Small correction: apparently in a tiny throwaway line I missed, they killed Dafoe's character off. Which seems a bit mean...

@toyland_f

7 ай бұрын

And to think that Vulko was one of the few times where he wasn't Willem Da _foe_ , but Willem Da _friend_ .

@MorganLegerInVaulting

7 ай бұрын

0.0 Yup...me mad

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

@@toyland_f I see what you did there!

@ianlampe1502

7 ай бұрын

I noticed it and was a bit bummed that a prominent supporting character in Vulko was casually cast aside.

@infinity-marc

7 ай бұрын

"Damn, he ain't gonna be in Aquaman 3."

This is how the DCEU ends not with bang but with a mighty cry of THANK F*CK THAT'S OVER!!!!

Merry Christmas, Mathew! In light of recent events, I just want to say thank you for being authentic and passionate and not a massive plagiarist, like someone else we could name. Your originality and love for what you do has made your channel a must-watch for me, and you're only getting better with time. I hope you have a happy holiday season. :)

@FilmBrain

7 ай бұрын

Happy holidays!

Would’ve loved to see a bit of acknowledgement of the very retro-60s scifi-fantasy feel of the movie, with it‘s very pulpy influences like lost islands with giant insects and man-eating plants. The production design even takes from directors like Mario Bava. Hell, the uniforms of Black Manta‘s crew are pretty much the same uniforms the crew from Bava‘s classic „Planet of the Vampires“ wore.

It's somewhat fitting that Zac Synder's new project, Rebel Moon, comes out the same week as the DCU he started [with 'Man of Steel'] comes to an end...

@oranmccann2476

7 ай бұрын

And both Rebel Moon and Man of Steel are 10 years apart from each other

There has been highlights in the DCU [such as Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn] but the behind the scenes stories [such as the dispute in this film about which Batman would feature when the character is absent from the final film] were often more entertaining that the films! I'd love a professional 'no holds barred' book or documentary covering those stories one day [you could probably get a series on Justice league alone]. Announcing the re-boot last year [in a quite messy fashion] pretty much doomed the 2023 slate to 'dead on arrival' status but it's probably for the best to put this incarnation out of its misery and start again [even if 2025 is too quick a turn around when it probably would benefit from some distance being put between it and the older material].

Rest in pepperoni DCEU, there were some good times (Shazam, Wonder Woman), some bad (BvS, The Flash) but mostly was just sorta..there?

2023's offering from many franchises have felt like there from series that have gone past there natural ends [such as Fast & Furious] and-while not planed-it's probably for the best that Deadpool 3 is the only MCU film out next year as it needs a break. It's notable that the two biggest films this year-Barbie and Super Mario Bros-are new cinema franchises [albeit based on established IP's] so maybe audiences feel like a change.

@christopherb501

7 ай бұрын

*albeit

Merry Christmas Film Brain. Thanks for the entertainment this year. Love all your content and best of luck for 2024.

Hopefully studios will finally slow down on the superhero/blockbuster assembly line. Blockbusters are no longer special when they come out every other month.

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

For various reasons, Deadpool 3 is the only MCU film out next year [and there's no DC films] which is a good thing as the genre needs a re-fresh. Regarding blockbusters, films have made a lot of money being released in previously 'slow periods' [like the original Deadpool on valentine's day 2016 or Super Mario Brothers in April this year] which makes more sense than being crowded in Summer or December [like Mission Impossible underperforming being released just before Barbie-heimer this year].

@calvinkatt662

7 ай бұрын

@@jamesatkinsonja There is one DC film in 2024. Joker 2 is scheduled for next October.

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

​@@calvinkatt662 My bad. I'll be very interested to see how Joker 2 and Deadpool 3 do at the box office next year as both are [despite Deadpool's links with Fox's X-Men and now the MCU] mostly there own thing and a different tone to other superhero films.

@wjzav1971

7 ай бұрын

@@calvinkatt662 But Joker was not part of the DCEU, right? Same with Matt Reeve's The Batman which was also its own thing.

This is how the dceu ends not With a bang but with a whimper which is sad because this universe had so much potential to be great but they’ve dropped ball badly really badly in my opinion.

I don’t know what’s worse: seeing him fall face first into a puddle like a drunken idiot in the very end of The Flash or seeing him get pissed in the mouth by a baby.

The main problem with the DCEU was always that they didn't want to put in the work of building the characters before getting to the tentpole crossover movie. What made the original Avengers movie work so well was the at-the-time uniqueness of them all getting together, plus the fact that Marvel had spent years building those characters up in solo films. DC wanted Justice League after just making 2 other movies (one of which was an utter mess) and the DCEU never really recovered from that misstep. Superhero movies have largely run their course I think. I'm just glad GotG3 was so good, and that feels like a good hopping off point for the MCU and I'm treating it as such. That movie felt like it actually completed stories and character arcs, which is something missing from most big franchises any more. I think Deadpool 3 will be fun, but after that I'm taking an extended break from superhero movies, barring something truly special coming along.

@eamonndeane587

7 ай бұрын

It also bugged me that their first team movie was an Anti Hero team film BEFORE the Justice League film just to cash in on the popularity of Guardians of the Galaxy.

@ShinGallon

7 ай бұрын

@@eamonndeane587 I could have forgiven that if the first Suicide Squad movie hadn't been godawful.

@jamesatkinsonja

6 ай бұрын

I agree. Doing Batman V Superman [which pretty much was a 'team up'/cross over film given the cameos and Wonder Woman's large role] as the second film was ridiculous. They needed to do some solo movies first but just rushed into the team ups [I compared it to trying to make the roof of a house before doing the foundations].

I didn’t notice your theater intro is playing ‘Quest for the Game Child’ (Which had your cameo in it!)

@FilmBrain

6 ай бұрын

Yep, it also has NerdQuest, which I starred in. Little Easter Egg. 😉

@bloodrunsclear

6 ай бұрын

@@FilmBrain I noticed that when I binged Projector :D

The DCEU never really impressed me. It meandered until someone finally pulled the plug.

a change is needed in the 'superhero' movie formula. It doesnt have to be done and gone like Westerns, but it needs to evolve and also not look to do blockbuster, even if it becomes blockbuster. Some of it is just making good tv, as people get tired and/or less of waiting 'between' the big films.

The Super Friends version of Aquaman wasn’t the only one we got over the years. There have been many other versions of the character that were much better. Smallville Alan Ritchison played the character pretty well. There was the version in the Superman animated series which was great. There was the version of the character the DC animated movie Justice League War which was good and the version in Justice League Crisis on Two Earths that was great. The best version of the character is from Justice League animated series and Justice League Unlimited. He was so bad ass he has a spear for a hand. I wanted to see that in live action but I guess WB doesn’t want to go that far. I am fine with that.

I enjoyed this movie more than Flash. Jason is a better actor than Ezra and I like that there was no nostalgia bait in the movie.

With the state that WB is in, I'd be legitimately surprised if we got any more installments in James Gunn's DCU after Superman: Legacy. The DC brand has been so tainted that that movie may underperform just because people have no faith in DC anymore. Hell, I'd be surprised if WB is still a thing in the next 2-3 years.

@eamonndeane587

7 ай бұрын

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if Disney owned DC and Warner Brothers owned Marvel .

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

There are other projects in various states of pre-production and I do want to give 'Legacy' especially a chance [particularly with the new actors as Lois and Clark] . But I do think 'Legacy' would be better if like 'The Batman' it was a stand alone Superman film [which apparently was the original plan] and not setting up future cross overs. Of course we'll have to see if the WB+Paramount merger goes ahead.

It feels sadly appripriate that the DCEU go out on a 4.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes average score.

I always thought Dolf Lundgren should have been Odin in the Marvel movies

Thanks!

@FilmBrain

6 ай бұрын

Thank you!

The calendar of Aquaman works as a calendar works because Warner Bros. Took inspiration from. My calendar. Slick man that’s why it works. Little bit of. Will Ferrell. And. Jim Carrey. As well. Or adds up.

Having just got out of the theater, I’ll say that I enjoyed it. The first film is far and away the better movie, but I really don’t think it’s fair to call this movie a train wreck like everybody else seems to be. It’s a dumb movie but it’s fun and it’s understandable that people want more than that nowadays. For me though, I’m perfectly okay with a dumb fun movie. I’d rather have a superhero movie that’s fun but lacking any brain cells than one that wants to challenge its audience but instead ends up boring me to death (cough BVS cough). I personally am glad that Aquaman isn’t the latter. I’m not blind to the faults of this movie. The camera work is kind of bad at certain points. The pacing is all over the place. The fact that the film thinks it needs a bigger bad than Black Manta is ridiculous and it’s disappointing when the film just drops him in the third act for whoever Kordax is (who gets taken out as soon as he becomes a legit threat). Also the way Willem Dafoe’s character from the first film is killed off is so lazy and disappointing. As a final film in the DCEU, I think everyone knows it wasn’t meant to be. It feels like The Flash was meant to be the final film but WB swapped the release dates with this movie because they thought it would be a smash summer hit (and boy did they bet on the wrong horse). However, there are still things that I genuinely loved about it. The effects and visuals are once again beautiful. Not quite as majestic as the first film but it’s still just as creative. The costuming is once again outstanding (ESPECIALLY for Black Manta). Patrick Wilson is MUCH better in this movie as Ocean Master. He and Jason Momoa have genuinely great chemistry and Wilson is really likable and charming in the part. Black Manta is also a great villain. It’s great to see Aquaman actually go up against his archenemy from the comics as opposed to the first film where he was really just a side villain. I’m glad that even though Joker, Lex Luthor and Cheetah were all butchered in the DCEU, Aquaman’s nemesis was done justice. Overall, I’m glad I saw this movie. I give it a low 7/10.

DCEU's Aquaman And His Lost Sense Of Direction That Remains (I Think, Perhaps, Now Is A Good Time He Should Turn Over His Kingdom To Tortoise & Hare Krishna)!

This film was set up to fail from day one. Didn’t particularly like the first aquaman film anyway so no massive disappointment there. Although still surprisingly better than Argylle

Love the review but can't get used to they way you say "Aquaman"; sounds like you're saying "Acne man". It's the way you're pronouncing the first letter 'A'; should be a lower sound, like the word 'awe'.

Nah, couldn't enjoy this one. I predicted every single story element from the first 20 minutes, the emotional moments rung false this time around, and it didn't do much to develop the world nor characters. And I really enjoyed the first one.

Muuvie.

So this movie and The Flash were allowed to be released, but not Batgirl? Well, at least they're not doing well financially, so that's a plus.

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

They cancelled Batgirl for tax write off reasons. From all accounts post production work [effects pick up filming etc] needed to be done so it wasn't finished/releasable in it's current form. It's more comparable to 'Blue Beetle' as both were intended for HBO/TV rather than cinemas until policy changes [hence 'Blue Beetle' did get a theatrical release but didn't do very well] so were much lower budgets than Flash or Aquaman who needed to at least try and recoup that costs [and maybe contractually couldn't be shelved/moved to streaming]-although the Flash was such a flop it would have been cheaper to make it a tax write off! Not that I'm defending it as they should have let the filmmakers work be properly finished and shown to audiences rather than it being thrown away.

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

The whole 'Batgirl' project is a summation of DC's poor planning/decision making in a nut shell as it was designed for HBO Max, only to later decide to make theatrical films only [after spending an estimated $90 million on it] while having a Michael Keaton Batman cameo [for which he was allegedly paid $2 million] as set up for future events that never happened due to management changes.

@otaking3582

7 ай бұрын

@@jamesatkinsonja Yeah, I know about the whole tax write-off thing, but it's still really stupid that a movie with good test screenings was cancelled in favor of promoting objectively terrible actors like Ezra Miller Time and Amber Turd. If I were a federal law maker, I'd try to make tax write-offs on pieces of media to be abolished.

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

@@otaking3582 It was reported at the time that the feedback from the 'Batgirl' test screenings were pretty poor although I don't know if that was true [and it was stated that the workprint version shown had unfinished effects which didn't help] but whatever the reaction was, they should have finished it [and it featuring Brendan Fraser post his Oscar win would have attracted interest]. Agree with abolishing these kind of 'tax write off's as it's not fair on the people who work hard on these projects and the public don't get a chance to judge it for themselves.

@wjzav1971

7 ай бұрын

@@jamesatkinsonja I've heard that the "test screenings were poor" thing is not quite true. They were rather mediocre and the director had hoped to get some reshots to fix the film. He originally wanted to reshoot during production because he realized that the script was inconsistent but WB/DC said no.

Film brain bad movie beatdown on Dceu Movies to show why it didnt work

@jamesatkinsonja

6 ай бұрын

I'd imagine it would be more 'video essay' that then previous format given much of the issues were behind the scenes as much as what actually got made.

This is a minor thing but I was so happy that Aquaman killed the henchwoman, I can't stand that stupid trope where they have to bend over backwards to make sure the hero doesn't murder a woman but can murder thousands of men

Aquaman 2? How long ago was Aquaman 1? TWENTY EIGHTEEN? Dear shit, who even cares anymore?

I think people are so fed up with Comic Book adaptations by this point.

@christopherb501

7 ай бұрын

I hope not. Even if superheroes are presently played out, there ARE other genres, you know...

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

Films like 'The Batman', 'Guardian's 3' , Black Panther 2 and 'Spiderverse 2' have been critical and commercial hits in the last two years in fairness, but certainly there has been too many projects [especially with the MCU TV shows] and many were mediocre [and announcing the DC universe was being rebooted last year pretty much condemned the 2023 slate to irrelevance].

@wjzav1971

7 ай бұрын

As already said, "The Batman" and the Spiderverse movies have shown to be very successfull. Now, of course it could be that Batman and Spider-Man will just always be popular no matter what. But I think what does fall out of favor is the big interconnected franchise like the MCU because it has started to become convoluted and inconsistent. Audiences are probably also fed up with big epic movies with many explosions and Save-The-World plots and start to prefer smaller scale movies (Again, like The Batman). I think Superhero films can still be profitable if they are rather a one-of thing, make no grand attempt to interconnect in a big franchise and remain more small scale.

Please keep making bad movie beatdown 😂😂😂😂😂for

Even with the controversy surrounding Amber Heard, I did not care for Mera as a character, and the romance was pointless. Probably the most pointless romance in a superhero film.

@jamesatkinsonja

7 ай бұрын

I don't think anything could beat 'Batman and Robin' having Bruce Wayne dating Julie Madison [Elle MacPherson] who has about two lines in the film

@andrewklang809

7 ай бұрын

@@jamesatkinsonja I literally didn't even remember that character's name. At least I do remember "Chase Meridian", because it's memorably dumb. EDIT: I apologize. DOCTOR Chase Meridian.

but why is 'commentary' a positive for a super hero movie ? almost every single movie since at least the 80s talk about climate change, 'anti racism', minority representation, 'girls get it done', etc, hardly original, and how forced it is to jam 'messages' into everything, just feel forced and almost brainwashy as mostly young people see movies

@FilmBrain

6 ай бұрын

In the case of Aquaman, the eco message is a big part of the character, it isn't a shoehorned thing. I'd much rather have these films at least attempt to be about or do something than just be two hours of totally empty action scenes without any kind of investment. It comes from a place of watching too many comic book films that felt like they were just about nothing.

@ACougarSwagnum

6 ай бұрын

but the characters are maybe a good source of investment !!! imo thats like comics whole thing, i mean it just feels like the same message over and over when its another extremely generic liberal talking point that is almost hard to not find in major movies just seems so played out, like the whole 'girls get it done' thing imo, just feels like a lazy nothing burger of a thing to say in a movie so it might as well be nothing, i mean how many movies say that pollution is bad in the context of the entire ocean, there is no way that pollution makes even a fraction a percent of the sea floor what about the merfolk ? where do they put all their trash ??@@FilmBrain