Disney...Please Stop

[KennedyKiller]

Alrighty Kiddos! Strap in, because I'm here to tell you all about God. And by God, I mean our wondrous and caring overlord, the House of Mouse. You may know them as Disney, but I know them as "The thing in the shadows that was once a great hero, only to be corrupted as the world slowly but surely lost it's magic, and now is a sad shell of it's former self when it comes to content of character but is more powerful as a result...Also, They made Kingdom Hearts." Yup. Good 'Ol Disney, cranking out crap live action movie after crap live action movie. But...Why? Why turn the movie theaters into a popcorn infested landfill of cash grabs with less Soul than the entire Weasley family? (Get it...Cause they're Gingers...) These new live action remakes are the saddest attempt I've seen at cashing in on Nostalgia since New Kids on the Block and The Backstreet Boys toured together a few years ago. And for some reason everyone is eating this sh*t up. Seriously, their nostalgia boners are at full mast. Not me. I guess I need some Nostalgia Viagra, because there is no appeal here for me. I mean, it's so limited! Like...There's nothing you can do in live action, that can't be done better when you take away the limitations of...oh...what is it? Oh that's right! REALITY! That's what animation does. It removes reality from the equation, and we have Genies that fit right in the same world as the Human he's next to. It's not jarring at all. Speaking of Jars. Put that god awful Beauty and the Beast remake in a jar, chuck that jar in the ocean, then build an artificial black hole to throw the ocean in. Because that was a scourge on this earth. Alrighty...I'm done ranting. You guys tell me what you think. Should Disney keep churning out these unoriginal poor excuses for art, or is there something redeeming about them that's going completely over my head because I'm a malignant simpleton?

 

[Hel]

I like Maleficent. It's not just a live action remake of the 50s' Sleeping Beauty, but tells the story from a different point of view and adds a new twist to it. What I'm more concerned about is the sequel... I'm not sure where they're going with this, because unlike Frozen, which among other things never explained how and why Elsa got her powers, the first Maleficent movie didn't really leave any questions unanswered.

In general, though, I agree that there is no point in remaking stuff just for the sake of remaking it. I watched the new Beauty and the Beast starring Hermione and couldn't find any significant changes from the original animated movie except for the inclusion of a gay character, and if the only difference in the upcoming Ariel movie is that Ariel is now black, I won't even bother watching it - never liked the original story to begin with, so I won't miss a lot there. But take this with a grain of salt, I don't want to judge a movie that isn't even out yet.

The Mulan remake might turn out differently, focusing more on the source material of the historical character Mulan, and it doesn't seem like she's posing as a man anymore, which was a major plot point of the original movie. I have to say I was completely unimpressed by the footage they released so far, which to me looked like a film student's first attempt at a trailer, but then again, the trailer for Moana didn't spark my interest either, and today it's one of my favourite movies.

Regardless, instead of any kind of live action remake of any animated classic, I'd be much more interested in Disney adaptations of fairy tales they haven't done so far, like Frau Holle and Little Red Riding Hood - preferably in CGI.

 

[UniqTeas]

Well - to be honest - there is truth in the fact that these are just cash grabs to monopolize on the nostalgia of people.

However, people seem to enjoy them. I am not going to waste my time and energy being mad at Disney for cranking out these items. I thought I would hate the Beauty and the Beast remake and it was fine. The new additions updated the story and added some humor where it could.

I have heard highs and lows about The Lion King, but if it's free on a plane or something, I'll give it a shot.

It is a waste of energy to be upset about it when the end result is pretty OK. We have bigger issues in this world to think about. This actually sounds like someone questioning why they keep making so many Marvel films and hoping they fail. Because they're not the intended audience.

 

[Spikeyroxas]

To be fair

I've seen maleifcant, beauty and the beast, and aladdin live action remakes.

I didnt think much to Malificant since it seemed really childish (I know its Disney but still)

I thought beauty and the beast was good, and aladdin wasn't bad either despite its flaws.

My favourite Disney film is mulan as I just feel like the story is really believable (ignoring the dragons, ghosts and cricket) and could have made an excellent remake...but the changes I've heard about make me really nervous.

I refuse to watch the lion King because the charm of the film came from the animated animals, and a live action would just be realistic looking animals with voice overs.

I hope to see some newer actors become a part of the wave of Disney films though and not famous singers.
This is becoming more a thing now, Beyonce being in lion King. It feels like singer's are trying to get into all media to stay relevant so they found this new craze and are jumping all over it, and the money needed to pay these I feel is ruining other aspects of the films.
It reminds me of when Ed sheeren was randomly in the GoT episode for no reason.

 

[KennedyKiller]

To be fair

I've seen maleifcant, beauty and the beast, and aladdin live action remakes.

I didnt think much to Malificant since it seemed really childish (I know its Disney but still)

I thought beauty and the beast was good, and aladdin wasn't bad either despite its flaws.

My favourite Disney film is mulan as I just feel like the story is really believable (ignoring the dragons, ghosts and cricket) and could have made an excellent remake...but the changes I've heard about make me really nervous.

I refuse to watch the lion King because the charm of the film came from the animated animals, and a live action would just be realistic looking animals with voice overs.

I hope to see some newer actors become a part of the wave of Disney films though and not famous singers.
This is becoming more a thing now, Beyonce being in lion King. It feels like singer's are trying to get into all media to stay relevant so they found this new craze and are jumping all over it, and the money needed to pay these I feel is ruining other aspects of the films.
It reminds me of when Ed sheeren was randomly in the GoT episode for no reason.

The singer thing you touched on I feel completely. Like, some singers can make that transition. Will Smith. Mark Whalberg. They're great actors, who I actually really enjoy musically. But They came off as trying a new craft. Not come off as "Look at me! I'm famous so I can do whatever I want, including disgrace the works of Sir Elton John!"

 

[Turo602]

Between their average MCU popcorn films, soulless remakes, their raping of Star Wars, weak sequels like The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4, and their woke agenda, Disney just needs to go away. They've clearly lost their magic.

It was nice when they were setting a better example of a Disney Princess to little girls in Frozen, and it was cool that they were exploring a classic character like Maleficent in live action, and it was easy to have faith in them to pull off a meaningful Toy Story sequel and have some kind of vision for a new Star Wars trilogy, but holy sh*t, who knew it could get this bad?

All their woke sh*t is getting out of hand and killing any creativity they ever had. The all new all different Marvel sh*t was pandering garbage and Star Wars was single handedly ruined by "feminist" agenda. That aside though, they just come off like such a greedy corporation now. They used to have a Nintendo like innocence and attitude, but even their movies are cheap Hollywood cash grabs with how unoriginal they are, how quickly they release, and how cheap they look. Where's the quality and charm they used to be known for?

 

[KennedyKiller]

Between their average MCU popcorn films, soulless remakes, their raping of Star Wars, weak sequels like The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4, and their woke agenda, Disney just needs to go away. They've clearly lost their magic.

It was nice when they were setting a better example of a Disney Princess to little girls in Frozen, and it was cool that they were exploring a classic character like Maleficent in live action, and it was easy to have faith in them to pull off a meaningful Toy Story sequel and have some kind of vision for a new Star Wars trilogy, but holy sh*t, who knew it could get this bad?

All their woke sh*t is getting out of hand and killing any creativity they ever had. The all new all different Marvel sh*t was pandering garbage and Star Wars was single handedly ruined by "feminist" agenda. That aside though, they just come off like such a greedy corporation now. They used to have a Nintendo like innocence and attitude, but even their movies are cheap Hollywood cash grabs with how unoriginal they are, how quickly they release, and how cheap they look. Where's the quality and charm they used to be known for?

Man, with the exception of your opinion on Toy Story 4, I couldn't agree more with anything you've said. Disney has become Political, unoriginal, agenda driven, and even as a huge comic book fan (I mean hell, my profile picture is a Spider-Man villain), the MCU has become stale and unappealing in almost every way. Of everything they dropped at Comic-Con...I'm interested in *one* and that's Blade. As opposed to a few years ago, when I was on the edge of my seat with each Marvel announcement. I think you hit the nail on the head when comparing the Disney of old to Nintendo. And I wish we could get back to that. I really do. Because I want my Star Wars back god damnit.

 

[Turo602]

Man, with the exception of your opinion on Toy Story 4, I couldn't agree more with anything you've said. Disney has become Political, unoriginal, agenda driven, and even as a huge comic book fan (I mean hell, my profile picture is a Spider-Man villain), the MCU has become stale and unappealing in almost every way. Of everything they dropped at Comic-Con...I'm interested in *one* and that's Blade. As opposed to a few years ago, when I was on the edge of my seat with each Marvel announcement. I think you hit the nail on the head when comparing the Disney of old to Nintendo. And I wish we could get back to that. I really do. Because I want my Star Wars back god damnit.

Toy Story 4 was painful to watch. Ever since they announced a 4th, I had faith in them to deliver given how long they waited before even doing the third and because this was Toy Story. How on Earth could they ruin Toy Story?...

All throughout my viewing of Toy Story 4, I was waiting for that special Toy Story 3-like moment when Andy gives Bonnie his toys so that the sequel could be justified and not just be a cheap cash grab, and it never came. Instead, we got some Last Jedi caliber depressing and pointless sh*t that completely ruins the last movie.

I thought the movie was gonna dive into something deeper for the toys like how they come alive because of Forky's existence, and rather than follow that question up with anything special and meaningful, instead we get a joke at the end.

 

[KManX89]

Of everything they dropped at Comic-Con...I'm interested in *one* and that's Blade.

Me, too, and even that's somewhat shaken because all signs point to it being watered-down to PG-13. It had the Marvel Studios logo attached to it (they said any hypothetical R-rated films they do make won't be put under their traditional Marvel or Disney banner) and a guy who was at CC claims that Kevin Feige said it would be PG-13. A PG-13 vampire hunter movie, yeah, color me (somewhat) skeptical. There's every chance it won't be good with PG-13 limitations (movies that are watered down from an R rating pretty much universally aren't) or at least not as good as it could be. If they do that annoying shaky cam/cutaway sh!t every time Blade obliterates a vampire, basically World War Z it, I'm gonna have a problem. I suppose they could get around this by having the vampires turn to ash or bleed black blood or some sh!t, but it still won't be as dark as a series like Blade should lend itself to (it'll still mean no vampires biting people for one thing).

Yeah, the Marvel Studios banner at CC could've just been a placeholder for a still-to-be-announced adult film banner like a Marvel Knights banner, but all signs point to it being PG-13. I don't doubt Kevin Fiege said it would be at the event.

That said, I'm also looking forward to Fantastic Four, X-Men and Doctor Strange 2, which are well-established PG-13 franchises, and only one of these is actually gonna be in phase 4.

 

[KennedyKiller]

Me, too, and even that's somewhat shaken because all signs point to it being watered-down to PG-13. It had the Marvel Studios logo attached to it (they said any hypothetical R-rated films they do make won't be put under their traditional Marvel or Disney banner) and a guy who was at CC claims that Kevin Feige said it would be PG-13. A PG-13 vampire hunter movie, yeah, color me (somewhat) skeptical. There's every chance it won't be good with PG-13 limitations (movies that are watered down from an R rating pretty much universally aren't) or at least not as good as it could be. If they do that annoying shaky cam/cutaway sh!t every time Blade obliterates a vampire, basically World War Z it, I'm gonna have a problem. I suppose they could get around this by having the vampires turn to ash or bleed black blood or some sh!t, but it still won't be as dark as a series like Blade should lend itself to (it'll still mean no vampires biting people for one thing).

Yeah, the Marvel Studios banner at CC could've just been a placeholder for a still-to-be-announced adult film banner like a Marvel Knights banner, but all signs point to it being PG-13. I don't doubt Kevin Fiege said it would be at the event.

That said, I'm also looking forward to Fantastic Four, X-Men and Doctor Strange 2, which are well-established PG-13 franchises, and only one of these is actually gonna be in phase 4.

Oh, Yes. I forgot about Dr. Strange 2. I'm most definitely excited for that as well. I don't even want to talk about Fantastic Four. My hype for that is beyond compare, but we don't even have a release date, so I can't start holding my breath yet.

Now...As for Blade, honestly, look at a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean. That's a PG-13 Disney film, that was relatively dark. Handled some mature themes. Frankly, I think we can do Blade just fine in PG-13. He just won't get to drop the F bomb. Which...That's not big deal for me. I'm not worried about him not swearing so...

 

[KManX89]

Oh, Yes. I forgot about Dr. Strange 2. I'm most definitely excited for that as well. I don't even want to talk about Fantastic Four. My hype for that is beyond compare, but we don't even have a release date, so I can't start holding my breath yet.

Now...As for Blade, honestly, look at a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean. That's a PG-13 Disney film, that was relatively dark. Handled some mature themes. Frankly, I think we can do Blade just fine in PG-13. He just won't get to drop the F bomb. Which...That's not big deal for me. I'm not worried about him not swearing so...

I don't know, the first Avengers movie initially got an R rating just for showing Loki stabbing Coulson in the back with his scepter. It had to be edited MANY times before they finally got a PG-13 rating. Now imagine the same shot done many times to hordes of bloodsucking vampires, how's THAT gonna work PG-13?

Also Batman v Superman couldn't even show a body getting burned and people getting shot without getting an R rating. Hell, the DareDevil movie had to cut 30 minutes with an extra subplot which explained what was going on and more violence and dark themes to avoid an R rating, BARELY. The R-rated Director's Cut, which adds all this stuff back in, is much more coherent and much better. Ghost Rider is another property that should've lent itself to more adult storytelling based on concept alone, and it was watered down and sucked, TWICE, especially Spirit of Vengeance.

Hell, pretty much every movie I can think of that should've been R and was watered down hasn't been good. RoboCop, Terminator (twice), AvP, Expendables 3, Total Recall, Prom Night, World War Z (didn't like it, too many plot/logic holes and you can't even tell WTF is going on because, PG-13 zombie movie), DareDevil, Ghost Rider (twice), the list goes on.

This is a great vid on the matter, it shows how watering down films from an R rating can and HAS ruined several of them:

I'd have a little more faith given that it's Marvel working on it, but I'd still have a degree of skepticism, obvious reasons. None of their other properties that they've made films of have been adult-oriented like Blade clearly is. There's plenty of films that have worked PG-13. However, like the vid said, there were others that couldn't and shouldn't.

 

[KennedyKiller]

I don't know, the first Avengers movie initially got an R rating just for showing Loki stabbing Coulson in the back with his scepter. It had to be edited MANY times before they finally got a PG-13 rating. Now imagine the same shot done many times to hordes of bloodsucking vampires, how's THAT gonna work PG-13?

Also Batman v Superman couldn't even show a body getting burned and people getting shot without getting an R rating. Hell, the DareDevil movie had to cut 30 minutes with an extra subplot which explained what was going on and more violence and dark themes to avoid an R rating, BARELY. The R-rated Director's Cut, which adds all this stuff back in, is much more coherent and much better. Ghost Rider is another property that should've lent itself to more adult storytelling based on concept alone, and it was watered down and sucked, TWICE, especially Spirit of Vengeance.

Hell, pretty much every movie I can think of that should've been R and was watered down hasn't been good. RoboCop, Terminator (twice), AvP, Expendables 3, Total Recall, Prom Night, World War Z (didn't like it, too many plot/logic holes and you can't even tell WTF is going on because, PG-13 zombie movie), DareDevil, Ghost Rider (twice), the list goes on.

This is a great vid on the matter, it shows how watering down films from an R rating can and HAS ruined several of them:

I'd have a little more faith given that it's Marvel working on it, but I'd still have a degree of skepticism, obvious reasons. None of their other properties that they've made films of have been adult-oriented like Blade clearly is. There's plenty of films that have worked PG-13. However, like the vid said, there were others that couldn't and shouldn't.

Hmm...After reading all of that, I think you've definitely made your case a lot stronger. Now I guess we'll see, but I'm more cautious than I was about the film lol

 

[UniqTeas]

I am excited to see where Phase 4 goes.

When Guardians of the Galaxy was first announced, a lot of people said they didn't care because they didn't know who the characters were. However, that film changed the scope of the entire Marvel Universe. So, when I see something I am not familiar with like The Eternals or Shangi-Chi, I get excited and am totally ready to give it a chance.

People cry about things they haven't even experienced because they don't know any better. And maybe these movies will fail - but we can't really be upset until they give us something to be upset about.

 

[KManX89]

Hmm...After reading all of that, I think you've definitely made your case a lot stronger. Now I guess we'll see, but I'm more cautious than I was about the film lol

We'll see, I hope it's good because I'm dying for more Blade.

And I'm definitely looking forward to the MCU Fantastic Four, though I wonder if it'll take a hit commercially after all the terrible Fox F4 movies much like Batman Begins did after the epic fail that was Batman & Robin. My God was the 2015 reboot awful, I watched an online stream and couldn't get through more than 20 minutes of it (no way was I paying to see this, lol), it was that bad. This review is spot on accurate :lol::

 

[UniqTeas]

More Blade.

Another Thor movie directed by Taiki Waititi. Taika has not made a bad movie yet.

Guardians III at some point.

And the thing is, I am a DC guy - but the MCU is too good in all directions.

 

[KennedyKiller]

We'll see, I hope it's good because I'm dying for more Blade.

And I'm definitely looking forward to the MCU Fantastic Four, though I wonder if it'll take a hit commercially after all the terrible Fox F4 movies much like Batman Begins did after the epic fail that was Batman & Robin. My God was the 2015 reboot awful, I watched an online stream and couldn't get through more than 20 minutes of it (no way was I paying to see this, lol), it was that bad. This review is spot on accurate :lol::

I won't lie...I didn't even see the "New" Fantastic Four because it looked like such a garbage film. That said, as a huge F4 fan, I want to see more of them, and I have faith the MCU can do it right.

More Blade.

Another Thor movie directed by Taiki Waititi. Taika has not made a bad movie yet.

Guardians III at some point.

And the thing is, I am a DC guy - but the MCU is too good in all directions.

I may or may not be psyched for Taiki Waititi's Thor 4. It depends on if it means his live action version of Akira, which was announced first, is getting pushed back because Marvel pays more. If that's the case, I'll scream. At this point I'm almost at Superhero burnout, and a fresh, live action adaptation with his amazing vision of the 80's anime classic? That's just the kind of break I need. So if that gets pushed back just because Disney wants to make a buck based on the success of Thor 3, and I have to wait that much longer for a movie I've been waiting for for years, and that's been in development hell even longer than THAT, then, Thor 4 can lick my expletive.

 

[Turo602]

I agree with Blade being the only interesting phase 4 announcement, but even then, it's Marvel, and personally, I think Blade would have worked better as a TV show. Not even Thor has my interest anymore. They had a chance to make something great out of Ragnarok, but they turned it into some stupid comedy that everyone was okay with because they laughed in the theater.

I love superheroes, so it's not that I'm even burned out, it's just that I'm so over Marvel's average movies. Movies like Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther don't do the characters justice. Even Iron Man's sequels proved the first movie was a fluke and that either the character can't carry solo films or the filmmakers are doing the character a disservice.

They're such cookie cutter films that don't try to be anything more than safe and average. I'm not as invested in any of these characters the way I was with the early Raimi Spider-Man films and Nolan Batman films. These movies had great filmmaking behind them with powerful music scores that have become synonymous with the characters. Even if Nolan's Batman wasn't totally accurate to the source material, they were great because Christopher Nolan is a great filmmaker who isn't abiding by some safe formula.

With Endgame having wrapped everything up, I no longer care for the cinematic universe to continue. Shoehorning the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in this late is pretty lame as it was for Spider-Man who was just completely raped in the MCU. The solo films are just filler garbage before we get to the movie we really want to see which are the big ensemble films where ultimately, characters with boring films shined the most like Black Panther in Civil War and Thor in Infinity War. Even Iron Man worked best in these films as opposed to his own movies.

I'd rather they start all over with the MCU without solo films and just focus on telling Avengers stories, Fantastic Four stories, X-Men stories, and even side stuff that doesn't always have to be connected to the bigger picture Avengers story with Spider-Man, Daredevil, Blade, Punisher, and other street level heroes. But even then, it's all Disney now so it's not like I really have any faith in them to do anything awesome with Marvel. I feel like they're just gonna start using the MCU as a platform for their woke agenda which has already become evident.

 

[KennedyKiller]

I agree with Blade being the only interesting phase 4 announcement, but even then, it's Marvel, and personally, I think Blade would have worked better as a TV show. Not even Thor has my interest anymore. They had a chance to make something great out of Ragnarok, but they turned it into some stupid comedy that everyone was okay with because they laughed in the theater.

I love superheroes, so it's not that I'm even burned out, it's just that I'm so over Marvel's average movies. Movies like Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther don't do the characters justice. Even Iron Man's sequels proved the first movie was a fluke and that either the character can't carry solo films or the filmmakers are doing the character a disservice.

They're such cookie cutter films that don't try to be anything more than safe and average. I'm not as invested in any of these characters the way I was with the early Raimi Spider-Man films and Nolan Batman films. These movies had great filmmaking behind them with powerful music scores that have become synonymous with the characters. Even if Nolan's Batman wasn't totally accurate to the source material, they were great because Christopher Nolan is a great filmmaker who isn't abiding by some safe formula.

With Endgame having wrapped everything up, I no longer care for the cinematic universe to continue. Shoehorning the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in this late is pretty lame as it was for Spider-Man who was just completely raped in the MCU. The solo films are just filler garbage before we get to the movie we really want to see which are the big ensemble films where ultimately, characters with boring films shined the most like Black Panther in Civil War and Thor in Infinity War. Even Iron Man worked best in these films as opposed to his own movies.

I'd rather they start all over with the MCU without solo films and just focus on telling Avengers stories, Fantastic Four stories, X-Men stories, and even side stuff that doesn't always have to be connected to the bigger picture Avengers story with Spider-Man, Daredevil, Blade, Punisher, and other street level heroes. But even then, it's all Disney now so it's not like I really have any faith in them to do anything awesome with Marvel. I feel like they're just gonna start using the MCU as a platform for their woke agenda which has already become evident.

Can't say I disagree with too much of this. Including the acknowledgement that there's some glaring flaws in the MCU's Spider-Man (My favorite hero) that everyone seems to ignore cause they're so happy to finally have him back for Team Ups. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was much more dynamic, and that world felt far more realistically built than the MCU. Hell, I actually watched the original Raimi Spider-Man a week ago with my five year old...And it help up. It kept her attention. I like it better than probably 90% of the MCU films. I enjoy the MCU, don't get me wrong, but I think I mostly enjoy talking about it and theorizing about it, than I do watching the films. What's that say?

 

[Turo602]

Can't say I disagree with too much of this. Including the acknowledgement that there's some glaring flaws in the MCU's Spider-Man (My favorite hero) that everyone seems to ignore cause they're so happy to finally have him back for Team Ups. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was much more dynamic, and that world felt far more realistically built than the MCU. Hell, I actually watched the original Raimi Spider-Man a week ago with my five year old...And it help up. It kept her attention. I like it better than probably 90% of the MCU films. I enjoy the MCU, don't get me wrong, but I think I mostly enjoy talking about it and theorizing about it, than I do watching the films. What's that say?

Exactly. The best part of the MCU was the idea of the films being connected and eventually leading to big ensemble films and that was really the reason to keep watching them, just to see how they all connect. But the actual films are very overhyped and overrated and it's just become the "cool" thing that everyone is into now and its success is terrible because they're really cheapening the genre as a whole.

We saw Justice League suffer as a result of this and even Aquaman had a couple of really out of place moments that were done for laughs that you can tell was WB trying to "liven" up the film so the casual audience would love it. But overall, I thought it was still a much better movie (stupid moments aside) than the typical MCU romp, as was Wonder Woman, and even Shazam. They each had their own distinct style and felt like movies that were made for these specific characters, and not just throwaway films done as simplistic as possible with plenty of jokes to keep idiots entertained because they can't take superheroes seriously. I even give Fox credit for taking the material serious and actually trying to make good films despite how mixed the X-Men movies are.

I think the MCU got really lucky with the Russos because they've been the most consistent when it comes to delivering solid movies and even James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy, but aside from their films and the first wave of movies (Iron Man 2 and Avengers aside), nothing has truly stood out or been amazing. You'll never see them produce awesome stuff like the original TMNT film, Spider-Man 1 and 2, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Watchmen, and Logan.

 

[KManX89]

I agree with Blade being the only interesting phase 4 announcement, but even then, it's Marvel, and personally, I think Blade would have worked better as a TV show. Not even Thor has my interest anymore. They had a chance to make something great out of Ragnarok, but they turned it into some stupid comedy that everyone was okay with because they laughed in the theater.

I love superheroes, so it's not that I'm even burned out, it's just that I'm so over Marvel's average movies. Movies like Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther don't do the characters justice. Even Iron Man's sequels proved the first movie was a fluke and that either the character can't carry solo films or the filmmakers are doing the character a disservice.

They're such cookie cutter films that don't try to be anything more than safe and average. I'm not as invested in any of these characters the way I was with the early Raimi Spider-Man films and Nolan Batman films. These movies had great filmmaking behind them with powerful music scores that have become synonymous with the characters. Even if Nolan's Batman wasn't totally accurate to the source material, they were great because Christopher Nolan is a great filmmaker who isn't abiding by some safe formula.

With Endgame having wrapped everything up, I no longer care for the cinematic universe to continue. Shoehorning the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in this late is pretty lame as it was for Spider-Man who was just completely raped in the MCU. The solo films are just filler garbage before we get to the movie we really want to see which are the big ensemble films where ultimately, characters with boring films shined the most like Black Panther in Civil War and Thor in Infinity War. Even Iron Man worked best in these films as opposed to his own movies.

I'd rather they start all over with the MCU without solo films and just focus on telling Avengers stories, Fantastic Four stories, X-Men stories, and even side stuff that doesn't always have to be connected to the bigger picture Avengers story with Spider-Man, Daredevil, Blade, Punisher, and other street level heroes. But even then, it's all Disney now so it's not like I really have any faith in them to do anything awesome with Marvel. I feel like they're just gonna start using the MCU as a platform for their woke agenda which has already become evident.

Blade's not even apart of Phase 4, he was confirmed for Phase 5. I'm a huge Blade fan, loved the first 2 films, and I'm glad we're getting him back in SOME capacity, not to mention Mahersala Ali is an amazing actor, but I just don't know if they can truly do him justice with PG-13 limitations (and all signs point to it being PG-13). I agree it probably would've been better-served as a TV series, at least the Ghost Rider show for Hulu is being made R-rated, the way the character should be done. I know an R rating is no guarantee a movie/show will be good and movies/shows shouldn't be R just for the sake of it (I already said the rumored R rating for Quentin Tarantino's rumored Star Trek film makes no sense), but some properties just have no business being anything less than R.

Arnold said it best in his Q&A for the new Terminator movie (which has been confirmed R-rated BTW, YAY!), and I agree with him 100%:

“I am so delighted. I was sick and tired with the last time, when the studio decided to make it a PG-13 rating just because they thought there more dollars in there. I said, ‘Guys you’re so stupid…this is a story that is written and a franchise that is done and written for an R-rating and not Terminator the babysitter type of thing.

Plus anytime Hollywood does water down/"kiddify" R-rated properties for the sake of getting kids in the theater (kids who shouldn't be watching it in the first place), like I said, it NEVER ends well. RoboCop, Terminator and Expendables are just a few examples of franchises that should never be PG-13. Nonetheless, they tried their hand at kid-friendly installments of these adult franchises and more, watering them down and destroying their artistic integrity (which I'm wholeheartedly against) for the sake of the almighty dollar, and every single one of these films has failed to catch on. PG-13 RoboCop was never gonna work, a crime-ridden hellhole city on the verge of collapsing and the best they can give us with PG-13 is a guy wanted for murder, arson and rape (!) stupidly showing up at the RoboCop presentation for plot convenience? Because that's seriously the closest we get to a heist in the whole movie (I shouldn't even have to explain why a RoboCop movie without gang violence doesn't work). It even had the same 2 writers from the original, and it STILL couldn't work PG-13.

Plus imagine trying to make a PG-13 Pulp Fiction, it wouldn't work (PG-13 RoboCop isn't too far removed from that and, alas, it failed, big surprise there). I couldn't imagine this scene from Tropic Thunder being nearly as funny without an F-bomb-dropping Tom Cruise, either. So yes, sometimes an R rating CAN make a difference.

Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and it turns out to be good in spite of its limitations and Marvel/Disney's bumpy track record as of late (which BTW, I actually enjoyed Spider-Man: Far From Home quite a bit), and I seriously hope I am, but I believe I have ample reason to be concerned, both as a steadfast believer in artistic integrity and given Hollywood's track record of watered-down films. Even if those expectations ARE exceeded, I still know in the back of my mind it won't quite live up to its full potential. There's a reason most vampire films are R: their material kinda demands it.