DC Comics on Film

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
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R0lf
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 7:25 am

Re: DC Comics on Film

#376 Post by R0lf » Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:35 pm

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN is an out and out camp classic.

It has a shooting gallery of Academy Award winning/nominated actors phoning in performances and delivering completely indecipherable dialogue. Lowest common denominator storytelling where no low punch or cheap blow isn’t taken; children are in danger, woman are in danger, your mother is in danger! Fake gravitas. Ridiculous and offensive cultural stereotypes. Ableism. Sexism - this has more crying women than a Wong Kar Wai movie. Fake gravitas. Accidental Freudian imagery. It brazenly blows up a storyline when it needs to move onto the next act. Real time cut aways that they cut back to in running time an hour later. Batman vs Superman with everything but the kitchen sink and then... the kitchen sink.
SpoilerShow
Nuking Superman!
Yes, that’s happening.

It’s so inanely written and made with such a po face, it fails to execute its own intention or premise at every single turn, it is pure and sublime camp.

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cantinflas
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#377 Post by cantinflas » Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:43 pm


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captveg
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:28 pm

Re: DC Comics on Film

#378 Post by captveg » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:17 pm

cantinflas wrote:
Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:43 pm
Zack Snyder's Justice League
Looks like what a continuation of MoS/BvS should be, thematically and aesthetically.

Snyder putting a thumb in everyone's eye with the We Live in a Society meme is too funny. The man knows how to get people talking, which HBO Max has got to love.

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domino harvey
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#379 Post by domino harvey » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:32 pm

Is this shot in Academy ratio?

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#380 Post by Big Ben » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:38 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:32 pm
Is this shot in Academy ratio?
You are not mistaken. Zack Snyder is releasing a film in 4:3 in 2021. Imdb lists it as 1:37:1.

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domino harvey
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#381 Post by domino harvey » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:46 pm

Some Googling reveals he originally shot it for Imax so presumably this is just an open matte version of the 1.43

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Never Cursed
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#382 Post by Never Cursed » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:56 pm

I agree with captveg; this is an extremely funny trailer

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Big Ben
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#383 Post by Big Ben » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:58 pm

I'm unsure if Synder understands that the "We Live in a Society" meme was used extensively in ironic shitposting to make fun of things that were intended to be dark/profound. Who knows!

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captveg
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#384 Post by captveg » Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:00 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:32 pm
Is this shot in Academy ratio?
Short answer is Yes.

Longer answer: The AR for this film has a long complicated history. Snyder liked the IMAX 1.43 framing for the select scenes in BvS shot IMAX 15/70. He wasn't going to be able to get to shoot JL 100% in IMAX 15/70, so he shot it Super 35 with the intent of it being opened up for IMAX screens but also for it to be able to be matted to as much as 1.85 for other mainstream venues.

At this point he's apparently decided to go with the 1.33 full Super 35 negative image regardless of distribution venue.
Last edited by captveg on Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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captveg
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#385 Post by captveg » Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:07 pm

Big Ben wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:58 pm
I'm unsure if Synder understands that the "We Live in a Society" meme was used extensively in ironic shitposting to make fun of things that were intended to be dark/profound. Who knows!
Well, in the context of the film, it's seemingly used as sardonic irony by Joker considering he's saying it in the fallen future world where alien beings have decimated humanity/society. There's no real society to be living among in that context.

Outside the film I think he's using it to not only bring attention/conversation (gotta get eyes on the film first and foremost), but as a way to push back on those who have the criticism of his films being too dark/trying to be profound. In other words, people already mock his films for being exactly that, so why not acknowledge their criticism and go all the way with it? If the derision is already there might as well thumb your nose at it and turn up the volume further. As Robert Meyer Burnett said yesterday about the trailer, Snyder seems to have gone full metal.

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domino harvey
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#386 Post by domino harvey » Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:28 pm

The line is clearly fan service, but so is this entire new cut, so why not

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brundlefly
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#387 Post by brundlefly » Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:59 pm

Image

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J Wilson
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#388 Post by J Wilson » Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:34 am

The most enjoyment I got out of BvS was a YouTube video by a doctor who critiques movie fight scenes to diagnose the bodily trauma inflicted therein. Batman did a real number on those guys during the "saving of Martha" sequence, I learned. I'm sure this new JL will be total edgelord nonsense, but hopefully entertaining in its awfulness.

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TheKieslowskiHaze
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#389 Post by TheKieslowskiHaze » Tue Feb 16, 2021 10:37 am

Looks miserable, but perhaps the melting of Snyder's wax wings as he gets too close to the sun will produce a spectacular fall. Or maybe he'll truly fly!

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Re: DC Comics on Film

#390 Post by RIP Film » Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:00 pm

Not sure if I hate myself enough to watch this, but am curious about the whole Batman in the future madmax angle.

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willoneill
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#391 Post by willoneill » Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:28 pm

As I think I sated earlier in this thread, I'm a bigger fan of the Snyder-verse than most, and so not only will I be watching this on Day 1, but I'm really hoping it's good. That said, as a business development manager who spends every day thinking about ROI, and reading that WB put $70 million into this, a mostly non-theatrical release ... I'm fucking baffled.

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captveg
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#392 Post by captveg » Tue Feb 16, 2021 2:28 pm

willoneill wrote:
Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:28 pm
That said, as a business development manager who spends every day thinking about ROI, and reading that WB put $70 million into this, a mostly non-theatrical release ... I'm fucking baffled.
Gotta think of it from AT&T's perspective. They had no part of the previous version that released in 2017. The unfinished Snyder version was just one of thousands of film assets they purchased, and it was just sitting there with a dedicated fan base wanting to see it. Now, add a commitment to $4b investment for original programming for HBO Max, and $70m to get a finished version of a $300m production they inherited as part of their larger purchase makes plenty of sense.

It also has potential to have various follow-ups in HBO Max. AT&T needs eyes on their new streaming service, and things like the Knightmare future would serve them in that way. Right now it's about driving subscriptions, so they'll be watching that closely. Snyder's take on the IP may not be universally loved, but everyone pays attention to it, and many will watch just to tear it down. Attention for HBO Max content of any kind is good for them.


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cantinflas
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#394 Post by cantinflas » Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:59 pm


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The Pachyderminator
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#395 Post by The Pachyderminator » Tue Mar 16, 2021 10:44 am

Matt Zoller Seitz is surprisingly positive on the Snyder cut of Justice League, going so far as to claim that it constitutes "cinema"! (In Scorsese's sense of the word)

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domino harvey
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#396 Post by domino harvey » Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:47 am

Not surprised to hear him compare Snyder's work here to silent film classics either-- it was my first response to seeing Sucker Punch, that whatever his flaws and no matter how embarrassing it is to praise him, he's an auteur who understands how to relay visual information and that he'd prob make an excellent silent film if he ever tried. Sounds like he kinda did in some of the music-driven sections!

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tenia
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#397 Post by tenia » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:14 pm

The first feedbacks I'm getting in France from journalists close to my tastes are quite negative. It can be summed up as "it wasn't good as a 2hr movie, it's now as bad but 4h30 long and pretty much looks like an Assembly Cut before any rational trimming happened" (considering Snyder claimed JL Assembly cut was 5hrs long and this is 4h30, I'm not surprised).. Some even said Whedon's mangling of the material might be considered quite efficient, especially in terms of toning down the jokes clashing with the overall dark tone.

Also, many CGIs look like they aren't finished, so it isn't very good looking (borderline workprint-looking), which seems silly for a movie that ended up with a $370m budget and to the point fans might now be asking to "Finish the Snyder Cut".

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captveg
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#398 Post by captveg » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:18 pm

I'm actually really curious how Horse Latitudes will turn out provided he makes it later this year as planned. Snyder doing a small budgeted drama "about a man’s journey into his past and how does death shape you" will need to rely on his ability to tell a story via film language, something that could shine through on that scale. In particular in a film that is about photography. (He plans to be his own DP on that film just like he was on Army of the Dead).

----

In regards to ZSJL, the negative reviews (the well written ones, anyway) reinforce that I'm predisposed to love it. The criticisms are for things I want to see - the mythmaking, the bombast, the indulgence in the imagery. To me they read like someone going to a heavy metal concert and saying the rapidity and long solos are a problem.
Last edited by captveg on Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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captveg
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#399 Post by captveg » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:27 pm

tenia wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:14 pm
Also, many CGIs look like they aren't finished, so it isn't very good looking (borderline workprint-looking), which seems silly for a movie that ended up with a $370m budget and to the point fans might now be asking to "Finish the Snyder Cut".
$370m isn't a fair assessment of the VFX budget. This version of the film is doing the VFX largely on the $70m only, as they had to start over from scratch on many of the designs (from Steppenwolf to the climactic environment) that were taken in a different direction in 2017.

Like most films that have moments of weaker VFX, if one is enjoying the movie one is more likely to overlook those moments, and vice verse. (Black Panther's finale and the comp of Ruffalo in the Hulk buster suit in Avengers: Infinity War come to mind).

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tenia
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Re: DC Comics on Film

#400 Post by tenia » Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:29 pm

I know but in the end, the final product still seems to be a $370m movie with WIP VFXs (what I've been told isn't sub-optimal VFXs à la Black Panther, but unfinished FXs).

Also, these kind of mega-budget movies having perfectible FXs seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Nolan's movies were full of VFXs (different ones, but still) and they were invisible. I'm quite certain that the same movies now would have Black Panther like FXs. There clearly has recently been a decrease in quality for VFXs in these movies for whatever reasons. MCEU Phase One FXs were better than the Phase 2 and 3 ones. I also recall watching Alien Covenant thinking "wow, that's some bad CGIs really standing sorely out".

But from what I've told, the onse in ZSJL are worse than that. I might have misunderstood though, I guess we'll see, but it is also said the sound design is awful and the score full of temp track, so this seems consistent.

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