Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[Cavebear]

Never saw it or the sequels/prequels.  I saw a comic book version of the story of the first movie, in a comic store in San Diego ... and it creeped me out!  Very Kali ... evil mother.

Baruch, I don't scare easily.  I watched The Crawling Eye as a child and never lost a moments sleep.  I watched "Day Of the Triffids" and laughed.   Hitch cock's 'The Birds was vaguely funny.  Because none of it could be real ...

Alien scared the bejebus out of me.  I have never looked at our space exploration the same way since. 

When the miacids found their way into NA and faced the Terra Birds, only one species survived.  When Europeans landed on NA shores and didn't die in 10 years, it was all over for the Amerindians. 

In "Alien" I first saw the possibility that we aren't the winners of First Contact.  If I could destroy the voyager ships right now, I would.    They are actually "come get us" beacons. 

There are really only 2 possibilities.  We are the first intelligent life to explore space or we are "food for wolves". 

[Cavebear]

Your talking about the 1979 film right?

Yes.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I thought it was tedious.

[Munch]

Its a good movie, Sigourney Weaver sold it and the sequel for me, which when to watch them both are two very different types of horror, one being suspenseful and tense, the second being action based violence and gore.

Ripley will always stand to me as how you write/act as a strong female protagonist. You go on a journey with her and the shit she goes through and how that changes her.

[Cavebear]

Its a good movie, Sigourney Weaver sold it and the sequel for me, which when to watch them both are two very different types of horror, one being suspenseful and tense, the second being action based violence and gore.

Ripley will always stand to me as how you write/act as a strong female protagonist. You go on a journey with her and the shit she goes through and how that changes her.

Agreed.  Ripley in the mech suit was AWESOME!  But everyone else around her dies, LOL!  I KNEW, as the shield wall started to go up in Aliens that she was going to stomp jaw...

I'm thinking of how she slid carefully into the astro-suit in the first movie and thought OMG, she has a PLAN.

And in the 2nd, it had to be Jonsie.  I cried buckets realizing that.

Ripley is a hero of mine...

She is more lethal than security guards on Star Trek.

[Baruch]

Agreed.  Ripley in the mech suit was AWESOME!  But everyone else around her dies, LOL!  I KNEW, as the shield wall started to go up in Aliens that she was going to stomp jaw...

I'm thinking of how she slid carefully into the astro-suit in the first movie and thought OMG, she has a PLAN.

And in the 2nd, it had to be Jonsie.  I cried buckets realizing that.

Ripley is a hero of mine...

She is more lethal than security guards on Star Trek.

On Star Trek, red shirts are always expendable.  Ripley isn't a Mary Sue.

[the_antithesis]

Saw Shazam earlier tod--yesterday. I didn't expect much of the movie when I saw the trailer, but I heard good things about the movie and decided to give it a shot. Boy am I glad I did. The movie is absolutely brilliant. It's hilarious, it's self-aware, and it has just the right measure of campiness to be enjoyable. Sometimes, it feels like a spoof of early comic book movies. The actor who played Shazam did a perfect job playing a kid in an adult superhero's body. A lot of people compare this movie to Big, the movie about a kid who turns into an adult, and that comparison is pretty accurate. The movie even has a reference to one of Big's most memorable scenes. Overall, I considered it a very enjoyable movie.

I have also seen this movie. I've been a captain Marvel fan from waaaaay back. I used to watch the Shazam! live action TV series from the 70's. I saw the cartoon show as part of the Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam! Later in life, I found the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial from 1941 and watched the fuck out of that. 12 chapters, four hours, joy. So I'm a longtime fan of the character. The reason why is in the above-mentioned cartoon, there was a comedic element to the hero, which is kind of there in the original comics. The villains kept calling Captain Marvel a big, red cheese. I thought that was hilarious.

The new movie takes most of its clues from the new Shazam! comic series, I am told as I haven't read. This is just the latest reboot of the character, which makes the fourth or fifth time DC has tried to get this character going. Jeff Smith and Jerry Ordway couldn't keep it going, but hopefully the movie will help here. So, this is largely an all-new mythology that takes some elements of the original but updates and changes them. Dr Sivana is no longer and evil mad scientist but a ... I dunno. Something else. I guess he's technically an evil scientist, but not in the same way as before. Billy Batson is an orphan, but he doesn't get a job as a radio reporter but now lives in a group home. His hero alter ego is no longer Captain Marvel, in this day when licensing is a bigger deal than in the 70's, but has no name. Because he can't tell anyone he's "Shazam" because he'll change. This is a gag reserved for the original Captain Marvel Jr who got his power by saying "Captain Marvel." Now it's a gag they can use all the time. Fine. And Shazam acts more like a kid in an adult body than he ever did before. This help make the hero stand out a bit more.

The plot has several things going on at once which all mesh together fairly well.

Sivanna was a potential heir to the power of the wizard Shazam, but was deemed unworthy. He spends his adult life trying to find his way back to the wizard and when he does, he set free the Seven Deadly Sins from the Playstation One game they were trapped in. (The CGI is not great) Orphan Billy Batson is then rather quickly chosen to receive the power of Shazam and finds himself in an adult body and a silly red suit. Fortunately, Freddie Freeman, who lives in the same group home, is a super hero nerd (in a world where superheroes are real, think on that) and helps him figure out how to use some of his powers.

The movie does shine where the two characters are messing around with super powers and doing what kids would do if one of them could pass as an adult, like purchase beer. his fun could have been spoiled if the supervillain was just a generic bad guy who just shows up and makes things all serious and shit. But since Sivanna's original is tied to Billy's, it give the villain more depth than they tend to have in these things. Throughout this, we also have Billy's search for his birth mother which is keeping him from accepting the loving foster home until the third act, possibly a little too quickly, but I guess it works alright.

So what we've got here is a theme of family played out in multiple ways. Sivanna's family is pretty shitty and doesn't accept him, reflected in the wizard's rejection. Billy's foster family accepts him, but he rejects them because he still believes he has a mother out there somewhere even though he hasn't seen her is, what? Ten years? These two people and life experiences involving the theme of family are central to the film.

I won't spoil, but I will note that the hero defeated the main villain not by punching harder or by stumbling into success dick first but by doing something clever. I won't say what, but I appreciated that they gave the hero a bit of brain and had him try something smart instead of bumbling into it. Compare this to the Rocketeer, of which I recently watched a retrospective review, where the hero is a bit of a bumbler even at the end where he accidentally damages the rudder on the Nazi zeppelin when he should have done so intentionally to keep the bad guys from getting away. A hero can be a bumbler, like Indiana Jones, but he has to do something smart, especially at the end, or else you've made another Rocketeer. I mean, who remembers that fucking movie?

There's a tease for a sequel involving a caterpillar. I know exactly who that guy is and I hope they don't pay that off until at least the third or maybe fifth movie. They need to build up a rogue's gallery before dropping that hammer. The caterpillar can be like Nick Fury gathering up a team to pay off in a final movie of the first wave, like an evil Avengers.

The movie appears to be doing well at the box office, which is good. I figured it would be kind of like Deadpool, a super hero movie that is so different that no one sees it coming. We'll see if it does Deadpool numbers. I wore my Shazam t-shirt to see the movie and stopped for a bite before and after. In both places people commented on the shirt but were ignorant that there was a new movie playing in the theater IN THE SAME SHOPPING CENTER. I think this one is flying a bit below the radar. But, someone at work said his kid didn't care to see Captain Marvel but was excited to see Shazam. So maybe it is connecting with its target audience.

[Cavebear]

On Star Trek, red shirts are always expendable.  Ripley isn't a Mary Sue.

I recall seeing a single panel cartoon where a sign said "Star Trek extras" and the guy there was handed a red shirt and said (thought balloon) "So much for next week".

Who is "Mary Sue"?

[Baruch]

I recall seeing a single panel cartoon where a sign said "Star Trek extras" and the guy there was handed a red shirt and said (thought balloon) "So much for next week".

Who is "Mary Sue"?

Mary Sue is the new term for a fictional super hero of feminist persuasion, who doesn't have to make any serious effort to use the superpowers provided.  Star Trek A New Hope, the lead character isn't part of the Skywalker dynasty, and can beat Kilo Ren on first attempt.  The new Captain Marvel is more of the same ... though the powers in this case are off the chart.  The character did have to train to get some of them.  It is the infinite level of power (will be able to defeat Thanos with out any Infinity Stones) that makes her uninteresting.  The training arc is an opportunity to develop a hero's character, but a road not taken with a Mary Sue.

[Baruch]

BTW - I not only liked Rocketeer, I still remember it ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi0Et31E7s4

[Cavebear]

Mary Sue is the new term for a fictional super hero of feminist persuasion, who doesn't have to make any serious effort to use the superpowers provided.  Star Trek A New Hope, the lead character isn't part of the Skywalker dynasty, and can beat Kilo Ren on first attempt.  The new Captain Marvel is more of the same ... though the powers in this case are off the chart.  The character did have to train to get some of them.  It is the infinite level of power (will be able to defeat Thanos with out any Infinity Stones) that makes her uninteresting.  The training arc is an opportunity to develop a hero's character, but a road not taken with a Mary Sue.

Oh, Star WARS, got it.  Thanks.  Never heard of her before though...

Separately, I better download and watch some movies.  I'm behind the knowledge curve. 

[Baruch]

Oh, Star WARS, got it.  Thanks.  Never heard of her before though...

Separately, I better download and watch some movies.  I'm behind the knowledge curve.

The term comes from Millennial movie critics.

[Mr.Obvious]

Saw Schindlers list again. First time in maybe a decade.

What a film.

[Baruch]

Saw Schindlers list again. First time in maybe a decade.

What a film.

A study in human psychology.  Even bad guys aren't totally bad.  The HaShoah itself is too vast to be properly covered in even a miniseries.  But the Holocaust deniers have to be protected.

[Cavebear]

The term comes from Millennial movie critics.

OK, let's try this again.  If I understand you right, "Mary Sue" is a term for any heroine in any of the Star Trek/War Marvel DC et al universes?