alive she cried Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 It's a while since I've read them. But I remember really enjoying Bendis', Ellis' and Millar's runs. Pretty much the only Fantastic Four I've been able to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) It has some good ideas (a lot of the pseudo-science explaining their powers is really interesting) but it's mostly just notable for having a Dr. Doom that's more of a boisterous asshole than the one we already know and love. I read all of the Ultimate-verse in one big lump and the only books I found to be worthwhile were Ultimate Spider-Man (beginning to end, a solid book) and Ultimate X-Men (though it declined sharply in quality once Bendis took over and even Brian K. Vaughn couldn't save it. Still some solid arcs on the back half but the Millar period was the best, which is weird for me to say because I've come to find almost everything he's written repugnant. He actually had some restraint here, though, maybe that's why I liked it) eeeeeverything else was just not very good. (Sorry guys, Ultimates is a dumb book and Ultimates 2 is even stupider, though they're both the best thing featuring The Ultimates in the entire line.) So in that respect, Ultimate Fantastic Four was probably the third best book in the line but it was an also-ran and all the cool stuff that happened with the characters Sue Storm becomes a badass, Ben Grim becomes ungodly powerful and human again, Reed Richards turns evil happened after it ended. The only thing worth transplanting from the series is the weird psuedo-science behind their powers, everything else is meh. Edited May 26, 2015 by Iambaytor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 It's a while since I've read them. But I remember really enjoying Bendis', Ellis' and Millar's runs. Pretty much the only Fantastic Four I've been able to read. I agree the early Ultimate F4 stuff was enjoyable and they were also the first F4 comics I read on a regular and continued basis. I got in to the proper Earth 610 F4 around Civil War and stuck with it regularly until around the time they killed off Johnny Storm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alive she cried Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 (edited) First wave of reviews are in, and man, they are not pretty. We weren't expecting the first reviews for Fantastic Four until tomorrow, but a number of sites have broken embargo and dropped their verdicts on the reboot early. Simply put, they don't have much nice to say about it! It's worth bearing in mind that all but one of these come from the trades, and they always tend to be pretty harsh on superhero movies. However, these aren't the same kind of mixed reviews we saw for Ant-Man last month; they're extremely harsh, with only the cast really emerging unscathed. The direction, screenplay, and special effects unfortunately aren't so lucky! We'll find out more about the movie tomorrow when even more reviews surface, but it so far sounds like Fantastic Four is as bad as many of you have suspected since the early days of production. With rumours of chaos behind the scenes and up to 40 pages worth of reshoots, this perhaps shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. If it ends up being a hit of course, reviews won't matter, but this could put that rumoured crossover with the X-Men in serious jeopardy. Are the rights heading back to Marvel? That remains to be seen! What do you think of these verdicts? But whatever strengths Fantastic Four has, it does not feel like a movie directed by Trank (who made such a striking debut with 2012's bold anti-superhero fable Chronicle) or for that matter by anyone. It's a muddled and underdeveloped origin story which segues jarringly from light-hearted adventure to heavy-handed grit, grasping for a gravitas that it hasn't earned. The biggest mistake here seems to have been trying to marry a dark and realistic tone with the story of four teenagers whose superpowers include transforming into rock, generating force fields and becoming very stretchy. While far from the unmitigated disaster some had predicted, Fantastic Four feels unlikely to kick-start a new franchise, barely sustaining the narrative steam to power itself through its modest 90-minute running time. SOURCE: Digital Spy A sense of heaviness, gloom and complete disappointment settles in during the second half, as the mundane set-up results in no dramatic or sensory dividends whatsoever. Even if lip-service is paid to some great threat to life on Earth as we know it, the filmmakers bring nothing new to the formula, resulting in a film that's all wind-up and no delivery. If the writers couldn't think of anything interesting to do with these characters in this first series reboot, they do nothing to inspire the viewer to expect they could do something exciting with a sequel. Beginning with Teller and Jordan, who have done such promising early work, the cast is utterly wasted here with mostly rote explanatory dialogue and little conflict or nuance to work on a dramatic level. And the visual style is in a dark, unattractive gloomy mode that infects every aspect of the film. Near the end, Teller's Reed comments on the status of the group's actions by proclaiming, “We opened this door, we're gonna close it.” The sooner the better. SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter After battling months of bad buzz about a troubled production and the need for reshoots, Fantastic Four emerges as a wounded animal of a superhero movie, only rarely showing flashes of the darker, more emotional breed of Marvel film it’s trying to be. Certainly, Fox’s rebooting of the franchise blessedly lacks the dopey irreverence of the 2005 version and its sequel, both directed by Tim Story, but Chronicle filmmaker Josh Trank struggles to balance an origin story, mediocre comic-book action, and a strained metaphor about dysfunctional families. A good cast led by Miles Teller gets swallowed up in a narrative that grows progressively more muddled and tedious. SOURCE: ScreenDaily Not helping matters is the sheer ugliness of the final battlefield; the digital fakery is so very obvious that it’s difficult to engage with their surroundings as an actual place. To its credit, the movie does a fine job of portraying Reed’s stretching, Ben’s craggy body and Sue’s force field. (Johnny, alas, suffers from having a very cartoony face when his flames are on.) With all this tedious Tinkertoy origin-story business out of the way, there could certainly be some entertaining “Fantastic Four” adventures in the future with this ensemble. Whether or not audiences will want to gamble another 100 minutes of their lives on subsequent chapters, however, is another matter entirely. SOURCE: The Wrap Ultimately, Fox’s stab at reviving one of its inherited Marvel properties feels less like a blockbuster for this age of comics-oriented tentpoles than it does another also-ran — not an embarrassment, but an experiment that didn’t gel. And having seemingly missed twice in trying to get “Fantastic Four” right, the studio, unlike Reed, might want to think seriously before making any more trips back to the drawing board...All told, the movie feels like a protracted teaser for a more exciting follow-up that, depending on whether audiences warm to this relatively low-key approach, might never happen. SOURCE: Variety Edited August 5, 2015 by alive she cried Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 (edited) Goddamn... also I read somewhere that Trank was alot of the problem though like showing up late to set and actually barely directed the thing, so who knows. Edited August 7, 2015 by Axels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 jesus, that's...sub Pixels level Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Cap'n 2099 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 *crosses fingers that the rights revert back* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Goddamn... also... I read somewhere that Trank was alot of the problem though like showing up late to set and actually barely directed the thing, so who knows. That RT score is fucking disheartening. I'm still seeing it tomorrow regardless, just so I can see my beardless mug on the big screen. As for the comments on Trank... I was in (technically) three scenes in that film and had no dialogue yet Josh Trank knew my name. If anything I'd say Trank boderline micromanaged the directing. One day of shooting was simply different actors walking in to the Baxter building for that boardroom scene you see in the second trailer.He told me and the two other speechless "board members" I was in my scenes with how he wanted us to walk out of the car and was super respectful and courteous to us. My last scene was with all the "big" actors (save for Jamie Bell/Thing) and there was a surprising amount of ego on set that day. None of it was coming from Trank though. Doom/Toby Kebbell was also really cool. Now let me be clear though, I was on set for maybe 5 days (It was over a year ago, so I'm having trouble remembering.) and it was near the end of the shoot. So maybe he was an absentee tyrant the rest of the time, but my experience was not that at all. I got the impression Trank was trying really hard to do his utmost to shoot exactly what he was seeing in his head. It is sad to say it seems the studio/producers took over in the editing room and didn't give his vision a chance to be shown. I'll end with this, I had the good fortune to work on three big budget film sets and a TV show last year, and this crew was by far (By far, I say!) the least friendly. Producers, PAs, ADs, hell, even the caterers exhibited varying levels of douchbagery. Wardrobe had some cool people though. And the one stunt guy I got to work with was interesting and funny, but he was indeed kind of a douche as well--just not to me, thankfully. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alive she cried Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I forgot you were an extra in this. Who was egoing it to the max? You can't just drop that and then walk on. We need details!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) Oh shit I forgot about all that too. I'd like to think that Trank did his best with what he was given. Fox seems to have random levels of quality when it comes to their Marvel properties. The mishmash of X-Men flicks is a good example, yet Deadpool looks amazing. I'm no movie maker though so *shrug*. I will say I kinda wanna see it now knowing a Hondonian is actually in the movie even for a sec. Welp here's the wikinopsis if you don't wanna see it. Childhood friends Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) have worked together on a prototype teleporter since their childhood, eventually attracting the attention of Professor Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey), director of the Baxter Foundation, a government-sponsored research institute for young prodigies. Reed is recruited to join them and aid Storm's children, scientist Sue Storm (Kate Mara) and technician Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), into completing a "Quantum Gate" designed by Storm's wayward protégé, Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell), who begrudgingly agrees to help due to his unrequited feelings for Sue. The experiment is successful, and the facility's supervisor, Dr. Allen (Tim Blake Nelson), assembles a group of astronauts to venture into a parallel dimension known as "Planet Zero". Disappointed at being denied the chance to join the expedition, Reed, Johnny, and Victor recruit Ben to help them commandeer the Quantum Gate and embark on an unsanctioned voyage to Planet Zero, which they learn is a world filled with otherworldly substances. Victor attempts to collect a sample of the substances, causing the entire structure they're in to collapse and the ground to erupt with green lava-like substance. Reed, Johnny, and Ben return to their shuttle just as Sue brings them back to Earth. Victor is left behind after he falls into the collapsing landscape. The machine explodes, altering Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben on a molecular-genetic level, affording them super-human conditions and abilities beyond their control. They are then placed in government custody and confinement to be studied and have their conditions and abilities tested. Blaming himself for the accident, Reed escapes the facility and becomes a fugitive while desperately trying to find a cure. One year later, Reed is located in Central America by Sue and captured by Ben, who has become a military asset along with Johnny and Sue. Johnny and Sue have been outfitted with specialized suits, one of which Reed later receives, designed to keep up with their conditions and abilities and to help them stabilize, control, and contain their abilities. Reed is brought to Area 57, where Dr. Allen conscripts him to open another portal to Planet Zero in exchange for giving Reed the necessary resources to find a cure. Arriving in Planet Zero, Dr. Allen's explorers find Victor, who has been fused to his spacesuit and can now control the elements, as well as having telekinetic abilities, and bring him back to Earth. Driven insane by the experience and believing the human race needs to be destroyed so he can rebuild Planet Zero in his image, Victor escapes, killing scientists and soldiers in the base including Dr. Allen and Professor Storm. Victor returns to Planet Zero using the Quantum Gate, with Ben, Johnny, Reed, and Sue in pursuit. On Planet Zero, Victor activates a portal, using a structure he made while in the realm, that begins consuming the landscape of the Earth. He is confronted by the four and, after a destructive battle, Ben punches Victor into the portal's energy beam, disintegrating him, while Johnny closes the portal. Returning to Earth, the group is rewarded for their heroics by being given a new base of operations by the United States military. They decide to use their powers to help people and adopt the mantle of the "Fantastic Four". Edited August 8, 2015 by Axels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 (edited) Okay, it was not a well edited/paced film and some of the performances were weak. Doom was also not handled so great. But the Human Torch, Thing and Mr. Fantastic all looked great with their powers. Invisible Woman's "bubble" shots were a bit cheesy, but how can that not be cheesy, really? But like John Carter, this film is NOT as bad as the critics are saying. I enjoyed it more than Pixels, which isn't saying much, but it still isn't a film worthy of a single digit score on RT. Harsh. ...I will say I kinda wanna see it now knowing a Hondonian is actually in the movie even for a sec... Oh, I am in it for more than a sec. Like...15 maybe 20 seconds. ;) If you know to look for me, I am making some really stupid faces in the scene where they first test the Quantum Bridge at the Baxter Institute. I forgot you were an extra in this. Who was egoing it to the max? You can't just drop that and then walk on. We need details!! like I wrote earlier, all of the main peope on set were standoffish except for the director and Doom. However... all of my scenes were with Mr. Gum Chewer (or was that his inner mouth he was gnawing on? We had a debate about that when we left the theater.) and he was the least friendly and the only one who had to have special tea brought out to him. Meh. Other people were also major shittalking Miles Teller, but the day I shot with him he was no more standoffish than the "Three Storms." Well, I still got to be in a superhero film, even if it wasn't a very good one. The biggest regret I have is not approaching Reg E. Cathy for a picture with him while I wore a Square 1 TV tee-shirt. Edited August 12, 2015 by Mr. Hakujin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Cap'n 2099 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Post pics of your cameo. Might get some of these folks to pony up the dough to go see it (I know I've been thinking about it since I've seen the pics on FB). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 (edited) But like John Carter, this film is NOT as bad as the critics are saying. I enjoyed it more than Pixels, which isn't saying much, but it still isn't a film worthy of a single digit score on RT. Harsh. Really? I mean, I know this is better than its rotten tomatoes score but is it really as good as John Carter? Don't get my hopes up, I really liked John Carter. Edited August 12, 2015 by Iambaytor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 ^Yeah this. John Carter was pretty damn good, I just thought no one went to go see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 (edited) I am not saying Fant4astic is as good a superhero film as John Carter was a sci-fi film, but I am using the unjust avalanche of shit both films got as a comparison. I didn't think Fant4astic was a terrible superhero film at all, and it is definitely not worthy of the vitriol it has gotten on RT. I'd say it's definitely worth your time if you're a fan of the genre in general or the F4 Ultimate Comics. It's very much an origin film as well, so keep that in mind in regards to pacing and how much screen time is given to actual superheroing with the powers and such. Edited August 13, 2015 by Mr. Hakujin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jables Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I like to think I've cultivated a reputation as someone who'll defend most comic movies to the bitter end. Daredevil hasn't aged well but Spiderman 3 was still as good as the fanboys deserved. This, was not good. Seeing a guy I kinda know personally was a hoot, and that's the end of the list of things to like. The whole thing played out like it was made for TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Spiderman 3 was still as good as the fanboys deserved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jables Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 ^Bout as tired a response as Fox's continued attempts to monetize this franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 it is a claim without merit; there is nothing to respond to i assume you're just planting your flag on it in hopes that time will somehow lend it legitimacy~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jables Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I've made numerous and repeated cases pro Spiderman 3 over the years and the fact that you're not across that is your shortcoming, not mine. Way to run a fucking messageboard, dickhead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da Cap'n 2099 Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 i recall reading your spidey 3 defense force view like the ending of 100 bullets, i did not agree~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jables Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 So point established that I will generally defend terrible comic movies, but have nothing to offer in advocacy of this film. Now you file your accusations of insincerity right up your ethereally pale anus and say... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iambaytor Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I need to give it a spin soon to remember how well or badly paced it was but the nitpicks of the movie seem more nitpicky by the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 12 scenes from the trailers not in the movie The fucking air drop of The Thing isn't even in it. AKA the coolest part of the trailer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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