I really liked this and do not understand the hate its getting at all. People complaining about not enough action hurts my brain, the X-Men are a team franchise, an ensemble cast, of quiet drama moments and character development are good to have in a movie like this. I wish some of the other X-Men movies understood how important the ensemble nature of the franchise is, even the best ones kind of don't.
This movie is hard to rate because the first hour or so is droning and boring with long extended shots of just visuals with no dialogue or anything happening. But the final act is just absolutely incredible and leaves you with a good taste in your mouth. It feels weird to rate a movie that I hated for the majority of it so highly but thats the feeling it leaves me with.
This episode felt a bit sloppy at points. It felt a bit like a bunch of isolated scenes that were good on their own but didn't really weave together all that well? I'm also a bit unsure about the Flag Smashers right now, I feel like I don't get their motives. How does their anarchism link to their belief that life was better during the Blip? Hopefully that gets filled in more later. I also felt a bit thrown off how Sam and Buck both had good human storylines set up in the first episode that weren't followed up on here.
On the plus side: I appreciated the social commentary, even if it felt a bit surface level. Mackie and Stan have good chemistry, which helps carry the show. I also enjoy Kellyman's performance, even if I don't understand her motive yet, and Wyatt Russell is good too. And hey, a Young Avenger was technically introduced, thats exciting!
Didn't hate it as much as I thought I would actually. Jennifer Stone as Abby Hanover is amazing and gives off "took the bad film seriously" vibes. Noone else is anything to write home about, but especially noteable that Maiara Walsh is REALLY not a convincing alpha bitch.
ETA: Actually upgraded it to a 5 on second watch. Its really not that bad. People hate it because it doesnt live up to the original (and never should have happened, lol) but as a standalone movie its... fine. It helps how much I love Jennifer Stone.
I have no idea how this movie is at almost 80%. Especially when Beyond is 3% lower and is a MUCH better movie.
Tbh, I admit, for the first hour or so of this movie I was thinking "wait why did I give this only a 5 again?", because the movie holds itself together pretty well for awhile. It still suffers from the Abrams problem of being a good product instead of interesting art, but its watchable. But god, the final act. A complete mess. The role reversal stuff is just absolutely terrible. Spock shouting "Khan" was the worst moment. Just corny as hell. And I'm sorry, but the Kirk/Spock relationship is just not established enough in this continuity for Kirk's death to resonate. Especially when they already established was was SO OBVIOUSLY going to be a way to bring Kirk back. And low and behold, it was, and it was corny. They never should have tried to follow the act of Khan at all tbh, Ricardo is way too tough and act to follow. and Whitewashing one of the greatest poc villains in movie history is ridiculous.. Also, a nitpick, but the fan service scene with Carol Marcus in her underwear was jarringly unnecessary. Like yeah, sure, Alive Eve has a great body, but it being out of nowhere and not serving any narrative purpose and a bit of tonal whiplash. It just didnt fit.
This is actually my least favorite Star Trek film. Because the worst original timeline movies at least were TRYING to do something interesting and not make a cynically marketable product and failing even at that.
I will admit though I do like the element of the destruction of Vulcan changing Starfleet to be more militaristic. It might not be "Gene's vision" but it makes sense for the alternate universe and is the most interesting plot point. They should have just had Alexander Marcus be the main villain.
What I find myself asking myself when I watch this movie is "would I rather be watching this or the original timeline movies that are generally considered bad". My rating of 7 puts this movie above Nemesis, Insurrection, Generations and Final Frontier, as well as tied with In Search of Spock and The Motion Picture. But for me, those movies are very different products.
Star Trek 2009 is pretty much JJ Abrahms wheelhouse. Competent, if suffering from a lack of soul and something to say. It makes for a very watchable movie, but not a particularly interesting piece of art.
Those original timeline movies I list? they're much sloppier and less "good" by traditional film criticism. But for me, they have a lot more heart and soul to them. So in a way, I respect them more, even if I consider all of them (including the two it's score is tied with) less quality movies.
This movie is just so goddamn charming. The cast is great. The story is mostly formulaic and the anachronisms amount to basically a gimmick, but you have to be heartless not to be won over by its charm anyway.
This episode was fantastic. First of all, some lines from Sam finally put together the Flag Smasher's motives for me, explaining the connection between anarchism and "the blip was better" that was missing for me. Second, John Walker's development in this is amazing. And that ending holy shit! Really good episode of television.
While I gave it the same rating, I want to say that this episode was much more tightly plotted and coherent than the last one. It didn't feel like a bunch of isolated good scenes like the last, it felt like a straightforward narrative. Loved the action scenes with Sharon Carter. And the plot definitly seems to be moving.
I really need to complain about the Flag Smashers again though. It really would have been better, I think, to just have them be people displaced by people returning after the Blip who are angry about it, rather than include the anarchism/no borders bit. Because these two different motives are just not linking together well or making much sense. This is my main complaint so far in this.
Rachele Brooke Smith's abs were worth an entire extra point.
I've always loved this movie, but something that shot it up to a 10 for me this rewatch and made it a new comfort movie for me, is realizing how OBVIOUSLY AUTISTIC Lilo is.
1. Special interest 1: photographing overweight tourists and making a collage with the photos
2. Special interest 2: Elvis (she uses Elvis to cope with RSD as well)
3. Routine: Feeding a specific fish a peanut butter sandwhich once a week, and she is very upset if this routine is disturbed
4. Stimming motions with hands, forthright speaking tone, some literal thinking
5. Rejection by peers who find her strange, tries to include her strange homemade doll with a socially unacceptable backstory in the girls playing with "normal" dolls
I relate to Lilo so much now. And that makes this movie come through for me.
Sloppy and largely uninteresting episode. Skye's development with Ward was good. But the overall plot was not. I do not like Ian Hart's acting, which put a damper on the climax. Quinn's an ok antagonist, but disappears without closure (assuming he shows back up later, but it still felt offputting). Never felt pulled in by the episode and actually took weeks of short bursts every few days to complete it.
For some reason, this movie didn't click for me the first time I watched it a little more than a year ago. I still gave it a 8/10, but I felt underwhelmed. I think I was just a victim of hype aversion really. On this rewatch, it clicked for me for real and I enjoyed every second and suddenly its a 10/10 movie for me.
Some good developments here, definitely appreciate them confirming Loki as bi. But parts of it felt slow or fillery.
After the sitcom gimmick was over, it became pretty basic MCU, which I mean, basic MCU is good to me so I'm not mad about that, but the sitcom gimmick was what made the show special and unique.
I agree with the commentators that say that fans built up their expectations on their own and noone was owed the things people thought were going to happen. Ralph Bohner I'm not sure about, it could be seen as a good subversion of expectations or it could be seen as a shitty and pointless troll. I hope this isn't all we see of Evan Peters in the MCU though. That would feel unfair to the character.
I will say, it was hard to grasp on to the emotion of Wanda and Vision's goodbye knowing that White Vision is out there, that is one thing I solidly unhappy with.
Having not seen this movie when it was first released, despite being a Marvel fan, I had spent all these years being told that its bad (or at best average). Got to say, maybe I'm just living in the afterglow of having a movie pleasantly surprise me by being better than I had been told it was, but I rather liked it. Its main weakness is that Malacath is a pretty boring villain with weak motive, which kept the movie down to a 6 rather than a 7 all on its own since a good villain is very important to a good Superhero movie.
Loved this film as a kid. Still love it as an adult. My politics and some annoyances with the historical artistic license are pretty much the only things that take me out of it, and really the political issues are only in the first 10 minutes. Great music, great animation, decent voice acting even though its celebs instead of pros (especially Kelsey Grammer and Christopher Lloyd), and an enjoyable if somewhat cliche'd plot. "In the Dark of the Night" will always be one of my favorite villain songs.
Better than its reputation. The first entire hour is a good movie honestly, I was enjoying myself until the climax. The final battle is a complete mess lol. And I think is the main reason this movie has a bad reputaiton. And I hate that the X-Men were fighting to protect the cure, as an autistic person I thought the cure had allegorical implications so that part of it felt bad.
That said, despite the first one having a WAY better reputation, I actually like this one just as much.
Cons other than the climax and the unfortunate implications: "Psylocke" (The character in this movie has nothing to do with Psylocke) is wasted. Angel is wasted. What happens with Cyclops sucks. No Nightcrawler sucks.
Enjoyable to me, mostly in a so bad its good kind of way. "All" character was kind of offensive I took a whole point off for that.
Really excellent episode. By far the best yet. It takes a bit to get going admittedly, which is why it earns an 8 instead of a 9. But its a very emotionally resonate episode with Coulson's scene with the firefighter, the FitzSimmons stuff, and the scene at the end with May and Couslon. Just, before that Couslon/firefighter scene its a bit slow and I wasnt into it. Once it gets going its very good though.
Its eminently watchable! Fun little romp. Barb is the best charachter.
This is the first episode so far to really grab me. The guest charachters (especially the lady in the flower dress) were interesting, which wasnt the case in the last couple. And good development for Skye. God that Minecraft joke was cringe though.
Slow episode. Not much drew me in. The guest charachter wasnt too interesting. Not enough Simmons who is by far my favorite. A bit of building towards a future threat but eh.
Solid. Simmons continues to be the highlight of the show for me, but the other characters are growing on me. Second episode consisting of the team learning to work together is good, straightforward storytelling.
Apparently I watched this in 2017 but i have only the faintest recall?
Anyway, took me a bit to get into the vibe of this show. Its very different from Netflix Marvel which is more my jam. But once it clicked for me it was a good time and a good intro to the main charachters. I absolutely love Simmons, she's so cute! And Skye seems fun as well.
I upgraded my rating for this movie on this my third time seeing it (first on release in theaters). Honestly. On this mcu rewatch this movie hit the best of the trilogy. The movie is pretty nonstop, in a good way. Wish tony spent more time in the suit. The twist everyone complains about was actually good to me. I enjoyed it even on first watch, but Shang Chi helps it go down easier as well.
I do wish the ptsd arc was resolved more explicitly though.
No plot relevance or importance to the MCU as a whole, just a but of good clean fun
Acting feels very stilted and a bit corny, but its a fun way to recontextualize the post credits scene from the mcu hulk movie.
This is a movie that sunk in better for me on rewatch I think. There's a lot of poignant moments, and the ending is really effective.
Its not the worst the series has to offer (thats easily In It To Win It) but its not good either. The main character Destiny is super unlikeable, and doesn't really earn her redemption. And Christine Prosperi is not really bringing it in the part imho. The main love interest is a weird "phone bad" guy, though he's decently likeable outside of that. Adding "Cheer" to words is expected for the series, but the new adding "fem" to words thing just comes off forced and corny, and thats coming from a feminist. The movie's big twist is decently interesting at least. I also like seeing the various international teams at the end. Oh also the use of stock footage in this is glaringly obvious and hard to look past.
Most of my enjoyment in watching this came from the attractive women, which isnt unusual for this series but still, that shouldn't be the main strength of a movie lol.
