Since you can include this rant as bull, I'll put my complaint right up front.
The big third act battle scene was a little rushed and visually muddy. Which means it was still better than 99+ percent of the movies ever made. Marvel knows it's business.
Second, I haven't read the comics in probably over 20 years, and I don't see any cannon crap ( It's not like that in the comics! ) in the MCU anyway. It's not the comics, it's a movie series based on them.
Third. Great soundtrack. I'd say buy it but most of you already have all this music in your collection anyway. Feel free to make a playlist and enjoy.
.....
twenty third, I enjoyed it. I give a little slack to origin movies, and this is one, so there is more time spent on character development and a bit less on special effects.
That said, this is Carol Danvers, fighter pilot, superhero, hotness. Her origin story has more special effects than, say, Iron Man. You won't feel cheated.
One liners. Many. Good ones.
As a period piece, excellent. The sound track sure helps, but the video games and tech references are everywhere.
Casting was nigh perfect. I don't get the criticism on Brie Larson. As I said above, I try not to listen to actors talk about anything but acting. I have deliberately missed any idiocy. Someone even complained about the child actor. Golly gee there's a lot of hate directed at this film. I don't get it.
Is it perfect? no. Best movie ever? no. best Marvel Movie? not quite. But there are more than 20 of the dang things, and some really were outstanding.
And we could argue endlessly about #1, and Frankly I can't pick.
One thing I will say. This is a FIRST. The FIRST female strong empowered character, etc. etc. etc. who's hair gets messed up when she's blasted through a ( thing/kree cruiser/Blockbuster ). Generally speaking you hit Black Widow, or Captain America, and throw them through a window or a book shelf, and they come up looking like they just left the makeup chair. Captain Marvel actually has bad hair day after being in an explosion.
Oh, it still looks good on her! But at least she sometimes needs a comb to achieve full Goddess perfection.
I saw it yesterday and I pretty much agree with everything Patrick said.
It was better than I expected. I can name a few Marvel movies that I like better, but I found it better than nearly all of the DC movies that I've seen. The stand out exception being Wonder Woman.And don't tell anyone, but I'm one of the 14 people who enjoyed Green Lantern.
Now, I'm just waiting for Avengers Endgame. The theater showed a preview of the Spider Man movie coming out this summer; it looks interesting.
And like Patrick said, don't miss the beginning and stay until the end of the credits.
Imho where Green Lantern fell down was the imagination of the writers to come up with character specific cool ring projections.
Or character specific hobbies or fandoms to draw from. If he'd been a D&D player or video game savvy. You don't want a Green Deadpool, but perhaps genre savvy?
Captain Marvel/Wonder Woman/the Black Widow movie we are waiting for, with, at least in my case, open glee, are not the First Strong Female Character Ever. Not even close.
The now reviled Joss Wheadon, ( and I was a fan, before Dollhouse, and defended his choices in Avengers 2 ) was asked why he kept writing stories with "strong female characters" ? He said, because you ( idiots) keep asking that question.
Great answer.
Buffy had multiple "strong female characters" . Buffy, of course. Multiple strong female characters.
Including, in the crowd of potential Skaters training in martial arts and waiting for the one bathroom, Felicia Day, who made a career out of portraying "strong female characters" in zero budget Youtube videos, Elf Assassins, video game avatars, and did so, so well, she's now a powerful producer, director , actress, brand name, and Geek Goddess Extraordinaire.
Who said strong female characters can't have humor? Not Lucille Ball.
Heck, one, crappy, seven season tv show had more "strong female characters" than Hollywood remembers ever seeing.
I'll skip past Ripley, Vasquez, etc. And jump straight to Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man. 1952.
Conclusion?
Critics are idiots. SJW idiot critics are ignorant, dishonest, and joyless.
We've always loved the great women of cinema. Hollywood is just so stupid that it is the "fringe" comic book and spy movies that have great characters, and, I will point out, massive box office.
Speaking of which.....Atomic Blonde. Great period piece. Cold war just before the Berlin wall fell. Brilliantly acted. Brutally difficult stunt work, and most done in exquisitely choreographed close ups by the stars themselves. Not for Children. Bond should be so bada$$.
One of the main reasons "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is near the top of my fave list is that it's driven by not one, but three badass women. Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh are just flat awesome. Yeoh suffered several injuries in shooting, including broken bones. Cheng Pei-pei as Jade Fox was great fun. Of course, Chow Yun-Fat is awesome too.
I too, think the Nolan Batman movies over rated. Just my opinion. They don't totally suck, like the Eric Bana Hulk movie, which deserves to be used in film making classes as a bad film.
And I might be a bit overzealous in my dislike.
Of the Bana Hulk. I think I have the right amount of "meh" on the Batman trilogy.
I give you Heath Ledger as The Joker was intense and the high point in the trilogy.
But the graphic novel the Nolan films took inspiration from would have made a much greater trilogy imho. Darker, edgier, more political, with a Batman vs. Superman fight that would have been an Epic.
Plus, the young, new, Robin, would have the potential to be a breakthrough role for some young actress. Chloe Grace-Moetz? Dafne Keen? The mind boggles.
Better yet, recruit from the 2016 Olympic u.s. gymnastics team!
Without following the links, wasn't Steely Dan found in William Burrough's "Naked Lunch"? Speaking of strange films, that was one. I preferred "Barton Fink" for a surrealist film about writers.
Has some flaws. Renner plays the dumbest physicist in a movie so he can have stuff explained to him. Physicists are annoyed. Forrest Whitaker, too, has to be an idiot so he can get stuff explained to him. The writers give him better cause. And no bubble bath for Adams. DAng.
Also, the lovely Adams spends most of her time with an "oh, shit!" Expression, with occasional "oh, shit,oh,shit,oh,shit..." In the tense moments. And way too many clothes.
Yet.... Well done! I can't spoiler anything to cover the interesting points, alas, so I'll just leave it at.... A cerebral, emotional film, that you need to just go along with the ride all the way to get the plot.
If you bail on this one in 15 minutes or 15 minutes to go, you'll miss the idea. Make popcorn, settle in, take it in.
Sorry to be cryptic, but I really don't want to spoil anything.
I had intended to buy Edge of Tomorrow, the alien invasion groundhog day flick. Impulse buy, cheap cheap from Amazon, ( $3.47 ) but in my haste, I bought Oblivion.
It doesn't totally suck. I really want his flying machine. And there is some nice dramatic tension. But over all it's a disc that will be viewed once, ( a buddy hadn't seen it so we watched it, checked off list ) and will just sit around until dvds are obsolete and it gets thrown away.
Arrival was pretty dang good. Most sci-fi unfortunately follows the same worn-out tropes, this one avoids most of them. Definitely a cerebral film.
Been thinking about George Herbert's works a bit lately. Outside of Dune, he wrote gobs of other great works. One great sci-fi author whose works would translate beautifully to film is David Brin. His "Uplift Wars" books properly translated to the big screen would get my $$$.
The Niven/Pournelle best selling books, Footfall, ( alien invasion ) The Mote In God's Eye ( first contact ) and Beowulf's Children ( first space colony ecological thriller ) all would translate well to movies and be ground breaking.
I have entire book cases better than Hollywood. Heck, Heinlein & Clarke & Asimov alone are rich sources. The Heinlein juveniles alone. Star Beast, Red Planet, Citizen of the Galaxy...
Methusalah's Children would shatter Hollywood. You need a crazed Peter Jackson type who keeps to the original.
I have some friends who haven't seen all 743 Marvel movies, and plan to see Avengers, Endgame.
Which of the 20 odd movies would you think best to see first?
Best selection AND a Minimum list.
So far, I've got.
Iron Man.
Thor.
Captain America, Winter Soldier.
Avengers.
The stingers, preferably in order. But I'd love to include the one scene in Iron Man 2 when Agent Coulson tells Tony Stark he'd taser him & watch Super Nanny while he drools on the carpet.
Guardians of the Galaxy.
Black Panther.
Avengers, Infinity War.
I'm not sure Avengers, Age of Ultron, or Captain America, Civil war, are must sees. To introduce The Scarlet Witch and Vision? Both are films I enjoyed, but necessary?
Ditto Ant Man & Ant Man & The Wasp.
One of the BEST parts of Infinity war, is the lack of time spent on character introduction and back story. The film makers assumed you are a fan & saw them all, or the heck with it, you'll buy the DVDs. They spent all the time on plot, action, and a little on the Scarlet Witch/Vision love story, because that's the primary heart break.
( Close secondary Thanos/Gamora/Starlord, Cap/Bucky, Tony/Peter ( father/son ) & Thor/Loki/Odin ) Damn, my niece cried leaving Infinity War...
My brother in law and I were discussing both Endgame and the Hairy Pothead movies. I told him that I never even saw one of the HP movies until I was in the Hospital after my heart surgery. The ABC Family channel was running a marathon of them, so I saw them all in succession.
I kind of regret that; now, when I think of Harry Potter, it reminds me of being hospitalized and I really don't enjoy the movies.
However, I really am anticipating going to see Endgame. If it's half as entertaining as I hope it will be, it will be another blockbuster.
Tickets 6 pm thursday, opening showing. Not planned but a buddy called ans asked the last time we did that....and I got Star Trek, the Motion picture, but the memory must be wrong, since I had to have been over eager sometime the last few centuries.
I will of course, not say a word about it for at least a day or three.
I'll be at the 8:45 AM showing on Friday morning. I'm sitting in the Handicap row. It was the only seat that was available through the weekend. The cinema complex I'm going to is showing the movie 22 times per day in a few different theaters and every showing from Thursday evening through Sunday night is sold out.
I bought my ticket on a whim last week and I'm glad I did. I don't think I've ever been to any movie on the opening weekend. I bet Marvel makes a killing with this one. If it's half as good as I'm hoping, it'll set new records.