[Dr Kain]

The point of IM3 is that it is pointless. It does next to nothing for the character. It ruins Pepper. It ruins any credible threat that could have been the Mandarin. And it just recycles the same plot from the previous two movies.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

The point of IM3 is that it is pointless. It does next to nothing for the character. It ruins Pepper. It ruins any credible threat that could have been the Mandarin. And it just recycles the same plot from the previous two movies.

It's also boring, rubbish and the worst superhero film of the year.

[KRX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

The point of IM3 is that it is pointless. It does next to nothing for the character. It ruins Pepper. It ruins any credible threat that could have been the Mandarin. And it just recycles the same plot from the previous two movies.

How does it ruin Pepper? If anything, I thought that she was at her best in this film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

It's also boring, rubbish and the worst superhero film of the year.

Man... you guys are making me feel badly about liking this movie.

[ComicGuy89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRX

How does it ruin Pepper? If anything, I thought that she was at her best in this film.



Man... you guys are making me feel badly about liking this movie.

Don't be, it's Locke and Dr Kain. They're our more...critical members.

I liked Iron Man 3, but that's probably because I'm not so emotionally invested in Iron Man. I thought it was a fresh take on the character, though I can see how fans of the comics might be offended.

[Locke]

The most entertaining thing is me and Dr Kain rarely agree either

So I just watched Drinking Buddies.

It is nothing special, but it was kinda nice that the movie was so innocent. There was no malice between anyone, it just turned out that the two people perfect for one another are currently in other relationships, relationships that aren't bad, just not as perfect as they could be. It tries to be as real to life as it can be, avoiding all melodrama and even avoids a Hollywood ending, which some could perceive as the film lacking closure, but I felt it worked in context.

And the four central actors all have good chemistry, feeling like they hit all the right notes depending on who they are on screen with. Probably the weakest of the four is Jake Johnson. It isn't that his performance is bad, but apart from one blow out at the end, he's so lovely his characterisation is the closest the film comes to fantasy.

About the only problematic thing in the movie is pretty much everyone in this movie appears to be an alcoholic. But then the title is Drinking Buddies.

[KRX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComicGuy89

Don't be, it's Locke and Dr Kain. They're our more...critical members.

I liked Iron Man 3, but that's probably because I'm not so emotionally invested in Iron Man. I thought it was a fresh take on the character, though I can see how fans of the comics might be offended.

Personally, I thought the Mandarin twist was awesome. Did we lose a good villain? Not necessarily, but it is quite probable that we did. Until then, I'll just enjoy the movie.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRX

Personally, I thought the Mandarin twist was awesome. Did we lose a good villain? Not necessarily, but it is quite probable that we did. Until then, I'll just enjoy the movie.

I thought the twist was awesome too, I just didn't appreciate that it took almost two hours to get there and we still had like an hour of movie left after it.

[ComicGuy89]

One thing I will say, I never really adored any of the Iron Man movies, not even the first one. So maybe that's why Iron Man 3 wasn't that disappointing to me since I wasn't expecting much. I personally found it the most enjoyable of the three.

[Locke]

With a bluray release featuring 12 extra minutes of violence and character moments, I decided to make The Wolverine the first movie this year I'd watch again. Now let's see what a difference 12 extra minutes and a second home viewing make!

Although The Wolverine is quite low-key as far as superhero films go, the opening sequence is utterly spectacular if not utterly devoid of logic. The big difference with the way The Wolverine does its fights, is it plays it more like a martial arts film than a blockbuster. Less people getting thrown through walls, and more stylish, careful and beautiful choreography taking place in the smallest scale possible. Replacing the powers, for actual technique, is something that could only really work with a character like The Wolverine.

And that isn't to say there is nothing spectacular about Wolverine's action, the body count is high, the amount of people fighting at once is numerous and Logan takes the fight right through Japan, as he battles on top of a speeding bullet train, fighting yakuza, ninja, samurai, other mutants and mechs. May as well make use of your setting!

The only real criticism I have with the action, is with the portion of the movie where Logan gets his healing factor suppressed. It's an interesting novelty, but it's rendered purposeless in this film. Logan gets repeatedly shot, repeatedly beaten and just generally repeatedly hurt and just keeps coming. He seems so unaffected by the sheer of amount of damage he receives over this portion, minus specific scenes to show the damage, that he may as well have never lost his healing factor in the first place. And yes, I recognise he still has his adamantium skeleton protecting him, but he would have died from the sheer quantity of trauma, and if he survived that he would have died from the sheer amount of blood he loses.

Plus there is some uncomfortable, if probably not intended, racism. It seems every Japanese person Logan meets, whether it a prissy princess or a pretty boy on a rooftop, they all seem trained and skilled in some kind of deadly art. Plus, the evil genius behind it all, of course has to build himself a mech suit.

Still though, the action transcends pretty much all its problems in the characterisation of The Wolverine. Maybe it's forced, maybe it's clichéd but I don't care, Logan is a total fucking badass whether his healing is suppressed or not, this guy is pure win. And I love the way they play him like he's some mythical beast.

The Wolverine is a bit more of a grown up story. With most of the Marvel Cinematic universe involving a lot of brightly coloured heroes fighting over plot devices for unclear reasons, it's nice that The Wolverine is much more simple. Sure it has to soak up a lot more clichés along the way, but it actually makes The Wolverine feel more epic as it focuses on a complex tragedy about a powerful family, and how far people are willing to go for power and for life. This throws Logan head first into a fight that is way more complicated than it would initially seem. There is also a surprising amount of foreshadowing, which is clever and also totally obvious on the second viewing, it really makes the plot feel thought out, which is more than most superhero films can say.

One of the only complaints I have with this film is Jean Grey's cameo role. I understand that she is a key part of Logan's character, and this takes place after The Last Stand, but did we really need so many scenes of her stroking Jackman's hairy chest while wearing nightwear that she looks set imminent to fall out of? Yes Famke Janssen is hot, blah blah, but in an otherwise mature, adult superhero flick her inclusion feels unnecessary and gratuitous.

Well that, and Mariko. I know that Hollywood decreed that every film ever made should have a romantic subplot, but Mariko is a bad actress, and an even more boring character. The film grinds almost to a halt for her romance with Logan, a romance without humour or chemistry.

I much preferred Logan's dynamic with Yukio, once you manage to tune in to Rila Fukushima's broken, mumbled sounding English, she does strike some great balance with Hugh Jackman. Their dynamic, and friendship, as we see it grow over the course of the movie is one of the films highlights. Just a shame Yukio ends up vanishing for a decent chunk of the movie so they can focus on the lifeless romance between Logan and Mariko. Heaven forbid a Hollywood film only has one central male female dynamic that is platonic!

Another problem is the use of language. For the most part The Wolverine is a multi language film, two Japanese men don't speak to one another in English for the sake of the audience - sometimes the film won't even subtitle it, so you actually have to pay attention. For the most part. There are these random conversations where this is dropped, and for no reason at all, two Japanese characters will converse in English and it only stands out that much more because this isn't a consistent choice through the movie. It's just stupid.

Whether it comes from the wisdom of a repeat viewing, or those 12 extra minutes, I really enjoyed The Wolverine a second time. And if you perhaps couldn't get behind it the first time around because of how different it feels to its peers, I implore you to go out and unleash the extended edition!

[Dr Kain]

One Piece Strong World - Wow, this movie was well worth the four year wait. It was great. I would say it is by far the best One Piece movie, but that isn't saying much considering its competition, but this was great. Characters did not go out of character (if that makes sense), the story was well told and fun, plus it as action packed. Not just that, but Ian Sinclair was amazing as Brook and I really hope Funimation has licensed the rest of the series so we don't have another year and a half wait between volumes (plus, so we can get to Brook's introduction). I'm giving this movie a nice 9/10 stars because it was great.

The Devil's Carnival - The first time I saw this, I hated it. I love Repo The Genetic Opera and wanted something like that. This time around though, this movie was much better but I still have some issues, specifically with the Kiss Me song. That scene just does not seem to fit at all with the rest of the movie and feels like it was there just to give Alexa a role. I do like the idea they were going for and the last 10 minutes of the movie are awesome (love the Devil's invasion song and the one during the end credits about the ship). I do still think the movie feels short changed though because it wanted to tell a story but 55 minutes is way too short to tell it. Overall, I give it a 7/10 this time, but still a little skeptical of where it is going to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRX

How does it ruin Pepper? If anything, I thought that she was at her best in this film.

I thought it just destroyed her as it made her boring. She was a woman who could hold her own without having any powers in the first two movies. Here, she just becomes Zelda with super powers.

Quote:

Man... you guys are making me feel badly about liking this movie.

Don't feel bad for liking it, I will still own it since it is canon in the movieverse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I thought the twist was awesome too, I just didn't appreciate that it took almost two hours to get there and we still had like an hour of movie left after it.

I had no problem with the twist itself, it was what came after that I had a problem with. The movie spent 2/3rds with this great build up from a credible threat and then after the twist, it spiraled down hill into a predictable rehash of Jebediah and Hammer combined with every cliche known to man.