Who's looking forward to Suicide Squad?

[JAG2955]

I sure am!

Here's why:

I am absolutely terrified of the new Batman v Superman movie. DC has the habit of taking the largest, most epic, series-spanning story arcs and trying to squeeze them into a single 2.5 hr movie. So let's see, we're going to combine the formation of the Justice League, complete with multiple new characters, the introduction of Lex Luthor, the creation of Doomsday/Death of Superman, and the Dark Knight Returns. Got all that?

Additional evidence:

The Green Lantern Movie abortion: let's introduce a character, then have him fight what in the comics was the biggest, baddest enemy that the universe had ever faced, then wrap it up in a few short hours.

Dark Knight Rises: Let's combine Knightfall, where Batman is paralyzed, No Man's Land, where Gotham is destroyed by an earthquake, and introduce Catwoman, and maybe sumdood who may be either Robin, Nightwing, or Batman himself.

Then every Superman movie, just about ever. I did enjoy Man of Steel, however.

Suicide Squad is a lesser known team. I have no clue who the antagonist is, and I don't believe that Joker is the main one. We're going to piece a lot of much shorter story arcs and origin stories together, blow a lot of stuff up, punch a lot of people in the face, and have some jokes. Done. Great trailers.

Even DC's animated films have gotten worse in the recent years. I have high hopes for The Killing Joke, supposedly releasing later this year.

[Langenator]

My wife wants to see it, because she likes Harley Quinn. She loved Deadpool, because, I'm not sure why. Probably potty humor and the fact that it doesn't take things too seriously. Other than that, she doesn't do superhero movies.

I generally don't do superhero movies, either, probably mostly because I never really did superhero comics. I saw the first two X-men, and Ironman I. (And I would totally go see The Tick if they made a movie.) I stopped X-men after the first two because I couldn't keep up with the characters they kept adding.

But I do agree with you on the tendency to try to cram way too much into 2+ hours. It detracts from enjoying the movie trying to keep track of everything, especially if you're not already familiar with the various back-stories.

Now, a Deadpool - Harley Quinn crossover? Anyone else down for that? (Yeah, I know, one's Marvel and the other's DC. I can dream, can't I?)

[The Wizard]

I'd watch a Deadpool-Harley Quinn crossover. My girlfriend liked Deadpool but I think it was because of the excessive amount of dude ass in it.

[Netpackrat]

I guess you aren't referring to these guys.

[Jericho941]

Not really, here.

Honestly it looks aimed exclusively at 13-year-olds who think Hot Topic is great. The cringe-inducing marketing about how "Jared Leto IS the freaking Joker dudes" only reinforces this assumption. It's PG-13 for crying out loud.

To put it another way, when even Tumblr thinks your drama is forced, it's never a good sign.

[Aesop]

You've got to be kidding.

Hollywood doesn't do comic book movies; 9 times out of 10 they totally suck $#!^. (Actually, it's worse than that, but I'm rounding in their favor.)
Metric fucktons of craptastic Batman movies - really all of them until the Dark Knight trilogy, a couple of decent Superman movies back when Christopher Reeve could walk upright, one tolerable Spiderman, and two out of three decent MIB flicks, until Marvel finally cracked the code with the prequels that turned into and interwove the Avengers (and between Guardians of the Galaxy, and the upcoming Avengers sequel, I think they're about 1mm away from jumping the shark and nuking the fridge with that whole thing too).
On the other side, we have, in addition to the above-noted trainloads of horrible, such rotten tripe as Phantom, Daredevil,Green Lantern, Green Hornet, and on and on.

Pass.

Call me when they write an actual original story, or figure out how to do another dozen good Shakespeare movies out of the 25 that have never yet been filmed (Kenneth Branagh, call your office), write a decent Bond flick, or break Jar Jar Abrams' legs before he "re-boots" some other beloved cinematic series all over the floor, like a freshman frat pledge after his first beer bust.
Next, for the love of St. Charles Laughton and His Holiness Spencer Tracy, let's all pledge that the next director who re-envisions a cinematic classic like "Psycho" or "True Grit" and burps it out on the screen will be relentlessly hunted down, beheaded, and found in the morning with his head in his lap, and his severed genitals sticking out of his mouth, pour encourager les autres. And not just metaphorically.

And anyone that can't make a comic book movie at least as good as Iron Man or Avengers should be sentenced to banishment from films forever, relegated to working solely for the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon doing shows for 5-year-olds, until they either die of a heart attack or from drinking until they go blind and stroke out.

Just saying.
[/rant]

[Steamforger]

You've got to be kidding.

Hollywood doesn't do comic book movies...........

You just wanna suck the joy out of everything.

[JustinR]

Deadpool was enjoyable. A little thin on plot, but supposedly they were working on a very tight budget, and from that standpoint they pulled it off wonderfully. And, Inara shows lots of skin....ahem. I've never read any of the comics, so I don't have any basis to judge the character's accuracy.

Suicide squad looks fun, but with only a PG-13 rating, it makes me wonder. We'll see.

image.jpeg

[Aesop]

You've got to be kidding.

Hollywood doesn't do comic book movies...........

You just wanna suck the joy out of everything.

I don't have to; Hollywood does it for me.
Despite working in the biz for over two decades, I spend my own time and money to see movies. My expectation is that they won't squander either.
I know about the compromises necessary when you're shooting something with a 4/5/6-figure budget. BTDT, got the t-shirts. Literally.
There are, however, zero excuses on a movie where the budget was 7/8/9 figures. That would be virtually all of them in the last thirty years. A "Million-Dollar-Movie" was a blockbuster, growing up. Now it's a low-budget skank flick.

Given that, I go expecting, at minimum, a B-movie experience.
When I see mounds of unredeemed rose fertilizer, made on budgets that would fund banana republics for a year, and I don't even need to strain myself to identify them, they're doing it wrong.

The Full Monty was made for a total budget of <US$1M. Monty Python & The Quest For The Holy Grail was shot, essentially, on the credit cards of the stars, in the very low six-figures. The former grossed $258M; the latter made more just in the latest theatrical re-release than what it cost to make back in 1975.
Star Trek: Into Dorkness had a published budget of $190M (which means they spent approximately at least double that, once you add advertising/promotion costs. And the studio only gets back half of the gross, because of distribution deals. It means they never broke even, worldwide, and if they ever do, it'll only be after BD/DVD sales. But probably never, ever, ever.
Daredevil was equally as bad.
The Green Hornet? Atrocious. $120M out, doubled, means they spent $240 on making and promoting it. Probably a quarter BILLION.
Half the total gross is $113M. So they're out >$100M. Oh, and it sucked ass, just to keep things real.
I could make 10 decent movies for just what they pissed away on that POS, and any one of those ten could actually be great. Maybe more.

And somewhere around 40 million man hours were wasted by people watching the damned thing, which in perspective, is more than it took to get 12 guys walking on the surface of the moon, and back.

Having a studio is a responsibility in that respect, and if an NFL team sent the same quality of coaches and players onto the field week in and week out that Hollywood studios hire to produce, direct, and star in movies, the fans wouldn't be throwing rotten eggs and fruit at games, they'd be throwing Molotovs and pipe bombs. They probably should anyways.

I used to see 40-80 movies a year. Now I probably see <10. And even then, even those ten suck whale dicks more than 50% of the time.
I'm actually pleasantly surprised when they don't shoot the entire thing out their asses, and I can actually recommend that anyone else invest the time and $$ to go see one on the big screen. It's like finding a diamond in a hog wallow full of pig shit.
And unlike maybe 50% of America, this is my take, from someone who loves the medium (it's the quintessentially American art form), and likes the industry, on average.

[JAG2955]

If all those movies suck that bad and lose money, how does Hollywood stay in business? Kickbacks from the liberals in government?

Anyways, Suicide Squad looks good to me. We're going to see a live-action adaptation of Harley Quinn, and the actress who is playing her looks like she did her crazy homework. Adding in Amanda Waller (the only fat person in the DC Animated Universe), and we can go all kinds of awesome from there. Project Cadmus, ties to Luthor, Project Batman Beyond, etc. Please, please, please, make a GOOD full-length feature film on Batman Beyond.

This is conjecture, but if you look at some of the possible evidence, this version of the Joker may be Jason Todd, which would tie it in awesomely well with the Batman v Superman movie (which I still think will suck big rocks off the ground).

[Steamforger]

I guess my Rocket Raccoon quote slipped past ya.

I use the Howard Taylor metrics, based on whether or not I had fun. I almost universally avoid theaters, mostly because the closest one with any substance is over an hour away and I usually threaten to punt a phone into a place a teenager will have a difficult time extracting it. Generally, I just wait for things to hit Itunes. I made an exception for SW:TFA simply because I was back in the NOLA area and could get to one. Yes, it was a flawed, virtual rewrite of ANH, but I had fun watching it. I'll probably pick it up on Itunes, but we'll see.

Palsy-Cam aside, I enjoyed the new Star Treks for the same reason. A fun couple of hours of escapism. Pretty much what it said on the tin and I went in looking for not much else. GOTG was was of the most fun things I'd seen in years.

This works for just about most flicks. I'm not looking for anything to ooo and ahhh over, though it happens from time to time.

[Aesop]

If all those movies suck that bad and lose money, how does Hollywood stay in business? Kickbacks from the liberals in government?

Because over time, they have a virtually unlimited revenue stream based on nearly a century's prior output, including syndicated television, which is nearly 100% studio-produced, all of which continues to make sales both for retail and for broadcast.
Even Batman & Robin or Waterworld may someday eek out a slight profit, it's just that you and I will be 50 years dead by that date.
They also don't lose money on everything, but the movies mentioned were huuuuuge hits to the waterline. It takes 10-20 average movies with a modest profit to underwrite those tentpole blockbuster flops. That's why pirating and copyright violation is such a big deal to the biz: it kills movies now, and for all time, with is a slash to Hollywood's jugular.

If you want to get a much better idea how a given studio is doing, halve the reported gross totals of their movies, double the reported budgets, and see what you get. Disney, e.g., bought the entire media universe because they had everything Walt made from 1923-1965 inclusive to bankroll the effort. Eisner's genius was to figure out that by putting the classics out on media rather than only do a theatrical release would pay generational dividends, esp. because the media changes on almost the same 7-year rotation they used to re-release theatrically (VHS>DVD>BD>next gen).
The industry's stocks and annual reports are a joke, because even Wall Street knows Hollywood uses accounting standard practices that would get regular company CEOs and CFOs thrown in prison (and then the feds would throw away the prison) if they tried them in the real world.

[HTRN]

If you want to understand why Hollywood turns out such crap, just go watch the Kevin Smith talk about his attempt to write a superman script..

[Jericho941]

If you want to understand why Hollywood turns out such crap, just go watch the Kevin Smith talk about his attempt to write a superman script..

It's illuminating.

[dfwmtx]

Maybe it's a good thing we never saw a Kevin Smith Superman. Would've been 75% talk, 1.2% action, and 100% fanboy discussions as we see in Kevin Smith's "Comic Book Men". I think the only reason that show has ratings is the people too lazy to switch the channel after The Walking Dead finishes up.

[Weetabix]

I'd watch a Deadpool-Harley Quinn crossover. My girlfriend liked Deadpool but I think it was because of the excessive amount of dude ass in it.

I enjoyed Deadpool, but I don't remember the dude ass - I self filter for stuff like that. I liked the wise-cracking, the fourth wall breaking (or 16), and the (not excessive enough) amount of Morena Baccarin. Leslie Uggams made me laugh, too.

[JAG2955]

If you want to understand why Hollywood turns out such crap, just go watch the Kevin Smith talk about his attempt to write a superman script..

It's illuminating.

Is that the guy who wanted the villain to be a giant spider? Or do I have to watch a 9 minute video to find out?

[JAG2955]

Okay, I watched both 9 minute videos. I was right.

The solution to this is to have Joss Whedon direct and produce every superhero movie from here on. He will then use his billions to start up Firefly Season 2. I will be willing to play Summer Glau's love interest, and Adam Baldwin and I can shoot guns between takes.

[Aesop]

Adam Baldwin is a little busy.
I'm hoping somewhere in Season 3 the writers find an excuse to slip Nathan Fillion or Ron Glass into an episode.

[tcourtplayer]

Adam Baldwin is a little busy.
I'm hoping somewhere in Season 3 the writers find an excuse to slip Nathan Fillion or Ron Glass into an episode.

Several members of the Firefly cast have already had parts on Fillions current show Castle including Baldwin in a couple of them as a reoccurring character.

[JAG2955]

Wife and I watched Batman v Superman. We're both pretty big comic book fans.

We didn't hate it. It was good, but the editing was terribly choppy. They didn't do a very good job of character introduction on Wonder Woman or Lex Luthor.

I really think that the writers and directors of DC comic movies go on Amazon, purchase the most popular DC story arcs, binge-read them over the weekend, then throw together a script Sunday night while chugging Red Bulls.

Let's see, all this was in B v S:
Introduction of new characters, Lex, Wonder Woman, and Robin (we see his costume, though he's dead. No spoiler, it's in the trailer)

Spoiler! :

Story arcs were: The Dark Knight Returns, Death of Superman (called it, accidentally), formation of the Justice League, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Final Crisis. Maybe I'm even missing some more.

Other characters introduced: Doomsday, Darkseid, Cyborg, Flash, and Aquaman. And I'm trying to figure out if Lex (Alexander, as seen on the invitation) is supposed to be Alexander Luthor from Final Crisis.

If you're on the fence about seeing this, or just plain hate Batman, let me say this: He kills the shit out of a lot of people in this movie, but it's not overt. He uses plenty of guns. And the dream sequence is how Batman should always be portrayed.

[Weetabix]

So has anyone seen Suicide Squad in theaters?

Is it worth seeing if one just likes comic book movies in general but doesn't read comic books?

Maybe more importantly, would you see it with 18 and 24-year-old daughters who like comic book movies?

[JustinR]

I did get to go see it about two weeks ago. It was entertaining and worth seeing, and I would guess your daughters would enjoy it.

For people like me that aren't familiar with any of the characters, it does an acceptable job of introducing and giving the backstory on some of the characters, and a horrible job on others. But that aside, I didn't feel like I wasted my money or time.

Spoiler! :

Was it as spectacular as the trailers made it out to be? Not really. Honestly, Leto as the Joker was a big let down for me. The most interesting part of the movie was actually the main protagonist IMHO.

[HTRN]

Is it worth a redbox rental? Yes.
Is it worth the nuisance of the theater and 1w dollar ticket Prices? No.

[rightisright]

Haven't seen Suicide Squad and the last comic book I read was Archie in 1976. That wacky Jughead!

But I give a hearty two thumbs up to Deadpool. It was funny, creatively gave a good deal of info on the backstory to the non-geek and Morena Baccarin was a solid 10 on the Schwing Factor. I'll check out Suicide Squad when it comes to DVD because Margot Robbie is a solid 9 on the Schwing Factor. However, the unibrow chick does nothing for me.

[JAG2955]

It wound up being "just okay", to the wife and I. The character back stories were terribly lacking, except for three of them (Pyro, Deadshot, Harley Quinn). I wish that they would have gone more in depth into the back stories, and I would have cared a lot more. Characters like Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc got nothing as far as development goes.

We do get to see a quick shot of the Flash, though. Looks good.

The best part:

Spoiler! :

Was seeing that what Harley Quinn really wanted was simply to be with the Joker, and have a family. We postulated that she is still partially sane, and while she really wanted the family, she was willing to be whatever she had to be to stay with Joker.

The worst part:

Spoiler! :

WTF, Amanda Waller? You're supposed to be a dirtbag bureaucrat, not a homicidal murderer. Not sure what I thought about her interaction with Bruce Wayne, either.

[HTRN]

Boomerang was probably the biggest disappointment, after reading what the director said to the actor ("release your inner shitbag"), and what the early part of the film hinted at, only for it to turn into the dead shot and harley show ("guest starring depressed pyromaniac, El Diablo"). Killer croc, boomerang, and parkour guy were basically forgotten, along with Kahana widow..

[Weetabix]

Haven't seen Suicide Squad and the last comic book I read was Archie in 1976. That wacky Jughead!

But I give a hearty two thumbs up to Deadpool. It was funny, creatively gave a good deal of info on the backstory to the non-geek and Morena Baccarin was a solid 10 on the Schwing Factor.

Agreed. But I didn't take my daughters to it, and I told them not to go.

[dfwmtx]

Boomerang was probably the biggest disappointment, after reading what the director said to the actor ("release your inner shitbag"), and what the early part of the film hinted at, only for it to turn into the dead shot and harley show ("guest starring depressed pyromaniac, El Diablo"). Killer croc, boomerang, and parkour guy were basically forgotten, along with Kahana widow..

I think early test screening must've influenced that. Tits and Will Smith; a combo that can't do wrong (except for tits on Will Smith, like in 'Wild, Wild West').

[Jericho941]

Apparently it was hacked apart and repeatedly reshot.

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

[Kommander]

Good to see another RLM fan here.

As for this movie I don't have a ton of intrest. In fact I can't bring myself to really care much at all about any of the post Nolan DC films.

[JAG2955]

Extended edition was just announced. Release date is 11/15.

I hope it doesn't suck.

[Greg]

I finally saw this movie a few days ago.

My but it was awful. What a joyless, unpleasant way to spend time I will never get back.

Though the actress who played H.Q. is astonishingly attractive, despite every effort to make her not so (the costumes, makeup, tats, etc) and the fact that she's too slender for my usual taste.

[Steamforger]

I finally saw this movie a few days ago.

My but it was awful. What a joyless, unpleasant way to spend time I will never get back.

Though the actress who played H.Q. is astonishingly attractive, despite every effort to make her not so (the costumes, makeup, tats, etc) and the fact that she's too slender for my usual taste.

/coughWolfofWallStreetcough/

[Greg]

I finally saw this movie a few days ago.

My but it was awful. What a joyless, unpleasant way to spend time I will never get back.

Though the actress who played H.Q. is astonishingly attractive, despite every effort to make her not so (the costumes, makeup, tats, etc) and the fact that she's too slender for my usual taste.

/coughWolfofWallStreetcough/

To go on about Margot Robbie a bit..... I've looked at a bunch of pictures of her online recently, out of curiosity.

When she's doing more 'glamour' shots, she's kind of elegant yes but also icy and vaguely unpleasant in a kind of Joan Crawford way. But when she SMILES? Oh good gracious, have mercy on my poor weak heart.

I have a weakness for women who light up when they smile, like that. Fallen for several of them, married one.