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Madame Web

Started by Darrin Kelley, May 15, 2024, 05:37:48 PM

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Darrin Kelley

I just finished this movie. I enjoyed this movie. I had fun with this movie. I don't feel as my time with it was wasted.

And I do not see what the critics were talking about when they called it a bad movie.
 

HappyDaze

Not sure why, but I got a laugh out of the stolen cab that she ripped the license plate off, drove around NYC a day, parked it at an airport for a few more days, then came back and it was there waiting for her to drive it around some more.

Ratman_tf

I don't know what the critics are saying because as someone who really liked the Marvel superhero movies  at first, I checked out around the time of Ant Man.

I feel like the genre was beaten into the ground and the Marvel films started to all look the same and retread the same story beats. I stuck around for Endgame, which I think was a complete wet fart of a wrap up to the story they had been building. After that, I stopped watching.

So yeah, Madame Web could be a great movie, but I'm super saturated with the Marvel Disney stuff, and only have an opinion and comment because I did like the "first wave" of their stuff.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

Darrin Kelley

I also have an issue with people calling female-led superhero movies "woke". Some of Marvel's greatest and most reprinted comics are female-led. So what I am seeing in that is pretty sexist.

The most revered run of Marvel's X-Men was very female-focused. So I'm wondering is these critics even know the properties they are talking about.

It shouldn't matter what sex the hero is. It should only matter whether it is a good movie or not.
 

Corolinth

#4
Ah, I see. You are confused.

Having a female lead doesn't make a novel, TV show, comic book, or movie woke. Not having any story to speak of, or having a shitty story, and expecting the audience to fawn all over the novel, TV show, comic book, or movie anyway because of how stunning and brave it is to have a female lead is what makes the project woke.

Disrespecting the source material and changing it for a Modern Audience is woke. Calling fans of the original source material istophobic for objecting to your changes is woke. You see, fans are the reason why the original source material was popular in the first place, and the entire reason why the studio thinks they can make money off of the movie. The studio owes it to the fans to make their movie as faithful to the original source material as possible, and not change it to reflect Current Year political sensibilities.

This may mean that you can't make Galadriel an Action Girl who can fight anyone a man can fight, as well as a man can fight, while wearing heels. It might mean that a tiny little mountain town like Emond's Field can't have The Diversity. It might mean that you can't make Mar-Vell a woman, or that Carol Danvers has to wear the black leotard with the lightning bolt. It might mean that Mary Jane Watson has to be a white girl with red hair. Maybe it means that you can't make Glimmer body-positive. It might mean that Daphne and Velma can't be lesbians. It might mean you can't make Teela the main character. Just exactly what it means to not change the original source material for Current Year political sensibilities changes depending on what IP you're talking about, so it behooves someone to actually know something about the IP and to read it, rather than boast about how not reading the original source material was considered a virtue in the writer's room.

The way that you know someone is woke shitstain is when they start throwing around accusations of istophobia whenever critics point out that they fucked up an established IP to pander to the Modern Audience and their Current Year politics.

Ratman_tf

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 16, 2024, 06:07:59 PMI also have an issue with people calling female-led superhero movies "woke". Some of Marvel's greatest and most reprinted comics are female-led. So what I am seeing in that is pretty sexist.

The most revered run of Marvel's X-Men was very female-focused. So I'm wondering is these critics even know the properties they are talking about.

It shouldn't matter what sex the hero is. It should only matter whether it is a good movie or not.

On the flip side, it's become popular to deflect criticism of a bad film or a bad actress with accusations of sexism. Studios even court this kind of 'outrage bait" to drum up interest in what would otherwise be an unremarkable film. Every critic of the current wokeisms in films I've heard usually point out a good female character or story to provide contrast.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

Eirikrautha

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 15, 2024, 05:37:48 PMI just finished this movie. I enjoyed this movie. I had fun with this movie. I don't feel as my time with it was wasted.

And I do not see what the critics were talking about when they called it a bad movie.

My wife doesn't watch any YouTube at all, nor does she watch or read any movie critics.  She was looking through the new movies on the firestick and she saw Madam Webb.  She said to me, "This looks interesting.  Let's watch."  I didn't say a word throughout the whole movie.  When it was over, I asked her what she thought about it.  Her response: "That was a really stupid movie."

So, perhaps you just have shit taste in films...

Also, women protagonists don't make a film woke (Ellen Ripley and Sarah Conner say hello).  Taking a well know character and race or sex-swapping them, or fundamentally changing the nature of the character to raise their profile (if already a woman or POC), not for the needs of the story, but to support some external ideology (like "representation") is woke.  A female Silver Surfer is woke.  Making the protagonist of Assassin's Creed's newest foray into Japan a black samurai is woke.  When you pick an obscure person or character (as in those two examples) just for their race or sex, it's woke.  Using an established female character as a mouthpiece for modern politics is woke (see She Hulk).

So, either you really don't know what you are complaining about, or you're being purposely dense and straw-manning. Pick one.
"Testosterone levels vary widely among women, just like other secondary sex characteristics like breast size or body hair. If you eliminate anyone with elevated testosterone, it's like eliminating athletes because their boobs aren't big enough or because they're too hairy." -- jhkim

I

Isn't this the movie where they digitally reduced the size of Sydney Sweeney's tits?

yosemitemike

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 16, 2024, 06:07:59 PMI also have an issue with people calling female-led superhero movies "woke". Some of Marvel's greatest and most reprinted comics are female-led. So what I am seeing in that is pretty sexist.

Have you actually listened to what people who are critical of this movie are saying or are you assuming that, because it's female-lead, that must be the reason for their criticism?
"I am certain, however, that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice."― Friedrich Hayek
Another former RPGnet member permanently banned for calling out the staff there on their abdication of their responsibilities as moderators and admins and their abject surrender to the whims of the shrillest and most self-righteous members of the community.

orbitalair

I enjoyed Critical Drinker's review of the film on youtube.

hes really funny.

Darrin Kelley

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 17, 2024, 01:25:41 AMHave you actually listened to what people who are critical of this movie are saying or are you assuming that, because it's female-lead, that must be the reason for their criticism?

Only what I have heard in passing. I try to avoid critics and make my own opinions of movies. Because their opinions rarely match up with mine.
 

hedgehobbit

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 03:09:59 PMOnly what I have heard in passing. I try to avoid critics and make my own opinions of movies. Because their opinions rarely match up with mine.

That's a philosophy that will guarantee you waste a lot of time watching crappy movies.

Darrin Kelley

Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 17, 2024, 04:03:09 PMThat's a philosophy that will guarantee you waste a lot of time watching crappy movies.

It's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

I also like movies with extra cheese. So my expectations of any movie are quite low.
 

GeekyBugle

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 17, 2024, 05:17:42 PM
Quote from: hedgehobbit on May 17, 2024, 04:03:09 PMThat's a philosophy that will guarantee you waste a lot of time watching crappy movies.

It's a philosophy that puts me in charge of my own entertainment. It lets me judge movies on their own merits. Instead of being polluted by the opinions of failed film students who spend their lives tearing apart the products of those who succeeded where they failed.

I also like movies with extra cheese. So my expectations of any movie are quite low.

Something we already knew since you liked Madame Web.
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

― George Orwell

Ratman_tf

I just don't watch many movies anymore. I haven't been to the theater in just over a decade. I mostly just watch reaction videos of films. And if the reaction is positive, which is pretty rare, I might check it out on Streaming.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung