Board Thread:Movies/@comment-3048593-20170411234907/@comment-29908830-20171014031325

My problem with people bashing MCU movies for being formulaic - is that they never explain HOW. Usually the argument is "There are too many jokes" (to which I say, they balance it naturally) and "They're all PG-13" (to which I say, movie ratings don't make a movie good or bad). This is frankly dumbfounding, as a movie is only formulaic when it copies the same story and character beats as other movies. An example is The Force Awakens copying A New Hope, and Home Alone 2 copying its predecessor; to date, the only MCU film that kind of does this is Doctor Strange to Iron Man, but even then, Strange's character arc is totally different than Tony's already. But the arguments detractors give aren't even about the movie being formulaic; they're tonal nitpicks.

Deadpool and Logan seem to be the only superhero movies in recent times that seem to deviate from this, but even this is ironic. While Deadpool makes fun of superhero movies in its dialogue, it still has a lot of story elements that would be considered part of the norm, such as a damsel in distress and a revenge plot. Also, Logan doesn't really deconstruct superheroics as much as it places them in an extremely dark and depressing light (all superheroes want to keep a family, people); if it had been about Logan slowly rejecting family to the bitter end, then it would be a deconstruction. I've not seen Birdman (though it looks FANTASTIC), but from what I can gather it's less of a statement on the superhero genre and more of a statement on typecasting and how Hollywood treats it high-profile actors.

As for Dark Phoenix, I'm not excited for it at all. My dad will probably make me watch it because Jessica Chastain, but seriously - it's directed by an exec who's never directed a movie before?? And it has another pointless decade timeskip?? And it has ALIENS??? (I know there were aliens in the comic version of DPS, but come on). Seriously, just reboot X-Men entirely.

Going back to New Mutants, if there's one thing I'm concerned about, it's the cast and director. I don't particularly dislike anyone here, it's just that the casting feels so barebones. "Oh hey, here's an actress that has done nothing but horror movies since she started her career; let's further typecast her - by making her one of Marvel's most beloved and busty Russian superheroes!" (Anya Taylor-Joy) "Oh hey, every casting for the rest of eternity needs a Game of Thrones actor; how about we choose... the OTHER sister of Jon Snow!" (Maisie Williams) "And heck, while we're at it, let's do the same for the NEW show that everyone needs obligatory casting from; plus, it's horror, so that makes it perfect!" (Charlie Heaton) As for the director, I've not seen Josh Boone's work, but he's only ever worked on rom coms - notably The Fault in Our Stars - prior to this. This might actually work out, since the Russo brothers were best known for Community before they made Winter Soldier, but not everyone succeeds at such genre-jumping.

Anyway, back on track: I've been seeing things online saying that Infinity War might not get a trailer this month in favor of Black Panther. Would that most likely be the case? Don't get me wrong, I'd love another Black Panther trailer, but... INFINITY WAR, man!