Captain Marvel (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

I just got back from seeing it at a sold out show. I continue to hate assigned seating; even though we were there an hour before the showtime, we ended up having to sit in the bottom section, craning our necks up at the screen. Meanwhile, the stadium seating is only three-quarters full when the movie started, with the remainder of the audience trickling in during the first 10-15 minutes of the movie.

That NEVER used to happen with big movies before assigned seating. You waited in line, had a nice communal experience, and the people who showed up first got the best seats.

But the movie itself I enjoyed quite a bit; I'd put it near the top of the second-tier Marvel movies.

Yes, and if that's true, CM must take place largely BEFORE that moment. From the first moment I saw Fury send that distress call, I assumed CM was somewhere untouched by what Thanos did. Then again, Fury had no grasp of the 50% obliteration.

Captain Marvel largely takes place in 1995. No, Fury couldn't have known that Captain Marvel would survive Thanos's universe-wide culling. But he had 50/50 odds, so it was worth making the attempt.

Be sure to pay attention to the opening Marvel Studios logo as it is completely different than it is in the other Marvel films.

It was a beautiful tribute. Lots of "awwww"s in my audience.

The Cat is awesome.

Agreed. Stole every scene it was in.

I disagree with the critics raving about the de-aging technology being excellent as it largely looks like it does when excessive DNR is applied and the people look like wax.

I thought they did an excellent job with Samuel L. Jackson; I never even noticed the effect. Coulson on the other hand did have a bit of that weird uncanny valley effect that we've seen with previous applications of that de-aging technology. Partly I think that's because they didn't try to capture what Clark Gregg actually looked like in 1995; instead they tried to capture what they thought Coulson would have looked like in 1995 -- much more g-man than Gregg looked back then.

Spoiler

It wouldn't surprise me if the mid credit scene was lifted directly from End Game.

Spoiler

I think that's exactly what they did, much like Coulson in New Mexico at the end of Iron Man 2. There's no way the contemporary re-introduction of Captain Marvel only occurs in a mid-credits sequence scene. The cinematography also matched similar scenes in the Endgame trailer.

I did think Brie Larson was fantastic though. I loved her performance.

I did too, and the trailers and TV spots didn't lead me to think I would. Carol Danvers has a dry sense of humor that came off as flat out of context but plays beautifully in the film itself. Her and Samuel L. Jackson have a wonderful buddy cop movie chemistry in their scenes together. They've worked together on other projects as well, and you can really tell that they enjoy each other's company.

Liked it, it was ok. Regarding the cat:

Spoiler

Are we sure the final after credits is in the 90s, not Endgame timeline? =p

I know you're kidding, but:

Spoiler

We know it takes place before 2012, because the tesseract is out of the cat and in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody when the first Avengers movie begins. This movie essentially fills in the blanks between Stark retrieving the tesseract from the ocean floor at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger and the events of The Avengers.

Also, the film had plenty of humor throughout the film so I don't understand that criticism by some outside posted review that it needed more humor.

Aside from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Thor: Ragnarok that were essentially action comedies, this was among the most fun of the Marvel movies, and took itself among the least seriously.

I loved that she showed many sides of Carol. She made the friendships with Maria and Monica real.

I thought Larson was solid the entire way through, but those scenes were her best. Akira Akbar was wonderful as eleven-year-old Monica, and Larson's performance softened when Carol and Monica shared the screen together. Even after a six-year separation, you can feel how much these two adore each other.

When Monica sees Carol zoom off into the sky, it's like the moment when Picard's nephew dreams of captaining a starship in The Next Generation. Thrilling.

Captain Marvel is basically the MCU's Superman and that moment captured the awe of being in the presence of Superman when he does something extraordinary.

With special resonance for Monica of course, because she knows Carol and can see herself in Carol in a way that wouldn't resonate the same with Superman.

Loved Ben Mendleson. Everything that's been said about him stealing his scenes is true. So nice not to have a mustache-twirling villain.

Spoiler

His performance is so likable, and then when the big twist is revealed, it makes sense why he's so likable: because he's not really the bad guy.

Nice soundtrack too (now, release it, Disney!).

So many songs that I heard way too many times on the radio in the nineties.

Also loved Fury's scene when

Spoiler

he notices that Carol's callsign was "Avenger." Just brilliant.

That was a very effective beat, that did a nice job of tying this movie into the larger mythology of the MCU.

I hope every little girl - and little boy - sees this and remembers that small montage of scenes where Carol keeps getting up and doesn't quit.

That was great. One of my few criticisms is that I wished the movie had been more ambitious with the nonlinear storytelling. I would have liked more and longer scenes from Carol's childhood, and her time in the Air Force.

The story went to some unexpected places (for me anyway, this may be old hat to fans of the original comics).

Spoiler

Making the Kree the bad guys and the Skrulls the good guys was a Mandarin-level twist, but in keeping with the backstory of the Kree-Skrull war from the comics, in which the Skrulls were a fairly peaceful mercantile civilization that expanded its reach through commerce, and the Kree were vicious barbarians.

In the case of this movie, I was expecting the twist just based on what I'd seen in the trailers, and the fact that the Kree were the primary antagonists for the most recent season of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Loved LOVED Stan Lee’s 90’s era cameo.

Hilarious!!!

That might have been my favorite moment of the entire movie. Just perfect.

Ben Davis was the cinematographer, and the visual palette wasn’t as dreadfully dull as the one he used for Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Doctot Strange, thankfully.

It's probably in the bottom third of the MCU movies for me in terms of cinematography, but it's definitely the best looking MCU movie shot by Davis. I thought the first Guardians of the Galaxy was too garish, and his other movies were dreary and, as you say, dull.

This looked like a nineties mid-budget blockbuster, which is probably just what the doctor ordered.

I thought pacing was off - I checked my watch a bunch of times and that normally doesn’t happen with MCU movies.

The pacing for the first third of the movie was pretty rough. Everything from Pegasus on played smoothly for me, though.

Here’s the thing, though - I bet I’ll love Captain Marvel in Avengers: Endgame. The writers and directors for Endgame have been so good at developing characters in this universe and making me care for them, and I think they’ll be able to bring out whatever was missing in the solo movie.

The weird thing is that this is essentially a prequel to Endgame, even though it came out first. Larson shot all of her scenes for Endgame before they even had a locked script for this. So even though this is an origin movie that introduces the character to the MCU, the writers had to reverse engineer the character as portrayed in Endgame. So Larson didn't have the luxury of building on what worked and avoiding what didn't work on this movie for Endgame.

I thought Captain Marvel was fantastic. Not tier 1 (which for me includes Iron Man, Winter Solder, Guardians 1, Infinity War, Ragnarok), but solidly at the tier 2 rank for me. I would give it a solid 8 or 8.5 out of 10.

My preliminary ranking puts it 11th out of 20. It didn't really do anything especially daring or groundbreaking, but it did the same old things about as good as one could hope for.

Movies I love:​

1. Avengers: Infinity War
2. Marvel's The Avengers
   
3. Captain America: The First Avenger
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
5. Thor: Ragnarok
6. Black Panther
7. Iron Man 2
   
8. Iron Man
   
   Movies That I Really Like:
   
   
9. Guardians of the Galaxy
   
10. Ant-Man
11. Captain Marvel
12. Captain America: Civil War
13. Spider-Man: Homecoming
    
14. Iron Man 3
    
    Movies That Are Fine:
    
    
15. Thor
16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
17. Avengers: Age of Ultron
18. Doctor Strange
    
    Movies I Disliked:
    
    
19. The Incredible Hulk
20. Thor: The Dark World

The audience is meant to be many steps ahead of Carol. Usually this gets old quickly, the audience shouting at the screen over how stupid the main character is. Here, however, her rediscovery was not belaboured.

One thing that I appreciated is that they didn't waste any time on fish out of water jokes. She was a highly trained special forces soldier from an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. She might not remember her time on Earth, but she would still competently pursue her objectives.

I also thought the movie struck a few nice emotional chords. During the final space sequence where Carol is smashing through the missiles--her powers on full display (just shy of going binary)--I was oddly moved by the thought that "damn, maybe the heroes do have a hope against Thanos..."

I loved the tip of the hat to the Superman movies, with Carol suspended over Earth. I also loved:

Spoiler

Her Raiders of the Lost Ark moment, when Jude Law's character is trying to goad her into a fist fight and she instead proton blasts him.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

I liked it all the way through. Saw in Dolby Cinema this afternoon.

Of course, I liked that, at one point, Danvers wears a Heart t-shirt... in the old 70s band name logo style from their Mushroom Records days (the one with the proper sized heart shape in the leading loop, and not the re-workings of the old logo done in 2010 and 2012). Heart has been a favorite band of mine since '76.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Next week, I'll be watching Captain Marvel for the third time in 3-D.

 

[JimmyO]

I was really surprised at the song choice for the credits.

And the shenanigans going on over at RT. lol

Audience scored was 34 percent, then refresh the page five minutes later and it's 51 percent. Guess they had to speed-trash a bunch of over the top obvious troll reviews.

Critics score hit 79.

 

[Scott-S]

I admit I have been scarred away by the comment from the Star and Director. I don't want to watch it if it is too political.
This isn't a sexist thing, I am perfectly OK with strong women. I just am just getting tired of being preached to like a child. Like they did this season on Dr. Who.

I was looking forward to this movie (like all Marvel movies) until the comments came out. I was even hoping for some clarification or apology from the star or studio but Larsen just basically double down and the studio remained silent. Then "the powers that be" basically made Rotten Tomatoes change their whole website to cover up the fact that people were angry.

I will wait until I can get this via Netflix (I still rent Blu-Rays the old fashion way). They apparently don't want my money, so I really don't want to give it to them. I assume that the money they get from me renting is much less than they would get if I went to a theater.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I admit I have been scarred away by the comment from the Star and Director. I don't want to watch it if it is too political.
This isn't a sexist thing, I am perfectly OK with strong women. I just am just getting tired of being preached to like a child. Like they did this season on Dr. Who.

I was looking forward to this movie (like all Marvel movies) until the comments came out. I was even hoping for some clarification or apology from the star or studio but Larsen just basically double down and the studio remained silent. Then "the powers that be" basically made Rotten Tomatoes change their whole website to cover up the fact that people were angry.

I will wait until I can get this via Netflix (I still rent Blu-Rays the old fashion way). They apparently don't want my money, so I really don't want to give it to them. I assume that the money they get from me renting is much less than they would get if I went to a theater.

Wow! I never thought the movie was too political to offend nor annoy anybody. This is a feel good movie for most people that leave the theater in a good mood.

 

[Scott-S]

I do not know yet. I am just saying the pre-release politics have scarred me from watching it in the theater. I hope you are right.

 

[DaveF]

Perhaps, I'm reading this thread wrong, but I think most of the reactions to this movie and its trailers were the opposite of yours. Many posters in this thread were uninspired by the trailers, but found out they actually liked the movie which eased their earlier trepidation.

That was my sense too skimming the early reviews before posting.

My wife thoroughly enjoyed the movie. My MCU fan friends mostly really liked it. But I was just vaguely disappointed. I kept waiting for it to get awesome. Maybe I was having an off night.

I also see that some of it’s big jokes didn’t work for me.

Spoiler: Avenger

Call sign “Avenger” made me roll my eyes. It was a hamfisted retcon. Carol Danver’s backstory didn’t setup her having such a callsign.

Spoiler: Eye

Likewise how Fury lost his eye. Didn’t like that moment. Emotionally it didn’t play for me. And as a cat lover I didn’t think it fit the cat’s character or relationship with Fury to that point.

But it’s not as if it was a trainwreck. It was for me a completely adequate MCU movie. I liked:

Spoiler: Bad guys

The plot twist on the Skrull’s motivation and Carols mysterious backstory

Spoiler: Pick herself up

I was moved when all the Danvers’ across time picked themselves up to confront The Intelligence. The bit about fighting with one arm tied behind her back was a perfect beat. It was setup from the start and anticipated the entire movie.

 

[DaveF]

Wow! I never thought the movie was too political to offend nor annoy anybody. This is a feel good movie for most people that leave the theater in a good mood.

A friend we saw the movie with* mentioned there was a bunch of online freakout over a historically female character being played by a female. I don’t know. I told her she reads better websites than me, because I didn’t see any of that nonsense. All I know is 20 movies in, after DC’s Wonder Women and Netflix’s Jessica Jones, MCU is shamefully late in having a woman led movie. But they finally got around to it, and it’s fine and non-political and mostly harmless.

*hooray assigned seating for getting 10 of us together, without having to wait in line for hours

 

[Nigel P]

I am generally not a fan of non linear narratives and find them sometimes to be an easy out or that they add nothing and that the film would have been better off without them. I didn't find that to be the case with Captain Marvel. I liked how things gradually pieced together with some surprises along the way. It also enabled the film to feel fresh enough despite being another origin story. I didn't have any issue with the first third of the film and found it reaching it's conclusion without any lulls. Strong performances from all the cast as has been mentioned, I thought Lashana Lynch did really well as Maria and was in the scene that hit me hardest emotionally.

I enjoyed Captain Marvel and am looking forward to seeing more of her in Endgame and beyond. My brother in law enjoyed it while my nephew wasn't keen. Going in he wasn't particularly looking forward to it and I think he got himself caught up in Youtube drama that had built up prior to the release. It is a shame as he is a fan of the MCU. I am going again with a friend on Monday.

 

[TJPC]

I can’t understand the objection to assigned seating at all. It is actually hard to get my wife to go to a theatre without it. She buys our tickets days ahead on her computer, we get our favourite seats and then arrive at a leasurly pace just before the “Time Play” games start with no standing in a crowded line up.

If there is no assigned seating we buy our tickets ahead but have to get there an hour ahead to get our favourite seats.

We always are sitting comfortably watching people dash in 5 minutes before the show starts who are surprised they have to sit down in front.

 

[Tino]

I do not know yet. I am just saying the pre-release politics have scarred me from watching it in the theater. I hope you are right.

He is.

 

[Tino]

Deadline is estimating a $160 million opening for Captain Marvel. I think it will do more.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I admit I have been scarred away by the comment from the Star and Director. I don't want to watch it if it is too political.
This isn't a sexist thing, I am perfectly OK with strong women. I just am just getting tired of being preached to like a child. Like they did this season on Dr. Who.

Other than acknowledging that sexism exists at several points in the movie, it's not preachy at all. It's a story of self-discovery and empowerment, but her arc could have been as easily applied to a male character as a female one.

I was looking forward to this movie (like all Marvel movies) until the comments came out. I was even hoping for some clarification or apology from the star or studio but Larsen just basically double down and the studio remained silent.

Why should she have to apologize for stating her opinion just because a bunch of overgrown crybabies were too sensitive?

Then "the powers that be" basically made Rotten Tomatoes change their whole website to cover up the fact that people were angry.

It wasn't about covering up the fact that people were angry. It was about countering an organized campaign to artificially skew the audience score by a small group of entitled people who hadn't even seen the film yet. I don't think the site has a problem with people who see a film and then have a negative reaction to it. But they don't want scores artificially inflated or deflated by people who have agendas that have nothing to do with the movie.

They apparently don't want my money, so I really don't want to give it to them. I assume that the money they get from me renting is much less than they would get if I went to a theater.

Disney doesn't give two craps about your money. It's a drop in the bucket for them. The only one you're punishing is yourself, by denying yourself a fun, entertaining time at the movies.

You're certainly entitled to do so; I won't go see Roman Polanski or Woody Allen movies because of my own personal convictions. But we're probably deluding ourselves in thinking it makes any real difference.

I can’t understand the objection to assigned seating at all. It is actually hard to get my wife to go to a theatre without it. She buys our tickets days ahead on her computer, we get our favourite seats and then arrive at a leasurly pace just before the “Time Play” games start with no standing in a crowded line up.

I like to go out for a nice dinner before going to the movies. I don't know how long that's going to take ahead of time, so I don't want to commit to a showtime ahead of time. Before, it wasn't a problem. With assigned seating, it is.

And of course, now they get you to pay the $4 convenience fee to buy the tickets online ahead of time on top of the $14 ticket price, whereas before you could buy them at the box office without worrying that all of the best seats would be gone.

But the biggest issue for me is that way more people show up late after the movie has started than did before assigned seating.

 

[Edwin-S]

Why should she have to apologize for stating her opinion just because a bunch of overgrown crybabies were too sensitive?

Right. Would you be so quick to say this if a White male actor had come out and said that he didn't give a shit about what people of colour or women thought of his movie because it wasn't made for them and all he cared about was the opinions of White males? I doubt if very much. In fact, I'm pretty sure there would be nothing but comments on how his career should be at an end because he was a racist and a misogynist.

If a White male actor has shot off his mouth like she did, he would have to be dressing in sack cloth and ashes and crawling on his hands and knees in apology to try to save his career.

 

[Tim Gerdes]

Right. Would you be so quick to say this if a White male actor had come out and said that he didn't give a shit about what people of colour or women thought of his movie because it wasn't made for them and all he cared about was the opinions of White males? I doubt if very much.

Historically, female characters have been so under-represented in film, and in fiction in general, that there was actually a system designed to determine whether a story had a strong female character (see: Bechdel test).

One could argue, persuasively in my opinion, that no white male actor would ever say such a thing because it would be a statement of the obvious, so he wouldn't feel the need. YMMV.

 

[Josh Dial]

But the biggest issue for me is that way more people show up late after the movie has started than did before assigned seating.

Not to get too far off topic, but at least at the two theatres I go to in Calgary, far fewer people show up late now that every theatre has assigned seating. Before assigned seating, people would stream in for the first 10 minutes or so, and then wander around with their phones on looking for good seats.

We've had assigned seating for years (since at least Iron Man 1). I refuse to watch a movie unless I have an assigned seat (again, not an issue in my city). While it was fun to stand in line for five hours for the best seats to The Phantom Menace or The Lord of the Rings (six hours+), I'm too old for that now!

I can now by my tickets for major movies a month or even two months ahead of time, and get the best two seats in the house.

Our theatres also don't charge extra for assigned seats.

Right now, our preferred recliner theatre is about a 15 minute drive away. There's a new "VIP" recliner theatre opening three stop lights away (should be opened in the fall--just in time for Star Wars). I can't wait.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Right. Would you be so quick to say this if a White male actor had come out and said that he didn't give a shit about what people of colour or women thought of his movie because it wasn't made for them and all he cared about was the opinions of White males?

I've heard this statement repeated so often as an article of faith that it took me a while to dig through all of the layers of commentary and find the original quotes that spurred all of the over the top outrage. From what I can tell, it originated with two quotes.

The first was from her June 2018 speech at the Crystal + Lucy Awards, in which she stated that she was a lot more interested in what girls of color thought about A Wrinkle in Time than what forty-year-old white men thought of A Wrinkle in Time, because Ava DuVernay made that movie for girls of color and not adult white men.

The second was from a Marie Claire interview, where people were outraged that she advocated for more women, people of color, and people with disabilities to be included in what is normally an overwhelmingly white and majority male press pool.

The big difference between Larson's comments and your proposed scenario is that Hollywood has a decades-long history of not caring about the opinions of anybody but white males. The fading of that mindset is a fairly recent phenomenon.

I don't get the impression that Brie Larson wants to silence the voices of white men, or that she'd be in any way successful even if she did. I think her point is that she wants to make room for voices that have been traditionally silenced.

 

[RobertR]

One could argue, persuasively in my opinion, that no white male actor would ever say such a thing

You're avoiding his point. If a white male actor did say such a thing, the reaction would be very different. The people saying "who cares, it's just her opinion" would NOT react the same way. You know it and I know it.

 

[Scott-S]

The Rotten Tomatoes thing was completely mis-reported by the main stream media. They clearly did not do any research. Before a movie is released, you can not "review" a movie on RT. You could only answer a question about whether or not you are interested in seeing a movie. That is all. This is not a review.
So there was no massive campaign to "review bomb" the movie. All you could do is answer a question.

It was just click bait to mention trolls and review bombs before the movie was released.

Now that the movie is released, I am sure there will be some trolling, but I bet RT now filters out opinions (censor?).

Digging into who owns RT is very enlightening. They are not a place for free speech. They are just another way to promote films to make money for the parent companies.