DC's Aquaman

[sh9000]

Looks like Moana’s dad.  

[tekering]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

Looks like Moana’s dad.  

Sounds like him, too.  

[TangledThorns]

13 minutes ago, tekering said:

Sounds like him, too.  

Heh, thought he sounded more like Boba Fett.

On a side note my step-dad is from the same town as Temuera Morrison in Rotorua, New Zealand. He was also part Maori too. Rotorua is where you go for the Maori experience in New Zealand. 

[sh9000]

 

[Old_Nash]

Great news for Warner/DC

https://www.comicbookmovie.com/aquaman/aquaman-takes-119m-from-early-china-screenings-best-dc-preview-since-batman-v-superman-update-a165176

[kajnrig]

This randomly showed up in my feed today. Seems to be... good news?

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/aquaman-reviews-roundup-critics-1203087217/

Reviews of DC’s “Aquaman” vary between feelings of surprise and disappointment. Some critics are applauding director James Wan’s strong re-imagining of a previously stale character, while others are harping on DC’s inability to stack up against rival Marvel — but most are just relieved the film isn’t an all-out flop. There are virtually no qualms about Jason Momoa’s performance, which is widely acknowledged to be a vast improvement on the old Aquaman, who was more akin to “SpongeBob’s” Mermaid Man than a DC hero. The bigger problems, critics say, are its unnecessary length and overstuffed plot.

[Dynaman]

> who was more akin to “SpongeBob’s” Mermaid Man than a DC hero.

Since Mermaid Man was a riff on the Superfriends Aquaman that is a bit of a silly statement.

[TangledThorns]

OK, Jason Momoa leading a Haka is bad ass. My late step dad is Maori.

 

[kajnrig]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/12/15/box-office-aquaman-grinch-fantastic-beasts-ralph-breaks-internet-creed-wonder-woman-black-panther/amp/

tl;dr - Aquaman has made ~$170 million in China alone in 2 weeks, and $200m worldwide. On par financially with Wonder Woman, Black Panther in that region.

[eXis10z]

It's really quite good among all of DCU's entries.

Edited December 16, 2018 by eXis10z

[kajnrig]

...sigh.

I'm glad for those of you who liked it and I'll leave it at that.

[azrael]

Dialog was annoyingly corny at times. Editing made the movie all over the place. Visuals were good, especially the monsters (which is James Wan's domain). Not the worst but definitely not the best. 

[jvmacross]

Saw it.  It's OK.  

So this movie takes place after Justice League?

[Old_Nash]

19 hours ago, jvmacross said:

Saw it.  It's OK.  

So this movie takes place after Justice League?

Yep^^

[Thom]

Good movie! Loved the actions and cast interactions, they all did top notch in my book. Aquaman is now my 2nd fav DC movie after WW.

[seti88]

Visual spectacle! I would go see this movie just to see the underwater cities and scenes..it’s very imaginative and the designs of everything underwater are top notch.

And yes this is a intro befitting a king of Atlantis!

Enjoyable movie to watch..and nicole ....she must have eaten a lot of fish cod oil cos she looks amazing...

And black manta pulling off a stark vibe! black manta merch would be awesome...esp if sideshow does him properly...

Edited December 25, 2018 by seti88

[anime52k8]

Saw it for Christmas, loved it. Wonder woman was perhaps objectively better but I enjoyed this more. Compared to marvel movies I'd put it at about an antman.

:edit:

 

Oh, and Amber heralds red hair is my new favorite thing.

Edited December 25, 2018 by anime52k8

[Convectuoso]

On 12/24/2018 at 6:15 PM, Thom said:

Aquaman is now my 2nd fav DC movie after WW.

Above the Dark Knight trilogy? 

 

Just saw Aquaman at the movie theater. It was good, a lot better than BvS or JL, but DC is still very far from the  Marvel movies. 

[Mazinger]

2 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Above the Dark Knight trilogy?  

Wait a minute, is anybody lumping in the Dark Knight Trilogy with the post-Nolan DCU?

I’m certainly not. That would be like combining a show about transforming bikes with one about transforming planes just because they had things that transformed.

[kajnrig]

2 minutes ago, Mazinger said:

Wait a minute, is anybody lumping in the Dark Knight Trilogy with the post-Nolan DCU?

I’m certainly not. That would be like combining a show about transforming bikes with one about transforming planes just because they had things that transformed.

With the Dark Knight trilogy overlapping with the end of the "old era" of superhero movies and the beginning of both the MCU and DCEU, it can understandably be confusing to place it. For my part, I consider it its own thing and begin making direct MCU/DCEU comparisons from their respective beginnings, ca. 2007 for the MCU and ca. 2011 for the DCEU.

I find myself more often comparing it in my head to the Sam Raimi Spider-Mans than anything else. IIRC, SM2 and Batman Begins came out around the same time.

[blackconvoy_D01]

I saw it twice and neither time did I check my watch like I did for BvS in the theater. I thought it was enjoyable and fast paced. Loved Mera. Good steps in the right direction.

[Thom]

On 12/25/2018 at 10:07 PM, Convectuoso said:

Above the Dark Knight trilogy? 

 

Just saw Aquaman at the movie theater. It was good, a lot better than BvS or JL, but DC is still very far from the  Marvel movies. 

Yes. I wasn't thinking about TDKT in comparison, but yes I would put it above Nolan's Dark Knight. Mostly though because they feel like they belong in different categories. Wonder Woman, Aquaman, MoS, JL all feel more fantastical than real, whereas TDKT is more 'real' than fantasy, if that's not too confusing... Different ends of the spectrum, for me anyway.

[anime52k8]

On 12/25/2018 at 7:07 PM, Convectuoso said:

Above the Dark Knight trilogy?

 

I've never felt the desire to own any of the Nolan movies but I want to get Aquaman in 4k. make of that what you will.

[sh9000]

I still need to check out this movie.  It’s cool that there’s a scene with Depeche Mode playing in the background.

[anime52k8]

TBH, I was so blown away by the out of nowhere Pitbull remix of Africa that I retained absolutely nothing else about the soundtrack.

:edit:

seriously it's just so cringy and stupid and perfect in the moment.

 

Edited January 1, 2019 by anime52k8

[Bolt]

Saw this last night. It was my girlfriends idea. I never really considered it , DC movies have been more than disappointing . But this was very well done. Great on the big screen and fully engaging. 

[Lexomatic]

Yes, it's largely the same plot as the OAV Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015) (IMDb, DC Universe) but several characters have happier endings.

I'm kinda sorry action movies demand so many fight set pieces -- I'd've watched the heck out of further meet-cutes between Arthur and Mera, Arthur and his fan club, Mera and small children. Perfect casting re: Arthur at earlier ages. The Sicily sequence felt kinda Power Rangers.

Nice that Arthur wasn't uniquely durable, as seen when Mera exits the plane; his special power is pisco-telepathy. During the "fall of Atlantis" sequence, I looked closely for Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Disney 2000) Easter eggs (wardrobe, people with white hair). It seems the ancestral Atlantean surface-human stock somehow speciated (fish-people, crab-people, toothy-horror-people) -- purposeful geneering or just really unstable genetics? The movie notes that only the "high-born" can breathe air -- which neatly explains the face-hiding armor for mooks. There must be some reason they decided to keep their civilization underwater rather than reclaim the surface -- maybe their limitless power supply Ferris wheel, and wireless transmission thereof, works only at high pressure? Atlantis has powered vehicles and beasts of burden, some of which are whales? (Which don't seem to be wearing scube gear.) (FWIW, there have been SF explanations of Atlantis at least since the Buck Rogers newspaper strip of the 1930s.)

They somehow made the Ocean Master regalia (here: a formal title, not a villain-nom-de-plume) look cool. Mera's gown during the "ring of fire" sequence, with the physalia (*) collar and skirt -- did the animators forget to re-insert her legs? I'm getting heartily sick of holograms as the go-to cinematic interface modality (although its appeal is obvious -- shooting angle, cheaper than a physical panel, is inserted in post so defers decisions).

The putative timeline for Atlantis and King Atlan's clues is problematic -- The Sahara paleolake peaked in size 6,000 years ago, yet the statue garden in Sicily, featuring Marcus Agrippa, would've been erected in the past 2,000 years. Similarly, the three concurrent timelines (Orm's diplomatic efforts, Manta customizing his suit, Arthur and Mera's quest) don't seem compatible.

I like that the movie provides an explanation of Manta's sub in a throwaway line (a stolen USN stealth prototype), but it doesn't seem sufficiently capacious to contain that whole band of pirates, let alone the tools for Manta to adapt the Atlantean armor and plasma weapon. And --how? He wasn't consulting a manual and didn't have an Atlantean technician. The movie did not explain Mera's waterbending, nor give it a name ("magic"); it's just one of the willing-suspension-of-disbelief elements.

Thematic and aesthetic commonalities:

• "The Sword in the Stone" elements of the King Arthur legend (explicit with the infancy scene, but the Karathen acts as The Lady in the Lake)
• The Abyss (sea-dwellers summon huge coastal waves)
• Earth: Final Conflict (also inspired by blue-n-magenta bioluminescence)
• Harry Potter (during a school trip to an aquarium, Arthur discovers he can speak to fish)
• Black Panther (rival claimants to the throne, in ritual combat twice)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (the grand dame in patched-together castaway hunter gear)

(*) Physalia physalia is the binomial name of the Portuguese man o' war, and much shorter to type. Note: not a jellyfish.

Edited January 7, 2019 by Lexomatic
Add: tSitS, The Abyss, E:FC, , timelines, Manta's sub, adapting armor, waterbending.

[David Hingtgen]

The "Ant-Man and the Wasp" part was the one that stuck out the most to me, by far.  And yeah, I wondered where Mera's legs were in the not-jellyfish dress.  It didn't seem long enough to hide them, and I doubt she had them "tucked up inside, like a fetal-position-thing going on". 

Anyways---it's nothing less than awesome that I went to two movies in two weeks, that both had Dolph Lundgren in them. 

[sh9000]

We both enjoyed the movie.

[sh9000]

 

[Dynaman]

Just watched it, well some of it, on demand and both my wife and I were bored through the part we did see.  When we turned it off it still had 93 minutes left and it felt like it had been running forever up till that point.  I guess I'm getting too old to enjoy endless (CGI) fight scenes with a little cornball dialog thrown in.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I didn't like this movie at all.  I was laughing the whole time at how bad it was.  I wish I never started it.

[sh9000]

 

[Thom]

That was a good HT! Aquaman was just a really fun movie.

The Smoulder! Hail to the King, baby!

Now a good question is, will Amber Heard be in the sequel..?

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Thom

[Big s]

The movie is ok, but I think it’s the way it’s filmed that bugs me. It just has a case of too much bright cg that just doesn’t look right. I’m not sure what it is but it bugs my eyes for some reason. It is a far better movie than a crappie character like Aquaman deserves.