Ant-man

[Lakov_Sanite]

You're confusing how scary you thought voldemort was with how well he was set up in those movies.  You may nitpick and say you don't think he was that big or bad but by the second movie you already got a good idea that he was supposed to be scary and the people in the world were afraid of him.  In marvel thanos has gotten nothing but minor lipservice and everyone who's had interactions with him thus far don't seem all that scared.  Gamora ditched him, ronan gave him the finger and nebula went awol too.

 Right now the audience doesn't know who thanos is and has no reason to be scared or think he is a threat because he hasn't been treated like one.  They have, how many movies to establish him? I think just GOTG2 and then it's straight into AV3, maybe Dr strange...

[Margalis]

We know exactly what Thanos is going to do - he's going to try to destroy the world / galaxy / universe.

The only difference between him and other villains in terms of plans is that other villains maybe only wanted to destroy one planet, but Thanos will want to destroy a bunch. But the greater universe outside of Earth isn't very well established in the movies, so I don't know that trying to destroy a bunch of planets is really that much more meaningful than wanting to destroy just a few.

It's hard to raise the stakes when the Earth or some Earth-like planet was already at stake in a half-dozen movies. The volume is already dialed to 11.

My biggest complaint though is that it's just hard to take these current villains seriously when you know they are just the henchmen or strictly lesser than an upcoming villain. It's fine if not every villain is the strongest villain in the universe, but it's weird when that guy is making a cameo in every movie. It's like saying "don't pay too much attention to this movie, the real action is coming later."

I know that Wilson Fisk isn't as strong as Thanos but Daredevil worked. But I don't think it would work nearly as well if there was a scene of Fisk reporting to Thanos. In Daredevil Fisk was the villain, not just a villain.

In comics you have stories where the world is at threat contrasted with smaller, personal stories. You need both or the big stories lose impact. Thor was a smaller story, as was Iron Man. But now almost every movie involves some existential threat. Hell, even Agents of SHIELD had an existential threat from what I understand. (Magic crystals destroying humanity or some shit)

In that regard I have hope for Ant-Man.

[Evildrider]

From James Gunn's Facebook:

Ant-Man may just be my favorite Marvel film since Jon Favreau’s Iron Man (well, maybe excluding one film to which I’m partial). Honestly, the movie is a complete blast! I was so happy after seeing it. It’s never boring for a second and it’s hilarious and warm throughout. It doesn’t get caught up in the webbing of its own science-fiction concept like so many movies do these days, remaining simple and elegant. It’s a part of the Marvel universe without being ruled by that fact. Paul Rudd is nuanced and charming and funny and is a surprisingly natural fit as a modern superhero (side-fact – Paul must be a nice guy, because he and I dated the same girl in college, and yet I still love him). Michael Peña KILLS IT – this movie is going to make him a huge star. My old pal Judy Greer (she was Deadly Girl to my Minute Man in The Specials (film) many moons ago) is great in a small role. And Michael Douglas is awesome. I think all of Peyton Reed’s years directing have led him to making something as deft and nimble and joyous as this; he did an incredible job. And, despite Edgar Wright’s parting from Marvel, his spirit is felt through the entire project, and there is no doubt everyone owes him a huge debt of gratitude. I left the theater incredibly happy. So often I see movies by people I love which are just okay – it’s great to love a movie as much as I love the people who made it.

[Ironwood]

... and if you folks were posting about Voldemort after Chamber of Secrets or Prisoner of Azkaban, you'd be saying, "What a fucking loser of a villain.  He dies before the books even start when he tries to kill a kid.  Then he lives in someone's head... until he dies because the guy he is living in touches the kid.  Then they have him as some kind of spirit possessing a girl ... why the heck didn't he possess the kid that killed him rather than a little girl?  And once he possesses her and hears over and over how Harry killed him - why doesn't he just poison Harry?"

Ronan has a freaking Infinity Gem when he gives Thanos the finger.  He can destroy worlds with a touch and he knows it.  He flips off Thanos because he's suddenly one of the most powerful beings in the universe.  And when he does - and everyone else is watching him in fear - Thanos stares him down and tells him off. 

And doesn't this discussion belong in the Marvel thread, not the Ant-man thread where we're unlikely to see GotG, Thanos, etc...?

You know, it's posts like this one that stop people from actually debating Comic shit with you.  You're so blind, you don't see the point being made, nor read what people are writing, nor even attempt to debate honestly.  This is a horrible, horrible kneejerk post from a fanboi and will be disregarded as such.  It's also shameful how little you seem to know about Harry Potter.  I eagerly await our discussions on Dragonriders of Berk.

[NowhereMan]

  It's also shameful how little you seem to know about Harry Potter. 

 

[Velorath]

We know exactly what Thanos is going to do - he's going to try to destroy the world / galaxy / universe.

The only difference between him and other villains in terms of plans is that other villains maybe only wanted to destroy one planet, but Thanos will want to destroy a bunch. But the greater universe outside of Earth isn't very well established in the movies, so I don't know that trying to destroy a bunch of planets is really that much more meaningful than wanting to destroy just a few.

It's hard to raise the stakes when the Earth or some Earth-like planet was already at stake in a half-dozen movies. The volume is already dialed to 11.

I think Ronan was planning on destroying multiple planets given a chance. That said, only 4 of 11 Marvel movies have stakes that high. Two of them are Avengers movies which makes it understandable. Particularly in movies where you can only bring these all these heroes together so often, you aren't going to have them stopping bank robberies. Thor 2 probably could have done without it, but that wasn't a particularly good movie overall anyway. Ant Man and Civil War don't sound like they involve world ending threats either. Dr. Strange might, but I'm guessing Black Panther won't.  Point being you might be overstating that issue a bit.

[jgsugden]

Ironwood, you're confusing a mirror with a window.  I stand by what I said. 

[Ironwood]

But if you stand by a mirror or a window, you can see through neither.

CHECKMATE.  QED.

[Samwise]

What if the mirror is rubber and the window is glue?

[Lantyssa]

Then I pull out my sticks and stones.

[jgsugden]

What if the mirror is rubber and the window is glue?

You'd make crappy glass products.

[Yegolev]

I came here to see if Ant-man was good or bad.  Instead I see this.

THANKS OBAMA

[Velorath]

Watched it a couple days ago. The answer is that it's ok. Probably middle of the pack for me as far as Marvel movies go. When you think about it, this is one of the few MCU heroes who actually has powers beyond super strength, flight, or shootinng/throwing weapons, and they do a good job showing a wide range of uses for controlling ants in addition to being able to make things shrink or grow. There's also a good sense of scale in the way a lot of the scenes are filmed. As far as the humor goes, it's more charming than funny. There's nothing that's going to make you laugh out loud, but it's not really trying to be a comedy as hard as one might think from the trailers (largely limited to when Michael Peña and his crew are on screen).

[jgsugden]

This is the Marvel movie that benefits most from Imax 3D.  If you hate 3D, don't see it in that format, but it has a lot of stuff in it that really can capitalize upon what 3D can offer, especially in IMAX.

[Tannhauser]

Just got back.  It's a fine addition to the MCU.  Fits somewhere into the middle of the pack. 

[Mattemeo]

It's entertaining.

[Margalis]

I really hate it when people are like "the good parts are clearly left over from Wright and the bad parts from the new guy." We just don't know who did what - that's very unfair. For all we knew it sucked and the new guy is responsible for all the good stuff.

Also Scott Pilgrim was fucking terrible and The World's End wasn't great either, so attributing everything good to Wright seems like a stretch. He directed a single great movie 11 years ago. (Which he didn't write)

[Mattemeo]

He wrote Shaun of the Dead along with Pegg. And did the same with Hot Fuzz, and again with World's End.

Also Scott Pilgrim was fucking terrible

 

[Ironwood]

This is one of these divisive ones, so take your rolling eyes to fuck.

Scott Pilgrim was one of the worst movies I've ever had the misfortune of sitting through.

[Mattemeo]

Scott Pilgrim was one of the worst movies I've ever had the misfortune of sitting through.

 

[Lakov_Sanite]

Pilgrim was awful retro 80's bait for late twenty-somethings to lose their shit over.

[Phildo]

Well, it worked on me.

[Ironwood]

It worked on a lot of people.  As I said, it's divisive.

Which is fine.  We're allowed to like different movies.

[Merusk]

There you go being all heretical again.

I read recently that Wright wanted Ant-Man to be an ant that transforms into a man.  That's reason enough to be glad he left the project, IMO.

[Threash]

So this was fun.  Not GoTG fun, but pretty entertaining on its own.  Michael Peña is fucking hilarious, even if he already played basically the same guy in Observe and Report and East bound and down.

[HaemishM]

This was good. In the Marvel pantheon, I'd rank it slightly above the first Captain America, and right below Iron Man. Everybody involved was pretty good in it, though I will admit that Corey Stoll's Darren Cross may have been the least developed of all the bad guys in the MCU. I thought the character development for Hank and Hope Pym and Scott Lang were all pretty solid and the actors did a good job with them. Michael Peña had most of the humor with Paul Rudd being the straight man which I think worked really well. Absolutely stay through all the credits for the scene at the end. The effects were fantastic and I imagine the 3D might have made them a lot better but fuck 3D.

Favorite part was

[Fordel]

So not awful, but feel free to wait for the DVD release or whatever?

[SurfD]

Regarding the end credit scene:

[HaemishM]

As for wait for DVD release, if you like the other Marvel movies, there's no reason not to see this one. It's a good fun action movie with some heart and a little humor.

[Velorath]

So not awful, but feel free to wait for the DVD release or whatever?

There's not a whole lot of note coming out in the next couple months and I think it's one of the rare movies that works well in 3D so in that respect I think it's worth seeing in the theater.

[jgsugden]

My non-spoiler comments:
1.) I rank this pretty low in the Marvel rankings, but I still think all Marvel studios materials are rewatch worthy. 
2.) You could see parts that came from the original script and parts that were Marvel added.  It was pretty clear.  I think this would have been a great movie outside the MCU, and they could have taken out some of the original script stuff and made a great MCU movie, but walking the middle left it feeling a bit schizophrenic. 
3.) Cross was a bad version of Obadiah Stane.

For the spectacle, I'd see it in Imax 3D.  The special effects are fun to watch, although some of it makes absolutely no sense and needed to be better set up. 

[Threash]

You could clearly hear the rave and the people lining up outside to get in when Scott first gets to the apartment.

[HaemishM]

[Evildrider]

I actually liked this a lot.  Not as good as Cap 2 or GotG, of course.  My only real complaint is the villain needed a bit more work. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

I'm surprised our resident Marvell guy is so eager to shit on antman.  It was a good movie as far as superhero movies go and easily better than some other marvel fare(mostly the sequels)

I think they wanted to go deeper into the particle side effects as well as cross but time did not permit and they weren't going to bloat an already risky property to an above average runtime.

Even in the comics antman stretches logic to the breaking point with its super science. Even dr strange is more believable because the on hurdle you need to leap in your mind is "a wizard did it" so I think that's why this one will suffer a bit on the Internet with people picking it apart.