DC Cinematic Universe

[SoggyNoodles2016]

Late response because school.

OK, I can tolerate the usual "muh overly gritty and lifeless in the name "realism"" handjob most Synder defense is but that right there is a load of poop.

Shazam! is a fun and inspiring film that made me give a poop about characters in a superhero film in a LONG time, let alone one I have no prior connection with.

If anything, it's EXACTLY what the DCEU should be trying to achieve: characters that inspire people, not "messed up" assholes because I'm too cynical to actually consider the possibility that there's such a thing as good in the world.

1.) Because down to earth serious flicks tend to play with the mind better than say a little candy corn coup de grace ice cream flick with the entertainment value of a high budget Disney XD movie made for TV.

and what's your argument that Shazam! has no thought in it? Entertainment value is subjective but is there anything there

2.) Shazam may very well be a "fun" flick, I don't think it delivers much in terms of inspiration beyond, "if you have a rough life go speak to the magical train wizard and super-up!! Bring the whole family too!"

That's not even close to what happens.

Billy gets powers, abuses them due to finally getting everything he wanted, but he still is obsessed with his mom. It's only after she rejects him, that he accepts his family and becomes an actual hero, instead of running away to find someone else (fittingly, he's running towards danger this time)

3.) It's not about being cynical, it's about playing with the contemplations of these heroes, why not just kill the villain? why don't they have perfect lives? why can't they save everyone? These are the stories that make the imagination run wild, not basic fun romps with laser vision and flight. I'm not saying it's wrong to enjoy those fun flicks, I'm just saying there's more to serious stories than "hurrdurr grimey blood hurrdurr death and despair".

See, here's the thing.

You can totally do serious stories that contemplate these things and what it means to have great power and responsibility on your shoulder, and the problems it will cause.


The only problem is the DC Snyder films forgets to make them GOOD stories.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Man of Steel is also the same movie that had Jonathan Kent saying "Maybe" to Clark meaning he should of let that bus full of children die in order to keep his powers hidden.

Couldn't of had like an "What? N-No Clark that's not wh-...Look...son...It's just...There's much more at sake then you realize both you, your mother, me and everyone".

As well as having Jonathan die of a heart attack or illness he catches and before dying telling Clark he can't save everyone on his death bed. Would had been better then that tornado scene given there would had been no one around to see Clark save him.

Was it that hard?

We also can't forget Batman vs. Superman where the two puts aside there differences because their mothers have the same name. All those almost two years of planning finally about to kill him only to stop once he hears his mothers name. Also who calls their mother by their name especially as they're about to be killed? Couldn't had been "Save her...Save my mother!". At least that would had been more believable.

Batman: O M G! You have the same name as my mother! Forget how I've been trying to kill you almost these two years! This erases everything between us!!!!

Also the Lex Luthor we saw in this film was basically if Lex was Joker. What a joke...

And those are just only the top of the films problems.

[Orichalcum]

You tell em' GodzillaFan1990. Don't let your dreams be dreams

[Rhedosaurus]

Shazam was pretty good, not great but a decent time

Nowhere near the concentrated cringe that was Suicide Squad or the absolute fuckfest that was Jossed League

2.) Shazam may very well be a "fun" flick, I don't think it delivers much in terms of inspiration beyond, "if you have a rough life go speak to the magical train wizard and super-up!! Bring the whole family too!"

That's certainly not what the intended message was, and IMO that's not at all what was conveyed

It was definitely more "family is more who loves you and cares for you rather than blood relation"

Completely forgot about Josstice League , you're right about that being the general message of Shazam, but it felt ham-fisted during that final act.


For me the DCEU goes:
MoS
BvS
WW
AQM
Shazam
Suicide Squad
Josstice League

I really have to ask you something.

How can you complain, rightfully so, about how Kathleen Kennedy destroyed Star Wars, notably the old EU (that one conservation you had with eabaker comes to mind), yet give a pass to how Snyder radically reimaged Superman to the point where people don't consider him to be Superman? Considering how Superman is even more deeply established in pop culture then Star Wars is, wouldn't it make more sense to be grumpy about what Snyder did then what KK did?

[G2000]

What fucking "people" actually don't consider Snyder's Superman to be the "REAL SUPAMAN" lol

And what exactly is a "radical reimagining" of his portrayal anyway? There are definitely some stupid moments ("stop, my invincible son") but nothing near what you imply

[Rhedosaurus]

What skreeonking "people" actually don't consider Snyder's Superman to be the "REAL SUPAMAN" lol

And what exactly is a "radical reimagining" of his portrayal anyway? There are definitely some stupid moments ("stop, my invincible son") but nothing near what you imply

Fighting Zod in the middle of the city without even trying to save any of the humans until the end, when it didn't matter anymore. I mean Snyderman was partly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people that he didn't care about, yet he only cared about thoe handful of people that Zod tried to eye-laser?

[BlankAccount]

What skreeonking "people" actually don't consider Snyder's Superman to be the "REAL SUPAMAN" lol

And what exactly is a "radical reimagining" of his portrayal anyway? There are definitely some stupid moments ("stop, my invincible son") but nothing near what you imply

Fighting Zod in the middle of the city without even trying to save any of the humans until the end, when it didn't matter anymore. I mean Snyderman was partly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people that he didn't care about, yet he only cared about thoe handful of people that Zod tried to eye-laser?

He did try leading the fight out of the city, Zod and co weren't having it, they knew that's what he wanted.

[_JNavs_]

What skreeonking "people" actually don't consider Snyder's Superman to be the "REAL SUPAMAN" lol

And what exactly is a "radical reimagining" of his portrayal anyway? There are definitely some stupid moments ("stop, my invincible son") but nothing near what you imply

Fighting Zod in the middle of the city without even trying to save any of the humans until the end, when it didn't matter anymore. I mean Snyderman was partly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people that he didn't care about, yet he only cared about thoe handful of people that Zod tried to eye-laser?

He did try leading the fight out of the city, Zod and co weren't having it, they knew that's what he wanted.

This, it's easier said than done when you have a Super Powered Planetary War General on your ass with his 2 Super Lieutenants. Superman to me shouldn't be some generic boy scout who is weary to the world around him, this is a Superman who is actually struggling to keep up with the 8 billion lives in his hands. This isn't the 60s where Superman could save all the lives on Earth at once, or drag an entire solar system with a chain. This is a Superman who thinks before he acts.

[JAGzilla]

This is a Superman who thinks before he acts.

For all the good that did Metropolis.

In other news, I just got done with Shazam. Nothing too special, but a fun way to kill two and a half hours. Humor was a little overdone at times, and it would've been nice if Shazam and Billy hadn't felt like utterly different people, but then it was a kids' movie.* I think the scene that most starkly stood out to me as a contrast to the Snyder films was when Sivanna was beaten, and the crowd comes out of hiding to applaud. In a Snyder film, that would've been the National Guard swarming in, or at best that same crowd looking on uncertainly. This way... yeah, this felt more satisfying and superhero-ish.

*Yes, I'm extremely fully aware that kids' movies can and should be good. But they also have to prioritize fun, so I'm willing to give them a little more leeway sometimes.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Humor was a little overdone at times

Funny I didn't feel that at all. That's just me though.

If you want a movie where its overdone look at Thor: Ragnarok.

[KManX89]

Reminder to take all early screening reactions with a grain of salt. Especially when it comes to DC films.

No kidding. BvS, JL and Fant4shit all had "glowing" test screening reactions and look how those turned out.

Oh and speaking of test screening reactions, the Birds of Prey movie is getting "mixed" reviews from test screening audiences.

Keep in mind: test screening audiences have an ulterior motive going in. They know if they badmouth the film, they won't get invited to future test screenings, so it's not uncommon for them to them to get fake positive reception as was the case with the aforementioned films.

So if a film gets "mixed" reactions from test screenings, you know the movie's shaping up to be a disaster, especially if they hire a second director during reshoots, which is unheard of levels of stupidity.

But it's WB, so I can't say I'm all that surprised. After all, this is the studio that thought it was a good idea to make a TRENCH movie.

[_JNavs_]

Joker just won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.

[KManX89]

WB strikes again: they announce the Birds of Prey trailer will be released exclusively in theaters and won't be online.

Wow, I knew WB were run by idiots, but this is a new low even for them. They're really giving a Sony for their money.

[_JNavs_]

Good lol, that movie looks like ass.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Tis a good thing I'm treating Shazam! along with its sequel and Black Adam as standalone films.

[KManX89]

Good lol, that movie looks like ass.

It does. You wouldn't know that if you didn't see the previews for It Chapter 2, though because that's literally the only way you can even watch the trailer.

But this is pretty much the final nail in the coffin. If that's not a signed and sealed guarantee that a movie's gonna be bad when the studio won't even bother to market the film, then I don't know what is. All the pre-production crap and mixed test screening reactions points to it being a trainwreck as well.

WB should just stick to solo DC films. They've had a pretty good run with those... so far.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

They....

they're not releasing it online because it's an IT title screen parody until Harley comes out to reveal it's the trailer

And there's like 8 leaks of it on YouTube.


Y'all stretching more then Plastic Man to find reasons to say "THE DCEU IS GOING TO BE RUINED AGAIN!"

Added in 2 minutes 21 seconds:

]https://youtu.be/E4dKd7wLXH0

here's the "PAYWALL LOCKED TRAILER BY GREED BAGS AT WB" BTW

[KManX89]

^Oh yes, a trailer for a movie that you can only watch if you saw the previews in front of It Chapter 2 or happened to be searching for it on YouTube is a great way to market their film and will surely put asses in seats. WB wouldn't be doing this if the movie was any good at all, which all signs say it won't be.

Hell, they actually thought it was a good idea to sneak a pedophilia storyline into the movie. I won't get into specifics, but it's Uwe Boll-level bad writing. HTF did that even make it past the editing room? More importantly, how did that even make it into the writer's room?

[SoggyNoodles2016]

^Oh yes, a trailer for a movie that you can only watch if you saw the previews in front of It Chapter 2 or happened to be searching for it on YouTube is a great way to market their film and will surely put asses in seats. WB wouldn't be doing this if the movie was any good at all, which all signs say it won't be.

Again, it's a spoof of the It title. If it's not in front of the It title it doesn't work.

And it's a TEASER, not a TRAILER. You sure they're not going to release some more? Especially when the fucking movie is about to get out?

it's Uwe Boll-level bad writing.

Your opinion on that plot point is fine (it's fucking bizzare) but how is it Uwe Boll level writing?

or are you just doing that thing everyone does where you can't come up with a legitimate criticism and name the first bad movie/director you have off the top of your head to try and prove a point?

[_JNavs_]

I will say the Teenage angst and random

Spoiler:

"dickpics sent by a flamboyantly gay Black Mask in a black diamond to Victor Zsaz but then Cassandra the kid swallows the diamond and is now on the run"

plot lines sound worse than any previous plot I think I have ever seen or heard of in my entire existence.

I think I'd rather watch a compilation of Florida weirdos doing weird stuff for 2hrs and 45min than to watch the horrid trainwreck that's inevitably on it's way.



Written by me, a fan of both the early DCEU and the company as a whole.