Posts by Gregory Brown94

Raymond Hill said:https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/th...taika-waititi/

Man, I am seriously hyped for this movie 🙂

Personally, I feel like Taika Waititi kind of ruined Thor. Thor 3 holds such huge weight within the MCU, but Taika just undercut it all with the constant jokes. For me, I actually rank Thor 2 very high, and Thor 1 is right up there with it.

Don't get me wrong, I like humor, but I hate it when it's overdone. You have Odin, who is one of the most crucial figures in the MCU, dying—and then almost immediately after, you get this ridiculous humor in Sakaar. Or when Skurge is explaining Midgardian trophies to the women. What kind of stupid joke is that? Is this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III? Wait, let me bold that...

What Taika is doing to Thor—despite the fact that the script itself is actually solid—is tough to watch. When you look at the structure, Thor 3 is perfect. Loki is pretending to be the King of Asgard, Thor is trying to wrap things up after Age of Ultron, Odin dies, Thor finds out who really ruled Asgard after Thor 2, Hela breaks free, Sakaar brings us Hulk-like vibes, and to save Asgard from Hela, they have to trigger Ragnarok. You look at that and think, Wow. This is great. And then suddenly, you see a drunk Valkyrie, Skurge acting like an idiot, and just general madness in Asgard. This isn't TMNT III.

I mean, Taika crossed a line here, and a big one too. He made a genuinely good Darkness-level film, but he smeared it with bad comedy.

So, from what I can see, Thor 4 will probably have that same Darkness-level script, but my heart will feel like I'm watching TMNT III again. Kids might love it, just like they did with TMNT III, but those of us who grew up loving the MCU might not. And I doubt the general audience will either.

I kind of blame Iron Man 3 for this trend; it was that first experiment where the MCU released a film packed with excessive humor, and most people didn't vibe with it. Age of Ultron had everything, sure, but we also got a ton of unnecessary jokes while people were literally dying in Sokovia. Now, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies were built for humor—it works there. Ant-Man is similar, though Ant-Man and the Wasp probably should have been a bit more serious, but since the general public doesn't always gravitate toward Ant-Man anyway, they use humor to win them over. Honestly, Paul Rudd is perfect for that role; not using Paul's talent would be a crime.

The saddest part is that after Thor 2, almost nobody cared about the whole buildup. I respect that Taika saved Thor with Ragnarok, but I'm worried Thor 4 is going to keep following that specific momentum, which I really don't like.

I know that during my first viewing, I'll probably be excited, but once the dust settles, I might not have the energy to watch it again.

Will Thor 4 end up being TMNT III? We'll see...

A few more shots▼

Finally, some shots from the set.▼





A concept sketch.▼



I find all of this pretty intriguing. Looking back at various MCU projects following Avengers: Endgame, it seems like everything is just falling apart. Things actually look worse now than they did during that brief period when HYDRA / SHIELD collapsed. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier spent a lot of time discussing that fallout, Wanda’s series dealt with factions trying—and failing—to empower Vision, and Spider-Man had to struggle under the weight of Tony Stark's legacy while facing much tougher enemies.

Thor: Love and Thunder might follow that same trajectory. There is no Asgard, so there is no throne, and no King of the Nine Realms. I don't quite get Thor's motivation to join the Guardians of the Galaxy while leaving Valkyrie alone to rule New Asgard on Earth. It feels like any villain looking to take down Asgard won't go after the realm itself anymore; they'll just target Earth. This really changes how you view things—how New Asgard, or whatever Earth's peacekeeping council looks like, would actually handle those threats. It opens a massive Pandora's box of theories regarding where the plot of Thor: Love and Thunder should actually go.

The thing that really stands out to me, though, is Nidavellir. The close ties with Asgard are gone, and that mutual cooperation used to be so vital. They seriously need to fix that and re-establish the forge to empower New Asgard and the Asgardians. I honestly can't wrap my head around the idea that in Thor 5, Thor basically left Eitri all by himself. I mean, who is even providing him with supplies or basic necessities? I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually turns against Thor or ends up helping future villains. First Asgard left him, then Thor did.

Anyway, Thor: Love and Thunder could genuinely surprise us in a good way. But if Taika keeps making movies that joke about genocide or lean too hard into a goofy narrative, I'm going to be deeply disappointed in Taika and the whole Thor franchise. The fact that I'm being this serious just shows how much I actually considered Thor 2 a masterpiece compared to Thor: Ragnarok. In this third one, we're watching the destruction of Asgard—which is essentially the fall of a godhood—but nobody feels the emotional weight because our lungs hurt from laughing! That's just my take on Taika, who seems to be slowly killing Thor with humor.

Sandra Robinson said:I have a massive soft spot for Roland Emmerich movies—it’s my ultimate guilty pleasure. But if we’re talking all-time greats, Independence Day is hands down at the top of the list. It’s basically the gold standard for what a big-screen cinematic experience should be.

He knows that too, I think. He leans way more into the visual spectacle. Like, oh wow, an alien ship the size of the Moon, while in the background some old "senile" president manages to hack through all the security systems of an advanced alien prison.

I honestly believe that maybe Independence Day: Resurgence could have been this massive spectacle if it had been handled like, say, the Jack Snyder JL cut.

That movie actually disappointed me the most. It felt like finding out the love of my life just doesn't want me anymore. That deep. I remember getting chills from the destruction scenes in the trailers. I was expecting such a heavy-hitting blockbuster, but what I got was just... mediocre.

For me, that scene where Singapore gets destroyed is the strongest scene ever. No other movie has had that kind of impact on me.

That part where Davidson's dad is racing against time while the leg of the alien ship prepares to crash into the ocean is the second strongest scene I've ever seen in my life. The trailers gave me such intense megalophobia.

It's just a shame the plot is so thin.

Retailer: James Gunn
Screenwriters: James Gunn; Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (comics)
Cast: Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Sean Gunn, ...

IMDb link.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) is the third entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and acts as a direct sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

The ending of Avengers: Endgame (2019) Spoiler gave us some hints about where the plot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might go. Thor returned to the team we first saw together in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and because of the Time Heist during Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thanos brought his entire army from 2014 all the way to 2023, which included Gamora's and Nebula's daughters (though Nebula was killed later). Quill has been searching for Gamora since Tony's snap. He’s pretty shocked to find out she's back, but she doesn't have any memories of him or their relationship.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 should pick up right there. According to news reports, this will be Gunn's final Guardians of the Galaxy film, and potentially Bautista's too, if the rumors are true. I also heard filming starts this year, so we can probably expect some leaked set photos or clips very soon.

ps. what do you guys think of my animation? ♥

Director: Peyton Reed
Writers: Jack Kirby and Jeff Loveness
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Evangeline Lilly, Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors...

IMDb link.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) is the direct follow-up to Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), marking the third installment in this franchise. Aside from Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, this is actually the third MCU film to form its own trilogy without being part of a shared project—unlike the Avengers, which already has four films under its belt. As I'm writing this, Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently in production, which will be the fourth franchise to hit that trilogy milestone.

The MCU is also gearing up for the premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023, while meanwhile, Thor: Ragnarok is set to become a quadrilogy.

The big news here is that Kang will show up as the main villain. For those of us just following the MCU movies and series without much prior contact with the comics, you could compare Kang's threat level to Thanos. Actually, he might even be a bigger threat. In the comics, Kang has the intellect to build and master technology that far outclasses anything Stark's tech can manage. He can travel through time and across multiple multiverses. His suit can mimic Thor's lightning attacks, create weapons on the fly, and allow him to fly. He’s conquered countless worlds and possesses incredible military expertise as a top-tier commander.

Long story short, Kang is basically the evil version of Tony Stark.

Director: Nia DaCosta
Writers: Gene Colan and Roy Thomas
Cast: Brie Larson, Zawe Ashton, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani

IMDb link.

The Avengers (2022) serves as a direct follow-up to Captain Marvel (2019), though surprisingly, the entire creative team behind the lens has shifted. Brie Larson returns as Carol Danvers, and we see Monica Rambeau again too—only this time she’s fully grown, carrying over the powers she picked up during the WandaVision series. Then there's a new face, Kamala Khan, also known as MS. Her big introduction to the MCU actually happens through her own series first, which explores her origin story, making her the second character to jump from a TV show straight into a feature film.

mistyotter35 said:If we follow that logic, is every movie that isn't a direct documentary considered sci-fi?

Honestly, I'm not sure if any studio in Hollywood actually makes a movie based on true events without adding some level of exaggeration or inventing subplots just to move the story along. That kind of embellishment is basically turning a real event into fiction.

Even documentaries pull that same kind of nonsense.

I’ve got some pretty mixed feelings about this production. On one hand, the ship looks almost hyper-realistic, both inside and out, but on the other, the way this private space agency operates is just... poorly executed.

I guess you could argue it makes sense, though. With how much space exploration is being overexploited lately, costs are hitting record lows, allowing private companies to pull off the same feats as NASA. That shift in business models means it’s entirely plausible that the CO2 scrubbing unit was the only redundant system on board. No one could have predicted they'd end up "installing" that poor guy right into that specific section of the ship.

Honestly, I’d love a sequel that actually dives into the technical failures of the mission and builds a monument to the scientist who sacrificed herself.

The sheer mismanagement that led to that man ending up stuck on the ship feels very similar to what happened in Contact, where that woman made a reckless call that compromised the initial launch through the machine.

Hey @sam633, this forum doesn't seem to support embedding directly from Imgur. It’s a pretty solid edit, so I just mirrored it over to Imgur instead.

It starts one way, then somehow we end up looking at some weird drawings of Seb XD

Why should the film industry bother following any basic principles? Film, photography, pottery, sculpture, painting... it’s all art. And as art, it creates its own culture and set of rules. As coppersailor28 explained, though I'll just offer my own take here:

Sculpture: 3D

Photography/Painting: 2D

Standard film: 2D

3D film: 3D

3D photography: 3D

Dimensions—and how different scientific fields actually apply them—are totally different things. Here is what my Wikipedia says:

- Physics: coordinate systems
- Mechanics: width, length, and height
- Math (and sometimes physics): uses an imaginary 2D space
- Einstein's theory of relativity: width, length, height, and time

So, if every branch of science interprets the same data however it wants, why shouldn't art be the same? Art uses its own principles, and that's really what allows it to exist in the first place.

It’s only natural that when you make a movie, you get a 2D film, or when you take a photo, you get a 2D image. When you add that extra "dimension" to a film, it automatically becomes a 3D movie. At the end of the day, time—just like sound—is simply an element of film...

I’m 99% sure it’s going to be Stoffel Vandoorne. He’s wrapping up his final day of Formula E testing at Ricardo Tormo today before heading out to Bahrain. As for Hulk, that feels like nothing more than wishful thinking to me.

Besides Vandoorne, who serves as the test driver for Mercedes, Esteban Gutierrez is an option, though he lacks a superlicense—he mostly sticks to simulator work and promotional drives.

But check this out...▼

Back in 2016, Fernando Alonso got injured in Australia, and Vandoorne stepped in for him at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Then Lewis Hamilton caught COVID-19, and once again, Vandoorne was the one called up for Sakhir.

It seems Vandoorne just steps in whenever things go sideways for the big names.😁

Anyway, it honestly feels surreal that we won't see these two drivers competing in Sakhir.▼



Wishing them both a really speedy recovery.

Lewis tested positive for COVID-19.

Any music suggestions for listening to while reading the intro theme?

Man, what a race we just witnessed. I can't even bring myself to talk about the Bahrain Grand Prix without getting stuck thinking about that first race and all the individual disasters. I spent most of my intro focusing on Romain Grosjean because he’s really the hero of this story, but then there was Lance Stroll’s crash and that missed podium opportunity for Sergio Perez. Looking back at the very first Bahrain Grand Prix, it actually stands out as the longest dry race in modern Formula 1 history—clocking in at 2 hours and 59 minutes! On the Top 80 list of longest races, that puts it at 37th place. For comparison, the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix holds the top spot at over 4 hours, while the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix sits at 29th with 3 hours and 1 minute. Further down, the 2010 Korean Grand Prix is at 54th with 2 hours and 48 minutes, and the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix is 63rd at 2 hours and 44 minutes. That’s basically where modern Formula 1 ends on the Top 80 list for duration. Everything longer than that belongs to those classic marathon races from the 1950–1970 era.



The most important thing is that Romain Grosjean made it out of there. He's okay, he didn't suffer any broken bones, just some burns. That's all that matters.







What can we actually expect from the outer loop? Honestly, it looks like it'll be packed with action. Given how many overtakes usually happen between turns 1 and 4, I’m expecting plenty of movement from turn 5 through to the chicane at turns 7 and 8—kind of reminiscent of that race back in 2010. Up until now, turn 4 was always a V-shaped corner, but since it's basically functioning as a chicane now, that changes the whole dynamic.





Action Zone

My bad for using a Streamable link to share those videos. FOM ended up blocking all seven posts I had lined up on YouTube.

The 2010 Sakhir Grand Prix was held on the Endurance Circuit, which utilizes turns 5 through 8 along with the outer loop. Because of that layout, it’s really the only way to get a feel for what the drivers—and honestly, us viewers—can expect. I wanted to make sure I gathered as much info as possible to give you guys a better idea of the setup. I went back and watched the race, and I managed to pull together 7 interesting moments:

Turns 1 through 9.

2010—Taking a look at that section from above. You hit turn 5 first, which leads right into what are essentially two back-to-back chicanes. Turn 7 is a real nightmare because you're braking and turning at the exact same time, and then you've got that straight chicane followed by a slight bend at turn 9.

https://streamable.com/r0875l

The turns 1 through 4 complex.

2010—Hulkenberg versus Heikki Kovalainen. Just like you see in any standard racing section, a driver who loses their spot at turn 1 can easily claw it back by turn 4.

https://streamable.com/29al7v

Turn 4.

2010—Glock versus Heikki Kovalainen. In this clip, Glock puts a bit of pressure on Kovalainen heading into turn 5. It's just one of those moves to help secure a freshly snatched position.

https://streamable.com/4j4zi7

2010—Mark Webber versus Sebastien Buemi. Coming out of the pits, Webber just breezes right past Buemi. No contest.

https://streamable.com/avncsb

2010—Kubica versus Buemi. Just another textbook example of an overtake at turn 4 2010.

https://streamable.com/nxd38n

Turns 6-8 complex

2010—Nico Hulkenberg loses control under pressure in turn 7 and spins + bonus retirement for Lucas di Grassi.

https://streamable.com/mah73v

Turns 10 and 11

2010—Sebastien Buemi fighting Hulkenberg. You don't expect much overtaking through these two turns, but if someone loses traction exiting this complex—whatever the cause might be—it pretty much means losing ground to whoever is breathing down their neck at the start/finish line. For instance, a mistake exiting the chicane could prove costly before turn 10 or the first turn of the next lap.

https://streamable.com/eekik1

Pirelli is bringing the C2-C4 again, and the number of sets remains the same as last race.



McLaren secured a nice cushion over Racing Point thanks to those solid results in Bahrain. Racing Point really had a rough run with those unbelievable retirements, and looking at the driver standings, that third team—specifically Ricciardo—has actually profited the most.



You can see just how tight everything is regarding fourth place. In fact, Sainz, Norris, and Albon are all slowly closing in on Leclerc, or rather, Perez and Ricciardo. I'm expecting Leclerc to drop in the standings because the outer loop is just going to eat up anyone with a traction deficit, though you never know. Nobody saw that bizarre Bahrain weekend coming. Anything can happen.



The race schedule has been pushed late into the night local time, so please keep an eye on that. We’re looking at another dry weekend, obviously, but that won't stop the action. We're wishing Romain Grosjean a speedy recovery; it's not out of the question that we'll see him in Abu Dhabi, assuming there are no broken bones. It all depends on how those burns heal.

I had Max on my avatar for a little while, but from now on, I’ll be rocking Vettel. He’s earned it. Just figured I'd switch it up while waiting for Alonso to show up...

As time goes on, it becomes pretty obvious that Charles is getting the full backing of the crew. Read more below▼

Ferrari's support now also seems to be limited. "In the closest circle I try to get what can be extracted," reveals Vettel, referring to a crew of four, including himself, his race engineer Riccardo Adami, a data engineer and another technician.

Team boss Mattia Binotto or technical boss Enrico Cardile? Not a word is spoken of either of them in the interview.

So, basically, it's Vettel and three people versus Charles and the entire rest of the team!!!

Personally, I think Vettel is doing an incredibly good job here. These claims about how they're treating him just aren't true.

And then...

Vettel: "The updates we brought are small things, it's pretty much the same car since the beginning of the year. Maybe the track was more suited to us. Charles is doing well & seems comfortable while if I push, most of the times I go off the track".

Vettel: "It's a complicated situation, I'm trying everything I can, and despite working hard, we are not finding a solution"

Right, so if Charles gets total support, he can dial the car in perfectly—even if the car itself isn't a rocket ship. But in Vettel's situation, with just a handful of people, he's never going to have the setup quite like Charles does. Plus, when the car is basically a "toolbox," if you mess up the setup, you end up stuck in the midfield, fighting to stay ahead of Haas, Williams, or Red Bull Racing. Try driving a junker in a Formula 1 video game with a bad setup and then trying to perfect it later! It's not a fair comparison, but it gives you a real sense of what he's dealing with.

Vettel really backs up my point here▼

"Obviously the other car is much faster. It's always the same places, I can see from the data. An idiot might never be able to get at them. But whether I am a complete idiot, I dare to doubt. Nevertheless I never hit the curve.

Of course Charles is faster; he’s got a much better setup. Vettel is likely dealing with a lot of frustration because he's stuck with a poorly tuned car.

And to top it all off...

After all, the German is not discouraged by critics: "I don't care about all the gossip," he says.

HANG IN THERE, SEB!!! Ignore the critics (and me sometimes too, haha, looking at myself here) XD

Napoleon after a massive victory: You get what you f*cking deserve!!!

Alright, I’ll throw my favorites into the ring too:

Raw (2016). I have to start here. Ella is honestly the first actress I’ve ever felt an instant connection to just by looking at her. Not even Scarlett Johansson managed to pull that off for me.

* That scene where Justine bites Alex's finger—actually, the whole sequence from the forest part all the way to that hospital scene.
* The last scene where Justine wakes up next to her dead boyfriend, and then Alex just sitting there on the floor in complete shock and lethargy.

House on Haunted Hill (1999). This was the only horror movie that absolutely terrified me as a kid. I remember sitting curled up for an hour after one specific scene, staring at the door, just waiting for my friends to come over.

* That scene I mentioned—when someone walks into a room being watched by CCTV, and there's this half-severed guy in a chair, while the monitor in the background shows a butcher with a cleaver.

Martyrs (2008)

* The last scene where the lead actress is skinless, just completely ready to face death.

American Movie (2010)

* That Newborn fuck scene.
* The part where that man goes to see the woman played by that actress; you can literally feel how turned on he is, and you're just waiting for the second he rapes her. That tension is peak.

Event Horizon (1997)

* The scene exploring the wreckage of the first expedition, specifically those images that flash into the frame for milliseconds. You can truly feel the agony they went through while dying. "This isn't ship ash..." absolute perfection.
* Every single scene where they show those horrific images for just a split second.

Alien (1979)

* The birth of xenomorph. Such a great scene.

The Thing (1982)

* The defibrillation scene. From start to finish!

Saw Film

* Literally every single trap scene.

Mother! (2017)

* The last scene, involving baby Jesus.

Suspiria (2018)

* Just like in Mother!, the final act. Blood everywhere, everything red... you can practically feel the blood through the screen.

Hereditary (2018)

* The head-ripping scene, when they peek through the moving car window. And then the behavior following that... just incredible.

Sorry for the long post.

Just like with the "best Star Wars characters" thread, I'm stuck in another massive dilemma. I've watched so many sci-fi movies that trying to pick a top 3 feels like a Sisyphus task.

3). The entire sequence where the Harvester Mothership arrives on Earth, Independence Day: Resurgence (2016).

This might shock you all, but out of all the sci-fi films, this one scene from maybe one of the dumbest movies ever makes the cut. Honestly, if there’s anything that instilled pure megalophobia in my bones, it’s those scenes of the Harvester arriving on Earth. Even though the first ID movie has plenty of iconic moments, they all get overshadowed by the Harvester in IDR. Though, granted, the plot of the first one is miles ahead of IDR.

2). The defibrillation scene, The Thing (1984).

Wow, what a scene. It's burned into my brain for life, and it was all practical effects. You can almost smell the creature through the screen because it's so real. And then the shapeshifting afterward, and that head growing legs... wow man !!!

1). The training scene, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

Before that, we see the spacecraft in the endless void, followed by the routine training, all set to that beautiful music. It might be one of the most stunning depictions of theoretical life in space ever put on film. As alienating as it is, it makes you just want to fall in love with it, to wish you could spend even one day in an environment like that. Generally speaking, any scene showing life aboard a starship fascinates me. Personally, I'd love to live like that—working for science while waking up every day to those incredible views of the cosmic emptiness. That's why, for instance, that scene from the Odyssey is my Odyssey Top 1; it perfectly captures a childhood dream of mine. To me, the Odyssey is the No. 1 Sci-Fi film ever.