straight films. Marvels best might be few and far between but they don’t have a Superman IV or X-men Origins on their resume either. I give the Arrowverse producers credit for even attempting Crisis. It’s got to be one of the most ambitious tv crossovers in history. Even Star Trek with its massive shared universe never tried anything even close when you think they of all people would have.
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