By Hera! Come anticipate the WONDER WOMAN movie with me!

Captain America not punching any Nazis was the lamest and shittiest part of the movie. I think there's a way to do it that's, if not "tasteful," sort of within a genre that I don't think induces pain in audiences descended from victims of the Nazis. Raiders of the Lost Ark just about pulls it off, and I think it works because it's a comic movie with considerably more heft, oomph, and belief in its comic book cast than most of the recent ones, and because it's by a Jewish director who relates to the war in part through growing up on comic books and pulp serials. The closest he can get to expressing his anger at the regime is through this character and his cartoonishly solid punches, and the audience cheering when all the Nazis get blown away by the Jewish god.

I will say I loved the way they had Cap in a badly-received USO troupe deal - that was a pretty cool, fresh way to set it in-period. I thought they could have built from that to real Nazi-fighting, in a way that speaks to the most optimistic view of why someone like Steve Rogers would want to sign up for the war: to stop the Nazis. But then once he's actually out there fighting, it's against faceless, bloodless, PG-13 Hydra goons --- and alongside a history-rewriting integrated army unit. That's when it actually feels tacky and trivializing... the war is just a convenient backdrop to the disappointing, underwritten story. If they do that with Wonder Woman then yeah, it's dumb. If it turns into Paths of Glory, where the war's real inhumanity is pushed front and center, then you might have something. I would probably settle for some in-between like Raiders but I'm not sure anybody involved has a WW1 hook as strong as Spielberg's WW2 hook, to give it a real soul energizing the popcorn silliness.

http://2015wubucket.s3.amazonaws.com/giantape.jpg

too bad the movie isn't using this plotline

saving it for second-sequel crossover with the Kong Cinematic Universe, obv.

Kong ain't got nothing on Gorilla Grodd

https://twitter.com/Gotham/status/859215268572143616

...

This is the first Snyderverse movie that I might see, but I'm sure as shit waiting for the reviews to come in first.

that trailer don't sit good w/ me for reasons I can't rly put my finger on

Well we're almost a week out. Supposedly good buzz? Seeing it next Thursday evening in any event.

My comic book nerd friend made a good observation. The trailers are light and fun and funny, but ... something super dark has to happen at the end of this to make her vanish until Batman v. Superman, right? He figured that plus the WWI setting may mean this movie is more grim than they are letting on.

Yup, pretty much. I'm guessing Chris Pine dies heroically, the British steal Themysciran technology to create the atom bomb, something to that effect

It has to be bad enough to make her vanish for decades.

yeah i know i am excited about the major bummer too guys

Maybe she learns that the invisible jet doesn't actually exist, and that her mom just made it up?

;_;

Let's keep this upbeat - maybe she just goes on a long, long, evil-fighting mission to Mars, setting up an in-between pre-sequel where we see her battling Martians, completing the underground infrastructure to replace their canals, setting up a future Martian Manhunter franchise series, etc. It could be loosely adapted from Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams, with a bit of Sky Captain - a secret mission on a Deco-era diesel-powered spaceship piloted by Amelia Earhart, featuring a supporting cast of Roaring Twenties luminaries whose estates do not possess defensible likeness rights. Could be great!

However, this would also probably require that in a few years, when they reboot Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, they would have Wonder Woman make specific reference to her Martian adventure and how it's good to be back on Earth and so on. Kinda like Superman Returns. If needed, the difference between Earth and Mars gravity could also explain her getting stronger/weaker, whatever best serves the next few films in the franchise.

Alamo Drafthouse is holding 'no boys allowed!' screenings. Men are taking it predictably well.

They can't do separate men-only screenings, they'd have to dryclean the place afterward.

Anyway this is pretty great

http://jezebel.com/wonder-woman-worships-wonder-woman-1795577285

I should also note, though, this thing is over two and a half hours long, which, why.

I'll take a couple of hours considering the absurd lack of female superhero movies.

two stars from the guardian; this paragraph suggests that the things i thought were most likely to cause problems (the setting, gal gadot's acting) are indeed problems:

But there’s something rather distasteful about co-opting trench warfare as the backdrop to a sanitised, hyper-stylised fantasy. I couldn’t help thinking of Kendall Jenner’s disastrous “protest chic” Pepsi ad. And when Gadot is called upon to communicate the horrors of war moments later, reeling around dazed and confused in a haze of orange poison gas, it’s a moment of Zoolander-esque silliness that brings home how weightless the whole story has become. Gadot is entirely credible as the embodiment of Amazonian perfection, but there’s only so much emotion her concerted brow-furrowing can convey.

also it looks like there's a lot of snyder-esque slowing down and speeding up of the action sequences, boooooo

Gadot's widely praised in the other reviews though, often as the highlight of the movie

There is a long, proud history of accented action heroes of dubious acting abilities. Wonder Woman ain't getting cast for her acting chops.

I feel like directors should remember these movies are supposed to be for kids but I guess my taste is for the campy 60's era

also it looks like there's a lot of snyder-esque slowing down and speeding up of the action sequences, boooooo

Oh brother, was there.

(And yes, consider the rest of this post a spoiler, you are warned, but I'll try and keep it vague enough.)

Anyway, saw it just now. I will say first that my partner loved it, with reservations, but was definitely appreciative of a full gender inversion flip in terms of hero's journey/Bond style plotting, if you like. She also appreciated the hard physical work Gadot clearly had to put into the role, CG assists notwithstanding, and was also down with Robin Wright, David Thewlis and Ewen Bremner in particular.

As for me, two things I'd fix -- first, WAY too long, plenty of scenes/sequences could have been chopped down some and conveyed the same point. Felt almost like a home-release extended cut. Second, some really bizarre as fuck tonal shifts throughout, which I honestly couldn't tell was due to uneven scripting or uneven acting or both. And honestly I wouldn't fault Gadot much for that, since I think she was stuck with some really strange shifts in particular. The humor was the humor, Chris Pine was kinda perfect for this as the brash/confused bro.

The larger problem there was the one noted by the Guardian -- it's *realllly* trying hard to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to the setting and the theme ("War, war is stupid and people are stupid," per Boy George, and yet love and tragic selflessness conquers all, conveniently). The history buff in me couldn't turn off my brain enough to let the riff on the WWI scenario be what it was, but hell, I bought weird-ass shiftings of history with Inglourious Basterds so maybe that's my own fault. The Germans might as well be cartoon Nazis for the most part (and the 'let's all be friends under a new dawn' ending felt really off as a result), and there's a couple of 'how quickly can we bend over backwards and acknowledge, say, that American history isn't a cakewalk either and then not talk about it again' bits, of course.

That all said: yeah, probably the best of the DC films in the current cycle if only by default, would be fine with seeing it again. Opening sequence was striking enough, big showdown ending was serviceable/typical -- lots of shit gets thrown around/blown up/etc -- but there's a sequence in the middle which, caveats aside (sooooooo much fast/slow/fast there, plus the trench warfare setting) that was kinda worth the price of admission. You want Wonder Woman as a one-woman hyperwarrior badass, that would be it in spades.

these movies are supposed to be for kids

they are not. kids don't have any money. these movies are for man-babies, because they have money.

that being said I'm considering taking my daughter to see this but idk

My friends who've seen it hae been unanimous: more good than bad, especiaally the Gadot-Pine chemistry, way too many action sequences.

should also note, though, this thing is over two and a half hours long, which, why.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, May 26, 2017

see THIS is why I'm hesitating (and why I couldn't be bothered to attend a critic's screening).

jfc really? ugh

i'm surprised when i see that one of these things runs under two hours, everyone wants to make these movies as long as Heat now.

That seems to be typical for the DC movies.

Man of Steel - 143 minutes
Batman vs. Superman - 151 minutes
Suicide Squad - 123 minutes

I don't get it. I'm usually checking the time around 90 minutes in even for movies I'm enjoying.

especiaally the Gadot-Pine chemistry

Yeah, they work well together.

The length of the film wouldn't have been improved by cutting out whole sequences, they just needed to trim some of those sequences down. (It's not a case of 'too many action sequences' as it is more 'didn't this bit already end?')

that being said I'm considering taking my daughter to see this but idk

So long as she's okay with a couple of sex and dick jokes in the opening third.

I feel it is necessary to make you all read this line from Edelstein's review (http://www.vulture.com/2017/06/movie-review-wonder-woman-is-a-star-turn-for-gal-gadot.html).

It was worth waiting for Gadot.

I just

"Well, shall we pun?"

So long as she's okay with a couple of sex and dick jokes in the opening third.

2 1/2 hrs, dick jokes, weird presentation of violent military conflict = y'know, for kids!

yeah I'm not seeing this

what about your daughter?

She has already booked several showings.

I'm not sure she is even aware this movie exists!

these movies are for man-babies, because they have money.

― Οὖτις, Friday, June 2, 2017 9:10 AM (thirty minutes ago)

wonder woman is for all the babies

hold up i'm a man-baby but I'm fuckin skint tbh #notallmanbabies

lol @ hashtag

saw a tweet from Joss Whedon saying its good! He's totally unbiased.

Joss Whedon Joins DC for a Batgirl Movie, and More News - Rotten ...
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/.../joss-whedon-joins-dc-for-a-batgirl-movie-and-...
Mar 31, 2017 - WB wants Jordan Peele for Akira, Disney wants Beyonce for The Lion King, Aaron Sorkin wants to write superhero stories, and Fox still wants to remake Escape from New York. ... AVENGERS DIRECTOR JOSS WHEDON TO SWITCH TEAMS FOR DC’S BATGIRL. ... Obviously, WB/DC shouldn’t outright copy ...

DC Joss Whedon Replacing Zack Snyder as Justice ... - Comic Book
comicbook.com/dc/2017/05/22/joss-whedon-justice-league-zack-snyder/
May 22, 2017 - It's not a joke, The Avengers 1 & 2 director Joss Whedon will be replacing Zack Snyder on Justice League, after Snyder Announced he's leaving to deal with a family tragedy. The tragedy in question is a massive one: Snyder's daughter, Autumn, took her own life in March, at the age ...

At one point Whedon was going to direct this, years ago. He seemed like a perfect fit.

Spoiler heavy but some very good thoughts here in this discussion from the women writers at io9

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-wonder-woman-analysis-by-the-women-of-io9-1795760084

that idiot from the new york times liked this a lot.