Marvel Cinematic Universe

What did people think of the first ep of What If? Overall I really liked it, but the animation was weird. Some scenes - like the action stuff - looked incredible, but when there were close ups of the characters talking it was like the MCU: A Telltale Adventure.

Good.

Is Shang Chi going to be cinema only?

Yes. Been getting lots of very positive first impressions etc. As you'd expect. 

One thing that has been mentioned is that the trailers don't show you anything and it's a very deliberate move. I'm very interested in this and will probably book IMAX tickets. 

The new Eternals trailer.

Got to be honest I am over CGI monsters. I thought this might be a bit more "out there" but instead it looks like pew pew super powers fight.

The Eternals trailer looks more like DC movie than an MCU one. Not vibing with it at all.

The colour grading definitely has a Snyder look to it. I guess we'll see, I didn't vibe with the trailers for GotG and look how that turned out. This seems a gateway back to the more comsic part of the film universe with Celestials and no doubt characters such as Galactus.

Everything ok, user Tonka?

No. I'm sad to see how the MCU (or Disney) is churning out shit film after shit film, gobbling up talented directors and actors. 

But, I guess I should focus on the positive stuff. Like how Rian Johnson could make Knives Out using some of the silver coins he got from making The Last Jedi. Having recently rewatched Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Last Crusade made me nostalgic for a time when that was what blockbuster movies were like. Not this shit. Big CGI baddie will destroy EVERYTHING! Rinse repeat.

Did you like the Eternals trailer? It felt utterly uninspired to me. 

Yeah... it's not really the sort of gig where directors are encouraged to put their own stamp on things - I guess Waititi is an exception, but his natural style is pretty Marvel-friendly - but they know what they're getting into. And they can always go back to their passion projects after getting their big payday, if that's what they want to do.

I don't hate Marvel films, don't love them either. They're alright.

Just watched the Eternals trailer. I liked it. Cast is great (I'm there for anything Kumail), and I like the Eternals generally. The current Gillen series is a good time.

As with all the Marvel movies, I'm still utterly amazed we're getting them at all after the lack of anything but 89 Batman I had growing up. We now have Ant-man, Guardians and now Eternals movies. Take all my money.

But "gobbling up" does imply that they have no choice or say in the matter. Any director walking into this is going to know how the system works, it's not like they're naive and walking into something with no idea what they're getting into.

And it's not like they can't then do their own stuff later on. Rian Johnson proved that following Star Wars. It's not like they're being assimilated and will never make their own films again.

That being said, I can't say the Eternals trailer did much for me, it does look pretty bland. I'm looking forward to Thor and GotG, but that's pretty much it tbh.

With no RDJ or Evans or Boseman there's a bit of a charisma vacuum, plenty of good supporting characters and actors but none who can really carry the franchise. Only really have Hemsworth left with that star factor.

From everything I've read on it, Rian Johnson made the SW movie he wanted to make, and wasn't coerced by Lucasfilm in any way. That's why it feels disjointed within the series, and why it's liked as much as it's hated. Maybe you just don't like everything a director does, regardless of the studios they work for.

I can't imagine that directors of this level sign up to the Marvel machine just for the money. You're implying that they have zero pride in their work in doing so. I expect they're still trying to make the best movies they can within the framework of the studio/franchise style, and there has to be something appealing for them to sign up years of their lives, and a permanent mark on their body of work, in the first place. It's not like taking a job packing shelves for the summer.

Having next-to-zero knowledge of the Eternals as characters or their comic book history* I REALLY liked that trailer. It's seemes to marry Zhao's panoramic style and use of natural light with some balls-to-the-wall Kirby-inspired visual bonkersness. We've hardly seen anything of the characters or how they behave but the *cast* is great so I'm sure it'll be enjoyable. And we actually don't have much in the way of extreme DC-style superpower in the MCU so far; they've managed to tone down most of the characters so they really just feel "strong humanoid who can maybe shoot a laser"; I'd argue only Strange and Captain Marvel really have properly EXTREME powersets that feel lifted from a comic. So it's nice to see buses turned into petals or Robb Stark shooting fire out of his eyes. Anyway, I will admit to being orders of magnitude more excited by the MCU that literally any other piece of pop culture, so I'm aware that this one might be For Me regardless.

*To be honest, I hardly read any Marvel growing up outside of their licensed stuff like Transformers, so most of the MCU - even when I knew the characters - has felt like fresh ground. That might be one the reasons I like it so much, and have found the DCEU so disappointing.