TheRPGSite

I just finished this movie. I enjoyed this movie. I had fun with this movie. I don't feel as my time with it was wasted.

And I do not see what the critics were talking about when they called it a bad movie.

Not sure why, but I got a laugh out of the stolen cab that she ripped the license plate off, drove around NYC a day, parked it at an airport for a few more days, then came back and it was there waiting for her to drive it around some more.

I don't know what the critics are saying because as someone who really liked the Marvel superhero movies  at first, I checked out around the time of Ant Man.

I feel like the genre was beaten into the ground and the Marvel films started to all look the same and retread the same story beats. I stuck around for Endgame, which I think was a complete wet fart of a wrap up to the story they had been building. After that, I stopped watching.

So yeah, Madame Web could be a great movie, but I'm super saturated with the Marvel Disney stuff, and only have an opinion and comment because I did like the "first wave" of their stuff.

I also have an issue with people calling female-led superhero movies "woke". Some of Marvel's greatest and most reprinted comics are female-led. So what I am seeing in that is pretty sexist.

The most revered run of Marvel's X-Men was very female-focused. So I'm wondering is these critics even know the properties they are talking about.

It shouldn't matter what sex the hero is. It should only matter whether it is a good movie or not.

Ah, I see. You are confused.

Having a female lead doesn't make a novel, TV show, comic book, or movie woke. Not having any story to speak of, or having a shitty story, and expecting the audience to fawn all over the novel, TV show, comic book, or movie anyway because of how stunning and brave it is to have a female lead is what makes the project woke.

Disrespecting the source material and changing it for a Modern Audience is woke. Calling fans of the original source material istophobic for objecting to your changes is woke. You see, fans are the reason why the original source material was popular in the first place, and the entire reason why the studio thinks they can make money off of the movie. The studio owes it to the fans to make their movie as faithful to the original source material as possible, and not change it to reflect Current Year political sensibilities.

This may mean that you can't make Galadriel an Action Girl who can fight anyone a man can fight, as well as a man can fight, while wearing heels. It might mean that a tiny little mountain town like Emond's Field can't have The Diversity. It might mean that you can't make Mar-Vell a woman, or that Carol Danvers has to wear the black leotard with the lightning bolt. It might mean that Mary Jane Watson has to be a white girl with red hair. Maybe it means that you can't make Glimmer body-positive. It might mean that Daphne and Velma can't be lesbians. It might mean you can't make Teela the main character. Just exactly what it means to not change the original source material for Current Year political sensibilities changes depending on what IP you're talking about, so it behooves someone to actually know something about the IP and to read it, rather than boast about how not reading the original source material was considered a virtue in the writer's room.

The way that you know someone is woke shitstain is when they start throwing around accusations of istophobia whenever critics point out that they fucked up an established IP to pander to the Modern Audience and their Current Year politics.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 16, 2024, 06:07:59 PMI also have an issue with people calling female-led superhero movies "woke". Some of Marvel's greatest and most reprinted comics are female-led. So what I am seeing in that is pretty sexist.

The most revered run of Marvel's X-Men was very female-focused. So I'm wondering is these critics even know the properties they are talking about.

It shouldn't matter what sex the hero is. It should only matter whether it is a good movie or not.

On the flip side, it's become popular to deflect criticism of a bad film or a bad actress with accusations of sexism. Studios even court this kind of 'outrage bait" to drum up interest in what would otherwise be an unremarkable film. Every critic of the current wokeisms in films I've heard usually point out a good female character or story to provide contrast.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 15, 2024, 05:37:48 PMI just finished this movie. I enjoyed this movie. I had fun with this movie. I don't feel as my time with it was wasted.

And I do not see what the critics were talking about when they called it a bad movie.

My wife doesn't watch any YouTube at all, nor does she watch or read any movie critics.  She was looking through the new movies on the firestick and she saw Madam Webb.  She said to me, "This looks interesting.  Let's watch."  I didn't say a word throughout the whole movie.  When it was over, I asked her what she thought about it.  Her response: "That was a really stupid movie."

So, perhaps you just have shit taste in films...

Also, women protagonists don't make a film woke (Ellen Ripley and Sarah Conner say hello).  Taking a well know character and race or sex-swapping them, or fundamentally changing the nature of the character to raise their profile (if already a woman or POC), not for the needs of the story, but to support some external ideology (like "representation") is woke.  A female Silver Surfer is woke.  Making the protagonist of Assassin's Creed's newest foray into Japan a black samurai is woke.  When you pick an obscure person or character (as in those two examples) just for their race or sex, it's woke.  Using an established female character as a mouthpiece for modern politics is woke (see She Hulk).

So, either you really don't know what you are complaining about, or you're being purposely dense and straw-manning. Pick one.

Isn't this the movie where they digitally reduced the size of Sydney Sweeney's tits?

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 16, 2024, 06:07:59 PMI also have an issue with people calling female-led superhero movies "woke". Some of Marvel's greatest and most reprinted comics are female-led. So what I am seeing in that is pretty sexist.

Have you actually listened to what people who are critical of this movie are saying or are you assuming that, because it's female-lead, that must be the reason for their criticism?

I enjoyed Critical Drinker's review of the film on youtube.

hes really funny.

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 17, 2024, 01:25:41 AMHave you actually listened to what people who are critical of this movie are saying or are you assuming that, because it's female-lead, that must be the reason for their criticism?

Only what I have heard in passing. I try to avoid critics and make my own opinions of movies. Because their opinions rarely match up with mine.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 03:09:59 PMOnly what I have heard in passing. I try to avoid critics and make my own opinions of movies. Because their opinions rarely match up with mine.

That's a philosophy that will guarantee you waste a lot of time watching crappy movies.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 17, 2024, 04:03:09 PMThat's a philosophy that will guarantee you waste a lot of time watching crappy movies.

It's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

I also like movies with extra cheese. So my expectations of any movie are quite low.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 05:17:42 PM

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 17, 2024, 04:03:09 PMThat's a philosophy that will guarantee you waste a lot of time watching crappy movies.

It's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

I also like movies with extra cheese. So my expectations of any movie are quite low.

Something we already knew since you liked Madame Web.

I just don't watch many movies anymore. I haven't been to the theater in just over a decade. I mostly just watch reaction videos of films. And if the reaction is positive, which is pretty rare, I might check it out on Streaming.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 05:17:42 PMIt's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

It also means that you are commenting on critic's reasons for disliking the movie without ever bothering to listen to their actual criticisms.

Until there's evidence to the contrary it's safe to assume the OP is some kind of ChatGPT marketing bot.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 05:17:42 PMIt's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

What is your hit to miss ratio of watching movies just to see if they are worth watching?

I've got so much other entertainment to do; my OD&D campaign, painting miniatures, making models and terrain, boardgames, video games, etc, that I don't think I could forgive myself for spending two hours watching a terrible movie.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 18, 2024, 01:17:49 PM

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 05:17:42 PMIt's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

What is your hit to miss ratio of watching movies just to see if they are worth watching?

I've got so much other entertainment to do; my OD&D campaign, painting miniatures, making models and terrain, boardgames, video games, etc, that I don't think I could forgive myself for spending two hours watching a terrible movie.

Your life must be exhausting if your free time is that tight. Yet you somehow still find the time to post here, where most of the threads are hardly worth the time to read...

Quote from: HappyDaze on May 18, 2024, 01:50:22 PMYour life must be exhausting if your free time is that tight. Yet you somehow still find the time to post here, where most of the threads are hardly worth the time to read...

Just because you seldom add anything of value to the threads here doesn't mean those threads are lacking in value...

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 18, 2024, 01:17:49 PM

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 05:17:42 PMIt's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

What is your hit to miss ratio of watching movies just to see if they are worth watching?

I've got so much other entertainment to do; my OD&D campaign, painting miniatures, making models and terrain, boardgames, video games, etc, that I don't think I could forgive myself for spending two hours watching a terrible movie.

I will often watch a possibly-bad movie if the conditions are bad - like flying on an airplane. I don't want to watch a good movie that way, because I can't really enjoy it. There's a ton of background noise, and I'm watching on a tiny screen, and I'm feeling cramped and queasy. But I can watch a possibly-bad movie and be diverted for a while, as long as it's not boring. It's similar if I'm sick or watch it in pieces over quick lunch breaks.

---

And... I went ahead and watched Madame Web on Netflix on some off time. I haven't read any of the reviews, so no comments on that side. Overall, I thought it was flawed -- there were some real possibilities, but it didn't execute on it consistently. I liked it better than Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but that's a low bar since I thought those were both terrible (I watched them on an airplane as diversion). It was a big step down from Venom which I thought was surprisingly good.

It had the potential to be a taut thriller along similar lines to The Fugitive or The Sixth Sense, with mostly-ordinary people being chased by a terrifying killer with spider-powers. I liked spider-powers being a terrifying and horrific villain thing. It's a fun reversal from Spider-Man being a beloved hero.

As a thriller, its plot structure is different than the typical superhero movie, which is good. Its biggest flaw I felt was being too expository - trying to explain (and connect to the franchise) at the expense of working well as a thriller. There were also some plot and story holes that could easily have been filled without changing much else in the movie.

On a personal side, I had trouble with it being a retro movie set in 2003. I can handle the 1990s being retro, but 2003 felt awkward to me. Maybe younger generations see that differently, though.

Spoiler

On the positive side,

• I liked the villain's look and feel. The suave businessman with spider powers is a great enemy for a thriller, and the actor did well.
• I liked the setup of Webb as a EMT, her backstory, and her character arc with her mother. Having to make life-and-death decisions as an EMT is a great lead-in to her visions and saving people.
• I liked the climax concept. Logically, if one has the power of precognition, then a place with lots of random deadly threats is actually the best place to face off a powerful enemy.

On the negative side,

• In general, the direction felt too cut-and-dried - like an action or superhero movie, when it's really a thriller that could leave a lot more unexplained or assumed to build atmosphere.
• Conversely, the one crucial point to the story is why Ezekiel saw these three killing him. The idea was that he was cursed with getting just this one vision over and over, rather than having Spider-Sense. But it's never explained why. Also, he has a speech about them not destroying what he built, but it gives no idea about what he is building. There are lots of easy choices for this, but it needed an answer.
• The action went over-the-top too early. It could have been more impactful if Ezekiel hadn't shown his full hand, and his spider-powers could have been a midpoint twist.
• The climax had a bunch of times where the action was clunky, making Ezekiel seem incompetent rather than scary.
• Webb splitting herself into multiple parts was extraneous and just slowed the finale down. With all the nods and exposition in there, this should have been dropped. Likewise, Ezekiel's poison touch was pointless, since he could trivially kill people with his bare hands.

Despite these, I liked the concept and pieces of the movie, and don't regret watching it.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 18, 2024, 01:17:49 PMWhat is your hit to miss ratio of watching movies just to see if they are worth watching?

Most of what I watch is on DVD. If it is a movie I'm really interested in, I will buy the DVD. But I have streaming options for movies I only have a glancing interest in.

For example, I tried watching Barbie today. And I just couldn't get through it.

QuoteI've got so much other entertainment to do; my OD&D campaign, painting miniatures, making models and terrain, boardgames, video games, etc, that I don't think I could forgive myself for spending two hours watching a terrible movie.

I read books and play games on the computer these days. And I have a game group I spend some weekends with.

Quote from: Eirikrautha on May 18, 2024, 02:30:27 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on May 18, 2024, 01:50:22 PMYour life must be exhausting if your free time is that tight. Yet you somehow still find the time to post here, where most of the threads are hardly worth the time to read...

Just because you seldom add anything of value to the threads here doesn't mean those threads are lacking in value...

Don't you have a charge to lead in your nonsensical culture war?

To answer an earlier question: The DVDs I buy I am rarely disappointed by. If it is something I am just watching casually, it's about a 50-50 chance of my liking it or not.

Quote from: HappyDaze on May 18, 2024, 09:47:16 PM

Quote from: Eirikrautha on May 18, 2024, 02:30:27 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on May 18, 2024, 01:50:22 PMYour life must be exhausting if your free time is that tight. Yet you somehow still find the time to post here, where most of the threads are hardly worth the time to read...

Just because you seldom add anything of value to the threads here doesn't mean those threads are lacking in value...

Don't you have a charge to lead in your nonsensical culture war?

Don't you have another thread to babble nonsense in and derail?

Quote from: Eirikrautha on May 19, 2024, 09:54:34 AM

Quote from: HappyDaze on May 18, 2024, 09:47:16 PM

Quote from: Eirikrautha on May 18, 2024, 02:30:27 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on May 18, 2024, 01:50:22 PMYour life must be exhausting if your free time is that tight. Yet you somehow still find the time to post here, where most of the threads are hardly worth the time to read...

Just because you seldom add anything of value to the threads here doesn't mean those threads are lacking in value...

Don't you have a charge to lead in your nonsensical culture war?

Don't you have another thread to babble nonsense in and derail?

You're talking from your ass again. Compare my Reply #1 with your Reply #6. Notice which of us talks about Madame Web (you know, the topic of this thread) and which has to have another dipshit culture war rant about wokeness.

Madam web. Junk. This is nor madam web. I am not sure what the fuck it was. Its like a totally different movie got the Madam Web logo slapped on it.

Shang Chi was another one that shared the title and at least one character name and not much else.
 
New Mutants.

Teen Titans.

John Carter.

The list keeps growing.

Quote from: Omega on May 20, 2024, 04:10:12 PMMadam web. Junk. This is nor madam web. I am not sure what the fuck it was. Its like a totally different movie got the Madam Web logo slapped on it.

Shang Chi was another one that shared the title and at least one character name and not much else.
 
New Mutants.

Teen Titans.

John Carter.

The list keeps growing.

What Teen Titans film? Are you taking the animated one, or the Titans series, or something else?

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 16, 2024, 05:45:42 PMI don't know what the critics are saying because as someone who really liked the Marvel superhero movies  at first, I checked out around the time of Ant Man.

You picked a good time to bail out! Most of what follows ranges from forgettable to bad.

But I would recommend Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and 3. My opinion is that the GoG trilogy is the apex of the MCU. Two is probably better than three. Of course, if you did not like GoG 1, feel free to pass.

If you haven't seen Daredevil on streaming, check it out. Nothing in the MCU can compare. Also watch the Defenders, since it's sort of a sequel to Daredevil Season 2. It's hard to pick a favorite season (S3 really shined) but all of them are top-notch.

The second Ant-Man movie is good, the third one I ragequit 15 minutes in.

I liked GOG 1 & 2, 3 has some very good parts, but goes off-genre from superheroes to horror and back in a way I don't like.

Quote from: Lurkndog on May 27, 2024, 07:59:55 PMThe second Ant-Man movie is good, the third one I ragequit 15 minutes in.

I liked GOG 1 & 2, 3 has some very good parts, but goes off-genre from superheroes to horror and back in a way I don't like.

I felt similar. I thought the second Ant-Man movie was better than the first, actually.

More generally, I feel like the team-up Avengers movies peaked at the first Avengers movie - and it was downhill after that with Age of Ultron and Infinity War (which I particularly hated). Endgame tried to recover from Infinity War into something interesting, but it was an uphill effort.

But I liked the individual movies more later on, with Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange and Spider-Man and Black Panther compared to the first wave. Guardians had a unique look and feel with its soundtrack and quirkiness, as did Doctor Strange and the others. By comparison, the first wave all had the same look and feel of generic superhero-ness.

I hate the multiverse concept. It managed to work for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which admittedly I loved, but Quantumania and Doctor Strange 2 were awful and I feel like engaging with the multiverse is turning everything into a mush where nothing matters. Also, it's buying into a mass of CGI like the DC movies have been.