I’m… Intrigued, edging toward cautiously optimistic. this looks like it might be good. I have no faith in anyone affiliated with DC, so I expect this trailer is the best possible form of the movie we will see, but…
and that gives me a thought, which I think Joaquin Phoenix could pull off, but not sure about the writing and directing component. what if they pulled a “Clue” through the whole movie? how cool would that be? nightmarish to write, fiendishly difficult to direct, infuriating to edit, but amazing for the audience. have three key points in the movie, and film multiple events that could occur then to push “Arthur” towards being the Joker. when release day comes, since it’s all digital, it would not be difficult to give different theaters different versions of the movie.
never happen, obviously. far too risky. but it’d be cool to see them take Joker’s “multiple-choice backstory” to its (il)logical conclusion.
One of the central plot points in a Captain America movie (and if you want maximum propaganda, accept no substitute for Captain America) is that he feels that using an overarching military power to conduct preemptive assassinations on terrorist targets instead of bringing them in for trial is wrong, and basically wound up fighting the U.S. military.
Iron Man’s introductory story was about how selling weapons is bad. His next story involved him refusing to give his suit to the government for them to make into a weapon. In the above Captain America film, the warmongering guy who wanted to obtain said tech turned out to be a literal Nazi.
In the first Avengers film, Iron Man would proceed to limit collateral damage to New York City by diverting a nuclear missile sent by the only people who have nuclear weapons: the military.
Eventually Iron Man went on to construct an actual army of Iron Man suits and try to put in place a global defense AI. The former was shown as somewhat fascist, the later almost destroyed the entire planet.
Later, Captain America and Iron Man got into a big fight about accepting government oversight because Cap was afraid the government would compel to do evil acts, and was ultimately shown as being in the right.
So to answer your question, I’m gonna have to say… no.
Is it nostalgia that I’m more enticed to watch that than any movie or TV show currently on offer?
It started strong for the first two seasons, but then it just sort of wandered off into who gives a shit? territory for me. Penguin became a bad soap opera and Gordon became a walking cliche.
Think you’re missing my point. In Marvel, the heroes go out of their way to prevent these types of casualties – in a way that isn’t realistic in terms of how conflicts are actually fought. DC acknowledges the futility of such efforts, because violent conflict inherently tarnishes even the most heroic.
I think it’s what a film critic may refer to as “subtext.”
You’d originally gone with propaganda, and, whatever you read into the subtext, the propaganda point you claimed is not well served by the actual… text, which is often not exactly subtle. You can’t have pro-war propaganda where the explicit text is about the evils of the military and government.
As for realism in how conflicts are fought, you are correct that the Marvel universe does not present conflicts in a realistic light. Of course, a flying guy with super strength who shoots lasers from his eyes isn’t exactly a realistic depiction of how conflicts are fought. The core point of superheroes, and especially Superman, or at least his 1979 incarnation (“They can be a good people, they wish to be. They only need a light to show them the way.”) is to be aspired to, people who, even when forced to resort to violence, can do so in a way that’s empathetic and moral. It’s somewhat ironic that the DC film universe fails so badly at this, given their penchant for larger than life characters who work better as heroic figures to be emulated rather than characters who are relatable to us as we are (which is more of Marvel’s forte).
You can think of it like Star Trek in a way. The Federation in Star Trek is generally shown as peaceful, culturally accepting, and resorts to force only as an absolute last resort. The fact that this is not a realistic depiction of the world today is the entire point. Likewise, the contrast between the actions of MCU protagonists and the government structures they so often struggle against reflects the idea of being better than the status quo. (Captain Marvel especially works well in this mold, but I don’t want to go into too much detail on it, as it’s a new release.)
Oh, I totally agree it started to go down hill after season one, but it was the end of season two that I knew I was giving up on it every recovering as the writing just got worse and more desperate.
Yep. And while the rest of the expanded DC animated universe wasn’t nearly as good as BTAS, Kevin Conroy continued to put in solid performances throughout and somehow inspire the writers to give Batman the best lines. He and Mark Hamill made me appreciate that voice actors can be every bit as much amazing thespians as great screen actors.
Sort of meh. The Master teaser trailer was a better Joker trailer than that. This is actually good news: recent(ish) DC films that had great trailers (Batman vs. Superman, Suicide Squad) turned out to be rather sorry films…
I am getting textbook personal dividends from this approach…
Was hyped for Man of Steel… inevitably a bit underwhelmed when I saw it.
Heard SO MUCH about BvS’s suckiness, and was even going around telling others it sucked, that when I finally saw it, I was pleasantly surprised
Ditto for Suicide Squad. Sort of a lesser “Rogue One” of the DCEU, I thought.
Wonder Woman is awesome! everyone said. I bet it is, I thought, sure I even liked BvS… so again, high hopes for WW, that were only partially fulfilled.
Went to see Justice League in a thoroughly confused state of mind Thought the first half was great!
Haven’t seen Aquaman yet.
I should add, pretty much every mainstream movie disappoints me in the final act, because inevitably it’s a big, tedious CGI battle. The opinions above are adjusted for that though.
Overall, always happy to give new DC movies a chance.
I thought it was more of a reference to the bar fights in Superman II. And of course he has to go to Canada: that’s where the Fortress of Fortitude is.
I enjoyed Wonder Woman, but the big climactic final battle sure did seem familiar.
Near the end of a World War, an American war hero named Steve (played by a hunky blonde guy named Chris) kisses his love interest goodbye just before rushing down a runway to board an improbably large German airplane during takeoff. Having incapacitated the flight crew, he then nobly sacrifices himself to take down the plane before it can deliver its deadly payload of city-destroying superweapons. Now where have I seen that before?
Yeah, I thought that was I bit insulting to the Joker. Trump’s the kind of guy that, if he does screw up, his supervillain master executes him for his incompetence in some appropriately humiliating fashion.
I think the Joker supported Lex Luthor for President. Because Lex Luthor was ethical enough to divest himself from his private business interests before taking office.
Thought the first half was great!
