Captain America: Civil War (2016)

[DRW50]

For me the best Defenders years were with Valkyrie and Hellcat and Doctor Strange, and then others who popped in and out. I don't even know if Patsy Walker is in the MCU. Given some of their female characters, maybe it's for the best if she isn't.

[Vee]

Patsy has a major role in Jessica Jones. Rachael Taylor plays her and she's great, the character's become even more popular.

[DRW50]

Well that's good. The only thing I ever hear about that show is Jessica Jones herself and people tend to use her to trash other female characters, so I never really pay attention to talk about the show (that and I don't watch a lot of David Tennant shows). Patsy always had such a rough time in the comics. I'm glad she's still around.

 

I guess she's not a redhead on the show? That's odd.

[Vee]

She was a redhead. She dyed it, for reasons. Her romance comic backstory is transmuted into the show with her background being that of a very troubled child star a la Miley Cyrus who has since cleaned up and become a successful radio/media personality. (Trish's mother is played by Rebecca de Mornay, who was nearly unrecognizable.) Patsy/Trish is Jessica's best friend, replacing Carol Danvers from the comics since Carol is being used in the feature films.

 

JJ was incredibly popular with female fans. You should watch it.

[quartermainefan]

How dis you guys come to discuss waste of time Sharon anyway?   I thought Spiderman and Ant-Man stole the whole movie.   Both were great.  I loved Ant-Man and everything he did (all of which was cool) and this is the best Spider-Man yet I think.  I loved he couldn't go on the mission because he had homework.

[Skin]

Marissa Tomei as Aunt May has to be the dumbest thing I have ever witnessed. They really need to rest the Spiderman character between Toby McGuire and Andrew Garfield the character is in need of a sabbatical.

[Vee]

She's perfect.

[Cheap21]

I was apprehensive but didnt want to write her off till I saw her in action. She's too ditzy and comes across more like Peter's older sister than Aunt.  I see no traces of "Aunt May" with her and thats not surprising considering she's significantly younger. I was really hoping MT would play her as more mature and not this ditzy school girl type.  The only thing she added was some comedic relief but I hope she tones it down by next year but she was too over the top in her short scene.

 

I also think its obvious they are also going to have her hook up with Tony by the next film

[YRBB]

OK. So I enjoyed it overall. There came a point when I felt it was dragging on a bit but, all in all, I was very happy with it. 

 

Some of the best things for me: I thought the conflict between Tony and Steve was interesting. I was indifferent to the Scarlet Witch in AoU but this movie made me into a fan, and the stuff between her and Vision was some of the most interesting in the whole movie. Am I right in sensing they are going for a romance with them? I LOVED Black Panther. I know even less about him than the others, so it was very pleasant discovering him, the actor was great, and the way he fit into the plot and developed was superb. I was less excited with Ant-Man and Spider-Man. Despite loving Ant-Man and thinking the kid playing Peter was great, their involvement here felt too much. Yes, I get it, they were peripheral characters. They supported. But, still, just a tad too much. Then again, I'm glad we got to see them, so go figure. I was initially surprised at how youthful Aunt May was but it actually makes sense that she wouldn't be 100 years old and found her and Tony intriguing. Barnes is endlessly fascinating, and the twist of him killing Tony's parents was amazing. One of the most thrilling moments was the climax of Barnes, Tony & Steve's fight, when for a second Tony thought Steve was going to cut his head off with the shield, but instead only destroyed his armor. I also thought War Machine's fall and paralysis were just the right amount of punch-in-the-gut.

 

After all the talk I saw about the funeral scene, I found nothing wrong with it. Perhaps the execution made it a little tone-deaf, but thought it made sense, was touching, and set up later events well. I'm just not sure Evans and VanCamp have any great chemistry.

 

My main concern is there's a bit of a lack of dramatic juice for Captain America. He's noble, brave, stands for what he believes in, etc, but what's next? Is he, as a character, capable of creating his own drama/storyline? He's done the defiant/protective bit. Will he always depend on Barnes/Stark/whomever to give him story? Is he the character to whom things always happen to? I guess we'll see!

 

 

[quartermainefan]

Capt America will always have to depend on others to give him story.   The character is borderline perfect in his noble and fair goodness, so this is not the character whose shades of grays will create story.   His next story looks to be one from the comics where he is so disillusioned with the government he will fight as Nomad, the man without a country.   Then after some soul searching due to a tragedy because he wasn't Cap he will realize the world needs Capt America and he will take up the shield once more.   That's just my guess for the next movies.   Thanos will show up in Avengers and the team will not be able to get its act together until Cap and his charismatic rousing speeches rallies the heroes.   That's fine, we saw in the recent Superman movies how crappy it can be when you try to make the perfect less perfect.   It doesn't work for every hero.

[DRW50]

Captain America's identity is America and the darkness inherent in representing America. Steve Rogers has struggled with this for a long time - some of his best comics stories were about that (especially his struggles in the '80s). It's only the golly gee "language" Joss Whedon caricature who can't carry a storyline. 

 

As for Wonderbread Wanda and Vision, I think this is something that is impacted by Elizabeth Olsen looking/playing young. In the comics, Wanda never was played as young as she is in these films. It makes the narrative a bit creepier.

[quartermainefan]

Chris Evans is excellent in the role I feel.   Not sure what golly gee language you are referring to.   He is the type to call people "ma'am" and "sir" and is not of this time so would not talk with modern rhythms like say Rhodey does or Iron Man.   I cannot find anything to fault Chris Evans on or the writing given to him.   He doesn't do snark, he doesn't do irony, nor should he.   Have you even seen this movie?   I saw it and to your earlier posts about whatever disgusting thing happened at the funeral, I didn't see anything happen at the funeral at all actually.   Nothing happened at any funeral.   I don't know what you are referring to with that critque.   Also, general consensus  seems to be that Winter Solider was one of the best superhero movies of all time, and Chris Evans carried that.   I thought a great scene in Winter Solider was when we got to hear what kind of music he listens to at home.   It really gave insight into his character.

[DRW50]

 

The golly gee stuff is the Whedon belief that it's shocking for Cap to hear or say curse words (which has never been true, especially given his years on the battle front). Remember the "language" scene in the last Avengers movie. That's the type of Captain America who can't carry anything, as it's a caricature.  

 

And no, I haven't, as what you replied to wasn't about this movie anyway.

 

The stuff I meant was Sharon and Steve after Peggy's funeral.

[Skin]

Her performance isn't the problem to me. It's that she clearly isn't the character. They would have been better off completely making up an alternate character and making this an alternate universe completely, rather then casting a 40 year old woman in a 60-70 year old role. You could kind of hand wave Sally Field, but this was egregious.

 

In terms of acting I would put Chris Evans in a similar range as Henry Cavil. He looks appropriate and I don't think they ask too much of him, so he succeeds merely by breathing.

 

[sivad40]

I think they pattern Marisa's Aunt May persona and character after the one that is on the Ultimate Spider Man cartoon show because the Aunt May on that show is in her late 30s - early 40s and she's ditzy and used for comic relief.