DC Universe

[Vernadyn]

I adored Speed Racer.

The race sequences are crazy-exhilarating. And by the end of the final race, I felt elated. (By contrast, I felt nothing at the end of Turbo.) And I still marvel at how Giacchino took the Speed Racer theme and molded it into an outright triumphant anthem at the end of the film.

But yes, Batman v. Superman looks very grim… I'll see it once, like everyone else, but I have doubts at this point about how enjoyable it's going to be. Dark films can be enjoyable, and I don't want to assume anything based on a paltry trailer. But based on my opinions of Snyder's previous films, I don't have high expectations. I do think he can create striking visual tableaux, but most of the time they're just pretty (moving) pictures with little story motivation and even less character motivation. In Man of Steel, for instance, Superman and Zod fought pretty much the same way.

[Ben]

Giacchino is the best new composer working today, no question. I'm so glad he's doing Jurassic World as if anyone can take a pre-existing score or themes and make them new and intertwined, it's him...especially in Williams' realm.

[EricJ]

I adored Speed Racer.

The race sequences are crazy-exhilarating. And by the end of the final race, I felt elated. (By contrast, I felt nothing at the end of Turbo.) And I still marvel at how Giacchino took the Speed Racer theme and molded it into an outright triumphant anthem at the end of the film.

And I'll trade all of Snyder's ponderous graphic-novel worship for just the one Speed Racer scene where Emile Hirsch perfectly duplicates Speed's leap-out-of-the-car-and-pose as the camera swirls around.
There's "faithful to the original", and then there's true faith.

(And ironically, we all forgot about it in '08, because Indiana Jones was back, and that new Batman looked SO COOL!!)

[Dacey]

Been online for a few days, but they should seriously give a prize to whoever it was who edited this trailer together...

[EricJ]

Aw, now we get Queen instead of Bee Gees!

(Also, notice the "multi-color" DC logo--
Lately we've been getting these hip, avant-garde color "graffiti/collage" posters for both Squad and Versus, like Warner is panickedly trying WAY too hard to look Hip For The Young People now, now that Marvel's Guardians and Ant-Man have been saddling their Snyder money-train with the reputation of gray old gloomy-Guses.
http://www.impawards.com/2016/batman_v_ ... _ver7.html
I was on a Warner/DC focus chat and noticed there was a lot more fan momentum for Squad on the grounds of basic coolness than for their big would-be linked universe tentpole that keeps starting angry fan arguments every time they try to reimagine the trailer.
Think they're starting to notice it too? Naww, there's NO Guardians-pandering here!)

[Randall]

We're just days away now from the Batman V Superman premiere, and I admit I'm becoming excited. Even if I'm not sold on Bat-fleck, and even if it doesn't all come out how I would have preferred, this is the movie I've waited my whole life to see.

Here's an early not-quite-review: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/batman_vs ... rs-a132224

[Dacey]

Excellent not-quite-review. Gets me even more stoked.

[Ben]

Added a W to your hole, Rand.

Can you tell he's excited?

[Randall]

Yep!

[Dan]

Got my ticket. Figured I should see the film before hitting WonderCon.

Decided to go big and do IMAX 3D.

[Dan]

How amusing would this version be?

[Randall]

Reviews for BvS are coming in. To no one's surprise, it's a huge, jumbled, exhilarating, confused, profound, visually spectacular and depressing mess of a film--- either fantastic or terrible, depending on who you believe. Yep, sounds like a Snyder film!

I will naturally decide for myself when I see it, the sooner the better.

RT rating was initially 11%, but it has climbed to 39%. Not bad, really, considering this was never going to be a critic pleaser. Lots of comic fans (studio plants? ) at the previews seem to have loved it, though.

[EricJ]

My favorite review so far comes from Empire:
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/batm ... ce/review/

In The Lego Movie, Will Arnett’s Batman sang an ode to being glum in Gotham, which included the lyrics, “Darkness! No parents! Continued darkness! More darkness, get it?”

Warner's been quoted as saying it would "have to do a billion dollars to let some people keep their jobs". There are a lot of resume's about to be written. I'll put money down that Snyder's is first on the list.
I've been a persecuted Galileo about many movies in my time, and you should have heard the abuse you could get from wishful-thinking DC fanboys over the last two or three months just for suggesting that this movie was "Warner/DC's Lone Ranger", triggered by an overabundance of studio and directorial delusions-of-grandeur regarding Man of Steel's popularity.

Oh, and also rumored that in worst-case scenario Warner would probably abandon their "Justice League linked universe" in favor of the Suicide Squad movie most of the fans actually are looking forward to, and the announced backup Ben Affleck Batman solo spinoff (most likely explaining that Robin "Death in the Family" reference), seeing as he was apparently one of the good things in the movie.
The Wonder Woman movie will probably also go through, but more likely as an official studio apology for how little of Gal Gadot fans got in this one after all the buildup. Oh well--E pur si puzza.

[Vernadyn]

It's Superman and Batman, so I'm sure it's going to do very well at the box office, at least early on. I mean, I wasn't a fan of Man of Steel, but I'm also not kidding myself--I'm going to end up watching this in theaters. (Just like I know I'll be seeing X-Men: Apocalypse, even though I can't muster much enthusiasm for it.) But Captain America: Civil War is the superhero movie I'm really looking forward to this year.

[Ben]

Yea, this is going to have a gigantic opening at least, and will probably hold for the second week. Drop off will depend on word of mouth, but it's the lack of "fun" that seems to be the taking away point.

Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor sounds immensely irritating (I for one was not caught up in the fanboy-loving "red cape is circling" line that I saw many people getting ridiculously excitable over) and I still don't quite get that casting choice based on what we have seen so far, although Batfleck sounds like he largely pulls it off. There seems to be a bias toward Bats, though, which is odd for what was supposed to be the Superman sequel (who apparently doesn't get an awful lot to do because of the plot machinations to allow Bats to fight him "fairly"), and although it's no surprise that we don't really get much Wonder Woman, I've a feeling she's going to feel shoehorned in towards the end and this would have been better just being a Bats vs Supes movie that was then built on for the next outing.

Speaking of which, Wonder Woman will certainly go ahead, since it's currently in production and (largely?) already shot I think (it was shooting up the road from me the last few months). So that's happening.

But this could so have been a critic pleaser. It's the kind of film that, thesedays, should have really surprised and been something where the critics came out and said, "you know? We were not going to like this...it's the same old thing...but it's actually pretty darn good". That they aren't (especially after Watchmen, which did get good notices) is a bit of a worry...and I really don't put much stock in the fanboys who will largely say something is awesome just because they see it early. Remember how "true to Superman" Singer's film was supposed to be, or how "awesome" Man Of Steel was?

We always knew that this as going to get middling reviews, but it seems a shame that this momentous occasion isn't going to reflect decades of comic book history too well, and that the film sounds too packed with wanting to kickstart the Justice League series rather than setting up the characters first. We kind of knew that too, but from what I've heard of how it is done in BVS, it does sound like it's all a both thrown together.

I don't think it's going to be fantastic or terrible. A bit like Man Of Steel, I think it's going to slap down right in the middle with a brilliant but frustratingly dull thud.